A circumfix is an affix which has two parts, one placed at the start of a word, and the other at the end. Circumfixes contrast with prefixes, attached to the beginnings of words; suffixes, attached at the end; and infixes, inserted in the middle. Circumfixes are common in Malay and Georgian.
Examples
are used to mark off circumfixes.
Germanic languages
The circumfix is probably most widely known from the Germanpast participle, which is ge't for regular verbs. The verb spielen, for example, has the participle gespielt. Dutch has a similar system. In Dutch, the circumfix ge'te can be used to form certain collective nouns → gebergte ).
In Japanese, some linguists consider o--ni naru and o--suru to be honorific circumfixes; for example yom- ...→ o--ni naru, o--suru. In addition, Old Japanese had a prohibitive construction na--so2, which at least one linguist considers to be a circumfixal word form; an example using the Old Japanese verb ′write′ would be na--so2. The form without the bracketed ne survived marginally into Early Middle Japanese, but has no equivalent in any modern Japanese dialect or any other Japonic language. Instead, all modernJaponic languages and dialects express the prohibitive with a suffixal particle -na attached to a non-past form of the verb; e.g., Tōkyō Japaneseku-na, Kyōto Japaneseka-na, Kagoshima Japanesekaʔ- or kan-, Hachijōkaku-na, Yamatohama Amamikʰakʰu-na, Nakijin Kunigamihḁkˀu:-, Shuri Okinawan , Irabu Miyakoankafï-na, Hateruma Yaeyamanhḁku-na, and Yonagunikʰagu-n-na. In addition to the circumfixal forms, Old Japanese also had a suffixal form similar to the modern forms, as well as a prefixal form na-kak-i1, which is also not reflected in any modern Japonic variety.
Austronesian languages
has eight circumfixes: For example, the circumfix kean can be added to the root adil "fair/just" to form keadilan "fairness/justice".
Other languages
In most North African and some Levantine varieties of Arabic, verbs are negated by placing the circumfix ma'š around the verb together with all its prefixes and suffixed direct- and indirect-object pronouns. For example, Egyptianbitgibuhum-laha "you bring them to her" is negated as maš "you don't bring them to her". In Berber languages the feminine is marked with the circumfix t't. The word afus "hand" becomes t't. In Kabyle, θ'θ "bride" derives from issli "groom". From bni, to build, with t't we obtain tbnit "thou buildest". Negation in Guaraní is also done with circumfixes, nd'i and nd'mo'ãi for future negation. In some Slavic languages, and in Hungarian, the superlative of adjectives is formed with a circumfix. For example, in Czech, the circumfix nej'ší is used – mladý "young" becomes nejmladší "youngest". The corresponding circumfix in Hungarian is legbb, as in legnagyobb "biggest", from nagy "big". In Gurmanchema and Wolof, noun classes are indicated by circumfix.
