On the paradigmatic nature of affixal semantics in English and Dutch

This article looks in some detail at the semantics of the affixes -er and -ee in English, at the affix -er in Dutch, and at the fact that Dutch seems to lack a specific process of word formation analogous to -ee in English. We also look at the formation of subject- and object-oriented nouns in a larger context, raising the question of what happens in a language that lacks a productive derivational means for expressing a particular morphological concept. We argue that an explanation of the most deviant derivations with these affixes arises only when we consider the paradigmatic nature of affixal semantics.

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