m o r p h o lo g y 2 - university of washington · 2011. 10. 20. · ¥ word formation Ð d e r iv...

Morphology 2Morphology 2

Ling400Ling400

Word formationWord formation

•• Hierarchical Structure of WordsHierarchical Structure of Words

•• Word formationWord formation–– DerivationDerivation

–– CompoundsCompounds

–– ReduplicationReduplication

Interesting free morphemesInteresting free morphemes

1. ex He is my 1. ex He is my exex. (referring to the. (referring to thespeakerspeaker’’s ex-husband, ex-boyfriend)s ex-husband, ex-boyfriend)

but not He is our ex. (referring to Billbut not He is our ex. (referring to BillClinton, who is an ex-President of US)Clinton, who is an ex-President of US)

2. 2. ish ish II’’m a bit m a bit ishish today. today.

boy- boy-ishish, book-, book-ishish, 2ish, 2ish

How many morphemes?How many morphemes?1. comfortable ???

How many morphemes?How many morphemes?1. comfortable 2: comfort + able


2. hammock ???


2. hammock 1: monomorphemic



3. tasteless ???



3. tasteless 2: taste + less




4. sharpeners ???




4. sharpeners 4: sharp + en + er + s





5. undeniably ???





5. undeniably 4: un + deni + ab(l) + ly






6. transformational ???






6. transformational 4: trans + form + ation + al

Hierarchical StructureHierarchical Structure

•• Root + derivational suffixRoot + derivational suffix A A A A A A

NN suff suff.. N N suff suff.. N N suff suff..

boy boy ish ish nation al nation al idiotidiot ic ic

V V

N V N V

V V suffsuff.. prefpref. N. N suffsuff

hunt hunt erer de stigma de stigma tizetize

Morpheme hierarchyMorpheme hierarchy

Pre-VPre-Vdede

VV

VV

NNstigmastigma

SuffSuff--tizetize

Affixation Rules in EnglishAffixation Rules in English

Adj Adj ! ! V -able e.g. readableV -able e.g. readable

V V ! ! un- V e.g. undoun- V e.g. undo

AdjAdj. . ! ! un- un- Adj Adj e.g. unhappye.g. unhappy

V V ! ! re- V e.g. reenter re- V e.g. reenter

N N ! ! V -(t)ion V -(t)ion !"#$%&'!"#$%&'e.g. distributione.g. distribution

Which structure is correct?Which structure is correct?

N N

V V

pref pref V V sufsuf

re- construct -ionre- construct -ion

N N

N N

pref pref VV suf suf



N N

V V



correctcorrect

N N

N N



wrongwrong


AdjAdj

VV


undo -ableun- do -able

AdjAdj

Adj Adj




correctcorrect AdjAdj

VV



‘‘able to be undoneable to be undone’’

Adj Adj correctcorrect

AdjAdj



‘‘not able to be donenot able to be done’’

Non-Non-affixalaffixal variation variation

•• No differenceNo difference sheepsheep ( (sgsg) ) sheepsheep (pl) (pl)

•• Vowel difference as inflection (alternation)Vowel difference as inflection (alternation)–– runrun ranran–– sitsit satsat–– mousemouse micemice

•• Stress difference between N and V:Stress difference between N and V:–– They will They will conconvictvict the the conconvictvict of robbery. of robbery.–– They will They will subsubjectject the the subsubjectject to close scrutiny. to close scrutiny.(sometimes referred to as (sometimes referred to as conversionconversion (p.541)) (p.541))

Other ways of creating newOther ways of creating newwordswords

•• File 13.4 (p. 541)File 13.4 (p. 541)

•• Acronyms: NATOAcronyms: NATO

•• Blends: brunchBlends: brunch

•• Clippings: cab (from taxi cab)Clippings: cab (from taxi cab)

•• Coinages: Exxon, KodakCoinages: Exxon, Kodak

•• Conversions: run (verb) --> run (noun)Conversions: run (verb) --> run (noun)

m o r p h o lo g y 2 - university of washington · 2011. 10. 20. · ¥ word formation Ð d e r iv...

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