Chapter 5

A word and its relatives: derivation

5.1 Relationships between lexemes
• The suffix –ance is not one of the small class
of suffixes (so- called “inflectional” suffixes)
whose use is tightly determined by grammar.
• What sort of suffix is it then?
• Derivational– all aspects of word structure
involving affixation that is not inflectional.
• This chapter shows how derivation works in
English.
 5.1 Cont…
• Performance– what lexeme could this be?
• There is a plural form –performances, so
performance and performances are two forms
of the lexeme PERFORMANCE.
• The relationship is one of lexemes not of word
forms. (PERFORM and PERFORMANCE)
• Derivational morphology is concerned with
one kind of relationship between lexemes.
 5.1 Cont…
• Here, the concern is with relationships involving
affixation, and the grammatical and semantic
tasks that such affixation can perform.
• Base– partially complete word form to which an
affix is attached so as to create either an inflected
word form or a new lexeme.
• Some bases are roots, whether bound (e.g. wive,
the base for wives) or free (e.g. cat, base for cats)
• Others contain a root and one or more affixes,
helpful as the base for helpfulness.
 5.2 Word classes and conversion
• Word classes= parts of speech= lexical
categories
• PERFORM and PERFORMANCE –do they
belong to the same word class?
• No– PERFORMANCE has two word forms, and
PERFORM has 4 word forms
• PERFORM is a verb, PERFORMANCE is a noun,
• On the basis on syntactic and inflectional
behavior, not of meaning.
 5.2 Cont…
• PERFORM and RESEMBLE
• Is RESEMBLE a ‘doing word’ or ‘describing
word’? (e.g. TALL, INTERESTING)
• RESEMBLE has a set of forms (resembles,
resembled, resembling and resemble)
• To classify words such as PERFORM and
RESEMBLE as ‘doing words’ would be to
mislead us into neglecting the syntactic and
inflectional parallels that justify them as verbs.
 5.2 Cont…
• Does that mean, then, that a lexeme cannot have
both noun forms (singular and plural) and verb
forms?
• The lexemes HOPE and FEAR both have verb (she
hoped/feared for the future) and noun forms
(hope/fear for the future)
• Ambivalent– noun-like in its grammatical
behavior (e.g. DOOR, SISTER, DESK, JOY) or purely
verb-like (e.g. HEAR, SPEAK, WRITE, BELIEVE)
 5.2 Cont…
• English in particular:
• Compare HOPE and FEAR as verbs with other
verbs that can be followed by that-clauses, as in
(1) and (2): pg. 47
• What do you notice about the nouns in (2)?
• Have a suffix added to the basic form of the verb
in (1)
• The verbal construction in (1) is basic, the
nominal construction in (2) being derived from it.
 5.2 Cont…
• Look at HOPE and FEAR– they are also derived
from verbs even though they carry no affix.
• This is called ‘zero-derived’ which is called
conversion
• Conversion– a lexeme belonging to one class
can simply be ‘converted’ to another, without
any overt change in shape.
• FATHER– the noun form is more basic.
 5.3 Adverbs derived from adjectives
• DIOECIOUSLY and DIOECIOUS –distinct lexemes
(different word class) but not distinct lexical item.
• Derivational processes– change the word class of
the bases to which they apply, unlike inflection.
• Mono-morphemic adverbs
(OFTEN,SELDOM,NEVER,SOON), and some other
adverbs are morphologically complex without
containing –ly
(NOWHERE,EVERYWHERE,TODAY,YESTERDAY),
conversion—FAST, HARD (derived from
adjectives)
 5.4. Nouns derived from nouns
• Not all derivational processes change word
class.
• Examples 5-9 (pg.49) :lexical items,
unpredictable meanings.
• This ‘gappiness’ helps to confirm that these
affixes are derivational rather than inflectional
even though they do not change the word
class.
 5.4 Cont…
• These examples GLASWEGIAN, LOGICIAN and
HISTORIAN illustrates at least superficially, the
possibility that the base for a derivational
process may be bound rather than free.
• GLASWEGIAN contains an idiosyncratic bound
allomorph Glasweg- of the free morpheme
Glasgow, which is also the only word form
belonging to the lexeme GLASGOW
 5.5 Nouns derived from members of
other word classes
• Nouns derived from adjectives and from verbs are
extremely numerous.
• Suffixes used to derive nouns from adjectives:
10-12 (pg. 50)
• Property of being X, where X is the base adjective.
• Formed from bases other than the freeform of the
corresponding adjective, e.g. FEROCITY from feroc-(not
ferocious), CONSERVATISM from conservat- (not
conservative).
• All nouns in –ity are lexical items
 5.6 Adjectives derived from
adjectives
• Prefixes predominate
• Un-adjectives –most dictionaries may not
even list them
• In with allomorphs such as il-ir-im as in
INTANGIBLE, ILLEGAL, IRRESPONSIBLE,
IMPOSSIBLE –see examples (22), the use of IN
is more restricted.
 5.7: Adjectives derived from
members of other word classes
• The modifier very and the comparative
construction (more… than) show that
interesting, drunk and damaged are
adjectives—examples (23)
• Suffixes that form adjectives from verbs:
-- -able to be Xed: breakable, readable, reiable,
watachable
-- ent,-ant “tending to X”: repellent, expectant,
conversant
 Cont…
• --ive ‘tending to X’: repulsive, explosive,
speculative
• Suffixes that form adjectives from nouns (27)-
(30)
 5.8 Verbs derived from verbs
• Prefixes– re and negative ones such as un, de,
dis (31)-(34)
• Look at the columns in (35): Intransitive and
Transitive
• Transitive verbs are ones with an ‘object’ noun
phrase, usually indicating the thing or person
that is the goal of the action of the verb
• (36) a. Jill laid the book on the table.
• b. The book lay on the table
 Cont…
• Intransitive verbs, such as lay in (36b), lack
such an object.
• The transitive verbs in (35) are all causative –
’cause to X’ where X stands for the meaning of
the corresponding intransitive
• Involve conversion as in (37)
 5.9. Verbs derived from members
of other word classes
• Some affixes for deriving verbs from nouns
are: (38)-(40).
• Verbs derived by replacing the final voiceless
consonant of a noun with a voiced one,
perhaps with some vowel change too (41).
• The suffixes –ise and –ify can derive verbs
from adjectival bases too, as in NATIONALISE,
TENDERISE, INTENSIFY and PURIFY
 Cont…
• When the roots they are attached are bound
(e.g. CAUTERISE, SANITISE, PETRIFY, SATISFY,
MAGNIFY),it is often impossibe to decide
whether these roots are fundamentally
nominal or adjectival.
• The suffix –ate is the same.
• Suffixes play a larger role than prefixes in
English derivational morphology
 Cont…
• One prefix to be mentioned– en, with an
allomorph em
• ‘cause to become X’ or ‘cause to possess or
enter X’ from a few adjectives and nouns:
ENFEEBLE,ENSLAVE,EMPOWER,ENRAGE,
ENTHRONE,ENTOMB.
• Adjectives BOLD and LIVE as bases, the prefix
en: EMBOLDEN, ENLIVEN
 Cont…
• (e.g. TIGHTEN, LOOSEN,STIFFEN,WEAKEN,
WIDEN,REDDEN,DEEPEN,TOUGHEN)
• These verbs have either an intransitive
meaning ‘become X’ or an transitive one ‘
cause to become X’
• It turns out that the adjectives that can be
bases for deriving –en verbs are all
monosyllabic and all end in plosives (the
sounds usually spelled p,b,t,d, © k and g)
 Cont…
• STRONG -- STRENGTHEN

CONCLUSION

Not listed in dictionary-- -ly,un-,-ing,-ness