A Corpus-based Study of English Adjective Formation Using the Suffix –ish
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Abstract
Affix productivity allows native as well as non-native speakers of English to create new words that sometimes have not yet coined in standard dictionaries. Among the top suffixes that contribute to productivity in English is -ish. This research article was aimed at exploring how adjectives were formed from the suffix -ish and what meaning they conveyed using data from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). It was found that there were five classes of words attached by this suffix: common noun, proper noun, adjective, numeral, and verb. Adjectives suffixed with -ish were further categorized into three groups according to their meanings: ‘somewhat’, ‘have a quality of’, and ‘approximately’. Pedagogical implications are also provided for teachers who wish to incorporate the suffix -ish into their lessons.
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References
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