Modifying suffixes in Italian and the Autonomy of Morphology
This study addresses restrictions concerning morphological modification in modern spoken Italian – the formation of diminutives, augmentatives and pejoratives by means of modifying suffixes (MS). Three purely morphological restrictions have been found (Necker 2005, 2006): (i) de-adjectival nouns with the suffix -ità; (ii) nouns with -ismo; (iii) adverbs formed with the suffix -mente cannot be modified by means of MS. In recent communication technologies (blogs, chat-rooms etc.), a number of apparent counter-examples are found, e.g. possibilitina. Should these be regarded as derived formations, they would break the above-mentioned restrictions. We advance the hypothesis that the base of e.g. possibilitina, is perceived as a simplex word, rather than as complex and derived, and that a morphological constraint can apply only if the base is perceived as internally structured.