CLOSING SUFFIXES IN OLD ENGLISH: A STUDY BASED ON RECURSIVE AFFIXATION1

[...]Torre Alonso's (2009) research is restricted to the lexical category of nouns while in this approach we take into account words appertaining to all major lexical classes. [...]the aim of this article is to offer an exhaustive analysis of the combinations and restrictions which to recursive affixation in order to determine whether or not closing suffixes are present in Old English. [...]the classification of affixes, it needs to be noted that the nominal suffixes -a, -e, -o, -u, which can be considered derivational (González Torres 2010; fc.), are treated as exclusively inflective and, consequently, left out of the inventory of suffixes selected for the analysis. [...]this analysis has identified 67 words in which the suffix -lice is bound to an already suffixed base. [...]the studies by Martín Arista (2009) and Torre Alonso (2011b) have already shown the inadequacy of establishing a relative ordering of processes. [...]the number of cases and the figures in each of them are of sufficient relevance so as to suggest this as a plausible approach and a significant result.