Chapter 4- Morphology

Question 1

Endocentric Compound

Answer 1

A compound that denotes a subtype of the concept denoted by its head

Question 2

Exocentric Compound

Answer 2

A compound that’s meaning is not a subtype of the concept denoted by its head

Question 3

Why is an endocentric sometimes pluralized differently than a exocentric compound?

Answer 3

An exocentric compound can be pluralized irregularly but a exocentric compound is always pluralized with the regular ‘-s’ affix

Question 4

Inflection

Answer 4

The modification of a word’s form to indicate grammatical information of various sorts (eg. tense, plural)

Question 5

Inflection vs. derivation: category change

Answer 5

Inflectional affixes DO NOT change syntactic category or meaning of word to which the attach (write –>writes)
Derivational affixes OFTEN DO change syntactic category and/or the meaning of the word to which the attach (write –> writer)

Question 6

Inflection vs. derivation: order

Answer 6

A derivational affix must combine with the base BEFORE an inflectional affix does.
( kingdoms = 1. king+dom 2.kingdom+s)

Question 7

Inflection vs. derivation: productivity

Answer 7

Inflectional affixes are typically more productive than derivational affixes. For example, the inflectional affix ‘-s’ can connect to almost any noun, and ‘-ing’ can connect to almost any verb. In contrast, derivational affix ‘-ize’ can connect to only certain adjectives to form verbs.

Question 8

Inflection vs. derivation: semantic transparency

Answer 8

The change that occurs to a word due to an inflectional affix is usually transparent and consistent (adding ‘-s’ to any noun means ‘more than one’). the change that occurs from a derivational affix is is not as straightforward or consistent.

Question 9

Internal change

Answer 9

A process that substitutes one non-morphemic segment for another to indicate a grammatical contrast like pluralization in nouns (goose –> geese) or tense change in verbs (drive –> drove)
Internal change in nouns is also known as umlaut
Internal change in verbs is also known as ablaut

Question 10

Suppletion

Answer 10

A process which replaces one morpheme with an entirely different morpheme to indicate a change grammatical contrast (go –> went)

Question 11

Reduplication

Answer 11

A process which marks a grammatical change by repeating all (full reduplication) or part (partial reduplication) of a word. It is not used productively in English

Question 12

Tone Placement

Answer 12

A process which marks a grammatical change by changing the tone in a word. It is not used in English

Question 13

Cliticization: clitics, enclitics and proclitics

Answer 13

Clitics are morphemes that have a meaning and function like a word but cannot stand alone.
Enclitics attach to the end of a word ( I+’m = I’m)
Proclitics attach to the beginning of a word ( J’+taime = J’taime)

Question 14

Conversion

Answer 14

A process that assigns an already existing word to a new syntactic category without changing the word. It is also known as ‘Zero Derivation’

Question 15

Zero inflection

Answer 15

When the plural of a noun in the same as the singular

Question 16

Clipping

Answer 16

A process that shortens a polysyllabic word by removing one or more syllables. Some are accepted in casual speech only ( doctor –> doc), others are accepted generally (zoological garden –> zoo)

Question 17

Blending

Answer 17

A process that combines two already existing words into one (frozen yogurt –> froyo, breakfast lunch –> brunch)

Question 18

Backformation

Answer 18

A process that creates a new word by removing a real or supposed assix from another word (taser –> tase)

Question 19

Acronyms

Answer 19

A process that takes the first letters of the words in a phrase or title and pronounce them as a word (UNICEF)

Question 20

Initialism

Answer 20

A process in which only the first letters in a phrase or a title are pronounced (CD, PEI)

Question 21

Onomatopoeia

Answer 21

A word that is created to sound like the thing that they name (buzz, sizzle)

Question 22

Eponyms

Answer 22

A word that is created from names (James Watt –> watt)

Question 23

Morphophonemics

Answer 23

The study of the effects of a word’s pronunciation being affected by morphological factors like internal structure (-s pronounced as /s/, /z/ or /əz/)