{"id":771,"date":"2010-08-01T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2010-08-01T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=771"},"modified":"2010-06-14T13:28:29","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T11:28:29","slug":"a-dictionary-of-english-affixes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=771","title":{"rendered":"A dictionary of English affixes"},"content":{"rendered":"
A dictionary of English affixes: <\/strong>Their function and meaning. By Gabriele Stein<\/strong>. (LINCOM studies in English linguistics 12.) Munich: LINCOM Europa, 2007. Pp. 181. ISBN 9783895863875<\/a>. $133.42 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Omaima M. Ayoub<\/strong><\/a>, Richard J. Daley College<\/em><\/p>\n

Enabling native and nonnative language learners and users to master the major bound morphemes of the English lexicon, Gabriele Stein presents a wide array of word analyses to disambiguate and facilitate the learning of unfamiliar complex words. S offers an accessible approach to learning English affixes by providing information about pronunciation as well as synonyms and antonyms for each entry. S also includes a key to the phonetic transcriptions that distinguishes between British and American English pronunciation.<\/p>\n

A distinction is made between simple and complex words: simple words consist of one free morpheme (e.g. high<\/em>, hope<\/em>, soon<\/em>), whereas complex words consist of two or more elements (e.g. high-er<\/em>, hope-ful<\/em>, soon-er<\/em>). Building on this distinction, S makes the case that learning complex words becomes easier when one learns about word elements (i.e. morphemes) and word-formation patterns. Moreover, S contends that understanding how the lexical building blocks of English are combined can facilitate vocabulary use.<\/p>\n

S acknowledges the impact of lexical borrowings from others languages (e.g. Latin, Greek, French) on English vocabulary. She suggests that understanding language use becomes easier if a basic knowledge of word elements from other languages is attained. Examples of these foreign word elements include: geno<\/em>– (e.g. genocide<\/em>), homo<\/em>– (e.g. homosexual<\/em>), –ette<\/em> (e.g. usherette<\/em>), duo<\/em>– (e.g. duologue<\/em>), octo<\/em>– (e.g. octopod<\/em>), and tri<\/em>– (e.g. triangle<\/em>).<\/p>\n

S distinguishes between three types of bound forms: prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms. Prefixes are bound morphemes added at the beginning of a word to change the meaning in relation to time and space, degree, quantification, repetition, and negation without affecting the word\u2019s part of speech. Examples of prefixes include: pre<\/em>– (e.g. prewar<\/em>), tri<\/em>– (e.g. tridimensional<\/em>), re<\/em>– (e.g. restart<\/em>), ultra<\/em>– (e.g. ultrastructure<\/em>), and un<\/em>– (e.g. unhappy<\/em>). Suffixes, by contrast, are bound morphemes attached to the end of a word. Suffixes can be either derivational, in which a new word is derived from an existing word, or inflectional, in which a grammatical function such as tense or number is indicated. Examples of derivational suffixes include: –ify<\/em> (e.g. simplify<\/em>), –ful<\/em> (e.g. helpful<\/em>), and –dom<\/em> (e.g. stardom<\/em>), whereas inflectional suffixes include: –ed<\/em> (e.g. talked<\/em>), –s<\/em> (e.g. dogs<\/em>), and –ing<\/em> (e.g. seeing<\/em>). Unlike prefixes and suffixes, combining forms join together to form a new word. Examples of combining forms include: pedo<\/em>– and –phile<\/em> in pedophile<\/em>, biblio<\/em>– and –graphy<\/em> in bibliography<\/em>, and bio-<\/em> and –logy<\/em> in biology<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This book offers a unique tool for vocabulary expansion and understanding. Although this valuable resource is intended for an academic audience, anyone interested in the English lexicon will benefit from S\u2019s comprehensive, yet succinct, approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A dictionary of English affixes: Their function and meaning. By Gabriele Stein. (LINCOM studies in English linguistics 12.) Munich: LINCOM Europa, 2007. Pp. 181. ISBN 9783895863875. $133.42 (Hb). Reviewed by Omaima M. Ayoub, Richard J. Daley College Enabling native and nonnative language learners and users to master the major bound morphemes of the English lexicon, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=771"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":773,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771\/revisions\/773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}