Morphology Study Guide - Concepts and Classifications

What is morphology?
• The study of morphemes (hình vị - đơn vị về mặt hình thức)
• Morpheme + free (tự do); +bound (phụ thuộc).
• The study of word formation UNIT 1: MORPHEMES Definition
a) A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a language.
b) A morpheme is a short segment of language that meets three criteria:
1. It is a word or part of a word that has meaning.
2. It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without violation of its
meaning or without meaningless remainders.
3. It recurs in different verbal environments with a relatively stable meaning. Ex: unkind: un- kind The prefix (tiền tố) The base/root (căn tố)
Lexical meaning: not Lexical meaning: friendly, thoughtful to others Talks: talk -s The base/root; The suffix (hậu tố)
Lexical meaning: say sth; Grammatical meaning: in the third person singular present-tense form
A morpheme can have lexical or grammatical meaning. Phoneme Syllable Morpheme Word
The smallest units A single unit of The smallest A single unit of of speech that speech.
carrier of meaning language that has make one word Lion -> 2 syllables meaning and can different from – 1 morpheme be spoken or another word. exporter written. Bitch/pitch Boy, desire Boyish, desirable Gentlemanly Unreachability Classification of morphemes Free:
Can be uttered alone with meaning/ can be used on its own, may stand alone as
words in their own right. “Drink” as a word.
Can enter into the structure of other words. “Drink” as a free base (un)drinkable; drinking-water.
Bound: (có nghĩa nhưng không đứng một mình)
Cannot be uttered alone with meaning/ always annexed to one or more morphemes
to form a word. The suffix “-ing”.
Never used alone but must be used with another morpheme. Drinking, living.
Base/Root (căn tố) vs Affixes (phụ tố) BASES/ROOTS (F.B & B.B)
Morpheme in a word that has the principal meaning.
FREE: which may be a word on its own right once the other morphemes have been
stripped away. Unbreakable, deactivated, friendship.
(căn tố tự do F.B ko có hyphen - dấu gạch nối)
BOUND: which can never occur on its own but can only be joined to other bound
morphemes. Audi- : audience, audible…; -cide: suicide, patricide…
AFFIX: that occurs before or behind a base • According to position
PREFIXES: occur before a base. Import, prefix, reconsider, unkind, understate, over-react.
SUFFIXES: occur after a base. Shrinkage, noisy, quickly, nails, dreamed, mouse- like.
INFIXES (trung tố): inserted within words. Passers-by, mothers-in-law, forty-
bloody-seven, kanga-bloody-roos. • According to function
INFLECTIONAL (hình vị biến tố): which are always suffixes in English, perform
a grammatical function; they are representatives of grammatical categories. 8 cases must learned: • Book-s, apple-s box-es;
• man-‘s, girl-‘s, student-‘; • walk-s, find-s, mix-es;
• play-ing, typ(e)-ing, dig(g)-ing;
• PAST: flow-ed, thought, creat(e)-ed, drank;
• PAST PARTICIPLE: flow-ed, creat(e)-ed, drunk, broken, thought;
• small-er, safe-er, thinn-er;
• small-est, safe-est, thinn-est.
DERIVATIONAL (phụ tố phái sinh): which may be prefixes or suffixes in
English, have a lexical function; they create new words out of existing words or morphemes by their addition.
• Class-changing: N + -al: national; boy-ish; danger-ous; quiet-ly; beauti-fy;
clear-ance; prepar-ation; vaccine-ate.
• Class-maintaning: re-mark, dis-advantage; pun-ster; orphan-age; auto- biography; im-mortal; ex-wife.
VARIATIONS OF MORPHEMES – ALLOMORPHS
An allomorph (tha hình vị) is ‘any of the different forms of a morpheme’.
Ex: [-s] the inflectional noun plural morpheme: cats /s/, dogs /z/, boxes /iz/ MORPHOLOGICALLY CONDITIONED
[in-]: [in-] [im-] [il-] [ir-] -> not • Types of allomorph
- Additive: something is added to a word. + Needed, stayed, washed.
- Replacive: a sound is used to replace another sound in a word.
+ Drink, drank; sing, sang; see, saw.
- Subtractive: something is deleted from a word.
+ Zop -> plural form of the possessive case, Zopa (Russian); Vert (masculine), Verte (feminine)
- Suppletive: there is a complete change in the shape of a word. + go-went; be-is; bad-worse.
- Zero: there is no change in the shape of a word + hurt-hurt; put-put.
UNIT 2: DERIVATION AND INFLECTION (page 41)
Ex: Clearance performed process of Derivation: class changing. There is 2
morphemes: Clear is the free base, ance is the suffix.
1. Clearance: clear – ance: class changing
2. Shorter: short – er: inflection
3. Mortality: mort - al – ity: class changing
4. Breaking: break – ing: inflection
5. Writer: write-er: class changing
6. Superman: super – man: class maintaning
7. Semifinal: semi – final: class maintaning
8. Talked: talk – ed: inflection
9. Saigonese: Saigon – ese: class changing
10. Apples: apple – s: inflection I/ DERIVATION
Definition: is the formation of new words by adding affixes to other words or morphemes. II/ INFLECTION
Definition: is the process of adding an affix to a word or changing it in some other
way according to the rules of the grammar of a language.
- Noun inflection: 1 stem + 3 inflected forms
- Verb inflection: 1 stem + 4 inflected forms
- Adj/adv inflection: 1 stem + 2 inflected forms
• “Stem” is used for inflection, “base” is used for derivation
• Situation: “a smiling girl”: “smiling” is inflection, but in this position, it is a , so it is DERIVATION.
UNIT 3: IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS (thành tố trực tiếp) (page 75)
1. Definition: IC’s are any of the two meaningful parts forming a larger linguistic unit. E.g: “ungentlemanly”
First layer of structure (an IC): (prefix + stem): un/gentlemanly
Second layer of structure (an IC): (noun + ly): gentleman/ -ly
Third layer of structure (an IC): (compound noun): gentle/man
⇨ The process is continued until all the component morphemes of a word have been isolated.
2. Some recommendations on IC division
1. If a word ends in an inflectional suffix, the first cut is between this suffix and the rest of the word.
E.g: preconceived; malformations
Pre- + conceiv(e) / -ed; mal- + formation/ -s
2. One of the IC’s should be a free form.
E.g: enlargement; independent; unlawful.
En- +large / -ment; in- / depend + -ent; un- / law + -ful
3. The meanings of the IC’s should be related to the meaning of the word. E.g: restrain: re- /strain 3. Diagram
Exercise: Give the IC cuts of each of the following words. Identify all the possible
morphemes in each of the following words: 1. Arriv(e) | -al
Arrive: a free base which is a verb;
-al /-l/: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘process of’ or ‘state of’. 2. Build | -s
Build: a free base which is a verb;
-s /-z/: an allomorph of the inflectional verb present tense third person singular morpheme {-S3}. 3. wall | flower | -s
Wall and flower: two free bases which are both nouns;
-s /-z/: an allomorph of the inflectional noun plural morpheme {-S1}. 4. hope | -ful | -ly
Hope: a free base which is a noun;
-ful /-fl/: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘full of’;
-ly /-li/: the derivational class-changing adverb-forming suffix {-ly1} meaning ‘in a/an way/manner’. 5. life | -less | -ness
Life: a free base which is a noun;
-less /-les/: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning
‘without any’, ‘lacking in’ or ‘absence of’;
-ness /-nes/: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘quality
of’, ‘state of’ or ‘character of’. 6. un- | law | -ful
Un- /^n-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘not’;
Law: a free base which is a noun;
-ful /-fl/: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘full of’. 7. un- | in- | -spire | -ed
Un- /^n-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘not’;
In- /in-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘in’;
-spire /-spaɪər/: a bound base.
-ed /-d/: an allomorph of the derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix. 8. un- | employ | -ment
Un- /^n-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘lack of’ or ‘without any’;
Employ: a free base which is a verb;
-ment /-ment/: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘result of’ or ‘means of’.
9. un- | verb | -al | -ize | -ed
Un- /^n-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘not’;
Verb: a free base which is a noun;
-al /-l/: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’.
-ize /-aiz/: a derivational class-changing verb-forming suffix meaning ‘act or treat with the qualities of’;
-ed /-d/: an allomorph of the derivational class-changing adj-forming suffix. 10. fals(e) | -ify
False: a free base which is an adjective;
-ify /-ifai/: a derivational class-changing verb-forming suffix meaning ‘make’ or ‘become’. 11. vis- | -ib | -ly
Vis- /viz-/: a bound base, an allomorph of {-vise} /-vaiz/ meaning ‘see’;
-ib /-eb/: the allomorph which can only occur before {-ly} of the derivational class-
changing adjective-forming suffix {-ible} meaning ‘able to be…’ or ‘that may or must be’;
-ly /-li/: the derivational class-changing adverb-forming suffix meaning ‘in a/an way/manner’. 12. ir- | re- | cover | -able
Ir- /ir-/: an allomorph which can only occurs before the retroflex /r/ of the
derivational class-maintaining prefix {in-} meaning ‘not’;
Re- /ri:-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘again’;
Cover: a free base which is a verb;
-able /-ebl/: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘that may or must be’. 13. fat(e) | -al | -ist | -ic
Fat(e) /feit/: a free base which is a noun;
-al /-el/: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’.
-ist /-ist/: a derivational class-chaning noun-forming suffix meaning ‘person who believes in’.
-ic /-ik/: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘concerning’. 14. re- | interpret | -ing
Re- /ri:-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘again’;
Interpret: a free base which is a verb;
-ing /-in/: the inflectional verb present participle suffix. 15. pre- | histor(y) | -ic
Pre- /pri:-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘before’;
Histor-: a free base, an allomorph of {history} which is a noun;
-ic /-ik/: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘concerning’. 16. pre- | -clu | -sion
Pre- /pri-/: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘beforehand’ or ‘in advance’;
-clu: a bound base, an allomorph of {-clude} which means ‘shut’ or ‘close’;
-sion /-3n/: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘action of’ or ‘condition of’. 17. anti- | cler- | -ic | -al
Anti-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘against’;
Cler-: a bound base, an allomorph of {clerk} which is a noun;
-ic: a derivational class-maintaining noun-forming suffix meaning ‘person who performs a specific action’;
-al: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘concerning’.
18. counter- | de- | -clar(e) | -ation
Counter-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘opposite in direction or
effect’, ‘made in response to’ or ‘opposed to’.
De-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘completely’;
-clar(e): a bound base, an allomorph of {clear} which is an adj;
-ation: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘action of’ or ‘condition of’. 19. re- | -ac | -tion | -ary
Re-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘backwards’ or ‘in response to’;
-ac: a bound base, an allomorph of {act} which is a verb;
-tion: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘action of’ or ‘condition of’;
-ary: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerned with’.
20. mal- | con- | -struc | -tion | -s
Mal-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’;
Con-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘with’;
-struc: a bound base, an allomorph of -struct meaning ‘build’;
-tion: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘action of’ or ‘condition of’;
-s: an allomorph of the inflectional noun plural morpheme. 21. mis- | judge | -ment
Mis-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘wrongly’;
Judge: a free base which is a verb;
-ment: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘result of’ or ‘means of’. 22. deep | -en | -ed
Deep: a free base which is an adjective;
-en: a derivational class-changing verb-forming suffix meaning ‘make’;
-ed: an allomorph of the inflectional verb past simple morpheme or of the
inflectional verb past participle morpheme. 23. em- | bodi | -ment
Em-: an allomorph of the derivational class-changing verb-forming prefix {en-} meaning ‘put into or on’;
Body: a free base which is a noun;
-ment: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘result of’ or ‘means of’. 24. favour | -it(e) | -ism
Favour: a free base which is a noun;
-ite: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘that you like the most’;
-ism: a derivational class-maintaining noun-forming suffix meaning ‘qualities typical of’. 25. philosoph- | -er
Philosoph-: a bound base, an allomorph of {philosophy} which is a noun;
-er: a derivational class-maintaining noun-forming suffix meaning ‘person who is concerned with’. 26. in- | -flam(m) | -ation
In-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘in’ or ‘on’;
-flam(m): a bound base, an allomorph of {flame} which is a verb;
-ation: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘action of’ or ‘condition of’. 27. con- | fid- | -enti | -al
Con-: a derivational prefix, an allomorph of {con-} meaning ‘with’;
Fid-: a bound base, an allomorph of {fide} meaning ‘trust’;
-enti: an allomorph of the derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix;
-al: a derivational class-maintaining adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’. 28. super- | natur(e) | -al
Super-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘beyond the norm’;
Nature: a free base which is a noun;
-al: a derivational class-changing adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘of’ or ‘concerning’.
29. ob- | -struc | -tion | -ist | -s
Ob-: a derivational class-maintaining prefix meaning ‘against’.
-struc: a bound base meaning ‘build’;
-tion: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘action of’ or ‘condition of’;
-ist: a derivational class-maintaining noun-forming suffix meaning ‘person who is concerned with’;
-s: an allomorph of the inflectional noun plural morpheme. 30. op- | -pos(e) | -ition
Op-: the allomorph which can only occur before the voiceless bilabial plosive /p/
of the derivational class-maintaing prefix {ob-} meaning ‘against’;
-pos(e): a bound base meaning ‘put’ or ‘place’;
-ition: a derivational class-changing noun-forming suffix meaning ‘action of’ or ‘condition of’. UNIT 4: WORDS DEFINITIONS
1. The word may be described as the basic unit of language.
2. A word is the smallest linguistic unit which can occur on its own in speech or writing.
3. Aspects of the simplest word: - A sound form - Morphological structure - In different word forms
- Different syntactic functions and meanings Ex: “sleep” - Sound form: /sli:p/
- Morphological structure: One free base
- In different word forms: Sleeps, sleeping, slept (past simple) and slept (past participle)
- Syntactic functions: The child was sleeping soundly -> verbal; He stood
sleeping -> adverbial; a sleeping child -> adjectival. 4. Characteristics of a word: - Indivisibility
- Internal stability & Positional mobility
• Internal stability/ cohesion or Uninterruptability/Positional mobility
It tends to be internally stable (in terms of the order of the component
morphemes), but positionally mobile (permutable with other words in the same sentence).
⇨ Words have some freedom to move within a sentence without destroying
their meaning (regarded as a minimal linguistic unit which is freely movable with a meaning).
Ex: spirit (1 – a free base), desire (1), uncertain (2 – un & certain), lioness (2 – lion
& ess), terminate (2 – termin & ate), conclude (2 – con & clude), southeast (2 –
south & east), well-prepared (3 – well & prepare & ed)
⇨ 1,2: simple words; 3,4,5,6: complex words; 7,8: compound words
• Simple (a single free base): stay, flea, long, spirit
• Complex (at least one bound morpheme as an immediate constituent):
- Complex words – FB (free base): one free morpheme as an IC.
Ex: lioness, rainy, uncertain, rebirth…
- Complex words – BB (bound base): one bound morpheme for each IC.
Ex: televise, suicide, conclude, terminate…
• Compound ( 2 free bases (free morphemes) with or without bound
morphemes): high-class, southeast, wall fruits, well-prepared
⇨ Sự phân loại này dựa vào cấu trúc nội tại của từ Features of Compounds
- Phonological feature: the elements of a compound are stressed.
Ex: ‘blue,collar (COMP) >< ,blue’collar
⇨ ‘Compound word’ nhấn vào âm đầu, ‘Grammatical structure’ nhấn vào âm 2 - Syntactic features:
+ Order (the arrangement of the elements in a compound may differ from
that of a grammatical structure in order).
Ex: fall down = collapse (v): V + particle
Downfall (COMP): fall from a position Break out = start suddenly (v)
Outbreak (COMP): a sudden start
+ Indivisibility (as solid blocks)
Ex: She is a sweetheart. (COMP)
She has a sweet heart. (GS) -> She has a sweet, kind heart.
- Semantic features: Specialized meanings (idiomatic status)
Ex: egghead: intellectual; nut house: hospital for the people with mental illness. Types of compounds
- Derivational compounds (the derivational suffix is attached to the
combination as a whole, not to one of its elements)
+ Noun base + noun base + -er: footballer, lefthander, mill-owner.
+ Adjective base + noun base + -ed: absend-minded, light-hearted, short-
sighted, black-haired, blue-eyed.
+ Noun base + noun base + -ed: bow-legged, war-minded, heart-shaped, moon-shaped.
+ Number base + noun base + -ed: five-coloured, three-fingered, one-eyed.
- Repetitive compounds (phép lặp, phép láy).
The classification of words according to their internal structures: Simple word Complex - FB Complex - BB Compound Scuba, rouge,
Defrost, powerful Televise, export, Baby-sit, anyone shampoo, robot, convert dry-clean, dorm, nylon, homesick smog, laser, gym, motel
The classification of words according to their word formation process:
Coina Borrowi Blendi Clippi Acrony Conversi Affixation Back- Compound ge ng ng ng my on formati ing on Robot Shampo Smog, Gym, Laser, Export, Defrost Televis Anyone, , o motel dorm scuba convert (prefixatio e, homesick nylon (Americ n), baby- an powerful sit, dry- Indian), (suffixatio clean rouge n) (French) 9 ways of forming a word:
- Coinage (p.109) (liên quan tới lịch sử nguồn gốc từ) - Borrowing (từ mượn)
- Blending (pha trộn giữa 2 từ) - Clipping (cắt từ)
- Acronymy (từ viết tắt từ các chữ cái đầu)
- Conversion (sự chuyển đổi) - Affixation
- Back-formation (loại bỏ suffix, hình thành ngược)
- Compounding (có hyphen, viết dính từ)
Examples for “blending”:
Smog = smoke + fog; smaze = smoke + haze; motel = motor + hotel; slimnastics =
slim + gymnastics; breathalyzer = breath + analyser; brunch = breakfast + lunch;
frenglish = French + English; transceiver = transmitter + receiver.
Examples for “clipping”:
Exam -> examination; advert -> advertisement; fan -> fanatic; lab -> laboratory;
dorm -> dormitory; demo -> demonstration; gym -> gymnasium; telly -> television set.
Bus -> omnibus; plane -> airplane; phone -> telephone.
Flu -> influenza; fridge -> refrigerator.
Examples for “acronymy”:
NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organization: Tổ chức Hiệp ước Bắc Đại Tây Dương.
NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Cơ quan Hàng không và Vũ trụ Hoa Kì.
UNESCO = United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization: Tổ
chức Giáo dục, Khoa học và Văn hóa Liên Hợp Quốc.
UNO = United Nations: Liên Hợp Quốc.
WHO = World Health Organization: Tổ chức Y tế thế giới.
ASEAN = Association of South East Asian Nations: Hiệp hội các quốc gia Đông Nam Á.
S.O.S = Save Our Souls: tín hiệu khẩn cấp.
GDP = Gross domestic product: tổng sản phẩm nội địa.
Laser = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation: sự khuếch đại
ánh sáng bằng phát xạ kích thích.
Scuba = Self-Contained underwater breathing apparatus: thiết bị hỗ trợ lặn.
Document Outline

• Definition
• UNIT 2: DERIVATION AND INFLECTION (page 41)
• UNIT 3: IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS (thành tố trực tiếp
• UNIT 4: WORDS
• Features of Compounds
• Types of compounds
  • Examples for “blending”:
  • Examples for “clipping”:
  • Examples for “acronymy”: