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, which two of them can combine in a word?(3) Are the token frequencies of possible suffix pairs different to a large extent?(4) What are the constraints of token frequency on English suffix ordering?
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Chapter Two Literature Review

This chapter presents a general review about previous studies on English suffix ordering.Before that, a brief introduction about affix and its classification is made. Then a detailedintroduction about previous studies on English suffix ordering abroad is made and the relevantresearch at home is reviewed. Finally a summary of this chapter is made.

2.1 The Definition of Suffix
According to David Crystal (2008), suffix is a morphological term which refers to theaffix that is attached to a root or a stem. Suffixation or suffixing is rather common in English.It can be used not only to derive new lexical items but also to convey grammatical relations.For instance, -tion in realization can act as a suffix to form a noun; -s, -ed and –ing are allinflectional suffixes denoting grammatical relations.
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2.2 Previous Studies Abroad
The problem of suffix ordering has long been studied by foreign scholars. This sectionmainly focuses on the three main theories concerning this problem, namely, the level-orderingof English morphology, the selectional restrictions on the ordering of affixes and thecomplexity based ordering.Siegel (1974) claimed that suffixes could be divided into two Classes: Class I suffixes(also called Level I suffixes or stratum I suffixes) and Class II suffixes (also called Level IIsuffixes or stratum II suffixes).According to Siegel, there is a kind of suffixes that they themselves might receive stresswhile at the same time bring about a rightward shift of the main stress in the word they attachto. For example, after adding -y to telegraph, we can get telegraphy, the result of which is thatthe stress has shifted from the first syllable to the second. After attaching -ation to elicit, wecan get elicitation, whose stress has shifted from the second syllable in the stem to the last butone syllable (which is also the first syllable in the suffix.). By adding -ity to recoverable, thestress has shifted from the second syllable in recoverable to the last but two syllable inrecoverability. Thus, the noun-forming suffixes -y, -ation,-able, and -ity are all suffixes thatcan meet the conditions of the cyclic stress assignment rules and can influence the assignmentof the primary stress. Siegel classified all the suffixes which has these properties to the Class Isuffixes.
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Chapter Three Results.........25
3.1 The Attested Suffix Combinations.....25
3.2 The Token Frequencies of the Fifteen Suffixes............ 27
3.3 The Comparison of Token Frequencies of the Possible Suffix Pairs.......28
3.4 Summary........31
Chapter Four Discussion.....33
4.1 The Selectional Restrictions of the Fifteen Suffixes.....33
4.2Analysis of the Suffix Pairs for the Hypothesis....36
4.3 Analysis of the Suffix Pairs against the Hypothesis..... 40
4.4 Summary........42
Chapter Five Conclusion.....43
5.1The Summary of Major Findings........43
5.2 Innovations and Implications....44
5.3 Limitations of the Current Study....... 45
5.4 Suggestions for Future Studies.......... 46

Chapter Four Discussion