Affix

Definition

Affixes are morphemes which are always bound and must attach to a root or a stem. Affixes form with other morphemes in order to create a morphologically complex (poly-morphemic) word. In addition, affixes are generally subcategorized into derivational or inflectional affixes. However, a number of Halkomelem affixes mix these categories (Suttles, 2004, p. 33)

Affixes may also be categorized according to their point of attachment, and whether that precedes, follows or intercepts a root. Generally speaking, there are prefixes, suffixes, infixes and circumfixes which are all various forms of affixes. The ordering of affix attachment varies language to language.

Halkomelem, Hul’q’umi’num’ , Skwxwu7mesh and Secwepemctsín all utilize various types of affixes when creating and adding information to words.

Examples

Examples in the Skwxwu7mesh Context of Possessive Affixes attaching to Stem chésha7 (Jacobs, 2011, p. 85)
Example in the Halkomelem Context of Possessive Affix -ct Following Lexical Suffix -éwtxʷ To Form Morphologically Complex Word (Suttles, 2004, p. 28)
Examples in the Secwepemctsín Context of Infix -ʔ- Which Signifies Impermanence, Instability or Fluctuation In an Existing Condition and is Often Translated to ‘being’ Contrasting to Words Without the Additional Affix (Gibson, 1973, p. 30)

References

Gibson, J. A. (1973). Shuswap grammatical structure. [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Hawaii].

Jacobs, P. W. (2011). Control in Skwxwu7mesh. [Doctoral dissertation, The University of British Columbia].

Suttles, W. (2004). Musqueum reference grammar. UBC Press. SFU Student Access.