Morphology

• Morphology ≔ study of the formation of words
• Morphemes ≔ smallest units of a language that carry meaning
• Words can be comprised of one or more morpheme.

Basic concepts of morphology

Simple word:

• Consists of only one morpheme
• Example: boy, man, radio, book, paper, magnet, house, compute

Complex word:

• contains more than one morpheme (i.e. ≥2 morphemes).
• Example: computer, boys, radio-recorder, bookshelf, magnetize, acidfree

Basic concepts of morphology

Free morpheme:

• can occur as a simple word.
• Example: boy, man, radio,...

Bound morpheme:

• can only occur in connection with other morphemes
• Example: -s, -ion, un-, -ize, ...

Allomorph

• Variant forms of a morpheme
• Example: a -- an, plural -s /s/ -- /Iz/ -- /z

What about words?

Root:

• Carries the meaning
• Example: unbelievable “believe”

Affixes:

• Other parts [bound morphemes]
• Examples: prefixes, suffixes, infixes, circumfixes

Prefix:

• Affixes that attach before the root
• Examples: anti-, -de-, un-, (see below)

Suffix:

• Affixes that attach after the root
• Example: -ed, -s, -ment, (see below)

Base

• Form to which an affix is attached
• Example: In unbelievable “un” is a prefix and “able” a suffix. When attached one after the other unbelieve is the base to which "-able" is added.

Branches of morphology

• Inflection
• Derivation
• Compounding

Derivation

Derivation is the process of adding a morpheme to a base by which the meaning and/or wordclass of the base changes

Consequences of derivation in English

• Suffixes change the wordclass of the base, prefixes the meaning
• Derived words are productive, i.e. they can be used for further word formation, either serving as a base in derivation, or they can be inflected.
• The list of derivational affixes is fixed (it is a closed class).

Some English prefixes

• anti-
• de-
• dis-
• ex-
• in-
• mis-
• re-
• un- (with adjectives)
• un- (with verbs)

Zero derivation

• special phenomenon in English
• words can change wordclass without the addition of other morphemes (=by adding an empty morpheme)

BASE	Derived	Meaning
Xerox (the company)	to xerox	make a photocopy
thread	to thread	to put a thread through the eye of needle; can also be used metaphorically
house	to house	to shelter someone or something
bottle	to bottle	to fill something into a bottle

Other types of bound morphemes

The following do not exist in English and arguably in German only, but in other languages

Infixes

a morpheme is inserted into another morpheme (in many semitic languages)

Circumfix

at the same time of adding something in the front, something in the back is added; some regard this as prefix + suffix. German example: ge- [root]-t as in ge-heiz-t

Inflectional morphology

• Process of word formation
• No new words: core meaning is preserved (lexeme)
• Creating different grammatical forms
• Words distinguished only by inflection: same paradigm
• Process after derivation and compounding (!)
• Inflected words are not productive

Terms

Lexeme

A lexeme is an abstract concept denoting all possible forms of a word independent of inflection (and sometimes derivation)

Lemma

A lemma is a concrete representation of a lexeme, sometimes realized as a stem or base.

Stem

A stem is the part of a word after the removal of all affixes (see also root)

The boring case of English

Inflectional morphology

• -s (plural)
• -'s (genitive, possessive)
• -s (3rd person singular)
• -ed (past)
• -ing (progressive)
• -er (comparative)
• -est (superlative)
• -en (participle)

Use of inflections in English

• Number
• Gender
• Tense
• Case
• Grade
• Person
• Aspect

Other languages

• Latin:
  • Case system
  • Tenses
• Finnish
  • 15 or 16 noun cases
  • Some replace prepositions
  • Number marked independent of case

Task: with your neighbour

• Collect as many German inflectional morphemes as you can
• What do these inflectional morphemes mean?
• Compare English with German. Why do you think somebody would say that English is a highly inflecting language?

Derivation or inflection?

• Test:
  • Necessary condition: affix of the appropriate table
  • Sufficient condition: productivity:
    • Derived words can be derived and/or inflected
    • Inflected words cannot (!)
• Distinction is not always formally clear
  • Comparison to other words necessary → paradigm
  • Semantic argument
  • History

Compounding

• Words consisting of at least two roots
• Meaning lexicalized
• Derivation and inflection possible
• Usually stressed on the first syllable

Words that can be combined

• Nouns combine with
  • nouns (fire engine),
  • adjectives (greenhouse),
  • verbs (swimming suit) and
  • prepositions (afterthought)
• Verbs combine with
  • adjectives (dry clean),
  • verbs (breakdance)
  • prepositions (underestimate)
• Adjectives combine with
  • prepositions (ingrown)
  • adjectives (red hot)

Constituents of compounds

• Head
  • In English: second part of the compound
  • Determines word class → inflectional paradigm
• Modifier: specifies the compound

Compound or not?

• Etymology
• Lexicalization
• Phonologic processes: changes in vowel quality
• Semantics
• Inflection
• Orthography unreliable in English

Classes of compounds

Tatpurusa: endocentric

A+B is a kind of B: the second part (the head) is modified

• doorknob (knob of a door)
• letterhead (head of a letter)
• smalltalk

Bahuvrihi: exocentric

A+B is attributed to C: Refers to something not part of the thing itself

• egghead: intellectual person (whos head has the form of an egg from studying so much
• paleface: person with a low profile or with a pale face

Dvandva: copulative

A+B denotes the sum of both:

• Bitterlemon (bitter and lemon)
• sleepwalk

Task: With your neighbour

• Find as many possible compounds as you can
• What is the head and what is the modifier?
• What type of compounds are those?

Other morphological processes

• Clipping: Abridging a word by taking only one part:
  • Apocopation: Back clipping
  • Apharesis: Fore clipping
  • Syncope: Middle clipping
• Blending: Abridging and combining lexemes: breakfast and lunch = brunch
• Acronyms
• Abbreviation

A detour into the profane?

Branding

Film promoting lexicon branding

Homework for next week

1. Search for 15 brand names
2. Which morphemes are used?
3. Which abbreviation strategies can you identify?

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