Lesson 5: MORPHOLOGY 1
December 2, 2015
1
What is morphology? ď Ž
Morphology is a field of linguistics focused on the study of the structure, forms and formation of words in a language.
ď Ž
Words in a language consist of one element or elements of meaning (lexical or grammatical!) which are called morphemes.
2
What is a morpheme? ď Ž
Morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in language with its own meaning or with its own grammatical function.
ď Ž
Also: a minimal unit in which there is an arbitrary union of sound and a meaning (lexical meaning or grammatical function).
3
ď Ž
A single word may be composed of one or more morphemes. ď ą
She looked unhappier than the day before un+ happy+er (can be analyzed into 3 morphemes)
4
Morphological
structure of words includes roots, bases and affixes.
Affixes
are subdivided into prefixes, infixes and suffixes.
5 5
ROOTS & STEMS
Root : is a non-affix lexical morpheme that cannot be analyzed into smaller parts. Roots may or may not stand alone as a word
Examples : paint (paint-er); read (re-read)
Stem : is that part of a word to which either grammatical or inflectional affixes (or both!) are added. 6
Free and bound morphemes
According to structural placement morphemes can be
Free Bound
Free morphemes are morphemes which can be used as a word “on their own” They generally consist of separate English word forms such as nouns, verbs and adjectives.
girl, system, happy, act, plane, etc . 7
ď Ž
Bound morphemes are morphemes which cannot occur on their own as an independent word.
ď Ž
They are generally prefixes and suffixes like re-,ist,-ed,-s in the words re-print, typ-ist, talk-ed and boy-s,for example, and are attached to other forms which are described as stems or -basic word forms. 8
For example: un + happy + er prefix + stem + suffix bound + free
+ bound
9
Affixes
Affix is a bound morpheme that occurs before (prefix), after (suffix), in the middle of (infix), and around (circumfix) word stems (root morphemes) Prefix: un-, pre-, biSuffix: -ing, -er, -ist, -ly Infix: un-freaking-believable (morphemes that are inserted between other morphemes) Circumfix: morphemes that are attached to another morpheme both initially and finally. Also known as discontinuous morphemes 10
Morphology
is also divided into:
Inflectional morphology, which studies different grammatical forms of one word and Derivational morphology (word formation), which studies formation of completely new words.
11 11
INFLECTIONAL VS. DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY
Derivational
morphemes “make new words from old ones” (Crystal, p. 90.)
12 12
DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES GENERALLY: Change
the part of speech or the basic meaning of a word. -ment added to a verb forms a noun (judg-ment). -re when added to the verb means repetition re-activate means "activate again."
Are
not prominent outside the word.
13 13
DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES GENERALLY: Are often not productive -- derivational morphemes can be selective about what they'll combine with, and may also have “erratic “effects on meaning. Thus the suffix -hood occurs with just a few nouns such as brother, neighbor, and knight, but not with most others. e.g., *friendhood, *daughterhood, or *candlehood. Furthermore "brotherhood" can mean "the state or relationship of being brothers," but "neighborhood" cannot mean "the state or relationship of being neighbors."
14 14
DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES GENERALLY:
Typically occur between the stem and any inflectional affixes.
Thus in governments,-ment, a derivational suffix, precedes -s, which is an inflectional suffix.
In English, they may appear either as prefixes or suffixes: pre-arrange, arrange-ment.
15 15
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES  Inflectional
morphemes: vary (or "inflect") the form of words in order to express grammatical features, such as singular/plural or past/present tense.
 Thus
boy and boys, for example, are two different forms of the "same" word; the choice between them, singular vs. plural, is a matter of grammar and thus the business of inflectional morphology. (Crystal, p. 90.) 16 16
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES GENERALLY: Do
not change basic meaning or part of speech, e.g., big, bigg-er, bigg-est are all adjectives.
Express
grammatically-required features or indicate relations between different words in the sentence.
17 17
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES GENERALLY: Are productive. Inflectional morphemes typically combine freely with all members of some large class of morphemes, with predictable effects on usage/meaning. Thus the plural morpheme can be combined with nearly any noun, usually in the same form, and usually with the same effect on meaning. Occur outside any derivational morphemes. Thus in ration-al-iz-ation-s the final -s is inflectional, and appears at the very end of the word, outside the derivational morphemes -al, -iz, -ation.
18 18
In English, are suffixes only!
EXERCISES I Specify the inflectional paradigms for the following verbs:
to be, to speak, to clean, to put, to go. 19 19
II
In the following group of words bug, bee, beetle,
can b- be considered a morpheme?
20 20
III Can the "cranberry words" be segmented into more than one morpheme?
cranberry, boysenberry, raspberry, huckleberry… *s a type of bound morpheme that cannot be assigned an independent meaning or grammatical function
21 21
IV Decide whether the given morphemes are lexical or grammatical: -ed, fast,
-ing, boy, -s, in, with 22 22
V Which of these words consist of a root and a affix? Which consist of
two roots?
teacher, kingdom, blackbird, sunflower, beautiful, undress, homesick, pickup, rename, restate, outburst, without.
23 23
VI Think of words which could be formed with these affixes: pre-, re-, sur-, un -er, -al, -ful, -en, -in, -s
24 24
COMPOUNDING Are the following compounds endocentric or exocentric? headache, head master, high-school, sunflower, cowboy, cutpurse, cats' eye, ladybird, waste paper, punchcard, bedroom, hardback, daredevil, pickpocket, scarecrow, longlegs, fast-food, manservant
25 25
CLIPPING What are the clippings made from the following words: 1. telephone 2. omnibus 3. advertisement 4. microphone 5. influenza 6. book maker 7. cablegram 8. Coca-Cola 9. microphone 10. airplane 11. caravan 12. taximeter cab 13. moving picture
26 26
BLENDING Make new words from the following elements: 1. breakfast + lunch 2. motor + pedal 3. motor + hotel 4. smoke + fog 5. breath + analyzer 6. European + television 7. helicopter + airport 8. international + police 9. news + broadcast 10. travel + catalogue 11. fantastic + fabulous 12. medical + care 27 27