The English Suffix -Wise and its Productivity from the Non-Native Speaker Perspective

Abstract

In recent decades an increase in the use of the English suffix ‐wise was commented on by several authors (cf. Plag, Dalton‐Puffer and Baayen 1999; Dalton‐Puffer and Plag 2000; Yezbick and Closs Traugott 2005; Cowie 2006; Plag 2006). In fact, this phenome‐ non has also elicited comment and advice from sources following a more prescriptive tra‐ dition, such as style manuals used and prepared by editorial staff of various newspapers and magazines, discouraging language users from employing this suffix by proclaiming it non‐standard. Thus, for example, The University of Minnesota Style Manual1 states firmly: “Adding the suffix ‐wise to a word is almost never appropriate. [...] Avoid it.” Pullum and Huddleston (2002: 567) explicitly mention that the construction is frowned upon by prescriptivists, but seems to have “caught on” in less formal, particularly, spoken discourse. Indeed, the formation of adverbs in ‐wise from nouns is alive and well, thriv‐ ing in both American and British English, as illustrated by a private letter received by the author of the present article from her English friends: