Morphology & Word Formation Flashcards by Carina K

(Definition) Morphology

The central branch of linguistics that focuses on how a word is formed/word structure

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What is a morphem?

The basic building block of language

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What is a morpheme?

Smallest unit in a language that carries meaning

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According to which two criteria can morphemes be classified?

Free and bound

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What is the difference between free and bound morphemes?

Free morphemes can stand alone, while bound morphemes can only appear together with other morphemes

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How do we classify morphemes according to content?

Lexical and grammatical morphemes

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What is the difference between lexical and grammatical morphemes?

Lexical morphemes carry an independent meaning, while grammatical morphemes express grammatical relations

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Identify the morpheme {friend}. What type of word/morpheme is it?

Lexical, free
Content word

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What is a derivational morpheme?

A bound, lexical morpheme that is used to form new words (prefix/suffix)

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What is an inflectional morpheme?

A bound, grammatical morpheme that is used to form different forms of the same word (plural, comparative, superlative, past forms for example)

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Identify the morpheme {-ly} in friendly. What type of word/morpheme is it?

Lexical, bound
Derivational morpheme

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Identify the morpheme {the}. What type of word/morpheme is it?

Grammatical, free
Function Word

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Identify the morpheme {-s} in friends. What type of word/morpheme is it?

Grammatical, bound
Inflectional morphemes

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Identify the morpheme {-ing} in “the building”.
Is every {-ing} the same?

It’s a lexical bound morpheme.
{-ing} can be a grammatical bound morpheme if it’s part of a verb, building (from: to build) for example.

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Identify the morpheme {ship} in “friendship” and “warship” and explain the difference between them.

Both are lexical morphemes, but the {ship} in friendship is bound because it’s used to form an entirely new word, while the {ship} in warship is free because it’s still a ship

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What is an allomorph?

One of the different realisations of a morpheme

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What is the rule for the allomorph /z/ as the plural-s

After vowels and voiced consonants, EXCEPT /z ʒ dʒ/
Examples: cows birds

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What is the rule for the allomorph /s/ as the plural-s

After voiceless consonants, except for /s ʃ ʈʃ/
Example: lights

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What is the rule for the allomorph /ɪz/ as the plural -s

After /s z ʃ ʒ dʒ ʈʃ/
Examples: roses, judges

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What is the rule for the allomorph /d/ as the past-d

After vowels and voiced consonants, except for /d/
Examples: played, loved

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What is the rule for the allomorph /t/ as the past-d

After voiceless consonants, except for /t/
example: talked

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What is the rule for the allomorph /ɪd/ as the past-d

After /t d/
Example: stranded

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Which grammatical functions can an inflectional morpheme have?

Plural, past tense, 3rd person singular s

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What is phonological conditioning?

The sound environment establishes the occurrence of an allomorph, which follows the rules of complementary distributions
Examples: student - students, friend - friends

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What is morphological conditioning?

The morphological environment establishes the occurrence of an allomorph E.g. stimulus - stimuli, deer - deer,…

How can morphological conditioning plural formations be realised?

Alternative endings (ox - oxen), vowel change (foot - feet) and zero morpheme (fish - fish)

Give a definition for "zero-morpheme"

Morpheme that does not have a physical allomorph

What is a suppletion? Give an example.

The appearance of a completely different form in an inflectional paradigm Go - went - gone Good - better - best

What is a portmanteau morpheme?

A morpheme that incorporates two or more merged morphemes

New words can come up as… (name 4)

Neologisms (Banana-Republic, hoover) Words borrowed from other languages (kindergarten) Meaning-Changes (mouse, wallpaper) Word-part Formation (arrive → arrival)

Name all 8 types of Word Formation

Affixation/Derivation Zero-Derivation/Conversion Compounding Clipping Back-formation Blending Reduplication Initialism (acronym/alphabetism)

Prefixations and suffixations point towards which word formation?

Affixation/Derivation

Name the 4 exceptions for Affixations/derivations

Slave (N) + {en-} → to enslave (V) Head (N) + {be-} → to behead (V) Pig (N) + {-let} → piglet (N) Child (N) + {-hood} → childhood (N)

Define Zero-Derivations/Conversion

Change in word class (and meaning) without formal change

Give an example for a Zero-Derivation/Conversion

To love (V) + {nothingsymbol} = love (N) Bottle (N) + {nothingsymbol} = to bottle (V)

What is a compound? Give an example.

Two free lexemes/morpheme are put together Possible examples: {black}+{bird} for blackbird {act}+{or}+{manage}+{er} = actor + manager for actormanager

How can you define a compound by word class?

Is the end result a noun? Then it‘s a noun compound. Is the result a verb, it‘s a verb compound (and so on)

What type of compound is „heart-breaking“?

It‘s an adjective compound {heart}N + {breaking}V for heart-breaking

How can you define a compound by their semantic relationship?

- Possessive/Exocentric: A + B build an entirely new C - Determinative/Endocentric: A is modified by B to build a special kind of B - Copulative: Two things are true at the same time

How are Possessive Compounds formed? Give two examples.

A + B = C „paperback“ (it‘s neither paper nor a back, it‘s a type of book) „egghead“ (egg and head have their own meaning but it doesn‘t have anything to do with the end result)

How are Determinative Compounds formed? Give two examples.

A + B = aB Washing machine (it‘s not just a machine, it‘s a washing machine) Tea pot (it‘s a pot specifically for tea)

How are Copulative Compounds formed? Give two examples.

A + B = AB Bitter-sweet (bitter and sweet at the same time) Anglo-American

Define Clipping and give an example.

Parts of the word (beginning or end) are deleted („clipped“) Telephone - phone; Refrigerator - fridge, influenza - flu

Define back-formation and give an example. How does it differ from a Zero-Derivation/Conversion?

A part of word is deleted to create a new word Sightseeing minus ing = to sightsee Babysitter(N) minus „-ter“ = to babysit(V) This differs from a Zero-Derivation/Conversion because there, nothing is added to change the word at all.

Define Blend(ing) and give an example.

Parts of other words (mostly beginning and end) mix or „blend“ to form a new semantically independent word Brunch (Breakfast + lunch) Boatel (Boat + hotel)

Define Reduplication and give an example.

Repeating the same or very similar constituents Wishy-washy

Define Initialism and their two types and give an example for each.

Iniatialism = Initial letters of the original expression Alphabetism: Individual letters are read out - EN, BMI Acronym: Letters are pronounced as a word: YOLO, NASA

Analyse the compound „time consuming“ as to word class and semantic relation between the constituens

Adjective compound (Determinative/Endocentric)

What is the definitional difference between the types of word-formation processes of derivation and compounding?

Compounds combine free stems while Derivation combines Base + an affix/other lexical bounds

(Fill in the blank) With regard of the days of the week, there are many _______ morphemes at the beginning of these words.

Blocked/unique/Cranberry

True or False: The root/stem is the most basic part of a word where no affixes are attached

True

What type of morphemes are {-s} and {-ed}?

Inflectional morphemes (grammatical bound)

What types of morphemes are {-hood} and {dis-}?

Derivational morphemes (Lexical bound)

Fill in the blank: A morpheme that only occurs in one single word is called _____

Blocked/Cranberry Morpheme

Fill in the Blank: An undividable morpheme that contains information of more than one morpheme is called ________

Portmanteau morpheme

Fill in the blank: A morpheme that is not realised phonologically is called _______

Zero morpheme

If the morpheme {-er} is used to change the word into it is (lexical/grammatical/free/bound)

Grammatical bound

What type of word formation took place in the word paperback?

Compounding

What type of word formation took place in the words „disbelief“? What about „quickly“?

Disbelief: Prefixation Quickly: Suffixation

Which word formation type can be demonstrated by bicycle - bike?

Clipping

Which allomorph of the morpheme {-S} is realized in the following verb? (3rd person singular indicative present tense active) wants

/s/ - rule for distribution: after voiceless consonants except /s, ʃ, tʃ

Fill in the blanks: The morpheme {er} in teacher must be classified as a _________ and _________ morpheme. In total, this is also referred to as a _____________ morpheme

Lexical, bound morpheme- derivational morpheme

Which type of word formation took place in the word „unbound“

Prefixation

Fill in the blank: The English language is an analytical language. This means that there are only a few ___________ morphemes.

Inflectional

Morphology & Word Formation Flashcards

(64 cards)