2.2. Prefixation. Classification of Prefixes

Prefixation is the formation of words with the help of prefixes. Prefixes are derivational morphemes affixed before the derivational base. Prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the base. They seldom shift words from one part of speech into another and therefore both the source word and its prefixed derivative mostly belong to the same part of speech, e.g. to rewrite < to write.

Prefixes can be classified according to different principles.

1. According to the lexico-grammatical character of the base prefixes are usually added to, they may be:

1. deverbal (those added to the verbal base), e.g. re- (rewrite); over-overdo); out- (outstay);

2. denominal (those added to the nominal base), e.g. un- (un­button); de- (detrain); ex- (ex-president);

3. deadjectival (those added to the adjectival base), e.g. un-(uneasy); bi- (biannual).

2. According to the class of words they preferably form prefixes are divided into:

1. verb-forming prefixes, e.g. en-/em (embed, enclose); be-(befriend); de- (dethrone);

2. noun-forming prefixes, e.g. поп- (non-smoker); sub- (sub­committee); ex- (ex-husband);

3. adjective-forming prefixes, e.g. un- (unfair); il- (illiterate); ir-(irregular).

d) adverb-forming prefixes, e.g. un- (unfortunately); up- (uphill). It should be specially mentioned that the majority of prefixes function in more than one part of speech.

3. Semantically prefixes fall into:

1. monosemantic, e.g. the prefix ex- has only one meaning 'former' — ex-boxer;

2. polysemantic, e.g. the prefix dis- has four meanings: 1) 'not' (disadvantage); 2) 'reversal or absence of an action or state' (dis­economy, disaffirm); 3) 'removal of (to disbranch); 4) 'completeness or intensification of an unpleasant action' (disgruntled).

4. According to their generalizing denotational meaning prefixes fall into:

1. negative prefixes, e.g. un- (ungrateful); поп- (nonpolitical); in-(incorrect); dis- (disloyal); a- (amoral);

2. reversative prefixes, e.g. un₂- (untie); de- (decentralize); dis₂-(disconnect);

3. pejorative prefixes, e.g. mis- (mispronounce); mal- (maltreat); pseudo- (pseudo-scientific);

4. prefixes of time and order, e.g. fore- (foretell); pre- (pre-war); post- (post-war), ex- (ex-president);

5. prefix of repetition: re- (rebuild, rewrite);

6. locative prefixes, e.g. super- (superstructure), sub- (subway), inter- (inter-continental), trans- (transatlantic).

5. According to their stylistic reference prefixes fall into:

1. those characterized by neutral stylistic reference, e.g. over-(oversee); under- (underestimate); un- (unknown);

2. those possessing quite a definite stylistic value, e.g. pseudo-(pseudo-classical); super- (superstructure); ultra- (ultraviolet); uni-(unilateral); bi- (bifocal). These prefixes are of a literary-bookish character.

3. Productive and non-productive affixes

The word-forming activity of affixes may change in the course of time. This raises the question of productivity of derivational affixes, i.e. the ability of being used to form new, occasional or potential words, which can be readily understood by the language-speakers. Thus, productive affixes are those used to form new words in the period in question.

The most productive prefixes in Modern English are: de- (de­contaminate), re- (rethink), pre- (prefabricate), поп- (non-operational), un- (unfunny), anti- (antibiotic).

The most productive English suffixes are given below:

Noun-forming suffixes	-er (manager), -ing (fighting), -ness (sweetness), -ation (automation), -ее (evacuee), -ism (materialism), -ist (impressionist), -ance/-ancy (redundancy), -ry (gimmickry), -or (reactor), -ics (cybernetics)
Adjective-forming suffixes	-able (tolerable), -ic (electronic), -ish (smartish), -ed (learned), -less (jobless), -y (tweedy)
Verb-forming suffixes	-ize/-ise (vitaminize), -ate (oxidate), -ify (falsify)
Adverb-forming suffixes	-ly (equally)

Non-productive affixes are the affixes which are not able to form new words in the period in question. Non-productive affixes are recognized as separate morphemes and possess clear-cut semantic characteristics. In some cases, however, the lexical meaning of a non­productive affix fades off so that only its part-of-speech meaning remains, e.g. the adjective-forming suffix -some (lonesome, loath­some).

Some non-productive English suffixes are given below:

Noun-forming suffixes -th (truth), -hood (sisterhood), -ship (scholarship)

Adjective-forming -ful (peaceful), -ly (sickly), -some (tiresome),

suffixes -en (golden), -ous (courageous)

Verb-forming suffixes -en (strengthen)

It is worthy of note that an affix may lose its productivity and then become productive again in the process of word-formation. This happened to the suffix -dom. For a long period of time it was non­productive but in the last hundred years -dom got a new lease of life so that a great amount of words was coined with its help, e.g. serfdom, slavedom.

The productivity of an affix should not be confused with its frequency of occurrence. The frequency of occurrence is understood as the existence in the vocabulary of a great number of words containing the affix in question. An affix may occur in hundreds of words, but if it is not used to form new words, it is not productive. For example, the adjective suffix -ful is met in hundreds of adjectives (beautiful, hopeful, trustful, useful), but no new words seem to be built with its help, and so it is non-productive.