+4116 If anyone know a little English can you help answer this question please and thank you!!
Numerous English words have a root and an affix. Do you think that the availability of affixes means there are more or fewer words in the English language?
+2440 I may not be a lexicographer, but I do know what affixes are. An affix is a word element attached to either the beginning or ending of the root of a word with the purpose of modifying the original word's meaning. Here are a few examples of an affix.
Look at how many words, for example, build off of the root -clos-. This root, at its core, means to "shut." Here are a few I could think of:
| Closet |
| Closely |
| Closest |
| Disclose |
| Foreclosure |
| Closeness |
| Closemouthed |
Notice how combinations of letters added to the word change the meaning of the word while still preserving the original meaning. Let's try an easier root, -spec-, which means "to see." This one has so many examples that I will not even attempt to list them all. I tried listing ones with unique affixes and lengths:
| Retrospectively |
| Specifications |
| Disrespectful |
| Spectrograph |
| Spectacular |
| Inspectors |
| Suspected |
| Spectrum |
| Aspects |
| Speck |
All of these words (and many others I omitted) are some variation of "to see."
I do not think this extreme diversity of words would be possible without affixes. Imagine if there was a completely different word for every variation of -spec- or -clos-? These are only two examples. You can attempt to investigate -aqua- or -jur- or -chrono-.
Despite this analysis, I am not sure whether or not it would change the number of words in a language. Maybe there is some other way of organizing symbols to create words that we are not implementing in the modern day; you have to start from somewhere. Maybe other people can chime in and provide their thoughts. I suspect that this is a toss-up question and that no definite answer exists.
