Simulfix
Affix that changes one or more phonemes
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In linguistics, a simulfix is a type of affix that changes one or more existing phonemes (usually vowels) in order to modify the meaning of a morpheme.[1]
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 transfixes of the Semitic languages may be considered a form of discontinuous simulfix.
In Javanese and colloquial Indonesian, simulfixation productively occurs to form active verbs and to derive verbs from noun bases. For example:
- cuci → nyuci (to wash)
- tulis → nulis (to write)
- kopi (coffee) → ngopi (to drink coffee)
- sapu (broom) → nyapu (to sweep)
- tongkrong (hangout) → nongkrong (to hang out)
- pacul (hoe) → macul (to hoe)
