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1、Chapter 4 Morphology What is morphology? The total number of words stored in the brain is called the lexicon. Words are the smallest free units of language that unite sounds with meaning. Morphology is defined as the study of the internal structure and the formation of words. Morphemes and allomorph
2、s The smallest meaningful unit of language is called a morpheme. A morpheme may be represented by different forms, called allomorphs. “zero” form of a morpheme and suppletives Some countable nouns do not change form to express plurality. Similarly, some regular verbs do not change form to indicate p
3、ast tense. In these two cases, the noun or verb contains two morphemes, among which there is one “zero form” of a morpheme. Some verbs have irregular changes when they are in past tense. In this case, the verbs also have two morphemes. Words which are not related in form to indicate grammatical cont
4、rast with their roots are called suppletives. Free and bound morphemes Some morphemes constitute words by themselves. These morphemes are called free morphemes. Other morphemes are never used independently in speech and writing. They are always attached to free morphemes to form new words. These mor
5、phemes are called bound morphemes. The distinction between a free morphemes and a bound morpheme is whether it can be used independently in speech or writing. Free morphemes are the roots of words, while bound morphemes are the affixes (prefixes and suffixes). Inflexional and derivational morphemes
6、Inflexional morphemes in modern English indicate case and number of nouns, tense and aspect of verbs, and degree of adjectives and adverbs. Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes added to existing forms to construct new words. English affixes are divided into prefixes and suffixes. Some language
7、s have infixes, bound morphemes which are inserted into other morphemes. The process of putting affixes to existing forms to create new words is called derivation. Words thus formed are called derivatives. Conclusion: classification of morphemes Morphemes Free morphemes Bound morphemes Inflexional D
8、erivational: affixes Prefixes: -s, -s, -er, -est, -ing, -ed, -s Suffixes Formation of new words Derivation Derivation forms a word by adding an affix to a free morpheme. Since derivation can apply more than once, it is possible to create a derived word with a number of affixes. For example, if we ad
9、d affixes to the word friend, we can form befriend, friendly, unfriendly, friendliness, unfriendliness, etc. This process of adding more than one affix to a free morpheme is termed complex derivation. Derivation does not apply freely to any word of a given category. Generally speaking, affixes canno
10、t be added to morphemes of a different language origin. Derivation is also constrained by phonological factors. Some English suffixes also change the word stress. Compounding Compounding is another common way to form words. It is the combination of free morphemes. The majority of English compounds a
11、re the combination of words from the three classes nouns, verbs and adjectives and fall into the three classes. In compounds, the rightmost morpheme determines the part of speech of the word. The meaning of compounds is not always the sum of meaning of the components. Conversion Conversion is the pr
12、ocess putting an existing word of one class into another class. Conversion is usually found in words containing one morpheme. Clipping Clipping is a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables. Clipped words are initially used in spoken English on informal occasions.
13、Some clipped words have become widely accepted, and are used even in formal styles. For example, the words bus (omnibus), vet (veterinarian), gym (gymnasium), fridge (refrigerator) and fax (facsimile) are rarely used in their complete form. Blending Blending is a process that creates new words by pu
14、tting together non-morphemic parts of existing words. For example, smog (smoke + frog), brunch (a meal in the middle of morning, replacing both breakfast and lunch), motel (motor + hotel). There is also an interesting word in the textbook for junior middle school students “plike” (a kind of machine
15、that is like both a plane and a bike). Back-formation Back-formation is the process that creates a new word by dropping a real or supposed suffix. For example, the word televise is back-formed from television. Originally, the word television is formed by putting the prefix tele- (far) to the root vi
16、sion (viewing). At the same time, there is a suffix sion in English indicating nouns. Then people consider the sion in the word television as that suffix and drop it to form the verb televise. Acronyms and abbreviations Acronyms and abbreviations are formed by putting together the initial letters of all words in a phrase or title. Acronyms can be read as a word and are usually longer than abbreviations, which are read lett
