Affixation: the ‘master word’ approach
Target Audience
AS students interested in language puzzles and how grammar works at word level.
Key Concepts
Morphology; prefix; suffix; affix; root.
The Activity
In 1958 it was proposed in an academic journal that it was possible to take the 14 words below
and, by recombining their affixes and roots in various ways, build a vocabulary of 14,000 words.
Is this true? The 14 words are: aspect, detain, epilogue, indisposed, insist, intermittent,
mistranscribe, monograph, nonextended, offer, oversufficient, precept, reproduction,
uncomplicated
Background Knowledge
You need a basic definition of prefix, suffix, affix and root and a general awareness that words
are often formed by adding prefixes and/or suffixes to a word root e.g. re+act+ion.
Resources
To develop a more complex and comprehensive understanding of derivational morphology, we
strongly suggest you prepare for the ‘master word’ activity with this online workshop on roots,
prefixes and suffixes at www.southampton.liu.edu/academic/pau/course/webesl.htm.
Outcomes
This is a puzzle for intellectual stretch, individually or collaboratively. You may subsequently find
it easier to deduce the meanings of complex Latinate words in academic registers, as well as
having the morphological knowledge to become a Scrabble champion! (To play online go to
www.isc.ro).
Helpful Hints
1. Divide each word into its constituent parts, checking the meaning and variant forms of
each one (use the online workshop). For additional help with this, use the online OED
(see access note below), open the entry for a word, then click on the etymology tab to
find its word formation principle, e.g. detain reads f.(from) DE- + ten re to hold
2. You could write the components onto separate cards so that you can move them around
and try out different combinations.
3. Check your combinations are legitimate English words in a substantial dictionary. The
online Oxford English Dictionary at www.oed.com is the most comprehensive. You may
be able to get a log-in to this subscription service from your school/college and you can
almost certainly get one free of charge from your local public library via your library card.
See information at www.oed.com/services/public-libs.html.
Going Further
If you are interested in computer programming, you could perhaps develop this into an online
game for other students, using these sites as starting points for ideas:
http://visl.sdu.dk/visl/en/edutainment/games/ and http://hdym.londongt.org/games.html.