Word Formation
Fully inflected words are usually formed from a root plus a suffix plus an ending. The suffix is sometimes missing, which has been interpreted as a zero suffix. Words with zero suffix are termed root verbs and root nouns. Beyond this basic structure, there is the nasal infix, a present tense marker, and reduplication, a sort of prefix with a number of grammatical and derivational functions.
Read more about this topic: Proto-Indo-European Root
Famous quotes containing the words word and/or formation:
“Pike Bishop: He gave his word.
Dutch: He gave his word to a railroad.
Pike Bishop: It’s his word.
Dutch: That ain’t what counts. It’s who you give it to.”
—Walon Green, U.S. screenwriter, and Sam Peckinpaugh (b. 1925)
“... the mass migrations now habitual in our nation are disastrous to the family and to the formation of individual character. It is impossible to create a stable society if something like a third of our people are constantly moving about. We cannot grow fine human beings, any more than we can grow fine trees, if they are constantly torn up by the roots and transplanted ...”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)