ABSTRACT
This chapter explores affixation, that is, prefixes, infixes, circumfixes and suffixes. More broadly, the productivity of what is known as expressive affixation as a word-formation process in Russian is underlined by Doludenko. One important consideration that we see with items such as 'bombax' and 'lavoutrave' is that affixation can often be used in tandem with other means of word-creation. In some languages, there are relatively few prefixes that are thought to be characteristic of or unique to youth, criminal or colloquial varieties. As well as lending expressive emphasis, the use of prefixes such as 'cho-' with abbreviations also makes new items less comprehensible to older Japanese. These infixes are mostly jocular in nature but can also be employed to mask meaning and for emphatic and euphemistic purposes. A further complication is that not only do some suffixes convey more than one meaning, but some can be used interchangeably.
