A Word and Its Definitions

• A word is a minimal free form :

a) a word can be used by itself (it is free) as opposed to

other units like the –s of cats, which is a unit that carries a plural
meaning that cannot be used by itself;

b) a word is the smallest unit (it is minimal) that can be used by itself, in
contrast to phrases like a big boy

•Words are those strings that are set off by spaces

• Stress Patterns in Words

Stress is the relative force used to utter a syllable. It’s possible in English
to have primary and secondary stress in the same word: segmentation .
The stress pattern helps to identify one word (a compound) and word
combinations: ex.: a greenhouse and a green house
A Word as an Inflected Form of a
Lexeme
• The abstract item found in the dictionary is often
called a lexeme or lexical entry

• A word is an inflected form of a lexeme.

Word = lexeme + inflection

• All words of the same lexeme form a paradigm

(activate, activates, activated, activating). In
other words, a paradigm is the complete set of
inflected forms of a lexeme (long – longer –
longest)
 Morphology: A Study of the
Structure of Words
• The unit of morphology is a morpheme which is the
smallest meaningful unit. It cannot be divided into
smaller meaningful units.
• Speakers of a language can identify the internal
structure of the words in their language.
• Many words are not simple roots, they have internal
structure: speaks = speak + s or unbelievable = un +
believe + able.
• Speakers use this knowledge to understand new words
they come across (examples).
 Classification of Morphemes: Lexical,
Grammatical, and Derivational
• Lexical morphemes form the base of the word and have the
central (lexical) meaning of the word, like cat, space, fat, girl in girls,
etc.
• Grammatical morphemes (affixes: prefixes and suffixes) mark
grammatical categories of a word: -ed in opened, -s in pigs,
speaks, Paul’s and mother’s.

• Derivational morphemes (affixes: prefixes and suffixes) form a

new word with a meaning and/or category distinct from that of its
base through the addition of an affix: -er in teach-er (V>N), -able in
understand-able (V>A), -ment in treat-ment (V>N), -ful in hope-ful
(V>A) un- in un-happy
 Grammatical/Inflectional
Morphemes in English
Verbs:
1. works – 3rd person singular
2. worked – Past Indefinite
3. working – Continuous
4. work* - Not 3rd person singular ( *zero inflection)

Nouns:
1. a girl* - Singular (not plural) (*zero inflection)
2. girls – Plural
3. girl’s – Possessive Case (singular)
4. girls’ – Possessive Case (plural)

Adjectives:
1. long* - Neither comparison nor superlative degree (*zero inflection)
2. longer – Comparative Degree
3. longest – Superlative Degree
BOUND and FREE MORPHEMES
• A free morpheme can stand alone as an independent
word: put, cut, sing, coat, fat, etc…
• A bound morpheme cannot stand alone, it must be
attached to another morpheme in order to become an
independent word: (all affixes – derivational and
grammatical – are bound morphemes because they are
never words but always parts of words). Some lexical
morphemes can also be bound, especially when a word
is borrowed from another language: -ceive in receive,
rur- in rural, etc…
 INFLECTION vs. DERIVATION
(Inflectional/Grammatical rules vs. Derivational rules)
1. Inflectional affixes do not 1. Derivational affixes may change
change the grammatical category the grammatical category of a word:
of a word: think/thinks to think but a thinker

2. Inflectional affixes form para- 2. Derivational affixes do not form

digms and are typically productive paradigms, and may not be produc-
kick/ kicks/ kicked/ kicking, tive: person/ personal
personify/ impersonate
splash/ splashes/ splashed/ VS. penguin/* penguinal
splashing *penguinify/ *impenguinate

3. Inflectional affixes occur outside 3. Derivational affixes occur inside

derivational affixes: danc-er-s inflectional affixes: friend-li-er

4. Inflectional affixes are relevant 4. Derivational affixes are not

to syntax: A duck swims vs. relevant to syntax: A duck swims,
Ducks swim A duckling swims, etc.

5. Inflectional rules add information 5. Derivational rules are a

that the grammar of the language mechanism by which the lexicon
requires can be enriched with new words
friend / friends friend / friend-ship

6. By applying one inflectional rule, 6. Derivational rules can apply

we cannot apply another inflectional to lexemes that have been
rule: speak/ speak-s/*speak-s-ing created by a previous derivational
rule: correct/correct-ion/correct-ion-al
 Types of Morphemes

Identify the underlined morpheme in terms of whether it is: a) free or bound; b)

lexical, derivational or grammatical. ( 1 point each: 18 points )
e.g. Olympic bound–derivational
activate _________________ warmer __________
endless _________________ (he) pretends __________
performer _________________ passionately __________
cheaters’ _________________ edible __________

e.g. Olympic bound–derivational

activate bound - derivational warmer bound - grammatical
endless free - lexical (he) pretends bound – grammatical
performer bound - derivational passionately bound – derivational
cheaters’ bound - grammatical edible bound - lexical
 WORDS AND THEIR TYPES
• Simple (with or without grammatical morpheme): cat, bake, worked,
tables, speaks etc.
• Derivative (with derivational affixes): optimistic, impressive,
stupidity
• Compound (a combination of two or more lexical morphemes with
or without affixation): endocentric: birthplace and exocentric: a
greenhouse or a blackboard
• According to the Guinness book of Records, the longest non-
technical word in English found in print is the following:
raetertranssubstantiationalistically (six suffixes and three prefixes)
• Longer words take longer to read, which may make them slower
to recognize.
• According to Zipf (1935), frequently used words in English are
shorter than words that are used less often.
• You can understand between 71% and 84% of most English texts
knowing only the most common 1000 words of English.
 Word Meaning and Polysemy
Words have two main types of meaning:
1. Denotation refers to the direct and specific meaning of a word as
distinct from an implied or associated idea.
2. Connotation refers to the implied or associated ideas of a word,
i.e. it is the development of a denotational direct meaning.
• Polysemy: diversity of meanings. Polysemy fr. Greek poly
‘many’ + sema ‘sign, meaning’ + y ‘noun suf.’ Polysemy: the
existence within one word of several connected meanings as
the result of the development and changes of its original meaning.
Each extension of meaning is derived usually from the first
meaning: ex.: bright “shining”, “intelligent”).
 Word Meanings and Homophony
• Homophony: when the same phonetic forms have completely different not
connected meanings. They are different words: ex.: light –”not heavy”, light -
“illumination”

• If the different words are pronounced the same , whether or not they
are written the same , they are called homophones: ex.: to, two,
too; knew –new; meat – meet; see – sea;

• Words that are spelled the same, whether or not they are
pronounced the same , are called homographs: ex.: wind – to
turn/moving air, tear – to rip/a drop of water from the eye; desert – a
hot region/leave
 Allomorphic Variations
in Borrowed Prefixes
Basic variants (most independent of the context)
in – ‘not’; con – ‘together, with’
ir-, cor- before the words beginning with r
in+regular -> irregular ‘not regular’; con+rupt -> corrupt ‘break together’

il- , col- before the words beginning with l

In+legal -> illegal ‘not legal’; con+loquy -> colloquy ‘speaking together’

im-, com- before the words beginning with m, p, b

In+mobile -> immobile ‘not mobile’; con+mute -> commute ‘change together
In+possible -> impossible ‘not possible’ ; con+pose ->compose ‘put together’
In+balanced -> imbalanced ‘not balanced’; con+bine ->combine ‘two together’
in-, con- (basic allomorphs) before the words beginning with other sounds (letters), incl.
vowels: ex.: inappropriate, invisible; conurbation, constrain, etc. (most independent of
the context)
 Allomorphic Variations in Borrowing
Prefixes (Conclusions)
• The meaning of the prefix is the same but the prefix in fact changes its
shape.
• The form of the prefix that actually occurs depends on the initial letter
(sound) of the word to which it is attached. It means that the changes in
form happen under completely predictable circumstances.
• A morpheme is a quantity (unity) of allomorphs which are used in
complementary distribution. It means that each allomorph of the same
morpheme has a unique context or is found in a unique context.
• The basic allomorph (in-, con- in these cases) is the most independent of
the context and all other allomorphs can be predicted from it by known
phonetic replacement rules. This principle is called the principle of
morphemic identity: the various appearances of a morpheme are
allomorphic variations of an original single form.
• The “mechanism” of allomorphy is called assimilation, when one sound
(letter) becomes similar or identical with another sound (letter) in a
neighbouring morpheme, ex.: in+balanced -> imbalanced, con+rupt-
>corrupt
 Assimilation in Latin Prefixes
ad-
• ad- al- ar- ak(c)-
adduct allocate arrest acknowledge
adept accord

• as- at- ag-

assist attract aggrandize

sub-
• sub- suc- sup- suf- sur-
subdivide succeed support suffer surrogate
subemployed surround
Fossilized and Productive Rules
• The prefixes that show this type of allomorphic
variations are borrowed from Latin. These
replacement rules are fossilized rules/old rules
because they are not used to form words in
present-day English.
• In contrast to a fossilized form of a prefix is the
productive form, the form of the prefix that is
currently used in English to form words (new
rules). Ex.:
illegible (fossilized form/old) in-law (productive form/new)
 English Native Prefix un- ‘not’
(subject of no change)
• English native prefix un- meaning ‘not’
forms words that follow productive rules. It
means ‘no change’ – no assimilation.
Ex.: unhappy, unripe, unbearable, unbend,
unpaid, unlucky, unload , unreal, etc.
 The Greek Prefix an- ‘not’
(subject of consonant deletion)
• Greek prefix an- meaning ‘not’ forms words in English that follow
the fossilized rule of consonant deletion but not assimilation as
the Latin prefix with the same meaning.
• Consonant deletion in prefixes refers to the removal of a
consonant originally present in a prefix of a Greek origin if the
root/lexical morpheme begins with a consonant: An –V/A –C.
An - V -> An – V
• ANODYNE ‘without pain’ fr. Gk. odyne ‘pain
• ANARCHY ‘without rule’ fr. Gk arche ‘rule’
• ANOREXIA ‘without appetite’ fr. Gk. orego ‘desire’
An - C -> A – C
• ATROPHY ‘not growing’ fr. Gk. trephein ‘nourish’
• AGNOSTIC ‘not knowing (whether God exists) fr. Gk. gnostos ‘known’
• ASYMMETRIC ‘not being symmetric’ fr. Gk. symmetros ‘symmetrical’
 The Latin Locative Prefix in-
(subject of assimilation)
• Genus - ingenious
• Flection* – inflection
• Toxic – intoxicate
• Luminous - illuminate
• Lustrous – illustrious
• Pact – impact
• Pregnant – impregnate
• Radiate – irradiate
• Rupture – irruption
 The English Locative Prefix in-
(subject of no change – productive rule)
• Born – inborn
• Built - inbuilt
• Come – income
• Deed – indeed
• Door – indoor
• Put – input
• Let – inlet
• Lay – inlay
• Set – inset
• Sight - insight
 The Greek Locative Prefix en-
(subject of assimilation)
• Encyclopaedia en+cyclo+paedia circle+teach
• Enema en +heina send
• Endemic en+demos people
• Energy en+erg+y work
• Ellipsis en+leip leave
• Empyrean en+pyre fire
• Emblem en+ball throw
• Embolism en+ball throw
 Summary of Latin, Greek and
English Prefixes: negative/locative
English Latin Greek
Locative in- in- en-
Assimilation Assimilation

___________________________________

Negative un- in- an-

Assimilation C. Deletion
Deletion