Week 13 Flashcards
Actual words vs. possible words
Actual words are existing words, as found in dictionaries (rabbit)
Possible words that don’t exist, but could (rabbitless). They have a compositional meaning.
Productivity
How word formation rules can give rise to new words, for example making a new verb (rewilded).
Inflections of new verbs created by productivity
New verbs predictably have a progressive participle ending in -ing and a past tense form ending in -ed.
High-frequency irregular verbs
Verbs like go and say are likely to stay irregular. Speakers use inflection variants like went and said often, so that these are strongly represented in memory.
Low-frequency irregular verbs
Verbs like strive are likely to become regular. Speakers rarely use the past tense strove, so it is likely to be forgotten.
Which factors affect productivity?
- Frequency
- Time: word formation processes can change in productivity over time
- Usefulness
Why is the suffix -th unproductive?
It cannot/no longer be used to coin new words.
De verbal derivatives with -ee originally refer to…
The person undergoing the action expressed by the verb.
Intransitive
Lacks a DO
How to apply -al to a verb?
Verb may have two syllables, with stress on the final one.
referral, recital, renewal
How/why find the degree of productivity?
Distinguishing between types and tokens can help us asses the degree of productivity.
Where do Dutch and English come from in terms of the languages family tree?
Indo-European, Germanic, West-Germanic.
English contains word-formation of which other languages?
Latin, Ancient Greek, (Old) French.
From which languages does non-native word-formation derive and how?
Involves morphemes which derive from Ancient Greek or from Romance (Latin, Old French).
Recent non-native words
Astrophysics
Fax
Biodegradable
What do native root words consist of?
Native roots consist of either a single syllable or two, the first is stressed and the second unstressed.
(water, winter, devil, sister vs. July, champagne, bamboo)
! Most native roots are free morphemes.
What is a neutral suffix?
Native -ness does not trigger any phonological effects, therefore it is a neutral suffix.
happy > happiness
polite > politeness
stable > stableness
What is a non-neutral suffix?
Non-native -ity triggers a stress shift to the syllable immediately preceding the suffix, therefore it is a non-neutral suffix.
curious > curiosity
specific > specificity
stable > stability
Trisyllabic Shortening is largely restricted to which derivatives?
Non-native (Romance) derivatives.
What is velar softening? And to what is the process restricted?
Turns /k/ into /s/ and /g/ into /d3/ before front vowels.
This process is restricted to non-native words.
Neutral suffixes rules
- Don’t affect base
- Native or non-native
- Added later
Non-neutral suffix rules
- Affect base
- Non-native
- Added first
Creativity
People may make up new words for creative purposes, e.g. for amusement, even if the word formation rule is not actually productive in PDE.
• ‘Bushisms’ are an example of morphological creativity.
What restricts affixation?
- Category
- Phonology
- Meaning
- Etymology
- Syntax
- Pragmatically
