affiliation [MLat. affiliare ‘to adopt as a son,’ from Lat. ad+filius ‘son’]

Collective term for bound formatives or word-forming elements that constitute subcategories of word classes. Affixes are classified according to their placement on the stem: prefixes precede the stem (Eng. re+write, Fr. co+ president, Ger. Un+tat), suffixes follow the stem (Eng. sister+hood, Fr. jeun+esse, Ger. taten+los), while infixes are inserted into the stem (e.g. -m-in Lat. rumpo ‘I break’ vs ruptum ‘broken’). Affixes are frequently associated with a particular word class, cf. happy+ness vs *happy+able, *mother+ness vs mother+ hood. The order of affix placement is rule-governed according to the underlying word class, cf. standard+ize+able vs *standard+ able+ize. Viewed synchronically, affixes are bound morphemes whose meanings have become abstract but whose origins as free morphemes with a clearly discernible lexical meaning can be reconstructed in many cases, cf. the Eng. suffix -hood used to form abstracts, which goes back to an independent noun with the meaning ‘quality, characteristic,’ as in Got. haidus and OHG heit. Besides semantic shift, the fact that some morphemes form semantic classes unto themselves indicates a transition from free morpheme status to affix status, cf. −works in fire+works, water+works, road+ works. Such transitional affix-like elements are also called affixoids. ( also semi-prefix, semi-suffix)

References

derivation, word formation

Process of word formation in which the stem is expanded by the addition of an affix. With regard to placement of the word-forming elements on the stem, a distinction is drawn between prefixation (=attachment of the affix before the stem: happy vs unhappy)

( infix) is found in some languages (e.g. Latin and Greek), though not in English.