The Affixation and Vocabulary Memory

【Abstract】There are so many words in the world. It is not hard to understand because there are some principles to follow. If students master these principles of word formation， it means that students find a short way to enlarge their vocabulary. Through affixation， students can not only get a large number of vocabulary， but also one method to guess the meaning of a new word. For some students， it is one good way to remember words easily and enlarge their words.

【Key words】word； affixation

In English learning process， it is important to get a lot of words because words play an important part in English listening， speaking， reading， writing and translation. However， some students view that it will waste so much time to remember words. Sometimes they will quickly forget these words in a short time. Up to now， there are about 1000， 000 words in the world. Students must acknowledge at least 5， 000 words if they want to learn English well. Therefore， it is an essential task to seek one proper and effective way to remember words.

There are two kinds of traditional ways to remember words. They are mechanical memory method and meaning memory method. However， these two methods sometimes can not work very well. So prefix will make effect in vocabulary memory.

Affixation can be devided into prefix， infix and suffix according to different places in the word. Prefix means that affixation lies before the root of word. Infix means that affixation stands in the middle if the one word. Suffix means that the affixation is put behind the root in one word. Through the definition of prefix， infix and suffix， it is easily to know what is a prefix in one word. Therefore， prefix plays an important part in English word. Making use of prefix to memory word will save students much time. For we usually use prefix and suffix， I will pay more attention to prefix and suffix.

How to use prefix to memory words？ The author will set three simple examples to help readers understand.

The first example is expose. Ex- means out， outward； pose means that disclose， uncover. Therefore， pose something out means expose.

The second example is irregular. Ir means not； regular means ordinary. When put prefix ir- before regular， it brings the opposite meaning.

The third example is underestimate. Under- means down； estimate means evaluate， value. Put them together and then have the meaning that someone look others down.

Here are some examples of suffix. When we refer to suffix， we can easily know that suffix can change part of speech of the word. Firstly， let us look at examples. Ate- is the signal of adjective. Ation- is the signal of nouns. Ative- means adjective. Create is a verb because there is a suffix ate behind the root. Then put the suffix tion- in the word. The word change to creation. Creation is a noun. Next， let us transform create into creative. Creative is an adjective. From this example， we can see that these three words have a same root. The difference between them is the part of speech.

Here are other examples. Relation is a noun. Relative is an adjective. Relate is a verb. The word relate share the same word formation principle with the word create.

-ify is the suffix stands for verb. -ty means noun. -iful means adjective. Beauty is a noun. Beautifully is a adverb. Beautiful is an adjective.

From these three examples of suffix， we can easily and quickly learn new words. In another word， If we have a same root， we can create at least two new words. Then if we can acknowledge some basic root of words， we can easily grasp a lot of different words.

The word formation is like a machine. If we make rules and set procedures in the computer， we can produce any products we want. Therefore， it is essential for learners to master this kind of word formation principles.

Conclusion：

To sum up， affixation is one important part in English learning especially vocabulary learning. As important part of affixation， prefix and suffix have a meaningful significance in word formation. It makes word formation colorful.

References：

[1]張法春，向平.英文字根字词研究[M].中国海洋大学出版社，2012.

作者简介：张庆（1991-），女，汉族，山东临沂人，英语硕士，研究方向：英语教育理论与实践。