Morphology and Lexical Morphology Quiz 05

Morphology

• Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words.
• Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units in a language.
• Allomorphs are different forms of the same morpheme. They occur in different contexts.
• Allomorphs are in complementary distribution. This means that they occur in specific conditions.
• The minimum number of morphemes in a word-form is one.
• The maximum number of morphemes in an English word is theoretically unlimited, but practical limitations exist.
• Word-formation is recursive; one morphological process can become the input for another.
• A stem is the part of a word that remains after removing all affixes. It is the root or free lexical morpheme.
• A stem is not further analyzable for word meanings.
• A free morpheme can stand alone as a word.

Lexical Morphology

• Languages are open systems. They allow the creation of new words.
• Word-formation keeps pace with changes in society and technology.
• Word-formation allows language to save mental energy.
• Building on existing vocabulary is less mentally demanding than learning completely new words.
• Established patterns allows words to be understood, even if never encountered before.
• Three most productive word-formation in English use morphemes.

Derivation (Affixation)

• Prefixation: Adding a prefix (bound morpheme) to a stem (free morpheme) typically maintains word class.
  • Examples: co-author, ex-president, intolerable, minidress, non-smoker, rewrite, unpopular, bewitch, endear, enslave.
• Suffixation: Adding a suffix (bound morpheme) to a stem (free morpheme) often changes word class.
  • Examples: droplet, duckling, kingdom, kinship, manhood, Marxism, freedom, falsehood, productiveness, childish, fatherly, environmental, picturesque, wooden, containerise, fishify, activate, blacken, modernise, purify, productivity, blackmailee, flirtation, infusion, killer, management, absorbent, drinkable.

Compounding

• Combining two or more free morphemes to create a new word.
  • Endocentric: The meaning of the compound comes from one of the parts (the head). Example: rattlesnake, fast-food
  • Exocentric: The meaning of the compound comes from outside the parts. Example: spoilsport, skinhead
  • Appositional: Both parts are equally important. Example: woman doctor, bedroom study

Copulative Compounding

• Two parts of a word convey a balanced relationship Example: Alsace-Lorraine, Kraft Heinz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Neoclassical Compounding

• Using combining forms from classical languages. Example: aristocrat, autograph, biology, electrophile.