Morphology: Concepts

I. Basic concepts and terms

II. Derivational processes
III. Inflection
IV. Function words
V. Problems in morphological description
VI. Interaction between morphology and phonolo
gy
VII. Collocations

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Basic Concepts and Terms (1)

Morphology:
 The study of the structure of words & how words are
formed (from morphemes)
 Words can be decomposed into smaller meaningful
elements that linguists call morphemes.
Morpheme:
 A morpheme is the smallest part of a word that has
grammatical function or meaning BUT not the smallest unit
of meaning.
For example, sawed, sawn, sawing, and saws can
all be analyzed into the morphemes {saw} + {-
ed}, {-n}, {-ing}, and {-s}, respectively. None
of these last four can be further divided into
meaningful units and each occurs in many other
words, suchYun-Pi
as looked,
Yuan mown, coughing, bakes.2
 Some morphemes can have different forms in different
environments. The variants of a morpheme are called
allomorphs. Examples:
 1. dog-[z]
 2. cat-[s]
 3. bush-[ez]
 Allomorphs – morphemes having the same function but different
form. Unlike the synonyms they usually cannot be replaced one by
the other.
 • indefinite article: an orange – a building
 • opposite: un-happy – in-comprehensive – im-possible – ir-rational

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The form of a morpheme is based on its
pronunciation, i.e. the spelling is
irrelevant.
Writer [r]
Editor [r]
Liar [r]

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 Homophones are different morphemes that
have the same morphological form.
Cats [s]
Frank’s [s]
Walks [s]
 A word consists of one or more morphemes:
sing-er-s, home-work, moon-light, un-kind-ly, talk-s, ten-th,
flipp-ed, de-nation-al-iz-ation

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Morphemes

lexical
free (open classes)
Morphemes functional
(closed classes)
bound derivational
(affixes) inflectional

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Basic Concepts and Terms (1)

Morpheme:
A. Free morpheme: lexical & functional morpheme

{SAW} can occur on its own as a word; it does not have

to be attached to another morpheme. It is a free
morpheme.
B. Bound morpheme: derivational & inflectional

However, none of the other morphemes (LISTED

SAMPLES) is free. Each must be affixed (attached)
to some other unit; each can only occur as a part of a
word. Morphemes that must be attached as word parts
are said to be bound.
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Classification of Morphemes

Stem (root, base): the morpheme to

which other morphemes are
added /the nucleus of a word that
affixes attach to
free (e.g. teacher, dresses, unkind)
Stem Affixes are always bound morphemes
bound (e.g. inept/incompetent
unkempt/untidy)
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Free Morpheme

I. Definition: can occur by itself, not attached to

other morphemes Examples: girl, teach, book,
class, the, of, etc.
II. Two kinds
A. CONTENT/lexical morpheme (open class)
1. definition: has lexical meaning; new examples
can be freely added; morphemes carry some
semantic content as opposed to performing a
grammatical function
2. examples: N, Verb, Adj, Adv (content words)

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Free Morpheme

B. functional morpheme (closed class)

1. definition: new examples are
rarely added (but not impossible
to add); morphemes act solely to
provide grammatical information and
syntactic agreement.
2. examples: Pro, Prep, Conj, Art.
(function words)

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Bound Morpheme
I. Definition: must be attached to another morpheme
II. Derivational morpheme
A. may change syntactic class
B. to form new words
C. examples: -able, un-, re-, etc.
III. Inflectional morpheme
A. Different forms of the same word
B. Not change syntactic class
C. Only 8 kinds in English: -’s, -s (plural nouns), -ing, -ed/-
en, -est, -er, -s (S-V agreement)

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DERIVATION VS. INFLECTION

 1. Derivational morphemes can change the category of a word.

free (ADJ) > freedom (N) derivation
kill (V) > killer (N) derivation
category (N) > categorize (V) derivation
talk (V) > talked (V) inflection
 2. Derivational morphemes are less productive than inflectional morphemes (e.g. –
hood) occurs with half a dozen words in English while –ed is attached to almost every
noun).
 3. Derivational morphemes tend to have more concrete meanings than inflectional
morphemes.
 4. Derivational morphemes occur closer to the stem than inflectional morphemes.
expect-ation-s

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Inflectional morphology studies the way in which words vary (or
‘inflect’) in order to express grammatical contrasts in sentences such as
singular/plural or past/present tense.
Examples of inflectional morphology:
boy vs boy-s
child vs. child-r-en
love vs. love-s vs. love-d
go vs. goe-s vs. went

Derivational morphology studies the principles governing the

constructions of new words, without reference to the specific grammatical
role a word may play in a sentence.
Examples of derivational morphology:
drink vs. drink-able
inflect vs, dis-infect
Basic Concepts and Terms (3)

Affix:

Prefix e.g. Unhappy

Infix e.g. Absogoddamlutely
Suffix e.g. happiness

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II. Derivational Processes:
a method to get new words
1. Derivation: (or Derivational affixation, Affixation)
2. Compounding: combine two or more morphemes to form new words
3. Reduplication: full or partial repetition of a morpheme
4. Blending: parts of the words that are combined are deleted
5. Clipping: part of a word has been clipped off
6. Acronyms: abbreviate a longer term by taking the initial letters
7. Back formation: A word (usually a noun) is reduced to form another
word of a different type (usually a verb)
8. Extension of word formation rules : Part of a word is treated as a
morpheme though it’s not
9. Functional shift (Conversion) : A change in the part of speech
10. Proper names  Common words
11. Coining: Creating a completely new free morpheme
12. Onomatopoeia: words imitate sounds in nature
13. Borrowing: The taking over of words from other languages

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1. Derivation (1)

 Derivation: derived by rules; it can also be

called derivational affixation or affixation.
A. different rules e.g. V + affix N
N + affix V
ADJ + affix V
N + affix ADJ
B. multiple combination
e.g. organizational
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1. Derivation (2)

Tree structure of “organizational”

ADJ
N Af
V Af
N Af

organ ize ation al

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2. Compounding (1)

 Compounding (compounds): combine two or more

free morphemes to form new words

N N N N
ADJ N N N N ADJ N V N
V fire engine green house jump suit
P wall paper blue bird kill joy
book case N
text book P N
after thought
out patient
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2. Compounding (2)

N
ADJ ADJ ADJ
P

ADJ ADJ ADJ

N ADJ ADJ ADJ P ADJ
nation-wide red - hot over ripe
sky blue far - fetched in grown
pitch black out spoken
out standing
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2. Compounding (3)

N
ADJ V V
P
V
V V V V
N V ADJ V P V V V
Spoon-feed white wash out live blow dry
Steam-roller dry clean underestinate breakdance
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2. Compounding (4)

N N
N N N N
N N N N N N

dog food box stone age cave man

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3.Reduplication

 Reduplication: full or partial repetition of a free

morpheme; sometimes with variation
full partial with variation
so-so 一點點 zigzag
bye-bye 冷冰冰 dilly-dally
天天 . 人人 蹦蹦跳 hotch potch
來來 . 往往 hodge podge
點點 . 滴滴 mishmash
卿卿我我
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4. Blending

 Blending (Blends): similar to compounding, but

parts of the free morphemes involved are lost
(usually 1st part of 1st word + end of 2nd word)
e.g. brunch (breakfast+ lunch)
smog (smoke+ fog)
motel (motor+ hotel)
newscast (news + broadcast)
perma-press (permanent press)
fantabulous (? + ?)

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5. Clipping

 Clipping (Clipped forms): part of a free

morpheme is cut off (i.e., shortening a
polysyllabic word); often in casual speech
e.g. prof. auto (also in names)
phys-ed lab Liz
ad bike Kathy
poli-sci porn Ron
doc sub Lyn

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6. Acronyms (1)

Acronyms: abbreviate a longer term by

taking the initial letters
A. follow the pronunciation patterns of Eng
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
TOEFL (Test of Eng. as a Foreign Language)
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration)
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6. Acronyms (2)

B. If unpronounceable  each letter is sounded

out separately
ATM (automatic teller machine)
I.Q. (intelligence quotient)
MRT (Mass Rapid Transit)
MTV (music television)
TVBS (television broadcasting service)
VCR (video cassette recorder)
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6. Acronyms (3)

C. Customary to sound out each letter even

if the combined initials can be
pronounced.

AIT (American Institute in Taiwan)

UCLA (Univ. of California at Los Angeles)

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7. Back formation

 Back formation: A word (usually a noun) is

reduced to form another word of a different type
(usually a verb)
e.g. editor edit
donation donate
burglar burgle
zipper zip
television televise
babysitter babysit
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8. Extension of word formation rules

 Extension of word formation rules: Part of a

word is treated as a morpheme though it’s not
burger (mar)athon (alco)holic
hamburger telethon workaholic
cheese burger danceathon
buffalo burger walkathon
fish burger
vege burger
tofu burger

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9. Functional shift
(Conversion)
 Functional shift (or conversion, category
change): A change in the part of speech
V N a guess, a must, a spy, a printout,
walk, run, laugh, touch
N V position, process, contact, notice,
party, fax, butter, bottle
(computer-related term) input, output, window
V ADJ see-thru, a stand-up, comedian
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10. Proper names common
words (1)
 Proper names  Common words
A. People
jacklumberjack, jack of all trades
tomtomcat, tomboy, peeping Tom
阿花 ( 三八阿花 )
B. Real people
Earl of Sandwich, teddy bear, Marquis de
Sade
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10. Proper names (2)
C. Places
Hamburger, marathon, bikini, Shanghai, champagne,
D. Mythology
Tantalus  tantalize
Eros erotic; Narcissus narcissistic
Mars martial
psyche, panic, Echo

E. Brand names
band-aid, zipper, Xerox, coke, Scotch tape,
Kleenex, Vaseline

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11. Coining

Coining (Coinage): Creating a completely

new free morpheme, which is unrelated to
any existing morphemes; a rare thing
e.g. googol
pooch
Nylon

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12. Onomatopoeia
 Onomatopoeia: words imitate sounds in nature
(or in technology)
e.g. A dog: bow wow or woof-woof
A clock: tick-tock
A rooster: cock-a-doodle-doo
A camera: click
A duck: quack
A cat: meow
Ring of a bell: ding-dong
A cow: moo
A bee: buzz
A snake: hiss Yun-Pi Yuan 36
13. Borrowing

 Borrowing (Borrowed words): The taking over

of words from other languages
A. Loan translation or calque (Yule 65)
hot dog
superman
B. Transliteration
cool

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III. Inflection (1)

I. Inflectional morphology: adds grammatical

functions (i.e., number, tense, aspect, gender, case), so
related to Syntax, but does not create new words (so
not related to the lexicon).
A. That (Those) planter(s) grows (grow) . . . .
B. in Eng.: inflections are all suffixes
C. examples in other languages: Yule 80
II. Basic word structure in English:
(DER) Base (DER) (INFL)
e.g. plant er s planters
un organ ize ed unorganized

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III. Inflection (2)

I. English examples:
A. able (adj. in “I’m able to do it”)  lexical
B. -able (e.g., “enjoyable”)  derivational

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IV. Function Words

I. Free functional morphemes

• Definition: (Nash 64)
II. A list of function words in Eng: (Nash 65)
A. More than inflections
B. Eng. And Chinese tend to isolate
grammatical functions out into free
morphemes
C. Some other langs. tend to use bound
morphemes; e.g., Russian, Swahili
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V. Problems in Morphological
Description
 Bound stem
receive, unkempt, inept; cranberry? Huckleberry?
 Unidentifiable or inseparable elements
• Due to historical influences and borrowing:
A. Plural form:
sheep  sheep; man  men
B. Past tense:
read  read; go  went
C. Noun  ADJ:
law (old Norse into old Eng)  legal (Latin)
mouth (old Eng.)  oral (Latin)

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VI. Interaction Between
Morphology and Phonology (1)

A. Past tense in English (inflection)

past tense morpheme /d/=allomorphs {d, t, Id}
1. Verbs ends in +voiced /d/
• e.g. agreed, dragged
2. Verbs ends in -voiced /t/
• e.g. worked, missed
3. Verbs ends in alveolar stop /Id/
• e.g., loaded, estimated

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VI. Interaction Between
Morphology and Phonology (2)
B. Plural form (inflection)
plural morpheme /z/=allomorphs {z, s, Iz}
1. Noun ends in +voiced /z/
e.g. flags, games
2. Noun ends in -voiced /s/
e.g. maps, banks
3. ends in +sibilant /Iz/
e.g. glasses, watches
C. Negative (Nash 51)
/In/ = {n, N }
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VI. Interaction Between
Morphology and Phonology (3)

 Morphophonemic Rules:
The rules that determine the pronunciation
of the regular past tense, plural morphemes,
and negative prefix are called
morphophonemic rules because
morphology adds the suffix to the root, and
the phonology controls the pronunciation
of the affix (morpheme).
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VII. Collocations
A. Definition: combinations of words stored as
whole units in the brain, like one big word; So,
unnecessary to be put together using syntax—
can be called up for use all at once.
B. Examples:
and (fork, knife, bread, pepper, salt, butter)
harm; business; a mistake
How’re you? How do you do? Nice to meet you.
I’m so glad you could bring Pamela.
* That Pamela could be brought by you makes me so glad.
* That you could bring Pamela makes me so glad.
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