linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

, a simulfix is a type of affix that changes one or more existing

phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...

s (usually vowels) in order to modify the meaning of a

morpheme A morpheme is the smallest meaningful constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. In English, morphemes are often but not necessarily words. Morphemes that stand alone are ...

. Examples of simulfixes in English are generally considered irregularities, surviving results of Germanic umlaut. They include: *''man'' → ''men,'' ''woman'' → ''women'' *''louse'' → ''lice,'' ''mouse'' → ''mice'' *''foot'' → ''feet,'' ''tooth'' → ''teeth'' The

transfix In linguistic morphology, a transfix is a discontinuous affix which is inserted into a word root, as in root-and-pattern systems of morphology, like those of many Semitic languages. A discontinuous affix is an affix whose phonetic components ...

es of the

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

may be considered a form of discontinuous simulfix. In Indonesian, simulfixation productively occurs, for example, in ''ngopi'', ''nyapu'', ''nyuci'', ''nongkrong'' and ''macul'', which are

verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...

s derived from the

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

bases ''kopi'', ''sapu'', ''cuci'', ''tongkrong'' and ''pacul''.

References

{{ling-morph-stub

See also

References