CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background and Problem

Derivation is very important thing in Morphology. Morphology is one of the

category of microlinguistics which is study about the internal structure of language.

Morphology is a part of linguistics which is study about word structure. Word is the

smallest unit in grammar. Derivation is one of the cases discussed in morphology. It is

related to the formation of a new words that are processed by affixation with changes

of the word-class and meaning. Derivation needs to be learned because when learning

morphology we will face a complex word which is consist of a root/base and one or

more affixes. Complex word is very common found in studying English. A

morphologically, complex word is semantically transparent if its meaning is obvious

from its parts: hence 'unhappiness' is semantically transparent, being made up in a

predictable fashion from 'un,' 'happy,' and 'ness.' A word like 'department,' even

though it contains recognizable morphemes, is not semantically transparent. The

meaning of 'depart' in 'department' is not obviously related to the 'depart' in

'departure.' It is semantically opaque." (Trevor A. Harley, The Psychology of

Language: From Data to Theory. Taylor & Francis, 2001)

An affixes is a bound morpheme which only occurs when attached to some

other morpheme and it has an important role in the process of derivation. While,

affixation is the morphological process where by an affix is attached to a root or stem.

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It is the most common way of making a new words in English. Affixes can be divided

into inflectional affixes and derivational affixes.

An inflectional affixes does not alter the word-class of the base to which it is

attached. It is only able to modify the form of a word so that it can fit into a particular

syntactic slot. Thus, book and books are both nouns referring to the same kind of

entity. The –s ending merely carries information about the number of those entities.

While, derivational affixes causes a major grammatical change, involving moving the

base from one word-class into another as in the case of –less which turns a noun into

an adjective.

Derivational affixes can be divided into two groups: class-changing and class-

maintaining. Class-changing of derivational affixes change the word class to which

they are added. It change the word-class from verb into noun, adjective into verb,

verb into adjective, etc. However, class-maintaining of derivational affixes doesn’t

change the word class but change only the meaning of the word.

The process of affixes that related to the derivation namely prefixation,

suffixation and infixation. Prefixation is a morphological process where by a bound

morpheme is attached to the front of a root/base. Adding prefix to the beginning of

one word changes it into another word. Suffixation is a morphological process where

by a bound morpheme is attached to the end of a root/base. Adding at the end of a

word which makes a new word. Infixation is an morphological process where by a

bound morpheme is attached to the insert of a root/base itself.

Based on the statement above, derivation related to the process of affixation

which is change the word class and meaning. So in this research I choose the types

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and meaning of derivational affixes found in “Out Of My Mind” novel. That’s why I

am interested in doing this research. I am sure that by writing this paper, I can

increase my knowledge about the affixation especially about the derivational affixes.

1.2 Scope of Discussion

As we know, scope of discussion gives clearer topic boundary in a research.

According to the background, the main topic is affixation. Unfortunately, it has wide

enough unit. So in this case I would like to limit the topic, and I prefer to analyze

about derivational affixes. The discussion as follows:

1) What types of derivational affixes are found in “Out Of My Mind”

novel by Sharon M Draper ?

2) What affixes are attached to the base, and

3) What meanings are conveyed ?

1.3 Aims
Aims means general statements concerning the overall goals. The aims are

needed and it can be used as a guide in doing scientific paper. This paper has three

aims; they are general aim, specific aim and academic aim.
The general aim of writing this paper is to train my self in doing research, to

apply the theories that I have learnt, to increase and develop my skill in English,

The specific aim of writing this paper is by doing this research I would like to

know more details about types of derivational affixes are found in “Out Of My Mind”

novel by Sharon M Draper, affixes are attached to the base and meanings are

conveyed.

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 The academic aim of writing this paper is to fulfill one of requirements in

finishing the study and obtain S1 degree at English Department, Faculty of Letters,

Warmadewa University.

1.4 Theoretical Basis

Theories are very important to support the validity of this scientific paper. I

have to choose the theories which is relevant to the topic I am going to discuss. I use

some relevant theories as the main and supporting theory. The main theory is taken

from a book entitled Modern Linguistics by Francis Katamba (1993).

In his book, he states :
“Derivational affixes are used to create new lexemes by either: (i) modifying
significantly the meaning of the base to which they are attached, without

necessarily changing its grammatical category (see kind and unkind); or (ii)
they bring about a shift in the grammatical class of a base as well as a possible
change in meaning (as in the case of hard (Adj) and hardship (N (abs) ); or
(iii) they may cause a shift in the grammatical sub-class of a word without
moving it into a new word-class (as in the case of friend (N (conc) ) and
friend-ship (N (abs) )” (Katamba, 1993 : 50).

Beside that, I also use books to support the main theory such as a book

entitled English Word - Formation by Laurie Bauer (1983), a book entitled A

Practical English Grammar by A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet and some other

books which are listed in the bibliography.

1.5 Method of Research

Method of research are the basic procedures that very important in writing

scientific paper because a good writing depends on its method. Those procedures are

used to get the expected result from the research. The methods are applied in this

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research can be divided into determining data source, collecting the data and

analyzing the data.

Data source is the first thing we should looking for in doing this research. It is

required to support the writing of this paper. I use data source which is taken from a

novel entitled “Out Of My Mind” by Sharon M Draper. Actually, I choose the novel

randomly, but this novel has the academic and non academic aspect. For the academic

aspect, there are many affixation process in the words contained in the novel and for

non academic aspect, “Out Of My Mind” is a best seller novel.

All of the data were collected by reading the novel, underlining and taking a

note. It means in collecting the data use observation method. Then, the data are

classified based on the scope of problems.

After the data have been collected and classified, the next step are analyzing

the data descriptively. To make the analysis clearer, the examples of data are also

completed with explanations.