Analysis of affixed words: Ten selected trade books

The purpose of this study was to describe the frequency of occurrence of affixed words in consecutive portions of ten selected trade books. Family frequencies of the affixed words included in the study were used to describe the frequency of their occurrence in printed school materials. In addition, affixed words were categorized as being either semantically transparent or semantically opaque.;Three categories of selected trade books, Books for Early Readers, Books for Middle Readers, and Books for Advanced Readers, were selected based on the criteria of their literary value and their endurance over time. One hundred-word samples were drawn from five consecutive portions of the ten selected trade books.;Three research questions were formulated to determine (1) if there were any differences in the frequency of occurrence of affixed words among the random samples drawn, (2) if there were any differences in the number of affixed words which had family frequencies equal to or less than 100.00 among the random samples, and (3) if there were any differences in the percentage of affixed words which were semantically opaque among the three categories of selected trade books.;Findings of the study included the following: (1) There were differences in the number of affixed words occurring among the ten selected trade books. In terms of the occurrence of affixed words, the books tended to cluster into two groups. (2) There were differences in the number of affixed words having family frequencies with U values equal to or less than 100.00. The range was five affixed words to 28 affixed words having family frequencies with U values equal to or less than 100.00. (3) There was an increase in the percentage of affixed words which were semantically opaque among the three categories of trade books. The percentage of semantically opaque affixed words increased as the competency level increased. The largest increase was found between the percentages of semantically opaque affixed words in the categories Books for Early Readers the Books for Middle Readers.