WORDS - Unisa

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The Language System
Focus on SOUNDS
phonetics
phonology
Focus on FORMS/WORDS
morphology
lexical items
word-formation
syntax
Focus on MEANING
semantics
pragmatics
Focus on LINGUISTIC EXPRESSION AND
SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
sociolinguistics
Focus on LINGUISTIC BEHAVIOUR AND
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES
psycholinguistics
This lesson will focus on morphology and word-formation
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FORMS / WORDS : morphology
Morphology deals with the internal structure of words.
For example, we have quite a number of words which end
in the letters –ing:
thing, building, walking, passing, surprising
If we attach –ing to the verb “build”, this changes the
VERB into a NOUN:
V build > N building
If we attach –ing to the BASE of the verb “walk”, this
changes into a PRESENT PARTICIPLE:
BASE walk > PP walking
The –ing at the end of “thing”, however, does not have
the same status, since there is no separate word “th” in
English that the unit can attach to.
These observations are simple statements about the
MORPHOLOGY of English words.
WORDS: lexical items
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On the other hand, we can consider words not as
morphological structures but as VOCABULARY
ITEMS signaling meanings of different kinds,
i.e. we can focus attention on the words as
LEXICAL ITEMS or LEXEMES
Let’s take the example:
“In Oxford, people still wear gowns.”
The association of the word “gown” with Oxford
makes us think about one particular meaning of
the word as specified in a dictionary and
excludes others which might appear in the
vocabulary entry (like “woman’s dress, especially
a long one for special occasions”)
WORDS: context and co-text
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In order to identify the meaning of a word we
have to consider:
The CONTEXT, i.e. the physical environment in
which the word is used
The CO-TEXT, i.e. the linguistic environment in
which the word occurs
Let’s consider the following example:
Italy won World Cup
It is probably a headline (so the context is
probably a newspaper)
The co-text (i.e. the other words in the
sentence) makes us infer that “Italy” refers not
to the country but to the team
Words’ function: word class
A
word, then, is neutral when it is
considered in isolation, but when it is
inserted in a more complex structure, it
becomes functionally determined by the
other words in the structure.
 Word
class: one of the grammatical groups
(such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb,
conjunction, article) into which words are
divided depending on their use.
Familiar words used in an “unfamiliar” way
 David
was
chosen
to
head
the
investigative team.
 Jane has been appointed chair of the
education committee.
 Empty buildings could be used to house
homeless people.
 If we’re going there on Sunday, we’d
better book first.
 I love that bit in the film where Kevin
hands the teacher a dead rat!
WORDS: units of sound
A
word can be a unit of sound, a
phonological unit, which may or may not
correspond to one grammatical unit.
 Imagine listening to the two sentences
that follow and compare them:
Politicians have to find a name.
Politicians have to find an aim.
 In these cases we speak of homophones
(different grammatical words which
have the same pronunciation)
Let’s have a look at the following text:
“It
is an
business life
unreported,
Businessmen
other …”
“It
unwelcome but inevitable aspect of
that management and even fraud go
unrecorded
and
unpunished.
do not like to tell tales about each
is an unwelcome but inevitable aspect of
business life that management and even fraud go
unreported,
unrecorded
and
unpunished.
Businessmen do not like to tell tales about each
other …”
 base
prefix / suffix
inflection
Let’s have a look at the following words:
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Manager
Leader
Container
Shopping
Marketing
Sexy
Topless
Fitness
videogame
video clip
bestseller
showgirl
New Age
cyber punk
eyeliner
fast food
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SUFFIXES
COMPOUNDS
Swatch
Brunch
Emoticon
REM
NATO
NASA
Netiquette
Fanzine
Sitcom
Smog
Bit
DOS
AIDS
R & B
VIP
CD
BLENDING
ACRONYMS
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MORPHEMES
A morpheme is the smallest unit of language which has
an independent function.
FREE MORPHEMES are words which can operate freely
in the language
BOUND MORPHEMES must combine with other
morphemes
BOUND MORPH. +
disinFREE MORPH.
busy
manage
FREE MORPH.
possess
evitable
+
= WORD
dispossess
inevitable
BOUND MORPH. = WORD
-ness
-ment
business
management
BOUND MORPHEMES
are:
1. Inflectional
or
2. derivational
1. The main function of inflectional bound morphemes in
English is to indicate:
 i. the plural of nouns
-s
cars
 ii. possessive form of nouns
-’s
John’s
 iii. person and tense in verbs
-s / -ed
plays/played
 iv. degree in adjectives
-er / -est
shorter/shortest
 v. case with relative who
-m /-se
whom/whose
So, they are part of the grammatical system.
2. Derivational bound morphemes are prefixes and suffixes.
So, they are part of the process of word-formation.
WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES
1
Affixation
Prefixation
semantic function
(change in meaning)
Prefix
Suffixation
syntactic function
(change in word-class)
Suffix
WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES (Prefixes)
Prefixes
Meaning
2
Examples
a-
privo di
un-
non-
unexpected
unplugged
iril-
non-
irregular
illegal
inim-
non-
insane
impossible
imbalance
*immoral
dis-
non-
disagree
dishonest
amoral*
atypical
WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES (Prefixes)
Prefixes
Meaning
mis-
erroneamente
malamente
mal-
cattivo
pseudo-
falso
counter-
contro,
opposto a
troppo
overunder-
troppo poco
3
Examples
misunderstood
misadventure
malformed
maladministration
pseudo-science
pseudonym
counter-revolution
counteract
oversimplify
overestimated
underpaid
underestimated
WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES (Suffixes)
4
SUFFIXES (change in word class)*
 -ment
V > N
development / management
 referring to an action, a process, a result
 -ful
N > Adj meaningful / joyful
 having the stated quality to a high degree
 -less
N > Adj meaningless / friendless
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-ship
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“without the thing mentioned”
membership / friendship
having the rank, position, relationship of the stated
type
-able

N > N
V > Adj
acceptable / washable
able to receive the action of the stated verb
_____________________________________________________
* V = verb
N = noun
Adj = Adjective
Adv = Adverb
WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES (Suffixes)
5
 -ness
Adj > N
sadness / awareness
 referring to a quality or a condition
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-hood
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 -y
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badly / directly
V
V
learning
amusing
>
>
N
Adj
N > Adj
/
/
teaching
interesting
bloody / cloudy
“like the stated thing”
-al

Adj > Adv
in the stated way
-ing
-ing

childhood / brotherhood
describing a state of being
-ly

N > N
N > Adj
“connected with”
global / national
WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES (Suffixes)
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-er
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Adj > N
majority / creativity
N > Adj
childlike / dreamlike
N > Adj
English / foolish
Adj > Adj
greenish / oldish
Origin / Quality
-ish

employee / interviewee
like the thing mentioned
-ish

V > N
referring to a state or quality
-like

employer / interviewer
referring to the person to whom the action of the verb
is being done
-ity

V > N
referring to people or things that do that particular
action
-ee
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6
“to some degree” - “quite” - “partly”
EXERCISE: Complete the table below by inserting,
when possible, affixes (prefixes and suffixes).
Prefix
(a-, un-, in-, dis-, mis- …)
ROOT
(stem word)
sleep
fortune
salt
nature
order
logic
care
believe
Suffix
(-able, -al, -less, -ly, -y …)
Word-formation Ex. 1 (a)
From the word given in parenthesis derive the appropriate word.
Example: 1. (destroy)
destruction
1.
The storm caused widespread … in the mountains. (destroy)
The storm caused widespread destruction in the mountains.
2.
People
People
3.
He’s
He’s
4.
I don’t think that there is a … to the problem. (solve)
I don’t think that there is a solution to the problem.
5.
You have some good ideas, but your work is rather … (organize)
You have some good ideas but your work is rather disorganized.
6.
People living in big cities often suffer from … . (lone)
People living in big cities often suffer from loneliness.
without
without
under
under
a
a
a
a
lot
lot
place
place
of
of
where
where
to
to
live
live
are
are
… . (home)
homeless.
… at work. (press)
pressure at work.
Word-formation Ex. 1 (b)
From the word given in parenthesis derive the appropriate word.
7.
Amy
Amy
had
had
a
a
successful
successful
career
career
as
as
a
a
… .(politics)
politician.
8.
Please, give details of your present … . (occupy)
Please, give details of your present occupation.
9.
Are there many … between the 2 religions? (similar)
Are there many similarities between the 2 religions?
10. There has been great … in the traffic recently. (improve)
There has been great improvement in the traffic recently.
11. Some of the clothes worn were … costumes. (nation)
Some of the clothes worn were national costumes.
12. Why do words change their … ? (mean)
Why do words change their meaning?
Word-formation Ex. 2
Decide which negative adjectives below are most appropriate to
complete the sentence openings
1. Their house burned down and ever since they’ve been…
 2. I couldn’t understand his speech. It was …
 3. Don’t bother to keep those old coins. They are …
 4. Throw away that old machine. It’s …
 5. When I finished the run I was quite …
 6. The flowers you gave me are lovely. I’m absolutely …
 7. He slept very badly. He was really …
 8. Don’t worry about the dog. He’s …
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 a. worthless
b. speechless
c. harmless
 d. restless
e. homeless
f. breathless
 g. useless
h. meaningless
Keys ► 1.e 2.h 3.a 4.g 5.f 6.b 7.d 8.c
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