Morphology Midterm

derivation

The process of forming new words from old ones, often by adding affixes to a base

base

the semantic core of the word to which affixes attach (not necessarily all affixes removed)

bound bases

morphemes which cannot stand alone as words, but aren’t prefixes or suffixes (usually because they carry substantially more meaning, or are freer in placement)

bound morphemes

morphemes that cannot stand alone as words

free morphemes

morphemes that can stand alone as words

root

the basic core of the word that carries the fundamental semantic meaning (identified by removing all affixes)

prefix

bound morpheme that comes before the base of the word

suffix

bound morpheme that comes after the base of a word

derived words

lexemes formed by affixes on a base

infix

affixes that are inserted inside a root or base

circumfix

affixes that surround a root or base

suprafix

an affix that changes the suprasegmental features (ex. stress, tone, pitch,) of a root or base in order to modify the words meaning

lexeme

a unit of lexical meaning underlying a set of words related through inflection

compound

words made up of two or more bases, roots, or stems

endocentric

type of compound where the referent of the compound is always the same as the referent of its head (ex. windmill is a type of mill, icy cold is a type of cold)

exocentric

type of compound where the referent of the compound as a whole is not the same as the referent of its head (parent-child, pickpocket, bird brain)

head

in a compound, the element that serves to determine the part of speech and semantic kind of the compound as a whole (ex. english compounds are right headed)

coordinative compound

the two elements of the compound have equal weight (ex. producer-director, blue-green)

attributive compound (X)

the nonhead acts as a modifier of the head (ex. windmill, snail mail)

bahuvrihi compound

a type of compound word where neither of the words in the compound directly refers to the referent, but rather the whole compound refers to something distinct based on a characteristic or quality (ex. redhead, pickpocket)

neoclassical compound

a compound formed from bound bases derives from greek or latin (ex. psychopath, dermatitis)

repetitive compound

compound where the first constituent is the same as or partially copies the second (ex. knock-knock, tick-tock)

rhyme-motivated compound

where the two constituents of the compound rhyme with eachother (prime time, mumbo jumbo)

cranberry morpheme

a type of bound morpheme that cant be assigned an independent meaning but still seems seperate in some sense (ex. cranberry, raspberry, huckleberry)

ablaut-motivated compound

compounds created through reduplication, a process where a base word is repeated with a vowel change (ex. tick tock, zig zag)

nonce compound

a compound which is created for a one-time usage and cannot be found in other instances

noun incorporation

the compounding of a noun stem and verb stem to create a new verb (ex. fact check, mind read)

word formation processes

processes by which new words are created (ex. blending, acronyms, clipping)

productive

Processes of lexeme formation that can be used by native speakers to form new lexemes

productivity

a product the likelihood of new words/lexemes to be formed from a morphological process

coinage

the process of creating a completely new word/lexeme without a linguistic precedent (rare)

backformation

when native speakers come to view simple words as complex when they are historically not (ex. burglar creating verb “to burgle”

blending

a process of word formation in which parts of lexemes that aren’t themselves morphemes combine to form a new lexeme (ex. brunch, smog)

acronym

when the first letters of words are taken to create a new word, which is pronounced as a whole word and not as letters (ex. AIDS, scuba)

alphabetism/initialism

similar to acronyms in that they are formed from the first letters of words, but are pronounced as letters (FBI, PR)

clipping/truncation

creating new words by shortening existing ones (ex. info, lab, fridge)

template

in templatic morphology, the precise pattern of vowels and consonants that have specific meanings

causative

indicates a grammatical construction where one subject causes another to act or causes something to take place

nominalizer

transforms a word (usually verb or adjective) into a noun

agentive nominalizer

turns an action verb into an egent noun (ex. riot - rioter, vote - voter)

instrumental nominalizer

transforms a verb into a noun referring to the instrument/means of performing that specific verb

locative nominalizer

turns a verb into a noun that denotes the location in which that action is taking place

diminutive

denotes a smaller version of base

augmentative

denotes a larger version of the base

portmanteau

occurs when the sounds and meanings of two separate morphemes combine (result of blending, same examples)

clitic

linguistic element that has syntactic characteristics of a word, but requires a phonological host

conversion

changes the grammatical category of a word without adding affixes (ex. smile)

subordinative compound

one element interpreted as the argument of the other (truck driver, pickpocket)