Folie 1

1
HS Morphology Winter Term 2005/2006
Morphology Processes of Word Formation
Session 8 20 December 2005 Reference Bauer,
Laurie. The Morphological Structure of Words.
Introducing Linguistic Morphology. Edinburgh
EUP, 1988 pp. 19 42 Illustration Fromkin,
Victoria, and Robert Rodman. An Introduction to
Language. 4th ed. Forth Worth, Chicago, San
Franciso, et. al. Holt, Robert and Winston,
Inc. 1988 pp. 122-154
Presenters Denise Brilla Carsten
Litterscheidt
2
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Your contribution to our moderation
Please refresh your memory of the following
passages Group 1 circumfixes p. 22 f.,
3.1.3 Group 2 infixes p. 23, 3.1.4 Group
3 interfixes p. 23 f., 3.1.5 Group
4 transfixes p. 24 f., 3.1.6 Group 5 base
modification segmental changes p. 26 ff., 3.3
(21) (24) incl. of text Group 6 base
modification suprasegmental chg. p. 29 f., 3.3
(27) (28) incl. of text Group 7 subtractive
morph p. 32, 3.5 process. Group 8 endo-
vs. exocentric compounding p. 33, 3.6 p. 36
much rice. Group 9 dvanda compounds p. 36,
Many lges prim. compounds. Group 10
incorporation p. 36, These are p. 38 (46)
incl. Group 11 neo-classical compounds p. 38,
Compounds end of page Group 12 unique
morphs p. 40, 3.8 Your Task Please summarize
briefly (!) the main ideas stated in your
passage, and choose one good example to
illustrate each phenomenon. Choose one
spokesperson to present your findings.
HS Morphology 2 Winter Term 05/06
3
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Affixation sometimes not as easy as it seems
HS Morphology 3 Winter Term 05/06
4
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Affixation

• Circumfix
• consists of a prefix and a suffix acting
  together to surround a base
• Examples German past participles of weak
  verbs
• - film-en ? ge-film-t
• to film filmed
• - frag-en ? ge-frag-t
• to ask asked
• - lob-en ? ge-lob-t
• to praise praised
• - zeig-en ? ge-zeig-t
• to show shown
• ? if considered a single affix, get
  discontinuous morph (very rare)

HS Morphology 4 Winter Term 05/06
5
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Affixation

• Infix
• morph inserted into the base
• used derivationally OR inflectionally
• voh ? v-an-oh sulat ? s-um-ulat
• know wise write wrote
• (from Chrau, Vietnam) (from Tagalog,
  Phillippines)
• ? creation of discontinuous base (very rare)
• In the same word-form, infixes can co-occur
  with prefixes and suffixes
• Example sulat write ? base
• s-um-ulat wrote ? infixation
• s-in-ulat was written ? infixation
• further preterite passives
• i-s-in-ulat second passive theme ? infix.
  prefixation
• s-in-ulat-an third passive theme ? infix.
  suffixation

HS Morphology 5 Winter Term 05/06
6
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Affixation

• Infix speciality Interfix
• empty morph (i.e. it does not carry morphemic
  meaning) which occurs only between two other
  forms
• Examples German compounding
• Auge Arzt ? Auge-n-arzt eye doctor
• Bauer Frau ? Bauer-s-frau farmers wife
• Strauss Ei ? Strauss-en-ei ostrich egg
• Geburt Jahr ? Geburt-s-jahr birth year
• English neo-classical compounding
• electr-o-lyte

HS Morphology 6 Winter Term 05/06
7
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Affixation

• Infix speciality Transfix
• affix which occurs throughout the base
• only appears in the Semitic languages
• - roots are created by a concatenation of
  consonants, they never occur in isolation
• - transfixes, which always consist of vowels,
  are then added to the root
• - each transfix occurs in a fixed position in
  the root
• Example Egyptian Arabic ktb (to write)
• ?katab he wrote
• ?jiktib he will write
• mak?tuub written
• mak?taba bookshops
• ma?kaatib bookshops
• ki?taab book
• ?kaatib clerk
• ? transfixation involves two sets of
  discontinuous morphs
• ? thus, transfixes are the most complex type of
  affix

HS Morphology 7 Winter Term 05/06
8
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Internal base modifications

• involve phonological changes to the base
• are either segmental OR suprasegmental
• segmental modifications
• Consonantal Change Voicing
• N ? V change mou/?/ ? mou/?/
• thie/f/ ? thie/v/
• sing. ? pl. change mouth/?/ ? mou/?/s
• hou/s/ ? hou/z/es
• shel/f/ ? shel/v/s
• Vowel Mutation
• Umlaut assimilation to a following vowel, e.g.
  f/?/t ? f/i/t
• Ablaut any other instance of vowel mutation,
  e.g. s/?/ng ? s/?/ng ? s/a/ng
• ? mostly found in Germanic languages

HS Morphology 8 Winter Term 05/06
9
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Internal base modifications

• involve phonological changes to the base
• are either segmental OR suprasegmental
• suprasegmental modifications (through superfixes)
• Change of stress pattern
• N ? V change ?discount ? dis?count
• ?import ? im?port
• ?insult ? in?sult
• ? also called replacive morphs the
  replacement of one phonological sequence by
  another
• similarly m/??/se ? m/??/ce
• ? controversy this would redefine the notion of
  morph to include in addition to form the
  notion of process (? replacing a morph)
• ? other scholars refer to such processes as
  infixation
• ? term replacive morph predominates

HS Morphology 9 Winter Term 05/06
10
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Subtractive Morphs

• morphs which are removed by a morphological
  process
• In French subtract the final consonant of the
  feminine form ? masculine form
• Example mauvaise (f) ? mauvaix (m)
• verte (f) ? vert (m)

HS Morphology 10 Winter Term 05/06
11
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Compounding I a

• Endocentric compounds
• denote a sub-class of the items denoted by one
  of their elements ? hyponym of main/head element
• Example sea-bird

HS Morphology 11 Winter Term 05/06
12
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Compounding I b

• Exocentric compounds
• denote something which is not a sub-class of
  either of the elements in the compounds
• Example egg-head
• ? sometimes called bahuvrihi compounds

HS Morphology 12 Winter Term 05/06
13
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Compounding II

• Dvanda / copulative compounds
• denote an entity made up of the two or more
  elements mentioned in the compound together
• Example bleu blanc rouge
• ? III root compounds / primary compounds

HS Morphology 13 Winter Term 05/06
14
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Compounding III

• Synthetic (or verbal nexus) compounds
• head element contains a verb
• Example dish washer
• Incorporation
• a compound created in this way is itself a
  verb
• noun in the modifying element has same semantic
  function as direct object of verb involved
• frequently denote an activity
• Example Maori hoko rare ( lolly-buy)

HS Morphology 14 Winter Term 05/06
15
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Compounding III

• Neo-classical compounds
• two lexemes involved in their maku up are not
  English lexemes ? Greek, Latin
• Example biology, geometry

HS Morphology 15 Winter Term 05/06
16
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Unique morphs

• only occur in one fixed expression
• bound to a particular collocation
• no own meaning, but make something a subclass
• Example cranberry
• ? often called cranberry morphs

HS Morphology 16 Winter Term 05/06
17
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Conclusion
Bauer There is a hierarchy of word
formation processes. Compounding
norm Affixation Suffixation other
affixation processes Other word formation
processes deviation from norm
HS Morphology 17 Winter Term 05/06
18
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Summary of previously known processes of word
formation
HS Morphology 18 Winter Term 05/06
19
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Affixation

• Suffix
• the commonest bound morpheme in all languages
• used derivationally OR inflectionally
• constitut-ion-ality talo-i-ssa-an
• house-pl-in-3rd person possessive
• from Finnish in their houses
• When derivational and inflectional suffixes
  co-occur in the same word- form, the general rule
  is that the derivational suffixes precede the
  inflectional ones.
• Example égal-is-a
• equal (V, deriv.)-3rd person sing-past
  (infl.)
• from French he/she/it equalised

HS Morphology 19 Winter Term 05/06
20
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Affixation

• Suffix ctd.
• How to mistake plural suffixation via analogy

HS Morphology 20 Winter Term 05/06
21
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Affixation

• Prefix
• rarer than suffixes
• used derivationally OR inflectionally
• dis-en-tangle a-si-nga-li-jua
• he-negative-concessive-past-know
• from Swahili if he had not known
• When derivational and inflectional prefixes
  co-occur in the same word- form, the general rule
  is that the inflectional prefix precedes the
  derivational prefix.
• Example jih ji-mi-langu
• he 3rd person (younger) (infl.)-intransitive
  (deriv.)-swim
• from Achenese (Sumatra) he swims
  (intransitive use)
• In the same word-form, prexifes and suffixes
  can occur in all possible combinations.

HS Morphology 21 Winter Term 05/06
22
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Reduplication

• using some part of (or the whole) base more
  than once in a word
• far more common in the languages of the world
  than any affixation process
• base reduplication resembles compounding
• Example Afrikaans
• dik ? dik-dik thick ? very thick
• can also form types of affixes
• Examples Motu, Papua New Guinea redupl.
• mero ? me-mero boy ? boys prefix
• ? meromero ? little
  boy whole word
• ? memeromemero ? little
  boys both
• Maori, New Zealand indigenous language
• aahua ? aahua-hua appearance ?
  resemble suffix
• often used iconically, i.e. the form of the
  word reflects its meaning
• ? often used to indicate plurality,
  intensity, and repetition
• usually determined phonologically a
  reduplication rule states how much of the base
  is to be reduplicated in terms of consonants,
  vowels, syllables, and word-forms

HS Morphology 22 Winter Term 05/06
23
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Relationship with no change of form

• Zero morphs
• account for the difference in function between
  homophonous forms such as sgl-pl / N-V / N-Adj /
  Adj-V /
• Examples sheep sheep / download to download
  / a round round / emtpy to empty /
• processes conversion, zero-derivation,
  functional shift

HS Morphology 23 Winter Term 05/06
24
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Cases involving shortening the base

• Backformation derivational process
• case where the element subtracted is / looks
  like a morpheme with independent existence
  elsewhere in the language
• Examples pointer, retriever, warbler ? point,
  retrieve, warble
• in retrospect, backformation is invisible. Only
  noticeable when backformation word unfamiliar
• Clipping shortening a word without changing
  its meaning or part of speech, only stylistic
  change
• Examples deli(catessen), sci(ence) fi(ction)

HS Morphology 24 Winter Term 05/06
25
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Alphabet-based formation

• Blends portmanteau word
• two meanings packed up into one word
• overlap ? no information is lost
• Example glass asphalt ? glasphalt
• Acronyms coined from initial letters of the
  words in a name, title or phrase ? pronounced as
  a new word
• Examples NATO, AIDS

HS Morphology 25 Winter Term 05/06
26
English Studies Linguistics Processes of Word Formation
Suppletion

• roots so completely different
• derived from different words
• cannot be derived by general rules
• Examples good better, go went

HS Morphology 26 Winter Term 05/06