语言学导论课后习题答案

Chapter 4 Morphology

What is morphology?

The total number of words stored in the brain is called the lexicon.

Words are the smallest free units of language that unite sounds with meaning. Morphology is defined as the study of the internal structure and the formation of words.

Morphemes and allomorphs

The smallest meaningful unit of language is called a morpheme.

A morpheme may be represented by different forms, called allomorphs.

“zero” form of a morpheme and suppletives

Some countable nouns do not change form to express plurality. Similarly, some regular verbs do not change form to indicate past tense. In these two cases, the noun or verb contains two morphemes, among which there is one “zero form” of a morpheme.

Some verbs have irregular changes when they are in past tense. In this case, the verbs also have two morphemes. Words which are not related in form to indicate grammatical contrast with their roots are called suppletives.

Free and bound morphemes

Some morphemes constitute words by themselves. These morphemes are called free morphemes.

Other morphemes are never used independently in speech and writing. They are always attached to free morphemes to form new words. These morphemes are called bound morphemes.

The distinction between a free morphemes and a bound morpheme is whether it can be used independently in speech or writing.

Free morphemes are the roots of words, while bound morphemes are the affixes (prefixes and suffixes).

Inflexional and derivational morphemes

Inflexional morphemes in modern English indicate case and number of nouns, tense and aspect of verbs, and degree of adjectives and adverbs.

Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes added to existing forms to construct new words.

English affixes are divided into prefixes and suffixes.

Some languages have infixes, bound morphemes which are inserted into other morphemes.

The process of putting affixes to existing forms to create new words is called derivation. Words thus formed are called derivatives.

Conclusion: classification of morphemes

Morphemes

Free morphemes

Bound morphemes

Inflexional

Derivational: affixes

Prefixes: -s, -’s, -er, -est, -ing, -ed, -s

Suffixes

Formation of new words

Derivation

Derivation forms a word by adding an affix to a free morpheme.

Since derivation can apply more than once, it is possible to create a derived word with a number of affixes. For example, if we add affixes to the word friend, we can form befriend, friendly, unfriendly, friendliness, unfriendliness, etc. This process of adding more than one affix to a free morpheme is termed complex derivation. Derivation does not apply freely to any word of a given category. Generally speaking, affixes cannot be added to morphemes of a different language origin. Derivation is also constrained by phonological factors.

Some English suffixes also change the word stress.

Compounding

Compounding is another common way to form words. It is the combination of free morphemes.

The majority of English compounds are the combination of words from the three classes – nouns, verbs and adjectives – and fall into the three classes.

In compounds, the rightmost morpheme determines the part of speech of the word. The meaning of compounds is not always the sum of meaning of the components. Conversion

Conversion is the process putting an existing word of one class into another class. Conversion is usually found in words containing one morpheme.

Clipping

Clipping is a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables.

Clipped words are initially used in spoken English on informal occasions.

Some clipped words have become widely accepted, and are used even in formal styles. For example, the words bus (omnibus), vet (veterinarian), gym (gymnasium), fridge (refrigerator) and fax (facsimile) are rarely used in their complete form.

Blending

Blending is a process that creates new words by putting together non-morphemic parts of existing words. For example, smog (smoke + frog), brunch (a meal in the middle of morning, replacing both breakfast and lunch), motel (motor + hotel). There