Download 9. LING 103 2016 Morphology 2

LING 103
Introduction to
English Linguistics
2016
MORPHOLOGY 2
Word Building: Affixation
Review: Two basic classifications
Morphologically simple / complex
Words which consist of a single morpheme are morphologically simple
Words that consist of two or more morphemes are morphologically complex
Our
cat use + ual + ly wel + come + s
every + one
who
visit + s.
All morphemes are either simple or complex.
Free vs Bound Morphemes
Notice a fundamental difference between morphemes: engine + -eer
engine is a free morpheme. It can be used as an independent word form
-eer is a bound morpheme. It must be attached to other morphemes to be
meaningful
All morphemes are either free or bound.
Word Building: Affixation
Affixation: the addition of a bound morpheme to a root or base morpheme.
In English, we consider two main types of affix:
prefix /
suffix
and a third, very restricted type
infix
Functions
Affixes can carry grammatical information:
jumped
tense, mood, aspect, case etc.
written
Affixes can carry lexical information, often changing the original word’s word
class.
atomic
N + -ic > Adj.
Prefixation
A prefix is a bound morpheme attached to the front of the root / base or to
another prefix.
re + write
pref base
un + kind
pref base
neo + post + modern
pref
pref
base
Use restrictions: Prefixes do NOT attach freely or randomly
*re + doorway
re + V
recompute
*un + bus
*co + happy
un + Adj. or V
co + N
unhappy
unlock
co-author
Thus, prefixes have preferred word classes
How many can be used?
The upper limit in everyday use seems to be two - three prefixes, although it is
potentially more
Suffixation
Suffix: a bound morpheme attached to the end of the root or base or another
suffix
English:
work + er
base suffix
mountain + eer
base
suffix
construct + ion + al
base
suffix suffix
Restrictions: Suffixes do NOT attach freely or randomly to every word class
*mouse + ion
*cat + ed
*eat + ier
V + -ion
action
verb + -ed
jumped
Adj. + -(i)er
happier
Thus, like prefixes, suffixes have preferred word classes
How many can be used?
The upper limit in everyday use seems to be four - five.
Exercise
Both V and N can take a suffix -s
The cats
He, she, it eats
Do they share the same morpheme?
No.
N + -s = {plural}
V + -s = {third person singular}
It is a historical accident that the forms coincide
Infixation
An infix is a morpheme inserted inside a morpheme NOT between a morpheme
and another affix.
In English, infixes only occur in very informal or joking speech e.g.
Are you sure?
‘I’m absofu**enlutely sure,‘cos I’m edumacated’
(I am absolutely sure, because I am educated)
Elsewhere
Infixation is used productively to create new morphemes in other languages
Bontoc:
Khmer:
+ -umAdj
fikas ‘strong’
kilad ‘red’
Adj
leun ‘fast’
long ‘tested’
+ -b-
V
fumikas ‘to be strong’
kumilad ‘to be red’
N
lbeun ‘speed’
lbong ‘trial’
Free becomes bound
Free morphemes can lose their independence. In many cases, the relationship is
obvious
e.g.
Free
Bound
less
able
-less
-able
etc.
For others, the relationship is either no longer obvious or has been lost
e.g.
Free
doom
Bound
-dom
------hood
etc.
Bound becomes free
Much less common
She is so anti
a retro design
They dissed it
Exercises
i. Identify all the affixes in the following:
He likes rereading his books continuously from the earliest volume to the latest.
He likes rereading his books continuously from the earliest volume to the latest.
ii. Write out the sentence below, removing all its affixes. Read it aloud
Saddened by the day’s unfortunate events, the older isolated aardvarks waited
patiently by the deserted anthills.
Sad by the day fortune event, the old isolate aardvark wait patient by the desert
anthill
Saddened by the day’s unfortunate events, the older isolated aardvarks waited
patiently by the deserted anthills
Affix-less word building
Consider the following words:
sing / sang
drive / drove
put / put
two sheep
two fish
Can you identify the morphemes for past tense and plural?
Ablaut: the alternation of sounds within a word
sing
sang
sung
Zero Morpheme (ø): no physical form for a meaning difference
one sheep
three sheep + ø
They place it here (everyday)
‘They put it here’
They placed it here (last week)
The function of bound morphemes in English.
Divide the following into a base and a suffix.
tigers
alligators
pandas
penguins
racoons
farmer
builder
painter
teacher
writer
How is the meaning of the base altered by the addition of the suffix?
tiger + s
more than one tiger
farm + er
The one who . . .
farmer + s
Notice
*penguins + er
(cats, essays etc.)
(baker, teacher etc.)
?penguin + er + s
-s adds information but does not change the meaning
-er adds information AND changes the meaning
-s cannot be attached BEFORE -er is attached
SO
-s and -er are different types of bound morpheme
Function 1: INFLECTION
Bound morphemes that express grammatical information are called inflections.
Inflectional affixes encode information such as
number
person
tense
aspect
etc.
1 John sails the ocean blue
(he, she, it
+s = person / number)
2 John sailed the ocean blue
(past tense = tense)
3 John is sailing the ocean
(activity is ongoing = aspect)
Inflectional affixes NEVER change the word class of the base / root
They are always the last morpheme attached e.g.
They are always suffixes in English
nation al is ation s
English was once highly inflected
OLD ENGLISH
GENDER
Masculine
engel ‘angel’
NUMBER Sing.
Neuter
scip ‘ship’
Plur.
Sing.
Feminine
sorg ‘sorrow’
Plur.
Sing.
Plur.
Nom.
engel
englas
scip
scipu
sorg
sorga
Acc.
engel
englas
scip
scipu
sorge
sorga
Gen.
engles
engla
scipes
scipa
sorge
sorga
Dat.
engle
englum
scipe
scipum
sorge
sorgum
What’s left in Modern English?
Sing.
Plur.
not much!
Possessive
angel
angels
angel's
ship
ships
boat's
sorrow
sorrows
sorrow's
Modern English now has only 9 inflectional morphemes
Inflection
Noun -ø
-s
-’s -s’
function
singular
plural
possessive
Verb
-s third person singular
-ed
past tense
-ing
present participle
-en
past participle
Adjective
-er
-est
comparative
superlative
example
The catø is happy
The cats are happy
The cat's food is tasty
She/he/it eats a lot
we jumped the fence
They are writing
you have written
I am happier
They are the happiest
The English possessive inflection
Possessive:
Singular
The cat’s
Plural
The cats’
The Queen’s hat blew away
Her
The queen’s of England hat blew away
(?)
[The Queen of England’s] hat blew away
Her
The English possessive inflection attaches to a noun PHRASE that possesses
something (no matter how unlikely it is that you think that YOU do this!!)
[The big ginger cat from the house next door’s] food is tasty
VERB INFLECTIONS
There is actually more to using a verb inflection that is at first obvious
To distinguish time, we can simply attach –ed and –s to the verb
present
walk +S
past
walk +ED
Note, however, to use –ing and –en it is not that straightforward
To use –en on a verb also requires have before the verb
She
has
They have
written
bitt en
*They written a book
To use –ing on a verb also requires be before the verb
I am
He is
writ + ing
writ + ing
*I writing a book
We’ll look more at these structures later in the course
DERIVATION
Derivational affixes form a new word on the basis of an existing word.
morphemes
‘meaning’
institute + ion + al + ly
V
N
Adj
Adv
Derivational affixes derive a NEW word
photograph
photographer
photographic
Notice that they ALWAYS change the meaning of the base / root
BUT
the new meaning is always clearly related to the earlier one
They often also change word class membership
act
action
V
>
N
but not necessarily
mountain
N
>
mountaineer
N
New word without change
Derivation can occur without any change of form
To win the battle of Hogwarts, the students must battle Voldemort
noun
verb
This process is called ‘zero derivation’ or ‘conversion’
Exercise:
Verbification ‘the act of making verbs’
(i) break to its morphemes
(ii) assign each morpheme a meaning
(iii) label each morpheme ‘inflectional’ or ‘derivational’.
(iv) add an affix to derive a new word from it.
Component Morphemes
morphemes
verb + ifi + cation
N  V  N
meaning
affix type
suff suff
der
Add other morphemes:
morphemes
meaning
affix
der
*deverbificationally
*de + verb + ifi + cation + al + ly
(reverse V) N
prefix
V
N
Adj
Adv
suff + suff + suff + suff
der + base + der + der + der + der