Chapter 4

WORDS

Lecturer: Tran Thi Truc Duyen

CONTENT

1. Definition 2. Characteristics 3. Classification

1. Definition
- A word as a free morpheme or a combination of morphemes that
together form a basic meaningful segment of speech.

Examples: 1. chair 3. pre-, -ceive, -ful

2. class 4. in-, credit, -ble

1. Definition
- In speaking style, people often pause to formulate their thoughts,
get the sentence structure in order, and grope for the right word.
Such pauses do not occur within the words, but between the words.

Examples:
p p p p pp p p p p
Since the streetlamp is out, I must call up our councilman.
- call up
2. Characteristics
2.1. Indivisibility

Ex: a lion  a living lion

alive  It is a word, and can be separate its elements

and inserts other words between them.
2. Characteristics
2.2. Internal stability and positional mobility

Ex: The boys walked slowly up the hill.

- Internal stability: the order of the component morphemes

- Positional mobility: permutable with other words in the same sentence.

3. Classification
3.1. The classification of words according to their structure

3.1.1. Simple words: consist of a single free base (= a free morpheme)

Ex: stay tall spirit new

3. Classification
3.1. The classification of words according to their structure
3.1.2. Complex words: contain at least a bound morpheme as an
immediate constituents. They fall into two subclasses.

3.1.2.1. Complex words-FB (free-base): have one morpheme as an IC.

Ex: lioness (“female”) rebirth (“again”)

rainy (“having/ marked”) uncertain (“not”)

3. Classification
3.1.2.2. Complex words-BB (bound-base): have a bound morpheme for each IC.

Ex: tele- “far” – vise “see”

matri- “mother” – cide “killing”

ex- “out of, out from” – tract “take, get”

3. Classification
3.1.3. Compound words - compounds: have at least two free bases (free
morphemes) with or without bound morphemes.

Ex: high ball  highball

desk lamp –s  desklamps

north east northeast

p.122
3. Classification
Compound words can be distinguished from grammatical structures:

• Compound words cannot be divided by insertion of intervening

material between two parts, but grammatical structures can be divided.

Ex: She is a sweetheart.

She has a sweet heart.

She has a sweet, kind heart.

3. Classification
Compound words can be distinguished from grammatical structures:

• A member of a compound word cannot participate in a grammatical

structure.

Ex: hard ball - baseball

It is a very hard ball. It is a very baseball. (wrong)

3. Classification
Compound words can be distinguished from grammatical structures:

• Stress pattern {‘’} - {^`}

3. Classification Oct 11 2022

3.2. Classification of words according to their word-formation

processes:
 3.2.1. Compounding

- Compounding is the joining of two or more words into a single word.

Examples: wallflower, gentleman, see-saw, sweetheart
- Compounding may be written as one word (without a hyphen or a space).
- Compounding may be written as a hyphenated word(with a hyphen).
Examples: ping-pong, red-hot, short-sighted
- Compounding may be written as two words (with a space).
Examples: high school, dishing machine, washing powder
 3.2.2. Types of compounds

3.2.2.1. Compound verbs

- Verb-verb (V-V): stir-fry freeze-dry

- Noun-verb (N-V): hand-wash air-condition

- Adjective-Verb (Adj-V): dry-clean whitewash

- Preposition-Verb (Pre-V): underestimate outrun

 3.2.2. Types of compounds

3.2.2.2. Compound Adjectives

- Noun-Adj (N-Adj): sky-high coal-black oil-rich

- Adjective-Adjective(Adj-Adj): grey-green red-hot

 3.2.2. Types of compounds

3.2.2.3. Compound Nouns

- Verb-Noun (V-N): swearword drophammer playtime

- Noun-Noun(N-N): hairnet mosquito net hair restorer

- Adjective-Noun (Adj-N): blackboard greenstone

- Preposition-Noun (Pre.-N): in-group outpost overcoat

 3.2.3. Blending

- Blending is the forming of new words by joining the. first part of

one word with the last part of another words.

Examples:

1. breakfast + lunch brunch

2. smoke + fog smog
3. motor + hotel motel
3.2.4. Reduplication

- Reduplication is the process of forming a new word by doubling

a morpheme, usually with a change of vowel or initial consonant.

- The basic, originating morpheme is the second half (dilly-dally),

or first half (ticktock), or both halves (singsong), or neither half
(boogie-woogie)
3.2.3. Reduplication

Twin-words can be divided into three classes:

3.2.3.1. The base morpheme is repeated without change

Ex: clop-clop, tick-tick, gobble-gobble, chug-chug, dada, baba

3.2.3.2. The base morpheme is repeated with change initial consonant.

Ex: fuddy-duddy, tootsie-wootsie, razzle-dazzle, roly-poly,

teeny-weeny, heebie-jeebie, hootchy-kootchy
3.2.3. Reduplication

3.2.3.3. The base morpheme is repeated with the change of a vowel

Ex: Chitchat, tiptop, criss-cross, zigzag, ticktock, pingpong

 3.2.5. Derivation

- Derivation is the forming of new words by combining derivational

affixes or bound bases with existing words.

Examples: 1. teacher
2. intervene
3. refusal
4. inspection
3.2.6. Back-formation

- Back-formation is the forming of new words from the one that

looks like its derivation.

Ex:
1. beggar to beg
2. editor to edit

3. burglar to burgle

4. hamburger burger
3.2.7. Folk etymology Oct. 18th 2022

Ex: let ball

- “let”: has retained the obsolete meaning of “prevented”.

- “let ball”: has been prevented from taking its true course by
touching the top of the net.
- However, “let” “allow”
- In the court tennis, there is a change, “l” “n”  “net”
has a clearer meaning than “let”
3.2.8. Antonomasisa
3.2.9. Clipping

- Clipping is the forming of new words by cutting off the beginning

or the end of a word, or both, leaving a part to stand for the whole.

Ex: 1. laboratory lab

2. dormitory dorm

3. professor prof
 3.2.10. Acronymy

- Acronymy is the forming of new words from the initials or

beginning segments of a succession of words.

Ex:
1. MP: military police or member of parliament
2. rada: radio detecting and ranging
3. NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

4. WHO: World Health Organization

3.2.11. Conversion
Conversion is the word formation process in which a word of one
class becomes a word of another class without any change to its
spelling or pronunciation.

Ex: email
The most common form of conversation in English like:

Noun  Verb: access, host, bottle

Verb  Noun: alert, attack, judge

3.2.12. Echoism

Echoism is the formation of words whose sound suggests their

meaning, such as hiss and peewee.

Ex: - moan, click, murmur, quack, thunder, whisper, lisp,

chickadee, bobolink
3.2.13. Invention (coinage)

Invention is a word formation process in which a new words is

created deliberately or indeliberately commonly due to new
scientific or technological invention or discoveries.

Ex: aspirin, Xerox, nylon, zipper

3.2.14. Borrowing

Borrowing is a word formation process in which a word from

one language is borrowed into another language. English has
borrowed words form many languages. Some loan words
experience little or no change when entering English. Others are
somewhat different from their originals.

Ex: buffet: French

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