I

NTRODUCTION TO

L

INGUISTICS

.

L

ECTURES

4

The structure of language: Words (2)

1. Phonology is the study of speech sounds and their patterns. It is based on the phoneme, the
smallest significant unit of speech. Morphology is the study of morphemes, which are the
smallest significant units of grammar, it studies the internal structure (form) of words.

2. Free and bound morphemes. Affix: a morpheme bound in a particular position:

prefix: ex-, in-, re-, un-, …
suffix: -able, -ation, -er, -ness, …

infix (man > men; goose > geese)

circumfix (enliven)

3. Root (base form) and stem:

faith; hospital (root and stem);

faithful (stem for faithfulness); hospitalize (stem for hospitalized);

work (root) + shop (root) > workshop (stem) > workshops

4. Word-based morphology (in English): words are built on words. However:

receive, deceive, conceive, perceive (but *ceive )

permit, submit, commit, remit (but *mit )

horrible, possible, audible, edible (but *ible )

5. Derivational morphology (word-formation): formation of new lexemes (e.g.
work/worker/workable/workplace/workshop), it is a process of lexical innovation.

6. Inflectional morphology: deals with grammatical relationships, various forms of one
lexeme (e.g. work/works/worked/working), it is a process of grammatical adaptation.

7. Inflectional categories: tense, aspect, person, case, gender, number, etc.:

tense: the relation between the form of the verb and the time of the action or state it

describes;

aspect: how the event described by a verb is viewed (in progress, habitual, completed);

person: a grammatical distinction;

case: shows the function of the noun in the sentence;

gender: a grammatical distinction;

number: a grammatical distinction.

8. Differences:

– ordering: work+er+s vs. *work+s+er ;

– inflection is usually semantically regular (dog–dogs, idea–ideas; work–worked,
form–formed);

– derivation is often semantically irregular (e.g. opposites formed with dis-, in-, un-,
non-, -less, -ful), (appear : disappear, sufficient : insufficient, avoidable : unavoidable,
exist : non-exist, careful : careless), and may show gaps in the paradigm (impress :
impression, profess : profession, suppress : suppression,



: session);

– inflectional suffixes do not involve a change of word class (thought : thoughts),
derivational suffixes often involve a change of word class (beauty : beautiful, thought :
thoughtful)

9. Productivity: some affixes are more productive than others, e.g.: -er suffixation, -ed tense
ending, -s plurals vs. -en plurals. If there exists a possibility to extend the morphological
pattern, in order to create new words (or forms), it is referred to as a ‘productive pattern’.

10. Transparency: transparent lexemes are clearly analysable into constituent morphemes;
interpretation on the basis of constituents, e.g.: airmail; killer dog; blackbird

11. Opaqueness: opaque (non-transparent) lexemes, e.g.: blackmail; underdog, watchdog;
ladybird. Meaning may be unpredictable, e.g.: alligator shoes (shoes made from alligators),
nurse shoes (shoes made for nurses).

12. Degrees of transparency: heavy vehicle

vs.

heavy smoker

criminal behaviour

criminal lawyer

artificial flower

artificial florist

13. Word-formation (WF) studies the formation of new words; it is subdivided into:

derivation (prefixation, suffixation, conversion),

compounding (composition);

14. Compounding deals with formation of new lexemes from two (or more) potential stems.

15. Division of compound nouns according to semantic criteria:

endocentric compounds: one element of the compound determines another, usually
the first element is modifying, the second is the head, e.g. armchair (a kind of chair),
bookcase (a kind of case), casebook (a kind of book), fishing rod (rod), city museum,
but also son-in-law;

exocentric compounds: none of the elements determines the other, e.g. pickpocket,
wagtail; foxglove; make-up; think tank;

appositional compounds: both elements contribute to the meaning, e.g. boyfriend,
maidservant; woman doctor.

16. Words have form and function. For example:

round:

He won the first round

noun

A round table

adjective

She rounded her lips

verb

Come round for the party

adverb/adverbial particle

He sailed round the world

preposition