ADJECTIVE SUFFIXATION AND STYLISTIC MEANING IN FRANZ KAFKA’S THE METAMORPHOSIS

Palqi Wijdani, Nurholis Nurholis, Toneng Listiani


Abstract


This study examines adjective-forming suffixation in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis by integrating derivational morphological analysis with stylistic interpretation. The study aims to identify the types and frequencies of adjective-forming suffixes and to explore their contribution to the novel’s thematic and stylistic construction. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach supported by quantitative frequency analysis, the data were collected from the English translation of The Metamorphosis and analyzed using theories of derivational morphology proposed by Katamba (2018), Plag (2018), and related scholars. The analysis identified 73 valid instances of adjective-forming suffixation distributed across eighteen suffix types. The most productive suffixes were -ful (13 instances), -al (8 instances), -y (7 instances), and -less (6 instances). The findings indicate that most derived adjectives function as qualitative adjectives, describing emotional states, psychological conditions, and physical characteristics, while relational adjectives primarily establish social and contextual relationships. The distribution of suffixes reveals a significant increase in adjective use in the final chapter, corresponding to the intensification of Gregor Samsa’s psychological decline and social isolation. Furthermore, suffixes such as -ful and -less contribute to the representation of suffering, vulnerability, powerlessness, and alienation, which constitute central themes of the novel. The study concludes that adjective-forming suffixation functions not only as a productive morphological process but also as a stylistic resource that supports characterization, thematic development, and meaning construction in literary discourse.

Keywords


Literary Text, English Morphology, Qualitative Adjectives, Relational Adjectives, Adjective Suffixation.

References


Aronoff, M., & Fudeman, K. (2011). What is morphology? (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Baayen, R. H., Milin, P., Đurđević, D. F., Hendrix, P., & Marelli, M. (2019). An amorphous model for morphological processing in visual comprehension based on naive discriminative learning. Psychological Review, 126(6), 825–859. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000151

Bauer, L. (2003). Introducing linguistic morphology (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press.

Bauer, L., Lieber, R., & Plag, I. (2013). The Oxford reference guide to English morphology. Oxford University Press.

Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027

Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Pearson Education.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE.

Crystal, D. (2018). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D., & Davy, D. (1969). Investigating English style. Longman.

Fernandez-Quintanilla, C., & Stradling, F. (2023). Introduction: Stylistic approaches to narrative empathy. Journal of Literary Semantics, 52(2), 103–121. https://doi.org/10.1515/jls-2023-2008

Günther, F., & Marelli, M. (2020). Trying to make it work: Compositional effects in the processing of compound “nonwords.” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73(7), 1082–1091. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021820902019

Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). Routledge.

Haspelmath, M., & Sims, A. D. (2013). Understanding morphology (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Huddleston, R., & Pullum, G. K. (2005). A student’s introduction to English grammar. Cambridge University Press.

Jeffries, L., & McIntyre, D. (2010). Stylistics. Cambridge University Press.

Kafka, F. (2005). The metamorphosis (T. D. Wyllie, Ed.). Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org

Karang, N. P. D. N. P., Artawa, K., & Malini, N. L. N. S. (2024). Derivational suffixes forming adjectives and their syntactic functions in reference to Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. Journal of Language and Literature Studies, 4(2), 330–345. https://doi.org/10.36312/jolls.v4i2.1897

Katamba, F. (2018). Morphology (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.

Lastari, N. K. K., & Winarta, I. B. G. N. (2025). A linguistic analysis of derivational suffixes in short story entitled “The Nightingale and the Rose” by Oscar Wilde. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v13i2.7308

Leech, G. N. (1974). Semantics: The study of meaning. Penguin Books.

Leech, G. N., & Short, M. (2007). Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to English fictional prose (2nd ed.). Pearson Longman.

Lieber, R. (2004). Morphology and lexical semantics. Cambridge University Press.

Lieber, R. (2010). Introducing morphology. Cambridge University Press.

Lumintang, K., & Winarta, I. B. G. N. (2025). Analysis of prefixes in the novel Always Forever Maybe. Elysian Journal: English Literature, Linguistics and Translation Studies, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.36733/elysian.v5i3.12302

Matthews, P. H. (1991). Morphology (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Meilandari, N. M. V., Putra, I. G. B. W. N., & Sulatra, I. K. (2022). The functions of derivational suffixes in the novel The Little Prince written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Elysian Journal: English Literature, Linguistics and Translation Studies, 2(3), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.36733/elysian.v2i3.3602

Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE.

Nørgaard, N., Busse, B., & Montoro, R. (2010). Key terms in stylistics. Continuum.

Plag, I. (2018). Word-formation in English (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Longman.

Scapin, G., Loi, C., Hakemulder, F., Bálint, K., & Konijn, E. A. (2023). The role of processing foregrounding in empathic reactions in literary reading. Discourse Processes, 60(4–5), 273–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2023.2198813

Schmidtke, D., Gagné, C. L., Kuperman, V., & Spalding, T. L. (2018). The role of derivational morphology in visual word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 44(8), 1283–1303. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000519

Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A resource book for students. Routledge.

Toolan, M. (1998). Language in literature: An introduction to stylistics. Arnold.

Verdonk, P. (2002). Stylistics. Oxford University Press.

Yule, G. (2014). The study of language (5th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Yuliana, P. R., & Putra, I. G. B. W. N. (2024). Derivational affixes found in Ride Your Wave novel. Jurnal Pendidikan Tambusai, 8(1), 11461–11469. https://doi.org/10.31004/jptam.v8i1.14105




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30743/ll.v10i1.13563

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.