Derivational affixes are not always automatically classified into functional or lexical categories.Although they are treated differently in various approaches, a shared view contends that the status of a suffix is controversial when it forms categorially incoherent words.However, it is debatable even when it forms words of a single category.This study argues that the Bifurcated Lexical Model proposed by Joseph E.
Emonds is promising in this respect.With ORG CURCUMIN + BIO PERIN two subcomponents of the lexicon that, respectively, store functional and lexical morphemes, the model allows an affix to behave both as a functional and a lexical morpheme.This study demonstrates that the model can successfully account for the properties of the deverbal noun-forming suffix Girls Hoodies -ment in Present-Day English.The -ment nouns newly retrieved from the Oxford English Dictionary Online include instances in which -ment attaches to non-verbal elements and converted words.
While such nouns may pose potential challenges to the perspective of an affix as a functional morpheme, their existence is not surprising but rather predictable within the model that allows for the flexibility of an affix in the dichotomy between functional and lexical categories.