The Role of Etymology and Word Length in English Word Formation

The attachment of affixes to English words is conditioned by both number of syllables and etymological origin. Using a computerized morphological analyzer on a large data base of English words, we show that both etymology and length in syllables effect some affix attachment categorically. For other affixes, the constraints appear to be variable. Our study results in a better understanding of the mechanisms that speakers use to analyze and generate complex words. We expect this knowledge to be useful for improving computerized morphological analysis and generation systems.