Interfixes and Connecting Vowels

Linguistics Girl Morphodex Interfixes and Connecting Vowels

An interfix is a bound morpheme that connects two morphemes. A type of interfix, a connecting vowel is a vowel grapheme that joins together two morphemes. This page presents an alphabetical list of English interfixes and connecting vowels identified through Structured Word Inquiry (SWI), a framework for studying spelling through the meaning, morphology, relatives, and letters/sounds of a word. Each interfix and connecting vowel entry includes the denotation (core meaning), etymology (historical origin), and evidence from real words to support the existence of the interfix or connecting vowel.

-e-

(Denotation: Latin connecting vowel, Germanic connecting vowel)

-el-

(Denotation: Latin interfix)

-er-

(Denotation: French interfix before some suffixes)

-i-

(Denotation: Latin connecting vowel)

-in-

(Denotation: Latin interfix)

-l-

(Denotation: euphonic interfix between vowels)

-n-

(Denotation: used between a morpheme-final vowel and a morpheme-initial vowel)

-o-

(Denotation: Ancient Greek connecting vowel)

-r-

(Denotation: euphonic interfix)

-s-

(Denotation: Germanic genitive interfix)

-t-

(Denotation: euphonic consonant to prevent certain vowel sequences)

-u-

(Denotation: Latin connecting vowel)