Disfix

In linguistic morphology, a disfix is a subtractive morpheme, a morpheme manifest through the subtraction of segments from a root
[1]
or stem. Although other forms of disfixation exist, the element subtracted is usually the final segment of the stem.

Productive disfixation is extremely rare among the languages of the world but is important in the Muskogean languages of the
French are marginal.[2]
southeastern United States. Similar subtractive morphs in languages such as

Contents
Terminology
Examples
Muskogean
French
See also
Notes
Bibliography

Terminology
The terms "disfix" and "disfixation" were proposed by Hardy and Timothy Montler in a 1988 paper on the morphology of the
Alabama language.[2] The process had been previously described by Leonard Bloomfield who called it a minus feature,[3] and Zellig
Harris who called it a "minus morpheme". Other terms for the same or similar processes are subtraction, truncation, deletion, and
minus formation.[1]

Examples

Muskogean
In Muskogean, disfixes mark pluractionality (repeated action, plural subjects or objects, or greater duration of a verb).[4] In the
Alabama language, there are two principal forms of this morpheme:

In most verbs, the last two segments are dropped from thepenultimate syllable of the stem, which is the final syllable
.[4] For example:
of the root. If the syllable has only two segments, it is elided altogether

balaaka 'lies down', balka 'lie down'

batatli 'hits', batli 'hits repeatedly'
cokkalika 'enters', cokkaka 'enter'[4]

In some verbs, the final consonant of thepenult is dropped, but the preceding vowel lengthens to compensate:

salatli "slide", salaali 'slide repeatedly'

noktiłifka "choke", noktiłiika 'choke repeatedly'[4]

French
Bloomfield described the process of disfixation (which he called minus features) through an example from French[3] although most
contemporary analyses find this example to be inadequate because the masculine forms might be taken as the base form and the
feminine forms simply as suppletives.[1] Though not productive like Muscogean and therefore not true disfixation,[5] some French
plurals are analysed as derived from the singular, and many masculine words from the feminine by dropping the final consonant and
making some generally predictable changes to the vowel:

"Disfixed" masculines
Feminine Masculine trans.
blɑ̃ ʃ (blanche) blɑ̃ (blanc) white
fʀɛʃ (fraîche) fʀɛ (frais) fresh
sɛʃ (sèche) sɛk (sec) dry
ɡʀos (grosse) ɡʀo (gros) large
fos (fausse) fo (faux) wrong
fʀɑ̃ sɛz (française) fʀɑ̃ sɛ (français) French
Disfixed plural ɑ̃ ɡlɛz (anglaise) ɑ̃ ɡlɛ (anglais) English
Singular Plural trans. fʀwad (froide) fʀwa (froid) cold
bœf (bœuf) bø (bœufs) cattle ɡʀɑ̃ d (grande) ɡʀɑ̃ (grand) big
œf (œuf) ø (œufs) eggs pətit (petite) pəti (petit) small
ɔs (os) o (os) bones fʀit (frite) fʀi (frit) fried
bɔn (bonne) bɔ̃ (bon) good
bʀyn (brune) brœ̃ (brun) brown
fɔl (folle) fu (fou) insane
bɛl (belle) bo (beau) beautiful
nuvɛl (nouvelle) nuvo (nouveau) new
vjɛj (vieille) vjø (vieux) old
epuz (épouse) epu (époux) spouse (female/male)
ʃamɛl (chamelle) ʃamo (chameau) camel (female/male)

Historically, this reflects that the masculine was once pronounced similar to the current feminine, and the feminine formed by adding
/ə/. The modern situation results from regular apocope which removed a consonant from the masculine and the final schwa of the
feminine.

See also
Nonconcatenative morphology
Affix
Elision

Notes
1. Manova 2011:125-6
2. Hardy & Montler, 1988, "Alabama H-infix andDisfixation", in Haas, ed.,In Honor of Mary Haas: From the Haas
Festival Conference On Native American Linguistics, p. 399.
3. Bloomfield 1933:217
 4. Hardy & Montler 1988:391-2
5. Speakers of French may learn these words by rote assuppletive pairs rather than deriving one from the other
morphologically. Without active morphology, there is arguably no affix involved (cf. Wolfgang U. Dressler,
"Subtraction", in: Geert E. Booij, Christian Lehmann & Joachim Mugdan (eds.), Morphology, Berlin, New York: de
Gruyter 2000, 581-587, p 582).

Bibliography
Bloomfield, Leonard. 1933. Language. New Y ork, NY: Holt [British edition 1935]: London: Allen and Unwin.
George Aaron Broadwell. "Subtractive Morphology in Southern Muskogean", International Journal of American
Linguistics, Vol. 59, No. 4, Muskogean Languages of theSoutheast (Oct., 1993), pp. 416-429
Heather Hardy and Timothy Montler, 1988. "Alabama H-infix and Disfixation", in William Shipley , ed., In Honor of
Mary Haas: From the Haas Festival Conference on Native American Linguistics. Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-
011165-9
Stela Manova. Subtraction. Understanding Morphological Rules: Studies in Morphologyolume V 1, 2011, pp 125-172

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disfix&oldid=791960060

"

This page was last edited on 23 July 2017, at 15:18.

Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.