Chapter 12: Word Formation

Question 1

Internally simple words

Answer 1

Words that cannot be further analyzed into smaller constituent elements.

Question 2

Morphemes

Answer 2

The smallest identifiable components of a word that carry meaning.

Question 3

Morphology

Answer 3

The sub-discipline of linguistics which is concerned with the properties of complex words.

Question 4

Derivation

Answer 4

Vocabulary expansion where a lexical word is connected with a non-lexical element to form a new word.

Question 5

Inflection

Answer 5

The part of morphology that fits existing words into the grammatical structure of the sentence they are part of.

Question 6

Stem

Answer 6

The basis of a word to which grammatical elements are added.

Question 7

Paradigm

Answer 7

The list of forms that a particular stem can take.

Question 8

Contextual inflection

Answer 8

When the form of words is strictly determined by their grammatical context and the inflection does not contribute independently to the meaning of the sentence in which the words appear.

Question 9

Inherent inflection

Answer 9

When the form of words contributes to the lexical meaning of the sentence.

Question 10

Affixes

Answer 10

Attached grammatical elements to words.

Question 11

Affixation

Answer 11

The process of attaching affixes.

Question 12

Suffixes

Answer 12

Affixes that are attached to the end of a word.

Question 13

Prefixes

Answer 13

Affixes that are attached to the front of a word.

Question 14

Infixes

Answer 14

Affixes that are placed within the stem of the word.

Question 15

Circumfixes

Answer 15

Affixes that are attached to both the beginning and the end of a word at the same time.

Question 16

Reduplication

Answer 16

The process whereby a word is repeated.

Question 17

Conversion

Answer 17

When words change in word category without morphological marking.

Question 18

Suppletion

Answer 18

When a word does not have one identifiable single stem that is common to all members of the paradigm.

Question 19

Productivity

Answer 19

How widely and freely a certain morphological process can be applied.

Question 20

Morphologically complex

Answer 20

When a language mostly had internally structured words.

Question 21

Morphologically simple

Isolating

Answer 21

When the vocabulary of a language consists predominantly of internally unstructured words.

Question 22

Agglutinating languages

Answer 22

When many words in a language language consist of little parts that are stuck together but not fused.

Question 23

Fusional languages

Answer 23

Languages where the individual parts of a word can melt together.

Question 24

Polysynthetic languages

Answer 24

Languages in which a single word can contain several elements with a concrete meaning.

Question 25

Internally complex words

Answer 25

When words consist of more than one part.