Week 10 (March 18): Wordformation 2
Pick one of the following forms (affix or combining form), many
(but not all) of which can be found in Millward's list of classical affixes (p. 327).
Don't like the topics? Check out "combining form" and
"classical compound" in McArthur.
Referring to the OED and Marchand, as well as to more up-to-date
sources, and remembering the instructions for the previous word-formation
assignment, construct an interesting and intelligent argument about the
productivity of your form in English. More up-to-date sources
can include not only conventional dictionaries but also/especially dictionaries of
very current English (e.g. Barnhart Dictionary) and internet
searches.
Remember the needs of your audience in an oral presentation: defining the
meaning of your form before discussing other points (e.g. its
morphological variation, its fondness for classical over native bases, its
primary registers, etc.); clear topic
sentences that relate clearly to previous ones, clear/amusing examples,
repetition of key points.
Some of these forms aren't technically affixes, hence the quotation marks!
"Prefixes": auto-, bio-, eco- (Rebecca), epi- (Brad), ex-, hyper-, hypo-
(Jennifer),
intra-, meta-,
micro-, mini- (Andrea), multi-, nano-, neo-, para-, tele-, ultra-.
"Suffixes": -aholic (Dale), -athon (Susana), -gate (Zach), -in(1)/-ine
(cocaine), -in(3)
(fish-in), -mania (Dane), -(o)logy, -orama (Cheratra), -orium.