Morphological Processes

Resume

Compiled by:

Bening Anggadita

Didit Kurniadi

Luqman Hakim

Andi Rizki

Khairi

Introduction

When we are having conversation with others we will get difficulties in accepting the feautures

of word. If it is in question form we will question and answer necessarily. We will not pay

attention of the words formation. It is because there will be the obstacle in relating with the

sound, environment and the sound formation.

Learning about language is like learning about science. It is because many linguists supposed

that language as living organism. It can be breaking down into small pieces. We can take an

example for the study of morphology. It is proven by the process of morphology which has been

studied for a long time before saussure period. They take seriously attention to the formation of

words. Here there is the story inside: "The term 'morphology' has been taken over from biology

where it is used to denote the study of the forms of plants and animals. . . . It was first used for

linguistic purposes in 1859 by the German linguist August Schleicher (Salmon 2000), to refer to

the study of the form of words. In present-day linguistics, the term 'morphology' refers to the

study of the internal structure of words, and of the systematic form-meaning correspondences

between words.

"The notion 'systematic' in the definition of morphology given above is important. For instance,

we might observe a form difference and a corresponding meaning difference between the

English noun ear and the verb hear. However, this pattern is not systematic: there are no similar

word pairs, and we cannot form new English verbs by adding h- to a noun."

So based on the explanation above we can infer thatmorphology is one of the branch of

linguistics (and one of the major components of grammar) that studies word structures,

especially in terms of morphemes.

Word Classes

Words are fundamental units in every sentence, so we will begin by looking at these. Consider

the words in the following sentence:  

 

my father rides a fast bycicle

We can tell almost instinctively that father and bycicle are the same type of word, and also that

father and rides are different types of words. By this we mean that father and bycicle belong to

the same word class. Similarly, when we recognise that father and rides are different types, we

mean that they belong to different word classes. We recognise seven MAJOR word classes: 

 

 

Verb be, drive, grow, sing, think

Noun brother, car, David, house, London

Determiner a, an, my, some, the

Adjective big, foolish, happy, talented, tidy

Adverb happily, recently, soon, then, there

Preposition at, in, of, over, with

Conjunction and, because, but, if, or

 

You may find that other grammars recognise different word classes from the ones listed here.

They may also define the boundaries between the classes in different ways. In some grammars,

for instance, pronouns are treated as a separate word class, whereas we treat them as a subclass

of nouns. A difference like this should not cause confusion. Instead, it highlights an important

principle in grammar, known as gradience. This refers to the fact that the boundaries between the

word classes are not absolutely fixed. Many word classes share characteristics with others, and

there is considerable overlap between some of the classes. In other words, the boundaries are

"fuzzy", so different grammars draw them in different places. 

We will discuss each of the major word classes in turn. Then we will look briefly at some minor

word classes. But first, let us consider how we distinguish between word classes in general.    

Criteria for Word Classes

We began by grouping words more or less on the basis of our instincts about English. We

somehow "feel" that brother and car belong to the same class, and that brother and drives belong

to different classes. However, in order to conduct an informed study of grammar, we need a

much more reliable and more systematic method than this for distinguishing between word

classes. 

We use a combination of three criteria for determining the word class of a word:  

 

1. The meaning of the word 

2. The form or `shape' of the word 

3. The position or `environment' of the word in a sentence

  

1. Meaning

Using this criterion, we generalize about the kind of meanings that words convey. For example,

we could group together the words brother and car, as well as David, house, and London, on the

basis that they all refer to people, places, or things. In fact, this has traditionally been a popular

approach to determining members of the class of nouns. It has also been applied to verbs, by

saying that they denote some kind of "action", like cook, drive, eat, run, shout, walk. 

This approach has certain merits, since it allows us to determine word classes by replacing words

in a sentence with words of "similar" meaning. For instance, in the sentence My son cooks dinner

every Sunday, we can replace the verb cooks with other "action" words: 

 

My son cooks dinner every Sunday 

My son prepares dinner every Sunday 

My son eats dinner every Sunday 

My son misses dinner every Sunday

On the basis of this replacement test, we can conclude that all of these words belong to the same

class, that of "action" words, or verbs. 

However, this approach also has some serious limitations. The definition of a noun as a word

denoting a person, place, or thing, is wholly inadequate, since it excludes abstract nouns such as

time, imagination, repetition, wisdom, and chance. Similarly, to say that verbs are "action" words

excludes a verb like be, as in I want to be happy. What "action" does be refer to here? So

although this criterion has a certain validity when applied to some words, we need other, more

stringent criteria as well. 

  

2. The form or `shape' of a word

Some words can be assigned to a word class on the basis of their form or `shape'. For example,

many nouns have a characteristic -tion ending: 

 

action, condition, contemplation, demonstration, organization, repetition

Similarly, many adjectives end in -able or -ible: 

 

 acceptable, credible, miserable, responsible, suitable, terrible

Many words also take what are called inflections, that is, regular changes in their form under

certain conditions. For example, nouns can take a plural inflection, usually by adding an -s at the

end: 

 

car -- cars 

dinner -- dinners 

book -- books

Verbs also take inflections: 

  walk -- walks -- walked -- walking

  

3. The position or `environment' of a word in a sentence

This criterion refers to where words typically occur in a sentence, and the kinds of words which

typically occur near to them. We can illustrate the use of this criterion using a simple example.

Compare the following: 

 

[1] I cook dinner every Sunday 

[2] The cook is on holiday

 

In [1], cook is a verb, but in [2], it is a noun. We can see that it is a verb in [1] because it takes

the inflections which are typical of verbs: And we can see that cook is a noun in [2] because it

takes the plural -s inflection.

Notice that we can replace verbs with verbs, and nouns with nouns, but we cannot replace verbs

with nouns or nouns with verbs:  

 

*I chef dinner every Sunday 

*The eat is on holiday

  

It should be clear from this discussion that there is no one-to-one relation between words and

their classes. Cook can be a verb or a noun -- it all depends on how the word is used. In fact,

many words can belong to more than one word class.

Lexical word

The branch of linguistics that studies the stock of words (the lexicon) in a given language.

Some word classes are open, that is, new words can be added to the class as the need arises. The

class of nouns, for instance, is potentially infinite, since it is continually being expanded as new

scientific discoveries are made, new products are developed, and new ideas are explored

Lexicology and Syntax. Here are the examples of lexical words; are nouns, lexical verbs,

adjectives, and adverbs.

Having a look at the explanation below;

- Noun is The part of speech (or word class) that is used to name or identify a person,

place, thing, quality, or action. Most nouns have both a singular and plural form, can be

preceded by an article and/or one or more adjectives, and can serve as the head of a noun

phrase.

- Verb is the part of speech (or word class) that describes an action or occurrence or

indicates a state of being. There are two main classes of verbs: (1) the large open class of

lexical verbs (also known as main verbs or full verbs--that is, verbs that aren't dependent

on other verbs); and (2) the small closed class of auxiliary verbs (also called helping

verbs). The two subtypes of auxiliaries are the primary auxiliaries (be, have, and do),

which can also act as lexical verbs, and the modal auxiliaries (can, could, may, might,

must, ought, shall, should, will, and would). Verbs and verb phrases usually function as

predicates. They can display differences in tense, mood, aspect, number, person, and

voice

- Adjective is The part of speech (or word class) that modifies a noun or a pronoun.

Adjective: adjectival. In addition to their basic (or positive) forms, most descriptive

adjectives have two other forms: comparative and superlative.

- Adverbs is The part of speech (or word class) that is primarily used to modify a verb,

adjective, or other adverb. Adverbs can also modify prepositional phrases, subordinate

clauses, and complete sentences. Adjective: adverbial. Adverbs typically add information

about time (rarely, frequently, tomorrow), manner (slowly, quickly, willingly), or place

(here, there, everywhere). Many adverbs--especially adverbs of manner--are formed from

adjectives by the addition of the ending -ly (easily, dependably). But many common

adverbs (just, still, almost, not) do not end in -ly, and not all words that end in -ly

(friendly, neighborly) are adverbs

Function word

A word that expresses a grammatical relationship. Also known as a grammatical word. Function

words include determiners, conjunctions, and prepositions. Contrast with content word.

Function words are like thumbtacks. We don't notice thumbtacks; we look at the calendar

or the poster they are holding up. If we were to take the tacks away, the calendar and the

poster would fall down. Likewise, if we took the function words out of speech, it would

be hard to figure out what was going on

The the function words include pronouns (you, them), modal verbs (could, must),

determiners (a, the), prepositions (of, in), and conjunctions (and, but). New members

of these classes are not added to the language very often. Instead they tend to gradually

evolve from lexical words in a process called grammaticalization. For example, the

lexical verb go means 'to move (toward a goal).' But its progressive form be going (to)

has evolved into a grammaticalized prospective (future) marker, as in She's going to love

her gift. The 'movement' meaning of go has been bleached out of the grammaticalized

version and so the going in be going to can be considered to be a function word, rather

than a content word.

The closed classes represent a more restricted range of meanings, and the meanings of

closed class words tend to be less detailed and less referential than open-class words.

Prepositions have gradually expanded their membership somewhat by admitting

participles such as including, concerning, but the remaining classes are very resistant to

the introduction of new items. This has been noticeable in recent years when attempts

have been made to find gender-neutral pronouns.

Morphological Processes

'Morphology is the study of the rules governing the formation of words.'

Morphological processes can be by affixation or other words formation. Affixation can be

inflection or derivation while other words formation can be compound, reduplication, suppletion,

internal chage, clipping, conversion.

A. AFFIXATION

Affixation is the process in which free morphome (root) is added with bound morphemes

(affixes). There are two kinds of affixation, they are inflection and derivation.

I. INFLECTION

Inflection is word formation process that changes the morphological form of a word to fit a

syntactic context.

Example:

- walk vs. walked

- cat vs. cats

There are some characteristics of inflection:

inflection does not change the grammatical category of the base;

inflection does not affect the meaning of the word;

inflectional processes take place after derivational ones;

Example

neighborhoods vs. *neighborshood

inflectional affixes have few exceptions (they are almost fully productive), while

derivational affixes usually attach to a limited class of words;

English inflectional affixes are all suffixes.

Example

- plural -s: cat - cats

- possessive/genitive ’s: John’s

- 3rd person sg. non-past -s: sing-sings

- progressive -ing: sing-singing

- past tense -ed: talk-talked

- past participle -en/-ed: eat-eaten/study-studied

- comparative -er: happy-happier

- superlative -est: happy-happiest

There are two types of inflection. They are:

regular inflection = rule-based; walk-walked

irregular inflection = stored in the lexicon; come-came;goose-geese

Evidence for distinction

- for irregular verbs, response time is linked to the frequency of the verb

- for regular verb, no such difference is found since the past tense is formed by a regular

rule

II. DERIVATION

Derivational affixes are affixes (suffixes) which change the meaning of the base in some

important ways, or change it into a different word class. They turn nouns into adjectives,

adjectives into verbs, nouns of one type into nouns to the other type, and so on. They add new

meanings to the base. They are readily followed by inflectional suffixes, and in many cases more

than one derivational suffix can be found in the some word.

For instance, let us start with the verb Establish in its rather specialized meaning of ‘grant special

state privileges to a church’. We can derive the verb disestablish, meaning ‘take away special

privileges’. Then we can form the noun disestablishment meaning ‘the act of taking away

privileges’, then the noun disestablishmentarian meaning ‘one who advocates disestablishment’,

then the noun disestablishmentarianism meaning ‘the doctrine of disestablishment’, and finally

antidisestablishmentarianism, meaning ‘opposite to the disestablishing the church. The latter

word is often cited as ‘the longest word in English Language’ Brockman (1971: 8)

Some derivational affixes of English

AFFIXClass(es) of word to which affix

applies

Nature of

change in

meaning

Examples

Prefix 'non-' Noun, adjectiveNegation/

opposite

Noun: non-

starter 

Adj.: non-

partisan

Suffix '-ity' Adjective Changes to noun

electric/

electri

city  ob

ese/

obesity

Prefix 'un-'Verb  

Adjective

Reverses action  

opposite

quality

tie/untie,

fasten/

u

nfasten  

clear/unclear,

safe/unsafe

Suffix '-ous' NounChanges to

adjective

fame/famous,

glamor/

glamo

rous

Prefix 're-' Verb Repeat actiontie/retie,

write/rewrite

Suffix '-able' Verb Changes to print/

adjective;  

means 'can

undergo

action of

verb'

prin

table,

drink/

drin

kable

Derivational Suffixes

Abstract noun

makers

Concrete noun makers Nouns from

verbs

Nouns from adjectives

-age = frontage - eer = engineer -age =

wastage

-ity = falsity

-dom = kingdom - er = teenager - al =

refusal

-ness = kindness

-ery = slavery - ess = waitress - ant =

inform

ant

Adjective-noun makers

-ful = spoonful - let = booklet -ation =

education

-ese = Chinese

-hood =

brotherhood

- ling = duckling -ee =

commitee

-an = republican

- ing =

farming

- ster = gangster -er = writer -ist= socialist

- ism =

idealism

-ing =

clothing

-ite = Luddite

- ocracy =

aristocrac

-ment =

equipment

y

- ship =

friendship

-or = actor

Adverb-makers Verb makers Adjectives from

nouns

Adjectives from

verbs

-ly=quickly -ate= orchestrate -ed= pointed -able= drinkable

-ward(s)= onwards -en= ripen -esque= burlesque -ive= attractive

-wise= clockwise -ify= certify -ful= successful

-ize/ise= advertise -(i)al= accidental

-ic= atomic

-ish= foolish

-less= careless

-ly= friendly

-ous= ambitious

-y= hairy

Noun Suffixes

ROOT SUFFIX WORD

EMPLOY - Ment EMPLOY-MENT

AGREE AGREE- MENT

DISCUSS

PRODUCE

PERMIT

- ion, tion, sion DISCUSS-ION

PRODUC-TION

PERMI-S-SION

INVITE

OPPOSE

- ation, - ition INVIT – ATION

OPPOS – ITION

PREFER

DISTANT

-ence, - ance PREFER- ENCE

DISTAN- CE

CERTAIN

SECURE

- ty, - ity CERTAIN-TY

SECUR- ITY

SAD

ILL

- Ness SAD-NESS

ILL-NESS

BUILD

UNDERSTAND

- Ing BUILD-ING

UNDERSTAND-ING

Nouns for People

SUFFIX ROOT WORD

- er, -or, - ress Drive

Edit

Wait

DRIV-ER

EDIT-OR

WAIT-RESS

- ist Tour

Science

TOUR-IST

SCIENT-IST

- ant , - ent Assist

Study

ASSIST-ANT

STUD-ENT

-an, - ian Republic REPUBLIC-AN

Electric ELECTRIC-IAN

- ee Employ

Examine

Address

EMPLOY-EE

EXAMIN-EE

ADDRESS-EE

Forming Adjectives

- y added to the names of

common substances, objects

and things that are

experienced

Rock = ROCKY

(full of rocks, like rocks)

Noise = NOISY

( producing noise)

- ly Added to time words and to

certain family/personal

words

Day = DAILY

Week= WEEKLY

Man = MANLY

- ful Added when it indicates in a

positive way the presence of

a quality or ability

Use = USEFUL

Skill = SKILFUL

- less Negatively suggests the

absence of a quality or

ability

Use = USELESS

Meaning = MEANINGLESS

- al Added to certain nouns of

Latin origin ending in – ion,

-ic(s) and -ure

Addition = ADDITIONAL

Music = MUSICAL

Ethics = ETHICAL

Nature = NATURAL

Words can often be divided into morphemes. Words can have prefixes, infixes, suffixes, show

inflectional or derivational morphology, and much more...

'Morphology is the study of the rules governing the formation of words.'

B. OTHER WORD FORMATION

1-Compounding

A compound word contains at least two bases which are both words ,or at any rate , root

morphemes.

examples :-

n+n))(Tea) +( pot ) => teapot

Hair) + (dress) + er => hairdresser(n+v)

Blue) + (bird) => bluebird (a+n)

Over) + (lord) => overlord (pre+n)

2-Conversion

Conversion is a process that assigns an already existing word to a new syntactic category.

Examples :-

=>V derived from n

e.g button (the shirt)

=>N derived from v

(a long) walk

=>V derived from A

Open (a door)

3-Clipping

Clipping is a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables. It is

especially popular among students.

Examples:-

Prof => for professor

Poli – sci => for political science

Zoo for => zoological garden

4-Blends

Blends are words that created from non-morhpemic parts of two already existing items.

A blend is usually formed from the first part of one word and the the final part of the second one.

Examples:-

brunch =>from breakfast and lunch

Smog => from smoke and fog.

Spam => from spiced and ham.

5-Internal change

Internal change is a process that substitutes' one non-morphemic segment for another .

Examples:-

sing(present) =>sang(past)

Sink(present) =>sank(past)

Foot (singular) => feet(plural)

Goose(singular) => geese(plural)

6-Suppletion

Suppletion is a morphological process whereby a root morpheme is replaced by a phonologically

unrelated form in order to indicate a grammatical contrast.

Examples:-

have => had

Go => went

good=> better

7. Acronym

They are formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.

They are usually pronounced as single words (e.g. NATO, PIN, etc.) Or as a set of letters (e.g.

CD, VIP, etc.)

8. Back Formation

A word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to a word of a different type (usually a verb)

through widespread use.

• to donate from donation

• to opt from option

• Other examples: pronunciate (< pronunciation), resurrect (< resurrection),

enthuse (< enthusiasm),

9. Borrowing

Taking over words from other languages.

• Examples from Italian

• pasta

• piano

10. Coinage

Coinage is the invention of totally new terms. Often a brand name becomes the name for the

item or process associated with the brand name

• Examples:

– hoover

– Kleenex

– Xerox

– Kodak

References

Kusumawardhani, Ratna., Prabowo., Fani, Entika. 2008. A Handbook of Lexical Studies 1.

Semarang: IKIP PGRI SMG press

Ardini, Sukma Nur. 2008. English Morphology. Semarang: IKIP PGRI SMG Press