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Breaking Down Words A Basic Guide to Morphology Prof. Reham Khalifa Professor of English Linguistics Faculty of Arts, Damietta University  Table of Contents Introduction 3 What is morphology?...

Breaking Down Words A Basic Guide to Morphology Prof. Reham Khalifa Professor of English Linguistics Faculty of Arts, Damietta University  Table of Contents Introduction 3 What is morphology? 3 Morphology and Its Relation to Other Linguistic Fields 4 Why is Morphology Important for English Studies? 11 Morphemes 12 Key Features of Morphemes 12 Allomorphs, Morphs, and Allophones 17 What is Lexeme? 21 Types of Lexemes 21 Lexemes vs. Word Forms 25 Key features of a word 30 Base Form Vs. Word Root 36 Affixation 40 Uses of Affixes 40 Different Types of Affixation 41 Types of morphemes 45 |P a g e 1 Suffixal Homophones 61 Feminine formation in English 65 Diminutive Formation in English 70 The Interface Between Morphology and Syntax 76 The Interface Between Phonology and Morphology 84 Immediate Constituents 91 Word Formation 97 Processes of Word Formation 100 Types of Word Formation in English 126 Appendices 140 General Activities 152 |P a g e 2 Introduction Morphology is a crucial area of linguistics that plays a central role in understanding how words are formed, how they function, and how they change over time. Its relationship with other linguistic fields—such as phonology, syntax, and semantics—makes it fundamental to the broader study of language structure and use. Historically, the study of morphology has evolved from classical grammar to modern theoretical frameworks, making it an indispensable part of linguistic analysis today. Understanding morphology not only aids in mastering language structure but also offers valuable insights into the cognitive processes underlying language use and development. 1. What is morphology? Morphology is the branch of linguistics that focuses on the structure, formation, and internal composition of words in a language. It involves the study of morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning or grammatical function. Morphology explains how morphemes combine to create words, how words are modified to express different meanings or grammatical categories, and how new words can be formed in a language. Morphology provides insight into how words convey meaning, how they evolve over time, and how they function in a language. |P a g e 3 To fully appreciate the scope of morphology, it is important to explore its relationship with other fields of linguistics and its historical development. 2. Morphology and Its Relation to Other Linguistic Fields a. Phonology and Morphology: Phonology is the study of the sound systems of languages, focusing on how sounds (phonemes) are organized and used. Morphology and phonology are closely connected, especially in the study of morphophonemics, which examines how the pronunciation of morphemes changes in different contexts.  Example: In English, the plural morpheme "-s" is pronounced differently depending on the phonological environment: o /s/ as in "cats" (/kæts/), o /z/ as in "dogs" (/dɒgz/), and o /ɪz/ as in "buses" (/bʌsɪz/). Morphology provides the rules for word formation, while phonology determines how those morphemes are pronounced when combined. This interaction is crucial in understanding |P a g e 4 sound alternations and how meaning is retained despite changes in pronunciation. b. Syntax and Morphology: Syntax deals with how words are arranged into phrases and sentences. Morphology and syntax are interconnected in what is often referred to as morphosyntax. Morphology provides the necessary inflections (e.g., tense, number, person) that ensure grammatical agreement between words within a sentence.  Example: In English, verbs must agree with their subjects in number and tense. Morphology governs the inflectional changes in verbs: o "He runs" (present tense, singular subject) vs. "They run" (present tense, plural subject). In highly inflected languages, such as Latin, Russian, or Turkish, the morphological structure of words (via inflection) is even more critical for indicating grammatical relationships between words, sometimes making syntactic word order more flexible. c. Semantics and Morphology: Semantics is the study of meaning, and morphology directly influences how meaning is encoded within words. Through |P a g e 5 processes like derivation and compounding, morphology can create new words and alter the meanings of existing words.  Derivation: The addition of morphemes (e.g., prefixes and suffixes) to a base word to change its meaning or part of speech. o Example: "happy" (adjective) → "unhappy" (adjective with opposite meaning); "run" (verb) → "runner" (noun).  Compounding: The combination of two or more free morphemes to create a new word. o Example: "tooth" + "brush" = "toothbrush." In this way, morphology serves as a bridge between sound (phonology) and meaning (semantics), providing a systematic approach to understanding how words and their components convey meaning. d. Pragmatics and Morphology: Pragmatics is concerned with how language is used in context. While morphology might seem removed from this field, it plays an indirect role. Inflectional morphology can convey pragmatic |P a g e 6 nuances like politeness, formality, or social status in certain languages.  Example: In Japanese, morphological markers indicate different levels of politeness, formality, or humility. Adding the honorific "-san" to a person‘s name is one such example of how morphological changes convey social meaning. Though less obvious in English, pragmatic meaning can still be affected by morphological choices, especially in word choice and formality. e. Historical Linguistics and Morphology: Morphology also plays a key role in the study of language change over time. Historical linguists examine how the structure of words (and their morphemes) evolves, which helps trace the origins of modern languages and understand the processes of language divergence and convergence.  Example: The evolution of Old English morphemes into their modern equivalents can be traced through changes in inflectional patterns. For instance, Old English had a rich system of case markings, which has largely disappeared in |P a g e 7  Modern English, though remnants remain (e.g., possessive "'s"). The study of how morphemes have changed over centuries helps linguists reconstruct ancient languages and understand the historical connections between different languages. 3. Historical Development of Morphology a. Classical Roots: The study of word structure dates back to classical Greek and Latin grammarians, who first analyzed language by categorizing parts of speech and identifying the various inflections (e.g., case, tense, mood) that words could take. They recognized the significance of word formation and the role of endings in conveying grammatical relationships. b. 19th Century Linguistics: Modern morphology as a field of study began to take shape in the 19th century, particularly with the rise of comparative philology and the work of linguists like August Schleicher and Wilhelm von Humboldt. These scholars focused on the study of language families, especially Indo-European languages, and sought to identify systematic patterns in word formation and inflection across related languages. |P a g e 8   Schleicher viewed morphology as an essential component for classifying languages into types (e.g., isolating, agglutinative, fusional) based on how morphemes combine. c. The Structuralist Era: In the early 20th century, linguists such as Leonard Bloomfield and the structuralist school of linguistics in Europe (e.g., Ferdinand de Saussure) formalized the study of word structure as part of a broader system of language. They sought to describe how words and morphemes were structured within specific language systems, emphasizing the relationships between morphemes and their syntactic roles.  Bloomfieldian linguistics focused heavily on morpheme analysis, looking at how different morphemes function in a language and how they can be systematically categorized and analyzed. d. Generative Grammar: In the mid-20th century, Noam Chomsky's development of generative grammar brought new attention to morphology, particularly in relation to syntax. Chomsky's theories emphasized the deep structure of language, and morphology was studied as |P a g e 9 part of a system of rules governing the formation of grammatical sentences.  Generative linguists focused on how morphemes interact with syntax to generate grammatically correct sentences. They also investigated the rules that govern morpheme combinations in different languages. e. Modern Approaches: In recent decades, advances in morphological theory have led to several different models for analyzing word structure, including:  Distributed Morphology: A framework within generative grammar that argues for a unified approach to syntax, morphology, and phonology, proposing that morphemes are distributed across different grammatical components rather than stored as fixed word forms.  Word-and-Paradigm Models: These approaches emphasize the role of paradigms (sets of related word forms, such as verb conjugations) in organizing word structure, focusing on the patterns that occur in word formation rather than individual morphemes. | P a g e 11 4. Why is Morphology Important for English Studies? o Vocabulary Development: Understanding morphemes helps in analyzing unfamiliar words by breaking them down into known parts (e.g., "antidisestablishmentarianism" can be deconstructed into smaller, more understandable morphemes). o Grammar and Syntax: Morphology explains how words change form (inflection) to fit grammatical structures (e.g., subject-verb agreement, tense). o Language Acquisition and Teaching: Morphological knowledge supports language learning and teaching, aiding in recognizing word formation patterns and identifying common roots across different words. o Etymology: Understanding the origin of words and how they‘ve evolved through morphology gives insights into historical language development and changes in English. | P a g e 11 Morphemes A morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit in a language that carries meaning. It cannot be divided further without losing its meaning. Morphemes are the building blocks of words and contribute to the formation and modification of words in a language. Key Features of Morphemes 1. Meaning: Every morpheme has meaning, whether it‘s a whole word (free morpheme) or part of a word (bound morpheme). For example:  Dog is a morpheme that has meaning by itself. It refers to a specific animal.  -ly (in quickly) is a morpheme that must attach to a base word to convey meaning. It changes an adjective into an adverb, indicating how something is done. 2. Minimal Unit: It is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. | P a g e 12  For example:  Cat is a morpheme that carries meaning by itself and cannot be divided further into smaller units that still have meaning. It represents a type of animal.  -ed (in talked) is a morpheme that indicates past tense. It cannot be divided further while retaining its function of marking the past tense. 3. Unbreakable: Further breaking down a morpheme results in loss of meaning. For example:  Table is a morpheme that cannot be divided into smaller parts that still carry the meaning of a piece of furniture. Breaking it down (e.g., tab and -le; or t- and -able)) loses the specific meaning of a table.  -s (in dogs) is a morpheme that marks plurality. If you try to break it down further, it no longer functions to indicate plurality. For example, -s on its own doesn‘t have meaning outside of its role in pluralization. | P a g e 13 Activity 1 Identify morphemes within the following sentences and explain their meanings. Sentence 1: The revolutionary changes were unprecedented in the realm of technological advancements. Sentence 2: The bioluminescence of the marine creatures was a fascinating phenomenon. Activity 2 How many morphemes are there in each of the following words? 1. Unhappiness 7. Irreplaceable 2. Play 8. Disagreement 3. Replay 9. Television 4. Played 10. Unbelievably 5. Cats 11. Counterproductive 6. Quickly 12. Photosynthesis 7. Misunderstood 13. Date 6. Reestablishment 14. Antedate | P a g e 14  15. Hygiene 23. Unable 16. Weak 24. Miniskirt 17. Weaken 25. Rain 18. Man 26. Rainy 19. Manly 27. Cheap 20. Keep 28. Cheaply 21. Keeper 29. Cheaper 22. Able 30. Cover Activity 3 Find the meaning of the following italicized morphemes 1.Unhappiness 8. Counterproductive 2. Reestablishment 9. Rehabilitation 3. Irreplaceable 10. impossible 4. Misunderstood 11. Antedate 5. Disagreement 12. Replay 6. Photosynthesis 13. Manly 7. Hyperventilation 14. Keeper | P a g e 15 15. Unable 16. Rainy 17. Cheapest 18. Inactive 19. malfunction | P a g e 16 Allomorphs, Morphs, and Allophones 1. Allomorphs An allomorph is a variation of a morpheme. Different allomorphs represent the same morpheme but appear in different forms depending on the phonological, grammatical, or contextual environment. Despite their different forms, all allomorphs share the same core meaning. Key Features of Allomorphs:  Variation: Allomorphs are different forms of the same morpheme.  Phonological Context: The form of an allomorph often depends on the sounds around it.  Grammatical Context: Allomorphs may vary based on tense, number, or other grammatical factors.  Consistency in Meaning: All allomorphs of a morpheme convey the same basic meaning. Example of Allomorphs: 1. Plural Morpheme in English: o cats [s] (voiceless sound), | P a g e 17  o dogs [z] (voiced sound), o buses [ɪz] (after sibilant sounds). These are all allomorphs of the plural morpheme -s. 2. Past Tense Morpheme in English: o jumped [t], o buzzed [d], o started [ɪd]. These are all allomorphs of the past tense morpheme -ed. Allomorph Formation Rules Allomorphs often occur due to phonological rules, meaning the form of a morpheme changes to fit the surrounding sounds. For instance:  The plural morpheme -s takes different forms depending on whether the preceding sound is voiced (e.g., dogs [z]) or voiceless (e.g., cats [s]).  In some cases, allomorphs are determined by historical or irregular patterns within a language (e.g., child → children where -ren is an allomorph for pluralization). | P a g e 18 2. Morphs  Definition: A morph is the physical or phonetic form representing a morpheme in actual spoken or written language. It refers to how a morpheme appears in speech or writing, regardless of its meaning.  Relation to Morphemes and Allomorphs: A morph is the realization of a morpheme. If a morpheme has multiple forms (allomorphs), each of those forms is considered a different morph.  Example: In cats [kæts] and dogs [dɔgz], the final -s in both words is a morph, representing two different allomorphs of the plural morpheme. 3. Allophones  Definition: Allophones are different phonetic realizations or variations of a phoneme that do not change the meaning of a word. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning, and allophones are its variations that are influenced by the phonetic environment but are perceived as the same sound by speakers. | P a g e 19  Relation to Morphemes: Allophones deal with sound (phonetics), not meaning, while morphemes carry meaning.  Example: The English phoneme /t/ has different allophones depending on its position in a word: o In top [tʰ], /t/ is aspirated (a puff of air is released), o In stop [t], /t/ is unaspirated, o In button [ʔ], /t/ can become a glottal stop. | P a g e 21 What is Lexeme? A lexeme is an abstract unit that represents the core or base meaning of a word. Unlike a specific word form (which is what you see or hear in speech or writing), a lexeme refers to the "idea" or "underlying" form that links various grammatical or morphological versions of a word together. For example:  The words run, runs, ran, and running are all different word forms of the lexeme RUN. They share a common meaning, but they appear in different forms due to grammatical differences like tense or number. The lexeme is usually written in capital letters to show its abstract nature. For example, RUN, EAT, or DOG are all lexemes, while "running," "eats," or "dogs" are specific forms of these lexemes. Types of Lexemes 1. Simple Lexemes  These lexemes consist of a single morpheme (the smallest unit of meaning) and cannot be broken down into smaller meaningful parts. | P a g e 21 Examples: o dog (lexeme: DOG) o cat (lexeme: CAT) o book (lexeme: BOOK) Each of these words contains only one morpheme and represents the simplest form of a lexeme. 2. Complex Lexemes  These lexemes consist of more than one morpheme and include both inflectional and derivational changes. Complex lexemes are made up of a root and may include affixes (prefixes or suffixes) that alter the word‘s meaning or grammatical category. a. Inflectional Lexemes  These lexemes change their form based on grammatical properties like tense, aspect, mood, number, or case, but they do not change their word class or core meaning. Example (English verb RUN): o run (present tense, base form) o runs (third person singular present tense) o ran (past tense) | P a g e 22  o running (present participle) All these forms represent different grammatical versions of the same lexeme, RUN. b. Derivational Lexemes  These lexemes are derived from a base form, often changing the word class (like from a noun to a verb) or creating a new word with a related but distinct meaning. Examples: o From happy (adjective) to happiness (noun): This involves a derivational process, creating a new lexeme by adding the suffix -ness. o From beauty (noun) to beautiful (adjective): Adding the suffix -ful changes the word class and meaning slightly. Derivational lexemes allow the creation of new words while retaining a semantic connection to the base word. 3. Compound Lexemes  Compound lexemes are formed by combining two or more words to create a new lexeme with a distinct meaning. The | P a g e 23  meaning of the compound lexeme is often more than just the sum of its parts. Examples: o toothbrush: A combination of tooth and brush. The new lexeme refers to an object used for brushing teeth, but it's not merely two separate concepts combined. o blackboard: Combining black and board gives us a lexeme that refers to a specific object used in classrooms for writing with chalk. 4. Phrasal Lexemes  These are multi-word expressions that behave as single lexical units. Often, their meaning cannot be fully understood by looking at the individual words alone. Idioms are a good example of phrasal lexemes. Examples: o kick the bucket: This phrase means "to die." The literal meanings of "kick" and "bucket" don‘t contribute directly to the idiomatic meaning. | P a g e 24  o spill the beans: This phrase means "to reveal a secret." Phrasal lexemes are particularly interesting because, even though they consist of multiple words, the entire phrase functions as a single lexeme with a specific, often non-literal, meaning. Lexemes vs. Word Forms To clarify, a lexeme is an abstract concept, whereas a word form is a specific realization of that lexeme. Word forms are the actual words that you use in speech or writing, while lexemes are the underlying ―dictionary entries‖ that link all those forms together. Examples:  Lexeme: EAT  Word forms: o eat (base form) o eats (third-person singular) o ate (past tense) o eating (present participle) | P a g e 25 Key Points to Remember  Lexemes represent the abstract "root" or "base" of words.  Word forms are specific grammatical or morphological realizations of lexemes.  Lexemes can be simple (single morpheme), complex (formed by inflection or derivation), compound (combination of two words), or phrasal (multi-word units like idioms). In summary, lexemes are a way of grouping word forms that share a fundamental meaning, helping linguists understand and describe the structure and function of the terms lexeme and word are closely related, but they have distinct meanings in linguistic analysis. Here's a breakdown of the differences: 1. Lexeme (Abstract Unit of Meaning)  A lexeme is an abstract, theoretical concept that represents the core meaning of a word, independent of its specific grammatical form or usage. It can encompass various word forms that share a fundamental meaning but differ in tense, number, case, or other grammatical features. | P a g e 26 A lexeme is like a dictionary entry: it groups together all the possible variations of a word that derive from the same root meaning. Example: o The lexeme RUN includes the forms:  run (base form)  runs (third-person singular present)  ran (past tense)  running (present participle) All these forms express the core meaning of "run" in different grammatical contexts, but they belong to the same lexeme. 2. Word (Specific Form)  A word, on the other hand, is a specific form of a lexeme as it appears in speech or writing. Each word form represents a particular grammatical realization of the lexeme. A word is the actual unit used in sentences, and it can change depending on context, such as tense, number, or case. Example: o In the sentences: | P a g e 27   "She runs every morning."  "He ran yesterday."  "They are running now." The words "runs," "ran," and "running" are all specific forms of the lexeme RUN. Each one is a word in its own right, with a particular grammatical function (present, past, progressive, etc.). Key Differences: 1. Abstract vs. Concrete: o A lexeme is an abstract entity (a set of related forms), while a word is a concrete instance of language in use. Lexeme = the general idea or base meaning. Word = the specific form used in a sentence. 2. Grammatical Variation: o A lexeme encompasses all the grammatical variations of a word. Different words (word forms) are different manifestations of the same lexeme. | P a g e 28  o For instance, EAT is a lexeme, while "eat," "eats," "ate," and "eating" are different words (specific forms of the lexeme EAT). 3. Word Count: o In common usage, we might count each form of a lexeme as a separate "word." For example, in a text, "running" and "ran" would be considered two separate words. However, they are forms of the same lexeme. Example: "RUN"  Lexeme: RUN o Word forms:  run (base form)  runs (third-person singular)  ran (past tense)  running (present participle) Each of these words belongs to the lexeme RUN, but they are distinct words with different grammatical roles in sentences. | P a g e 29 Summary:  A lexeme is a theoretical concept representing a group of related words that share a core meaning.  A word is a specific instance or form of a lexeme that appears in actual language use. In simple terms, a lexeme is like a "family" of words, and each word is a "member" of that family. Key features of a word A word is the fundamental unit of language, and it carries meaning or serves a grammatical function. Words can vary widely in form and function, but they share certain core features. Here are the key features of a word: 1. Phonological Independence  A word typically has a distinctive sound pattern that separates it from other words in speech. It‘s a sequence of sounds that can be identified as a single unit of pronunciation. Example: In English, "cat" is a word with a clear phonological boundary, separated from "bat" by the initial sound /k/. | P a g e 31 2. Morphological Structure  A word can be made up of one or more morphemes (the smallest units of meaning or grammatical function). Words may be simple (consisting of a single morpheme) or complex (consisting of multiple morphemes). o Simple words: Consist of only one morpheme.  Example: "run," "dog" o Complex words: Consist of multiple morphemes, which can be created through derivation (e.g., adding prefixes/suffixes) or inflection (changing tense, number, etc.).  Example: "unhappy" (prefix "un-" + root "happy"), "running" (root "run" + suffix "- ing") 3. Syntactic Independence  A word functions as a basic unit of syntax, meaning it can stand alone or be combined with other words to form phrases, clauses, or sentences. Words fit into parts of speech (e.g., noun, verb, adjective) and play specific roles in sentence structure. | P a g e 31 Example: "The cat sleeps." Here, "cat" is a noun functioning as the subject, and "sleeps" is the verb. 4. Semantic Content  A word carries meaning, whether that meaning is lexical (concrete or abstract) or grammatical. Lexical words (like "house" or "run") have a clear, definable meaning. Grammatical words (like "is" or "the") serve functional roles in constructing sentences. Examples: o Lexical word: "Tree" (a physical object) o Grammatical word: "And" (a conjunction that links elements) 5. Orthographic Independence (in written form)  In written language, a word is typically represented by a string of letters separated by spaces or punctuation. The boundaries between words are clear in writing, which aids in identifying them. Example: In the sentence "The cat ran fast," each word is separated by a space. | P a g e 32 6. Fixed Order of Morphemes  Words generally have a fixed internal structure, where morphemes (roots, prefixes, suffixes) appear in a specific order. This structure is language-dependent, but within any language, words are built according to predictable patterns. Example: In English, the morpheme order for the verb "unbelievable" follows a specific structure: [prefix "un-" + root "believe" + suffix "-able"]. 7. Grammatical Category (Part of Speech)  Each word belongs to a grammatical category or part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.). This categorization determines the word's syntactic role and how it interacts with other words in a sentence. Examples: o Noun: "dog" (refers to an entity) o Verb: "run" (describes an action) o Adjective: "fast" (modifies a noun) o Adverb: "quickly" (modifies a verb) | P a g e 33 8. Inflexibility in Internal Order  The internal order of a word is fixed and cannot be easily changed. For instance, the components of a complex word like "unhappiness" cannot be rearranged without losing or distorting the meaning. You can't reverse it to "happyunness" and retain the original meaning. 9. Potential for Inflection  Many words can undergo inflection, meaning they change form to express different grammatical features like tense, number, or gender. Inflection does not change the word's basic meaning but adjusts it to fit the grammatical context. Examples: o Verbs: "run" → "runs" (third person singular), "ran" (past tense) o Nouns: "cat" → "cats" (plural) 10. Idiomatic or Fixed Expressions  While most words maintain independent meaning, some words participate in fixed expressions (like idioms) where the whole phrase has a meaning that can‘t be inferred from its individual words. | P a g e 34 Example: "Kick the bucket" means "to die," but the words "kick" and "bucket" individually don‘t convey that meaning. | P a g e 35 Base Form Vs. Word Root 1. Word Root  Definition: The root of a word is the fundamental part of the word that carries the core meaning. It is the most basic unit from which words are derived and usually cannot be further broken down into smaller meaningful parts.  Characteristics: o A root often provides the core meaning of a word. o Roots are typically derived from Latin, Greek, or other languages and can be used to form various words through the addition of prefixes, suffixes, and other morphemes. o Roots can stand alone as words (e.g., act in action), but they can also be embedded within larger words.  Examples: o Act (root in action, activate, actor) o Graph (root in photograph, biography, telegraph) o Dict (root in predict, dictate, dictionary) | P a g e 36 2. Base Form  Definition: The base form of a word is the form that serves as the foundation for the creation of different word forms through inflection or derivation. It can be a root or a simple word form to which prefixes or suffixes are added.  Characteristics: o The base form can include prefixes or suffixes in addition to the root. o It is the form of the word that appears in the dictionary and is used as the basis for forming other word variations (e.g., verb forms, plural forms). o The base form is often used as the starting point for conjugation, inflection, or derivation.  Examples: o Run (base form of runs, running, ran) o Play (base form of plays, playing, played) o Happy (base form of happier, happiest, happiness) | P a g e 37 Key Differences 1. Function: o Word Root: Provides the core meaning of the word and is the base from which other forms are built. o Base Form: The particular form of a word used to create different grammatical or derived forms. 2. Complexity: o Word Root: May be a simple, uninflected unit that carries meaning. o Base Form: Can include roots along with affixes (prefixes or suffixes) but serves as the fundamental form for derivation and inflection. 3. Usage: o Word Root: The root itself might not always stand alone in everyday use but provides the basis for related words. o Base Form: The base form is typically the standard form used for grammatical or syntactical purposes and often appears as the lemma in dictionaries. | P a g e 38 In summary, while the root is the core meaning element of a word, the base form is the specific version of a word used as the basis for creating other word forms. Activity 4 Write the meaning of the italicized bound bases. 1. Audience, audible, audition, auditory 2. Suicide, patricide, matricide, infanticide 3. Oral, oration, oracle, oratory 4. Photography, biography, calligraphy 5. Aquaplane, aquatic, aquarium, aquanaut 6. Corps, corpse, corporation, corporeal 7. Monochrome, monologue, monorail, monogamy 8. Pendulum, pendant, suspenders, impending 9. Manual, manicure, manuscript, manacle 10. Eject, inject, project, reject | P a g e 39 Affixation Affixation is the process of adding a morpheme — or affix— to a word to create either a different form of that word or a new word with a different meaning; affixation is the most common way of making new words in English. The two primary kinds of affixation are prefixation, the addition of a prefix, and suffixation, the addition of a suffix, while clusters of affixes can be used to form complex words. A large majority of new words in the English language today are either a result of blending — mashing two words or partial words together to form a new one — or affixation. Uses of Affixes Simply put, an affix is a word element of English grammar used to alter the meaning or form of a word and comes in the form of either a prefix or a suffix. Prefixes include examples like "un-" "self-" and "re-" while suffixes come in the form of ending elements like "-hood" "-ing" or "-ed." While prefixes typically maintain the word class (noun, verb, adjective, etc) of the word it's modifying, suffixes oftentimes change the form entirely, as is the case with "exploration" compared to "explore" or "highlighter" compared to "highlight." | P a g e 41 Further, one can use multiple iterations of the same affixation to modify a word like grandmother to mean an entirely different person — as in "great-great grandmother," who would be your mother's mother's mother's mother or a "re-re-re-make of a film" wherein this film would be the fourth iteration of its kind. The same can be applied to different prefixes and suffixes being used on the same word. For instance, the word nation means a country, but national means "of a nation," nationalize means "to make part of a nation," and "denationalization" means "the of making something no longer part of a nation." This can continue ad nauseam, but becomes increasingly odd — especially in spoken rhetoric — the more affixes one uses them on the same base word. Different Types of Affixation A. Infixes Infixes are bound morphemes that have been inserted within a word, English does not have infixes, though we should acknowledge a few exceptional cases. 1. Irregular plural There are some plurals in English in which the plural morpheme (- s) is inserted within the word. For example: | P a g e 41   Cupful: The plural is cupsful.  Spoonful: The plural is spoonsful.  Passerby: The plural is passersby.  Attorney General: The plural is attorneys general.  Mother-in-law: The plural is mothers-in-law.  Father-in-law: The plural is fathers-in-law. 2. Replacive vowels In some words, vowels within the word alter to give the plural form. This alteration could be considered a form of infixes in English. For example:  The plural of Goose → geese  The plural of Man → men  The plural of Woman → women  The plural of foot → feet  The past of sing → sang  The past of speak → spoke  The past of drive → drove | P a g e 42 3. Expletive Infixation This is a phenomenon where an expletive or swear word is inserted into a word to express strong emotion. This type of infixation is typically informal and found in spoken English. For example:  Un-freaking-believable (inserting -freaking- to express disbelief or frustration)  Abso-bloody-lutely (inserting -bloody- to emphasize certainty)  Fanta-bloody-tastic  Singa-bloody-pore 4. Infixes in Arabic In Arabic, infixes are used within the root of a word to modify its meaning. One common example is the insertion of the infix -t- after the first consonant of the root. Here are a couple of examples:  ‫( َج َه ََد‬jahada) - ―he strove‖ o َ‫( ا ِْجتَ َه َد‬ijtahada) - ―he worked hard‖ (with the infix -t- and an epenthetic i- prefix)  َ‫( َكتَ َب‬kataba) - ―he wrote‖ o َ‫( اِ ْكتَتَ َب‬iktataba) - ―he subscribed‖ (with the infix -t- and an epenthetic i- prefix) B. Prefixes Prefixes are those morphemes that occur before the base, as in import, prefix, reconsider. Prefixes in English are a small class of | P a g e 43 morphemes, numbering about seventy-five. Their meanings are often those of English prepositions and adverbials C. Suffixes Suffixes are bound morphemes that occur after a base, such as shrinkage, failure, noisy, realize, nails, dreamed. Suffixes may pile up to the number of three or four, whereas prefixes are commonly single, except for the negative un- before another prefix. In normalizers we perhaps reach the limit with four suffixes. The base norm plus the four suffixes –al, -ize, -er, -s. when suffixes multiply like this, their order is fixed: there is one and only one order in which they occur. | P a g e 44 Types of morphemes 1. Free Morpheme Free morphemes are those morphemes that can stand alone to function as words. They are meaning-carrying units. They are called full morphemes or lexical morphemes. They comprise simple words (i.e. words made up of one free morpheme) and compound words (i.e. words made up of two free morphemes). Examples:  Simple words: the, run, on, well  Compound words: keyboard, greenhouse, bloodshed, smartphone 2. Bound Morphemes Bound Morphemes are those morphemes that can only be attached to another part of a word (cannot stand alone). Examples:  Pre- in pretest,  Dis- in discontent,  In- in Intolerable,  Un in unclear,  -able in measurable,  -ment in amusement,  -ly in unhappily, | P a g e 45   -ize in summarize 3. Unique Morphemes Unique morphemes violate the clear-cut definition of morphemes in free and bound morphemes. In many ways, they resemble bound morphemes because they cannot meaningfully standalone but, still, contribute meaning to a word. The morpheme cran- in cranberry does not carry meaning when in isolation, yet it defines the kind of berry when attached to the root -berry. Because this is a popular example of unique morphemes, a second term for this type of morpheme is cranberry morph. In addition, cranberry shows another peculiarity of unique morphs. Although cran- is not a free morpheme, it is considered as a root because of its similarity to the roots in blackberry, blueberry, snowberry or wax-berry. Cran- is decisive because it differentiates the (cran)berry from any others. Other examples of unique morphemes: cranberry, boysenberry permit, commit, submit receive, perceive, conceive | P a g e 46 4. Grammatical Morpheme Grammatical morphemes have little inherent meaning but provide the syntactic cues necessary to structure language. Those words that function to specify the relationship between one lexical morpheme are called grammatical morphemes. Examples:  -The articles: a/an –the-In, on, at  -s plural  -ed past  -s Third person  -ing verb 5. Empty Morphemes Empty Morphemes have phonological shape or physical structure but do not contain any semantic content. In simple words, they have a form but no function. Empty morphemes are a special case of morphemes in linguistics. For example:  in speed +o+ meter → speedometer  U in fact +u+ al → factual  U in sens+u+ al → sensual | P a g e 47 In other words –al suffix is a bound morpheme which is added to nouns to make them adjectives. For example:  personal + -al = personal  herb+ -al =herbal  fact + -al is not factal* but fact-u-al 6. Zero/Null Morphemes Zero morphemes are those morphemes that are not explicitly remarked on because they are invisible. Zero Morphemes have no phonological shape or physical structure but do have meaning. For example: Brown (verb) –brown (adj) →[create (verb) –creative (adj.)] Hit (present) –hit (past) →[play (present) –played (past)] Study the following Singular plural VS singular plural Sheep sheep cat cats Deer deer boy boys Fish fish dog dogs You shouldn‘t mix between empty morphemes and zero morphemes. | P a g e 48 7. Additive Morphemes Additive morphemes are those morphemes that are added to words either as prefixes or suffixes. 8. Replacive Morphemes They are morphemes that are used to substitute vowels within a word to form the past form, the participle form or the plural form. For example:  Goose → geese  Foot →feet  Speak → spoke 9. Inflectional morphemes Inflectional morphemes alter the form of a word in order to indicate certain grammatical properties. English has only eight inflectional morphemes, listed in Table 1, along with the properties they indicate. Except for {-en}, the forms we list in Table 1 are the regular English inflections. They are regular because they are the inflections added to the vast majority of verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs to indicate grammatical properties such as tense, number, and degree. They are also the inflections we typically add to new words coming into the language, for example, we add {-s} to the noun throughput to | P a g e 49  make it plural. When we borrow words from other languages, in most cases we add the regular English inflections to them rather than borrow the inflections they had in their home languages. The regular inflections are the default inflections that learners tend to use when they don‘t know the correct ones (for example, growed rather than grew). Inflectional suffix Example Name 1. {-s Pl} Dogs, bushes Noun plural 2. {- sg ps} Boy's Noun singular possessive 3. {-s pl ps} Boys', men's Noun plural possessive 4. {-s 3d} Runs, catches Present third person singular 5. {-ING vb} discussing Present participle 6. {-Dpt} chewed Past tense 7. {-D pp} Chewed, eaten Past participle | P a g e 51 8. {-ER cp} Bolder, sooner, comparative nearer 9. {-EST sp} Boldest, soonest, superlative nearest The words to which these suffixes are attached are called stems. The stem includes the base or bases and all derivational affixes. Thus, the stem of cowboys is cowboy and that of beautified is beautify. The above chart should be accompanied by a few observations. The chart does not contain alternate forms that are sometimes used for the plural, past tense, or past participle. Thus, although the plural inflection –s as in dogs is listed, there are some exceptional plural forms such as the –en of oxen and the non-inflectional inner vowel change of mice, which are not included in the chart. Similarly, although most past tense and past participle forms end in the inflectional –ed, there are some non-inflected forms that alter the vowel of the verb base, as happens in the forms sang and sung. Rather than list the kinds of exceptional forms that occur in addition to the typical inflectional forms that characterize such notions as plural or past, we have listed only the inflectional suffixes that typically characterize such notions and noted there that there are alternate forms that sometimes occur. | P a g e 51 The overlapping form –ed for both the past tense and past participle does not normally cause a problem for interpretation, because grammatical context of the two is different. for example, compare the difference between the past tense usage in "Jane composed the song" and the past participle usage in "Jane has composed the song" or "The music was composed 9by Jane)". Furthermore, although –ed is the inflectional past participle form with regular verbs, the suffix –en occurs in the past participle with a number of irregular verbs such as driven, written, eaten. Because of this and because the inflectional –en can in some cases serve to distinguish the past participle from the past tense, we will list it as an alternate inflectional suffix form for the past participle. But we caution the reader to remember that past participles come in a variety of forms, some of which do not even utilize the –ed or –en suffixes. Inflectional suffixes are not the only kind of suffix. English also has derivational suffixes such as the –ish in the word childish. Before looking at derivational suffixes in greater detail, we will first consider those ways in which the inflectional suffixes are different from derivational suffixes. The inflectional suffixes differ from the deviational suffixes in the following ways, to which there are few exceptions. | P a g e 52 1. They do not change the part of speech. Examples:  sled, sleds (both nouns)  Cough, coughed (both verbs)  Cold, colder (both adjectives) 2. They come last in a word when they are present. Examples: waited, villainies, industrializing 3. They go with all stems of a given part of speech. Examples: He eats, drinks, dreams, entertains, motivates 4. They do not pile up; only one ends a word. Examples: flakes, working, higher, written An exception here is {-s pl ps}, the plural possessive of the noun, as in "the students' worries". 10. Derivational Morphemes Derivation is the process of creating separate but morphologically related words. Typically, but not always, it involves one or more changes in form. It can involve prefixing, as in enabe, and suffixing, as in entertainment. | P a g e 53 In addition to the short list of inflectional suffixes, English has a large supply of another kind of suffix called derivational suffixes. These consist of all the suffixes that are not inflectional. There are four-word classes in which derivation is applicable. These are nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives, otherwise known as content words or full morphemes, rather than the grammatical words (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjection) or empty morphemes. The following table summarizes them Some of the characteristics of derivational suffixes are discussed in the following. 1. The words with which derivational suffixes combine is an arbitrary matter. To make a noun from the verb adorn we must add –ment –no other suffix will do- whereas the verb "fail" combines only with –ure to make the noun failure. 2. In many cases, but not all, a derivational suffix changes the part of speech of the word to which it is added. The noun act becomes an adjective by the addition of –ive, and to the adjective active we can add –ate, making it a verb, activate. Although we have not yet taken up parts of speech, you probably know enough about them to distinguish between nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. 3. Derivational suffixes usually do not close off a word; that is, after a derivational suffix one can sometimes add another derivational suffix and can frequently add an inflectional suffix. | P a g e 54 For example, to the word fertilize, which ends in derivational suffix, one can add another one –er, and to fertilizer one can add an inflectional suffix –s, closing the word. 4. Derivational suffixes may pile up. For example:  Act + -ive+ -ate → activate  Norm + -al + -ize+ -er→ normalizer  Category + -ize+ -ation→ categorization Audible Derivational Affixes Another type of derivation, while not visible, is at least audible. In some derivationally related word pairs, only a feature of the final consonant changes, usually its voicing:  advice advise /s/ → /z/  belief believe /f/ → /v/  breath breathe /θ /→/ð/ In some cases, adding a derivational morpheme induces a change in a stressed vowel:  divine divinity /aI/ → /I/  profane profanity /e/ → /æ/ In other cases, the addition of a suffix triggers a change in the final consonant of the root. For example, an alveolar consonant becomes palatal with the same voicing value: | P a g e 55   part → partial /t/ → /ʃ/  face → facial /s/ → /ʃ/ Other examples include hit, buy, dust, autograph, brown bag, which can all be both verbs and nouns. Change of part of speech without any corresponding formal change is called conversion (also functional shift or zero derivation). There is more on this topic in our chapter on Major Parts of Speech. Activity 5 Write the morphemic symbol and name for each italicized inflectional suffix below. 1. The flagpole remained in front of Main Hall ------- 2. Four pledges were initiated. ---------------- 3. Shirley pledges to do her best. ----------------- 4. The pledge's shirt was torn. ----------------- 5. The pledges' shirts were torn. ----------------- 6. We were discussing the editorial. ----------------- 7. The novel was shorter than I had expected. --------- 8. They waited at the dock. ----------------- 9. Which is the longest route? ----------------- 10. Have you taken calculus yet? ----------------- 11. Chris played well in the second set.----------------- | P a g e 56 12. The dealer weighed the poultry. ----------------- 13. Would you mind repeating the question? ---------- 14. The sheets were soon ironed. ----------------- 15. He never locks the door. ----------------- Activity 6 Match between words in the right-hand column and the derivational suffixes in the left-hand columns. 1. Happy a) -hood 2. Friend b) -acy 3. Boy c) -ism 4. Compose d) -ness 5. Shrink e) -ment 6. Active f) -age 7. supreme g) –y 8. True h) -ation 9. pagan i) -ship 10. discover j) -ity | P a g e 57  k) -ance l) –th m) -ure Activity 7 The words in the second column are formed by the addition of a derivational stuff to those in the first column. After each word in both columns indicate its part of speech classification N (Noun), V (Verb), Aj (Adjective), or Av (Adverb). Some of the words may belong to more than one part of speech. 1. Break Breakage 2. Desire Desirable 3. Conspire Conspiracy 4. Rehearse Rehearsal 5. Ideal Idealize 6. False Falsify 7. Sweet Sweetly 8. Doubt Doubtful 9. Mouth Mouthful | P a g e 58 10. Sing Singer 11. Familiarize Familiarization 12. Passion Passionate 13. Host Hostess 14. Gloom Gloomy 15. Martyr Martyrdom 16. Novel Novelist 17. Day Daily 18. Prohibit Prohibitory 19. Excel Excellent 20. Create Creative 21. Vision Visionary 22. Cube Cubic 23. Ripe Ripen 24. Real Realism 25. Accept Acceptance | P a g e 59 Activity 8 Add a derivational suffix to each of these words, which already end in a derivational suffix. 1. Reasonable: ---------------------------------------------- 2. Formal: --------------------------------------------------- 3. Organize: ------------------------------------------------- 4. Purify: ----------------------------------------------------- 5. Realist: ---------------------------------------------------- Activity 9 Add an inflectional suffix to each of the following words which ends in a derivational suffix. 1. Kindness: ------------------------------------------------- 2. Beautify: -------------------------------------------------- 3. Quarterly: ------------------------------------------------ 4. Popularize: ----------------------------------------------- 5. Depth: ----------------------------------------------------- 6. Pressure: -------------------------------------------------- 7. Arrival: --------------------------------------------------- 8. Orientate: ------------------------------------------------- 9. Friendly: -------------------------------------------------- 10. Funny: ---------------------------------------------------- | P a g e 61 Suffixal Homophones Some suffixes, both inflectional and derivational have homophonous forms: 1. The inflectional morpheme {-ER cp} has two homophones: {-ER n} & {-ER rp} 2. The verbal inflectional suffix {-ING vb} has two homophones: {-ING nm} & {-ING aj}. 3. The verbal inflectional {-D pp} has a homophone: the adjectival derivational {-D aj} 4. The adverbial derivational suffix {-LY av} has one homophone: the adjectival derivational suffix {-Ly aj} 1. THE INFLECTIONAL MORPHEME {-ER cp} The inflectional morpheme {-ER cp} has two homophones: a) Derivational morpheme {-ER n}, which is attached to verbs to form nouns as in hunter, fisher, is often called the agent – er and conveys the meaning of ―that which performs the action of the verb stem‖. It may also be attached to nonverbal stems as in: teenager, New Yorker; conveying the meaning of ―that which is related to‖. Both belong to the same morpheme. | P a g e 61  b) Derivational morpheme {-ER rp}, which appears at the end of words and conveys the meaning of repetition as in patter, chatter. 2. THE VERBAL INFLECTIONAL SUFFIX {-ING vb}: The verbal inflectional suffix {-ING vb} has two homophones: a) Nominal derivational suffix {-ING nm} as in meetings, weddings. b) Adjectival morpheme {-ING aj} as in ‗a charming woman.’ 3. THE VERBAL INFLECTIONAL {-D pp} The verbal inflectional {-D pp} has a homophone in the adjectival derivational {-D aj} as in: Helen was excited about her new job. She was a devoted mother. a. The adjectival {-D aj} can be preceded by a qualifier (very, rather, quite) or (more & most) b. The test of the verb (seem) is applicable to adjectival {-D aj }, but not to verbal {-D pp} * The very departed guests had forgotten their dog. * The guests seem departed. 4. THE ADVERBIAL DERIVATIONAL SUFFIX {-LY av}: The adverbial derivatives suffix {-LY av} is added to most adjectives to form adverb of manner as in kindly, happily. | P a g e 62  {LY av} has as a homophone the derivational suffix {-LY aj} that is distributed as follows: a. Added to monosyllabic nouns to form adjectives that are inflected with –er, -est: love _ lovely. b. It is added to nouns to form adjectives that are not inflected with –er, -est: king _ kingly. c. It is added to few adjectives, giving alternate adjectival forms that are also inflected with –er, -est : dead- deadly. d. Added to a short list of time nouns to form adjectives: day→ daily, month →monthly. Activity 10 Identify the suffixes of the italicized words with these symbols: V- al = {-Dpp}; Aj-al ={-D aj} 1. You should read the printed statement. --------- 2. Merle was a neglected child. ----------------------- 3. This is a complicated question. -------------------- 4. His chosen bride had lived India. ----------------- 5. He bought a stolen picture. ------------------------ 6. The invited guests all came. ------------------------ 7. We had reserved a seat. ----------------------------- | P a g e 63 Activity 11 Ambiguity occurs when –ed suffix can be interpreted as either {-D pp} or {-D aj}. For each sentence below write two meanings. 1. He had a finished table. a. -------------------------------------------------------- b. -------------------------------------------------------- 2. The animal was spotted. a. -------------------------------------------------------- b. -------------------------------------------------------- 3. He is a reserved surgeon. a. -------------------------------------------------------- b. -------------------------------------------------------- | P a g e 64 Feminine formation in English Historical Background Historically, English was more gendered, with distinctions for masculine, feminine, and neuter in nouns. Over time, the language evolved, and gender distinctions became less pronounced. Old English had specific feminine endings for nouns and adjectives, but many of these forms have disappeared in Modern English. Feminine Form Creation In contemporary English, the formation of feminine words often involves: 1. Derivational Suffixes Several suffixes are commonly used to form feminine counterparts of words:  -ess: This suffix is one of the most traditional ways to form feminine nouns from masculine ones. Examples include: o Actor → Actress o Waiter → Waitress o Baron →baroness | P a g e 65  o Count →countess o Lion →lioness o Jew →Jewess o Heir →heiress o Host →hostess o Priest →priestess o Giant →giantess o Prince →princess o master →mistress o emperor →empress o tiger →tigress o Prince → Princess  -er: this suffix could be used to form the feminine form: Example: Widow →widower  -ine: This suffix is less common but still used, especially in more formal contexts: | P a g e 66  o Hero → Heroine 2. Gender-Neutral Terms In recent decades, there has been a significant shift towards gender-neutral language, which often avoids the use of feminine- specific forms. Examples include:  Chairperson or Chair instead of Chairwoman  Firefighter instead of Fireman 3. Changing Vowel Sounds Examples: man → woman 4. Using Prefixes Examples:  male nurse → female nurse,  male teacher → female teacher 5. Removing a suffix Some masculine words could be changed into feminine by removing the suffix Example: Bridegroom → Bride | P a g e 67 6. Using a new word To form the feminine form of some words a new word is used like: Goose → gander Sir → Madam Activity 12 Fill in the blanks with the correct feminine form of the given masculine nouns. 1. Actor → ------------- 2. Waiter → ------------- 3. Prince → ------------- 4. Host → ------------- 5. Duke → ------------- 6. Tiger → ------------- 7. Lion → ------------- 8. Bachelor → ------------- 9. Man → ------------- 10. Hero → ------------- | P a g e 68 Activity 13 Identify whether the following nouns are gender-specific or gender-neutral. 1. Doctor → ------------- 2. Police Officer → ------------- 3. Fireman → ------------- 4. Teacher →------------- 5. Nurse → ------------- Activity 14 Form the feminine of the following words: 1. Goose → ------------- 2. Widow → ------------- 3. Bride → ------------- 4. Man → ------------- 5. Sir →------------- Activity 15 Answer the following question in short sentences. - What suffix is commonly used to form the feminine version of many nouns in English? | P a g e 69 Diminutive Formation in English Introduction to Diminutives Diminutives are forms of words used to convey smallness, affection, or familiarity. In English, diminutive formation can involve both suffixation (adding a suffix to a base word) and the use of certain words or phrases that imply smallness or endearment. While not as systematic as in some other languages, English has a variety of ways to create diminutive forms, particularly through affixes, truncations, and lexical means. Functions of Diminutives  Expressing smallness or endearment  Creating informal or affectionate tones  Examples in everyday language and literature Methods of Forming Diminutives 1. Using suffixes English forms diminutives primarily through the use of suffixes, though this is often more flexible than in languages with rigid diminutive systems. | P a g e 71   "-y", ―-kin‖, or "-ie" suffix One of the most productive diminutive suffixes in English is the addition of "-y", ―-kin‖ or "-ie". This is often used to make names, nouns, and some adjectives sound smaller or more affectionate. Examples:  dog → doggie  cat → kitty  Bill → Billy  Sue → Susie  Bird →birdie  Lamb → lambkin  Baby → babykins This diminutive form can imply not only size but also affection, familiarity, or even playfulness. For instance, "doggie" is commonly used when speaking to children, while "Billy" is a familiar form of the name "Bill."  ―-ette‖ suufix Example: Room → roomette | P a g e 71  "-let" suffix Another diminutive-forming suffix is "-let", which can convey the sense of smallness. Examples:  book → booklet  pig → piglet  leaf → leaflet  star → starlet  circle → circlet Here, the suffix mainly conveys a literal reduction in size, such as a "booklet" being a small book or a "piglet" being a young or small pig.  "-ling" suffix The suffix "-ling" can also serve as a diminutive, often implying something small or young. Examples:  duck → duckling  sap → sapling  star → starling The diminutive form in this case is frequently used to refer to younger or smaller versions of the original noun. | P a g e 72 2. Using Prefixes Common prefix: mini- Examples:  minibus,  miniskirt 3. Clipping Shortening of words to create a diminutive form. Examples:  Jennifer → Jen  Elizabeth → Liz  Samuel → Sam  Elizabeth →Liz  Thomas →Tom 4. Reduplication Repeating a part of the word Examples:  teeny-weeny,  itsy-bitsy | P a g e 73 5. Affectionate and Familiar Terms Some diminutives in English are formed not by adding suffixes but through the use of entirely different words or terms that imply smallness or affection. These forms tend to be highly irregular and rooted in idiomatic or colloquial language use. Examples:  father → dad/daddy  mother → mom/mommy  child → kid/kiddy Activity 16 Use the appropriate diminutive suffixes to create diminutive forms of the following words: 1. Dog → ---------- 2. Book → ---------- 3. Duck → ---------- 4. Pig → ---------- 5. Cat → ---------- 6. Bird → ---------- | P a g e 74  7. Star → ---------- 8. Leaf → 9. Mouse → Activity 17 Rewrite the following sentences by replacing the base word with its diminutive form. Think about how the tone of the sentence changes: 1. The child found a bird in the garden. → ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. She handed me a small book with beautiful illustrations. → ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The dog chased the cat around the yard. → ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4. I received a star for completing my homework. → ---------------------------------------------------------------- 5. The pig looked happy rolling in the mud. → ---------------------------------------------------------------- | P a g e 75 The Interface Between Morphology and Syntax As you‘ve learned, morphology is concerned with the ways in which words are formed in the languages of the world. Syntax, in contrast, is concerned with identifying the rules that allow us to combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences. Morphology and syntax, then, are generally concerned with different levels of linguistic organization. Morphologists look at processes of lexeme formation and inflection such as affixation, compounding, reduplication, and the like. Syntacticians are concerned, among other things, with phrase structure and movement rules, and rules concerning the interpretation of anaphors and pronouns. Nevertheless, there are many ways in which morphology and syntax interact. Inflectional morphology is defined as morphology that carries grammatical meaning; as such it is relevant to syntactic processes. Case-marking, for example, serves to identify the syntactic function of an NP in a sentence. Inflectional markers like tense and aspect-affixes identify clauses of certain types, for example, finite or infinitive, conditional or subjunctive. Person and number markers often figure in agreement between adjectives and the nouns they modify, or between verbs and their subjects or objects. In some sense, inflection can be viewed as part of the glue that holds sentences together. | P a g e 76 In this section we will first look in more detail at several types of verbal morphology that affect sentence structure by changing what is called the valency of verbs. Valency concerns the number of arguments in a sentence, where arguments are noun phrases like the subject and object selected by the verb of the sentence. There are cases in which derivational morphemes appear to attach to whole phrases, for example, or elements that seem not quite bound enough to be affixes, but not quite free enough to be viewed as independent words. One point of tangency between morphology and syntax occurs where morphology has an effect on the argument structure of verbs. There, it was clear that affixes – clearly morphological elements – can reduce or increase the number of arguments that a verb takes – clearly a matter of syntax. What we will look at in this section, however, are cases where it is not so clear what belongs to morphology and what belongs to syntax – cases, in other words, that inhabit a sort of borderland between the two levels of organization. | P a g e 77 CLITICS One of these borderland creatures is something that linguists call a clitic. Clitics are small grammatical elements that cannot occur independently and therefore cannot really be called free morphemes. But they are not exactly like affixes either. In terms of their phonology, they do not bear stress, and they form a single phonological word with a neighboring word, which are called the host of the clitic. However, they are not as closely bound to their host as inflectional affixes are; frequently they are not very selective about the category of their hosts. Those clitics that come before their hosts are called proclitics, those that come after their hosts enclitics. Two types of clitics are often distinguished: simple clitics and special clitics. Simple clitics are defined as ―unaccented variants of free morphemes, which may be phonologically reduced and subordinated to a neighboring word. In terms of their syntax, though, they appear in the same position as one that can be occupied by the corresponding free word.‖ In English, forms like - ll or -d, as in the sentences in (1), are simple clitics: (1) a. I‘ll take the pastrami, please. b. I‘d like the pastrami, please. In these sentences, -ll and -d are contracted forms of the auxiliaries will and would, and they occur just where the | P a g e 78 independent words would occur – following the subject I and before the main verb. Like affixes, they are pronounced as part of the preceding word. Unlike affixes, they do not select a specific category of base and change its category or add grammatical information to it. Contracted forms like -ll or -d in English will attach to any sort of word that precedes them, regardless of category: (2) a. The kid over there‘ll take a pastrami sandwich. b. No one I know‘d want a pastrami sandwich. In (2a) -ll is cliticized to the adverb there, and in (2b) -d is cliticized to the verb know. Special clitics are phonologically dependent on a host, as simple clitics are, but they are not reduced forms of independent words. Compare the example in (3) from French: (3) a. Je vois Pierre. I see Pierre. b. Je le vois. I him see. c. *Je vois le. | P a g e 79  I see him. Although the object pronoun le in French is written as a separate word, it is phonologically dependent on the verb to its right; in other words, the object pronoun and the verb are pronounced together as a single phonological word. There is no independent word that means ‗him‘ in French. So le and the other object pronoun forms in French are special clitics. Clitics are of interest both to syntacticians and to morphologists precisely because they have characteristics both of bound morphemes and of syntactic units. Like bound morphemes, they cannot stand on their own. But unlike morphemes, they are typically unselective of their hosts and have their own independent functions in syntactic phrases. Phrasal verbs and verbs with separable prefixes Also inhabiting the borderland between morphology and syntax are phrasal verbs in English and verbs with separable prefixes in German and Dutch. Phrasal verbs are verbs like those in (4) that consist of a verb and a preposition or particle: (4) call up ‗telephone‘ chew out ‗scold‘ put down ‗insult‘ | P a g e 81  run up ‗accumulate‘ Frequently, phrasal verbs have idiomatic meanings, as the glosses in (4) show, and in that sense they are like words. In terms of structure, the combination of verb and article/preposition might seem like another sort of compound in English. Remember, however, that one of the criteria for distinguishing a compound from a phrase in English was that the two elements making up compounds could not be separated from one another. We cannot take a compound like dog bed and insert a word to modify bed (for example, *dog comfortable bed). In contrast, however, the two parts of the phrasal verb can be, and sometimes must be, separated: (5) a. I called up a friend. b. I called a friend up. c. I called her up. d. *I called up her. When the object of the verb is a full noun phrase, the particle can precede or follow it. In the former case it is adjacent to its verb, but in the latter case it is separated from the verb. And when the object is a pronoun, the particle must be separated from the verb. | P a g e 81 So do we consider phrasal verbs to be a matter of study for morphologists, or do we leave them to syntacticians? PHRASAL COMPOUNDS Our final example of a phenomenon that is neither clearly syntactic nor clearly morphological is called a phrasal compound. A phrasal compound is a word that is made up of a phrase as its first element, and a noun as its second element. Phrasal compounds can be found in many of the Germanic languages, including English, Dutch, and German: (6) a. English stuff-blowing-up effects bikini-girls-in-trouble genre comic-book-and-science-fiction fans b.German die Wer war das Frage ‗the who was that question‘ On the one hand, phrasal compounds pass one of the acid tests for compounding: | P a g e 82 it is impossible to insert a modifying word in-between the phrase and the head of the compound: (7) a. *stuff-blowing-up exciting effects b. exciting stuff-blowing-up effects Again, it is no easy question to decide whether phrasal compounds are the subject of morphology or of syntax. Indeed, it would be reasonable to conclude that they should be of interest to both morphologists and syntacticians. | P a g e 83 The Interface Between Phonology and Morphology Phonology is the area of linguistics that is concerned with sound regularities in languages: what sounds exist in a language, how those sounds combine with each other into syllables and words, and how the prosody (stress, accent, tone, and so on) of a language works. Phonology interacts with morphology in a number of ways: morphemes may have two or more different phonological forms whose appearance may be completely or at least partly predictable. Some phonological rules apply when two or more morphemes are joined together. In some languages morphemes display different phonological behavior depending on whether they are native to the language or borrowed into it from some other language. In this section we will explore the various ways in which phonology interacts with morphology. ALLOMORPHS Allomorphs are phonologically distinct variants of the same morpheme. By phonologically distinct, we mean that they have similar but not identical sounds. And when we say that they are variants of the same morpheme, we mean that these slightly different-sounding sets of forms share the same meaning or function. For example, the negative prefix in- in English is often | P a g e 84 pronounced in- (as in intolerable), but it is also sometimes pronounced im- or il- (impossible, illegal), as English spelling shows. Since all of these forms still mean ‗negative‘, and they all attach to adjectives in the same way, we say that they are allomorphs of the negative prefix. Another example you‘ve already seen is the regular past tense in English. Although the regular past tense in English is always spelled -ed, it is sometimes pronounced [t] (packed), sometimes [d] (bagged), sometimes [əd] (waited). Still all three phonological variants still designate the past tense. In many cases, it is phonologically predictable which allomorph appears where; sometimes, however, which allomorph appears with a particular base is unpredictable. For example, it is usually possible to predict the form of the regular allomorphs of the English past tense morpheme, but there are quite a few verbs whose past tenses are irregular (for example, sang, flew, bought). PREDICTABLE ALLOMORPHY Let‘s look more closely at the prefix in- in English. As the examples in (1a) show, it frequently has the form in-. However, sometimes it appears as im-, il-, or ir-, as the examples in (b) and (c) show. And if you think about sound rather than spelling, it can also be pronounced [ɪŋ-], as the examples in (1d) show: | P a g e 85 (1) a. inalienable intolerable indecent b. impossible c. illegal irregular d. incongruous [ɪnˈkɒŋ.ɡru.əs incoherent [ɪn.kəʊˈhɪə.rə nt] The various allomorphs of the negative prefix in- in English are quite regular, in the sense that we can predict exactly where each variant will occur. Which allomorph occurs depends on the initial sound of the base word. For vowel-initial words, like alienable, the [ɪn-] variant appears. It appears as well on words that begin with the alveolar consonants [t, d, s, z, n]. On words that begin with a labial consonant like [p], we find [ɪm-]. Words that begin with [l] or [r] are prefixed with the [ɪl-] or [ɪr-] allomorphs respectively, and words that begin with a velar consonant [k], are prefixed with the [ɪŋ-] variant. What you should notice is that this makes perfect sense phonetically: the nasal consonant of the prefix matches at least the point of articulation of the consonant | P a g e 86 beginning its base, and if that consonant is a liquid [l,r] it matches that consonant exactly. This allomorphy is the result of a process called assimilation. Generally speaking, assimilation occurs when sounds come to be more like each other in terms of some aspect of their pronunciation. Through your study of phonology, you know that regularities in the phonology of a language can be stated in terms of phonological rules. Phonologists assume that native speakers of a language have a single basic mental representation for each morpheme. Regular allomorphs are derived from the underlying representation using phonological rules. For example, since the English negative prefix in- is pronounded [ɪn] both before alveolar-initial bases (tolerable, decent) and before vowel-initial bases (alienable), whereas the other allomoprhs are only pronounced before specific consonant-initial bases, phonologists assume that our mental representation of in- is [ɪn] rather than [ɪr], [ɪl], or [ɪŋ]; often (but not always) the underlying form of a morpheme is the form that has the widest surface distribution. When the underlying form is prefixed to a base beginning with anything other than a vowel or alveolar consonant, the following phonological rule derives the correct allomorph: Another example of a predictable form of allomorphy is the formation of the regular past tense in English. We can now go into | P a g e 87 its formation in somewhat more detail. Consider the data in (2), which shows two of the three allomorphs of the regular past tense: (2) a. Verbs whose past tense is pronounced [t] slap, laugh, unearth, kiss, wish, watch, walk b. Verbs whose past tense is pronounced [d] rub, weave, bathe, buzz, judge, snag, frame, can, bang, lasso, shimmy The regular past tense in English illustrates a different sort of assimilation, called voicing assimilation where sounds become voiced or voiceless depending on the voicing of neighboring sounds. The verbs that take the past tense allomorph [t] all end in voiceless consonants: [p, f, θ, s, ʃ, ʧ, k]. Those that take the [d] allomorph, all end either in a voiced consonant [b, v, ð, z, ʤ, g, m, n, ŋ] or in a vowel (and all vowels are voiced, of course). Why just this distribution? Clearly, the past tense morpheme has come to match the voicing of the final segment of the verb base: verbs whose last segment is voiceless take the voiceless variant. There is one allomorph of the past tense we haven‘t covered yet. Consider what happens if the verb base ends in either [t] or [d]: | P a g e 88 (3) Verbs whose past tense is pronounced [əd] defeat, bond Here, a process of dissimilation is at work. Dissimilation is a phonological process which makes sounds less like each other. A schwa separates the [t] or [d] of the past tense from the matching consonant at the end of the verb. Again, this makes perfect sense phonetically; if the [t] or [d] allomorph were used, it would be indistinguishable from the final consonant of the verb root. What is the underlying form of the past tense morpheme in English? As indicated before, it is often a good strategy to assume that the allomorph with the widest distribution is the underlying form. But there is something else to consider as well. Phonologists typically assume that the underlying form of a morpheme must be something from which all of the other allomorphs can be derived using the simplest possible set of rules. In this case, the allomorph [d] has the widest distribution, because it occurs with all voiced consonants except [d], and with all vowel-final verb stems. And if we assume that the underlying form of the regular past tense is [d], we need only two simple rules to derive the other allomorphs: | P a g e 89 (4) The Past Tense Rule a. If the verb stem ends in [t] or [d] (the alveolar stops), insert [ə] before the past tense morpheme (e.g. defeated [dɪˈfiːt+ d] → [dɪˈfiːt+ əd]). b. Assimilate [d] to the voicing of an immediately preceding consonant (e.g., licked [lɪk + d] →[lɪk + t]). | P a g e 91 Immediate Constituents A word of one morpheme, like blaze, has, of course, just one unitary part. A word of two morphemes, like cheerful, is obviously composed of two parts, with the division between them: A word of three or more morphemes is not made up of a string of individual parts; it is built with a hierarchy of twosomes. As an illustration lets us examine the formation of gentlemanly, a word of three morphemes. gentle and man were put together to give gentleman. we see that the meaning of gentleman is a composite of these of its two constituents. Now we add –ly, meaning ―like‖, and get gentlemanly, like a gentleman. Now when we analyze a word we show this process but in reverse. We usually divide a word into two parts of which it seems to have been composed. Words are formed in steps; they have a special type of structure characterized as hierarchical. This hierarchical structure can be | P a g e 91 schematically represented by means of tree diagrams that indicate the steps involved in the formation of the word. In doing word diagrams like those above to show layers of structure, we make successive divisions into two parts, each of which is called an Immediate Constituent, abbreviated as IC. The process is continued until all component morphemes of a word, the ultimate constituents, have been isolated. Here are three recommendations on IC division: 1. If a word ends in an inflectional suffix, the first cut is between the suffix and the rest of the word. 2. One of the ICs should be, if possible, a free form. 3. The meaning of the ICs should be related to meaning of the word. A word like restrain cannot be divided into rest- and -rain | P a g e 92 because neither rest nor rain has a semantic correlation with the word restrain. Also, starchy cannot be divided into star- and –chy. Some words are ambiguous in that they have more than one meaning. When we examine their internal structure, we find out that they may be analyzed in more than one way. | P a g e 93 Activity 18 One of the following ICs is incorrect. Identify the incorrect one. | P a g e 94 Activity 19 Diagram these words to show the layers of structure tem ize d Ice land ic Pre pro fess ion al Super natur al News paper dom Un com fort able Counter de clar ation Fest iv al | P a g e 95 Mal con struc tion En gag ing Contra dict ory Ex press ion ism Dis en throne Mis judge ment Mid after noon | P a g e 96 Word Formation Speech is a continuous stream of sound without a clear division into units, but it can be analyzed into meaningful elements which recur and combine according to rules. In writing, such an analysis is expressed through the division into words and sentences. The essence of grammatical units is that they are meaningful and combine with each other in systematic ways. We may distinguish a hierarchy of units. A sentence consists of clauses, a clause consists of one or more phrases, a phrase consists of one or more words, a word of one or more morphemes, a morpheme consists of one or more phonemes. The term word is used to designate an intermediate structure smaller than a whole phrase and yet larger than a single sound segment. It can be defined depending on whether we focus on its representation, the thought which it expresses, or purely formal criteria. However, although it may be difficult to define word, even non-literate speakers can divide the speech chain into words. So, the word is an uninterruptible unit of structure consisting of one or more morphemes and which typically occurs in the structure of phrases. | P a g e 97 Simple and Complex Words We can make a distinction between word types according to their internal structure. Words could be simple or complex. as well, a distinction that cuts across these categories. Consider the verbs, nouns and adjectives in (1)-(3), respectively. It will probably be intuitively clear that the words in the (b) examples are complex in a way that the words in the (a) examples are not, and not just because the words in the (b) examples are, on the whole, longer. (1) a. to walk, to dance, to laugh, to kiss b. to purify, to enlarge, to industrialize, to head-hunt (2) a. house, corner, zebra b. collection, builder, sea horse (3) a. green, old, sick b. regional, washable, honey-sweet The words in the (a) examples in (1)-(3) do not have any internal structure. It does not seem to make much sense to say that walk, for example, consists of the smaller parts wa and lk. But for the words in the (b) examples this is different. These are built up from | P a g e 98 smaller parts that each contribute their own distinct bit of meaning to the whole. For example, builder consists of the verbal part build with its associated meaning, and the part –er that contributes a ‗doer‘ reading, just as it does in kill-er, sell-er, doubt-er, and so on. Similarly, washable consists of wash and a part –able that contributes a meaning aspect that might be described loosely as ‗can be done‘, as it does in refundable, testable, verifiable etc. The smallest parts of words that add their own distinct meaning component to the word are called morphemes. Thus, the (a) examples in (1) to (3) show that some words consist of just one morpheme. Such words are called simple or simplex. Other words consist of two or more morphemes. These are called complex words. When words consist of more than one morpheme, they may be either complex or compound. Complex words may be broken down into one free form and one or more bound forms: e.g. dog-s, happi-ly, quick-er, work-ing, whereas compound words consist of more than one free form: e.g. birth+day, black+bird, candle+stick, coat+hanger. We also need to mention cases which incorporate the characteristics of both complex and compound words: e.g. gentle- | P a g e 99 man-ly consists of the compound word gentle+man and the suffix -ly; wind+shield+wipe-er consists of the compound word wind+shield and the complex word wip-er. Processes of Word Formation In this course, we will study five major morphological processes that affect roots and stems and which lead to the production of new words. Those processes are affixation, compounding, symbolism, reduplication and suppletion. A. AFFIXATION Affixation was discussed in detail in the previous chapters. Affixation consists in adding derivational affixes (i.e., prefixes, infixes and suffixes) to roots and stems to form new words. For example, if the suffix -able is added to the word pass, the word passable is created. Likewise, if to the word passable the prefix in- (or rather its allomorph im-) is attached, another word is formed, namely impassable. Affixation is a very common and productive morphological process in synthetic B. COMPOUNDING A compound word is a union of two or more words to convey a unit idea or special meaning that is not as clearly or quickly conveyed by separated words. Compound words may be | P a g e 111 hyphenated, written open (as separate words), or written solid (closed). A hyphenated compound—also called a unit modifier—is simply a combination of words joined by a hyphen or hyphens. The hyphen is a mark of punctuation that not only unites but separates the component words; thus, it aids understanding and readability and ensures correct pronunciation. Words are hyphenated mainly to express the idea of a unit and to avoid ambiguity. shell-like cloud-to-ground strokes well-to-do roof-to-wall construction An open compound is a combination of words so closely associated that they convey the idea of a single concept but are spelled as unconnected words: lowest common denominator canyon head A solid (closed) compound combines two or more words into one solid word (e.g., breakdown). The use of compounding in our language is an evolving process. As expressions become more popular or adopt special meanings, | P a g e 111 they follow a gradual evolution from two or more separate or hyphenated words to single words. audio visual............ audio-visual............... audiovisual copy editor............. copy-editor............... copyeditor wild life.................. wild-life.................... wildlife For some years now, the trend has been to spell compounds as solid words as soon as acceptance warrants. This is a trend, not a rule, but it can be helpful in deciding how to format a new or different compound expression. Compounding is in such a state of flux that dictionaries do not always agree and, worse yet, many compound terms are unlisted. In applying the compounding rules, keep in mind the living fluidity of our language. Because word forms change constantly, it is important to remember that the rules for compounding cannot be applied inflexibly. It is also important to avoid arbitrary compounding. When you have a compounding problem, check the rules and especially the lists provided in the appendix. The list offers the preferred compounding of many potentially troublesome words and expressions frequently used in scientific and technical | P a g e 112 publications. Some words are included simply for quick reference. Characteristics of Compound Words 1.Compounds words behave grammatically and semantically as single words. 2. Since compound words behave as units, between their component elements no affixes (whether inflections or derivations) can usually occur; inflectional suffixes can appear only after compound words. For example, bathrooms, school, buses, water resistant. Exceptions: passersby, brothers-in-law, courts-martial. 3. The global meaning of the compound word can often be guessed from the individual meaning of each element of the compound. For example, a boathouse is ‗a shed in which boats are stored‘; a bookstore is ‗a store which sells books‘; and so on. But there are a few compound words whose global meanings have to be learned as if they were single words because such meanings cannot be guessed from the individual meanings of the component elements of the compounds. For instance, a Redcoat is ‗a British soldier‘, not ‗a coat that is red‘. Similarly, a flatfoot is ‗a detective or policeman‘, a turncoat is ‗a traitor‘, a hot dog is ‗a kind of fast food?