TUGAS 1

BING4316 – ENGLISH MORPHO-SYNTAX

1. Please explain briefly the process of word formation in English language. Give examples.

The process of word formation in English follows systematic morphological principles.

Complex words are formed from a simpler words and morphemes. The most common way
of building new words in building new words is by using affixes.

• Derivational and Inflectional morphemes.

Inflectional morphemes are adding affixes without changing the meaning of the
root of the word and the grammatical structure of the words. While adding
derivational morphemes cause changing in the word grammar and also meaning.
Linguist use the tree diagram in order to represent the hierarchical organization of
words. These are the most common process of word formation in languages.

Examples:

Derivational Morphemes
o child + ish : childish
the word-class of input base is noun (boy), adding suffix -
ish after the noun derive the word from word class noun to
adjective. In this manner, the grammatical word is
changing from noun to adjective.
o dis + continue : discontinue
the word class input base is verb (continue), adding the
prefix dis- to the root word changes the meaning of the root
word to the opposite of the word.
Inflectional Morphemes
o tomato + es : tomatoes
The suffix -es in tomatoes doesn’t change the grammar of
the root word, it also doesn’t change the meaning the word.
However, it tells the reader the plural form of tomato.

Word Coinage
The process of creating new word deliberately or accidentally without using the
other word formation process. These are some examples of word coinage;
o Aspirin : Aspirin is a medicine brand for curing pain.
Nowadays, people use it as common vocabulary to call any
medicated pills for curing pain.
o Xerox : Xerox is also a brand for copy machine.
 However, people now is using the word Xerox to express
the process of copying documents.

2. Please write a paragraph (about 5 sentences) in English, and identify the content words
and function words from your paragraph.

Sunset is the time of day when our sky meets the outer space solar winds. There are blue,
pink, and purple swirls, spinning and twisting, like clouds of balloons caught in a whirlwind.
The sun moves slowly to hide behind the line of horizon, while the moon races to take its
place in prominence atop the night sky. People slow to a crawl, entranced, fully forgetting
the deeds that must still be done. There is a coolness, a calmness, when the sun does set.

Content Words
Function Words

3. Please give five examples of three-morpheme words, and use them in sentences.
a) unreliable : un + rely + able
His sudden departure had demonstrated how unreliable he was.
b) nationalize : nation + al +ize
The government of Indonesia plan to nationalize some private
banks.
c) meaningful : mean + ing + ful
Covid-19 pandemic is a meaningful event for all people in the
world regarding the impact it gives to the whole generations.
d) idealistic : ideal + ist + ic
Some of the schemes do sound a little too idealistic for a first term.
e) recollection : re + collect + tion
She has only a vague recollection of her seventh birthday party.