Morphology – fourth lecture
- Morphophonemic changes
- Word formation
- Derivation and prefixes
1. Our last lecture was about changes that can happen to words due to the grammatical rules inthe context the words appear in. Thus we talked about inflection and inflectional suffixes. However, grammatical rules are not the only conditions provoking the change of words. One very important aspect of morphemes is that they change when grouped together. Actually, they influence each other phonologically. These changes are called morphophonemic changes so that we can say that they are changes in the phonological structure of words which occur when morphemes are grouped together.
In the process of analysis of these changes, we compare the different allomorphs of a given morpheme whereby we call one of them the normal form in comparison to which other forms are variations of the normal form. The normal form is in fact the one that has the widest distribution.
There are several types of morphophonemic changes:
I Loss of phoneme
In the following examples the t is lost:
aristocrat – aristocracy (the spelling changes)
democrat – democracy (the spelling changes)
soft – soften (the t is lost in speech but not in writing)
nest – nestle (the t is lost in speech but not in writing)
In the following examples, a vowel is lost:
enemy – enmity (in speech and writing)
metre – metric (in speech and writing)
chello – chellist (in speech and writing)
II Consonant change:
In Latin-derived words ending with /d/ or /t/ the final sounds change into /z/ and /s/
permit – permissive
admit – admissible
III Root vowel change
In certain words the syllabic vowel in the root changes
clear – clarity
foot – feet
swell – swollen
long – length
sing – sang – sung
IV Assimilation
This morphophonemic change occurs depending on the context or the place of articulation of sounds.
in + possible = impossible
en + body = embody
This change can be total or parcel
Total assimilation:
en + power = empower
il + literate = illiterate
ir + regular = irregular
Parcel assimilation:
in + possible = impossible
V Dissimilation
This change occurs very rarely.
in + noble = ignoble
VI Palatalization
This is the synthesis or fusion of two consonants, brought together by a morpheme combination, into a single new morpheme.
/s// ʃ/
/z/+ j/ʒ/
/t//ʧ/ / ʃ/construct - construction
BUT
devide – devision I vowel change /ai/ - /i/
II consonant change /d/ - /z/
III palatalization /z/ - /ʒ/
VII Gradation
This is a process in which a stress shift and a vowel change occur.
nature – natural - vowel change /ei/ - /æ/
- stress shift from first to second syllable
gradation
2. Word formation is a very important process in English morphology because by means of it new words are formed. Word formation processes can be major and minor.
There are two major types of word formation processes:
1. Derivation
2. Compounding
There are eight minor types of word formation processes:
1.Conversion
2. Back formation
3.Shortening or clipping
4.Blending
5.Reduplication
6.Borrowing
7.Acronymy
8.Voicing
3. In todays lecture we will be talking about derivation whereas the other word formation processes will be covered in the next two lectures.
Generally speaking, derivation is a process by means of which new words are formed by adding one or more derivational affixes.
Affixes can be prefixes, added at the beginning of the word, and suffixes, added at the end of the word. Prefixes in English are mainly of Greek, Latin and Anglosaxon origin. One and the same prefix can be added to different word classes. When a prefix is added, the word usually does not change its class, that is, a noun is a noun, a verb is a verb, an adjective is an adjective, regardless of the prefix.
advantage – disadvantage
natural – unnatural
like – dislike
However, when suffixes are added, words usually change their class.
nature – natural
create – creation
satisfy – satisfying
The basic features of suffixes and prefixes are:
a)Prefixes are more independent than suffixes and more easily separable. Very often, because of this, prefixes carry the main stress.
b)Meanings of prefixes are rather precisely outlined.
c)Most prefixes do not change the meaning of the word but rather modify it semantically.
d)Suffixes usually change the word class. In other words, they change the grammatical function of the words.
The classification of prefixes according to their meanings
There are ten groups of prefixes:
1. negative
in (im, il, ir), un, non, dis, a
2. reversative
un, dis, de
3. pejorative
mal, mis, pseudo
4. degree and size
over, under, hyper, hypo, super, sub, arch, out, semi, ultra
5. attitudinal
pro, contra, co, counter, anti
6. locative
super, sub, trans, inter
7. time and order
fore, pre, post, ante, re, ex
8. conversion
be, en (em)
9. mixed bag
auto, neo, proto, pan
10. number
bi, di (/di/, /dai/), tri (/tri/, /trai/), mono, uni, multi, poly