英语语言学自编教材第四章

1、 Chapter 4 Morphology1. Morphology Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over1) If we look at the following words simplify, falsify, justify, diversity, qualify, identify and beautify, we feel that they bear something similar in their internal structure. What is it?2) A further

2、look at the following words will show you how to convert some of the adjectives or nouns to be verbs. What is the rule?simple adj. simplify v. quality n. qualify v.false adj. falsify v. identity n. identify v.just adj. justify v. beauty n. beautify v. Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to L

3、earnIn many languages, what appears to be a single word actually turns out to contain even smaller meaningful elements in it. For example, when we look at the word predict, we find it is composed of two meaningful elements pre-, which means before and dict, which means speak. We also notice that the

4、 two meaningful elements pre- and dict cannot be structurally and semantically further analyzed. Words are not formed at random; rather they are formed according to certain rules. The aim of morphology is to find out these rules. Definitions to ClarifyMorphology: Morphology, which literally means “t

5、he study of forms”, was originally used in biology. However, since the middle of the nineteenth century, it has been used to describe that type of investigation which analyzes all those basic “elements” which are used in a language. In other words, morphology is a branch of grammar which studies the

6、 internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.2. Morphemes Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder overAs sentences consist of words and are often analyzed into words, words are further analyzable and broken down into even smaller components. Try to study th

7、e internal structures of the following words to find out the smaller meaningful components which compose these words:internationalization blackboard worked water Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to LearnWe can recognize that English words can be analyzed into even smaller meaningful units

8、 which are not further analyzable: desk is a word which is composed of one minimal meaningful element desk; blackboard is made up of two minimal meaningful elements black and board; internationalization is comprised of such smallest meaningful units as inter + nation + al + ize + tion. The word tour

9、ists contains three minimal units. There is one minimal unit of meaning, tour, another minimal unit of meaning ist (meaning “person who does something”), and a minimal unit of grammatical function s (indicating plural). Definitions to Clarify Morpheme: It is a minimal unit of meaning or grammatical

10、function of language. 3. Types of Morphemes3.1 Free Morphemes Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder overWhen we analyze the word quicken into two morphemes, we get quick and en. When we analyze the internal structure of the word helper, we get help and er. Can you find the diffe

11、rences between the morphemes quick and help and the morphemes en and -er? More examples to observe:Table table disabled dis-able-edRoommate room-mate frightening fright-en-ing Warmer warm-er assistant assist-ant Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to LearnFrom the language use observations,

12、it can be easily seen that words can be broken into even smaller meaningful units. However, these smallest meaningful units do not have the same characteristics. We notice that some morphemes such as table, room, mate, warm, able, fright and assist can be used independently as words while other morp

13、hemes such as er, -ed, -ing and ant can not. Those morphemes which can be used freely as words are free morphemes. These free morphemes are also called free roots (see ). Definitions to ClarifyFree morphemes: They are the minimal independent units of meaning and can be used freely all by themselves

14、as words.3.2 Bound Morphemes Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder overWhen we analyze the internal structure of the word antecedent, we get three morphemes: ante (before), ced (go) and ent (something or somebody). How are these morphemes different from free morphemes? Summaries

15、 to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to LearnIn English, we have noticed that some morphemes such as er, -en, dis-, ante-, -ced- and ent cannot be used by themselves, but must be combined or bound with other morphemes to form words. They are bound morphemes. For example, the bound morpheme geo-, which

16、 bears the meaning of “the earth”, when combined with another morpheme ology meaning “a branch of learning”, produces the word geology which means “the study of the earths structure”. The common word television is actually the combination of the bound morpheme tele- with the free morpheme vision. Bo

17、und morphemes include two types: roots and affixes. Definitions to ClarifyBound morphemes: They are the morphemes which cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word. Root Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder ove

18、rLook at the following words, trying to remove the prefixes and suffixes until you get the elements which cannot be further analyzed and then observe the characteristics of the final minimal meaningful elements which you have reached.Unlimited:Prediction: Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints

19、to LearnWhen we remove the prefixes and suffixes of such words as unlimited and contradictable, the final minimal meaningful units we have obtained are limit and dict. They are morphemes. They are also roots. They can be called root morphemes. A root morpheme is the primary lexical unit of a word, w

20、hich carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced to smaller constituents. limit, as a root, can be used as a word, therefore it is a free root. dict, as a root, cannot be used as a word, therefore it is a bound root. Definitions to ClarifyRoot: A root is the basic

21、form of a word which cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity. It carries the main component of the meaning of a word. It can also be structurally defined as that part of a word which remains after all the affixes have been removed.Free root: It is a root which has a clear and defin

22、ite meaning and which can be used as a word. All the root words are free roots. Bound root: It must be combined with another root or an affix to form a word. Affixes Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over1) Compare the following two groups of affixes to find their difference

23、s in positions and how these positions affect the grammatical functions of a word:Group OneGroup TwoOriginal wordDerivational wordOriginal wordDerivational wordbeauty (n.)beautiful (adj.)agreement(n.)disagreement(n.)worse (adj.)worsen (v.)wise(adj.)unwise(adj.)move (v.)movement (n.)match(v.)mismatch

24、(v.)speak (v.)speakable (adj.)power(n.)superpower(n.)kind (adj.)kindly (adv.)frequently(adv.)infrequently(adv.)2) Can you list some of the affixes which, when added to another morpheme, can create a new word?3) Look at the affix s. When it is added to the morpheme walk, do you think a new word is cr

25、eated? What are the functions of the following affixes: -s, -ed and ing? walk + s walkswalk + ed walkedwalk + ing walkingbook + s books John + 's Johns Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to LearnAffixes are of two types：inflectional and derivational. We have found some of the affixes, w

26、hen combined with other morphemes, do not produce new words and they only add grammatical meanings to the morphemes to which they are attached such as s in books and ed in worked. In this sense, they are inflectional. This is why in a dictionary walk is treated as a separate entry but not walks, wal

27、ked or walking. More examples are:-(e)s, indicating plurality of nouns-(e)s, indicating third person singular, present tense-(e)d, indicating past tense for all three persons-ing, indicating progressive aspect-er, indicating comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs-s, indicating the possessive c

28、ase of nounsWe can also notice that the affixes which only add grammatical meanings to morphemes are always suffixes, the affixes at the end of a word and these affixes do not change the grammatical classes of the morphemes to which they are added. We have also noticed there is another category of a

29、ffixes, which, when added to an existing form, a new word is created such as in- in intolerant. The affixes, which can be combined with other morphemes to create new words, are derivational. Different from inflectional affixes, derivational affixes can change the grammatical classes of a word, but n

30、ot always. For example:Original wordDerivational wordwhite (adjective)whiten (verb)long (adjective)prolong (verb)accurate (adjective)inaccurate (adjective)king (noun)kingdom (noun)According to their position in a new word, affixes are divided into two kinds: prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes occur at

31、the beginning of a word and suffixes at the end. Definitions to ClarifyInflectional affixes: Inflectional affixes or inflectional morphemes manifest various grammatical relations of grammatical categories such as number, tense, degree, and case. Derivational affixes: Derivational affixes are added t

32、o an existing form to create a word.As a useful way to remember the different categories of morphemes, the following chart can be used: Morphemes Free morphemes (free roots) Bound morphemes Bound root Affixes Inflectional Derivational Suffixes Prefixes Suffixes4. Allomorph Relevant Language Use Obse

33、rvations and Questions to Ponder over1) In the English language, the morpheme in- as a negative prefix can have different outward manifestations in different linguistic contexts. Work out the different forms of the morpheme in- when it is added to the following words:-capable -logical -probable -rel

34、evant2) The past tense morpheme-ed has three different ways of pronunciation when added to different words. Discuss with your partner and try to find the different ways in which ed is pronounced in different linguistic contexts. Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to LearnWe can see from the

35、 example in- that a morpheme may be represented by different forms (morphs) in different linguistic contexts such as in-efficient, im-polite, ir-responsible and il-legible. The different representations of a morpheme in different linguistic environments are called the allomorphs of that morpheme. Th

36、erefore, in-, im-, ir- and il- (the four forms or morphs) are the allomorphs of the morpheme in-. Allomorphs vary in shape or pronunciation according to their conditions of use, but not as to meaning. The plural morpheme in English, usually written as s, has at least three allomorphs: /z/ in “dogs,

37、beds” /s/ in “cats” /iz/ in “garages”The distinctions between morphs and allomorphs are made on the analogy of phones and allophones. Morphs are the realizations of morphemes in general and allomorphs are the realizations of a particular morpheme. Now, let us look at some examples from English:/s/z/

38、iz/t/d/id/booksbagsbridgesmissedpleasedkiddedIn the table above, there are six morphs: /s/, /z/, /iz/, /t/, /d/ and /id/. Of the six morphs, /s/, /z/ and /iz/ are the allomorphs of the morpheme s; /t/, /d/ and /id/ are the allomorphs of the morpheme ed. Definitions to ClarifyAllomorphs are variants

39、of one morpheme. Just as there are “allophones” of a particular phoneme, we have allomorphs of a particular morpheme. The following pictures will show us the relation between allophones and allomorphs. 5. Word Formation Rules Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder overStudy the f

40、ollowing words and figure out the rules by which the following words are formed. You may have difficulty in discovering how certain words are formed. Just have a try. deadline colourful untie flu UFO brunch beg Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to LearnEnglish language is highly productive

41、 and new words are constantly added to it. The major ways to form English words are compounding, derivation and conversion while others are minor ways including conversion, clipping, initialism, acronyms, blending, back-formation, etc. From the examples above, we may arrive at some of the rules for

42、forming a word. For example, when we put two free morphemes together, we get deadline; colourful is derived from a free morpheme plus another derivative morpheme; flu is shorted from influenza by cutting the front part and the back part of the word; UFO is formed by joining the initial letters of th

43、e expression unidentified flying object; brunch is created by blending the first part of the word breakfast and the last part of the word lunch; beg is backformed from beggar by dropping the supposed suffix ar. More examples are as follows:5.1 Compounding Compound nouns: night + school night school

44、(n.+ n.),dead + linedead line ( adj.+n.), pick + pocket pickpocket (v.+n.),self + sacrifice self-sacrifice (pron. + n.),snow + fall snowfall (n.+ v.),down + fall downfall (adv. + v.).Compound verbs: sight + see sightsee (n. + v.),window + shop window-shop (n. + n.),safe + guard safeguard ( adj. + v.

45、),over +estimate overestimate ( adv. + v.).Compound adjectives: all + round all-round (adv. + adj.),cease + fire ceasefire (v.+ n.),full + time full-time (adj. + n.),world + famousworld-famous ( n. + adj.).Compound adverbs: knee + high knee-high (n. + adj.),down + hill down-hill ( adv. + n.),eye + t

46、o + eye eye-to-eye ( n. + prep. + n.),There are other types of compounds such as compound conjunctions like however and therefore, compound prepositions like into and outside and compound pronouns like nobody and whatever.5.2 DerivationTypesExamplesn. adj.love + ly lovely, color + ful colorful, harm

47、 + less harmless, planet + aryplanetary, wind + y windy, sun + ysunny, child + ish childish.n. v.length + enlengthen, character + ize characterize, dis + cover discover, de + famedefame.v. n.speak + er speaker, employ + ee employee, arrive + al arrival, inform + ant informant.v. adj.imagine + ary im

48、aginary, understand + able understandable.adj. v.broad +en broaden, modern + ize modernize, simple + ify simplify, valid + ate validate.adj. adv.soft + ly softly, accurate + ly accurately.5.3 ConversionTypesExamplesn. v.radio to radio, x-ray to x-rayv. n.to divide a divide, to bore a boreadj. n.nati

49、ve a native, Chinese a Chineseadj.v.cool to cool, narrow to narrow5.4 ClippingTypesExamplesBack clipping:ad (advertisement), photo (photograph), exam (examination)Front clipping:bus (omnibus), phone (telephone), quake (earthquake)Middle clipping:Mr. (mister), Dr. (doctor)Front and back clipping:flu

50、(influenza), fridge (refrigerator)5.5 InitialismFor example, VOA (Voice of America) and BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).5.6 AcronymFor example, UNESCO= (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), TOEFL= Test of English as a Foreign Language)5.7 BlendingFor example,

51、 smog( smoke + fog), Chinglish (Chinese + English), hi-fi ( high + fidelity), pop-cult (popular + culture), auto-worker ( automobile + worker), Eurasia ( Europe + Asia).5.8 Back-formationFor example, liar to lie, appreciation to appreciate, difficultydifficult. Definitions to ClarifyCompounding: It

52、refers to a word-formation process in which words are formed by putting two or more words together. Derivation: It refers to a process of word formation in which new words are created by adding affixes to roots. Conversion: It is a method of word-formation by which a word of one part of speech is tu

53、rned into a word of another part of speech. Words created in this way are new because their grammatical functions have changed. Conversion is also called functional shift. Clipping: It is a process of word-formation in which one or more syllables is/are deleted from a word. Initialism: It is a proce

54、ss of word-formation in which only the first letters of words are reserved. Acronyms: They are words formed from the first letters of fixed terms. Blending: It is a way of word-formation in which a new word is formed from two words, one of which is not in its full form or both of which are not in th

55、eir full form. Back-formation: It is a process of word formation in which a word is created by the deletion of a supposed affix.Exercises 1. What does morphology study?2. What is a morpheme? What are allomorphs? Supply some examples. 3. Analyze the internal structure of the following words: industri

56、alization inhabitants reappearanceinterpersonal transplant hypersensitive4. List the bound morphemes to be found in these words: misleads, previewer, shortened, unhappier, fearlessly5. In which of the following examples should the a be treated as a bound morpheme: a boy, apple, atypical, AWOL? 6. What are the main inflectional affixes in English? What grammatical m