Morphology
Morphology
Morphology
Free Morpheme
can occur by itself, not attached to other morphemes
Examples: girl, teach, book, class, the, of, etc.
Two kinds
Lexical morpheme (open class)
has lexical meaning; new examples can be freely added
examples: N, Verb, Adj, Adv (content words)
Functional morpheme (closed class)
new examples are rarely added (but not impossible to add)
examples: Pro, Prep, Conj, Art. (function words)
Bound Morpheme
must be attached to another morpheme
Derivational morpheme
may change syntactic class
to form new words
examples: -able, un-, re-, etc.
Inflectional morpheme
Different forms of the same word
Not change syntactic class
Only 8 kinds in English: -’s, -s (plural nouns), -ing, ed/-en, -est, -er, -s (S-V agreement)
Basic Concepts and Terms (3)
Affix:
Prefix e.g. Unhappy
Infix e.g. Absogoddamlutely
(see Nash 56)
Suffix e.g. happiness
Morphemes
lexical
free (open classes)
Morphemes functional (closed classes)
Bound derivational
(affixes) Inflectional
1. Derivation (1)
derived by rules; it can also be called derivational affixation or affixation.
A. different rules e.g. V + affix - N
N + affix - V
ADJ + affix - V
N + affix - ADJ
B. multiple combination
e.g. organizational
2. Compounding (1)
combine two or more free morphemes to form new words
Ex:
NOUN
noun + noun adj + noun verb + noun preposition + noun
fire engine green house jump suit after thought
wall paper blue bird kill joy out patient
book case
text book
ADJECTIVE
noun + adj adj + adj preposition + adj
nation wide red hot over ripe
sky blue far stretched in grown
pitch black out spoken
out standing
VERB
Noun + verb adj + v preposition + v v+v
Spoon feed white wash out live blow dry
Steam roller dry clean under estimate break dance
NOUN
noun + noun + noun noun + noun + noun + noun
dog food box stone age cave man
3.Reduplication
full or partial repetition of a free morpheme; sometimes with variation
full partial with variation
so-so zigzag
bye-bye dilly-dally
hotch potch
hodge podge
mishmash
4. Blending
similar to compounding, but parts of the free morphemes involved are lost (usually 1st
part of 1st word + end of 2nd word)
5. Clipping
part of a free morpheme is cut off (i.e., shortening a polysyllabic word); often in casual
speech
e.g. prof. auto (also in names)
phys-ed lab Liz
ad bike Kathy
poli-sci porn Ron
doc sub Lyn
6. Acronyms (1)
abbreviate a longer term by taking the initial letters
A. follow the pronunciation patterns of Eng
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
TOEFL (Test of Eng. as a Foreign Language)
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
Acronyms (2)
B. If unpronounceable each letter is sounded out separately
ATM (automatic teller machine)
I.Q. (intelligence quotient)
MRT (Mass Rapid Transit)
MTV (music television)
TVBS (television broadcasting service)
VCR (video cassette recorder)
Acronyms (3)
C. Customary to sound out each letter even if the combined initials can be pronounced.
AIT (American Institute in Taiwan)
UCLA (Univ. of California at Los Angeles)
7. Back formation
A word (usually a noun) is reduced to form another word of a different type
(usually a verb)
10. Eponyms
Proper names > Common words
A. People
Jack > lumberjack, jack of all trades
Tom > tomcat, tomboy, peeping Tom
B. Real people
Earl of Sandwich, teddy bear, Marquis de
Sade
C. Places
Hamburger, marathon, bikini, Shanghai, champagne, cognac,
D. Mythology
Tantalus > tantalize
Eros > erotic; Narcissus > narcissistic
Mars > martial, psyche, panic, Echo
E. Brand names
band-aid, zipper, Xerox, coke, Scotch tape,
Kleenex, Vaseline
12. Onomatopoeia
words imitate sounds in nature (or in technology)
e.g. A dog: bow wow or woof-woof
A clock: tick-tock
A rooster: cock-a-doodle-doo
A camera: click
A duck: quack
A cat: meow
A bell: ding-dong
A cow: moo
A bee: buzz
A snake: hiss
13. Borrowing
The taking over of words from other languages
e. g.
Cherub
Kindergarten
Tycoon