Affixes are bound morphemes that are attached to a stem, usually linearly. There are 5 kinds, categorized based on where they are attached: prefixes, suffixes, infixes, circumfixes, and suprafixes.

Prefixes

Prefixes are attached to the beginning of a stem, as shown in (1). In (1a), the prefix re- is attached to the stem work to mean ‘work again.’ In (1b), the prefix un- is attached to the stem lock to mean ‘reverse the action of locking.’

There can be more than one prefix in the same word. For example, in (2), the prefix un- is attached to the stem lock to mean ‘reverse the action of locking,’ and then the prefix re- is attached to the stem unlock to mean ‘reverse the action of locking again.’ These are both prefixes, since they are attached to the beginning of the stem, even if it is no longer at the beginning of the stem after other affixes have been added.

Prefixes are marked with a hyphen at the end, as with re- and un-, to show that they are bound and that they must be attached to a stem on their right edge.

Suffixes

Suffixes are attached to the end of a stem, as shown in (3). In (3a), the suffix -ity is attached to the stem equal to mean ‘the state of being equal’. In (3b), the suffix -s is attached to the stem cat to mean ‘multiple cats.’

Just as with prefixes, there can be more than one suffix, as shown in (4). In (4), the suffix -ity is attached to the stem equal to form equality meaning ‘the state of being equal,’ and then the suffix -s is attached to the stem equality to mean ‘multiple states of being equal.’ These are both suffixes, since they are attached to the end of the stem, even if -ity is no longer at the end of the stem in the final form of the word. Note that -ity changes spelling to -itie when the plural morpheme -s is added, but it is the same morpheme (it is pronounced the same and it has the same meaning).

Suffixes are marked with a hyphen at the beginning, as with -ity and -s, to show that they are a bound morpheme that attaches to the stem on its left side.

Infixes

Infixes are attached inside a stem, as shown in the Hoava data in (5). Hoava is an Austronesian language spoken in the Solomon Islands. In Hoava, the infix -in- is inserted before the first vowel of the stem, turning verbs and adjectives into nouns. In (5a)-(5d), this results in an infix. However, in vowel-initial words like (5e)-(5f), this looks like a prefix, because the position before the first vowel of the word happens to also be the edge of the word. We still call it an infix, though, because the overall pattern that can explain the data as a whole is an infixation pattern.

(original source, Davis 2003, adapted from Kalin 2022: 644)

Note also that the infixation pattern applies to the stem, not the root. This means that the infix might sometimes appear inserted inside the root, as in (5a)-(5b), or might sometimes apper in an affix that has already been attached to the root, as in (5c)-(5d), where it appears inside the causative prefix and the passive prefix, respectively.

Many students confuse infixes with prefixes or suffixes that are not at the word edge, like un- in (2) or –ity in (4). Infixes are fairly rare. If you think you have found an infix in your analysis of a language, you should look closely to see if you really can’t analyze the infix as a a prefix or a suffix that is not at the word edge.

If you’re confused, think of a stack of books as a metaphor. Figure 1 shows a stack of five books. We can think of the middle book as the root and the books on top of it and under it as the prefixes and suffixes. The second book from the top is not at the top or the bottom of the pile, but it is also not inside of another book. It is in between two books. Likewise, prefixes and suffixes might be in between two affixes, instead of at a word edge, but they will not be inside of another affix.

In Figure 2, on the other hand, I’ve added a sixth book, in the middle of the second book from the top. This book is inside another book. It is like an infix, which appears inside of another morpheme. Likewise, in (5a), the nominalizing morpheme -in- appears inside of the morpheme to ‘alive’ in the word tino ‘life.’ Neither the sequence /t/ nor /o/ on their own are morphemes. Instead, the morpheme to is interrupted.

In English, infixation only occurs with expletives, as in (6), or in language play, as with Homer Simpson style -ma- infixation in (7) or Hip Hop style -iz- infixation in (8). All three of these infixes occur before the primary stressed syllable of the word.

(McCarthy 1982, as cited in Yu 2007: 1)

(Yu 2004, as cited in Yu 2007: 1)

(Viau 2002, as cited in Yu 2007: 1)

When describing infixes, it is important to identify and describe the pattern of where they get inserted, as well as their form and meaning. To identify the pattern, you may need to refer to the edge of the word (either the beginning or end of the word) or to the syllable or prosodic structure of the word. Some examples of where an infix might be inserted include:

• Before/after the first/last consonant of the stem
• Before/after the first/last vowel of the stem
• Before/after the first/last syllable of the stem
• Before/after the primary stress of the stem

When mentioning an infix in isolation, it should be written with a hyphen on each side, as with -in-, -ma-, and -iz-, to show that it is a bound morpheme that is inserted inside of the stem. When a word containing an infix is segmented, as in examples (5)-(8), the infix should be marked with angle brackets <> on either side. This shows that it is an infix and not a string of suffixes or prefixes.

Infixation is a little bit controversial. Some linguists, such as Kalin (2022), argue that infixes are really prefixes or suffixes that have been displaced.

Circumfixes

Circumfixes are affixes that appear in two pieces, on either side of the stem. As with infixes, circumfixes are rare. If you propose a circumfix, you need to have a compelling reason why it should be analyzed as one circumfix instead of two separate morphemes. The data in (9) illustrates a morphological pattern that can be analyzed as a circumfix.

In Tagalog, an Austronesian language of the Philippines, the circumfix ka- -an can be affixed to a noun to mean ‘a group of X’, as shown in (9). Neither the first nor second part of the circumfix can appear without the other. In other words, there is no word kaintsik or intsikan. Instead, both morphemes must always appear together.

(Lieber 2016: 88)

Circumfixes are written in the form X- -Y, where X is the part of the circumfix that goes at the beginning of the stem and Y is the part of the circumfix that goes at the end of the stem. This shows that it is a bound morpheme and that it is attached around the stem.

Circumfixes can be considered a special instance of parasynthesis, where one meaning is signaled simultaneously by more than one morphological process, since it is encoded simultaneously by both a prefix and a suffix.

Suprafixes

Finally, suprafixes are morphemes that are encoded in the prosodic structure of a word. Sometimes morphological distinctions in prosody are analyzed as suprafixes and included as a kind of affix, or sometimes they are considered to be a form of non-concatenative morphology, which will we discuss shortly in Section 6.4.

Suprafixes can create contrast in meaning through pitch, length, or stress. An example of a tone suprafix is shown in (10) for the language Tsuut’ina, a Dene language of Alberta. In Tsuut’ina, a high tone is used to mark an incomplete action while a low tone is used to marked a complete action.

(Cook 1971: 169)

An example of a length suprafix can be found in Estonian, a Uralic language spoken in Estonia, in Northern Europe, as shown in (11). The genitive case is used to mark possession on nouns, while the partitive case is used to mark partialness, similar to the English word some. For some Estonian nouns, the only distinction between genitive case is the length of a syllable. In (11a), the genitive form of vodka viina, has a long vowel. In the partitive case, the syllable is lengthened, creating an overlong vowel, viiːna. In (11b), the long consonant in the genitive linna ‘city’ becomes overlong in the partitive linnːa. Finally, in (11c), the diphthong in the genitive laulu ‘song’ becomes long in the partitive lauːlu.

(Spahr 2016: 152)

Some English words show a stress shift between noun-verb pairs, where the noun has initial stress and the verb has final stress, as shown in (12). This could be considered a kind of suprafix affecting stress.

Tonal and length suprafixes can be written with a hyphen preceding a placeholder V (for vowel) or σ (Greek letter sigma, for syllable) and tone or length markers, as shown in (13). There are many different markers used to describe tone, depending on preference and the number of tones in use in the language in question; any of these notations can be used, but be sure to explain your notation if you are not using a well-known system. (For an overview of notation systems for tone, see Section 3.12 of Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd edition). Suprafixes are usually marked with a preceding hyphen, similar to suffixes, to show that it is a bound morpheme and because suffixes are more common cross-linguistically than prefixes. Similar to infixes, this notation should be supplemented with a description of which vowel or syllable it applies to. There is not really a good notation to use for suprafixes affecting stress; these patterns should be described in words.

Check yourself!

Consult the following data in answering the check yourself questions:

References and further resources

For students

📑 Anderson, Catherine, Bronwyn Bjorkman, Derek Denis, Julianne Doner, Margaret Grant, Nathan Sanders, and Ai Taniguchi. 2022. Section 3.12: Tone and intonation. Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd edition. Pressbooks. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/essentialsoflinguistics2/chapter/3-12-tone-and-intonation/

Lieber, Rochelle. 2016. Introducing morphology. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Academic sources

Cook, Eung-Do. 1971. Vowels and tones in Sarcee. Language 47 (1): 164-179.

🔍 Kalin, Laura. 2022. Infixes really are (underlyingly) prefixes/suffixes: Evidence from allomorphy on the fine timing of infixation. Language 98 (4): 641-682.

Spahr, Christopher. 2016. Contrastive representations in non-segmental phonology. Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto.

Yu, Alan. 2007. A natural history of infixation. Oxford: Oxford UP.