WRI 2550 - Quiz 04

What is morphology?

The study of the internal structure and formation of words.

What is a morpheme? Break down an example.

The smallest unit of meaning. Unhappily = un- + happy + -ly.

What is a root?

The core part of a word that carries its main meaning. In unhappiness, happy is the root.

What is an affix?

A bound morpheme attached to a root or base, such as un-, -ness, or -ed.

What is the difference between free and bound morphemes?

Free morphemes can stand alone (book); bound morphemes must attach to something (-s, un-).

What is an infix? Give an example.

An affix inserted inside a word. Example: abso-****ing-lutely.

What is the order of derivational and inflectional affixes?

Derivational affixes come before inflectional affixes: teach + -er + -s.

What is a derivational morpheme?

Creates a new word or changes its meaning or word class. Example: happy → happiness.

What is an inflectional morpheme?

Adds grammatical information without changing the word class. Example: walk → walked.

What are the 8 English inflectional morphemes?

Plural -s; possessive -'s; 3rd-person -s; past -ed; past participle -en; progressive -ing; comparative -er; superlative -est.

What is affixation?

Adding an affix to a root or base, such as adding -ed to walk.

What is reduplication?

Repeating all or part of a word to express grammatical meaning. Example: Malay orang → orang-orang (people).

What is zero marking (no overt marking)?

A grammatical change with no added sound or visible affix. Example: sheep → sheep (plural).

What are content words?

Words carrying the main meaning: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. They form an open class.

What are function words?

Words expressing grammatical relationships, such as articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. They form a closed class.

What are the 4 morphological rules for hierarchical structure?

1. Noun + -atic → Adjective (system → systematic). 2. un- + Adjective → Adjective. 3. Adjective + -al → Adjective. 4. Adjective + -ly → Adverb.

What is productivity in word formation?

How freely a morphological rule can create new words. Example: adding -ness to adjectives.

What is blocking?

An existing word prevents a possible form from being used. Example: beautiful blocks beautifuler.

What is a lexical gap?

A word that could exist under language rules but does not. It is possible, just unused.

What is suppletion? Give an example.

Using a completely different root for a grammatical form. Example: go → went.

What is back-formation? Give an example.

Creating a shorter word by removing a perceived affix. Example: editor → edit.

What is clipping? Give an example.

Shortening a longer word. Example: advertisement → ad.

What is blending? Give an example.

Combining parts of two words. Example: breakfast + lunch → brunch.

What is an acronym? Give an example.

A word formed from initial letters and pronounced as a word. Example: NASA.

What is an initialism? Give an example.

A formation from initial letters pronounced letter by letter. Example: FBI.

What is borrowing? Give an example.

Taking a word from another language. Example: sushi from Japanese.

What is coinage? Give an example.

Creating a completely new word. Example: Google (originally a coined name).

What is reduplication as a word-formation process?

Forming a word by repeating all or part of a sound sequence. Example: bye-bye.

What does knowing a word involve?

Knowing its pronunciation, meaning, grammatical category, and how to use it appropriately.

How are a word's sound and meaning related?

The relationship is generally arbitrary: there is no natural reason a particular sound sequence has a particular meaning.

What makes a word morphologically possible or impossible?

A possible word follows the language's morphological rules, even if it isn't currently used. An impossible word violates those rules.

What is the head of a compound?

The element that determines the compound's main meaning and grammatical category. English compounds are usually right-headed: toothbrush is a noun.