Morphology & Word-Formation Flashcards
What is morphology?
The study of the internal structure of words
How are words created in a language?
What’s a morpheme?
The smallest meaning-bearing unit of a language
e.g. un/happy/ness > 3 morphemes
What’s the difference between free and bound morphemes?
Free morphemes can occur on their own whereas bound morphemes don’t
Free morphemes can be subcategorised into…
Open & closed morphemes
Explain open morphemes
Content words we can add new words to (nouns, verbs, adjectives…)
e.g. cat, walk, quickly
Explain closed morphemes
Function words that don’t allow new additions (prepositions, articles, pronouns…)
e.g. and, the, she
Bound morphemes can be subcategorised into…
Lexical (derivational) and grammatical (inflectional) morphemes
Explain lexical (derivational) morphemes
Lexical morphemes change the meaning or part of speech of a word (create new words)
e.g. un-, -ness
Explain grammatical (inflectional) morphemes
Grammatical morphemes show grammatical information, they don’t change the meaning or class of a word
e.g. -s, -ed
What is zero-derivation?
Zero-derivation occurs when a word changes its word class whilst keeping its form
e.g. water > (to) water (noun>verb)
empty > (to) empty (adj.>verb)
What’s compounding?
Combining two words to create a new word
e.g. day+dream=daydream
What’s an eponym?
New word which is named after a person
What’s blending?
Creating a new word by mixing parts of words
e.g. br(eakfast)+(l)unch=brunch
What’s clipping?
Shortening parts of words
e.g. photograph > photo
What are acronyms?
New words formed from the initial letters of several words
e.g. NATO, AIDS
Whats’s an alphabetism?
New word formed from the initial letters of several words
e.g. EU
What’s the difference between alphabetisms and acronyms?
Alphabetism: Each letter is said individually
Acronym: Letters are pronounced together phonetically
What are hypocorisms?
A “nickname” which often shows affection/closeness, often diminutive
e.g. grandmother > granny
What’s back-formation?
Creating. new word by removing affix from an existing word
e.g. baby-sitter > (to) baby-sit
What’s derivation?
Creating a new word by adding affix to existing words
