Theories of Grammar and

Applications in Language Teaching

WEEK 2
Morphemes, words, and lexemes

Trask, R.L. (2007). Language and Linguistics: The Key

Concepts. Routledge.

Quirk, R., et al. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of

the English Language. Longman. (Appendix I, pp.1515-
1585)
 Morphemes, words, and lexemes
1. Morphology
2. Lexicology
3. Lexicography
4. Lexicon
5. Morphemes
6. Lexemes
7. Words
8. Word formation processes
 1. Morphology
• Morphology:
1) word structure
2) the branch of linguistics studying
word structure
• Words:
1) typically have internal structure
2) consist of smaller units called
morphemes
 Morphology
• E.g., the verb-form taking (participle or gerund) consists of
two morphemes:
1) the verb-stem (root) take
2) the grammatical/derivational ending –ing
- I am taking a siesta.
- Taking a siesta is popular in tropical, Mediterranean, and
Southern European countries.
• The noun textbook consists of the morphemes text and book
• (Note the coincidental boundaries between words and
morphemes in this compound noun)
• The adverb slowly consists of the morphemes slow (root)
and –ly (derivational).
 Morphology
• Morphology is conventionally divided into two main areas:
1. Inflections = the variation in form of a single word for
grammatical purposes (e.g.: take, takes, took, taken, and
taking)

2. Word formation = the constructions of new words from

existing words (e.g.: textbook from text and book; slowly
from slow and –ly, electrocardiograph, dentomaxillofacial,
otorhinolaryngology, cardiovascular, arteriosclerosis, etc.)
• An important type of word formation is derivation (e.g.;
slowly, rewrite and unhappiness)
 2. Lexicology
- Lexicology = the study of the vocabulary
items (called lexemes) of a language,
including:
1) their meanings and relations (semantics)
2) changes in their form and meaning
through time (etymology/language
change)
- The discoveries of lexicologists may be of
use to lexicographers.
 3. Lexicography
- Lexicography = the writing of dictionaries
- Ancient and mediaeval dictionaries were
different from modern ones.
- The ancient dictionaries were bilingual =
glossaries offering translations of words from
one language into another
- The mediaeval dictionaries = monoglot works
not arranged alphabetically, but grouped by
meaning (words pertaining to farming, names
of fruits, etc.)
 Lexicography
- Dictionaries of English like modern ones first
appeared in the 18th century.
- Most prominent dictionaries:
1) Samuel Johnson’s (first published in 1755 in
Britain)
2) Noah Webster = Johnson’s American
counterpart (first published in 1828 in
America)
- Lexicography became a recognized profession
in the English-speaking countries when more
modern dictionaries followed.
 Lexicography
- 2nd half of the 19th century: the preparation of a
huge dictionary of English recording every
word, every spelling, and every sense attested
in writing in English since the year 1000,
directed by the Scottish scholar James Murray
- An army of contributors noted down examples
of words and sent them in on slips of paper.
- Murray and his assistants built the dictionary
out of these mountains of paper slips.
 Lexicography
- Between 1884 and 1928, The New English
Dictionary on Historical Principles was
published (in a series of volumes).
- In 1933, it was republished (with a supplement)
as the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED.
- In 1989, Further supplements followed, and
finally an expanded and updated second
edition was prepared and published.
- Available on CD-ROM, the OED has become
an enormously valuable research tool.
 Lexicography
- The revolutionization and innovations of
lexicography in the last decades:
1) modern dictionaries are based on huge
corpora of English by the introduction of
corpus-based techniques.
2) words, forms, spellings, meanings and
grammatical behavior are extracted from the
corpora, allowing lexicographers to appeal
directly to the observed facts of usage
(cybernautic, ao dai, pho, banh mi).
 Lexicography
3) E.g., the COBUILD dictionaries in Britain written
especially for advanced foreign learners of English.
- words are described as used by the speech
community, rather than as defined by the
lexicographer alone or in prestigious texts.
- The copper and potassium in it lower the risk of a
stroke and prevent arteriosclerosis - a hardening of
the arteries. (The Sun, 2015)
- We loved pho, a restoring noodle soup available on
every street corner.(Times, Sunday Times, 2009)
 4. Lexicon
- Lexicon =
1) the vocabulary of a language
2) the total store of words available to speakers
3) a set of lexical resources:
- the morphemes of the language
- the processes available for constructing words
from those resources
- e.g.:, vanish/varnishable and unscratchable built
from varnish and scratch (even if you have
never encountered these words before).
 Lexicon
• Every speaker of a language possesses a
certain vocabulary.
1) active vocabulary = the words he uses
himself
2) passive vocabulary = the words he
understands but doesn’t normally use
 5. Morphemes
- A morpheme = the smallest identifiable
meaningful grammatical unit
- Words in fact are not the smallest grammatical
units.
- E.g., the word unhappiness is built up from
three smaller pieces (morphemes): the prefix
un-, the stem happy and the suffix –ness.
- Morphemes cannot be broken down any
further in grammatical terms, i.e., they are
minimal units.
 Morphemes

- Morphemes are used to build words.

- For example:
- unhappy, unclear, unwilling,
uninteresting, unsatisfied
- unhappy, happiness, happier, happily
- quickness, sadness, lewdness,
childishness and unpreparedness.
 Morphemes: Classification
Morpheme

Root Affixational

Free Bound Inflectional Derivational

Prefix Suffix
 Root Morphemes
- Root morphemes (lexical morphemes/the stem/the
root): the primary element of a word conveying its
essential lexical meaning
- The root appears in all the different forms of a single
word.
- It is what remains after all the other elements of a
word have been removed and cannot be further
divided into smaller meaningful elements.
- For example, in the word ‘unkindly’, ‘kind’ is the
root.
- A root morpheme can be free or bound.
 Free Root Morphemes
- A free root morpheme can function
independently.
- It doesn’t need to be combined with other
morphemes to be an independent word.
- It has dictionary meaning; we can provide
a definition for it.
- For example, ‘teach’ in ‘teacher’.
 Bound Root Morphemes
- A bound root morpheme cannot function
independently.
- It has to be combined with other morphemes
to make an independent word.
- For example, act (= do, e.g., in activate),
ambu (= walk, e.g., in perambulator = pram=
baby carriage; buggy), ami/amo (= love, e.g.,
in enamored of something), annus (year),
aqua (water), anthrop (humankind), astr
(star), audi (hear), biblio (book), bio (life),
 Bound Root Morphemes
• Biannual
• Philanthropy
• Astroarchaeology = Archeoastronomy
• Misanthropy
• Deactivate (All chemical weapons facilities
will be deactivated.)
• Mediterranean/mermaid
• dehydration
 Bound Root Morphemes
• carni (meat/flesh), cede/cess/ceed/ced
(go/come), chronos (time), cide (kill),
clude/claudo (close, as in claustrophobia),
dict (say, as dictation), dorm (sleep), duct
(lead, as in conduct), ego (self; egocentric),
fact (make; factory), fer (carry; transfer),
fem (woman; effeminate = like a woman),
eco (house), fidel (trust), flex (bend;
flexible), fluent, flou (flow; superfluous =
unnecessary),
 Bound Root Morphemes
• fract (break), frat (brother; fraternal), fuge
(flee; fugitive), gam (marriage), gen
(birth/race; genocide), geo (earth), gnostos
(know; prognosis), gram (letters), graph
(writing), gress (step/move; ingress), gyn
(woman; gynecologist/obstetrician), herbi
(grass), host (enemy), here (stick; coherence),
hetero (different; heterogeneous), homo (alike),
hydro (water), ject (throw; injection, eject),
 Bound Root Morphemes
• later (side), lingua (tongue), lithos (stone),
logy (study), lumin (light), manu (hand),
magni (big), mania (madness;
megalomaniac), masc (male; masculine),
matri (mother; matriarchy), metron
(measure/metrical), mit (send; transmit),
morph (form), mort (death), nym (name),
omni (all), ops (eye; optical), pater, patri
(father), pathy (feelings), ped (foot), pel
(pus/drive), pend (hang;
appendage/appendix),
 Bound Root Morphemes
• phil (love), phobia (fear; acrophobia),
phon (sound), port (carry), pose (put),
pseudo (false), psych (mind), quire (seek;
acquire), scend (climb; transcend), scope
(see), script (write), sec (cut; dissect), sed
(sit; sedentary), sentio (feel; resentful),
sequ (follow; consecutive), sign (mark;
consignment), spect (view), soro (sister;
sorority); solve (loosen; resolution), soph
(wise; philosopher),
 Bound Root Morphemes
• sui (self), sume (use up, take; consume),
tact (touch), tele (distance), terre (earth),
thermo (heat), theo (god), tract (draw
away), vene (come; intervene), vert
(turn; diversion), vis (see), vore (eat), vie
(life), zoo (animal)
 Greek Bound Root Morphemes
• astr-o: stars, heavens: astronaut, astrology,
astronomer
• bi-o: life: biography, biosphere, biology
• ge-o: earth, rocks: geology, geographer,
geothermal
• therm: heat, warm: thermostat, thermal,
exothermic
• aut-o: self: autism, automatic, autoimmune,
autograph
 Greek Bound Root Morphemes
• hom-o: same, alike: homonym, homogenize,
homophone
• hydr-o: water: hydrogen, hydrology,
hydroelectric
• micro: small: microscope, microclimate,
microcosm
• macro: large: macroclimate,
macroevolution
 Greek Bound Root Morphemes
• phon-o: sound, speech: telephone, phonics,
symphony
• scope: to observe, to see: telescope,
microscope, kaleidoscope
• graph: written: autograph, telegraph,
geographer
• phot-o: light: photograph, photon, photobiotic
• tele: distant, far: telescope, television,
telecommunications
 Greek Bound Root Morphemes
• meter, metr: instrument used, to measure:
metric, thermometer, barometer,
chronometer
• path, pass: suffering, feeling, disease:
psychopath, pathogen, sympathy, empathy
compassion
• psych-o: mind, mental: psychology, psychic,
psychotropic
 Greek Bound Root Morphemes
• pan: all, whole: panorama, panacea,
pantomime, pandemonium
• zoo: animal: zoology, zootoxin,
zoogeography
• chron: time: chronic, chronological,
synchronized
• phobia: fear, intense dislike: claustrophobia,
xenophobic, arachnophobia
 Latin Bound Root Morphemes
• port: to carry: transport, export, porter,
portal, reporter
• form: to shape: formation, reform,
conform, formulation
• tract: to pull: tractor, subtract, detract,
traction, retractable
• rupt: to break: disrupt, interrupt, rupture,
corrupt
 Latin Bound Root Morphemes
• spect, spec: to see, to watch: inspect, suspect,
spectator, respect, specimen
• struct, stru: to build: construct, structure,
instruct, construe
• dict, dic: to tell, to say: dictionary, dictate,
predict, indicate
• flec, flex: to bend: flexible, reflector, genuflect,
inflection
• cred: to believe: credit, credentials, credulous,
incredible
 Latin Bound Root Morphemes
• aqua: water: aquatic, aquarium, aquamarine
• pel, puls: to drive, push: propel, compel,
impel, repel, impulse, pulsate
• fact, fac: to make, to do: factory, facilitate,
factor, faction, factotum
• ject: to throw, to throw down: inject,
projectile, reject, subject, conjecture
• vert, vers: to turn: reverse, versatile, convert,
revert, divert
 Latin Bound Root Morphemes
• mit, mis: to send: missile, missionary,
admission, emit, transmit
• mort: to die: mortal, mortician, mortuary
• script, scrib: to write: scribble, script,
scripture, prescription
• junct: to join: conjunction, junction,
adjunct, juncture
 Latin Bound Root Morphemes
• cide: to kill, a killer: suicide, genocide,
homicide
• press: to force, squeeze: press, impress,
express, compress, repress
• spire: to breathe: respire, respiration,
respiratory, conspire, inspire, perspire,
expire, spirit, spirited, spiritual
 Latin Bound Root Morphemes
• grad, gress: to step: graduate, gradual,
gradations, regress, congress, digress,
transgress, egress, progression
• cept, capt: to take, seize, receive: capture,
captivity, intercept, exception
 Affixational Morphemes
- Affixational morphemes are bound and
dependent.
- They are added to the root of a word to
change its function or meaning.
 Grammatical/Inflectional
morphemes
• 1) Grammatical/Inflectional morphemes:
carry only the grammatical meaning = they
only change the grammatical function of the
root. For example: ‘s’ in ‘boys’
 Derivational Morphemes
2) Derivational morphemes (lexico-
grammatical morphemes): carry both
grammatical and lexical meanings
- They change the grammatical function
and add some lexical meaning to the root.
- Derivational morphemes can be prefixes
or suffixes.
- For example: ‘-ly’ in ‘friendly’.
 Morphemes
- Many morphemes vary in form, depending on
where they occur.
- E.g., , the morpheme sane has one form when it
occurs in the words sane and insane, but a
different form when it occurs in the word
sanity.
- The negative prefix in- exhibits several
different forms in the words insincere,
impossible, and illegal.
- These variant forms are called the allomorphs
of the morpheme.
 Morphemes
- Sometimes it’s easy to draw a line
between two morphemes. Sometimes,
it’s not that easy.
- The past tense form loved consists of
two morphemes, the verb-stem love and
a grammatical morpheme called Past.
- It’s not too hard to draw a line between
them.
 Morphemes
- The past tense form took consists of two
morphemes, the verb-stem take, and the
morpheme Past.
- However, we can’t draw a neat line
between them at all: the two morphemes
are just wrapped up in a single bundle.
- We have to appeal to a more abstract
level of representation to show that took
is really take plus Past.
 Morphemes
- The term morpheme was coined in the late
nineteenth century by the Polish linguist Jan
Baudouin de Courtenay, but it was not always
used in the modern sense.
- That modern sense was established by the
American linguist Leonard Bloomfield in the
1930s, and it was Bloomfield and his successors
who made the study of morphemes a central
part of linguistics.
 6. Lexemes
- A lexeme (lexical item/lexical unit/lexical
entry)
1) a word or a sequence of words that acts as a
unit of meaning in the meaning system of a
language
2) words, phrases, fixed expressions, phrasal
verbs and proverbs, e.g., "cat", "traffic
light", "take care of", "by-the-way", and
"don't count your chickens before they
hatch"
- A lexeme is an abstract unit.
 Lexemes
- It can occur in many different forms in actual
spoken or written sentences, and is regarded
as the same lexeme even when inflected.
- A word entered in the dictionary in one single
entry is considered to be a lexeme.
- E.g., in English, all inflected forms such as
give, gives, given, giving, gave would belong to
the one lexeme give.
 Lexemes
- Such fixed expressions as couch potato (a lazy
man), kick the bucket (die), bury the hatchet (stop
an argument and become friends again, throw in
the towel (admit defeat), hammers and tongs (with
every/tremendous energy/ effort), give up, white
paper (of the government to pass a new law), and
green paper (consultation document/to propose a
strategy) would be each considered as a single
lexeme.
- In a dictionary, each lexeme merits a separate
entry or sub-entry.
 7. Words
- A word = a linguistic unit typically larger than
a morpheme but smaller than a phrase.
- Words can be defined in at least four different
ways, and these ways are not equivalent at all.
1) An orthographic word is something written
with white spaces at both ends but no white
space in the middle.
- Orthographic words are of minimal linguistic
interest.
 Words
2) A phonological word is something pronounced
as a single unit. (let’s/ ice cream/have to/used to)
3) A lexical item (lexeme) is a dictionary word, an
item which you would expect to find having its
own entry in a dictionary.
4) A grammatical word-form (GWF) (or
morphosyntactic word) is any one of the several
forms which a lexical item may assume for
grammatical purpose.
 Words
- E.g., , the item ice cream:
1) two orthographical words
2) a single phonological word (pronounced as a unit)
3) a single lexical item (as entered in the dictionary)
4) a single grammatical word form
- dog, and dogs are each
1) a single orthographic word
2) a single phonological word
3) a single GWF,
but they both represent the same lexical item (they
would only get one entry in the dictionary).
 Words
- take, takes, took, taken, and taking:
1) five orthographic words
2) five phonological words
3) five GWFs,
but only one lexical item.
- The two lexical items here would be entered in
the dictionary as “dog” and “take”.
- These are citation form (the lemma form), the
form chosen by convention to represent the
lexeme of these lexical items.
 Words
- The contraction hasn’t
1) is a single orthographic word
2) a single phonological word
3) two lexical items (have and not)
4) two GWFs (has and not)
 Words
- The phrasal verb make up ( as in she made
up her face)
1) two orthographic words
2) two phonological words
3) only one lexical item (because of its
unpredictable meaning)
4) several GWFs: make up, makes up, made
up, making up.
 Words
- “Make up” must be entered separately in the
dictionary each time it represents a different
meaning (make up one’s mind/make up one’s
face/make up a story).
- The very different sense of “make up” illustrated
in She made up a story would be regarded as a
different lexical item from the preceding one (a
separate dictionary entry is required), but this
lexical item exhibits the same orthographic,
phonological and grammatical forms as the first.
- Consequently, when we are talking about words, it
is essential to specify which sense we have in mind.
 8. Word-formation processes
1. Affixation (Prefixation and Suffixation)
2. Conversion China(ware)/metonymy/head the
ball
3. Compounds teach teacher
4. Back-formation (Back-derivation):
edit/editor/baby-sitter/etymology
5. Reduplicatives
6. Abbreviations (clippings, acronyms, blends)
7. Familiarity markers/liz, Kathy,Tommy
 1. Affixation
- Affixation = a process of word-formation in which
affixes are added to the base.

- Prefixation = putting a prefix in front of the base,

sometimes with, but more usually without, a change
of word class (part of speech), e.g.: pre-determiner.

- Suffixation = putting a suffix after the base,

sometimes without, but more usually with, a change
of word class, e.g.: friendless.
 Semantic categories of prefixation

1. Negative (a-, dis-, in-, non-, un-)

2. Reversative (de-, dis-, un-)
3. Pejorative (mal-, mis-, pseudo-)
4. Degree/size (arch-, co-, hyper-,
mini-, out-, over-, sub-, super-, sur-,
ultra-, under-)
5. Orientation/attitude (anti-, contra-,
counter-, pro-)
 Semantic categories of prefixation

6. Locative (fore-, inter-, sub-, super-,

trans-)
7. Time/order (ex-, fore-, post-, pre-, re-)
8. Number (bi-, di, poly-, multi-,
semi-,hemi-, demi-, tri-, uni-, mono-)
9. Miscellaneous neo-classical (auto-,
extra-, neo-, paleo-, pan-, proto-, tele-,
vice-)
 1. Negative prefixes
• A-/ei/ or /æ/, AN- (especially before vowels) =
lacking in, lack of, mostly combined with
adjectives, sometimes with nouns, chiefly used
in learned and scientific lexicon. Some items
have the main stress on the prefix: anarchy,
atheist, asexual, apathy, amorphous, amoral,
anhydrous.
• DIS- = not, the converse of, combined with
open-class items: disobey (v.), disloyal (adj.),
disloyally (adv.), disorder (n.) /
 Negative prefixes
IN- (before alveolars and velars); and
variants Il-, IM- (before bilabials), IR-
= not, the converse of, mostly combined
with adjectives and nouns of French or
Latin origin, and is less common than
UN-:. incomplete, indirect, illegal,
irregular, impractical, inattention,
inequality, injustice, imperfection.
 Negative prefixes
• NON- = ‘not’, combined (usually
hyphenated) with nouns, adjectives,
and adverbs: non-smokers, non-
perishable, non-trivially.
• UN- = ‘not’, ‘the converse of’,
combined with adjectives and
participles: unfair, unwise,
unforgettable, unexpected.
 2. Reversative prefixes
• DE- /di:/ = reversing the action, combined with
verbs and nouns: decentralize, defrost,
desegregate, de-escalate, denationalization
• DE- /di:/ = depriving of, combined with verbs
and nouns: decapitate, deforestation,
dehydration
• DIS- = reversing the action, combined with
verbs: disconnect, disinfect, disown, dishearten,
disinherit (bequeath)
 Reversative prefixes
• DIS- = lacking, depriving of, combined
with adjectives/participles and verb:
disinterested, discolored, discolor
• UN- = reversing the action, combined with
verbs: undo, untie, unzip, unpack, unwrap
• UN- = depriving of, releasing from,
degrading, combined with nouns, turning
them into verbs: unseat, unhorse, unmask,
unman
 3. Pejorative prefixes
• MAL- = badly, bad, combined with verbs,
participles, adjectives, and nouns: maltreat,
malodorous, malformed, malfunction,
malnutrition
• MIS- = wrongly, astray, combined with verbs,
participles, and nouns: miscalculate, misfire,
misinform, mislead, misleading, misconduct (n.)
• Pseudo- = false, imitation, combined with
nouns and adjectives: pseudo-classicism,
pseudo-intellectual (n./adj.), pseudo-scientific
 4. Degree/Size prefixes
• ARCH- = supreme, most, combined with
nouns, chiefly with human reference:
archbishop, archangel, arch-enemy,
archduke
• CO- = joint, jointly, on equal footing,
combined with nouns and verbs: co-
education, co-heir, co-pilot, cohabit,
coexist, co-religionist
 Degree/Size prefixes
• HYPER- = extreme, combined with
adjectives and nouns: hypersensitive,
hypercritical, hyperactive, hypersonic,
hypertension, hypermarket, hyperbole
• MINI- = little, combined with nouns:
mini-market, mini-skirt, mini-bus, mini-
factory
• MAXI- = large, combined with nouns:
maxi-length
 Degree/Size prefixes
• OUT- = surpassing, combined with nouns
and intransitive verbs to form transitive
verbs: outnumber, outclass, outrun, outlive
• OVER- = excessive, combined with verbs and
adjectives: overeat, overestimate, overreact,
oversimplify, overwork, overplay,
overconfident, overdressed
• SUB- = smaller, combined with nouns and
adjectives: subdivision, sub-culture,
subconscious, subnormal
 Degree/Size prefixes
SUPER- = more than, very special,
combined with adjectives, nouns, and
verbs: supernatural, supersensitive,
supermarket, superman, superintendent,
superintend, supercharge
 Degree/Size prefixes
• ULTRA- = extreme, beyond, combined
with adjectives and nouns: ultra-modern,
ultra-conservative, ultrasonic,
ultramicroscopic, ultraviolet, ultrasound,
ultrasonograph, ultrasonography, ultra-
virus
• UNDER- = too little, combined with verbs
and participles: undercharge,
underestimate, underplay, underprovided
 5. Orientation and attitude prefixes

• ANTI- /ænti/ (also /æntai/ = against,

combined with adjectives and nouns: anti-
social, anti-clockwise, anti-war, anti-missile
• CONTRA- = opposite, contrasting,
combined with nouns, verbs, and
adjectives: contra-factual, contraflow,
contraindicate, contraception,
contradistinction
 Orientation and attitude prefixes
• COUNTER- = against, in opposition to,
combined with verbs, nouns, and
adjectives: counter-espionage, counter-
clockwise, counteract, counter-revolution
• PRO- = for, on the side on, combined with
adjectives and nouns: pro-communist, pro-
American
 6. Locative prefixes

• FORE- = front part of, front, combined with

nouns: foreground, forename, foreleg,
forearm, forefoot
• INTER- = between, among, combined with
adjectives, verbs, and nouns: international,
inter-continental, intertwine, interweave,
inter-school
• SUB- = under, combined with adjectives,
verbs, and nouns: subway
 Locative prefixes
• SUB- = near, combined with nouns and
adjective: suburbs, subtropical
• SUPER- = above, on top, combined with
nouns: superstructure, superscript
• TRANS- across, from one place to
another, combined with adjectives and
verbs: transatlantic, trans-Siberian,
transplant, transport
 Locative prefixes
• EXTRA- = outside, combined mostly with
adjectives (concrete & abstract): extra-solar,
extra-territorial (abstract = diplomatic
privileged), extra-terrestrial, extra-
curricular/extramural (abstract), extra-
linguistic (abstract), extra-marital (abstract),
extrasensory
• INTRA- = within, combined mostly with
adjectives: intra-venous, intra-arterial, intra-
uterine, intra-mural, intradermal
 7. Time and order prefixes

• EX- = former, earlier, combined with

human nouns: ex-president, ex-
serviceman, ex-husband (late = no longer
alive/no longer holding a position)
• FORE- = before, combined with verbs
and nouns: foretell, forewarn,
foreknowledge
 Time and order prefixes

• POST- = after, combined with nouns and

adjectives: post-war, post-election, post-
mortem, post-natal, post-nuptial, post-doctoral,
posthumous (after death), postmenopausal,
postmenstrual
• PRE- = before, in advance, combined with
nouns and adjectives: pre-war, pre-school,
pre-19th century, pre-marital
• RE- = again, combined with verbs and nouns:
reclaim, recycle, re-evaluate, re-analysis
 8. Number prefixes
• BI-, DI- = two, combined with nouns and
adjectives: bicycle, biplane, biped, bilateral,
bilingual, diphthong, dichotomy, dioxide
• POLY-, MULTI- = many, combined with nouns
and adjectives: polyglot, polygon, polygamy,
polysemy, poly-technique, multi-lateral, multi-
racial, multi-purpose
• SEMI-, DEMI-, HEMI- = half, combined with
nouns and adjectives: semi-circle, semi-vowel,
semi-detached, semi-automatic, demi-god,
hemisphere
 Number prefixes
• TRI- = three, combined with nouns and
adjectives: tricycle, trimester, tripartite, trilateral,
trigonometry, triangular, tri-dimensional
• UNI-, MONO- = one, combined with nouns and
adjectives: unisex, unilateral, unidirectional,
monoplane, monogamy, monologue,
monosyllabic
• QUADRI-, PENT-, SEX-, SEPT-, OCT-, NOV-,
DE-
 9. Miscellaneous neo-classical prefixes

• AUTO- = self, combined with nouns and

adjectives: automation, autobiography,
autocrat, autonomy, autocracy, autocratic,
autism
• NEO- = new, revived, combined with nouns
and adjectives: neo-classicism, neo-Gothic,
neo-Nazi, neo-fascist
• PALEO-/PALAEO= old, chiefly in learned
words: paleolithic, paleography
 Miscellaneous neo-classical prefixes

• PAN- = all, world-wide, continent-wide,

combined with nouns and adjectives:
pan-African, pan-Anglican, pan-
American
• PROTO- = first, original, combined with
nouns and adjectives: prototype, proto-
Germanic
 Miscellaneous neo-classical prefixes

• TELE- = distant, combined with base

to form nouns: telegram, telephone,
telepathy, telecommunication
• VICE- = deputy, combined with
nouns: vice-chairman, vice-admiral,
vice-president
 Grammatical categories of
suffixation
1. Generalities
2. Noun suffixes
3. Adjective suffixes
4. Adverb suffixes
5. Verb suffixes
6. De-nominal suffixes
7. De-adjectival suffixes
8. De-verbal suffixes
 Generalities of suffixation
• Whereas prefixes are generally classified on
a semantic basis, the classification of suffixes
is grammatical.
• Prefixes primarily lead to a semantic
modification of the base.
• Suffixes primarily change the grammatical
functions of the base.
• Suffixation with originally foreign items is
often accompanied by stress shifts and sound
changes.
 Generalities of suffixation
• Photograph/photography/
photographic
• Manager/managerial
• President/presidential
• Advantage/advantageous
• Prosperous/prosperity
• Modal/modality
 Noun suffixes

• Abstract de-nominal nouns (= nouns

from noun bases)
• Concrete de-nominal nouns
• De-verbal nouns (= nouns from verb
bases)
• De-adjectival nouns (= nouns from
adjective bases)
• Noun/adjective suffixes
 Abstract de-nominal nouns
• -AGE = measure of, collection of: baggage,
mileage, frontage (a restaurant with good
river frontage)
• -DOM = status of: stardom, kingdom
• -ERY, -RY = the condition/behavior
associated with, location of, aggregation of:
slavery, nursery, bakery, refinery,
machinery, pottery, cutlery, jewelry
• -HOOD = status of: boyhood, brotherhood,
widowhood, falsehood (count & non-count)
 Abstract de-nominal nouns
• -ING = aggregation of/activity connected
with: carpeting, paneling, farming
• -ISM = doctrine of, practice of: idealism,
impressionism, racism
• OCRACY = government by = democracy,
aristocracy
• SHIP = status of: friendship, membership,
dictatorship, professorship
 Concrete de-nominal nouns
• -EER = person skilled in/engaged in:
profiteer, pamphleteer, mountaineer,
auctioneer
• -ER = male person having it as a
dominant characteristic, denizen of:
teenager, villager, Londoner
• -ESS = female person having it as a
dominant characteristic, denizen of,
female animates: manageress, lioness
 Concrete de-nominal nouns

• -ETTE = compact, imitation of, a female of:

kitchenette, leatherette, suffragette
• -FUL = the amount contained in: mouthful,
spoonful, glassful
• - LET = a small version of: booklet, leaflet,
piglet, starlet
• -LING = a minor version of, an offspring of :
duckling, princeling
• -STER = a person involved in: trickster,
gangster, gamester, punster
 De-verbal nouns (nouns from verb bases)

• -ANT = agential (personal)/substance (non-

personal): inhabitant, contestant, informant,
participant, lubricant, deodorant
• -EE = one who is object of the verb:
appointee, payee, nominee, employee
• -ER, -OR = personal agential on
nominalization/non-personal agential:
employer, washer-up, window-cleaner, silencer
(in an exhaust/a gun), thriller, accelerator
 De-verbal nouns (nouns from verb bases)

• -AGE = action of, instance of: breakage,

coverage, drainage, leverage, shrinkage,
wastage
• -AL = action/result of: refusal, revival,
dismissal, upheaval, arrival, proposal
• -ATION = the process/state/product of:
starvation, ratification, vitimization,
organization
 De-verbal nouns (nouns from verb bases)
• -ING = result of: building, opening,
filling, earnings, savings, shavings,
christening
• -MENT = result of: puzzlement,
embodiment, equipment
 De-adjectival nouns (nouns from adjective bases)

• -ITY = state of (associated with adjectives of

neo-classical or French origin): elasticity,
sanity, falsity, diversity, verbosity (state of
containing more words than are needed),
respectability, actuality, regularity
• -NESS = state of (freely added to any type of
adjective in ad hoc formations):
unexpectedness, falseness, accurateness
• Normalness/normality/normalcy
• Infiniteness/ infinitude/infinity
 Noun/adjective suffixes
• ESE = a member of a nationality or a race/the
language of/the style of: journalese, Johnsonese
• (I)AN = adherent to, relating to, a citizen of, the
language of: Darwinian, Chomskyan, Parisian,
Chicagoan, Glaswegian, Indonesian
• IST = skilled in, practising: stylist,
racialist/racist
• ITE = adherent to/a member of/ a denizen
(person) of: Chomskyite, Hamsteadite
 Adjectives suffixes
• De-nominal
• De-verbal
 De-nominal adjective suffixes
• -ED = having that of: pointed, giant-sized
• -FUL = full of/providing: pitiful
• -ISH = somewhat like: monkeyish, snobbish
• -LESS = without: restless
• -LIKE = like: monkeylike
• -LY = having the qualities of/units of time:
womanly, cowardly, daily
• -Y = somewhat: sandy
 De-nominal adjective suffixes
Foreign origin/having the properties of/
having a relation to
• -AL/-IAL/-ICAL: editorial
• -ESQUE: picturesque
• -IC: atomic
• -OUS: vivacious
 De-verbal adjective suffixes

• -ABLE = passive/apt to: supportable,

manageable, visible, refutable,
perishable, changeable
• -IVE = active: supportive, causative,
explosive, presumptive, productive
 Adverb suffixes
• -LY = in a … manner/to a … degree/in a … respect:
calmly, extremely, personally
• -WARD(S) = directional: eastward(s) (the forms
without ‘s’ are usual in printed AmE, those with ‘s’
are usual in BrE and are common in spoken AmE.
Forms without ‘s’ can be premodification:
Homeward journeys are the happiest).
• -WISE = in relation to manner/dimension/so far as …
is concerned: clockwise, lengthwise, education-wise,
moneywise
 Verb suffixes:
transitive/causative
• -ATE /eit/: hyphenate
• -EN: sadden
• -IFY, -FY: amplify, codify, electrify
• -IZE (-ISE): legalize, publicize
 2. Conversion
• Conversion is the derivational process whereby
an item is adapted or converted to a new word
class without the addition of an affix.
• Other terms for conversion are ‘functional
conversion’, ‘functional shift’, and ‘zero
derivation’.
• Conversion includes cases where the base
undergoes some slight phonological or
orthographic change, e.g. shelf/shelve,
half/halve
Conversion with formal modifications

Voicing of final consonants: The unvoiced

fricative consonants /s/, /f/, and /ɵ/ in some nouns
are voiced to /z/, /v/, and /ð/ respectively in the
corresponding verb forms:
Noun Verb
house /-s/ house /-z/
grief /-f/ grieve /-v/
shelf /-f/ shelve /-v/
half /-f/ halve /-v/
Conversion with formal modifications

Nouns Verb
belief /-f/ believe /v/
mouth /-ɵ/ mouth /ð/
sheath /-ɵ/ sheathe /ð/
wreath /-ɵ/ wreathe /ð/
 Conversion with shift of stress
When verbs of two syllables are converted
into nouns, the stress is sometimes shifted
from the second to the first syllable. The first
syllable, typically a Latin prefix, often has a
reduced vowel /∂/ in the verb but a full vowel
in the noun:
He was con’victed /k∂n/of theft, and so
became a ‘convict /kɔn/
 3. Compounds
• A compound is a lexical unit consisting of
more than one root with or without
derivational morphemes and functioning
both grammatically and semantically as a
single word.
 4. Back-formation (Back-derivation)
burgle bottle-feed house-hunt window-shop

edit brain-wash house-keep self-destruct

laze chain-smoke lip-read

televise day-dream sight-see

polymer dry-clean sleep-walk

baby-sit fire-watch spring-clean

 5. Reduplicatives
Goody-goody Tick-tock Higgledy-piggledy Teeny-weeny

Walkie-talkie Ha ha Hocus-pocus Tip-top

Criss-cross Seesaw Wishy-washy

Din-din Flip-flop Dilly-dally

Rat-a-tat Ping-pong Shily-shally

 6. Abbreviations
1. Clippings
2. Acronyms
3. Blends
 6.1. Clippings
Ad gents pseud fridge
advert lab pub showbiz
cosec lib stereo ‘cos
demo memo telly praps
exam mike phone soc
French photo plane veg
fries
nighty prof flu bike
undies turps pram mob
comfy taxi bus diazo (ozalid)
 6.2. Acronyms
COD TB DJ LA
c/o OK MC KL
DIY laser Jaycee (JC) FBI
EEC NATO GHQ FYI
eg radar ID JIC
ESP WASP TV TBH
ie viz VIP IMHO
MIT binac UN WDYMBT
p.c. UNESCO UFO LMK
 6.3. Blends
Motel swimsation washeteria breathalyzer
brunch lubritection candyteria heliport
spork cheeseburger lunchateria stagflation
tigon beefburger bionic travelogue
liger shrimpburger bit telecast
Muldergate Eurovision, interpol paratroops
Billigate newscast moped absobloodylutely
cattlegate telecast electrocute stonygoddambroke
smog telex alruddymighty
 6.3. Blends
• NB:
- absobloodylutely, stonygoddambroke,
alruddymighty illustrate a kind of blending
that produces the very informal and usually
scatological tmesis or the use of infixes.
- Semantically, these combine an already
emotional hyperbole with an extreme
intensifier.
 7. Familiarity markers
1. Y, -IE: hippy, Aussy, Aussie, telly, chevie,
baddy, goalie, druggy, hanky, drinky,nuddie,
weirdie, chappie, chippie, comfy, sweetie,
auntie, daddy, mommy, mummy, Katie,
Freddy, Charlie, Molly, Billy, Susie
2. -O; ammo, aggro, arvo, doggo, weirdo, fatso
3. -ER: rugger, soccer, footer, tucker, boner,
fresher, shampers, preggers, starkers,
bonkers
4. -S: Babs, Debs, nuts, bananas (mad), Moms