A Corpus Study of the English Suffixes -ness and -acy - Productivity, Genre, and Implications for L2 Learning

Oct 15, 2026

Despite substantial scholarship on word structure, the relationship among English affix productivity, genre, and second language (L2) learning remains unclear. This study examines two rival deadjectival noun suffixes, -acy and -ness, using Construction Morphology and corpus evidence from the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus. Results show genre-conditioned productivity, with -acy especially frequent in academic texts, particularly in certain social sciences, informing implications for learners and teachers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

The Research Context

Productivity

Measuring Productivity

Research Questions and Scope

Implications for L2 Learners and Teachers

Future Research

A Corpus Study of the English Suffixes-ness and-acy: Productivity, Genre, and Implications for L2 Learning Ben Naismith University of Pittsburgh Matthew Kanwit University of Pittsburgh Abstract Despite substantial scholarship relating to word structure (Anderson, 2018), for English affixes the relationship between productivity, genre, and second language (L2) learning remains unclear. Analysis of the existing literature reveals that deadjectival noun suffixes (i.e., nouns derived from adjectives such as appropriacy or goodness) have been underexamined. To address this gap, we examine two rival suffixes, -acy and-ness, through the lens of Construction Morphology (Booij, 2010), considering numerous factors which might condition their varying usage. Critically, corpus data in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus (Davies, 2008-) reveal the importance of considering these affixes’ productivity in relation to genre, since-acy is especially frequent in academic texts, principally within certain social sciences. The implications for learners and teachers of English as a second language are discussed, particularly higher-level learners building communicative competence in academic contexts, along with a preliminary learner corpus comparison of the two variants. Résumé Malgré de nombreuses études vis- à -vis la structure des mots (Anderson, 2018), pour les affixes en anglais ; la relation entre productivité, genre et l’apprentissage d’une langue seconde (L2) reste floue. L’analyse documentaire met en évidence que les suffixes formantdes noms désadjectivaux (i.e., des noms dérivés des adjectifs tels que appropriacy ou goodness) sont sous-étudiés. Pour combler cette lacune, l’on examine deux suffixes concurrents, -acy and -ness, du point de vue de la Morphologie Constructionnelle (Booij, 2010), tout en considérant de nombreux facteurs susceptibles de conditionner leur utilisation variable. Essentiellement, les données du Corpus of Contemporary American English et du British National Corpus (Davies, 2008-) font ressortir l’importance de considérer la productivité de ces affixes par rapport au genre, du fait que-acy est particulièrement fréquent dans des textes académiques, principalement dans certaines sciences sociales. L’on présente finalement une discussion des implications pour les enseignants ainsi que les apprenants d’anglais langue seconde, notamment ceux de niveau supérieur développant leur compétencede communication dans des contextes académiques, accompagné d’une comparaisonpréliminaire de deux variantes par le biais des corpus. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics: 24, 1 (2021): 115-137 CJAL * RCLA Naismith & Kanwit 116 A Corpus Study of the English Suffixes-ness and-acy: Productivity, Genre, and Implications for L2 Learning There is a long tradition of scholarship in linguistics in relation to word structure (Anderson, 2018), particularly English word structure (e.g., Bloomfield, 1933) . To account for the observed patterns and variation in English, a language well known for its multilingual makeup, researchers from diverse areas of linguistics have proposed analyses which prioritize different domains of language (e.g., morphological, semantic, historical, sociolinguistic, etc.) . After synthesizing the various findings in this field, we turn our focus to deadjectival abstract nouns in English, specifically those ending in the suffixes-acy andness. To do so, we rely on a Construction Morphology framework (Booij, 2010) to account for the various factors which affect morphological productivity, highlighting the importance of genre. From this literature review, and supplemented with our own corpus investigations, we attempt to answer the following three research questions: 1. Do past studies in English derivational morphology adequately describe the relative productivity levels of the deadjectival abstract noun suffixes-acy and-ness? 2. Do past studies in Engl

FAQs

Which two rival suffixes are analyzed in the study?

The study analyzes the deadjectival noun suffixes -acy and -ness.

What corpora are used to investigate suffix productivity?

It uses the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus to analyze productivity across genres.

How does genre affect the productivity of -acy and -ness?

The findings indicate that productivity varies by genre and modality, with -acy especially frequent in academic texts, particularly within certain social sciences.

Oct 15, 2026

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