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University of Madras
Syllabus with effect from 2023-2024
B.A English Literature
[2nd Year, 4th Semester]
Language and Linguistics (205C4B)
Unit 4: Morphology and Word Formation
Unit4: Morphology and Word Formation
4.1 Morphemes – Free and bound Morphemes
4.2 Affixes -Prefix, Suffix and Infix
4.3 Allomorphs - Zero morphemes Empty
Morphemes
4.4 Compound Words, Back formation Portmanteau words, Clipping of Words
4.5 Morphophonemics - Phonetic Realization of Plural, Past, Third Person Singular morphemes (pronunciation of – ed, -s &-es)
4.1 Morphemes – Free and bound Morphemes
When a morpheme can be both a morpheme and a word, it is called a free morpheme. But morphemes which occur only as a proper sub-part of a word (and not as a word) are called bound morphemes (e.g. ‘-ment’ and ‘dis-’). Hence ‘-ly’ is a bound morpheme in words like ‘properly’, ‘suddenly’, and ‘correctly’. It cannot exist alone as it is not a proper word of English.
Classification of Morphemes:
Ronald
W Langacker in his book ‘Language and its Structure’ has divided morphemes into
two classes: Lexical and Grammatical. Lexical Morphemes: Lexical Morphemes are
– Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs. They have more or less independent
meaning. They change their forms frequently. Lexical morphemes are in large
numbers in the language. They are open ended. So the new members are added to
the lexicon quite often. E.g. flower, rose, pluck, beautiful, rare etc.
Lexical
morphemes carry the main meaning (or significance) of the word it belongs to.
The morpheme ‘ready’ in ‘readiness’ carries the meaning of the word, as does
‘bound’ in ‘unbound’, or ‘cran’ in ‘cranberry’. These morphemes, because they carry
the lexical meaning, are lexical morphemes.
Grammatical morphemes: Grammatical morphemes are elements like prepositions, articles, conjunctions, forms indicating number, gender, tense or so on. They, by and large, do not change frequently. New members in their family in any language are added rather infrequently. Grammatical morphemes can become attached to lexical morphemes. The ‘ing’ in ‘singing’ carries no lexical meaning, but it does provide a grammatical context for the lexical morpheme. It tells us that the ‘sing’ is ‘ing’ (as in ‘on-going’). In the same way, the morpheme ‘-ly’ in ‘timely’ carries no meaning independently, but it does turn the noun ‘time’ into a word more frequently used as an adverb.
Types of Morpheme:
Free Morpheme:
Free morphemes are those morphemes that occur alone as independent words. For example, dog, film, run, front etc. Free morphemes can be used freely as words having their own specific meaning. They always contain and sustain their meaning wherever they occur in a sentence.
Bound Morpheme:
A morpheme that doesn’t have any independent meaning and can be formed with the help of free morphemes is called a bound morpheme. Bound morphemes are those morphemes that cannot occur as independent words. For example; -less, -ness, pre-, un-, en-, -ceive, -ment. In bound morphemes we can study Prefix, Suffix, and Infix. It is also called as Affixation. All affixes are examples of bound morphemes.
However,
some morphemes like and, or, but etc. are grammatical morphemes yet they are
independent words.
4.2 Affixes -Prefix, Suffix and Infix
Morphemes such as –s, -ed, -ing, un-, mis-, -hood, -ship etc. are called affixes. Here one or more sounds occur as a bound form that are attached either to the beginning or to the end of a base word. These forms like –s, or –ed, or un- are attached to a base word, which is called a stem word. In the word unlikely, the affixes are un- and –ly, and the stem is like. In the word knowing, the stem is known and the affix is –ing. The stem know cannot be split any further. Such a stem which cannot be split any further is called a root. To a stem, affixes can be attached and thereby producing a derivative word or an inflectional form.
Prefixes and Suffixes
An
affix is added to a root word or a stem and it is of two types. They are
suffixes and prefixes. Affixes which are attached at the beginning of the stem
are called prefixes. The following are some examples:
Un- unkind
Dis- dislike
Mis- misrepresent
In- inequal
Re- resurrect
De- degrade
Im- impassable
Non- nonsense
Anti- antisocial
The
affixes which are attached at the end of the stem are called suffixes:
-ing (meaning)
-dom (kingdom)
-ship (friendship)
-less (thankless)
-ness (kindness)
-ly (kingly)
-ion (prohibition)
Inflectional and Derivational Affixes
Affixes
may be derivational or inflectional. Inflectional affixes change the form of
word. For example, move, moves, moved, and moving are different forms of the same
word. Therefore –s, -ed, and –ing are inflectional affixes. It refers to the
formation of a new form of the same word.
Derivational affix, on the other hand, is a process of word formation. It refers to the formation of a new word from another word. Thank and thankless are different words, therefore –less is a derivational affix.
Some words in English do not take inflectional suffixes. Such words are referred to as function words. Articles, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, auxiliary verbs etc. are function words. The function words do not change form or meaning. Therefore they are referred to as closed class.
4.3 Allomorphs - Zero morphemes Empty Morphemes
Morphemes and Allomorphs
Morphemes
are the smallest meaningful constituents of words; Words are composed of
morphemes (one or more). sing-er-s, home-work, un-kind-ly, ipp-ed,
de-nation-al-iz-ation nej-ne-ob-hospod.ar-ova-tel-nejs-ho, auto-servis-u Morph.
The term morpheme is used both to refer to an abstract entity and its concrete
realization(s) in speech or writing. When it is needed to maintain the signi ed
and signi er distinction, the term morph is used to refer to the concrete
entity, while the term morpheme is reserved for the abstract entity only.
Allomorphs
are a set of forms that a morpheme may take. They are the variants of a
morpheme. While morphemes are concerned with the structure and meaning of
words, allomorphs are concerned with the sound of words without changing the
meaning. The morphemes are generally represented within braces and allomorphs
are given in slash lines. The regular plurals of English nouns are realized as
/-s/, /-z/ and /-es/.
If
the morpheme ends in /s/ /ʃ/ and /ʧ/, then the allomorph /iz/ is selected.
Examples:
Fish – fishes- /fiʃiz/
Match- matches - /mæʧiz/
Bus – buses - /bʌsiz/
If
the morpheme ends in voiced consonant or a vowel, the allomorph is /z/.
Examples:
Dog – dogs - /dɒgz/
Fly – flies – /flaiz/
Bird – birds- /bə:dz/
Monkey– monkeys - /mʌŋkiz/
The
past tense of a morpheme, in most cases, is formed by adding –d or –ed to the
word. The ending sound becomes /t/, /d/ or /id/. The past tense –ed is realized
as /t/ if it is preceded by a voiceless consonant other than /t/. Some verbs
whose ending sound is /t/ or /d/ the past tense of its ending sound becomes
/id/.
Examples:
Jump – jumped - /dʒʌmpt/
Hunt – hunted - /hʌntid/
Brand – branded - /brændid/
Learn – learned - /lə:nid/
Kick – kicked - /kikt/
Bag – bagged - /bægd/
Allomorphs are different forms of the
same morpheme, and zero morphemes are a type of allomorph that have no phonetic
form, while empty morphemes lack both form and meaning.
Zero morphemes:
A
Zero morpheme also known as a null morpheme that has no phonetic form, but still
carries grammatical meaning. In the zero morphemes the null morpheme is added to
the root, therefore it has a function but no form. For example: the verb put has same form in
both past and present. Similarly the word cut has same form in both past and
present. In the word sheep, the plural form is also sheep. The word sheep gets
attached to a null plural morpheme, which changes the meaning but doesn’t
change the form.
Empty morphemes:
Empty
morphemes are those morphemes that has a phonological structure but no semantic
content. It's a morph that doesn't contribute to the overall meaning of a word.
For example: cran in the word cran-berry, berry has meaning of its own but cran doesn’t have any semantic content.
4.4 Compound Words, Back formation Portmanteau words, Clipping of
Words
Word formation
The
word formation refers to the ways in which new words are formed. It is an
ongoing process and new words continue to evolve. The process of word formation does not have
a uniformity in all languages. It may vary from language to language. The
following are some of the important word formation process:
Compound Words:
It
is a process in which a word is formed out of two or more words. This type of
words are called compound words. Here different forms of word classes combine
to form new ones. In the word blackboard, an adjective combines with a noun. In
most cases, the compound word retains the meaning of the two combined word. A
blackboard is a board that is black in color. However, there are some compound
words whose meanings cannot be assumed from the two combined words. For example
the compound word white-collar, and black money.
Examples: teapot, manmade, footprint,
tea-party, and bookshelf.
Back-formation
As
the word indicates, it is the formation of a new word by removing the affixes.
It is a reverse process of derivation. In this process a word is formed from another
word by removing its affixes. Thus back- formation may be viewed as a sub-type
of clipping.
Examples:
The
verb resurrect is formed from the noun resurrection.
Project
(V) - projection (N)
Edit
(V) - editor (N)
Insert
(V) – insertion (n)
Portmanteau word
A
portmanteau word, also known as a blend, is a word created by combining parts
of two or more existing words, usually the beginning of one and the end of
another, to form a new word with a combined meaning.
Examples:
“Brunch”
(breakfast + lunch)
“Smog”
(smoke + fog)
“Mockumentary”
(mock + documentary)
“Spork”
(spoon + fork)
“Frenemy”
(friend + enemy)
“Motel”
(motor + hotel)
“Mall”
(market + hall)
Clipping Words:
It
is a shortening technique in which a new word is formed. Here a word is
shortened to one of its parts by retaining the meaning. If the beginning of the
word is retained, it is back clipping. The examination becomes exam,
mathematics is shortened as math, laboratory – lab, gymnastics – gym.
In fore clipping, the final part is retained. The word telephone is reduced to phone, omnibus becomes bus, university – varsity, are some examples.
4.5 Morphophonemics - Phonetic Realization of Plural, Past, Third Person
Singular morphemes (pronunciation of – ed, -s &-es)
Morphophonemics
Morphophonemics, also known as
morphophonology, examines the interaction between morphology (word structure)
and phonology (sound structure). It focuses on how morphemes, which are the
smallest units of meaning in language, are realized phonetically.
In morphophonemics, deals with the
interaction between morphological and phonological processes and how they these
factors affect each other. Morphophonemic change usually occurs at morpheme
boundaries and it involves sounds that are associated with separate phonemes.
Plural Morpheme:
The rule determines the phonetic form of the plural morpheme has traditionally been called a morphophonemic rule, because its application is determined by both the morphology and the phonology. When a morpheme has alternative phonetic forms, these forms are called allomorphs by some linguists. [z], [s], and [əz] would be allomorphs of the regular plural morpheme, and determined by rule. Examples:
Singular:
cat /kæt/, dog /dɒɡ/, bus
/bʌs/
Plural:
cats /kæts/, dogs /dɒɡz/,
buses /bʌsɪz/
Past Tense Morpheme:
The past-tense rule in English, like the plural-formation rule, must include morphological information. Notice that after a vowel or diphthong the form of the past tense is always [d], even though no phonological rule would be violated if a [t] were added, as shown by the words tight, bout, rote. When the word is a verb, and when the final alveolar represents the past tense morpheme, however, it must be a voiced [d] and not a voiceless [t]. Examples:
Present:
walk /wɔːk/,
sing /sɪŋ/
Past:
walked /wɔːkt/,
sang /sæŋ/
Third-Person Singular Morpheme:
The third-person singular morpheme is a
grammatical marker (a morpheme) that signals the present tense and subject-verb
agreement for singular, third-person subjects.
Examples:
Present:
I walk, he walks
Morphophonemic processes:
Morphophonemic
processes can involve alternations in vowel and consonant sounds, reflecting
the interaction between morphology and phonology.
These
processes help explain why certain plural forms in English, like 'goose' to
'geese', exhibit irregular changes instead of following standard rules.
They
often come into play in verb conjugation, where the ending of a verb may change
depending on tense or subject agreement.
Understanding
morphophonemic processes is essential for analyzing language patterns and
predicting how words will change in different grammatical contexts.
Languages around the world exhibit unique morphophonemic processes that reflect their specific phonological and morphological rules.
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