Suffixes vs final combining forms in English: A lexicographic perspective

Abstract

The aims of this paper are twofold: firstly, to offer one method of drawing a systematic dividing line between suffixes and final combining forms (FCFs), by applying the ordered set of shared and distinguishing criteria, based on the formal, functional, semantic and pragmatic properties of both suffixes and FCFs, which was originally proposed in the paper 'Prefixes vs Initial Combining Forms in English: a Lexicographic Perspective' (Pŕiacute; 2005); and secondly, to define the categories of prototypical suffix and prototypical FCF, which would, consequently, help to assign each bound final lexical element to one of the two categories in a synchronically more appropriate way. By filling the current descriptive gap in lexicological theory, this paper especially hopes to contribute to lexicographic methodology and practice with concrete pointers for a more consistent labelling of all bound final lexical elements in dictionaries, both pedagogical and native-speaker ones, where present solutions are to a large extent inconsistent, unexplained and hence confusing for the user. © 2008 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.