A Linguistics Workbook, 4th Edition

Name

Section

1.4 Word Building 7: -ness Affixation (English)

For this exercise, consider the following words:

List I List I1

l. furious

2. infectious


3. courteous


4. powerless


5. fair
   6, clever


6. warm


7. useful


8. prideful


9. heavy


10. slack


11. sick


12. sleepy

furiousness

infectiousness

courteousness

powerlessness

fairness

cleverness

warmness

usefulness

pridefulness

heaviness

slackness

sickness

sleepiness

Questions

State the word formation rule for the affix -ness, using the following format (see

Linguistics, pp. 35-40):

A. Phonological change

B. Category change

1. What part of speech does -ness attach to? That is, what is the part of
   speech of the words in list I?