Morphology Ch 5 PDF

Ch 5: A Word and its Relatives: Derivation 5.1 Relationship between Lexemes The words like perform, performs, and performed are grammatically conditioned of one lexeme PERFORM. The words like perform and performance are not grammatically conditioned as the word performance is not a...

Ch 5: A Word and its Relatives: Derivation 5.1 Relationship between Lexemes The words like perform, performs, and performed are grammatically conditioned of one lexeme PERFORM. The words like perform and performance are not grammatically conditioned as the word performance is not a variant of the word perform, but it belongs to different lexeme. The suffix –ance is not one of the small class of suffixes (so-called “inflectional” suffixes) whose use is tightly determined by grammar. What sort of suffix is it then? It is derivational. 5.1 Relationship between Lexemes Derivation is used for all aspects of word structure involving affixation that is not inflectional. This chapter shows how derivation works in English. Since performance is not a variant of the lexeme PERFORM, it must belong to some other lexeme, which may itself have more than one form. What lexeme could this be? This question is easy to answer when we notice that, alongside performance, there is a plural form i.e. performances, so performance and performances are two forms of the lexeme PERFORMANCE. 5.1 Relationship between Lexemes Here, there is a relationship not between word forms but rather between lexemes (PERFORM and PERFORMANCE). Derivational Morphology is concerned with one kind of relationship between lexemes.  We are concerned mainly with relationships involving affixation, and the grammatical and semantic tasks that such affixation can perform. Base is the partially complete word form to which an affix is attached so as to create either an inflected word form or a new lexeme. (Equivalently, the base for an affixation process is what remains if the affix is removed.) Some bases are roots, whether bound (e.g. wive-, the base for wives) or free (e.g. cat, the base for cats). Others, however, already contain a root and one or more affixes, such as helpful in its capacity as the base for helpfulness. 5.2 Word Classes and Conversion Word classes such as ‘adjective’, ‘noun’ and ‘verb’ = parts of speech= lexical categories PERFORM and PERFORMANCE: do they belong to the same word class? No. PERFORMANCE has two word forms performance (singular) and performances (plural), and PERFORM has 4 word forms performs, performed, performing and perform. PERFORM is a verb, PERFORMANCE is a noun. This classification can be made on the basis of syntactic and inflectional behavior, not of meaning.  In school, you may once have been told that verbs are ‘doing words’, while nouns are ‘thing words’, and adjectives ‘describing words’. PERFORM and RESEMBLE Is RESEMBLE a ‘doing word’ or ‘describing word’? (e.g. TALL, INTERESTING). RESEMBLE has a set of forms (resembles, resembled, resembling and resemble) To classify words such as PERFORM and RESEMBLE as ‘doing words’ would be to mislead us into neglecting the syntactic and inflectional parallels that justify them as verbs.  Does that mean, then, that a lexeme cannot have both noun forms (singular and plural) and verb forms? The lexemes HOPE and FEAR both have verb (she hoped/feared for the future) and noun forms (hope/fear for the future). Ambivalent noun-verb vocabulary: noun-like in its grammatical behavior (e.g. DOOR, SISTER, DESK, JOY) or purely verb-like (e.g. HEAR, SPEAK, WRITE, BELIEVE)  English in particular: Compare HOPE and FEAR as verbs with other verbs that can be followed by that-clauses, as in (1) and (2): 1. a. She stated that it would rain. b. She knew that it would rain. c. She denied that it would rain. d. She admitted that it would rain. e. She acknowledged that it would rain. For all of these sentences we can identify a nominal counterpart, that is a counterpart of the form her... that it would rain: 2. a. her statement that it would rain b. her knowledge that it would rain c. her denial that it would rain d. her admission that it would rain e. her acknowledgement that it would rain  What do you notice about the nouns in (2)? Have a suffix added to the basic form of the verb in (1) The verbal construction in (1) is basic, the nominal construction in (2) being derived from it. Look at HOPE and FEAR. Hope and FEAR, as nouns, are really ‘zero-derived’ from verbs, carrying a phonologically empty and therefore unpronounceable ‘zero suffix’: HOPE-∅, FEAR-∅. This process is also called conversion. Conversion: a lexeme belonging to one class can simply be ‘converted’ to another without any overt change in shape. FATHER– the noun form is more basic. 5.3 Adverbs derived from adjectives DIOECIOUSLY and DIOECIOUS – distinct lexemes (different word class) but not distinct lexical item. Lexical item is a linguistic item whose meaning is not predictable, hence, it needs to be listed in the dictionary. Derivational processes change the word class of the bases to which they apply, unlike inflection. Mono-morphemic adverbs (OFTEN, SELDOM, NEVER, SOON), and some other adverbs are morphologically complex without containing -ly (NOWHERE, EVERYWHERE, TODAY, YESTERDAY). Also, there are common adverbs that are formed by conversion: FAST (as in The car was driven fast) and HARD (as in They worked hard), derived from the adjective FAST (as in a fast car) and HARD (as in hard work). 5.4 Nouns derived from nouns Not all derivational processes change word class. Examples (1)-(5) :lexical items, unpredictable meanings. 1. ‘small X’: -let, -ette, -ie e.g. droplet, booklet, cigarette, doggie 2. ‘female X’: -ess, -ine e.g. waitress, princess, heroine 3. ‘inhabitant of X’: -er, -(i)an e.g. Londoner, New Yorker, Texan, Glaswegian 4. ‘state of being an X’: -ship, -hood kingship, ladyship, motherhood, priesthood 5. ‘devotee of or expert on X’: -ist, -ian e.g. contortionist,, Marxist, logician, historian This ‘gappiness’ helps to confirm that these affixes are derivational rather than inflectional even though they do not change the word class.  These examples GLASWEGIAN, LOGICIAN and HISTORIAN illustrate the possibility that the base for a derivational process may be bound rather than free. GLASWEGIAN contains an idiosyncratic bound allomorph Glasweg- of the free morpheme Glasgow, which is also the only word form belonging to the lexeme GLASGOW 5.5. Nouns derived from members of other word classes Nouns derived from adjectives and from verbs are extremely numerous. Suffixes used to derive nouns from adjectives: 1. -ity, e.g. purity, equality, ferocity, sensitivity 2. -ness, e.g. goodness, tallness, fierceness, sensitiveness 3. -ism, e.g. radicalism, conservatism  All these three suffixes mean ‘property of being X’, where X is the base adjective. Some of these nouns are formed from bases other than the free form of the corresponding adjective, e.g. FEROCITY from feroc-(not ferocious), CONSERVATISM from conservat- (not conservative). All nouns in -ity are lexical items. 5.6 Adjectives derived from adjectives In this category, prefixes predominate. The prefix un- meaning ‘not’ Most dictionaries may not even list them. Another negative prefix is in- with allomorphs such as il-, ir-, and im- as in INTANGIBLE, ILLEGAL, IRRESPONSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE. The existence of pairs of more or less synonymous adjectives, one of which is negated with un- and the other with in- or one of its allomorphs: 1. a. eatable/uneatable edible/inedible b. readable/unreadable legible/illegible c. lawful/unlawful legal/illegal d. touchable/untouchable tangible/intangible Such examples confirm that the use of in- is lexically restricted. 5.7: Adjectives derived from members of other word classes The modifier very and the comparative construction (more… than) show that interesting, drunk and damaged are adjectives as in the following examples. 1. a. a not very interesting book b. The party-goers sounded very drunk. c. The car seemed more damaged than the lamp-post. Suffixes that form adjectives from verbs: 2. a. -able ‘able to be Xed’: breakable, readable, reliable, watchable b. -ent, -ant ‘tending to X’: repellent, expectant, conversant c. -ive ‘tending to X’: repulsive, explosive, speculative  Suffixes that form adjectives from nouns are more numerous, such as: 1. a. -ful, e.g. joyful, hopeful, helpful, meaningful b. -less, e.g. joyless, hopeless, helpless, meaningless c. -al, e.g. original, normal, personal, national d. -ish, e.g. boyish, loutish, waspish, selfish 5.8 Verbs derived from verbs The prefix re- and the negative or ‘reversive’ prefixes un-, de- and dis-, as in (1)-(4). 1. paint, enter repaint, re-enter 2. tie, tangle untie, untangle 3. compose, sensitise decompose, desensitise 4. entangle, believe disentangle, disbelieve Look at the columns in (5): 5. Intransitive Transitive LIE (past lay) LAY (past laid) RISE (past rose) RAISE (past raised) FALL (past fell) FELL(past felled) SIT (past sat) SET (past set) Transitive verbs are ones with an ‘object’ noun phrase, usually indicating the thing or person that is the goal of the action of the verb.  Intransitive verbs, such as lay in (6b), lack such an object. 6. a. Jill laid the book on the table. b. The book lay on the table The transitive verbs in (5) are all causative. They mean ‘cause to X’ where X stands for the meaning of the corresponding intransitive. Causative–incausative verb-pairs are common in English, but they nearly all involve conversion, as in (7). 7. a. Jill boiled the water. b. The water boiled. 5.9 Verbs derived from members of other word classes Some affixes for deriving verbs from nouns are: (1)-(3). 1. de-, e.g. debug, deforest, delouse 2. -ise, e.g. organise, patronise, terrorise 3. -(i)fy, e.g. beautify, gentrify, petrify  Verbs derived by replacing the final voiceless consonant of a noun with a voiced one, perhaps with some vowel change too as in (4). 4. Nouns Verbs BATH BATHE BREATH BREATHE HOUSE [….S] HOUSE [… Z] WREATH WREATHE The suffixes -ise and -ify can derive verbs from adjectival bases too, as in NATIONALISE, TENDERISE, INTENSIFY and PURIFY.  When the roots they are attached are bound (e.g. CAUTERISE, SANITISE, PETRIFY, SATISFY, MAGNIFY), it is often impossible to decide whether these roots are fundamentally nominal or adjectival. The suffix -ate is the same. Words such as GENERATE, ROTATE, REPLICATE, and LOCATE clearly contain a root and a suffix, because the same roots appear elsewhere (e.g. in GENERAL, ROTOR, REPLICA, and LOCAL). However, because most of the bases to which -ate is attached are bound roots, it does not clearly favor either adjectival or nominal bases.  Suffixes play a larger role than prefixes in English derivational morphology. But, there is one prefix to be mentioned en-, (with its allomorph em-) It forms verbs meaning ‘cause to become X’ or ‘cause to possess or enter X’ from a few adjectives and nouns: ENFEEBLE, ENSLAVE, EMPOWER, ENRAGE, ENTHRONE, ENTOMB. With the adjectives BOLD and LIVE as bases, the prefix en- is combined with a suffix -en: EMBOLDEN, ENLIVEN.  However, this suffix usually occurs without the prefix, (e.g. TIGHTEN, LOOSEN, STIFFEN, WEAKEN, WIDEN, REDDEN, DEEPEN, TOUGHEN). These verbs have either an intransitive meaning ‘become X’ or an transitive one ‘cause to become X’. It turns out that the adjectives that can be bases for deriving -en verbs are all monosyllabic and all end in plosives (the sounds usually spelled p, b, t, d, (c) k and g) or fricatives (the sounds usually spelled s, th, f and v). 5.10 Conclusion: generality and idiosyncrasy This chapter has illustrated the wide variety of tasks that derivation can play. Only four of the affixes that we have discussed yield large numbers of lexemes that one would not expect to find listed in a dictionary, namely adverb-forming -ly, negative adjectival un- and nominal -ness and –ing.