Descriptive grammar
14.10.2008
I. Types of morphological processes:
a) inflection – different word-forms
b) word-formation – creates new lexemes (unit in vocabulary)
II. Word-formation processes:
1. derivation (affixation) – by the attachment of affixes (prefixes and suffixes)
e.g.
bake – baker
hospital – hospitalize
clock – clockwise
move – remove
connect – disconnect
a) affixes – they have a meaning
-er: a person who does X (agentive suffix) e.g. commander, preacher, writer
-er: an instrument which does X (instrumental suffix) e.g. mixer, toaster, slicer
-ess: female (gender-marking suffix) e.g. waitress, actress, hostess
-ette: small (diminutive suffix) e.g. kitchenette, towelette, theatrette
-un: not X (negative prefix) e.g. unimportant, unpleasant, unpredictable
-mal: wrong (negative prefix) e.g. malnutrition, malformation
-pre: before X, e.g. pre-historic, pre-arrange, pre-pay
b) productivity
-ible: able to do sth, e.g. susceptible, responsible, compatible
-able: able to to sth, e.g. endurable, tolerable, regrettable
-uble: able to do sth, e.g. dissoluble, soluble, voluble
competing affixes – the same meaning and application
productive affixes – affixes which are currently used in the derivation of new words
strength
punishment
dressing
nervousness
eco-friendly eco-friendliness
baker
actor
defendant
e-mail e-mailer
2. compounding – combining two or more words to form a new word
e.g.
moonlight
darkroom
sunbeam
white-collar
lionheart
endocentric compound – a head and its modifier
e.g. sunbeam: a beam (head) of sun (modifier)
exocentric compound – no head, not a clear meaning
e.g. lionheart: not a type of heart, not a part of lion
3. coinage – invention of a new word – name of the brand becomes a common noun
e.g.
aspirin – from salicylic acid, originally name for a product by Bayer
hoover – originally a machine produced by Hoover Company
Xerox – originally a copier produced by Xerox Corporation
4. conversion – change of word class without any change in form (also called zero derivation)
e.g.
noun-to-verb: waterto water
verb-to-noun: to flirtflirt
adjective-to-noun: miserablethe miserable
adjective-to-verb: emptyto empty
5. blending – a word is formed from two parts of other words
e.g.
brunch – breakfast+lunch
motel – motor+hotel
smog – smoke+fog
6. clipping – reduction of a word to one of its parts
e.g.
prof. – professor
maths – mathematics
phone – telephone
7. backformation (shortening) – creating a new word by removing affixes (or what looks like affix) from the existing word
e.g.
to televise – television
to edit – editor
to rotate - rotation
8. acronyms – abbreviations formed using the initial letters of words
e.g.
CD – compact disk
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
IBM – International Business Machines
Laser – Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
9. other sources of new words
a) borrowings from other languages
old: candle, fellow, beauty, alphabet, alcohol, whisky
recent: telephone, video, guerrilla, tycoon
b) loan-translations (calques)
Ger. Ubermensh superman
Fr. Pomme d’Adam Adam’s apple
Lat. Via lactea Milky Way
III. Morpheme – is an abstract category that exists in people’s mind. When it is realized physically it may take different shapes in different context.
-has a meaning
-has a form (morph)
-sometimes there is one meaning and one form only, e.g. lamp
-many morphemes have more than one form
IV. Allomorphs – different morphs (forms) representing the same morpheme
*indefinite article:
There is a cat on the chair
There is an apple on the chair
I said ‘a’ cat, not ‘the’ cat.
-the same meaning
-three different forms (morphemes)
*definite article
Look at the moon
Look at the island
You met Bill Gates? But it was not the Bill Gates, was it?
-the same meaning
-three different forms
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Stresses:
Noun – stress on the 1st element
Adjective – stress on the 2nd element