This paper describes our current research on the properties of derivational affixation in English. Our research arises from a more general research project, the Lexical Systems project at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research laboratories, the goal for which is to build a variety of computerized dictionary systems for use both by people and by computer programs. An important sub-goal is to build reliable and robust word recognition mechanisms for these dictionaries. One of the more important issues in word recognition for all morphologically complex languages involves mechanisms for dealing with affixes. Two complementary motivations underlie our research on.
