ENGLISH ( LINGUISTICS)

Morphological phenomena

Morphemes

1. Free morphemes: a morpheme that can be a word by itself.
2. Bound morphemes: a morpheme that must a attached to another element.

Houses = house (free) + /-es/ (bound)

Received = receive (free) + /-ed/ (bound)

Derivational affixes: Used to form new words.

1. Prefix:
2. Suffix:

Prefix

• A prefix will rarely change syntactic category in English

Exp: /un-/ applies to adjectives (healthy → unhealthy), some verbs (do → undo), but rarely nouns.

• /en- /: be applied to adjectives and nouns to form transitive verb:

exp: circle (verb) → encircle (verb).

rich (adj) → enrich (verb),

large (adj) → enlarge (verb),

slave (noun) → enslave (verb).

Cont

Prefix	change	examples
Anti-	N-N	Anti-abortion, anti-pollution
De-	V-V	De-activate, de-mistify
Dis	V-V	Dis-continue, dis-obey
Ex-	N-N	Ex-president, ex-wife
In-	A-A	In-competent, in-complete
Mis-	V-V	Mis-lead, mis-identify
Un-	V-V	Un-do, un-lock
Un-	A-A	Un-happy, un-fair
Re-	V-V	Re-think, re-do, re-state

Suffixes

suffixes usually apply to words of one syntactic category and changes them into words of another syntactic category.

Exp: -ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly).

Cont

• adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)

• adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern → modernise) in British English or -ize in American English and Oxford spelling

• noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational)

• noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)

• verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable)

• verb-to-noun (abstract): -ance (deliver → deliverance)

• verb-to-noun (concrete): --er (write-writer)

Examples

Suffix	Change	Examples
-able	V-A	Fix-able, reason-able
-(at) ion	V-N	Realiz-ation, assert-ion
-er	V-N	Teach-er, work-er
-ing	V-N	Shoot-ing, danc-ing
-ive	V-A	Express-ive, assert-ive
-al	V-N	Refus-al
-ic	N-A	Cub-ic, optimist-ic

Analysis (simple derivation)

Seasonal Unkind

A A

N Af Af A

Season al Un kind

Complex derivation

Unhealthy

A

A

Af N Af

Un health y

Exercise
complete the table

Affix	Change	examples
-ize
-less
-ate
-en
-ly
-ness

Exercise
analyze the words using diagram

1. unrealistic
2. unhappily
3. impossibly
4. irregularly
5. interdepartmental
6. intercontinental
7. denationalization

cont

• Friendliness

• Comfortably

• collectivity

Inflections
cannot form new words.

• the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories

• Exp: plural, past tense

Plural inflection

Phonologically

Conditioned

/-s/ Several books Maps cats

/-z/ Three Boys Bags legs

/iz/ Few watches Classes boxes

Plural inflection

Morphologically

Conditioned

Null morpheme Sheep Fish

/-n/ 0x-oxen Child-Children

Vowel change Foot- feet Goose-Geese

Possessive inflection

Phonologically

conditioned

Voiceless + /-s/ Clerk’s car Adit’s book

Voiced + /-z/ Dian’s house Bill’s job

Hissing sound + /iz/ Joyce’s hat Alice’s dress

Possessive plural

No change:

Students’ room

Girls’ magazine

Boys’ stuff

Third person singular

/-es/

/-s/ Jane cooks well Tom kicks a ball

/-z/ She sings beautifully John learns English

/-iz/ Mr. Bill teaches math The man washes a car

Past tense

Phonologically

Conditioned

{-ed}

/-t/ She talked Jim picked

/-d/ Lee called Linda reads

/id/ She invited us A man planted a tree

Past tense

Morphologically

conditioned

/0/ She put the glass

Consonant change He spent She lent

Vowel change I wrote it

Complete change I went home

Past participle

Phonologically

conditioned

/-t/ She has worked

/-d/ He has planned it

/-id/ She was invited

Past participle

Morphologically

conditioned

No change He’s hurt me

Consonant change She has rent it

Present participle

• Speaking

• Reading

• Listening

! ! Derivation

Interesting story: N-present participle

Waiting room: V-present participle

Comparative degree

• Lower

• Bigger

• Larger

• Faster

!! Derivation

Manage -Manager: verb-noun

Buy- buyer : verb-noun

Superlative degree

• Cleverest

• Smartest

• Fattest

• smallest

Exercise
determine the derivation and inflection

1. Go, goes, going, gone
2. Discover, discovery, discoverer, discoverable.
3. Lovely, lovelier, loveliest
4. Inventor, inventor’s. inventors, inventors’
5. Democracy, democrat, democratic

Analyze the inflectional process

1. Eat-ate
2. Take-taken
3. Mouse-mice
4. Ride-rode
5. Cut-cut
6. Spend-spent
7. Clean-cleaned
8. Wish-wishes
9. Mark-marking
10. Choose-chose

Declension

• Inflecting a noun, pronoun, adjective or determiner.

• The affixes may express number, case, and/or gender.

Case and number

Singular Plural

• subjective I we

• objective me us

• possessive my, mine our, ours

• reflexive myself ourselves

Case (Who)
pronoun that show its relation to other word in a sentence

Compounding

Is the combination of lexical categories (nouns, adjectives, verbs, or preposition) to create a larger word.

Examples

N + N	A + N	V + N	Prep + N
Street light	Bluebird	Swear word	Overlord
Campsite	Happy hour	Washcloth	Outhouse
Bookcase	High chair	Scrup lady	In-group

Cont

• Overlord: a person in a position of power

• Campsite:a piece of land where people on holiday can camp

• Bluebird: a small blue singing bird found in North America.

• Happy hours: a period of time, usually in the early evening, when drinks are sold cheaply in a bar or a pub.

• High chair: long legged chair for baby

• Washcloth: a small cloth used to wash the body, especially the face and hands

cont

• Out house: a small building joined to or near to a larger one

• In-group: a social group whose members are very loyal to each other and share a lot of interests, and who usually try to keep other people out of the group

• Swear word: rude word

Examples

authorship backfield butterfly backdrop buttermilk capsize carport catbird catfish

dateline daybreak daydream dayflower daylight bedrock bedspread bedtime beeline

backfire background backhand backlash backlog daredevil darkroom dashboard feedback