3. Morpheme. Word-structure.

1. Morpheme. Allomorphs.

2. Classification of morphemes. Meaning in morphemes.

3. The etymology of affixes

4. Principles of structural analysis. Morphological analyses.

Morpheme: teach-er, kill-joy. Morphemes: homonymous (motherly – quickly), synonymous (inactive – unhappy), antonymous (useful – useleaa). Allomorphs from Greek allos (allophones, allomorphs). ion/tion/sion/ation are the positional variants of the same affix: -ation (liberation); -tion (corruption).

-ic and -ical: comic paper, but comical story; im- (impossible), its allomorph ir- (irregular), il- (illegal), in- (indirect, inability).

Differential – distributional meanings of morphemes: teacher (teach- - differential); distributional meaning: er-teacher.

Classification of morphemes.

(1) Derivational – functional. The suffix -y: cloudy (full of); stony (composed of); baggy (resembling).

(2) Free – bound. Free grammatical morphemes are function words: articles, conjunctions and prepositions (the, with, and). Bound lexical morphemes: prefixes (dis-), suffixes (-ish) and also blocked (unique) root morphemes (e.g. Fri-day, cran-berry); -s, -ed, -ing, -er. English borrowings – arrogance, charity, courage; arrog-, char-, cour-.

(3) Roots – affixes. Affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes). Stem (stem base): hearty (heart-); hearty – heartier – the heartiest (hearty-). Roots: hearten, dishearten, heartily, hearty, heartiness, sweetheart, kind-hearted (heart-). Prefixes: stay (i) – outstay smb (t); time (pre-, post-), place (in-, ad-). An infix: -n- in stand.

(4) Recurrent – unique. Recurrent: -ing (singing, walking, drawing). Unique: pock- (pocket).

(5) Suffixes – prefixes. Noun-forming suffixes: -age (bondage), -ance/-ence (experience), -ancy/-ency (tendency), -ant/-ent (student), -dom (freedom), -ee (employee), -er (writer), -ese (journalese), -ess (actress), -hood (manhood), -ing (building), -ion/-sion/-tion/--ation (tension), -ism/icism (criticism), -ist (novelist), -ment (government), -ness (tenderness), -ship (friendship), -ty (honesty).

Adjective-forming suffixes: -able/-ible/-uble (unbearable); -al (formal), -ic (public), -ical (ethical), -ant/-ent (dependent), -ary (revolutionary), -ate/-ete (complete), -ed/-d (wooded), -ful (delightful), -ian (Australian), -ish (reddish), -ive (active), -less (useless), -like (lifelike), -ly (manly), -ous/-ious (curious), -some (tiresome), -y (cloudy).

Numeral suffixes: -fold (twofold), - teen (fourteen), -th (seventh), -ty (sixty).

Verb-forming suffixes: -ate (facilitate), -er (glimmer), -en (shorten), -fy/-ify (terrify), -ize (equalize), -ish (establish).

Adverb-forming suffixes: -ly (coldly), -ward/-wards (northwards), -wise (likewise).

-er – “thingness” + the doer of the action (reader); -oid – scientific/bookish (rhomboid).

Derogatory: -ard (drunkard), -ling (underling), -ster (gangster), -ton (simpleton). Endearment: -y/-ie/-ey: auntie, daddie, nightie. Smallness: -en (chicken), -kin-/kins (manikin), -let (booklet), -ock (hillock), -et (coronet).

Semi-affixes: -man (seaman), -half (half-eaten).

Prefixes. mis-: behave – misbehave; inform – misinform. pre- and post- (time): historic – prehistoric, view – preview; Impressionism – Post-impressionism; in-, ab-, a- (place): abduct; out-, over-, under- (degree): outlive, outnumber. Negative prefixes: de-, dis-, in-/im-/il-/ir-, un-. The general idea of negation is expressed by dis-: agree – disagree. Un-: 1) happy – unhappy; kind – unkind. 2) do –undo; pack – unpack. Re-: rearrange, recast. Be-, en-: belittle, becloud; embed, encamp. A- (statives): afraid, asleep. Pre-, post-, non-, anti-: anti-war, post-war.

Borderline cases. Morphemes: after-, in-, off-, on-, out-, over-, under-, with-. Chamber’s Dictionary: aftergrowth, afternoon, afterglow. Webster’s Dictionary does not consider after- as a prefix at all.

(6) Productive – non-productive. The most productive English prefixes are: de- (decontaminate), re- (rethink), pre- (prefabricate), non- (non-operational), un- (unfunny), anti- (antibiotic). The most productive noun suffixes, besides the highly productive – ing-, ness-, er-, are: -ation (automation), -ee (evacuee), -ism (racialism), -ist (racialist), -ry (gimmickry), -or (reactor), -ance (redundance), -ics (cybernetics). The verb-forming suffixes: -ate, -ify, -ise/ize (oxidate, denazify, vitaminize). The productive adjective-forming suffixes are –able, -ed, -ic, -ish, -less, -y: electronic, jobless.

Frequency: -th and its allomorph –t: health, height, truth. Non-productive suffixes: -al/-ial/-ual. -ve, -ancy/-ency, -ant/-ent, -ive, -en, -ful, -th, -hood, -ly, -ous, -some.

-dom: boredom, serfdom; -ship.

Different opinions: -ment, -ation/-tion/-sion/-ion.

Technical words: -ance (conductance), -ic (antibiotic), -ile (tactile).

Dead suffix: -d (seed), -le/-l (sail), -lock (wedlock), -nd (friend), -ock (hillock), -red (hatred), -k (walk, talk); -ettan.

The etymology of affixes. The native affixes: -d, -dom, -ed, -en, -fold, -hood, -lock, -ful, -less, -like, -ship, -ing, -ish, -let, -ly, -ness, -oc, -red, -some, -teen, -th, -ward, -wise, -y.

The suffixes of foreign origin: Latin (-able/-ible, -ant/-ent), French (-age, -ance/-ence, -ancy/-ency, -ard, -ate, -sy), Greek (-ist, -ism, -ite), etc.

Hybrids: readable, from the Latin –abilis: answerable, eatable, usable.

un- + English stem + -able: unanswerable, unbearable, unreasonable.

un (Eng) + mis (Engl) + tak (Scand) + able (Fr).

A borrowed word + a native affix: cheerless, doubtless, joyless. The noun bicycle: Latin prefix (bi-), a Greek root (cycle < kuklos “a wheel”), an English inflection in the plural: bicycles. Hybrid compounds: blackguard (Eng + Fr), aircraft.

Principles of structural analysis.

child woman monkey spinster book

childish womanish monkeyish spinsterish bookish

Morphological analysis. Bloomfield’s analysis of the word ungentlemanly: un + gentlemanly; un + gentleman +ly; gentle + man; gent + le. un- + {[(gent- + -le) + -man] + -ly}

Transformational analysis.

gentlemanly → having the qualities of a gentleman; masterly → having the qualities of a master; soldierly → having the qualities of soldier; womanly → having the qualities of a woman; monthly ≠ having the qualities of a month.

monthly → occurring every month; hourly → occurring every hour; yearly → occurring every year; gentlemanly ≠ occurring every gentleman.