The study of the structure of words

       ◦ Words are an integral part of language Vocabulary is a dynamic system ◦ How many words do we know?

Infinite sentences with finite vocabulary Children who enter school: about 13,000 High school graduate: 60,000 Literate adult: approx. 120,000 List of words: Lexicon Word: Lexeme

   In reading (except some languages like Thai) words are separated by spaces.

◦ In spoken language spaces rarely exist.

Word boundaries through listening skills are an illusion People who master a language recognize word boundaries not by speech pauses but by ‘elements’ of the words.

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    Phonetic/phonological information ◦ ◦ Every word has its pronunciation Example: tree Lexical structure information Example: tree vs. trees Trees is made up of two parts: tree + (-s)

    What are words?

What are the basic building blocks in the formation of complex words?

How are more complex words built up from simpler words?

How is the meaning of a complex word related to the meaning of its parts?

 ◦ Morphemes The most elemental unit of a word believable unbelievable desirable happy dressed undesirable unhappy undressed  Morphology ◦ Study of the internal structure; rules of word formation

  Prefixes are added to the beginning Suffixes are added to the end      One morpheme Two morphemes act act + ive Three morphemes Four morphemes act + ive+ate de + act+ ive+ate More than four: Anti+dis+establish+ment+ari+an+ism

For each of the words below, determine the number of morphemes it has. Then answer the question below.

Friend friends friend’s lucky silly Unlucky the cigar carefully Does the number of morphemes always equal the number of syllables?

  ◦ ◦ Affixes represent a wide range of meanings Free morphemes vs. bound morphemes Free morphemes can be used alone Bound morphemes must be attached to other morphemes  Quick exercise For each morphemes below, determine whether it’s free or bound. Act un de ness ive re y ject worth ed with ate

   ◦ ◦ Lexical morphemes vs. grammatical morphemes Lexical morpheme Have a ‘real world’ meaning Also called content morpheme ◦ Grammatical morpheme Change the form of a word but don’t have ‘real word’ meaning  ◦ Test: find a synonym for the morpheme If you can find one, it’s a lexical morpheme

 Quick exercise For each morphemes below, determine whether it’s lexical or grammatical. Act un de ness ive re y ject worth ed with ate  Conclusion: free morphemes are (almost always) lexical bound morphemes are (almost always) grammatical

   Root morphemes similar to the roots of a tree  Root morphemes are the core of a tree Affixes are similar to the branches of a tree ◦ ◦ They are added to the stem/root to create multi/poly-morphemic words Note: -roots tend to be free and lexical -affixes tend to be bound and grammatical Exception: “rejected”

    Quick exercise Analyze the word: “rejected” How many morphemes does it have?

Which morpheme is the root? Which ones are affixes?

Is the root free and lexical?

Word Meaning re+ject in+ject pro+ject To send back To send in To send forward Conclusion: ‘ject’ is a bound root morpheme

 Quick exercise In each of the words below, determine which morpheme is the root morpheme and decide whether that root is free or bound. If the root is bound, provide two additional words with the same bound root.

Reduce unhappily Prediction Mindful proactively reverted

  ◦ ◦ ◦ Inflectional affixes Do not create new words when they attach to existing words They change the form of that word to indicate grammatical meaning Example: the past tense suffix ‘–ed’ attaches to verbs to change the tense but doesn’t create a new word Number of inflectional affixes is very limited.

Inflectional morpheme         Plural –s, -es (noun) Possessive –’s, s’ (noun) Comparative –er (adj.) Superlative –est (adj.) 3 rd person singular –s (verb) Past tense –ed (verb) Past participle –ed, -en Present participle -ing Example         Pim likes to eat peach Pim ’s grades are great Pim is smart Pim is the quick Pim like 3 hours -s Pim studi -ed -er than Boss est to study hard for the quiz Pim hasn’t fail ed -es of all a test yet.

Pim has been study ing for

 ◦ ◦ ◦ Derivational Affixes Create new (or derive ) new words in two ways Some derivational morphemes change the content meaning but not grammatical meaning Others don’t significantly change the meaning but the grammatical meaning.

 Unlike inflectional affixes, derivational affixes can be both, prefixes or suffixes in English.

Function Change content meaning Morpheme Example Word un un+happy Change content meaning re Change grammatical function (noun ⇒verb) -ize Change grammatical function (noun ⇒adj.) -y Change grammatical function (adj.⇒adverb) -ly re+write trauma(t)+ize health+y quick+ly The number of derivational affixes in English is far greater than inflectional affixes

 Quick exercise Each of the words below contains two morphemes, a root and a derivational affix. Decide if the derivational affix changes the meaning or class of the root.

rewrite unclear unhappy hopeless creation helpful What is the general trend with regard to the behavior of derivational prefixes vs. suffixes? That is, how does each kind of affix derive new words?

Morphemes free lexical prefixes ex:-un bound derivational grammatical inflectional -eight suffixes lexical -bound roots suffixes ex: -ness