The Morphological Legacy of French: Borrowed Suffixes on Native Bases in Middle English

Author / Editor
Miller, D. Gary.

Title
The Morphological Legacy of French: Borrowed Suffixes on Native Bases in Middle English

Published
Diachronica 14 (2006): 233-64.

Description
Miller tallies a number of "hybrid derivatives" from before 1500, focusing on top-frequency suffixes. Examples and conclusions involve Chaucerian usage, including Chaucer's tendency to develop "non-technical hybrids" and to use "non-prestige French affixes on native English bases" rather than to apply "abstract suffixes on bases of lower register."

Chaucer Subjects
Language and Word Studies.