Productivity of Demonym Suffixes in American English

Abstract

This paper will analyze the common suffixes used in English demonyms (adjectives relating a group of people to a particular place). These suffixes are not consistent across the English language; various ones include “-an/-ian” (ex: American), “-i” (ex: Israeli), “-ish” (ex: English), and “-ese” (ex: Chinese). I will examine the etymology of each of these suffixes and look for patterns in which cases each suffix is used, based on the time period during which the suffix was first used, the root word (i.e. the name of the place), and the locations of the places/people that the suffix applies to. I will gather my information by using etymological dictionaries to determine the origins of the suffixes (Oxford English Dictionary, Etymonline) and when they began being used with Google Ngram. I will also use a questionnaire to determine the productivity of each suffix. I will structure this project by analyzing the origins and evolution of each suffix in order of when they started being used for background, then explaining my survey and analyzing the data to come to a conclusion about the productivity of the suffixes.