INFIX

:''This article is about infixes in natural languages. For the mathematical notation, see Infix notation.
An 'infix' is an affix inserted inside another morpheme. This is common in Austronesian and Austroasiatic languages. For example, the Tagalog language has borrowed the English word ''graduate'' as a verb. In this language, a grammatical form similar to the active voice is formed by adding the infix '''' as close to the left edge of the verb(provided that the /m/ does not act as the end of a syllable) , so a speaker saying "I graduated" uses the derived form ''gr'um'aduate''. (It is conventional to set off infixes with , rather than the hyphens used to set off prefixes and suffixes.)
The Semitic languages have a form of ablaut (changing the vowels within words, as in English ''sing, sang, sung, song)'' which is sometimes called infixation, but there is often no identifiable infix common across the vocabulary. However, Arabic uses a common infix, <ت> '''' for Form VIII verbs, usually a reflexive of Form I. It is placed after the first consonant of the root; an epenthetic ''i-'' prefix is added since words cannot begin with a consonant cluster. An example is اجتهد ''ijtahada'' "he worked hard", from جهد ''jahada'' "he strove". (The words "ijtihad" and "jihad" are nouns derived from these two verbs.) In Seri some verbs form the plural stem with infixation of ''-tóo-'' after the first vowel of the root; compare the singular stem ''ic'' 'plant (verb)' with the plural stem ''itóoc''. Examples: ''itíc'' 'did s/he plant it?' and ''iti'tóo'c'' 'did they sow it?'.
English has very few infixes, and those it does have are marginal. A few are heard in colloquial speech, and a couple more are found in technical terminology.

★ The infix '''' or '''' is characteristic of hip-hop slang, for example ''h'iz'ouse'' for ''house'' and ''sh'izn'it'' for ''shit.'' Infixes occur in some language games. The '''' infix, whose distribution was documented by linguist Alan C. L. Yu, gives a word an ironic pseudo-sophistication, as in ''sophisti'ma'cated, saxo'ma'phone,'' and ''edu'ma'cation''.

★ Chemical nomenclature includes the infixes '','' signifying complete hydrogenation (from ''pi'pe'ridine),'' and '''' (from '' 'et'hyl),'' signifying the ethyl radical C₂H₅. Thus from ''picoline'' is derived ''pi'pe'coline,'' and from ''lutidine'' is derived ''lu'pe'tidine;'' from ''phenidine'' and ''xanthoxylin'' are derived ''phen'et'idine'' and ''xanthoxyl'et'in''.
Tmesis is sometimes considered a type of infixation. It is found in English profanity, such as ''in'fucking'credible'' and ''abso'bloody'lutely''. See the article expletive infixation.
Note that sequences of prefixes or suffixes do not result in infixes: An infix must be internal to a single morpheme. Thus the word ''originally,'' formed by adding the suffix ''-ly'' to ''original,'' does not turn the suffix ''-al'' into an infix. There is simply a sequence of two suffixes, ''origin-al-ly.'' In order for ''-al-'' to be considered an infix, it would have to be inserted in the non-existent word ''
★ originly''. The "infixes" in the Bantu languages are generally sequences of prefixes of this type.

Contents

See also

See also

★ Affix

★ Tmesis

★ Clitic

★ Expletive infixation

★ Tree traversal