morphology
TRANSCRIPT
WHAT IS MORPHOLOGY?
Morphology is the study of word structure ; how the
word is created. It deals with the internal structure of
complex words and the information of new words.
Inflectional Morphology (1)
Noun Inflectional suffixes Plural maker –s
Girl-girls Possessive maker ‘s
Mary´s car Verbs Inflectional Suffixes
3rd. Person present singular marker bake-bakes
Past tense marker:-ed Wait-waited
Inflectional Morphology (2)
Progressive marker –ing Sing-singing
Past Participle markers –en or ed Eat-eaten
Adjective inflectional suffixes Comparative maker –er
Fast-faster Superlative make-est
Fast-fastest
Derivational affixes can mark category change The derivational suffix –able derives an adjective
from a verb, implying an ability with a passive relation with its stem:
Eatable means able to be eaten(commestibile), not able to eat. Suffix –er derives a noun from a verb, indicating
a human agent or an inanimate instrument:Speaker (parlante o amplificatore); Baker
(fornaio);
The suffixes –ful and –less derives an adjective from a noun.
-ful indicates addiction, abundance; -less indicates subtraction, reduction:careful = full of carecareless = with no care
RootA root is a word or word part from which other words grow, usually through the addition of prefixes and suffixes. It usually appear as independent words.
Stem A stem is that part of a word to which grammatical
affixes are added. It may consist -amongst others a) solely of a single root morpheme (i.e. a simple stem
as in d o g ) b) two root morphemes (i.e. a compound stem, as in
bla ckbird ) c) root morpheme plus a derivational affix (i.e. a
complex stem, as in uns c re w) a):c a ts : single root morpheme: c a t+ inflectional suffix – s b):c ro wba rs : two root morphemes (c ro w + ba r) +
inflectional suffix – s c):inve ntio ns : root morpheme inve nt+ lexical suffix -io n
+ inflectional suffix -s
Semantic classification of morphemes
1. Root-morphemes (radicals) - the lexical nucleus of words, which has an individual lexical meaning shared by no other morpheme of the language:
re write , ho p e ful, d is o rd e r write hope- -order
The root-morpheme is isolated as the morpheme common to a set of words making up a word-cluster:
work- in to work, worker, working or theor- in theory, theorist, theoretical, etc.
2. Non-root morphemes include inflectional morphemes (inflections) and affixational morphemes (affixes). Inflections carry only grammatical meaning.Lexicology is concerned only with affixational morphemes.
2. Word formation Processes In English
A.A. AffixationAffixationB.B. CompoundingCompoundingC.C. SymbolismSymbolismD.D. SuppletionSuppletionE.E. AcronymyAcronymyF.F. ClippingClippingG.G. BlendingBlendingH.H. BorrowingBorrowingI.I. BackBack--formationformationJ.J. Word Word CoinageCoinageK.K. Functional Shift Functional Shift
A. AffixationA. AffixationAffixation consists of adding derivational affixes
(prefixes, infixes, and suffixes) to roots and stems to form new words.
Exa m p le :• Hope-ful• Defend-er• Dis-continue
B. Compounding B. Compounding
Compounding consists in the combination of two or more 9usually free) roots to form a new word. Exa m p le : Sunrise (n + n) Call-girl (v + n) Airsick (n + adj)
C. SymbolismC. Symbolism
Symbolism (or morpheme internal change) consists in altering the internal phonemic structure of a morpheme to indicate grammatical functions (cf. Pei, 1966).Exa m p le : Goose Geese Tooth Teeth Sing sang sung
D. SuppletionD. Suppletion
Suppletion consists in a complete in the form of a root (a word) or in the replacement of root by another morphologically unrelated root with the same component of meaning in different grammatical contents (cf. Richards et al., 1985; Byrne, 1978; Pei, 1966).Exa m p le :• Good better• Well best Bad worse Badly worst
E. E. AcronymsAcronymsAcronym is the process whereby a new word is
form the intital letters of the constituent words of a phrase or sentence.According to Quirk et al. (1985), there are two
main types of acronyms, namely: 1. Acronym which are pronounced as a wordEx: NASA, radar, laser, etc.2. Acronym which are pronunced as sequences of letters (also called
‘alphabetism)Ex: C.O.D., FBI, VIP, TV, etc.
F. F. ClippingClipping
Clipping is the processes whereby new word are formed by shortening other words; by eliminating the intial part, the last part, or both parts, of those words.Exam p le : Phone from (tele) phone Exam from exam(ination) Flu from (in) flu (enza)
G. G. BlendingBlending
Blending is the processes whereby new words are formed by combining parts of two words, usually the beginning of one word and the end of another (ef Godby et al,. 1982)Exam p le : Motel (motorMotel (motor + + hotelhotel)) Telecast (televisionTelecast (television + + broadcast)broadcast) Smog (smoke + fog)Smog (smoke + fog)
H. H. BorrowingBorrowing
Borrowing is the processes whereby new words are formed by adopting words from other languages together with the concepts or ideas they stand for (cf. Brun, 1983; Pei 1966).Exam p leExam p le : : Boss (Dutch)Boss (Dutch) Fiance & very (adapted from old French Fiance & very (adapted from old French
verai)verai) Yoghurt (Turkish)Yoghurt (Turkish) Robot (Czech)Robot (Czech)
I. I. BackBack--formationformation
Back-formation is the processes by which new words are formed by the deletion of a supposed affix an already existing word (cf. Qurik et al., 1985; Fromkin & Rodman, 1983; Richards et al. 1985).Exam p le : Donation (n) -donate (v) Option (n) -Opt (v) Babysitter (n) -Babysit (v)
Hypocorisms: the reduction of a long word to a single syllable and the –y and –ie are added to the end.
Television-telly Barbecue-barbie Breakfast -breakie
J. Word J. Word CoinageCoinage
Word coinage (or invention) is the processes whereby new words are created outright, either deliberately or accidentally, to fit some purpose. Exam p le : KleenexKleenex NylonNylon ZipperZipper KodakKodak XeroxXerox
K. Functional Shift K. Functional Shift
Functional Shift (conversion or zero derivation) is the processes by which new words are created by using a word in nwe functions (by shifting, changing or converting its original grammatical class to another class), without any change in its form (cf. Godby et al., 1982; Byrne, 1978; Pei, 1966).Exam p le : WaterWater: Give me some water, please. Children water : Give me some water, please. Children water
the flowersthe flowers Print out (a printout)Print out (a printout) Want to be (wannabe)Want to be (wannabe)