Li8 Structure of EnglishLi8 Structure of English

Word formation

Today’s topicsToday’s topics

Types of word formation What they can reveal about other aspects

of English

Affixation Prefix (un-) Suffix (-ish) Saturative

eye poker outer, blew dried… Infix:

lutidine lupetidine, b-ass-ackwards (?), -iz-, -iznV- (shiznit), -mə- (Homeric infixation), expletive insertion

Cf. also language games like Oppen Gloppen Are prefixes always prefixes, infixes always infixes, etc.?

Truncation Blends (= portmanteaux??)…

Main types of word formationMain types of word formation

ConclusionsConclusions

English has many productive word formation processes

These can reveal interesting properties of the grammar and cognitionPhonological structureMorphological analysisPriorities in information preservation

Selected referencesSelected referencesAdams, Michael. 2001. Infixing and interposing in English: a new direction.

American Speech.Bauer, Laurie 1993. Un-bloody-likely words. In L. Bauer & C. Franzen (eds), Of

Pavlova, Poetry and Paradigms. Essays in Honour of Harry Orsman. Wellington: Victoria University Press.

Bopp, Tina 1971. On fucking (well). A study of some quasi-performative expressions. In A.M. Zwicky et al (eds), Studies Out of Left Field: defamatory essays presented to James D. McCawley. Edmonton: Linguistic Research.

McCarthy, John. 1982. Prosodic structure and expletive infixation. Language 58.3:574-590.

McCawley 1978. Where you can shove infixes. In Syllables and Segments.McMillan, James. 1980. Infixing and interposing in English. American Speech.Sheidlower, Jesse. 1999. The F-word, second edition. Random House.Siegel 1974. Topics in English morphology. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.Yu, Alan. 2003. Reduplication in English Homeric Infixation. Paper presented at

NELS, SUNY-Stony Brook.Zonneveld, Wim. 1984. The Game of the Name: Expletive Insertion in English.

Linguistic Analysis 13.1:55-60.

How does iz-infixation work?How does iz-infixation work?

“to be annizounced”

Lizadies

Mo Money, Mo ProblemsLyrically, niggaz see, B.I.G. be flossin jig on the cover of Fortune Five double oh, here's my phone number Your man ain't got to know, I got to go Got the flow down pizat, platinum plus Like thizat, dangerous on trizack, leave your ass blizzack

How does Homeric infixation work?How does Homeric infixation work?

Yu 2003 “insert -ma- after disyllabic trochaic foot”

Trochaic foot = σσ “this infix can never appear at the edge”

“Two strategies are available to ensure non-peripherality: partial reduplication when the stressed syllable is open and schwa epenthesis when the stressed syllable is closed”

oboe-ma-boe grape-a-ma-fruit

Some problems with Yu’s analysis: Doesn’t specify initial trochaic foot Doesn’t deal with all disyllabic word types

Doesn’t get sitar sitarmatar, etc.

Homeric InfixationHomeric Infixation

´

How does expletive insertion work?How does expletive insertion work?Let 'em riot. We're Sonic-

fuckin'-Death Monkey!

Some non-phonological aspects:

•What parts of speech can it affix to?

•What exactly does it mean?

•Is it the same as my fucking job, etc.?

Lady, I wanna get to the bottom of this. ASAFP.

Oh, so do I.

But first I'd like to... butter your muffin.

Why do you have to be such a wanker?

Because I get off on it!

AnalysisAnalysis Old analysis: must precede main stress and

be preceded (but not immediately) by tertiary stressMcCawley: -fuckin'- and other infixable epithets

optimally go between a light and a heavy beat, as in fan-fucking-tastic

Doesn’t get *sur-fucking-prise McCarthy 1982, Pinker 1994: at foot

boundaryParallel to aspiration? (we will see how aspiration

works in one of the next lectures)

AnalysisAnalysis

PrWd

F F F |

σ σ σ σ σ

V i n a t i e r i

Is affix location fixed?Is affix location fixed?

Do infixes always have to be infixes, suffixes always have to be suffixes, etc.?

No:Homshetsma imperfective affix:

gu lom ‘I cry’, g-ertom ‘I go’ garta-gu-m ~ garto-m-gu ‘I read’

In Austroasiatic and Austronesian languages, certain VC affixes go before the first vowel of a word, i.e. they are prefixes of V-initial words [VC[V...]] but infixes of C-initial words [C[VC]V...]. (David Stampe)

TruncationsTruncations normal pattern (truncate R side)

Catherine Cath, Cathy Lester Les, not *Lest (cf. frus)

Truncate L side: [fre]shmen, [we]blog, [atti]tude,

[Hurri]Canes, [po]taters, [uni]varsity [mu]shroom, [hy]dro (type of ganja),

[be]tween[ager], [a]fro, [tele]phone, [hair]do-rag

subtleties: Montgomery Monty not *Montgy Victoria Vicky, not *Victy streptococcus strep (*strept)

Do-ragDo-rag

BlendsBlends 2 parts:

brunch vs. blunch himbo, manthrax cankle (Shallow Hal) ga(y)dar fugly flabalanche (Hans and Franz) egotestical sexile procrasturbate

3 parts: Kentaco Hut Texarkana Frappalattecino

Infixing? (ricockulous, ridonculous)

MockneyMockney

From wikipedia: “In British English, the term mockney (a Portmanteau of "mock" and

"cockney") has come to be used, predominantly in the media, to describe those who present themselves as cockneys (or, by extension, other working-class groups) with the intention of gaining popular credibility. A stereotypical mockney comes from a middle or upper-middle class background in England's Home Counties…It is an affectation sometimes adopted for aesthetic purposes, other times just to sound "cool" or in attempt to generate street credibility. The phenomenon was first named in the mid-1990s and was made famous in describing Britpop bands such as Blur and, on occasions, politicians such as Tony Blair.”

ga(y)darga(y)dar

the ability of one gay person to spot another

the ability to identify a gay male