APOLINARIO, JR. M. DOMASIG DR.

JOEY GUAB
Discussant Professor

Subject: INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

Morphological processes are fundamental to the study of how words are

formed and altered in languages. Here are some specific topics related to
morphological processes that you can explore:

1. Affixation:
 Affixation involves the addition of prefixes, suffixes, infixes, or
circumfixes to a base word to create new words or change their
grammatical functions.
 Example; prefix † root word
Recover, antibiotic, unfortunate disarmament
Root word † suffix
Derivation, compounding, intoxicated etc.
2. Compounding:
 Compounding is the process of forming new words by combining
two or more existing words or morphemes.
 Examples;
Ice cream, firefighter, raincoat, football, airport
3. Reduplication:
 Reduplication is the repetition of all or part of a word to indicate a
change in meaning, such as intensification or plurality.
 Examples;
Ding-dong noise made by the bell, gewgaw-cheap showy jewelry
4. Conversion (Zero Derivation):
 Conversion involves changing the grammatical category (e.g.,
noun to verb or vice versa) of a word without adding any affixes.
 Examples;
Adjective to verb empty Can you empty the bin for me, please?
Verb to a noun call There is a call from the camp.
5. Backformation:
 Backformation is the creation of a new word by removing what
appears to be an affix, usually from a mistaken analysis of the
original word.
 Examples;
Television – televise; projection to project; emotion to emote
6. Clipping:
 Clipping is the process of shortening a word by removing one or
more syllables to create a new word.
Examples; gym from gymnasium; exam from examination
7. Blending:
 Blending combines parts of two words to create a new word with
a merged meaning.
 Examples;
 8. Acronym Formation:
 Acronym formation involves creating new words from the initial
letters of a series of words (e.g., "NASA" for "National Aeronautics
and Space Administration").

9. Suppletion:
 Suppletion is the use of entirely different forms to express
grammatical features like tense, aspect, or comparison.
Examples;
Go-went-gone; good-better-best

10.Ablaut and Vowel Alternations:

 Ablaut refers to systematic vowel changes within a word to
indicate grammatical or semantic differences.
 Discuss ablaut patterns in languages like English ("sing," "sang,"
"sung") and their historical development.
11.Initial Consonant Mutation:
 Some languages employ consonant mutations at the beginning of
words to indicate grammatical information or to mark specific
morphological changes.
Examples; house-haus; houses hauziz
12.Morphological Productivity:
 Productivity refers to the degree to which a morphological
process can be applied to create new words or forms.
 The ability of a language to create new words by combing affixes
with root words
 Examples;
Fast- faster, happy-unhappy, modern-modernize
13.Case Studies:
 Analyze specific examples of morphological processes in particular
languages or language families to illustrate how they function in
practice.

These topics provide a comprehensive overview of the diverse ways in which

morphological processes shape and change words in languages around the
world. You can delve into specific processes and examples to deepen your
understanding and explore their significance in linguistic analysis.