Morphology & Lexicology Flashcards
What is a free morpheme?
can stand alone
What is a bound morpheme?
can’t stand alone
What is a derivational morpheme?
- word class
- change meaning
Are prefixes always derivational or inflectional?
derivational - change meaning
What is an inflectional morpheme?
- change grammar
e.g. tense, aspect, number, person, comparative, superlative, possessive
What is an affix?
a bound morpheme that can be added (affixed) to a base word
What are the three types of affix?
- suffix
- prefix
- infix
(circumfix)
What is a suffix?
a morpheme added to the end of a base word
What is a prefix?
a morpheme added to the front of a base word
What is an infix?
a morpheme added in the middle of a base word e.g. abso-BLOODY-lutely
What is meant by “number”?
Singular - one
Plural - two or more
How is plural most commonly marked in English? What other plural markers are there?
- -s (-es)
- also -en, -i, -ae
What is meant by “person”?
- first person
- second person
- third person
What is “first person”? Provide examples
directly involves/includes the speaker
e.g. I, we, us, our, me, my
What is “second person”? Provide examples
directly involves/addresses the receiver
e.g. you, your
What is “third person”?
Provide examples
refers to some other not-present entity
e.g. they, he, she, it, them
What is meant by “comparative”? Which morpheme marks this?
directly compares two or more things
-er
(more)
What is meant by “superlative”? Which morpheme marks this?
the superlative is the best of a group of things
-est
(most)
What is meant by “possession”? Which morpheme marks this?
shows belonging/ownership
-‘s
When is person marked in English?
third person singular subject
e.g. he walkS
What is a morpheme?
smallest meaningful unit in a word
What is morphology concerned with?
parts of words
What is lexicology concerned with?
whole words
Morphological word formation processes
affixation
abbreviation
shortening
compounding
blending
backformation
conversion
initialism
acronym
contraction
Lexical word formation processes
neologism
borrowing
commonisation
nominalisation
What other name are hypocoristic suffixes known by?
diminutive endings
What other name are diminutive endings known by?
hypocoristic suffixation
What are the hypocoristic suffixes?
-i
-ie
-y
-o
-a
Affixation
attaching an affix to create a new word
shortening
creating a new word by shortening an older one
e.g. gym from gymnasium
e.g. rizz from charisma
compounding
joining two whole free morphemes together to create a new word
e.g. holy + day = holiday
blending
joining parts of two free morphemes together to create a new word
(can be one whole + one part OR two parts)
e.g. chill + relax = chillax
backformation
removing an assumed affix to create a new word
e.g. burgle from burglar
conversion
creating a new word by using it as a new word class
e.g. google n > v
initialism
creating a new word by taking the initials of a phrase
you must pronounce each initial
e.g. PTO / FML
acronym
creating a new word by taking the initials of a phrase
you pronounce it as a single word
e.g. FOMO
contraction
creating a word by joining two words together with an apostrophe to show the missing letter
e.g. do + not = don’t
neologism
creating an entirely new word
borrowing
adopting a word from another language into English
commonisation
using a brand name as a common term to refer to an item
e.g. google > search engine
e.g. biro > pen
e.g. kleenex > tissue
