LINGUISTIC FEATURES

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Prof.ssa Amy McIntire

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 PREFIXES
An AFFIX attached to the beginning of the STEM of a word

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 Examples of Prefixes
“OVER-” May indicate:
1) Something that covers or dominates
2) Crossing a barrier
3) An excess
“UNDER-” May indicate:
1) Something below another thing
2) Less than the desired amount
3) Negative behavior
“UP-“ Suggests a positive change:
“Cross-“ A link between 2 thing:
“Con-/Com-“
Mixing or a bit negative (against):
“E-“ Something coming out
“Ad-“ Adding something
“Pro-“ positive or increasing
Overwrite, Overshadowed
Overstepped, Overnight
Overrated, Overpriced
Underfoot, Underlying
Underestimate, Understaffed
Undermine, Underhand
Upturn, Upgrade, Upwards
Cross-border, Cross-cultural
Converse, Contaminate, Commiserate
Eject, Emerge, Emitted
Adjoin, Adjacent
Promote, Proliferate, Proactive
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SUFFIXES

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 Examples of Suffixes
“-ABLE” (can be) Washable, Predictable, Manageable, Capable

“-CONSCIOUS” (aware) Health-conscious, Safety-conscious

“-ESQUE" (similar to) Picturesque, Picassoesque

“-FREE” (without) Stress-free, tax-free, chemical-free, gluten-free

“-RICH” (full of) Calcium-rich, Fibre-rich

“-LED” (from “lead”) Student-led, Worker-led, Community-led

“-MINDED” (mentalities) Like-minded, Career-minded, Open-minded

“-PROOF" (can resist damage) Baby-proof, Sound-proof, Water-proof

“-RELATED” (connected to) Stress-related, Age-related

“-RIDDEN" (full of) Guilt-ridden, Bedridden, Crime-ridden

“-WORTHY” (deserving) Noteworthy, Newsworthy, Praiseworthy

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 Greek and Latin Morphemes
WORD PART MEANING EXAMPLE

Auto- Self Autonomy

Bio- Living things Biology
Cyber- Related to computers/robots Cybercafe
De- Opposite action Decode
-Graph, -Gram Writing Telegram
-gress Walk, go, step Congress, Digress
-ics A field of knowledge Economics
-phon- Sound Phonetics
-ology Study Phonology
Pre- Before Prerequisite
Post- After Posthumous
Retro- Back, backwards Retroactive
Techno- Related to advanced machines Technology
Tele- Over a distance Telepathic
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COLLOCATION
(Word Partners)

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 VERB + NOUN
• Start (a car, a family)
• Raise (your hand, a family, awareness)
• Miss (a person, a train, a lesson)
• Tell (the truth, a story, a joke, a fib)
• Visit/check out/go to (a website)

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 ADJECTIVE + NOUN
• Hard (work, question)

• Soft (voice, drink)

• Strong (accent, coffee, character)

• Dry (weather, wine, humor)

• Heavy (traffic, rain, smoker) also Chain smoker

• Great (success, time, detail)

• Real (deal, thing)

• Formidable (task, opponent, amount, person, challenge)

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Adverb + Adjective
• Terribly sorry

• Well aware

• Vitally important
Verb + Adverb
• Fast asleep

• Feel strongly

• Wide awake

• Remember correctly

• Hardly ever • Drives quickly/fast

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 POLYSEMY
Greek for “of many senses”:
When one word has multiple meanings

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1) He was a GOOD man. He often donated to charity.
He is a GOOD tennis player.

2) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a great BOOK.

I’ll BOOK a hotel room. (make an action a matter of

record.

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MULE: Mix between a
horse and a donkey

MULE: A person who

smuggles or delivers
illegal goods.

MOUSE: A small rodent

MOUSE: A hand-
held device that
allows you to move
a cursor on your
computer

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 HOMONYMY
Different words that have unrelated meanings, but
happen to be spelled the same way (homograph) or
sound the same (homophone).

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 Homonymy:
When completely different words happen to have the same :

Sound (HOMOPHONE)

or

Spelling (HOMOGRAPH)

but they do not have related meanings!!!

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HOMOPHONE: HAVE THE SAME SOUND

Sent
Cent

Scent
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 Pair (of socks)
Pear

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 HOMOGRAPH: SPELLED THE SAME

Tell the truth! Don’t LIE!!! You look sick. You should LIE down.

She walked DOWN the stairs. I bought a new DOWN jacket.

Chihuahuas BARK a lot. The trees BARK was brown.

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 METONYMY
A figure of speech where something is referred to
by something closely associated with that thing

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• The Crown (Monarchy)
• The White House (The President and administration)
• Wall Street
• The bench (judicial profession)
• The altar (marriage)
• The Press (news agencies)
• The china (porcelain dishes)
• Red Tape (Bureaucracy)

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 NEOLOGISM
New Words entering the language that may or may not be already used commonly
Influenced by Culture and Technology

I’m going to GOOGLE her.

CYBERSPACE (Also a Compound Word: Cyber + Space)

FREELANCE (Also a Compound Word: Free + Lance)

CATCH-22: Comes from a famous book

NERD

TWITTER (Also Onomatopea)

PINTEREST (Also Blend: Pin + Interest)

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 BLENDS
(words formed by parts of other words)

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•Heliport (Helicopter + airport)

•Motel (Motor + Hotel)

•Smog (Smoke + Fog)

•Guesstimate (Guess + Estimate)

•Breathalyser (breath + analyse)

•Brunch (breakfast + lunch)

•EMOJI (Emotion + “JI”-character)

•Tamagotchi (“Tamago"-egg + watch)

•EATALY (eat + Italy) Amy McIntire

 EMOJI

EMOTION + KANJI
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BRITAIN + EXIT

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Neologism and Blend

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Neologism and Blend: Instant + Telegram
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 COMPOUND WORD
Pianoforte
Two or more words that combine to create
Playground a new word

Football

Doghouse

Moonlight

Earthquake

Sunflower

Airport
HOTDOG
Scapegoat

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Neologism and Compound Word (Super + Man)
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Neologism and Compound Word (Face + Book)

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 HYPERBOLE
From the Greek word meaning “excess.” A figure of
speech that uses extreme exaggeration to make a point
or emphasis.
NOT a Metaphor, but IS an OVERSTATEMENT

• I've told you to clean your room a million

times!
• I am so hungry, I could eat a horse.
• I have a million things to do today.
• I had a ton of homework.
• If I can't buy that new iPhone, I'll die!
• He's as skinny as a toothpick.
• The car went faster than the speed of light.
• His new car cost a billion euros.
• Her brain is the size of a pea.
• My English teacher is a dinosaur.
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US and ROME: Friends for over a 1000 years?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htgnBODcB-I

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ONOMATOPOEIA
a Word created to reflect a sound

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RICE KRISPIES

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 ABBREVIATIONS &
ACRONYMS
• Abbreviation: shortened form of a word or phrase:
CITI, UNIPV, Prof., etc

• Acronym: an abbreviation formed with the initial letters of other words:

UPS, IBM, KFC, CIM, etc

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The UN (United Nations)

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WHO: World Health Organisation

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USA: United States of America

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 ELLIPSIS
When you don’t need to spell everything out
explicitly

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• I wear Contacts (lenses).
• Bring your racket (tennis).
• Let’s get some Starbucks (coffee).
• Heat it up in the microwave (oven).
• A pair of Nikes (shoes)

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 BINOMIALS
2 constituents that belong to the same word class and are
linked by a grammatical item (and/or)

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• Salt and pepper

• Bed and breakfast

• Forgive and forget

• Fame and fortune

• Rock and Roll

• Rhythm and Blues

• Laugh or cry

• Fish and chips

• Wine and cheese

• Knife and Fork

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TRINOMIALS
3 constituents that belong to the same
word class and are usually linked by a
comma and a grammatical item (“,” plus
“and/or”)

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• Cool, calm and collected
• Gold, silver and bronze
• First, second and third
• Small, medium and large
• Tall, dark and handsome
• Mind, body and soul
• Ready, aim, fire
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Going, going….gone https://www.youtube.com/watch?
• No way shape or form v=inXC_lab-34

• Lights, camera, action

• Signed, Sealed, Delivered Amy McIntire
 PROVERBS
A traditional saying with a didactic purpose

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There’s no place like home
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The early bird catches the worm
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Two heads are better than one

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Don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched
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The Pen is mightier than the Sword

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Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

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There’s no time like the present…

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 REFERENCES

• McCabe, Anne. An Introduction to Linguistics and Language

Studies. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing, 2017.

• Redman, S. English Vocabulary in Use (Pre-

intermediate&Intermediate). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1997.

Amy McIntire