Transcript Document

OBJECTIVES
You will understand:
1.
2.
More about derivational morphemes
More about inflectional morphemes
You will be able to:
1.
Apply your understanding of morphemes and word formation
to your teaching
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
INTRODUCTION
•
In this module we will take a closer look at the two categories
of bound morphemes briefly introduced in the previous
module---derivational morphemes and inflectional
morphemes.
•
We will divide these morphemes into further categories and
then briefly discuss approaches to teaching our students about
word building using bound morphemes.
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES
•
You will recall from the previous module that derivational
morphemes are bound morphemes that change the meaning of
the stem of the word or change words from one word class to
another.
•
We can divide derivational morphemes into those that go at
the beginning of the word (prefixes) and those that go at the
end of the word (suffixes). We will look at both in turn.
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
Derivational prefixes primarily affect the meaning of the word
to which they are attached. There are six types of meaning
changes that we can make with prefixes.
Type
Examples
Negatives
un (unimaginative), non (nonalcoholic), in (inconvenient),
a (atypical), dis (dissatisfied), mis (misplaced), mal
(malfunction), pseudo (pseudoscientific)
Attitude
anti (meaning ‘against’ as in antiestablishment), co
(meaning ‘with’ as in co-author), counter (meaning
‘opposite’ as in counter-intelligence), pro (meaning ‘for’
as in proactive)
Size and
degree
arch (archrival), hyper (hyperactive), hypo
(hypoglycemic), mini (minivan), out (outdo), over
(overheat), sub (substandard), ultra (ultraconservative),
under (undervalued).
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
Type
Examples
Space and time ex (ex-husband), fore (forecast), post (post-operative),
pre (prenatal), re (redo), sub (subway), trans
(transcontinental).
Number
bi (bicycle), di (dichotomy), tri (tricycle), mono
(monolingual), multi (multilingual), poly (polyglot).
Other
auto (autobiography), neo (neoconservative), pan (panAmerican), proto (prototype), semi (semi-circle), vice
(vice-principle).
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
1. DERIVATIONAL PREFIXES
A. What is the difference between the following pairs of words, which
both contain negative prefixes?
i. Un-Canadian, non-Canadian
ii. uninterested, disinterested
iii. displace, misplace
iv. unmoral, immoral, amoral
B. What do these differences tell you about the specific meanings of
the negative prefixes?
i. ‘un’ versus ‘non’
ii. ‘un’ versus ‘dis’
iii. ‘dis’ versus ‘mis’
iv. ‘un’ versus ‘im’ versus ‘a’
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
Derivational suffixes are mostly used to make word class
changes. These morphemes are easiest to group, then, according
to the type of word they make.
Type
Examples
noun-to-noun
(the morpheme
is added to a
noun to make
another noun)
ster (gangster), eer (engineer), er (New Yorker)
let (piglet), ette (cigarette), ess (waitress), ie (cookie)
hood (neighbourhood), ship (friendship), dom (kingdom),
ocracy (democracy), ing (covering), ful (cupful)
noun-toadjective (the
morpheme is
added to a
noun to make
an adjective)
ite (socialite), an (Canadian), ese (Chinese), ist (socialist),
ism (socialism), ful (helpful), less (hopeless), ly (kingly),
like (childlike), y (dreamy), ish (foolish), al (musical)
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
Type
Examples
verb-to-noun (the er (teacher), or (actor), ant (inhabitant), ee (employee)
morpheme is
ation (exploration), ment (amazement), al (refusal)
added to a verb to ing (skiing), age (leakage)
make a noun)
adjective-to-noun
ness (happiness), ity (vanity)
noun or adjective- ify (exemplify), ize (mechanize), en (sadden)
to-verb
verb-to-adjective
ive (attractive), ous (courteous), able/ible (readable,
edible), ed (excited)
adjective-toadverb
ly (quickly), ward (backward)
noun-to-adverb
wise (lengthwise)
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
•
•
•
We use the word ‘productive’ to indicate how frequently
derivational morphemes are used, and therefore how many new
words can be produced from these morphemes.
A morpheme that is widely used is called a productive morpheme. A
morpheme that is not widely used is called an unproductive
morpheme.
An example of a productive derivational morpheme is ‘ly’. This
morpheme is very widely used to make adverbs. Another productive
derivational morpheme is ‘able’ as in ‘doable’ and ‘workable’. An
example of an unproductive derivational morpheme is ‘ese’ as in
‘teacherese’ to specify the language used by a particular profession.
This morpheme does not enjoy wide use. Interestingly, derivational
morphemes can go in and out of fashion as word-building tools. In
the first half of the 20th century the morpheme ‘ette’ as in
‘suffragette’ was very popular and very productive. However, the
morpheme lost its productivity with the advent of gender neutral
language.
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES
•
Recall from the previous module that bound morphemes that
give us information about the relation between words in a
sentence are called inflectional morphemes. There are far
fewer inflectional morphemes in English than derivational
morphemes. In fact, English relies very little on inflectional
morphemes when compared with other languages. The
inflectional morphemes in English follow a more regular
pattern than do the derivational morphemes, but there are
still irregular versions that students have to learn.
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
3. INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES
A. Identify the type of inflectional morpheme and its function in
each of the words below:
i. dancing
ii. cooked
iii. slept
iv. tomatoes
v. sweetest
vi. harder
vii. sings
viii. songs
ix. song’s
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
3. INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES
B. What are the past tense morphemes for each of the following
irregular verbs?
sell
bring
fit
awake
dig
wear
drink
forget
fly
send
break
sleep
C. In what order would you teach the above irregular past tense
morphemes to your students and why would you choose that
order?
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
•
http://www.ted.com/playlists/117/words_words_words
•
As you listen to the talk, make a list of words containing
inflectional and derivational morphemes. Be prepared to
identify the types and functions.
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute
•
Complete Question 1C, 2A, 2B, or 4 in your Task Journal.
•
Task Journals can be submitted via email to
[email protected] (preferred) or printed and handed in.
ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute