1 On the Role of Suffixes in the Formation of Hebrew Nouns and Adjectives Shmuel Bolozky, University of Massachusetts Amherst (Emeritus) In R. Levie, A. Bar-On, O. Ashkenazi, E. Dattner, & G. Brandes (Eds.) Developing language and literacy: Studies in honor of Dorit Diskin Ravid. Springer. 657-684. Abstract Optimal derivation processes are those that maintain the source of the derivation process as transparently as possible. The most transparent are linear derivations, and in particular those that involve suffixes, because both stem (whose syllabic structure is normally not affected by the derivation process) and the suffix, which in itself is prominent, transparent and fixed, maintain one-to-one correspondence between the “underlying structure” and the structure of the derivation output. We will show here that productive derivation of nouns and adjectives in Hebrew very often involves patterns with suffixes, often in linear derivation. We will go over the major semantic categories at the base of such derivations, classified by register, and show that although linear derivation is getting stronger, particularly in the middle and colloquial registers, discontinuous derivation is “alive and well,” and that in many instances, linearly derived patterns with suffixes simultaneously incorporate a significant number of sub-classes of items that can also be regarded as discontinuous miškalim (noun and adjective formation patterns), and that the combination of linear derivation with discontinuous sub-patterns make the process of decoding even easier to process. Thus, insofar as the listener/reader is concerned, the derivation source is more transparent, and the syntactic information encoded in discontinuous Hebrew patterns is not a hinderance, but actually helpful. Keywords: Israeli Hebrew, morphology, word formation, linear derivation, discontinuous derivation, suffixes, derivational transparency, productivity in word formation Introduction. The chapter will start with a definition of productivity in word-formation, specify the sources of data on which the research reported here is based, outline the three major criteria used by the author to determine relative productivity (dictionary comparison, productivity tests – both open and choice ones – and counting hapax legomena in large language corpora), and present the statistics for each major derivation pattern, whether discontinuous or linear, separated by register: High, Mid or Colloquial (Slang included). Based on the author’s data, a table of pattern productivity is then proposed, followed by a table of overall pattern productivity rating across semantic categories. A more detailed discussion of each of the major categories follows, from adjectives and nominalizations, in which patterns with suffixes, +i and +ut, respectively, are the most productive (within the category, as well as generally in the language), through agents/agentive adjectives (where the suffix +an is very productive, as it is for instruments as well), locatives (including the productive suffix +iya) and diminutives (in which the suffix +on is the most productive). Linear as well discontinuous derivation patterns are discussed. The advantages of linear suffixation are considered, particularly maximal transparency, of the suffix itself and the (usually) unaffected stem as well, but although linear derivation is becoming commoner,