mpigamsuli
Infixation in english
An infix is an
affix inserted inside a word stem (an existing word). It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.
There is a morphological process called infixation, which is interesting to english speakers because it doesn't exist in english. For you non-linguistics nerds, imagine that the plural suffix "s" was stuck right into the middle of a word, so that instead of "cats" we would say "cast". That's infixation.
The languages which feature infixation most prominently are the Semitic languages, like Arabic and Hebrew. In hebrew, the roots for some words are three "letters" The root of the word Shalom is ShLM (i don't know how to represent the letter for the Sh sound in text, but it's an s with a little upside-down arrow on the top of it). Anyway, morphemes a and o are infixed into that word to make Shalom. There's bunches of other words with the same root, but different things are infixed in there to make it different words.
The only example in English that I've ever read about it the infixation of the word (words can be morphemes too), "****in'"
Example: Abso****inlutely
Another example, which is appearing more is the infixation of the word "whole."
Example: Awholenother world.
I'm not sure why this is acceptable to some English speakers. My intuition is that most people would not find it acceptable, but generally, things slowly become acceptable to more people as time goes on. Like it or not, "Irregardless" will probably one day be an acceptable word for English speakers, as will the spellings "thru" "u" and, most likely, "cuz". You can't stop these things.
Anyway, the use of the word "awholenother" has always kind of irked me, but now that I know more about word formation processes, I think it's kinda cool, since it brings a new process into the English language. Change is good and unavoidable.