Chapter 4 Word Structure and Word Formation
In modern times, vocabulary is largely enriched on an internal basis. That is, we use existing material available in English, be it native or foreign, to create new words. The creation of new words follows certain patterns or rules in spite of many exceptions. In this chapter we shall present a detailed discussion of the morphological structure of words and various processes of modern English word-formation. 4.1 Morphological Structure of Words 4.1.1 Morphemes
A morpheme is ?the smallest meaningful linguistic unit. Some words are formed by one morpheme (e.g. cat, dog) and some words are formed by two or three more (e.g. lovely, unacceptable). 4.1.2 Morphs and Allomorphs
Morphemes are abstract units, which are realized in speech by discrete units known as morphs, that is, ?they are actual spoken, minimal carriers of meaning‘. ( Bolinger and Sears 1981). E.g. {big}
Most morphemes are realized by single morphs like bird, tree, sad, etc. These morphemes coincide with words as they can stand by themselves and move freely in a sentence if necessary. Words of this category are called monomorphemic words. Some morphemes, however, are realized by more than one morph according to their position in a word. Such alternative morphs are known as allomorphs or morphemic variants. They are the variants of the same morpheme. For instance, the morpheme of plurality {-s} has a number of allomorphs in different sound context, e.g. in cats /s/, in bags /z/, in matches /iz/. 4.1.3 Types of Morphemes
Morphemes fall into different classes by different criteria of classification. Some linguists classify them on a semantic basis into lexical morphemes and grammatical morphemes. Other scholars categorize them into root morphemes and affixational morphemes. Now people tend to group morphemes into free forms and bound forms.. 1) Free Morphemes (= Content Morphemes = Roots)
Morphemes which stand independent of other morphemes are free. They can form words by themselves. E.g. cat, kind.
2) Bound Morphemes (= Grammatical Morphemes =affixes )
Morphemes which cannot occur as separate words are said to be bound, so named because they are bound to other morphemes to form words. They can‘t form words independently and they must appear with at least one other morpheme. E.g. –ness, -ed, -ful. Bound morphemes include two types: bound root and affix. (1) Bound Root
A bound root is that part of the word that carries the fundamental meaning just like a free root. Unlike a free root, it is a bound form and has to combine with other morphemes to make words. (2) Affixes
Affixes are linguistic fragments that are attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or change function. According to the functions of affixes, we can put
them into two groups: inflectional and derivational affixes. a. Inflectional Affixes
They are affixes attached to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships, e.g. the regular plural suffix –s (-es); the past tense marker –ed. The number of inflectional affixes is small and stable, which makes English one of the easiest languages to learn. b. Derivational Affixes
They are affixes added to other morphemes to derive new words. They can be further divided into prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes occur before the word and the suffixes after the word.
Based on our discussion above, we can sum up the types of morphemes in the following diagram:
free == free root
morpheme bound root
bound prefix derivational
affix suffix
inflectional 4.2 Word Formation
The expansion of vocabulary in modern English depends chiefly on word-formation. The most productive are affixation, compounding and conversion. 4.2.1 Affixation
It is generally defined as the formation of words by adding affixes to a root. This process is also known as derivation, by which new words are derived from old or root forms. The words created in this way are called derivatives. According to the positions affixes occupy in words, affixation falls into two subcategories: prefixation and suffixation. 1) Prefixation
It is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to roots. Generally speaking, if we add a prefix we change the meaning of the word. E.g. natural – unnatural; like – dislike, but sometimes we can also change the part of speech of the word. E.g. able (adj.) – enable (vt.), large- enlarge, rich – enrich.
Some of the most popular prefixes are:
(1) the prefixes expressing the meaning of ―not‖: ―non-, ir (il)-, un-, im-, dis-‖.
nonresistance, irregular, illogical, unnecessary, impolite, dishonest (2) the prefixes expressing the meaning of ―against, opposed to‖ :
anti-Japanese, counter-revolution
(3) the prefix expressing the meaning of ―wrongly‖
misjudge, misunderstand
(4) the prefix expressing the meaning of ―half‖
semi-feudal, semi-colonial
(5) the prefix expressing the meaning of ―before‖
pre-war, pre-revolution, pre-arrange
(6) the prefix expressing the meaning of ―in or into‖
internal
(7) the prefix expressing the meaning of ―again, back‖
retell, reconsider, remove, re-education (8) the prefix expressing the meaning of ―above‖
supermarket, superman, superpower, superconstruction
(9) the prefixes expressing the meaning of ―jointly, on equal footing‖
co-existence, co-habit
(10) the prefix expressing the meaning of ―between, among‖
international, interchange, interview, interpersonal 2) Suffixation
It is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to roots. Generally speaking, if we add a suffix to a word we change the part of speech and the meaning of the word.
(1) Noun Suffixes
-er: worker, teacher, reader
-tion: recitation, protection, operation -ment: development, movement -ness: happiness, goodness -ship: leadership, readership ance: importance, significance -ty: difficulty, infinity (2) Adjective Suffixes
-less: endless, selfless, careless -en: golden
-ern: eastern, western
-able: comfortable, suitable -ish: childish, foolish, bookish -al: national, cultural -ant: significant, pollutant -ent: different, independent -ous: famous, courageous -y: cloudy, rainy, windy -ic: heroic, democratic (3) Adverb Suffixes
-ly: gradually, seriously, publicly
-ward(s): homewards, downward, skyward (4) Verb Suffixes
-ate: originate, validate
-en: strengthen, heighten, dampen -ify, -fy: glorify, amplify
-ize: modernize, realize, industrialize 4.2.2 Compounding
Compounding (or composition) is the formation of new words by joining two or more words. Words formed in this way are called compounds. 1) Noun Compounds
(1) Noun (Pron.) + Noun → Noun e.g. basketball, workshop, he-goat (2) Noun + Gerund → Noun e.g. stamp-collecting, paper-correcting (3) Adj. + Noun → Noun e.g. greenhouse, highway, lazybone
(4) Gerund + Noun → Noun e.g. writing-desk, reading-room, living-room (5) Vt.+ Noun → Noun e.g. pickpocket, breakfast (fast n. 绝食) (6) Present Participle + Noun → Noun e.g. flying-fish, running-dog (7) Adv.+ Verb → Noun e.g. output, downpour, downfall (8) Verb+ Adv. → Noun e.g. breakthrough, readout
(9) Prep. + Noun → Noun e.g. afternoon, overcoat, by-product 2) Adjective Compounds
(1) Noun + Adj. → Adj. e.g. ice-cold, color-blind, life-long (2) Adj. + Noun → Adj. e.g. full-time, high-speed, new-type
(3) Numeral + Noun →Adj. e.g. first-rate, second-hand, five-year (plan) (4) Noun + Participle → Adj. e.g. heart-broken, hand-made, peace-loving (5) Adj.+ Participle →Adj. e.g. easy-going, good-looking, green-painted (6) Adv.+ Participle→Adj. e.g. hard-working, well-informed, far-reaching (7) Adj. + Adj. → Adj. e.g. light-blue, red-hot, dead-alive
(8) Adj.(Num.) + noun +-ed → Adj. e.g. short-sighted, five-storeyed (building) (9) N.+ N.+ -ed → Adj. e.g. iron-willed (person), honey-mouthed (10) Prep.+ Noun → Adj. e.g. underground, uphill
(11) Prep.(Conj.) Phrase →Adj. e.g. life-and-death (struggle), word-for-word
(translation), out-of-date (methods)
3)Verb Compounds
(1) Adv.+Verb→Verb e.g. overhear, oversleep, uproot, uphold (2) Noun +Verb→Verb e.g. spacewalk, mass-produce (3) Adj.+ Verb→Verb e.g. safeguard, white-wash 4) Adverb Compounds
anyway, anywhere, everywhere, somehow, upstairs, downstairs 5) Sentence Compounds
a can‘t-be- put-down book
eyes glittering with a we-have-known
the do-what-you-can-and-take-what-you-need policy 4.2.3 Conversion
It is the formation of new words by converting words of one class to another class, i.e. by turning words of one part of speech to those of another part of speech without changing the spelling of the words.
1) Noun → Adj. danger (n.) danger (adj.) zone 2) Noun → Verb face (n.) face (v.) the difficulty 3) Verb → Noun He is a cheat. He is a coach. 4) Adj. → Noun
(1) Partial Conversion: They don‘t have plural form but can have articles. e.g. the rich,
the poor, the unemployed, the Chinese, the Danish
(2) Complete Conversion: It can have plural form but it can‘t have articles in front of it. e.g. There‘s only one black in our class but in their class three blacks. 5) Adj. → Verb Empty the drawer. You wrong me.
6) Adv. → Verb down a plane, near the shore, back the car 7) Noun → Adv. Arrive home. Go north.
8) Num. →Adv. We‘d better make a plan first. 4.2.4 Blending
It is the formation of new words by combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word. Words formed as such are called blends. 1) the 1st part of the1st word + the last part of the 2nd word
e.g. motel — motor + hotel botel — boat + hotel smog — smoke + fog brunch — breakfast + lunch 2) the original form of the 1st word + the last part of the 2nd word
e.g. lunernaut — luner+astronaut Nixonomics — Nixon+economics workfare — work + welfare 3) the 1st part of the 1st word + the original form of the 2nd word
e.g. helipad — helicopter + pad medicare — medical + care medichair —medical + chair 4) the 1st part of the 1st word + the 1st part of the 2nd word
e.g. psywar — psychological + warfare Amerind — American + Indian 4.2.5 Clipping(=Shortening=Abbreviation)
It is the formation of new words by cutting a part off the original word and using what remains instead. 1) Clipped Words
(1) Front Clipping e.g. bus=omnibus plane=aeroplane
(2) Back Clipping e.g mod=modern demo=demonstration ad=advertisement (3) Front & Back Clipping e.g. flu=influenza tec=detective 2) Initials
VOA = Voice of America UFO = Unidentified Flying Object NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organization EEC = European Economic Community OPEC = Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries IOC = International Olympic Committee IMF = International Monetary Fund 3) Half-clipped Words N-bomb = nuclear bomb H–bomb = hydrogen bomb D Notice = Defense Notice (防务通告)
G-man = Government Man (美国联邦调查局侦探) V-Day = Victory Day
V.J.Day = Victory Over Japan Day 4.2.6 Back-formation
It is the method of creating new words by removing the supposed suffixes.
editor → edit gruesome → grue author → auth cosy → cose donation → donate lazy → laze
aggression → aggress peevish → peeve
Chapter 4 Word Structure and Word - - Formation
