Chapter 3

Morphology

The word structure of language

 1. What is morphology?
 Morphology refers to the study of the internal
structure of words, and the rules by which words
are formed. ( 形态学 )
 Lexicology is a term used to refer to the overall
study of the words of a language including their
meanings and relations, formation, and changes
in their form and meaning through time . ( 词汇学 )
 2. What is a word?
A word is the smallest of the linguistic units
which can occur on its own in speech or writing.

 In writing, word boundaries are usually

recognized by spaces between the words. In
speech, word boundaries may be recognized by
slight pauses.
 Problems:

(1) Can a function word like the occur on its

own?
(2) Is a contraction like can’t one word or two?
 Lexis: the vocabulary of a language, in contrast to
its grammar or syntax.
 Lexicon: the set of all the words and idioms of
any language, often used interchangeably with
vocabulary.
 Lexeme: the smallest unit in the meaning system
of a language, an abstract unit that remains
constant. For example, give is the lexeme of its
variants gave, given, giving.
 Vocabulary: A complete inventory of the words
in a language.
 Open class words: a group of words, which
contains an unlimited number of items.

 nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

 Theyare content words and new words can be

added to these classes. （开放词类）
 Open class words: content words

 Closedclass words: functional words, form

words, grammatical words
 Closed class words: grammatical or
functional words such as conjunctions,
prepositions, articles and pronouns.

 Theyconsist of relatively few words, and new

words are not usually added to them. （封闭词
类）
 3. How are words structured?
 The morphological structure of words: The
internal structure of words
 The component parts of a word
 Words are composed of morphemes.

antiestablishmentarianism （反现存社会体制论）
disestablishmentarianism （国教制度废除论）
antidisestablishmentarianism （反国教制度废除论）
4. Morpheme: the minimal unit of
meaning
 The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit
of language, not divisible or analyzable into
smaller forms. （词素）
 Some words are formed by one morpheme.
 Example?
 Other words are formed by two or more
morphemes.
ungentlemanliness
 Morphs （词素形式） and
allomorphs （词素变体）
A morpheme is an abstract concept.
 A morph is the concrete form or realization of a
morpheme.
 A morpheme may take different forms which are
called allomorphs. Allomorphs are the different
forms of a morpheme.
 An allomorph is any of the different forms of a
morpheme.
 Examples
 -ion: invention, description, modernization, expansion,
conclusion
 The negative prefix: im- (before [p], [b], [m]):
imperfect, imbalance, immobile; in-: inflexible,
incorrect; ir-: irresponsible, irregular; il-: illegal,
illogical
 The plural morpheme is often shown in writing by
adding –s to the end of a word. Sometimes this plural
morpheme is also realized as –es. They are also
pronounced differently. books-dogs
 5. Classification of morphemes
5.1 free morpheme and bound morpheme (free form
and bound form)
 Free morpheme: a morpheme that exists on its own and
can be uttered alone with meaning. A free morpheme is
a word in the traditional sense. ( 自由词素 )
 Bound morpheme: a morpheme that cannot stand by
itself as a complete utterance; it must appear with at
least one other morpheme, free or bound. –ly, -s, bio-, -
ology. （粘着词素）
5.2 root and affix (root morpheme and affixational
morpheme) 词根与词缀

 Root: the basic unchangeable part of a word, and it

conveys the main lexical meaning of the word.

 Affix: a bound morpheme that is used only when it is

added to another morpheme.

work---worker---working---worked
 Root
 Free root: a free morpheme ； a word
consisting of one free root is a simple word.

 Bound root: a root that is always bound to

another morpheme.
-ceive (take): receive, perceive, conceive
-tain (hold): retain, contain, maintain
-vit/viv: vital, vitmin, vivid, vivacious
 Affix
 Inflectional affix (inflectional morpheme): 屈
折词缀

 Derivational affix (derivational morpheme): 派

生词缀
 Affix
 Inflectional affix (inflectional morpheme): a
morpheme that does not form a new word with a
new meaning when it is added to another word,
nor does it change the syntactic category (part of
speech) of the word to which it is affixed.

 Itserves to express grammatical meanings such

as number, tense, case, comparative or
superlative degree.
 Inflectional morphemes
1. Let me tell you about Jim’s two sisters.
2. One likes to have fun and is always laughin
g.
3. The other liked to study and has always tak
en things seriously.
4. One is the loudest person in the house and
the other is quieter than a mouse.

 nouns, verbs, adjectives.

 Nouns inflect for possessive (-’s) and plural
(-s).

 Verbs inflect for third person present singula

r (-s), present participle (-ing), past tense (-e
d) and past participle (-en).

 Adjectives inflect for comparative (-er) and s

uperlative (-est) degrees.
 Affix
 Derivational affix (derivational morpheme): a
morpheme that derives/forms a new word when
it is added to another morpheme.
 Derivational morphemes
 Some derivational morphemes change the
grammatical class of words: careful, realize,
affectionate, alcoholic, replacement

 Other
derivational morphemes do not change the
grammatical class of words: inter + collegiate,
macro + economics, tele + commute, multi +
media, re + write, pre + view
 Prefix:
a derivational affix added before another
morpheme. 前缀

 Suffix:
a derivational affix added after another
morpheme. 后缀
 Classification of Morpheme
Free ------- Free root
Root
Morpheme
Bound root
Bound Inflectional
Affix Prefix
Derivational
Suffix
base, stem, root
 6. Morphological rules of word
formation
 Word formation: the creation of new words.

 Morphological rules: the ways words are

formed. They determine how morphemes
combine to form words.
disorderly, disgraceful
 Adj Adj

Adj x V

V V

un avoid able un avoid able

 ungentlemanliness

ungentlemanly ness

un gentlemanly

gentleman ly

gentle man
 Productive morphological rules: the
morphological rules that can be used quite freely
to form new words.
un + accept + able
un + think + able
un + touch + able
un + warrant + able
un + impeach + able
un + inhabit + able
 Morphological rules may be productive or less
productive:
*un + sad
*un + brave
 7. Processes of word formation
 Major processes: derivation, compounding,
conversion

 Minor processes: blending, clipping, acronymy,

back-formation
 8. Derivation/affixation
a method/process of word formation by which
new words are created by adding affixes to an
already existing word.
 Prefixation: the formation of new words by
adding a prefix to an already existing word.
 Suffixation: the formation of new words by
adding a suffix to an already existing word.
 Derivation is a process of word formation by
which a new word is created by adding an
affix to a base.

A base is that part of a word to which a

derivational affix is added.
 In modernize, the base form is modern, and
in modernization, the base form is
modernize.
 Affixes change the lexical meaning of words.

 Prefixes do not generally change word class,

while suffixes usually change word class.
unfair, careless,
careful, childish
 Exceptions: enlarge, belittle, worker, childhood,
friendship
 9. Compounding
 a word formation process by means of joining /stringing
words together to form a new unit, a compound word.
-adj. -noun -verb -prep.
adj. - bittersweet clearway whitewash blackout
noun - headstrong rainbow spoon-feed headsoff
verb - carryall pickpocket sleepwalk cutup
prep. - inborn off-licence undertake without
 a) When the two words are in the same grammatical
category, the compound will be in this category:
noun + noun post box landlady
adjective + adjective blue-black icy-cold

 b) In many cases, the two words fall into different

categories. Then the class of the second or final word
will be the grammatical category of the compound:
noun + adjective head-strong
verb + noun pickpocket
 c) It is often the case that compounds have different
stress patterns from the noncompounded word
sequence, thus in
'redcoat 'greenhouse
 d) Grammar: adverbs cannot be used to modify a
compound nor does it has comparative and superlative
forms in such words as
* a very greenhouse
a very green house
*a greenerhouse
a greener house/the greenest house
fine art
loud speaker
 e) The meaning of a compound is not always the sum of
the meanings of its parts.

 Compare the following pair of sentences:

Kate found a red coat in her aunt’s closet.

Kate found a 'redcoat in her aunt’s closet. ( 英国军人 )
 While the meaning of each compound includes at
least to some extent the meanings of individual
parts, as in a falling star (a star that falls) and a
looking glass (which doesn't mean "a glass that
looks" but "a glass in which one can see one's
face"), other compounds do not seem to relate to
the meanings of the individual parts at all. A
bigwig, for example, does not have a big wig, nor
does a highbrow necessarily have a high brow.
dog days
blue blood
 busboy 餐馆勤杂工（不是“公汽售票员”）
 busybody 爱管闲事的人（不是“大忙人”）
 dry goods （美）纺织品；（英）谷物（不是“干货
”）
 eleventh hour 最后时刻（不是“十一点”）
 dead president 美钞（上印有总统头像）（并非“死
了的总统”）
 sweet water 淡水（不是“糖水”）
 confidence man 骗子（不是“信得过的人”）
 criminal lawyer 刑事律师（不是“犯罪的律师”）
 rest room 厕所（不是“休息室”）
 dressing room 化妆室（不是“试衣室”或“更衣室
”）
 horse sense 常识（不是“马的感觉”）
 capital idea 好主意（不是“资本主义思想”）
 black tea 红茶（不是“黑茶”）
 black stranger 完全陌生的人 ( 不是“陌生的黑人” )
 white man 忠实可靠的人（不是“皮肤白的人”）
 green hand 新手（不是“绿手”）
 blue stocking 女学者、女才子（不是“蓝色长统袜”）
 Chinese dragon 麒麟（不是“中国龙”）
 American beauty 红蔷薇（不是“美国美女”）
 English disease 气管炎（不是“英国病”）
 Spanish athlete 吹牛的人（不是“西班牙运动员”）
 the blackbird hen is brown.... 画眉
blackboards can be green or blue...
blackberries are green and red before they are ripe...
Even if blackberries were really black and blueberries
really blue, what are strawberries, huckleberries and
gooseberries supposed to look alike ? 黑果木
醋栗
 There is no butter in buttermilk, 脱脂奶
grape in grape fruit,
neither pine or apple in pineapple
No egg in eggplant.
and no ham in hamburger.
 10. Conversion
 The formation of new words by converting
words of one class to another class without
changing word forms.

 Zeroderivation, root formation, functional shift,

derivation by zero suffix.
 Examples
 Noun to verb:
To put in/on N: can/bottle/place/corner/catalogue/
floor/garage/rack/land/pocket
To give N, to provide with N: They sheltered the
orphan/fuel cars/butter a bread/coat a chair/label
To deprive of N: core fruit/dust/skin/gut/juice/peel
To do with N: brake a car (stop a car with the
brake)/elbow the door open/hand/glue/shoulder/bomb/
head/X-ray
 Verb to noun:
State of mind/sensation: desire/love/taste/doubt/
smell/want/disgust/dismay/surprise
Event/activity: (used with give/have/make/take)
To give a cry/grunt/start/howl/laugh
To have a look/swim/ride/try/drink/bite/walk
To make a dash/dive/attempt/guess/search
To take a peep/stroll/turn/rest/walk
 11. Blending ( 拼缀法 / 混成法 )
 Theformation of new words by combining parts
of two words or a word plus a part of another
word.

 Words formed in this way are called blends.

 Examples
 head + tail: motel/Chinglish/botel/fruice/talkathon/
slimnastics
 head + head: communications satellite => comsat
 word + tail: lunar astronaut => lunarnaut

work welfare => workfare

 head + word: medical care => medicare

Europe + Asia => Eurasia

 Word + head: skylab
12. Back-formation ( 逆成 / 生法 )
a process of word formation by which a word is
created by the deletion of a supposed affix.
 Also called reverse derivation, back-formation
reverses the process of derivation. That is, it
forms new words by deleting rather than adding
an affix.
baby-sit, bulldoze, lie, burgle, automate, televise
 13. Clipping ( 截短法 )
A process of word formation through the
deletion of one or more syllables from a word.

ad, exam, dorm, kilo, lab, bus, phone, flu, fridge

 14. Acronymy
 The process of forming new words by joining
the initial letters of names of social and political
organizations or special noun phrases and
technical terms.

 Words formed in this way are called initialisms

or acronyms, depending on the pronunciation of
the words formed.
 Initialism
( 首字母缩略词 )
a word formed from the initial letters of words
and pronounced as letters.
B.B.C., VOA, POW, MBA

 Acronym ( 首字母拼音词 )
a word formed from the initial letters of words
and pronounced as a word.
NATO, OPEC, TOEFL, UNESCO
 http

 BWH

 IOC
 WTO
 WHO