Resumen

ZACARIAS PONCE DE LEON, Ramón F.. Appreciative Morphemes in Spanish: Between Inflection and Derivation.. Núcleo [online]. 2008, vol.20, n.25, pp.221-238. ISSN 0798-9784.

Appreciative  morphemes  show  a  very  special  performance  in  their  formation, as seen in the features selection of the lexemes they are attached to as well as in the output  features. They  certainly  modify  the  base  lexeme  through  pragmatic  values but  never  create  a  new  word. This  special  performance  has  been  noted  by  many scholars  who  have  identified  some  inflectional  features  in  these  morphemes, traditionally classified as derivative. There is no total agreement on the classification of appreciative morphemes and most studies focus on their derivative process. In this paper  I  analyze  their  main  features  in  order  to  describe  and  understand  this simultaneously  inflectional  and  derivational  behavior. I  point  out  in  the  conclusion that these morphemes have enough distinct features as to form a single category, and I propose that this intermediate category exists between inflection and derivation.

Palabras clave : appreciative morphemes; word formation; inflection; morphology.