Lecture IIStructure and formation of English words

1、Lecture II Structure and formation of English wordsWord structureWords are composed of morphemes, the minimal meaningful units of language that are not divisible or analyzable into smaller forms. Morphemes can first be classified into two types in terms of their capacity of occurring alone. Those wh

2、ich may occur alone, that is, those which may constitute words by themselves, are free morphemes. In contrast, those which can not constitute a word by itself, and must be attached to another element, are bound morphemes.Consider decontextualization. de con text ual ize ation Prefix Free morpheme Su

3、ffix Bound morpheme Bound morphemes can be further classified into derivational and inflectional morphemes. Derivational morphemes “derive” a new word (with both meaning and word class changed), when added to other morphemes. They can be prefixes or suffixes. -ly, -ish, im-, -ity, de-, -ize are all

4、such derivational morphemes. Inflectional morphemes do not form new words with new lexical meanings when added to other words. Nor do they change the word-class of the words to which they are affixed. They express such meanings as plurality, tense, and the comparative or superlative degree. -s, -ing

5、, -ed, and -er are such inflectional morphemes. As shown in the textbook, free morphemes are also called content morphemes while bound morphemes are also called grammatical morphemes. According to Stephen Ullmann, words that are formed by one content / free morpheme only and cannot be analyzed into

6、parts are called opaque words, e.g. axe, glove. Words that consist of more than one morphemes and can be segmented into parts are called transparent words, e.g. workable, blackboard. A morpheme may take various forms. For example, the morpheme used to express indefiniteness in English has two forms

7、a and an. Consider (1): (1) an orange a buildingThe variant forms of a morpheme are called its allomorphs. More allomorphs include -ion/-tion/-sion/-ation, im-/ir-/il-.Word formationMajor processes Compounding / composition Derivation / affixation ConversionMinor processes Acronymy Clipping Blending

8、 Back-formationCompounding / compositionIt is a word-formation process consisting of joining two or more bases to form a new unit, a compound word.Noun compounds:(a) Subject and verb: headache, heartbeat, commanding officer, revolving door(b) Verb and object: pickpocket, birthcontrol, housekeeping,

9、dressmaking (c) Verb and adverbial: swimming pool, diving board, drinking cup, typing paper(d) Subject and object: gaslight(e) Restrictive relation: evening school, table cloth(f) Appositive relation: peasant girl, pine treeCompound nouns can also be formed from phrasal verbs, e.g. sit-in, breakdown

10、, setback. Adjective compounds: (a) Subject and verb: thunder-struck (houses), weather-beaten (rocks)(b) Verb and object: fault-finding, peace-loving, record-breaking(c) Verb and adverbial: hardworking, new-laid (eggs)(d) Noun and adjective: watertight, fireproof, knee-deep(e) Coordinating relations

11、hip: bittersweet, Anglo-French (relations)Adjective compounds may also be formed from:(a) phrasal verbs: made-up stories(b) adverbial phrases: keep a round-the-clock watch on her(c) from proverbs and idiomatic expressions: Charles was of the look-before-you-leap sort(d) from an attributive clause: a

12、 machine-independent tool Verb compounds: (a) By back-formation (i.e. reversal of derivation) e.g. house-keep (from house-keeping), mass produce (from mass-production)(b) By conversion: to honeymoon, to outlineBACKDerivation / affixationDerivation or affixation is generally defined as a process of f

13、orming new words by the addition of a word element, such as a prefix, suffix or both, to an already existing word. Prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the base, but do not generally alter its word-class. Suffixes usually change the word-class of the base.Major living prefixes:negative: un-, non-,

14、 in-, dis-, a-reversative: de-, dis-pejorative: mis-, mal-, pseudo-degree or size: arch-, super-, out-, sub-, over-, under-, hyper-, ultra-, mini- attitude: co-, counter-, anti-, pro-locative: inter-, trans-time and order: fore-, pre-, post-, ex-, re-number: uni-/mono-, bi-/di-, multi-/poly-Classifi

15、cation of suffixes: (a) Noun-forming: -hood, -ness, -ee(b) Verb-forming: -ify, -ize, -en(c) Adjective-forming: -ful, -less, -able, -al(d) Adverb-forming: -ly, -ward(s), -wiseMajor living suffixes: -ama, -rama: circusama, panorama-crat: technocrat, democrat-ee: payee-eer: mountaineer, marketeer-er /

16、-or: payer, legislator-ese: Johnsonese-eteria: cafeteria-ia: academia-ism: Marxism-itis: arthritis-wise: clockwise-y: rainy-able: readable-ish: foolish, childish-ize / -ise: symbolize, WesterniseThree points of attentionFirst of all, English has many pairs of adjectives ending in -ic, and -ical, whi

17、ch bear a difference in meaning, e.g. historic (notable or memorable in history) historical (pertaining to history), economic (of economics, connected with commerce and industry) economical (not wasteful; careful in the spending of money, time, etc.) Consider: (2) a historic speech a historical nove

18、l (3) the government economic policy the car is economical to runNext, there are pairs of words with different meanings brought about by different suffixes, e.g. (4) childlike childish (5) womanly womanish (6) continual continuousThen, all the affixes are not productive. Consider: (7) bookish * book

19、ly (8) friendly * friendishBACKConversionConversion is a word-formation process whereby a word of a certain word-class is shifted into a word of another word-class without the addition of an affix, e.g. attack in “The enemy attacked us at night” and “The enemy launched an attack on us at night”.Othe

20、r terms for conversion are “functional shift” and “derivation by zero suffix”. The converted words are not new in form but in function. More examples below: (9) mushroom to mushroom (10) house to house (11) close (adj.) close (v.)As a word-formation process, conversion is productive mainly because E

21、nglish had lost most of its inflectional endings by the end of Middle English period, which facilitated the use of words interchangeably as verbs or nouns, verbs or adjectives, and vice versa. Sometimes a word may undergo multiple conversion which enables it to function as a member of several word-c

22、lasses, but the actual grammatical classification of any word depends upon its use in a sentence. Consider: (12) The second round was exciting. (n.) (13) Any round plate will do. (adj.) (14) Some drivers round corners too rapidly. (v.) (15) The sound goes round and round. (adv.) (16) He lives round

23、the corner. (prep.)Types of conversion1. Noun verb conversion2. Verb noun conversion3. Adjective verb conversion4. Adjective noun conversionNoun verb conversion(a) “To put in / on N”: (17) The workers canned apples. Other examples: bottle, floor, cage, corner, pocket(b) “To give N, to provide N”: (1

24、8) They sheltered the orphans. Other examples: coat, was, grease(c) “To deprive of N; to remove N”: (19) Bill weeded the garden. Other example: dust, skin, peel(d) “To with N”: (20) John braked the car. Other examples: screw, glue, elbow(e) “To be / act as N with respect to ”: (21) She mothered the

25、orphan. (22) Tom parroted what the boss had said. (23) The police shadowed the suspected spy. Other examples: nurse, pilot, wolf, snowball(f) “To make / change into N”: (24) Please cash this cheque for me. Other examples: orphan, fool, group(g) “To send / go by N”: (25) Will you please mail the parc

26、el? (26) We bicycled to the Summer Palace. Other examples: ship, telegraph, boat, ski(h) “To spend the period of time denoted by N”: (27) We summered in Qingdao. Other examples: holiday, winter, vacationBACKVerb noun conversion(a) “State” (28) He had a desire to be a scientist. Other examples: doubt

27、, want, surprise(b) “Event / activity: (29) to go for a stroll(c) “Object or result of V”: (30) This little restaurant is quite a find. Other examples: catch, import, cough(d) “Agent of V”: (31) He is a great bore. Other examples: spy, coach, rebel(e) “Instrument of V”: (32) The cloth is a good cove

28、r for the table. Other examples: cure, wrap, polish(f) “Place of V”: (33) This is the divide between the two rivers. Other examples: turn, rise, retreatBACKAdjective verb conversion(a) Intransitive verbs meaning “to be the quality denoted by the adjective” such as pale, slim, sour, mellow, idle (awa

29、y)(b) Transitive verbs meaning “to cause someone or something to be the quality denoted by the adjective” such as free, right, tame, warmBACKAdjective noun conversion(a) Partial conversion: Some adjectives are used as nouns when preceded by the definite article such as the poor, the wounded; yet the

30、se converted nouns take on only some of the features of the noun; i.e. they do not take plural and genitive inflections, nor can they be preceded by determiners like a, this, my, etc. hence partial. Examples: (34) This is a school for the deaf and the blind. (35) In former days the English and the S

31、cotch were often at war. (36) Mary has a strong dislike for the sentimental. (37) He is at his best in his description of college life. (38) The accuseds condition is quite critical. (b) Complete conversion: The conversion of adjective to noun is complete when the converted form takes on all the fea

32、tures of a noun. For example: (39) a native / two natives / the natives language / a returned native (40) The young marrieds were invited to the garden party. (41) He is a progressive. Other conversions: (42) Tom went home early. (n. adv.) (43) I will take a through train. (prep. adj.) (44) My fathe

33、r was the then president. (adv. adj.) (45) He knows all the ins and outs of the business. (adv. n.) (46) Is Joans new baby a he? (pron. n.) (47) His talk contains too many ifs and buts. (conj. n.) (48) This book is a must for you. (aux. n.)BACKAcronymy initialisms and acronymsInitialism is a type of

34、 shortening, using the first letters of words to form a proper name, a technical term, or a phrase; an initialism is pronounced letter by letter. Three types of initialisms:1. The letters represent full words, e.g. CIA, IOC, ISBN, UN2. The letters represent elements in a compound or just part of a w

35、ord, e.g. ID, TB3. A letter represents the complete form of the first (or the first two) word, while the second word (or the third word) is in full form, e.g. H-bomb.Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of the name of an organization or a scientific term, etc. Acronyms differ from init

36、ialisms in that they are pronounced as words rather than as sequences of letters, e.g. NATO, OPEC, UNESCO, BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) .BACKClippingWhere do the words bus and taxi come from? Omnibus, taxicab.The process of clipping involves the deletion of one or more syl

37、lables from a word (usually a noun), which is also available in its full form. Four types of clippings:1. Back clippings: ad, auto, dorm2. Front clippings: phone, plane, quake, chute3. Front and back clippings: flu, fridge4. Phrase clippings: popClipping often alters spelling, e.g. business biz, bicycle bike, handkerchief hanky. Acronymy and clipping are processes of shortening. They show a typical characteristics of the vocabulary of contemporary English: the tende