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Lexical Phonology
Lexical Phonology
AMMOOL KEDRelated Papers
Nevins & Vaux (2008b)
Introduction: The Division of Labor of Rules, Representations, and Constraints In Phonological Theory2008 •
1985 •
Phonological theory in recent years can be said to have undergone a ‘modularisation’ in several respects. The formal theory is no longer expected to explain everything about phonology by itself: generalisations about phonological change which previously were used to motivate constraints on abstractness or opacity have turned out to make more sense as effects of real-time language acquisition and use. Secondly, phonological representations have become multi-tiered arrays, and much that seemed problematic about the application of rules has resolved itself in terms of properties of these arrays. Lastly, phonology itself is seen as applying both within the lexicon to the output of each morphological process, and to the output of the syntsactic component. The lexicon, moreover, may itself be organised into a hierarchy of levels, each constituting a quasi-autonomous morphological and phonological domain. In this paper I propose to investigate some consequences of this third kind of modula...
Journal of Linguistics
On phonotactically motivated rules1974 •
The main thesis of this paper is that the grammars of natural languages contain an exhaustive set of conditions on the output of the phonological rules – in fact, a surface phonotactics. I shall show that, contrary to what is usually assumed in generative phonology, a surface phonotactics is not redundant in a generative grammar if the grammar is indeed intended as ‘a theory of linguistic competence’ (Chomsky, 1965: 3), and that if any set of rules in the phonological section of the grammar is redundant it is the morphophonotactic rules, better known as morpheme structure conditions. I shall propose a format for the statement of rules (including so-called ‘conspiracies’) which are ‘motivated’ by the phonotactics in the sense of Matthews (1972: 219–220). Finally, I shall present a set of phonotactic rules for consonant clusters in Latin, and show how the statement of certain rules of Latin phonology can be simplified by taking their phonotactic motivation into account.
Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics
Lexical Phonology and Morphology2006 •
Lexical phonology is a theory about the organization of the phonological and morphological modules of grammar. It presupposes the traditional distinction between word phonology and phrasal phonology, and proposes that phonology and morphology apply in tandem. Hence, it is a theory about the interface between phonology and morphology. The theory of lexical phonology has been formulated within the framework of rule-based, derivational phonology. Its basic insights can be carried over to constraint-based theories of phonology.
Lexical Phonology
I. Representative:
Ellen M Kaisse
II. Introduction:
Lexical Phonology is a theory about the organization of grammar. In particular, it deals with the relationship among phonology, morphology, and the lexicon. Its basic claim is that all morphological processes, and many phonological ones, are carried out in the lexicon. On this view, phonological rules fall into two classes:
(1) Lexical Rules: which may interact with morphological rules.
(2) Postlexical Rules, which may not interact with morphological rules.
This organizing principle is expressed by placing all lexical phonological rules in the lexicon, and all postlexical rules in a separate phonological component that is ordered after the rules of syntax. By definition, any phonological rule that applies in constituents larger than words must be postlexical, since such constituents are created by the syntax.
III. Phonology and Morphology:
With regard to morphology, Lexical Phonology is a strong version of the so-called Lexicalist Hypothesis. It's because it assumes that all word formation, including inflection, is carried out in the lexicon. This position follows from the fact that lexical phonological rules may have to apply both to derived words and to inflected forms of words Given the assumption that morphology and part of phonology are carried out in the lexicon, we expect some interaction between morphological and phonological rules. The classic view (Booij 1981, Kiparsky 1982) is that morphology and phonology apply in tandem. After every word-formation rule, lexical phonological rules re-apply. The effect of this is tha lexical phonological rules apply cyclically. This mode of application is illustrated by the following abstract example, in which the phonologival effects are represented as prime signs:
(1) Cycle 1: Root (taken from the lexicon)
Cycle 2: [Root]Y] word formation rule 1
[Root]Y] phonological rule A
[Root]Y] phonological rule B
Cycle3: [[Root]Y] Z] word formation rule 2
[[Root]Y] Z] phonological rule A
[[Root]Y] Z] phonological rule B
The interspersing of word-formation rules and cyclic phonological rules predicts that we may find word-formation rules whose application is conditioned by the prior application of a phonological rule. An example is the derivation of the Dutch word ambassadrice "female ambassador" from its neutral counterpart ambassadeur "ambassador", derived in turn from ambassade "embassy". The relevant word-formation rule replaces the suffix -eur with -rice when the stem ends in d or t. The derivation is as follows:
(3) Cycle 1 : [ambassad∂]
Cycle 2 : [[ambassad∂]eur] -eur suffixation
Prevocalic ∂-deletion
Cycle 3 : [[[ambassad] ]rice] -rice suffixation
The crucial point here is that the phonological rule of prevocalic schewa-deletion makes the stem ambassad end in an alveolar obstruent, as required for suffixation of -rice.
The classic version of Lexical Phonology, as outlined above, also implies that phonological rules may apply before morphological rules. This seems to be correct, since word formation rules may require information about the (rule-derived) stress patterns of their input words. For instance, the choice between the two denominal adjectival suffixes -ief and -isch in Dutch depends on whether the last syllable of the input word bears main stress: if so, -isch has to be selected-- otherwise, -ief.
A weaker claim about the interaction between phonology and morphology is that this interaction is only indirect. That is , all word-formation rules apply first, and the cyclic phonological rules than apply.
IV. Cyclicity:
The common core of the "direct" and the "indirect" view of phonology/morphology interaction is that cycles are the organizing priciple for the application of lexical phonological rules. A further property of lexical rules is that their application is governed by the S[TRICT] C[YCLE] C[ONDITION], one of the most important principles of Lexical Phonology. The essence of the SCC is that feature-changing (applications of) cyclic phonological rules apply only in derived environments. The environment may be derived either morphologically or phonologically. In the former case, a new structure is derived from the operation of a morphological rule. In the latter, it results from a phonological rule. Consider /servis+e/, the Polish word serwis "service." In contrast to the first sequence /se/, the second /se/ in this form is derived morphologically: -e is the ending. Polish has a cyclic palatalization rule that palatalizes coronal consonants before front vowels. The SCC now correctly predicts that only the second /s/ palatalizes: [servi'se].
The SCC places a strong restriction on the abstractness of underlying forms. For example, we can exclude in a principled way the proposal that, in Polish, the underlying form of Chile [ˇc ile] can be /kile/. This is because Velar Palatalization, the rule that effects the change k >ˇc , is cyclic , and hence cannot apply in non-derived environments. Consequently, an underlying /k/ of /kile/ would surface as a [k]. Therefore we must assume the underlying from /ˇc ile/. Thus the abstractness of underlying forms is severely restricted.
The SCC does not imply that cyclic rules cannot apply to non-derived environmnets. However, in such environment, they can only add information. For instance, since syllabification rules and stress rules only add prosodic information, they can apply on the first cycle.
Segmental rules can also apply on the first cycle, if they fill in certain feature specifications. Nasal Assimilation in English specifies that the underlyingly underspecified nasal consonant N has the same place of articulation as the following obstruent, as in damp, end, or thank. Note also that the structure-adding applications of rules do not create derived environments. Otherwise, all cyclic rules would incorrectly apply on the first cycle, because the syllabification rules already apply on that cycle.
V. Reference:
Bright, William(ed). 1992. International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. New York:
Oxford U.P.
Kaisse, Ellen M & P. A. Shaw. 1985. On the Theory of Lexical Phonology.
Phonology Year Book 2: 1-30.
“The Representation of Some Phonetic and Lexical Differences
between Persian Common in Iran and Persian Common in
Afghanistan”
(A Comparative Sociolinguistic Research)
Nastaran Tavakoli1
Ph. D. In: Ancient Iranian Culture and Languages
Assistant professor- Department of linguistics, Science and research branch,
Islamic azad University, Fars, Iran
Abstract. The Iranian languages are a branch of Indo-Iranian, which is one of the main divisions of the
Indo-European family of languages. The Iranian languages are divisible on a chronological basis into three
periods: Old Iranian, Middle Iranian and Modern Iranian. Modern Iranian includes hundreds of dialects and
accents among which Persian is the most important and is mainly spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
In a field work and with a sociolinguistic and comparative approach, this writing attempts to compare
Persian of Iran and Persian of Afghanistan and represent some of their important differences from a phonetic
and lexical standpoint.
For this aim the present paper begins with a short introduction to Iranian languages and their historical
evolutionary periods, then Modern Iranian languages, and especially Persian and its variants will be
introduced, then some of important phonetic and lexical differences between Persian common in Iran
(standard variant) and Persian common in Afghanistan will be presented by tables.
It should be noted that the language data used in this study are mainly gathered through field work:
recording Afghan speakers’ talks and observation of situations, in addition to getting benefit of the linguistic
perception of the writer who is an Iranian and speaks Persian.
The findings in this research indicate that in Persian of Afghanistan the pronunciations are more original
and nearer to Middle Persian: mother of Persian. Also the existing phonetic differences are approximately
always vowel differences. Additionally the differences between these two variants are mainly lexical than
phonetic and finally the speakers of two variants use Arabic, Turkish and European loan words but the
frequency of Arabic words is high.
Keywords: Iranian languages, Persian, Iran, Afghanistan, phonetic and lexical differences, sociolinguistics
1. Introduction
The Iranian languages are a branch of Indo-Iranian (Aryan), which is one of the main divisions of the
Indo-European family of languages. The Iranian languages are divisible on a chronological basis into three
periods: Old Iranian, Middle Iranian and Modern Iranian.
Old Iranian (from about 1200 B.C. to about 300 B.C.) includes two languages represented by texts: Old
Persian and Avestan, and a number of other dialects which are but very slightly known like Median and
Scythian.
Middle Iranian (from about 300 B.C. to about 900 A.D.) includes two branches: Western Middle Iranian:
Arsacid Pahlavi and Sasanian Pahlavi that its other name is Middle Persian; and Eastern Middle Iranian:
Sogdian, Scythian, Chorasmian and Bactrian.
1 Tel.: (+98 711 6304830); mobile: +98 9179993520
E-mail address: (nastaran_ty@yahoo.com, tavakoli.nastaran@gmail.com)
277
2011 International Conference on Humanities, Society and Culture
IPEDR Vol.20 (2011) © (2011) IACSIT Press, Singapore
Modern Iranian (from about 900 A.D. onward) includes hundreds of dialects and accents and is divisible
into two main groups: Eastern Modern Iranian and Western Modern Iranian.
The languages of first group among which Ossetic, Pushtu, Ormuri, Parachi, Yagnobi and Pamir
languages are considerable, are all common out of geographic and political Iran borders.
Western Modern Iranian languages which are common in Iran and also out of political Iran borders are
divisible into eight main groups:
Central Iranian dialects
The dialects of the Caspian Sea-shore
North-western dialects
South-western dialects
South-eastern dialects
Kurdish dialects
Zaza and gurani dialects
Baluchi dialects.
Persian - a Western Modern Iranian language from the south-western branch- is the most important
Iranian language and is mainly spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. In Iran and Tajikistan it is the
formal language. Formerly, It was the formal language of Afghanistan, but now it is in the second place after
Pushtu and is called “Dari” too. In Iran and Afghanistan, Persian is written in Persian-Arabic alphabet but in
Tajikistan in Cyrillic Alphabet.
It should be mentioned that Persian language with all of its varieties have originated of Sasanian Pahlavi
(Middle Persian) which is the changed form of Old Persian.
Since the major part of history and cultural identity of people is hidden in their language and dialect and
as Oliver Vandel Holmes says each dialect is a temple containing the soul of its speakers and guards them,
the study of phonetic and lexical differences between two varieties of Persian was chosen as the main subject
of this paper.
It should be noted that the language data used in this study are mainly gathered through field work:
recording Afghan speakers’ talks, and observation of situations in addition to getting benefit of the linguistic
perception of the writer who is an Iranian and speaks Persian.
Phone English (or Persian) equivalent Phonetic sign
“p” /p/
“b” /b/
“t” /t/
“d” /d/
“k” /k/
“g” in “gate” /g/
in « ق» ،« غ» (voiced, uvular stop) /q/
Persian:
(voiceless, glottal stop) /’/
In Persian is used before the vowels
in the beginning of the word
“ch” /č/
“j” /j/
“f” /f/
“v” /v/
“w” in “week” /w/
“s” /s/
“z” /z/
“sh” /š/
(voiced, alveopalatal fricative) /ž/
in Persian: « ژ»
in « خ» (voiceless, uvular fricative) /x/
278
Persian:
“h” /h/
“m” /m/
“n” /n/
“l” /l/
“r” /r/
“y” in “yard” /y/
“i” in “in”(ī = long i) /i/, /ī/
“e” in “metal”(ē = long e) /e/,/ē/
“a” in “back” /a/
“a” in “tall” /ā/
“o” in “oh” /o/
“oo” in “good”(ū = long u) /u/, /ū/
2. Some phonetic and lexical differences
2.1. Some examples of phonetic differences:
Meaning Iran Afghanistan
1- (maternal) Aunt /xāle/ /xāla/
2- Beggar /gedā/ /gadā/
3- (my) Dear /jānam/ /jānem/
4- Five-hundred /pānsad/ /panjsad/
5- General (in army) /ženerāl/ /jenerāl/
6- Government /do(w)lat/ /dawlat/
7- Hard-line, radical /tondro/ /tondraw/
8- He, she /vey/ /vay/
9- Homeland /mīhan/ /mayhan/
10- House /xāne/ /xāna/
11- Middle /miyāne/ /miyāna/
12- More /bištar/ /bēštar/
13- One /yek/ /yak/
14- Six /šeš/ /šaš/
15- Three hundred /sīsad/ /sēsad/
16- Two-hundred /devīst/ /dosad/
17- Zero /sefr/ /sefer/
As we see above, in Persian of Iran, the vowel /e/ existing in the middle and at the end of the words is
substituted in “Dari” with the vowel /a/ (see examples 1, 2, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 14); also the vowel /i/ changes
to /ē/ or sometimes to the diphthong /ay/ in Persian of Afghanistan (see examples 9, 12 and 15). In final
example (/sefr/,/sefer/) a vowel is added to word in “Dari”. In approximately all said examples these are the
vowels that change; only in one example we see a consonant mutation: /ženerāl/,/jenerāl/ .
2.2. Some examples of lexical differences:
Meaning Iran Afghanistan
1- Agronomical year / sāle zerā’ī/ /sāle zerā’atī/
2- Ambiguities /’ebhāmāt/ / nā rawšanīhā/
3- Army, soldiers /’arteš/, /sarbāzān/ /’asāker/
4- To become common /rāyej šodan/ /ravāj šodan/
5- Bijouterie /zīvar ’ ālāt/ /zīvarāt/
6- Central blood bank /bānke markaziye xun/ /bānke xūne markazi/
7- Cousins /pesar xālehā/ /pesarāne xāla/
8- To describe /be tasvir kešīdan/ /be tasvir kešāndan/
9- Foreign gatherings / majāme’e xāreji/ /majāme’e bīrūni/
279
10- German /’ālmāni/ /jermani/
11- Grandfather /pedar bozorg/ /kalān pedar/
12- High rent /’ejāreye bālā/ /’ejāreye boland/
13- Hospital /bīmārestān/ /šafā xāna/
14- Housewives /zanāne xānedār/ /zanāne xāna/
15- Inhabitants /sākenān/ /bāšandegān/
16- In the best possible way /be nahve ’ahsan/ /be sūrate ’ahsan/
17- (It) stops... /motevaqqef mikonad/ /tavaqqof midahad/
18- To leave, to get out /xārej šodan/ /bīrun šodan/
19- License, permit /javāz/ /lisāns/
20- To like /xoš ’āmadan/ /dūst ’āmadan/
21- Manpower /nīrūye ’ensāni/ /nīrūye bašari/
22- Middle east /xāvare miyāne/ /šarqe miyāna/
23- To be offered /’erā’e šodan/ /be piš ’andāxta šodan/
24- (surgical) Operation /’amal/ /’amalliyāt/
25- To organize /tartīb dādan/ /tartīb nemūdan/
26- To overturn /naqz kardan/ /nāqez kardan/
27- Participant /šerkat konande/ /’ešterāk konanda/
28- Poor country /kešvare faqīr/ /kešvare nādār/
29- Religious principles /’osūle dīnī/ /’asāsāte dīnī/
30- Rightfulness, legitimacy /haqqāniyyat/ /mesdāqiyyat/
31- To remain caught /gereftār māndan/ /gīr māndan/
32- Smuggler /qāčāqči/ /qāčāqbar/
33- To take off (one’s /kandan/, /dar ’āvardan/ /kešīdan/
clothing)
34- To be transferred /montaqel šodan/ /’enteqāl šodan/
35-Unknown sufferers /zahmat-kešāne nāšenās/ /zahmat-kešāne nāšenāxta/
36- Voting places /manāteqe ra’y gīrī/ /manāteqe ra’y dehi/
As we have seen in the table above, there are loan words in “Dari” and also in Persian of Iran.
Sometimes an Arabic word is used in Persian of Iran but its equivalent in “Dari” is a Persian word (See
examples 2,15,18,23 and 24), and sometimes vice versa (see examples 3, 13 and 22); Anyway the frequency
of Arabic loan words are high. In two variants there are Turkish and European words too, but their frequency
is low (for Turkish see example 32 and for European see example 10). Additionally sometimes in order to
explain one only meaning, two different Arabic words are used in these two varieties (see examples 1, 11, 21,
24, 27, 29 and 30). In some situations for explaining one only meaning, two different Persian words are used
by the speakers of two varieties (see examples 12, 20, 31, 33, 35 and 36). What is considerable also is the
jumbling of words in some compound words in Persian of Iran and “Dari” (see examples 6, 7 and 11).
3. Conclusion
The findings in this research indicate that in “Dari” (Persian of Afghanistan) – in comparison with
Persian of Iran- the pronunciations are more original and nearer to Sasanian Pahlavi (Middle Persian):
mother of Persian. In Middle Persian there was a suffix /ag/ that by adding to nouns, adjectives and verbal
stems made many words; when the language was changed to New Persian, /g/ was omitted but the vowel /a/
rested in “Dari” and we can still see it, but in Persian of Iran it has been substituted by /e/.
Also the existing phonetic differences are approximately always vowel differences; and so the
differences between two variants are mainly lexical than phonetic; additionally the speakers of two countries
use Arabic, Turkish and European loan words. Sometimes an Arabic word is used in Persian of Iran but its
equivalent in “Dari” is a Persian word and sometimes vice versa; anyway the frequency of Arabic loan words
is high. In two variants there are Turkish and European words too, but their frequency is lower than Arabic
words. Sometimes in order to explain one only meaning, two different Arabic words are used in these two
variants. In some situations for explaining one only meaning, two different Persian words are used by the
speakers of two varieties. What is considerable also is the jumbling of words in some compound words in
Persian of Iran and “Dari”.
280
In a general view, we can see again the influence of society and geography in changing the languages
and diversity of usages.
4. REFERENCES
[1] D. Crystal; The language revolution, translated by Shahram Naghshe Tabrizi. Tehran: Qoqnous. 2006.
[2] M. Abolghassemi ; History of The Persian Language: Tehran: Samt. 2003
[3] H. Rezaei Bagh Bidi; An Introduction to The Languages and Dialects of Iran: Tehran: Iranian Academy of
Persian Language and Literature. 2001.
[4] K. Katzner; The languages of the world, translated by Razie Hirmandi (Khodadadi). Tehran: Markaze nashre
daneshgahi.1997.
281
Masaryk University
Faculty of Education
Department of English language and literature
Compound adjectives in women’s lifestyle magazines
Bachelor thesis
Eva Ptáčková
Brno, April, 2008 Supervisor: Mgr.
Radek Vogel, Ph.D.
Declaration:
I declare that I worked on my thesis on my own and that I used all the sources mentioned in my
bibliography.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. for his valuable help, advice and supervision he
provided me with during my work on this bachelor thesis
Table of contents
Introduction.. 6
1 Word and its definition.. 7
1.1 Status of word. 7
1.2 Lexeme. 8
2 Word-formation and its types. 10
2.1 Word-form and its elements. 10
2.2 Derivation. 11
2.3 Conversion. 12
2.4 Abbreviation. 12
2.4.1 Clipping. 12
2.4.2 Acronyms. 13
2.4.3 Blends. 13
2.5 Back-formation. 13
3 Compounding.. 14
3.1 Defining a compound. 14
3.2 Phrase-compound distinction. 15
4 Compound adjectives and their classification.. 19
4.1 Adjectives vs. compound adjectives. 19
4.2 Classification. 20
4.3 Adjective-centred compound adjectives. 22
4.3.1 Adjective + adjective compound adjectives. 22
4.3.2 Noun + adjective compound adjectives. 22
4.3.3 Numeral + noun + adjective compound adjectives. 23
4.3.4 Adverb + adjective compound adjectives. 23
4.3.5 Adjective + verb compound adjectives. 23
4.4 Noun-centred compound adjectives. 24
4.4.1 Adjective + noun compound adjectives. 24
4.4.2 Derivational (-ed suffix), adjective + noun or noun + noun compound adjectives. 24
4.4.3 Noun + verb, verb + noun compound adjectives. 25
4.4.4 Adverb + noun compound adjectives. 25
4.4.5 Numeral + noun compound adjectives. 25
4.4.6 Derivational (-ed suffix), numeral + noun compound adjectives. 26
4.4.7 Noun + noun compound adjectives. 26
4.4.8 Compound adjectives containing word-form self- 26
4.4.9 Compounds adjectives containing word-form –style. 27
4.5 Verb-centred compound adjectives. 28
4.5.1 Adjective/adverb + progressive participle compound adjectives. 28
4.5.2 Adjective/adverb + past participle compound adjectives. 28
4.5.3 Noun + progressive participle compound adjectives. 29
4.5.4 Noun + past participle compound adjectives. 29
4.5.5 Compound adjectives formed with a particle and verb form.. 30
4.5.6 Verb + verb compound adjectives. 30
4.5.7 Verb + adjective/adverb compound adjectives. 31
4.6 Phrasal compound adjectives. 31
4.7 Compound nouns in attributive position. 32
5 Orthographic features of compound adjectives. 34
6 Stress in compound adjectives. 37
7 Some remarks on semantics of compound adjectives. 39
7.1 Meaning as a result of combination of semantic information. 39
7.2 Semantic transparency of complex lexical units. 41
8 The reasons for use of compound adjectives. 44
Conclusion.. 46
Bibliogrpahy.. 48
List of illustrations. 50
Résumé.. 51
Appendix: Complete list of compound adjectives and their division 52
Introduction
Compounds combine together two or more word-forms which then function as a
single lexical item. Compounding thus enables more or less free production of newly coined
complex lexical word-forms which can express more precisely a given matter of fact. Compounds
occur in all areas of English language; they are used in everyday spoken and written
colloquial English language as well as in literary language.
Phenomenon of compounding is examined, described and analysed by various
scholars. I consider the most valuable source of information on this topic the work of L.
Bauer; English Word-formation, the work of V. Adam, An Introduction to Modern English
Word-formation as well as The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Huddleston at al.
These works are devoted to the most common processes of word-formation in English and provide
valuable references to many secondary sources. W. Meys is an author of the only work
concentrating directly on compound adjectives called Compound Adjectives in English and the
Ideal Speaker-Listener. In general, the sources concerning compounds concentrate primarily on
the compound nouns and their classification.
In my bachelor thesis I concentrate on compound adjectives in women’s
lifestyle magazines. I have chosen to investigate this area of English language partly because
of my personal interest in these magazines. Moreover, such magazines are a real proof of
productivity of compounding as the occurence of compound adjectives in them is very high. The
main objective of this bachelor thesis is to map the occurrence of compound adjectives in
women’s lifestyle magazines, provide their classification and describe their structure. The
description and classification of compound adjectives in diferent sources varies and has not
been unified yet.
I have investigated different approaches and definitions to compound
adjectives in available sources in order to settle criteria which I used for identification of
compound adjectives in the text. In order to gather enough lexical material I have examined
five different women’s lifestyle magazines; two weeklies (Closer, Reveal) and three monthlies
(Cosmopolitan, Company, Glamour). I have examined all the written content of those magazines
besides printed advertisements. I have categorized found examples of compound adjectives into
various groups according to their grammatical structure and central lexical element. In my
bachelor thesis I also comment on their orthographic form, stress, as well as semantic
content.
The outcome of my thesis proves that compounding is very productive and
complex process of word-formation in English language and deserves ongoing investigation
1 Word and its definition
1.1 Status of word
The term word as a basic unit of a language is a fundamental element not only in linguistics,
but in every language-related branch of science. Anyhow, a generally valid definition for the
term word remains an unsurpassed problem. If any learner of English was asked to count the
words in the sentence ‘What time is it, please?’ the answer would surely be five. Therefore,
one of the obvious criteria for defining could be the fact that a word is delimitated by its
boundaries in written text. However, the sentence What’s the time, please? indicates an
obvious imperfection of a previous presumption proved by the expression what’s.
There are numerous other examples proving that the status of the word can be questioned. One
of them can be gradable adjectives and realization of the different levels. The comparative
forms richer and *more[1] rich semantically coincide, still the word status of the
word-form[2] more can be questioned as its semantic meaning concord with the suffix –er-. The
word status of compounds, especially those which are not connected in writing, also stays
unclear. Opinions on whether the compounds, e.g. child benefit or vacuum cleaner, should be
considered as one or two words[3] vary.
As shown above, the definition and apprehension of the term word remains open. And needless to
say, that so far just English language was considered. Consequently, should be all the
languages concerned the definition of the term ‘word’ stays very complex, unanswered question.
This suggests that appropriate, purposeful definition of the term word can only be formulated
within a particular language. V. Adams agrees, that “the failure of general linguists to
provide a consistent definition of the word across languages has shown that it can
only be defined with respect to a particular language, but it is also evident that a word-like
unit is equally central and unmistakable for speakers of very diverse languages” (Adams 1973:
7).
1.2 Lexeme
As outlined above, certain word-forms differ in their particular shape, but still they are
semantically connected. Their meanings seem to refer to the same abstract model with the same
meaning. This abstract, in a way superordinate, element with particular meaning will be
referred to as a lexeme. Consider the utterance a fully paid-up member and a word-form
paid-up. If a speaker of English should search for this word in dictionary, the term they
would be looking for would be most probably pay. The word-form paid is thus obviously
connected with the word-form pay, which therefore seems to be inclusive, key term of abstract
level, lexeme. Once a lexeme is realized in speech or in writing, the particular shape of it
then represents a word-form. L. Bauer states that “word-forms have phonological or
orthographic shape, while a lexeme is a much more abstract unit. The citation form of a lexeme
is the word-form from the inflectional paradigm[4] of the lexeme which is used when a lexeme
is entered in standard dictionary (Bauer 1983: 12). According to L. Bauer, therefore in
dictionaries are listed the citation forms of lexemes. The author’s definition therefore could
be interpreted in the way that every entry in a dictionary should represent a lexeme, which is
rather risky statement.
Status of a lexeme still remains a controversial issue. Let me demonstrate this on the
provided example of the word-form pay and other related word-forms that can be found in a
dictionary. Please note that the list of the word-forms is not comprehensive and it is used
for demonstrative purposes:
1. pay.ed – pay.s – pay.ing, inflectional paradigm of pay as a verb
2. pay.ing – pay.a.ble – pay.ment – pay.o.la – pay.ee, ‘derivational paradigm’
3. pay back – pay down – pay for – pay up – pay back, phrasal verbs
4. pay day – pay roll – pay-per-view – pay phone – pay-as-you-talk, compounds
This is just a small sample of the amount of expression listed in dictionary. Grammatical
words, in this case it should be past-tense and past participle form, which happens to have
the same word-form paid. Analogically would be formed the past-tense form and past participle
from of all the phrasal verbs listed above. Considering listed phrasal verb it is not very
clear whether the semantic meaning of those really comes under the only lexeme pay as attached
adverbs and prepositions should be considered to have their own lexemes.
Focusing on the word-form e.g. pay-as-you-talk, it is rather obvious that in this case the
meaning goes far beyond the lexeme. The conception of compounds and its forming of a
completely new lexeme appears still rather controversial. Often the compounds may be
understood as a new word-form rather then a lexeme. As L. Bauer confirms, “in discussion of
word-formation it is frequently not clear whether it is the lexeme or the word-form that is
involved in a given process”. (Bauer 1983: 13)
2 Word-formation and its types
2.1 Word-form and its elements
This chapter deals with a brief outline of kinds of present-day word-formation processes in
English language and its rules. In sequence, this chapter will outline derivation, conversion,
kind of abbreviation and back formation. Compounding is not included as it will be discussed
in greater detail in the chapter which follows.
Any discussion of word-formation makes two assumptions: that there are such things as word and
that some of them are formed according to some existing rules (Bauer 1983: 7). The conception
of the term ‘word’ was clarified in the previous chapter and further on in this thesis will be
used the term ‘word-form’. The definition and clarifying of the different types of
present-day word formation and its rules relies on the prior definition of other related
terms; namely root, stem, base, suffix, prefix, inflectional suffix and affix. Let me
demonstrate those on the scheme word-form that was created for this purposes; disabilities.
1. Morphological structure of complex word-form
In this case, the root ‘abil’ (originally ‘able’) and suffix ‘itie’ (originally ‘ity’) have
been changed by process of the phonemic change. In the given scheme affixes include only
prefix, attached before the base; suffix, attached after the root (or base) and inflectional
suffix, which marks grammatical category (e.g. number, tense, person or adjectival grade). In
addition to this should be mentioned infixes, which are morphs[5] attached inside a base (e.g.
jack-o’-lantern)
L. Bauer defines a stem as the part of the word-form which remains after the inflectional
suffix is removed. A base is defined as any form to which can be added any kind of the affix.
R. Huddleston at al. (2002: 1626) then defines various kinds of bases:
· Compound base; one whose immediate constituents are also bases.
· Derivative base; one with an affix as an immediate constituents.
· Simple base; one not divisible into smaller morphological constituents.
· Lexical base; one that is not part of a larger base formed by process of lexical
word-formation.
As illustrated above, complex word-forms can be fragmented into separate constituents, i.e.
morphemes. A morpheme can be defined as a minimal unit of grammatical analysis (Lyons, 1968;
Matthews; 1974, Bauer, 1983) Morpheme, the same way as lexeme, is an abstract element of
grammatical analysis. Once the morpheme is orthographically or phonetically realised, it is
referred to as a morph. A morph can be defined as a segment of a word-form, which represents a
particular morpheme (Lyons, 1968; Matthews; 1974, Bauer, 1983). An allomorph is a
phonetically, lexically or grammatically conditioned member of a set of morphs representing a
particular morpheme (Bauer 1983: 16). Morphs can be divided in to bound and free morphs. Free
morphs identify the morph which can occur in isolation as a particular word-form therefore
they function as a root. Bound morphs can only exist while attached to another morph, e.g.
affixes.
2.2 Derivation
Thus far were analysed individual lexical components, which can create a particular
word-form. From now on will be outlined the main word-formation process and its rules. First
to mention is derivation, the most productive process of word-formation in English language.
Derivation is word-formation process in which a new lexeme is created by means of prefixes,
suffixes or exceptionally infixes which are added to the a base. The new lexeme cannot be
formed by inserting of inflectional suffix. If a base or root is modified by an inflection
then the new word-forms create and inflectional paradigm, e, g, the word-form dye can form
following inflectional paradigm: dyes, dyed, dyed, dyeing.
The derivational affixes and its consequential creation of a new lexeme can be divided into
two main categories: class-maintaining and class-changing. Class-maintaining affixes create a
derivative, new lexemes formed by derivational affixes, which belong to the same word class as
the original base or root. Whereas class-changing affixes produce new lexemes which fall into
different word classes than its originators. (Bauer 1983; Adams 1973)
The most common examples of class-changing derivational process in English are following[6]:
2. Most common patterns of derivational process in English
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|word classes |suffix|suffix applied |process |
|-----------------+------+-------------------------------+-----------------|
|adjective-to-noun|-ness |(slow → slowness) |nominalization |
|-----------------+------+-------------------------------+-----------------|
|adjective-to-verb| -ise |(modern → modernise) |verbalization |
|-----------------+------+-------------------------------+-----------------|
|noun-to-adjective| -al |(recreation → |adjectivalisation|
| | |recreational) | |
|-----------------+------+-------------------------------+-----------------|
|noun-to-verb | -fy |(glory → glorify) |verbalization |
|-----------------+------+-------------------------------+-----------------|
|verb-to-adjective|-able |(drink → drinkable) |adjectivalisation|
|-----------------+------+-------------------------------+-----------------|
|verb-to-noun |-ance |(deliver → deliverance) |nominalization |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
2.3 Conversion
Conversion is a highly productive word-formation process in English, where the new word-form,
belonging into different word class from its originator, is created without any corresponding
change of the form. Some scholars call this process zero-derivation (Adams, 1973, Marchand,
1969) and refer to this process as a derivation by zero affix. R. Huddleston defines
conversion as “changing of the word’s syntactic category without any concomitant change of the
form. Conversion therefore, has no effect on the morphological structure.” (Huddleston 2002:
1640)
2.4 Abbreviation
J. Hladky and M. Ruzicka recognize ‘abbreviation’ as a summarizing term for
three different types of word-formation process; clipping, acronyms and blends.
2.4.1 Clipping
Clipping refers to the process in which a given lexeme is shortened,
nevertheless it still retains the same meaning and still belongs to the same word class
despite the change of its form. Typical examples of clipping are expressions like
advertisement→advert, ad, gymnasium→gym or microphone→mike.
R. Huddleston at al. calls the part of the original word form which is cut away,
e.g.’nasium’, surplus and the newly formed base residue.
R. Huddleston states that clippings are often restricted to be used in informal syle and often
can constitue slang expressions, especially when they are first conined (Huddleston 2002:
1634). In addition, L. Bauer suggests that clipped forms can be also used to form compounds,
e.g. sitcom stands for situational comedy.
2.4.2 Acronyms
Acronyms are word-forms which are created by initial letters of the sequence of words they
substitute. They are written as one word-form and also are pronounced as a one “word” not
individual letters (graphemes). Acronyms can be written in both, upper-case or lower-case
letters. Very often the acronyms are composed of the initial letters of the proper names, as
in the names of numerous organizations and institutions. Not all the word-forms which are
included in a acronym have to be reflected in the acronym itself. Especially grammatical words
are often omitted. Consider the following examples like NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization). (Huddleston 2002: 1633)
2.4.3 Blends
Blending is a formation of a new word-form based on combination of two or more parts of
existing lexemes. Sometimes, the newly created word-form cannot be transparently analysed into
morphs which were taken form the composing elements. Typical example of such blending is word
form branch (breakfast + lunch), heliport (helicopter + airport) or motel (motor + hotel). In
other cases, the blended word-form consists either of part of the first base and whole of the
second base as in telebanking (telephone + banking) or it consists of the whole of the first
base and part of the second as in breathalyser (breath + analyser). (Huddleston 2002: 1636)
2.5 Back-formation
Back-formation is a coining of a new word-form, which was created from already existing one
by means of shortening that word-form form its end. Usually this is realized by deleting the
suffix. Some authorities (e.g. Marchand, 1969) prefer to use the term ‘back-derivation’. J.
Hladky refers to the back formation as to a “process opposed to derivation as far as the
direction of change is involved.” (Hladky; Ruzicka 1998: 44)
3 Compounding
This chapter will deal with problems of compounding in English language. Apart from providing
a sufficient definition of compounds in general this chapter also describes the different ways
how to distinguish compounds form free phrases in language. Apart form that the process of
lexicalization will be will be outlined briefly. In this chapter is also included several
possible semantic divisions of compounds.
3.1 Defining a compound
Compounding is a very productive process of word-formation in English language. J. Hladky
defines a compound as a lexical unit consisting of more than one base and functioning both
grammatically and semantically as a single word. (Hladky; Ruzicka 1998: 36) L. Bauer defines a
compound as “a lexeme which must contain at least two potential stems”. (Bauer 1983: 38) R.
Huddleston calls a compound “a compound base which is composed of two (or occasionally more)
smaller bases.” (Huddleston 2002: 1642) V. Adams sees a compound as a result of fixed
combinations of two lexemes, free forms. The order of lexemes creating a compound is fixed and
cannot be changed. A compound, although consisting of more free lexical units, has the
identifying characteristic of single word-form. (Adams 1973: 30)
The above cited definitions clearly state that a compound is a lexical item which is
morphologically analysable into at least two or more roots or stems which can function as
independent word-forms themselves[7]. Therefore, a compound functions syntactically,
grammatically and semantically as a one lexical unit, and should fall into a particular word
class which fully depends on syntactic use of a given compound. Hence, word-forms like e.g.
colour-sensitive, laid-back, all-in-one or can’t-live-without can function as adjectives
independently of their lexical components. A compound carries a new specific meaning, for
purpose of which it was formed. Its meaning can be a semantic combination of its constituents
and thus is perfectly transparent, e.g. 18-year-old, a look-how-popular-I-am, nun-like.
However, the meaning of a particular compound does not need to correspond semantically with
it components at all and can have rather idiomatic and non-literal meaning; e. g. laid-back
bar, light-hearted, entertaining read or a bit of a catwalk glamour. Consider following
examples with the focus on the word-forms in italics[8].
3. Lexical constituents of compound adjectives used as individual word-forms
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Compound |Free phrase |
|----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------|
|He looks very outdoorsy. |The Bradfords would soon put her out of the door when |
| |they heard she was having a baby, but she didn't know |
| |where she would go. (BNC) |
|----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------|
|He’s not dating his 18-year-old |Ana Eugenia was only 18 years old when she was kidnapped |
|co-star. |by the National Police: (BNC) |
|----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------|
|It meant that sexually transmitted|Free to sexually assault them.(BNC) |
|diseases were rife. | |
| |HIV can only be transmitted in certain ways. (BNC) |
|----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------|
|It’s an easy way of sending out a |From a study of his subscribers' lists, it is clear how |
|look-how-popular-I-am message. |popular they were. (BNC) |
|----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------|
| |After work Jed took Mitch to the hotel for a drink. (BNC)|
| | |
|Solve your straight-out-after-work|I work straight out of my head onto the canvas. (BNC) |
|crises. | |
|----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------|
|She is red-hot in scarlet. |Pus may not form, and so the only signs may be the red, |
| |hot and painful mass which, combined with loss of |
| |function, defines `;inflammation'; in any part of the |
| |body. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Unlike other complex word forms, e.g. derivatives, which are usually written as one lexical
unit, compounds are often hyphenated or stand in the text as separate word-forms. As shown
above, a compound -which in fact function as single lexeme- can be sometimes formed even by
hyphenated compl ex sentence, as in following example look-how-popular-I-am message. Moreover,
in many cases some lexical items which are considered to form a particular compound stand in a
text separately. Form this orthographic feature and compound definition itself originates the
main problem, i.e. how to distinguish compounds form free phrases[9] or in other words what
are the distinctive features, which make a compound status.
3.2 Phrase-compound distinction
The clear, explicit and universal method for drawing a distinction between a compound and free
phrase has not been formulated yet. In a written text, a significant marker of compounding can
be orthographic form of a given lexical formation. If individual lexical elements are
connected by hyphens or written as one word and also fulfil the condition of semantic and
grammatical unity, in general such elements can be denominated as compounds.
Compare provided sentencesin the table.
4. Comparison of compound adjectives and corresponding phrases
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|compound |phrase |
|--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------|
|Destructive effects of all-night|All night the baby cried.(BNC) |
|drinking | |
|--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------|
|Then work a hydrating serum |While the skin is still damp, apply a moisturiser made from|
|through your still-damp lengths.|beeswax and plant oils (page 68) or a good commercial |
| |product. (BNC) |
|--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------|
|Sexy wet-hair waves are back |Zambia pushed back her wet hair. (BNC) |
|--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------|
|Her new slimline body is down to|Thompson (1980) has warned of the potential danger of a |
|not eating after 5pm. |strong police autocracy, conscious, no doubt, of the slim |
| |line which exists between the democratic use of power and |
| |its subversion by a more centralized totalitarianism. (BNC)|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The real problem occurs with identifying compounds which stand in a text as isolated items.
Many scholars (Hladky; Ruzicka 1998, Marchand 1969, Lees 1960, J. Lyons) agree that the
primary stress can be criterion for identifying status of a compound[10]. However, numerous
exceptions proved that this criterion cannot be successfully generalized, e.g. compound ice
cream can have the primary stress on both elements, either on first or on the second without
changing of its meaning. (Giegerich 2006: 8)
In case of compound nouns formed by adjective and noun as a head V. Adams suggests a few ways
how to test the compound status. Firstly a noun compound is not possible to premodify with an
adverb, i.e. is not possible to say a *very civil partnership. However, V. Adams admits that
this method is not very reliable as the exceptions exist, e.g. very good shot or very bad
loser[11] (Adams 1973: 57). Secondly, a compound noun cannot take comparative form; hence
*more civil partnership would not make sense. Thirdly, a free phrase can be converted in a
simple sentence with the noun as a subject and adjective functioning as complement, thus the
phrase this partnership is civil is not possible as it lacks sense. Lastly, the word-forms
appear to be compounds if their first element cannot be modified independently of its head.
Consequently, the phrases as *wooden door way, *outer door knob, *rare book case are not
acceptable as the first element is not appropriate modifier of the noun head of the compound.
(Adams 1973: 58)
In addition to this, Huddleston suggest to check the compound status with the pro-one
construction, whereby in a repeat occurrence in a coordinate construction, a (countable)
nominal head is replaced by the pro-form one, e.g. a blue book and a red one. (Huddleston
2002: 1652) Thus constructions like *a coach driver and a lorry one, *a fireman and a milk one
are not possible in contrast with constructions like ugly picture and a beautiful one make
perfect sense (Giegerich, 2006: 4). Any construction amenable transformation into a pro-one
construction must have syntactic rather than lexical (compound) status. (Huddleston 2002;
Giegerich 2006)
3.3 Lexicalization
So far, there was demonstrated a few ways how to test a noun-compound status. Still, as
mentioned above, there is no universal method for identifying compound-status of complex
lexical formations. Nevertheless, there are lexical formations, e.g. party girl, pole dancing,
pencil skirt, or junk food, which can be still problematic to decide whether they operate as
compounds or whether they are just habitual collocations. V. Adams states that some lexical
combinations are “well enough established to be felt as compounds.” (Adams 1973: 57) This
statement suggest that a speaker of English language is able to distinguish a compound just
because they feel that given complex lexical word-form operates and acts as a compound. Also
Giegerich (2006: 5) suggests that the speaker of English when identifying a compound and
decoding its meaning relies on their acquired encyclopaedic knowledge as well as context.
What makes a complex word-form established explains L. Bauer (1983: 45 ff) by the three-step
scale of occurrence of a coined complex lexical item within a language:
o A nonce formation, which is a new complex word-form which is coined by a speaker/writer to
cover immediate need. (Bauer 1983: 45) Speaker/ writer is aware of the fact that they
have never heard/read the word before.
o The next stage is institutionalization, where the nonce formation is accepted by the other
speakers as known lexical item. (Bauer 1983: 48) For a compound then is typical loss of
their potential ambiguity. Thus e.g. pole dancing is not any dancing performance performed
by man or woman or a group of people with any kind of pole. Pole dancing has got its
institutionalized[12] meaning (a short dancing performance with strong sexual allusion,
performed by a young girl dressed in sexually provocative outfit on a stage equipped with
a special metal pole). Meys (1975: 21) describes meaning of an institutionalized complex
word-form as item-familiar, thus creating a new lexeme. Lyons (1977: 547) uses the term
‘petrification’ and ‘petrified’.
o The final stage is lexicalization. A lexeme is lexicalised[13] if it takes a form which
could not have been formed by current process of word-formation, e.g. bishopric or
pickpocket. Moreover, lexicalized complex word-forms can be opaque, i.e. their meaning is
not transparent, and it is not based on the meaning of forming components, e.g. blackmail
(Huddleston 2002:1629). Leech suggests that lexicalization also includes loss or/ and
addition of a semantic information. (Leech 1974: 226) Lyons (1977: 547) uses the term
fossilization which is equivalent to lexicalization.
Based on this scale, L. Bauer and also V. Adams seem to uses the term ‘established’ as term
which subsumes both, institutionalized and lexicalized complex word-forms. (Bauer 1983: 50)
Thus established complex word-forms can be interpreted as forms with the rather fixed meaning
understandable to the speakers of a given langue, in this case English.
3.4 Exocentric and endocentric and neo-classical compounds
Compounds can be divided into several groups according to the criteria of their syntactic and
semantic head. Thus noun compound containing two lexical elements can be recognized
subordinative, if one of the lexical elements is a head and second element s dependant.
Coordinative compounds are those in which both the lexical items have got equal status
north-west. R. Benczes (2006: 8) states that majority of English compounds follow the
right-hand head rule, which means that the head of the complex word-form construction is the
very right element. Author also states that most of the English noun compounds -composed of
two lexical items- are endocentric, e.g., high-street, black-tie, where the first element
modifies the second, semantic head, thus creates the subclass of semantic head. Such compounds
are in fact hyponyms of their grammatical heads; i.e. fish-oil is special type of oil etc.
(Bauer 1983: 95, 30; Huddleston 2002: 1646). Nevertheless, some authors (Hladky; Ruzicka 1998;
Adams 1975) recognize as endocentric compounds such compounds which come into the same word
class as their central element. In this way compound like must-have, make-up, all-over or
high-class would not fulfil this condition and thus are exocentric. Exocentric compounds are
such compounds which function as a different word class than their grammatical and semantic
head. Exocentric compounds can be both subordinate as make-up or high class and some can also
be coordinative as must-have.
Neo-classical compounds contain lexical element taken form classical languages, which have
been current in English for some time. (Adams 1973: 128) V. Adams calls the element taken from
a classical language a combining form; which in a given compound can create the first or the
second lexical word-form. (Adams 1973: 129) Example of neo-classical compounds can be
word-forms like multi-dimensional, post-natal or graphic-patterned.
I shall say no more about various types and classification of compounds as this is not the
objective of this thesis. The core of this work is devoted to the description of compound
adjectives constructed on magazine-based corpus and its division. Those will be described and
classified at the great detail in the following chapter.
4 Compound adjectives and their classification
This chapter deals with classification and description of examples of compound adjectives
which were found in various women lifestyle magazines, namely two weeklies Closer (23-29
February, 2008), Reveal (15-21 September, 2007) and three monthlies Cosmopolitan (October,
2007), Company (November, 2007) and Glamour (February, 2008).
4.1 Adjectives vs. compound adjectives
Adjectives may be defined as a syntactically distinct class of word-forms whose characteristic
function is to modify only nouns. (Huddleston 2002: 525) According to general characteristic
of adjectives as a word class, they should have the following syntactic properties:
o Function – adjectives can appear in attributive, predicative and postpositive function.
o Gradability – adjectives are gradable, hence accept modifiers like very, too, enough and
have inflectional or analytic comparatives and superlatives.
o Dependents – adjectives can take adverb modifier, e.g. very. (Huddleston 2002: 525)
Compound adjectives are formed according to the large number of various grammatical patterns
therefore their identification and adjectival status is often questionable and ambiguous. All
the complex word-forms which are listed and described below as compound adjectives fulfil the
condition of modifying a noun. Overwhelming majority of compound adjectives have attributive
function, thus they stand before a noun; predicative and postpositive functions are
exceptional. As far as gradability is concerned, compound adjectives are mostly non-gradable,
which originates from their lexical constitution and semantic complexity. It could be expected
that gradable forms can be only constructed by such compound adjectives, which contain an
adjective word-form, e.g. high-speed, high-waisted, hard-earned, good-looking, quick-dry,
easy-to-apply, true-life.
Nevertheless, in some cases can be gradable also compound adjectives, which do not contain an
adjective word-form at all. Typical examples would be compound adjectives composed of past
participle and a particle like laid-back, see-through, outspoken or doped-up. Consider
fictional examples like the most laid-back bar you have ever seen or this self tanning cream
is even easier-to-apply. However, also other compound adjectives without adjective word-form
can be to some extent gradable, e.g. hourglass, sun-starved or man-eating. On the other side,
many compound adjectives containing adjectival word-form are not able to create inflectional
or analytic form of comparative or superlative because of the semantic restriction of the
other lexical element and because they express some absolute property of an object. Consider
examples like long-term relationship, low-calorie diet, she is red-hot in scarlet,
short-listed products, pet-free flat. Compound adjectives thus name properties the meaning of
which comes form the semantic relations of its structural lexical elements. That is why they
are often not able to make comparative or superlative form or to take adverb modifiers.
Compound adjectives, which are formed of two lexical elements should fulfil the condition that
the right (second) element of the compound cannot stand alone as a premodifier of a noun
(Adams 1973: 91), e.g. in case of full-time mum to say *time mum is meaningless. Still, this
condition is not absolute and is not valid in case of compounds created by two adjectives,
e.g. super-sexy, extra-strong or pinky-peach.
When identifying a compound adjective, the main criteria considered were noun-modifying
function, semantic unity of the meaning, orthographic form and ability of individual
constituent lexical elements to create independent word-forms. The biggest remaining problem
is distinguishing of compound adjectives from pre-modifying phrases, which can be also
hyphenated, e.g. still-damp lengths, first-ever role. I considered as compound adjectives many
lexically complex word-forms, which are probably not established in English language and can
be therefore called nonce formations, e.g. big-budget soap, long-sleeve T-shirt, no-lipstick
lipstick, pay-as-you-talk handset. Nevertheless, such formations still fulfil compound-status
conditions and therefore I see no reason why they should be left unnoticed. Imaginative line
between collocations and compounds is very unclear and often completely relies on the decision
of a reader/listener. Consequently, there might be many examples compound-status of which is
doubtful.
4.2 Classification
The classification of compound adjectives is not and easy task and therefore has not been
unified yet. There are many possible ways how to classify compound adjectives.[14]
Classification in this thesis is based on the central element of a compound, on the word
classes of constituent lexical elements and also on the number of lexical components forming
given compound adjectives. In many groups it was very difficult to decide which element is
central and in some cases there seem to be no central element as the compounds appear
coordinative, e.g. north-west, purple-brown. Most of the compound adjectives can be
transformed into modifying clauses. Then there can be identified syntactic relations between
individual elements, which complicate the question, which lexical element of a compound is
central.
For each group will be listed no more than six examples[15] as the full
transcript would be rather extensive. Exact rates and figures can be found in the diagram at
the end of this chapter. Examples listed in each category are supplemented with a phrase, in
which they occurred in a particular magazine. Each category is open to further division
according to the semantic relations which are expressed by a given compound. This
classification also contains a category of compound nouns used in attributive position which
serve as premodificators of a noun.
There can be recognized six main categories of compound adjectives:
o Adjective-centred
o Noun-centred
o Verb-centred
o Adverb-centred
o Phrasal
o Compound nouns in attributive position
5. Occurrence of different types of compound adjectives in the text
As shown in the chart, the most frequent category is composed by verb-centred compound
adjectives followed by noun-centred group.
4.3 Adjective-centred compound adjectives
4.3.1 Adjective + adjective compound adjectives
Extra-large (extra-large door)
Extra-strong (extra-strong formula)
Super-sexy (this super-sexy bottle)
Purple-brown (a wash of purple-brown shadows)
North-west (north-west London)
These can be divided in two semantic groups; coordinative and subordinate
compound adjectives. Example of coordinative compound is north-west or purple-brown, where
both elements have the equal lexical status and none of the constituent lexical elements have
modifying function. In case of subordinative compounds extra-large or extra-strong the first
element has got intensifying function of the second (right) element.
Majority of compounds with this pattern contain combining forms as extra or
super. These word-forms could be taken as prefixes (bound morphemes) and thus word-forms like
super-confident, super-skinny or extra-strong can be considered as products of derivation. I
decided to list such word-forms containing super and extra into compound adjectives because
these word-forms commonly operate as independent adjectives in a given utterance or written
text. None the less, I agree that those complex word-forms are -according to their semantic
content- closer to derivatives.
These compound adjectives are usually non-gradable as the first element functions as an
intensifier of a given property. Exception can exist, e.g. teeny-tiny could create comparative
or superlative form.
4.3.2 Noun + adjective compound adjectives
Life-long (life-long buy)
Corset-like (they create a corset-like effect)
Rock-solid (to have rock-solid relationship)
Worry-free (drift off into a worry-free sleep)
Colour-sensitive (so invest in colour-sensitive care)
Chocolate-brown (slouchy, chocolate-brown handbag)
This type is one of the most frequent. Very often such compounds indicate likeness with noun
lexical element, e.g. corset-like. In this case it is clear that this form should refer to the
effect for wearing corset, the fact that corset makes sharp waistline. In other cases e.g.
nun-like, mum-like such forms express similarity. This pattern is also used for expressing
comparison, e.g. rock-solid: as solid as a rock. In this category are often colours and their
hyponyms as e.g. chocolate-brown. Very frequent pattern is the one containing -free as the
second lexical element. Such compound can be semantically analysed as lacking given property
e.g. worry-free means without any worries. The plural inflection -s in compound disappears.
Again, the word-form –free can be considered a bound morpheme. Thus word-forms like
streak-free can be taken as products of derivation as the –free has the same meaning as the
suffix –less. Nevertheless, the word-form free can stand in the text in isolation. These
compounds are endocentric. From listed examples, colour-sensitive would be gradable.
4.3.3 Numeral + noun + adjective compound adjectives
36-year-old (36-year-old Claudia)
50-year-old (with my 50-year-old virtual neighbour)
Four-year-old (who has also four-year-old son)
One-year-old (my one-year-old daughter)
Seven-month-old (she left seven-month-old tot in the back of her car)
This pattern appears to be well-established for age reference and it is highly productive. It
is always hyphenated and contains three lexical elements. Plural inflection in noun element is
omitted. Such compound adjectives can create a comparative form, but not a superlative one as
they would lack sense. These compound adjectives are endocentric.
4.3.4 Adverb + adjective compound adjectives
All-important (to give yourself all-important ego boost)
Terminally ill (the parents cope with their terminally ill child)
This pattern is not very common as only two examples were found. Such compounds are
endocentric, where an adverb word-form modifies an adjective word-form. Such compounds are
non-gradable as the degree is given by a particular adverb. The compound status of both
formations is questionable; terminally ill can be recognized as collocation and all-important
can function easily without the adverb modifier.
4.3.5 Adjective + verb compound adjectives
Easy open (lager with easy open ring-pull cap)
Quick-dry (use quick-dry products, so you can get out the door faster)
This marginal pattern with just two examples identified was very problematic to categorize.
The compounds were rephrased as e.g. easy open cap is a cap which is easy to open; quick-dry
products are products which are quick to dry. The central element thus should be adjective
word-form. Thus this group should be endocentric. These compound adjectives are gradable; e.g.
easy-open, quick-dry and endocentric.
4.4 Noun-centred compound adjectives
4.4.1 Adjective + noun compound adjectives
All-day (for all-day comfort)
True-life (in the true-life drama)
Open-toe (open-toe, laser-cut shoes are on every fashion editor’s wish list)
High-tech (new generation of high-tech toys)
In this category it was very difficult to decide on the compound-status although this form is
quite common. Many of such formations if standing isolated would be probably taken just as
collocations or free phrases. Consider examples open-toe shoes and true-life drama which can
be rephrased as shoes with open toes and drama from the real life. These formulations are
undoubtedly free phrases. The distinctive marker of compound status could be primary stress in
such formulations. If there is just one primary stress then the formulation can be considered
a compound. Compound high-tech can be easily taken as a compound nouneven in attributive
position, but according to British National Corpus this abbreviated word-form operates far
more often in attributive position than as a noun. These compounds can express different
semantic relations since given examples can be analysed in different ways. In some cases, as
open-toe, low-calorie is omitted the plural-marking inflection. Such compounds are exocentric
with noun as central element. Considering that the first (left) lexical item modifies the
second (right) one, such compounds can be taken as endocentric. These compound adjectives are
non-gradable.
4.4.2 Derivational (-ed suffix), adjective + noun or noun + noun compound adjectives
Big-breasted (women who aren’t „too“ anything: good-looking, thin, fat – or big-breasted)
High-waisted (high-waisted jeans)
Light-hearted (a light-hearted, entertaining read)
Open-minded (that would make even the most open-minded Cosmo reader blush)
Walnut-sized blob (rub a walnut-sized of Lee Stafford Messed Up Putty)
This pattern is typical for compounds containing body parts and exceptionally parts of
garment, namely sleeve. This type is mainly used for description of appearance where a given
compound refers to highlighted characteristic of body. This pattern is also frequently used
for description of garments, e.g. long-sleeved blouse. Apart from body parts and word-form
size and sleeve, there were not identified any other nouns which would take derivational
suffix – ed, e.g. high-heeled. Some compounds, e.g. light-hearted have rather metaphorical
meaning. As marginal can be seen compounds containing –sized, which refer to size of an
object. For noun + noun pattern were identified just three compound adjectives, walnut-sized,
wedge-heeled and cap-sleeved. These compounds in general are exocentric if we consider the
word classes of their constituents. From the point of view of modifying element, such
compounds are endocentric. Some of them can be gradable, e.g. higher-waisted.
4.4.3 Noun + verb, verb + noun compound adjectives
Knee-jerk (as a knee-jerk response)
Ring-pull (lager with easy open ring-pull cap)
Lacklustre (it quickly feels lacklustre)
Split-nail (in a split-nail emergency, cut off a tiny piece of dry tea bag)
Tell-tale (a tell-tale cramp gripped her belly)
This pattern is again rather questionable. L. Bauer (1973: 210) claims that this type does not
appear to exist. In cases of split-nail and knee-jerk all lexical elements can be considered
nouns. This group could be possibly considered also verb centred. Still ring-pull cap can be
analysed as a cap with a ring, which can be pulled and split-nail emergency can be emergency
of a nail which split. These compounds have typically verb-object or object-verb structure.
The formulation tell-tale is idiomatic. These compounds are exocentric and non-gradable.
4.4.4 Adverb + noun compound adjectives
Outdoorsy (he looks very outdoorsy)
Outdoor (she does tough, military-based outdoor exercise)
For this type was found just one semantic item with two lexical forms, outdoor and
derivationla variant outdoorsy. Both word-forms are based on adverbial out of the door. The
compound adjective outdoorsy refers to a human being. They are exocentric and non-gradable.
4.4.5 Numeral + noun compound adjectives
40-minut (but on the 40-minute drive)
Nine-inch (even in nine-inch heels)
Four-step (with our four-step guide)
Four-year (after his four-year relationship)
Multimillion-dollar (he must sort out a multimillion-dollar mess)
This type is rather common and individual lexical components of a given compound adjective are
in writing always connected with hyphen. The plural-marking inflection is omitted. Such
compound adjectives create especially measure terms. According to the found examples, the
numerals from one to ten tend to be written as word-forms, otherwise numerals bigger than ten
tend to be written as numerals. These compound adjectives are exocentric and non-gradable.
4.4.6 Derivational (-ed suffix), numeral + noun compound adjectives
One-sided (she would explain to me the one-sided view of life)
Three-dimensional (you start by creating your own three-dimensional persona)
This pattern is rather rare and only two above listed examples were found. Those are in fact
noun phrases which derived into compound adjectives in such way that to the noun is attached
suffix –ed. These compound adjectives are exocentric and non-gradable.
4.4.7 Noun + noun compound adjectives
Hourglass (to go for an hourglass figure)
Mother-daughter (exploration of mother-daughter relationship)
Sci-fi (its scary reworking of the sci-fi classic)
Tip-top (make sure it’s in tip-top condition)
This pattern again can be considered marginal as only four semantically different examples
were identified. Word class structure of these compounds may lead to conclusion that they
should be considered compound nouns rather than compound adjectives. Nevertheless, word-forms
hourglass and tip-top are listed in dictionary (Cambridge International Dictionary of English)
as adjectives. The word-form hourglass undoubtedly also functions as a compound noun.
Mother-daughter compound adjective is to be found in British National Corpus only in
attributive position referring to relationship of mother and daughter. The word-form sci-fi is
an abbreviated form of science fiction which is a compound noun. However, this abbreviated
word-form sci-fi, according to British National Corpus is used in attributive position far
more than as a noun. Still, the adjective status of such compounds is impugnable, as they are
according to their grammatical construction nouns.
Last two categories of noun centred compound adjectives include compound
adjectives with particular central lexical element, namely self and style which occur in the
following compound word-forms.
4.4.8 Compound adjectives containing word-form self-
Self-assured (she seemed so confident and self-assured)
Self-adhesive (four types of easy-to-apply, self-adhesive gel cushions)
Self-confessed (potential love match for one self-confessed disastrous dater)
Self-conscious (feeling self-conscious about your shape)
The basic function of the lexical element self is reflection, thus this word-form should refer
to the doer. However in case of compound adjectives, this word–form adds some extra meaning,
which is not unified. In case of compound adjectives self-assured and self-obsessed, they both
clearly refer to the doer. A self-assured/obsessed man is in fact a man who himself is
assured/obsessed by himself. Thus in these cases the word-form self is the aim of an action.
However self-confessed disastrous dater is not just a dater who himself has confessed to
himself, but at the first place he admits that he is disastrous. Thus self is the initiator
of an action. Compare the following transformations of imaginative examples:
Self-obsessed disastrous dater X Disastrous dater obsessed by himself
Self-confessed disastrous dater X Disastrous dater who himself confesses he is disastrous
Similarly, self-adhesive cushions are not cushions, which are adhesive to themselves, but
basically it means they have the ability to stick without addition of glue. In this case the
word-form self refers to the ability of self-action. In self-conscious the word-form self
changes the meaning on the scale of good and bad. Is somebody is conscious about something,
they are simply aware of if, they know what is happening. If a woman is self-conscious, she
views herself in uncomfortable, in general, negative way. In the analysed examples the
word-form self adds to a particular base an extra meaning, which does not have to be only
reflexive, but can be understood in many different ways.[16] Compound adjectives containing
word-form self can be gradable.
4.4.9 Compound adjectives containing the word-form –style
Café-style (create café-style hot chocolate at home)
Kimono-style (bizarre kimono-style outfit)
Man-style (off-the-shoulder, strode the runway in man-style, off-the-shoulder cocktail
dresses)
Retro-style (this jacket is a great retro-style piece)
Victorian-style (A-line and cropped jackets look great with high-waisted, wide-leg trousers
and a long-sleeved, Victorian-style blouse)
Word-form -style always stands as the second element and the particular word-form is always
hyphenated. Word form style indicates similarity with a given entity. It can be based on
visual resemblance as in kimono-style or retro-style. Also it can be the matter of sharing of
same attributes as in man-style. Also it can refer to similarity of taste as in café-style
chocolate. This pattern is most often used for describing of various garments. Such compound
adjectives are exocentric by their grammatical form, but endocentric by their meaning. They
can be exceptionally gradable.
4.5 Verb-centred compound adjectives
Vast majority of such compound adjectives is formed with progressive[17] or past participles
which occur as the second/right elements.
4.5.1 Adjective/adverb + progressive participle compound adjectives
Easy-going (I’m easy-going, open-minded)
Excess spending (women panicking because of their excess spending habits)
Good-looking (the good-looking guy you work with)
Long-lasting (a base coat of long-lasting colour)
Sweet-smelling (made more gorgeous and sweet-smelling)
This pattern is in fact a transformation of different sentence structures. A
given noun phrase which contains such compound adjective can be transformed into a clause
where the head of given noun phrase becomes a subject, an agent and thus initiator of an
action. The first possible sentence pattern would have subject – verb – adverbial structure
(SVA), as in e.g. long-lasting colour, which is a combination of an adverb and a present
participle. Another possible sentence pattern is the one with subject – verb – complement
(SVC) structure, as in good-looking guy. Compare following transformations:
Long-lasting colour: A colour which lasts long.
Good-looking guy: A guy who looks good.
Thus, these constructions containing compound adjectives are in fact
shortened SVA or SVC sentences where subject, head of a noun phrase, is an initiator of an
action. Such compound adjectives are exocentric according to their form and endocentric in
their meaning. They are very often gradable. Comparative form can occur in the compound
adjective itself, e.g. drier-looking.
4.5.2 Adjective/adverb + past participle[18] compound adjectives
Best-paid (she was recently named the best-paid film actress)
Black painted (black painted nails)
Hard-earned (think twice about spending your hard-earned cash)
Best-known (the best-known offender is a pill)
Newly-born baby (who abandoned her newly-born baby)
Long-awaited, a long-awaited return
This pattern appears to be quite productive. This type of compound
adjectives is again a shortened transformation of a finite clause which can have the structure
of subject – verb – adverbial or subject – verb – complement. In this case, the head of a noun
phrase has a recipient role of a given action. If a particular noun phrase should be converted
into a clause with corresponding meaning, such clause would use a passive voice:
Best-paid film actress: An actress who is paid best.
Black painted[19] nails: Nails which are painted black.
Often is used word-form well- as the first lexical element. Compound
adjectives can also contain a superlative form best, as in best-paid or best-known. Apart from
the word-form newly-born containing an adverb, a corresponding form new-born, containing
adjective was found, whose occurrence in a language according to the British National Corpus
is far more frequent. Compound adjectives of this pattern are endocentric in their meaning and
exocentric in their grammatical form. Some of them are gradable.
4.5.3 Noun + progressive participle compound adjectives
Energy-saving (use energy-saving light bulbs)
Fun-loving (I am fun-loving)
Life-changing (has there been a single life-changing moment for you)
Nail-biting (this is about as nail-biting as it gets)
Man-eating (to get such a man-eating reputation)
This pattern is one of the most productive. Most often, noun phrases containing such compound
adjectives can be analysed as shortened sentences with the structure of subject – verb –
object. Again, the head of the noun phrase would be mostly a subject and agent, action
initiator, in a possible transformation. Thus life-changing moment for you can be transformed
in a sentence this moment is changing your life. However e.g. man-eating reputation phrase
cannot be analysed with this SVO pattern as it is metaphorical and expresses special attitude
of a woman to men. Such variation in semantic structure of given compound adjectives only
shows that the general rules are not applicable without exceptions and that the similarity of
structure does not correspond with parallel similarity of meaning. Such compound adjectives
are exocentric in their structure and endocentric in their meaning. These compound adjectives
usually not gradable.
4.5.4 Noun + past participle compound adjectives
Appearance-focused (appearance-focused celebrity culture)
Fame-obsessed (she’s never been fame-obsessed)
Heart-shaped (80s look with the heart-shaped bag)
People-orientated (he wanted to do something more people-orientated)
Liverpool-born (explains the Liverpool-born star)
This highly productive pattern again represents the condensed form of a clause with mainly
subject – verb – object structure. Subject is a recipient of an action and thus transformed
clauses would use passive voice. According to this, e.g. laser-cut shoes are shoes which are
cut by laser. This pattern can include also compound adjectives whose structure syntactically
corresponds with the subject – verb – (complement) – adverbial division, as it is in case of
Liverpool-born star or shop-bought latte. These compound adjectives are exocentric in their
grammatical structure and endocentric in their meaning, because one lexical element modifies
the other. They are mostly non-gradable.
4.5.5 Compound adjectives formed with a particle and verb form
See-through (my pink bikini will be see-through)
Laid-back (more laid-back lifestyle)
Outstanding (outstanding quality of this year’s short-listed products)
Sell-by (to discover if your favourite denim trend has a style sell-by date)
Stand-offish (to ditch her moody and stand-offish reputation)
Uplifting (it’s an uplifting exercise)
Such compound adjectives contain in fact just a verb form, which is complex because it
contains an adverb or preposition. A given particle can occur in both positions; first (left)
as in outstanding quality or second (right) position as in sell-by date. Again particles can
be taken as bound morphemes and thus those complex lexical word-forms can be taken as products
of derivational process. Still, the particle contributes essentially to the semantic meaning
of a given complex lexical form and can stand on its own. These compound adjectives can
contain bare infinitive form as in leave-in, progressive participle as in uplifting or past
participle form as in outspoken. The compound adjective stand-offish carries adjectival
derivational suffix –ish. Sometimes, the meaning of compound adjectives is not obvious as the
compound is based on phrasal verb as in e.g. laid-back or it can be also based on slang, e.g.
a doped-up waster.
4.5.6 Verb + verb compound adjectives
Must-have (must-have belted safari dress)
Stay-put (add these stay-put eye shadows and super-bendable eye pencil)
This is a minor pattern and just two above listed examples were found. Compound adjective
must-have is combination of a modal verb and a predicate verb. The compound adjective
must-have is synonymous to essential or fundamental. The form must-have can function also as a
compound noun. Stay-put has got the meaning of long-lastingness and durability. Thus, stay-put
eye pencil can be analysed as once the pencils put on your eye it will stay there. Those
compound adjectives are not very established in the English language and therefore can be
considered rather nonce formations. These compound adjectives are exocentric and non-gradable.
4.5.7 Verb + adjective/adverb compound adjectives
Fail-safe (find your inner calm in no-stress, feminine, fail-safe dress)
Try-hard (it will make you look try-hard)
For this very marginal pattern were found just two examples listed above. All can be
transformed into a clause with SVA structure as in you look try-hard – you look as if you try
hard. The fail-safe dress is a dress which is safe from falling. According to the British
national corpus the word-form fail-safe is better established than the word-form try-hard.
4.6 Phrasal compound adjectives
All-expenses-paid (excuse to get our of the all-expenses-paid trip to the luxury resort)
Back-to-nature (my cottage felt like back-to-nature experience)
Down-to-earth (he seems quite down-to earth)
Look-how-popular-I-am (it’s an easy way of sending out a look-how-popular-I-am message)
Pay-as-you-go (BT will grant me pay-as-you-go landline)
Stepping-in-dog-poo (every stepping-in-dog-poo moment)
Soon-to-be-ex (Lynne has taken soon-to-be-ex son-in-law’s side)
In this category will fall all the compound adjectives containing more than two lexical items.
Such compound adjectives may be created of various phrases and even whole clauses, where all
the items are hyphenated. This makes this pattern semantically very extensive. Hyphenation of
individual lexical items enables free creation of nonce formations, which are specially coined
according to the actual need of the writer. Still, such formations, e. g.
would-help-an-old-lady-across-the-road swoonster, are perfectly understandable to the reader/
listener. Hyphenated phrases and clauses vary in their structure as there are no restrictions.
Sometimes a phrasal compound adjective can contain even a complex clause, as in
look-how-popular-I-am message. This pattern enables semantic connection of many lexical
elements where consequently such formation often carries very rich semantic information. Some
compound adjectives of this pattern are strongly metaphorical, e.g. every stepping-in-dog-poo
moment. These compound adjectives are exocentric. Even such compound adjectives can be
gradable as e.g. down-to earth.
4.7 Compound nouns in attributive position
Body-language (body-language expert)
Make-up, A-list (make-up artist and A-list fabuliser)
Red-carpet (my red-carpet dresses come from Maria Grachvogel)
Working-class (she recounted the story of her working-class upbringing)
Mince-pie (to shed the excess mince-pie pounds)
Using compound nouns in attributive position as premodificators of a noun is very common. In
many cases the compound status is questionable because often such formations can be considered
free phrases or collocations. As explained in previous chapter the compound status often
depends on the establishment of a lexical item(s) in language, which in fact reflects the
frequency of usage of a given it lexical item within a language with fixed meaning.
Analogically, it could be possible to assume that if a given compound noun is used often
enough in attributive position, it can converse into a compound adjective. Consider for
example compound noun as working-class which can be a typical example of a compound noun that
is nearly as often as a compound noun used in attributive position for premodification of
other noun (British National Corpus). Therefore there could be assumed semantic shift form a
noun to adjective. Noun compounds in attributive position cannot be gradable. Their
grammatical structure varies. Many of them are endocentric, e.g. skin-care arsenal,
thyroid-gland disorders, white-chocolate chunks. Some of them are also exocentric, make-up
guru, horse-riding weekend.
5. Distribution of different patterns of compound adjectives in the text
· Compound nouns in attributive position
· Phrasal compound adjectives
· Verb-centred compound adjectives
· Noun-centred compound adjectives
· Adjective-centred compound adjectives
As shown in the chart, the most productive are patterns containing a progressive or past
participle. Very frequent are also compound nouns in attributive position and phrasal compound
adjectives. From noun-centred pattern is most common the group with adjective –noun structure
and form adjective-centred compounds is most frequent the category with noun-adjective
structure.
5 Orthographic features of compound adjectives
Compound adjectives can consist of two or more lexical units, which may or may not be
connected in their written form. This chapter deals with the problems concerning the written
form of compound adjectives. Main focus lies on the way how the compound adjectives are spelt
and how the individual lexical units within one compound are linked together in a written
text. This chapter should also introduce some basic rules for writing compound adjectives and
using a hyphen. ^
Focusing on orthographic form of the compound adjectives, three basic ways of writing compound
adjectives can be distinguished. Firstly it could be compound adjectives whose individual
lexical units are connected with hyphen(s). Secondly, compound adjectives which are written as
a set of separate word-forms. And thirdly it can be compounds whose individual lexical
elements are joined into one single word-form.
Compound adjectives in which the lexical elements are linked in written texts with hyphen(s)
are usually called hyphenated compounds (Style Manual; The American Heritage Book of English
Usage; Get It Write, Adams 1975). This form of writing compounds appears to be the most
frequent and used in the English language. Most often compound adjectives are combination of
two lexical units, such as must-have, calorie-controlled or stress-free. However, hyphenated
compound adjectives can be formed of more than two lexical units; especially in the cases
where a compound is created by hyphenated phrase or clause like in buy-to-let houses,
pay-as-you-talk handset or straight-out-after-work outfit crisis.
Hyphenated form of compound adjectives stays often rather problematic and equivocal. It is not
an exception to find two ways of writing of absolutely identical compound adjectives. Consider
following examples taken form British National corpus.
He dressed expensively, wore hand-made shoes and pure silk shirts. Today's Keymer hand made
clay tiles use similar hand production methods.
Buy cereals that are not sugar-coated and sugar-free museli. The selling of sugar free squash
at break times provides a service appreciated by children and also generates a regular income.
So well-behaved was Jay that Lucy relaxed. The great thing for a first-timer like me was the
crowd: noisy and well behaved.
The above listed examples were taken from British newspapers. The compound adjective
well(-)behaved when used in predicative position or as a complement is always spelt without
hyphen, which of course does not work with other examples. The occurrence of the duplicate way
of writing compound adjectives is very common phenomenon as compounding is one of the most
productive means of word formation process in English language, the nonce formations are
created and used every day. Thus often the written form of one particular compound adjective
depends fully on the choice and preference of the writer.
Despite the fact that compounds in English language are used rather frequently, they are often
not listed in any dictionary, thus to verify the correct written form of a given expression
can be a problem. Overwhelming majority of compound adjectives has hyphenated orthographic
form. In surveyed materials were found 481 examples of hyphenated compounds of of the sample
of 504 found examples. According to this number, if the orthographic form of a given compound
is not clear, most safe would be hyphenated way of writing.
Still, there are some rules of using a hyphen for compound adjectives. According to the
American Heritage of Book of English Usage can be introduced a few rules clarifying when the
hyphen should be used. Firstly, compound adjectives should be generally hyphenated if they
contain word-forms high- or low- e.g. high-necked, high-waisted, high-risk, low-calorie and
low-fat. This rule was confirmed by the examples which were found in the surveyed magazines;
all the compounds containing the lexical element high- or low- were always hyphenated.
Secondly, compound adjectives containing adverb and present or past participle should be
mostly hyphenated, e.g. healthy-eating regime or long-awaited album. Again, this hypothesis
seems to be proved by numerous examples of compound word-forms identified in the surveyed
texts. Thirdly, the compound adjectives which are formed with a noun, adjective and a noun
complemented with suffix –ed are generally hyphenated as well, such as in following examples
straight-legged or blue-eyed.
Compound adjectives containing numerals are also always hyphenated regardless to the number of
its lexical constituents, 23-year-old, 18-month, one-night stand, 50’s-inspired. According to
the found examples numerals form one to ten are mostly written as a normal word-form, e.g.
seven-month-old tot. And numerals higher than ten are usually written as a numeral, e.g.
40-minute drive. Questionable are the cases of compound containing numeral ten were both
forms were found, 10-year-old son and ten-month marriage.
Compound adjectives containing numerals demonstrate important sign of compounding in English
language and that is omitting of plural inflection –s. This inflection is omitted in nearly
all the compounds, with exception of two, five-months–pregnant Kate, 14-years-old Jess was
left in comma, which were found in the same magazine, Reveal. Otherwise, all other numerous
examples have the plural inflection omitted, a low-calorie diet, open-toe, laser-cut shoes,
bullet-proof vest, staying drug-free, a streak-free tan, a vitamin-rich conditioning spray,
curve-enhancing belt, a foot-loving solution etc.
Another way of writing compound adjectives is to leave the individual lexical units unattached
written as separate word-forms. Such compounds can be referred to as open compounds (Get It
Write; Book of English Usage; Style Manual). Regarding the rules for writing open compounds
there is just one rule to be mentioned. Compound modifiers formed of capitalized words should
not be hyphenated: Old English poetry, Iron Age manufacture, New World plants (American
Heritage of Book of English Usage). In sample of 504 found compounds were found only 8 open
compounds.
The last to mention way of writing compound adjectives is to write and use them as one lexical
unit, i.e. one word-form; for example a new haircare range, an hourglass figure or
sleepwalking accident. Such compound adjectives written as a one word are called solid
compounds. (Get It Write; Book of English Usage; Style Manual) In gathered sample were found
only 15 examples of solid compounds.
6 Stress in compound adjectives
Identifying particular stress patterns within compound adjectives remain a controversial
issue. Some of the authors (e.g. Lees 1960; Marchand 1969) see the stress as one of the
criteria of compounding and recognize compounds as items with the stress falling at the
beginning of the word, i.e. word phrase*. Also J. Lyons states that the occurrence of a single
primary stress can be taken as a distinctive feature for recognizing the status of proper
compound form free phrases (author uses the term phrasal compounds). The scholar suggests that
a compound with one primary stress should be recognized as a word stem, in other words as a
citation form of a lexeme.
The principal criterion for drawing the distinction, in spoken English, between word-compounds
and phrasal compounds is that of stress. Generally speaking, each word-for in English (it is
a form of lexeme belonging to one of the major part-of-speech) has a single primary stress;
and the position of primary stress in word-forms of more than one syllable is determined by
morphological composition of the stem. Given that both simple and derived stems in English
have a distinctive stress-pattern, compound stems which have single primary stress (e.g.
screwdriver, blackbird, boyfriend, window box) my also be classified as word-stems, regardless
of whether they are conventionally hyphenated or not in the written language (Lyons 1977:
355).
Nonetheless other scholars (e. g. Bauer 1983; Adams 1973) do not attach to stress distribution
such an underlying importance for recognition of the status of compounds.
Accent is sometimes helpful in deciding whether a noun-phrase is a compound. Many compounds
are distinguished form the free phrases by having the nucleus on the first element. Others,
like adjective-noun kind may have either compound or phrase accent (V. Adams: 59). However,
the accentuation of compound adjectives seems to be to some extent more variable that that of
nominal compounds (Adams 1973: 92).
Stress in compound adjectives varies according the lexical elements forming a given compound.
In adjectival phrase ‘I’m too old to be doing these young-gun-about-town thing’ would be
presumably stressed every single hyphenated element whereas in case of compound adjectives
consisting of two connected lexical elements, i.e. two stems or bases e.g. vintage-inspired or
sure-fire the primary stress is very likely to fall on one of the stems only.
The impact of spelling on stress distribution is also relevant. Those compounds adjectives
which are spelt as one word; e. g. daycare or lackluster; are quite likely to be stressed at
the beginning of the word. If a compound is formed of two hyphenated items, the stress
distribution can be various. The placement of stress in compound adjectives, which occur as
free syntactic phrases, e.g. sexually transmitted, child benefit or black painted as well as
in longer hyphenated compound adjectives, e.g. down-to-earth or got-to-have-it, is rather
unpredictable. In most cases such compounds are not listed in dictionaries marking stress,
therefore the “correct” distribution of stress can be variable.
Often, even if a lexicon entry for a particular compound exists and it is
supplemented with the correct stress distribution, it still can be misleading. Compound
adjectives can occur in two syntactic positions; as compound adjectives in attributive
position premodifying a noun phrase or in a predicative position as a complement. According to
V. Adams and L. Bauer the occurrence of the stress with the different syntactic position of
compound adjectives tend to vary. If the compound is used in attributive position, the stress
will supposedly fall on the first element, e.g. the ‘good-looking guy you work with. However,
if the compound is used in predicative position (thus not followed by a noun) the stress can
fall on both elements or on final element only` e.g. it’s remarkably angst-free or thriller
Rendition isn’t date-movie.
It also depends highly on the context provided with the compound and on the occurrence of the
compound in spoken utterance. The word stress is often used for the purposes of emphasis or
distinction. L. Bauer provides an example with 'undertaker and 'underwriter both normally
pronounced with the stress on the first syllable but in the sentence Are we talking about
under’takers or under’writers? the stress shell fall on writer. Similar stress shift would
probably occur in utterance This shampoo is really awful; it is more colour-‘spoiling than
colour-‘sensitive as written on it! In this fictional example the second (right) lexical
element in the comound adjectives will have distinguishing as well as highlighting function.
L. Bauer also suggests that „individual speakers pronounce the same compound with different
stress patterns on different occasions (L. Bauer, 103). Author also states that great impact
on the stress occurrence in compounds will have the fact whether they are said within a
sentence or whether they are pronounced separately. If the same item is presented in isolation
it is probable to have different stress distribution than if pronounced within the sentence.
Items standing in isolation will have more prominent, clear stress. In the following example
the stress is likely to fall on both compounded hyphenated elements; women who aren’t "too”
anything: `good-`looking, thin, fat – or `big-`breasted (Reveal). However, this rule is rather
general. The slight change of stress distribution and its prominence can be assumed with any
lexical item, which is set in the context or in contrast stands individually.
7 Some remarks on the semantics of compound adjectives
Compound adjectives are morphologically complex lexical units which are analysable into
individual lexical elements, i.e. stems or bases, which can operate as independent word-forms.
The semantic content of compounds depends on various factors and cannot be constructed just as
a semantic combination of individual lexical constituents of a given compound.
7.1 Meaning as a result of combination of semantic information
Every particular word-form has its given meaning, or more precisely, a range of meanings.
Semantically, a given compound adjective could be taken as a combination of meanings of
constituent lexical elements, i.e. specific word-forms. Consider for example noun phrase
chart-topping pop star with focus on the meaning of compound adjective chart-topping and its
possible semantic analyses. This compound adjective is composed of word-forms, chart and
topping. According to any ordinary dictionary of English, the following five meanings can be
found for lexeme chart.
1. Chart, a noun, information given in the form of a graph, shows how variable amounts are
related by lines and figures.
2. Chart, a noun, information given in the form of diagram, a simple plan to represent a
machine or system, whose purpose is explained.
3. Chart, a noun, a detailed map of an area of water.
4. Chart, a verb, to show on chart.
5. Chart, a verb, to watch with careful attention or to record in detail. (Cambridge
International Dictionary of English)
Moreover, the word-form topping can be analysed as a noun or verb with following range of
meanings:
1. Topping, a noun, a sauce, cream or pieces of food which are put together on the top of
other food to give extra flavour and make the food look more attractive.
2. Topping, a verb, is a progressive participle form the verb top. To top means to sell in
large numbers, e.g. with recordings.
3. To top, a verb, to be the most important act in the show.
4. To top, to have on the surface, especially as a decoration. (Cambridge International
dictionary of English)
Theoretically, the compound adjective chart-topping could be free a combination of the above
listed meanings and thus could have possibly 20 meanings. Nevertheless such free combining is
not possible as it would result in meaningless formations. The range of meaning of compound
adjective chart-topping is restricted and refined by knowledge of its usual use by a
reader/listener and given context. A reader/ listener needs to select the appropriate meaning
for each constituent word-form of this compound. The noun phrase chart-topping pop star would
be thus processed and analysed as a pop star that is topping the music charts, whose songs are
most popular and whose records are best sold. In this case, chart represents a special type of
graph, which corresponds with the first listed meaning. Topping then in this case refers to
progressive participle of the verb to top, which means to sell in large numbers. Still, noun
phrase chart-topping pop star carries excessive information. The chart is related to music
and thus has its typical form which is usually not graphic. Topping means best selling, most
popular and most requested at the same time.
A reader is able to supply a given compound with correct set of appropriate
meanings and thus create a new meaningful aggregate. This ability relates to the previously
mentioned establishment of lexical units within a language. However, in this sense established
complex lexical item is not only any complex lexical word-form whose meaning is explicit and
correctly understandable to any speaker of English language. This would mean that once a
speaker of English, according to their knowledge and context, is able to interpret correctly a
given compound, the lexical unit then can be taken as established which is not true. What is
also important is the frequent occurrence of a given complex lexical unit within English
language and its usage by native speakers. Frequency of use of particular word-form with fixed
given meaning by speakers then make a particular word-form established. A complex lexical unit
which is coined by a speaker on a particular occasion and meaning of which is correctly
interpretable by native speakers, is in this sense called nonce formation. These can be e.g.
cheekbone-chiselling heroes (rouge, powder, make-up), wannabe-model girlfriend or
would-help-an-old-lady-across-the-road swoonster (a man of extremely nice manners).
J. Lyons uses for the process of establishment of a lexical item within a language the term
institutionalization or petrification and suggests two distinguishable aspects of this
process: solidification and shrinkage (Lyons 1977: 536). Author explains the process of
institutionalization (petrification) this way:
As soon as any regularly constructed expression is employed on some particular occasion of
utterance, it is available for use again by the same person or by others as a ready-made unit
which can be incorporated in further utterances; and the more frequently it is used, the more
likely it is to solidify as a fixed expression, which native speakers will presumably store in
memory, rather than construct afresh on each occasion. In this respect, frequently used
syntactic compounds are like frequently used regular derived lexemes. ‘Solidification’, then
is a natural consequence of the normal use of language; and just as naturally, though by no
means inevitably, it leads to the other aspect of the process of petrification, shrinkage or
semantic specialization. (Lyons 1977: 536)
This could bring a question whether establishment of a complex lexical unit could be one of
the conditions for recognizing such complex lexical unit as a compound. Some scholars (Meys,
Adams, Bauer, Lyons) agree that once a complex lexical unit is established within English such
unit is no longer a free phrase or collocation, but a compound.
In my opinion all the nonce formations which fulfil the conditions for the compound status can
be also considered compounds as the establishement is very difficult to measure, prove or
verify.
Establishment of a given phrase is not possible correctly verify. It could be assumed that a
given established lexical item will be listed in a dictionary of English. However, this is not
true. The lexical entries in dictionaries are carefully selected according to the various
criteria and thus no dictionary will contain citation forms of all the lexemes of English
lexicon. Thus in a dictionary of English will be listed only citation forms of the most
frequently used compounds, meaning of which is not very well transparent according to its
lexical constituents, e.g. heartbroken, trustworthy or sci-fi. The reason, why many complex
lexical items are not listed in a dictionary can be either their perfect semantic transparency
or the fact that the expression does not come into general literary English language. Thus,
e.g. mother-daughter will not be listed in a dictionary more because its meaning is perfectly
clear. Complex word forms like doped-up or appearance-focused will not be listed in general
English dictionary either since doped-up is colloquial and appearance-focused appears to have
again transparent meaning which can be can be easily derived form its constituents.
Therefore, occurrence of a complex lexical item in an English dictionary does not correspond
with the real usage of complex lexical unit within English language. Thus a dictionary cannot
reflect the fact whether given complex lexical items are established within English language
or not.
7.2 Semantic transparency of complex lexical units
The meaning of nonce formation and also established complex lexical units is transparent to
speakers of the English language. This semantic transparency, of course, does not refer to the
fact that the meaning of a compound can be derived form its grammatical structure and meaning
of its individual lexical constituents. Semantic transparency lies just in the fact that the
meaning of whole complex lexical unit is clear and this compound is used by the speakers of
English. (Bauer 1983: 163 ff)
Thus, very often complex lexical forms do not have literal meaning, but
reflect different semantic relations. High proportion of compounds, especially compound nouns,
is hyponymic. (Huddleston 2002: 1645) Such compounds then create a certain subset of elements
for a given hypernym, where hypernym represent a central lexical element of a given compound
with broad abstract meaning. Typically hyponymic are for example word-forms representing
colours: pinky peach, purple-brown, rose-pink, cobalt-blue, chocolate-brown but also
coffee-coloured, berry-coloured, flesh-coloured. Hyponymic relation can also occur with other
compound adjectives; consider examples like time-saving, money-saving and energy-saving. These
compound adjectives could be taken as hyponyms for the object-verb pattern of saving
something. Similarly, life-long and hour-long can be taken as a hyponyms for hypernym long
referring to the time-scale.
Many of compound adjectives are metaphoric, in the way that their meaning is
based on similarity. Thus e.g. hourglass, sun-kissed, or rock-solid are based on evident
similarity. Hourglass figure thus refers to a figure with very tiny, distinctive waist.
Meaning of this compound adjective presumes that a speaker/ listener knows that hourglass
refers to a special type of clock in a particular shape which is made of glass and thus is
able to combine it visual image with a woman’s figure. Often compound adjectives can be
transformed into a simile. Ruler-straight parting is a parting which is straight as a ruler
and sky-high heels are heels as high as sky. Occurrence of metaphor is common with phrasal
compounds, because such compounds can consist even of complex sentences, e.g.
stepping-in-dog-poo moment, the young-gun-about-town thing, a look-how-popular-I-am message.
Correct semantic analysis of some compound adjectives requires knowledge of
the cultural background. For the correct understanding of down-on-one-knee scenario,
Oscar-winning performance, 50s-inspired collection a reader/listener must have the knowledge
what given lexical items refer to. In case of Oscar-winning performance the reader/listener
must be aware of the fact that word-form Oscar does not refer to an ordinary proper name but
to the prestigious American award for the best films produced within a certain year.
Similarly, the reader/listener must know the cliché situation of proposal, where a man gets on
one knee and asks his partner to marry him etc.
Some compound adjectives may be clearly idiomatic, i.e. opaque. The meaning
of compounds like tell-tale, sure-fire or man-eating can be hardly analysed with any semantic
connections to its lexical constituents. Such compound should be always listed in any
dictionary of English.
As shown above, the correct semantic analysis of complex lexical items is not determined only
by knowledge of semantic information of its constituents as these constituents may enter
different semantic relations. In other words, compound adjectives do not represent just free
semantic combination of meaning of its lexical constituents, but their meaning is narrowed and
refined according to their usage and context they usually operate in. This specified meaning
of compound adjectives is transparent to the speakers of English language regardless the fact,
their meaning does not have to correspond with the meaning of its lexical constituents and
often reflect various semantic relations like hyponymy or metaphor.
8 The reasons for use of compound adjectives
The occurrence of compound adjectives in women lifestyle magazines is rather high. In five
examined magazines were identified 419 examples of compound adjectives and 85 examples of
compound nouns in attributive position.
The frequent occurrence of compound adjectives may be partly given by the topics which women’s
lifestyle magazines concentrate on. The examined magazines have more or less the same content
and comment on the same topics. There is always a section devoted to the celebrity news and
gossip. Then there are articles concerning relationships; most often man-woman relationships,
love affairs and tips and tricks for improvement of sexual life. One of the main topics in
every women's lifestyle magazine is fashion and beauty, where are shown different ways how to
dress and discussed various garments as well as accessories and cosmetics. There is always a
section devoted to health, exercises, slimming and healthy diet, which is often complemented
with selection of recipes. Another frequent topic is free time and its fulfilment. There may
be tips for travelling and holidays, invitations for cultural events as well as reviews of
books and films. There may be also articles and hints concerning career development and money
handling.
Nevertheless, one of the main reasons for the usage of compound adjectives in the text may be
the fact that they carry very rich semantic information. The richness of semantic content of
compound adjectives is given by the fact that compounds in a very specific way combine
meanings of two or more individual lexemes, thus the resulting semantic information must get
richer and more complex. Compound adjectives also express features and properties which simply
do not have a corresponding synonym with simplex lexical form Consider examples like a sleek
pay-as-you-talk handset, fail-safe dress or cinched in with a curve-enhancing belt.
In this way, compound adjectives not only describe a given feature, but also describe it in
very brief and succinct way and thus shorten the text. Their meaning can be often equal with
semantic content of a phrase or even complex sentence. Compound adjectives have the ability to
significantly shorten sentences in which they occur and thus they make such sentences and
whole text more semantically condensed.
The main reason for the usage of compound adjectives may be considered their imaginative and
descriptive value. Many of compound adjectives have the ability do add to a modified noun such
feature or characteristic which can create a vivid, concrete image in reader’s mind. As a
typical example can be taken noun phrases or clauses containing compound adjectives, which
refer to clothes; e.g. these tacky, animal-print leggings or A-line and cropped jackets look
great with high-waisted, wide-leg trousers and a long-sleeved, Victorian-style blouse. This is
probably the reason, why the sections in women’s magazines devoted to fashion are literally
packed with compound adjectives and adjectives in general. Some compound adjectives,
especially phrasal ones, provide -apart form a given characteristic- also a special kind of
situational context. They describe given entity by means of some situation and concrete
example thus has very strong descriptive and imaginative effect on a reader/ listener. This is
very evident on compound adjectives meaning of which is based on various figures of speech,
e.g. metaphors or hyponyms. Consider following examples:
I would describe him as a very nice, well-behaved, complaisant and considerate man.
I would describe him as a would-help-an-old-lady-across-the-road man.
Red dresses look great.
Flesh-coloured dresses look great.
In some articles the use of compound adjectives and nonce formations can be
a way how to make a text or article more interesting and original. It reflects an individual
style of a writer and thus makes a text more distinct. It enables a reader to create concrete
images of described situations or objects in reader’s mind and in that way personalizes a
given text.
Conclusion
This thesis deals with compound adjectives in women’s lifestyle magazines.
The main focus of this work lies in the description, analysis and classification of compound
adjectives which were found in examined magazines.
Compound adjectives are considered all complex lexical items which are
analysable into two or more individual word-forms, which can operate as independent lexical
units in a text. Such complex lexical items function grammatically and semantically as
adjectives; thus modify nouns, can be gradable and usually have single primary stress. The
clear distinction of a compound from a free phrase remains one of the main problems as it
often cannot be sufficiently proven and stays disputable. In many cases it is also not clear
whether a complex lexical unit is a compound or a product of derivation. Controversial issue
can be also classing nonce formations as compounds since they are not established within
English language.
According to stated criteria were identified 419 complex lexical items which
are considered compound adjectives. These are structured in to the five primary categories
based on their central lexical elements; adjective-centred, noun-centred, verb-centred,
phrasal compound adjectives and compound nouns in attributive position. These main categories
were subdivided into 22 different sub-categories according to their grammatical structure. The
most productive group appears to be verb-centred compound adjectives containing progressive or
past participle verb form. In productivity, this group is followed by noun-centred compound
adjectives with most frequent adjective-noun pattern. As previously mentioned, I found also 85
compound nouns in attributive position, thus premodifying a noun which were also included in
provided classification. Some compound nouns are used in attributive position nearly as often
as nouns and therefore such examples may converse into compound adjectives.
As far as orthographic form of compound adjective is concerned, the most
common way of writing compound adjectives is by means of hyphenation. Out of 504 found complex
lexical forms, 484 were connected in writing by hyphens. Compound adjectives containing noun
omit the plural inflection –s. According to the found examples, the numeral in compound
adjectives which is smaller than 11 is written as a word-form. The numerals higher than ten
are written as Arabic numerals.
Semantic content of compound adjectives is not free combination of meanings
of their lexical constituents, but is restricted and refined by knowledge of its usual use and
given context. High frequency of use of particular complex word-form with fixed, given meaning
makes this form established. The establishment of the compound adjectives is not truly
reflected in English dictionaries as they do not contain all the known compound adjectives,
but only the most frequently used ones with non-transparent meaning. Thus the level of
establishment of complex lexcical items is not possible to correclty verirfy. That is the
reason why the establishment of complex lexical items should not be taken as the main
criterion for deciding on the compound status.
The semantic content of some compounds may not be transparent as they can reflect different
semantic relations like hyponymy and metaphor. Moreover, correct semantic analysis of some
compound adjective requires certain cultural knowledge. Compound adjectives –because they are
composed of two or more lexemes- carry rich, condensed semantic information of high
descriptive value.
In my thesis I tried to map and describe the occurence and usage of compound
adjectives in women’s lifestyle magazines. This work proves that compound adjectives are
frequently used and are coined according to many various patterns. None the less, it leaves
certain questions unanswered and challenges to further investigation on this interesting
topic.
Bibliogrpahy
Adams, Valerie. An Introduction to Modern English Word-formation. London: Longman, 1973.
Bauer, Laurie. English Word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Benczes, Reka. Creative compounding in English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006.
Cambridge International dictionary of English. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Greenbaum, Sidney. Oxford Reference Grammar. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000.
Hladký, Josef, Růžicka, Milan. A Functional Onomatology of English. Brno: Masarykova
Universita, 1998.
Huddleston, Rodney, Pullum, K. Geoffrey. The Cambridge Grammar of the English
Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Leech, Geoffrey. Semantics: the study of meaning. 2^nd edition, Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1974.
Lyons, John. Semantics: Volume 1. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Lyons, John. Semantics: Volume 2. 2^nd edition , New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977
Marchand, Hans. The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation. Munich:
Verlag C. H. Beck, 1969
Matthews, H. Peter. Morphology: An introduction to the theory of word-structure. London:
Cambridge University press, 1974.
Meys. J. Willem. Adjectives in English and the Ideal Speaker-listener; A study of compounding
in transformational-generative framework. Amsterdam: North- Holland, 1975.
Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. New York:
Longman, 1985.
Vogel, Radek. Basics of Lexicology. Brno: Masarykova Universita, 2007.
Jovanovic, Vladimir. „Morphological Aspects of English Adjectival Compounds: Corpus
Analysis“. The Scientific Journal Facta Universitatis. University of
Nis, Vol. 3, No 2, 2005, p. 209 – 226,
18 Nov. 2007.
<http://facta.junis.ni.ac.yu/facta/lal/lal2005/lal2005-07.pdf>
Giegerich, Heinz. „Attribution in English and the distinction between phrases and
compounds“ English Language and Linguistics, No 8, 2004, p.1-24. 2004
April 2008. <http://www.englang.ed.ac.uk/people/attributioninenglish.pdf>
The American Heritage Book of English Usage. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
18 Nov. 2007. < http://www.bartleby.com/64/84.html>
Style Manual. „Hyphens and Compound Words“. University of Minnesota. 18 Jul.
2007.
18 Nov. 2007.<http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/style/hyphens.html>
National British Corpus. 2005. University of Oxford, 2005.
April 2008. <http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/>
Tuten, Nancy. Get it Write.“ Compound Words: When to Hyphenate“ 27 Apr. 2003.
18 Nov. 2007 <http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/042703.htm>
Examined magazines:
§ Closer, 23- 29 Feb, 2008
§ Company, November, 2007
§ Cosmopolitan, October, 2007
§ Glamour, February, 2008
§ Reveal, 15–21 Sept, 2007
List of illustrations
1. Morphological structure of complex word-form
......................................................... 10
2. Most common patterns of derivational process in English
.......................................... 12
3. Lexical constituents of compound adjectives used as individual word-forms
............. 15
4. Comparison of compound adjectives and corresponding phrases
................................ 16
5. Occurrence of different types of compound adjectives in the text
............................... 21
6. Distribution of different patterns of compound adjectives in the text
.......................... 33
Résumé
The topic of this bachelor thesis is Compound adjectives in women’s
lifestyle magazines. The work analyses found examples of compound adjectives and maps their
usage. Main focus o f this work lies in description, analyses and classification of found
compound adjectives. The classification of compound adjectives is based on their grammatical
structure as well as on their central lexical element. The thesis comments on sterss,
orthographic, as well as semantic features of identified compound adjectives.
Appendix: Complete list of compound adjectives and their division
In this appendix is to be found complete list of all compound adjective which were
identified in following women’s lifestyle magazines:
§ Closer, 23- 29 Feb, 2008, weekly
§ Company, November, 2007, monthly
§ Cosmopolitan, October, 2007, monthly,
§ Glamour, February, 2008, monthly
§ Reveal, 15–21 Sept, 2007, weekly
The division of compound adjectives listed below is based on the classification provided
in the chapter four. This classification is based on the grammatical structure of compound
adjectives as well as on their central lexical elements. For each category as well as its
subcategories is provided the total number of found compound adjectives and also comments on
their orthographic form. Every compound adjective is supplied with the phrase in which it was
used.
In above listed magazines were found 419 compound adjectives and 85 compound nouns in
attributive position. The total number of compounds identified in the text is 504. This
clearly proves that the usage of compound adjectives if very frequent and common.
1. Adjective centred compound adjectives; 77 lexical items found
1.1 Adjective + adjective compound adjectives, 20, all hyphenated
Copper-bronze, glam it up with the copper-bronze hues on your eyes
Extra-large, extra-large door [20]
Extra-strong, extra-strong formula
North-west, North-west London
Pinky-peach, most skin tones work effortlessly with pinky-peach
Purple-brown, a wash of purple-brown shadows
Red-hot, she is red-hot is scarlet
South-west, south-west London
Super-blendable, Add these stay-put eye shadows and super-blendable eye pencil
Super-confident, or super-confident with friends and family
Super-sexy, in this super-sexy bottle
Super-sexy, it’s super-sexy and will look amazing
Super-sexy, the designer Azzedine Alaia makes super-sexy clothes
Super-shiny, it’s super-shiny
Super-skinny, I am not super-skinny
Super-skinny, she stands out in super-skinny Hollywood
Super-sleek, looking super-sleek in LA)
Super-slim, super-slim mum-of–two
Super-stylish, her acting debut in this patchy but super-stylish film
Teeny-tiny, and it turns out even teeny-tiny people have wobbly bits
1.2 Noun + adjective compound adjectives, 34, 1 solid,
Angst-free, it’s remarkably angst-free
Body-conscious, after three years spent living in body-conscious LA
Body-conscious, overly body-conscious women
Brand-new, I could be cruising in brand-new Audi Cabriolet
Bullet-proof, he was wearing bullet-proof vest
Career-wise, it was getting in the way of my focus, career-wise
Cobalt-blue, clear cobalt-blue skies
Colour-sensitive, so invest in colour-sensitive care
Corset-like, they create a corset-like effect
Drug-free, by staying drug-free
Hour-long, I take an hour-long spinning class
Hour-old, the hour-old baby
Chocolate-brown, slouchy, chocolate-brown handbag
Jewel-like, for a jewel-like glow
Life-long, I’m unwrapping life-long relation ship
Life-long, life-long buy
Mirror-shiny, for minty breath and mirror-shiny lips
Mum-like, assuming you’ve got mum-like, non wonky face
Nun-like, she came out of rehab looking positively nun-like
Office-ready, the definitive style guide to office-ready outfits
Pet-free, Adult-only, love going home to your pet-free, adult-only flat
Rock-solid, to have rock-solid relationship
Rock-solid, what you have is real, rock-solid thing
Rose-pink, chose a rose-pink lipstick
Ruler-straight, form ruler-straight to centre partings
Shine-free, it leaves you looking natural and shine-free
Skin-tight, through away your skin-tight dress, pronto
Sky-high, sky-high heels
Streak-free, for building up a streak-free tan
Time-efficient, a messy desk is in 36% more time-efficient
Trustworthy, organization that appears trustworthy
Vitamin-rich, use a vitamin-rich conditioning spray to strengthen my hair
Worry-free, drift off into a worry-free sleep
Worry-free, about worry-free life
1.3 Numeral + noun + adjective compound adjectives, 19, all hyphenated
10-year-old, give to your 10-year-old son
12-week-old, showing a 12-week-old foetus
13-year-old, friendship with 13-year-old pupil Drey
14-year-old, her 14-year-old son form a previous marriage
14-years-old, after 14-years-old Jess was left in coma
18-year-old, he’s not dating his 18-year-old co-star
18-year-old, there were 18-year-old kids
21-year-old, company have sent the 21-old prams
23-year-old, particularly 23-year-old Kelly
26-year-old, the 26-year-old PA
36-year-old, you’d think 36-year-old Claudia
50-year-old, with my 50-year-old virtual neighbour
Five-months-pregnant, the best is yet to come for five-months–pregnant Kate
Five-year-old, a smiley five-year-old Drew with mum
Four-year-old, who has also four-year-old son
One-year-old, my one-year-old daughter
Seven-month-old, she left seven-month-old tot in the back of her car
Six-month-old, my six-month-old daughter
Sixteen-year-old, sixteen-year-old Sam’s teenage obsession
1.4 Adverb + adjective compound adjectives, 2, 1 open
All-important, to give yourself all-important ego boost
Terminally ill, the parents cope with their terminally ill child
1.5 Adjective + verb compound adjectives, 2
Easy open, lager with easy open ring-pull cap
Quick-dry, Use quick-dry products, so you can get out the door faster
2. Noun- centred compound adjectives
2.1 Adjective + noun compound adjectives, 35, 1 solid
All-day, for all-day comfort
All-night, all-night room service
All-night, the effects of all-night drinking
All-time, the all-time classics
Early-stage, the increase in early-stage abortions
Full-time, has been married to Katie, 30, a full-time mum
Full-time, I am a full-time student now
Good-quality, use a good-quality repellent
High-class, role as a high-class hooker
High-class, this high-class hideway
High-fibre, other high-fibre fruits and veg include apples, sprouts, parsnips
High-speed, falling off the wagon with a high-speed car chase
High-tech, forget high-tech tongs
High-tech, new generation of high tech toys
Late-night, Johnny dirty-dancing at a late-night staff party
Late-night, to cope with the number of late-night drinkers
Late-term, averting-late term abortions
Lightweight, lightweight nourisher
Long-distance, if that long-distance relationship will work out
Long-term, finding a long-term carrier
Long-term, in my long-term relationship
Long-term, split form her long-term boyfriend
Long-term, there can be serious long-term implications
Long-term, your intended business has long-term economic potential
Low-calorie, supplements generally recommended following a low-calorie diet
Low-fat, the stone-baked base and low-fat goat’s cheese
Low-fat, two slices of toast with low-fat spread
No-clump, no-clump mascara
No-stress, your inner calm in no-stress, feminine, fail-safe dress
Open-toe, open-toe, laser-cut shoes are on every fashion editor’s wish list
Part-time, I held countless part-time jobs
Real-life, real-life best buddies
Sure-fire, plus sure-fire sell-outs
Top-name, offered by top-name beauty firms
True-life, in the true-life drama
2.2 Derivational (-ed suffix), adjective + noun or noun + noun combinations, 20, all
hyphenated
Big-breasted, women who aren’t “too” anything: good-looking, thin, fat or big-breasted
Bright-eyed, Drew is bright-eyed, energetic and enigmatic
Cap-sleeved, wear a cropped jacked with a high-waisted pencil skirt – this cap-sleeved,
high-necked blouse underneath gives the outfit some oomph.
Foul-mouthed, meet a gloriously foul-mouthed star
High-necked, wear a cropped jacked with a high-waisted pencil skirt – this cap-sleeved,
high-necked blouse underneath gives the outfit some oomph
High-waisted, don’t run away form your high-waisted denims
High-waisted, high-waised jeans
High-waisted, wear a cropped jacked with a high-waisted pencil skirt – this cap-sleeved,
high-necked blouse underneath gives the outfit some oomph.
Level-headed, chipper yet level-headed
Light-hearted, A light-hearted, entertaining read
Long-haired, a long –haired, very groomed girl comes in
Long-sleeved, A-line and cropped jackets look great with high-waisted, wide-leg trousers and a
long-sleeved, Victorian-style blouse.
Open-minded, that would make even the most open-minded Cosmo reader blush
Straight-legged, lies back in a straight-legged position
Straight-legged, straight-legged jeans
Travel-sized, introducing a new travel-sized version
Walnut-sized blob, rub a walnut-sized of Lee Stafford Messed Up Putty
Wedge-heeled, albeit in wedge-heeled trainers
Wide-legged, wide-legged jeans
2.3 Noun + verb, verb + noun compound adjectives, 5, all hyphenated
Ring-pull, lager with easy open ring-pull cap
Tell-tale, a tell-tale cramp gripped her belly
Lacklustre, it quickly feels lacklustre
Split-nail, in a split-nail emergency, cut off a tiny piece of dry tea bag
Tell-tale, a tell-tale cramp gripped her belly
2.4 Adverb + noun compound adjectives, 2, solid
Outdoorsy, he looks very outdoorsy
Outdoor, she does tough, military-based outdoor exercise
2.5 Numeral + noun compound adjectives, 26, all hyphenated
12-hour, the whole way through the two 12-hour days
18-month, to give their 18-month marriage one last chance
3-step, 3-step Skin Care
3-Step, 3-Step skin-care
40-minute, but on the 40-minute drive
5-step, Taken as a part of its “5-step slimming plan”
Eight-part, new eight-part drama
Four-inch, running for the bus in four-inch heels
Four-step, with our four-step guide
Four-year, after his four-year relationship
Multimillion-dollar, he must sort out a multimillion-dollar mess
Nine-inch, even in nine-inch heels
One-hit, one-hit wonder
One-night, claimed that she’d had drunken one-night stand
One-night, look what happened after one-night stand
One-shoulder, pale green one-shoulder gown
One-stop, your one-stop shop
One-year, by dismissing your one-year anniversary
Seven-day, our seven-day guide
Seven-year, weeping in her car after her seven-year marriage
Six-month, six-month life-coaching course
Ten-bedroom, a ten-bedroom house
Ten-day, for more than ten-day periods
Ten-month, in a ten-month marriage
Three-metre, anyone unfortunate enough to be in three-metre radius
Three-week, I returned for a three-week trip
2.6 Derivational (-ed suffix), numeral + noun compound adjectives, 2, hyphenated
One-sided, she would explain to me the one-sided view of life
Three-dimensional, you start by creating your own three-dimensional persona
2.7 Noun + noun compound adjectives,8 , 2 solid
Goody-goody, spending next three years rebelling against her goody-goody image
Hourglass, to go for an hourglass figure
Lacklustre, it quickly feels lacklustre
Mother-daughter, exploration of mother-daughter relationship
Sci-fi, it’s scary reworking of the sci-fi classic
Sci-fi, sci-fi BBC2’s hit show
Sci-fi, sci-fi BBC2’s hit show
Tip-top, make sure it’s in tip-top condition
2.8 Compound adjectives containing word-form –self, 8, 1 open,
Self-assured, she seemed so confident and self-assured
Self obsessed, he doesn’t come across as being remotely arrogant or self obsessed
Self-adhesive, four types of easy-to-apply, self-adhesive gel cushions
Self-confessed, potential love match for one self-confessed disastrous dater
Self-conscious, feeling self-conscious about your shape
Self-conscious, Victoria, 33, has always been self-conscious about her tummy
Self-contained, they’ve offered Amy the use of the self-contained bungalow
Self-deprecating, feeling of depression, hopelessness or self-deprecating thoughts
2.9 Compounds adjectives containing word-form –style, 8, all hyphenated
Café-style, create café-style hot chocolate at home
Kimono-style, bizarre kimono-style outfit
Kimono-style, wear this kimono-style top
Man-style, off-the-shoulder, strode the runway in man-style, off-the-shoulder cocktail dresses
Nuclear-style, some of those outfits were nuclear-style meltdown
Retro-style, this jacket is a great retro-style piece
Utility-style, utility-style outfits
Victorian-style, A-line and cropped jackets look great with high-waisted, wide-leg
3. Verb-centred compound adjectives
3.1 Adjective/adverb + progressive participle compound adjectives, 25
Crazed-looking, here’s crazed looking Michelle Collins
Delicious-tasting, having nutritionally-balanced, delicious-tasting meals delivered to your
door
Drier-looking, keeping your hair a little drier-looking
Easy-going, open-minded, I’m easy-going, open-minded
Erectile-enhancing, there are always risks when using erectile-enhancing medication
Good-looking, despite being a very good-looking lady
Good-looking, he is a good-looking bloke
Good-looking, she thinks he’s very good-looking
Good-looking, the good-looking guy you work with
Good-looking, women who aren’t “too” anything: good-looking, thin, fat or big-breasted
Great-tasting, Pringles Rice infusions are created by mixing great-tasting ingredients
Hunky-looking, the very hunky-looking James
Ill-fitting, Ill-fitting bras can cause breast cancer
Longer-lasting, relationships based on friendship are often longer-lasting and happier
Long-lasting, a base coat of long-lasting colour
Long-wearing, Dream Lip Balm is the most sumptuous, nourishing and long-wearing lip balm I
know
Loose-fitting, underneath loose-fitting tops, while being bang on-trend
Natural-looking, air-soft, gives skin such natural-looking matte perfection with an amazing
air-soft feel
Scary-looking, all the inmates were tattooed, muscly and scary-looking
Slim-fitting, I’ll wear pencil skirts or slim-fitting trousers
Sweet-smelling, made more gorgeous and sweet-smelling
Healthy-eating, juicing diet with a healthy-eating plan
Healthy-eating, she’s on a healthy-eating regime to get back into shape
Well-deserving, she came across as down-to-earth and well-deserving
Well-meaning, I swore that if one more well-meaning friend suggested I search for love online
3.2 Adjective + past participle compound adjectives, 38, 2 solid, 1 open
Best-paid, she was recently named the best-paid film actress
Black painted, black painted nails
Clean-shaven, he was smiley and clean-shaven
Even- toned, this, visibly even-toned skin
Floral-printed, floral-printed canvas flight bag
Graphic- patterned, wows on the red carpet in this graphic-patterned black-and-white bandeau
dress
Hard-earned cash, to have something for my hard-earned cash
Hard-earned, think twice about spending your hard earned-cash
Less-lined, smoother, less-lined look
Long-awaited, makes a long-awaited return
Long-held, all my long-held beliefs started wobbling
Long-suppressed, heart-rending, three Company readers tried putting long-Suppressed sentiment
into heart-renting letters
Middle-aged, Mickey Mouse being a short, middle-aged man
Middle-aged, or a middle-aged lady
Ready-made, he would rather buy a jar of ready-made sauce
Old-fashioned, in an old-fashioned, hippyish way
Rose-tinted, take off her rose-tinted glasses and give her a good dose of reality
Short-listed, outstanding the quality of this year’s short-listed products
Single-breasted, a single-breasted, well-cut coat is a winter essential
Vile-tempered, I was vile-tempered
Skinny -arsed, to get all those skinny-arsed bitches off the covers of magazines
Vintage -inspired, mango’s vintage-inspired range of autumn
Best-known, the best-known offender is a pill
Half-packed, my suitcase was half-packed
Highly-stabilised, highly-stabilised Tri-Vitamin C Complex
Home-delivered, a home-delivered meal service
Newborn, with the newborn baby
Newly-born baby, who abandoned her newly-born baby
Sexually transmitted, which meant that sexually transmitted diseases were rife
So-called, to have seen of the star’s so-called odd behaviour
Well-cut, a single-breasted, well-cut coat is a winter essential
Well-deserved, Gerard Butler gives his six-pack a well-deserved airing
Well-known, to misquote a well-known saying
Well-placed, you need to drop some well-placed hints
Well-publicised, despite the well-publicised trials of Jordan’s third pregnancy
Well-travelled, I am well travelled
Widespread, following widespread claims
Nutritionally-balanced, having nutritionally-balanced, delicious-tasting meals delivered to
your door
3.3 Noun + progressive participle compound adjectives, 47, all hyphenated
Age-defying, age-defying potions
Age-resisting, age-resisting brightening cream
Award-winning, the chance to win every single Beauty Award-winning product
Blood-sucking, she’d been possessed by Vandari (blood-sucking parasite demons)
Colour-spoiling, the formula helps protect highlighted hair from colour-spoiling deposits
Curve-enhancing, cinched in with a curve-enhancing belt
Curve-hugging, show off your figure in curve-hugging dress
Curve-skimming, this dazzling, curve-skimming sequin gown
Dandruff-causing, this copper-infused brush kills 88% of dandruff-causing nasties
Disease-destroying, which make disease-destroying antibodies
Energy-saving, use energy-saving light bulbs
Eye-catching, go for an eye-catching number with matching subtle accessories
Eye-matching, these-eye catching metallics are available
Eye-watering, an eye-watering 13 inches
Flesh-flattering, a delicious palette of flesh-flattering colors
Foot-loving, Kiwi has a foot-loving solution to leave you smiling
Fun-loving, fun-loving Kate
Fun-loving, I am fun-loving
Fun-loving, I’m very fun-loving person
Hair-tearing, ball-breaking, teeth-gnashing, if the week before your period heralds
hair-tearing, ball-breaking and teeth-gnashing, you are not alone
Head-turning, make it head-turning cleansing routine
Heart-wrenching, her husband’s fate is heart-wrenching COSMOPOLITAN
Chart-topping, courtesy of two supermodels and a chart-topping pop star
Chart-topping, Chasing Pavement is the name of her chart-topping hit
Cheekbone-chiselling, these are our cheekbone-chiselling heroes
Internet-dating, a professional photo taken for his internet-dating profile
Life-coaching, six-month life-coaching course
Life-changing, has there been a single life-changing moment for you
Life-changing, it gave me strength to make a life-changing decision
Life-changing, think carefully before making such life-changing decision
Man-eating, to get such a man-eating reputation
Midriff-baring, stepped out last week in midriff-baring top
Mosquito-blitzing, the mosquito-blitzing pill is still years away
Nail-biting, this is about as nail-biting as it gets
Oscar-winning, indignity of giving yet another annual Oscar-winning performance
Oscar-winning, the Oscar-winning The Life of Others is a German political thriller
Pension-pushing, pension-pushing hard man Sly Stallone
Pole-dancing, with their Polestars pole-dancing class
Problem-solving, inspired by all the hiarcare challenges and problem-solving products
Rose-clutching, others transform into rose-clutching romantics
Satsuma-resembling, along with his equally satsuma-resembling wife
Shine-enhancing, hair with shine-enhancing, non-sticky gel
Skin-revitalising, skin-revitalising moisturizer
Sleepwalking, sleepwalking accident
Tan-boosting, premium antioxidant protection and fast tan-boosting effects
Thigh-skimming, to your thigh-skimming designer frocks
Top-selling, Destination became their top-selling game
3.4 Noun + past participle compound adjectives, 39, 1 solid
Alcohol-related, show 22% increase in alcohol-related crime
Appearance-focused, appearance-focused celebrity culture
Bed-bound, nine years ago, bed-bound after losing both my legs
Berry-coloured, berry-coloured leather
Blood-stained, clutching the blood-stained knife
Caffeine-based, guarana is caffeine-based
Caffeine-based, it contains caffeine-based guarana
Calorie-controlled, Adios should be used as part of a calorie-controlled diet
Coffee-coloured, wearing a coffee-coloured satin dress
Computer-based, the company offers computer-based courses
Copper-infused, this copper-infused brush kills 88% of dandruff-causing nasties
Diamanté-studded, she looked stunning in a black diamanté-studded top
Drug-addled, she looked like drug-addled girl with the big voice
Fame-obsessed, she’s never been fame-obsessed
Flesh-coloured, flesh-coloured dresses look great
Folk-inspired, its folk-inspired pattern
Fun-filled, taking them on a fun-filled weekend
Glass-fronted, to see glass-fronted building
Grain-based, grain-based foods are good source of fibre
Hand-held, a rubber hand-held pump at the end
Heartbroken, the heartbroken couple
Heart-shaped, 80’s look with the heart-shaped bag
Laser-cut, open-toe, laser-cut shoes are on every fashion editor’s wish list
Liverpool-born, explains the Liverpool-born star
London-born, London-born Leona
Media-obsessed, it makes an impact in today’s media-obsessed world
Military-based, she does tough, military-based outdoor exercise
Oscar-nominated, George Cloony gives an Oskar-nominated performance
Oscar-nominated, swatting up on an Oscar-nominated film
People-orientated, he wanted to do something more people-orientated
Shop-bought, treat yourself to just one shop-bought latte a week
Stone-baked, the stone-baked base and low-fat goat’s cheese
Sun-drenched, nothing like a sun-drenched holiday
Sun-kissed, get a sun-kissed glow that builds gradually
Sun-starved, one souvenir we sun-starved Brits want from our holiday
Tailor-made, tailor-made technology for every hair needed
Web-based, a web-base existence could outdo your own
Weight-related, or have serious weight-related health problems
Yoghurt-coated, yoghurt-coated cranberries
3.5 Compound adjectives formed with a particle and verb form, 25, 4 solid
See-through, my pink bikini will be see-through
Back-up, the tablets were secret back-up plan after a big meal.
Comb-in, Smooth & Sleek Comb-in Cream
Doped-up, as a doped-up waster
Dress-down, dress-down Friday isn’t just about putting on a pair of jeans
Get-out, you have a get-out clause
Laid-back, a cool, but laid-back, bar
Laid-back, inject some laid-back cool into your life
Laid-back, more laid-back lifestyle
Leave-in, with a little leave-in conditioner
Longed-for, not producing longed-for results is one thing
Outgoing, I’m very outgoing
Outspoken, as his sister is outspoken
Outstanding, outstanding the quality of this year’s short-listed products
Over-plucked, over-plucked eyebrows are hart to grow back
Over-plucking, this will stop any over-plucking disasters
Paid-up, like a fully paid-up member
Put-together, through rough, rock-chic hair to give put-together looks
Sell-by, to discover if your favourite denim trend has a style sell-by date
Show-off, what’s your show-off recipe
Stand-offish, to ditch her moody and stand-offish reputation
Stand-out, the stand-out star
Stressed-out, beat that stressed-out feeling
Uplifting, it’s an uplifting exercise
Zippered-up, zippered-up daywear
3.6 Verb + verb compound adjectives, 5, hyphenated
Must-have, from this season’s must-have leather jacket
Must-have, the 20 must-have heels
Must-have, in this season’s must-have biker jacket
Must-have, Must-have belted safari dress
Stay-put, add these stay-put eye shadows and super-blendable eye pencil
3.7 Verb + adjective/adverb compound adjectives, 2
Fail-safe, find your inner calm in no-stress, feminine, fail-safe dress
Try-hard, it will make you look try-hard
4. Phrasal compound adjectives, 46, hyphenated
All-expenses-paid, excuse to get our of the all-expenses-paid trip to the luxury resort
All-expenses-paid, he surprised me with an all-expenses-paid weekend away
All-in-one, MD Skincare All-In-One Tinted Moisturizer
Back-to-nature, my cottage felt like back-to-nature experience
Bang on-trend, this twisted gold bangle is bang on-trend
Behind-the-senses, behind-the senses-beauty
Buy-to-let, I have five buy-to-let houses
Can’t-live-without, Can’t-live-without lip treat
Day-to-day, it’s the perfect website for day-to-day relaxed efficiency
Down-on-one-knee, There’s your down-on-one-knee scenario
Down-to-earth, he seems quite down-to earth
Down-to-earth, I see her linked with down-to-earth sportsman
Down-to-earth, she came across as down-to-earth and well-deserving
Easy-to-apply, four types of easy-to-apply, self-adhesive gel cushions
End-of-year, at my agency’s end-of-year party
Fresh-from-the-sea, fresh-from-the-sea ripples
Got-to-have-it, got-to-have-it shopping lies
Head-to-toe, a few days of head-to-toe pampering
Head-to-toe, be introducing head-to-toe massages that put you in charge
Hot-off-the-high-street, head over heels in love with these hot-off-the-high-street hits
Less-than-perfect, less-than-perfect skin remains one of your biggest bugbears
Look-how-popular-I-am, it’s an easy way of sending out a look-how-popular-I-am message
Off-the-shoulder, strode the runway in man-style, off-the-shoulder cocktail dresses
One-and-a-half hour, a one-and-a-half hour drive
On-the-go, it’s available in tubs or on-the-go stick packs.
Over-the-counter, I tried water-retention tablets, fat burners and over-the counter drugs
Pay-as-you-go, BT will grant me pay-as-you-go landline
Pay-as-you-talk, a sleek pay-as-you-talk handset
Post-it, the post-it trick
Short-length waisted, show off that booty with this short-length waisted jacket
Sit-on-your-wrist, this sit-on-your-wrist bow bag is the perfect hanger-on
Skin-to-skin, herpes spreads through sexual and skin-to-skin contact
Soon-to-be-ex, Lynne has taken soon-to-be-ex son-in-law’s side
Step-by-step, just follow the eye-opening step-by-step instructions inside the lid
Stepping-in-dog-poo, every stepping-in-dog-poo moment
Straight-out-after-work, and solve your straight-out-after-work outfit crisis
Thank-you, they both like propriety, nice manners and thank-you notes
Thumbs-up, I may as well have made a thumbs-up sign
Tried-and-tested, individuals with their favourite tried-and-tested methods
Un-put-downable, un-put-downable real life stories
Up-to-date, this is catching out many GPs in the UK, who are not up-to-date
Wannabe-model, his wannabe-model girlfriend
Word-of-mouth, instead relying on word-of-mouth recommendations
Would-help-an-old-lady-across-the-road, would-help-an-old-lady-across-the-road swoonster
Young-gun-about-town, I’m too old to be doing the young-gun-about-town thing
You-on-top, opt for you-on-top position
5. Compound nouns in attributive position, 85, 4 open, 2 solid
Abortion-referral, GPs will not sign abortion-referral forms
A-line, A-line and cropped jackets look great with high-waisted, wide-leg trousers and a
long-sleeved, Victorian-style blouse.
A-line, floaty A-line flock
A-list, a leading A-list actor
A-list, save face by recreating this celebrity look on a not so A-list budget
Animal-print, these tacky, animal-print leggings
Appetite-suppressant, this is the case with appetite-suppressant clenbuterol
Bank-account, they’ll still have your bank-account details
Black-tie, I was pictures of him on at a black-tie party
Blood-sugar, and even boost blood-sugar level
Body language, psychologist and body language expert
Body-image, all of the body-image issues I struggle with
Body-image, body-image disturbances develop for many reasons
Body-language, body-language expert
Boho-chic, I hate that boho-chic look
Breast-cancer, It is a breast-cancer awareness month
Catwalk, if you want a bit of catwalk glamour
Civil partnership, got married in a civil partnership ceremony on 6 July
Common-law, former secretary and common-law wife
Cream-oil, Dove Supreme Care Cream-Oil Body-wash is a great product at amazing price
Dance-floor, CD is full of dance-floor tunes
Dark-chocolate, dark-chocolate shavings
Daycare, opening of the daycare abortion service
Death-row, this was the death-row inmates’ uniform
Designer-look, designer-look shoes
Drainpipe, drainpipe jeans
Eating-disorders, I started a new career as an eating-disorders practitioner
Electric-toothbrush, every internet electric-toothbrush survey says so!
Faux-leather, white faux-leather pumps
First-floor, first-floor window
Fish-oil, I heard about fish-oil tablets helping mood swings
Floor-length, emerald-green, Floor-length emerald-green gowns
Floor-length, wearing this classy floor-length number
Gap-age, gap-age concern
Hair colour, buying into hair colour stereotypes
High-profile, you’ve been married twice and had lots of high-profile romances
High-school, his high-school drama teacher
High-street, exciting news from the high-street brand
Horse-riding, and deserved horse-riding weekend
Chain-mail, like my pink chain-mail shift dress
Child benefit, and missing child benefit data
Chocolate-brownie, you’ll need eight chocolate-brownie slices
Junk-food, weekend of pampering turned into a boozy junk-food fest
Knee-length, in those knee-length tights
Law-firm, George Clooney as a law-firm “fixer” overtaken by events
Leopard-print, from your leopard-print Urban Outfitters jeans
Life-makeover, our three life-makeover winners
Limited-edition fragrance
Love-life, be wary of any new love-life situation
Make-up, A-list, make-up artist and A-list fabuliser
Make-up, make-up guru
Make-up, who’s a make-up artist on the show
Military intelligence, a military intelligence officer
Mince-pie, to shed the excess mince-pie pounds
Obesity-management, obesity-management specialist
Old-school, the old-school Romeo
Oral-contraceptive, Yasmin, an oral-contraceptive pill
Party-girl, she is quitting her party-girl lifestyle in favour of university
Picture-postcard, the sparkling sea made it ultimate picture-postcard paradise
Red-carpet, my red-carpet dresses come from Maria Grachvogel
Red-carpet, into glamorous, red-carpet pro
Right-wing, against the right-wing pro-lifers here
Rock-star, rock-star look
Rugby-star, she met her rugby-star partner Gavin on a drunken night out
Self-discovery, Michelle’s self-discovery questionnaire
Self-sex, through self-sex education
Sex-toy, sex-toy industry has been desperate to come up with the next big seller
Sexual-health, says-sexual-health expert
She-man, everyone was working the she-man look
Shoe-care, research from shoe-care exerts
Schoolgirl, to keep in style with the film- the schoolgirl look
Skin-care, now’s the time to upgrade your skin-care arsenal
Slimline, her new slimline bod is down to not eating after 5pm
Slimming-product, half of slimming-product ads made misleading claims
Stress-release, there are stress-release therapeutics in massage hut
Student-loan, my first student-loan instalment
Thyroid-gland, thyroid-gland disorders and recovering form the flu
Time-limit, serve of reignite the time-limit debate
Vacuum-cleaner, look like vacuum-cleaner attachments
Weight-loss, if there really was a miraculous weight-loss pill out there
Weight-loss, or any other weight-loss pill again
White-chocolate, and add some white-chocolate chunks
Wool-mix, black wool-mix beret
Wool-mix, wool-mix leg warmers
Working-class, she recounted the story of her working-class upbringing
-------------------------------
[1] Expressions marked with asterisk are incorrect in their lexical form or meaningless.
[2] In this thesis the term ‘word-form’ will be used as a concrete realization of a
particular lexeme in written as well as spoken utterance. The term “lexeme” will be clarified
thereinafter in this chapter. The word-forms and phrases used as a means of illustration will
be written in italics.
Once a new linguistic term is firstly introduced and clarified in the thesis, it will be typed
in bold.
[3] In my thesis the term ‘word’ will not be used any more, since it stays indefinable.
Instead of this term, will be used terms ‘lexeme’ or its particular realization, a
‘word-form’.
[4] . The terms inflectional and derivational paradigm will be calrified latr in this thesis.
R. Huddleston at al. takes the existence of different inflectional paradigm as the obvious
signal that a given word-form refers to a different lexeme. “The noun attempt, for example, is
a different word form the verb attempt: it has different inflectional properties and enters
into different inflectional paradigm (p. 1650)
The analysis of the above listed compounds appears even more complicated and questionable.
[5] The definition of the term ‘morph’ will be explained below.
[6] Examples taken form Wikipedia.
[7] L. Bauer mentions an exceptional compound warmonger in which the final element –monger
does not function in English as an independent lexeme and therefore is not to be found in
isolation in a text. This word-form is still felt to be a compound by native speakers even if
it does not fit under the definition of compounds as lexemes formed by conjunction of two
other lexemes. (Bauer 1983: 38)
[8] Listed compounds are chosen form magazine-based corpus and corresponding sentences with
free-phrases are taken form British National Corpus (BNC).
[9] Free phrase is a term which is used by V. Adams; R. Huddleston prefers the term syntactic
construction.
[10] The question of stress will be discussed in greater detail in following chapter.
[11] V. Adams considers good shot and bad loser compound adjectives.
[12] Lyons (1977: 524); Matthews (1974: 193) use the term ‘received’.
[13] As alternatives to this can be used terms ‘frozen, fossilised, and petrified’.
(Huddleston 2002: 1629)
[14] See e.g. Adams’s classification. (1973: 92 ff) Huddleston (2002: 1646 ff).
[15] Full list with all the compound adjectives divided into appropriate groups is to be
found in the appendix.
[16]More details on compounds containing self- can be found in Chomsky‘s Remarks on
Nominalization, 1967.
[17] Progressive participle in this thesis specifies present continuous participle of a verb
ending with –ing suffix.
[18] Past participle in this thesis identifies perfect participle ending with suffix -ed
[19] The word-form black painted was also found in hyphenated form.
[20] The compound status of the complex word-form written in italics is controversial. Those
can be considered derivatives.
هذه النسخة بصيغة html للملف http://old.btk.pte.hu/tanszekek/angol/nyelveszeti/Morphhandout.rtf .
يقوم G o o g l e تلقائياً بإنشاء نسخ بصيغة html للوثائق التي يصادفها خلال البحث في الإنترنت، بحيث يمكن عرضها في متصحفات الانترنت.
ANGA040410-ANG4400
2006/2007, Autumn
1 credit
Tue 10:00-11:00; A/H lecture hall
Lecturer: Martsa Sándor
A/G 418; e-mail: @
English Morphology
The course will acquaint students with the basic units constituting the structure of English words as well as with the major word-formation processes of inflection, derivation, and compounding. The course will also offer a survey of the correspondences (or interfaces) between morphology and phonology (e.g. umlaut; assimilation), morphology and syntax (e.g. thematic roles), and morphology and the lexicon (e.g. lexical phonology/morphology, productivity, lexicalization). A detailed version of the topics listed below plus a handout are downloadable from www.btk.pte.hu/tanszekek/angol/nyelveszeti/. The course concludes with a written exam to be given on December 19 (Tuesday), 9:00.
Topics:
(1) Word-structure
Week 1
Morphology as a level linguistic description; Emergence of morphology; Morphology: the study of the structure of words: What is a word?; The lexeme, word-form, grammatical word, citation form; Lemma;
Week 2
Isolating morphemes of words; Types of morphemes: roots, affixes, stems, bases; Inflectional and derivational morphemes;
Weeks 3/4
Morphs and allomorphs; Phonological, grammatical, lexical, and morphological conditionings of allomorphs; Suppletion; Morphological realization rules; Morphological analysis vs. morphemic analysis;
Inflectional morphology (syntax-driven word-formation)
Weeks 5/6
Inflectional morphology: The morphological and morpho-syntactic mappings of grammatical features (number, gender, case, person, degree, tense, aspect); Irregular verbs; The morpho-syntactic analysis (=inflectional forms and properties) of the main English parts of speech: verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns; The case rules of English: The case filter; INFL in the GB theory;
Derivational morphology and compounding (lexicon-driven word-formation)
Weeks 7/8
The semantic and functional types of affixes; Conversion; Creative word-formation: the iterative use and the combinability of suffixes and prefixes; Types of compounds (primary, synthetic, endocentric, exocentric); Neo-classical compounds Unpredictable formations (shortenings, blends, acronyms); Idioms and compounds; Predicates, arguments, theta-roles (in verbal compounds); Morpho-syntactic (lexical) frames; Words in the lexicon;
Weeks 9/10
Lexical morphology; Lexical strata; The stratum- (level-) ordering hypothesis; Derivation and inflection in lexical morphology;
Weeks 11/12
The open-endedness of the lexicon (blocking, productivity vs creativity); Productivity vs. lexicalization;
References: (One copy of each item marked with * (=required) will be placed in the English-German library)
Akmajian, Adrian et als. (1990) An Introduction to Language and Communication. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. (Chapter 2)
András, László; Stefanides Károlyné (1965/89) Angol Leíró Nyelvtan, II. rész, Alak-és funkciótan. Tankönyvkiadó.
*Bauer, Laurie (1991) English Word-formation. Cambridge / New York / Sydney / Melbourne: CUP.
Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew (1992) Current Morphology. London / New York: Routledge. (Chapter 8)
Jensen, John T. (1990) Morphology. Word Structure in Generative Grammar. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. (Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
*Katamba, Francis (1993) Morphology. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12)
Lehrer, Adrien. (1995) 'Prefixes in English Word Formation.' In: Folia Linguistica XXIX/1-2, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 134-147.
*Martsa, Sándor. English Morphology. Inflection and Derivation. (Manuscript; available upon request)
*O'Grady, William et al. (1987/1996) Contemporary Linguistics. An Introduction. London and New York: Longman. (Chapters 4, 6)
*Quirk, Random; S. Greenbaum (1973/1989) A University Grammar of English. Longman. (3.1-3.24; 4.31-4.68; 5.35-5.39; Appendix I)
Spencer, Andrew (1991/1997). Morphological Theory. An Introduction to word Structure in Generative Grammar. Oxford UK & Cambridge USA: Blackwell.(Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4)
ANGA040410
English Morphology
HANDOUT
Week 1
Morphology as a level linguistic description; Emergence of morphology; Morphology: the study of the structure of words: What is a word?; The lexeme, word-form, grammatical word, citation form; Lemma;
Sources: Katamba (Chapter 1; Chapter 2.1); Martsa (Chapter 1.2-1.3)
Levels of linguistic representation: phonology (phonetics), morphology, syntax
(semantics, pragmatics)
What does morphology deal with?
M. studies the internal structure of words.
M. studies the native speakers' morphological competence:
recognizing words of the language (cp. wordity, wordhood)
creating new words by using existent patterns (cp. A+N-ed: blue-eyed)
Other linguistic disciplines studying words: etymology, lexicology, lexicography
What do we know when we know a word?
READER
1) phonetic and phonological information: /'ri:dc/ (Br.E.) or /'ri:dcr/ (Am.E.)
2) morphological information: read + er
3) syntactic information: Ncount
4) semantic-pragmatic information: a) 'one who reads'; b) 'a book intended to give students practice in readings'; c) 'senior university teacher in Great Britain'; d) 'a person employed to read'; how senses a) - d) are used in different contexts of speech.
What is a word?
Words as lexemes and word-forms
His jealous brother besmirched him in front of his colleagues. (CIDE)
besmirch a lexeme: a dictionary item
besmirches, besmirching, besmirched word-forms realizing besmirch
Other examples:
Words as lexemes Words as word-forms (representing lexemes)
be be, being, been, am, are, is, was, were
lay lay, lays, laying, laid
lie1 lie, lies, lying. lied
lie2 lie, lies, lying, laid, lain
sleep sleep, sleeps, sleeping, slept
take take, takes, taking, took, taken
mouse mouse, mice
bad bad, worse, worst
Words as grammatical or morpho-syntactic words
(a) The old man told [simple past] us an anecdote.
(b) It was an anecdote told [past participle] by an old man.
Lexemes: Abstract vocabulary items listed in the dictionary (in citation forms determined by linguistic traditions)
E.g.
a) tell b) want c) friend d) foot
Word-forms: Physical forms realizing and constituting the inflectional paradigms of lexemes
E.g.
tell, telling, tells, told
want, wanting, wants, wanted
friend, friends
foot, feet
Grammatical words or morpho-syntactic words: Phonologically identical word-forms representing different morpho-syntactic properties
E.g.
a) told (past tense or past participle: cf. The old man told[past] us an anecdote; It was an anecdote told[past participle] by an old man)
b) wanted (past tense or past participle: cf. She wanted[past] to leave; She has always wanted [past participle] to know the truth.)
Week 2
Isolating morphemes of words; Types of morphemes: roots, affixes, stems, bases; Inflectional and derivational morphemes;
Sources: Katamba (Chapter 3.1-3); Martsa (Chapter 1.3-4)
Units of word-structure: Morphemes
Simple(x) and complex words
(a) friend friend-s friend-ly girl-friend
(b) barát barát-ok barát-ság-os barát-nő
friend (lexeme) barát (lexeme)
friendN friendN-sN (word-forms) barátN barátN-okN
Morphemes (from the Greek word morphé 'form') are usually viewed as the smallest building blocks of the language with lexical and / or grammatical meaning.
Types of morphemes
Free and bound
(a) boy-s sing-ing happi-er
(b) sing-er un-happy modern-ize
(c) sing-er-s un-happi-ness modern-iz-ing
(d) un-friend-li-ness institut-ion-al-iz-ation-s
Roots
Free morphemes are usually called roots, they carry the core meaning of words and they are always present in words. Technically speaking, the root is that part of the word that remains after all affix morphemes have been removed. (See above.)
Bound roots (cranberry words): cranberry
-mit e. g. permit, remit, commit, admit
-ceive e. g. perceive, receive, conceive
predat- e. g. predator, predatory, predation, depredate
sed- e. g. sedan, sedate, sedent, sedentary, sediment
nat- e. g. native, nature, natural, innate
Affixes
- Infixes:
kangaroo kanga-bloody-roo
propaganda propa-fucking-ganda
absolutely abso-blooming-lutely
- Circumfixes:
ge-kauf-t, a-shame-d, a-work-ing
- Inflection(al morphology) and derivation(al) morphology
Inflectional suffixes: stem (root) + suffix
Suffix (inflectional form)
Input
Output
Remarks on the inflectional category / function marked by the corresponding suffix
-ed*
V
V
: it marks past tense and past participle of regular verbs (e.g. want-ed)
-en*
V
V
: it marks (irregular) past participle of irregular verbs (e.g. shak-en)
-ing
V
V
: it marks progressive aspect (e.g. eat-ing)
-s
V
V
: it marks 3rd person singular, present tense (e.g. drink-s)
-s*
N
N
: it marks (regular) plural number (e.g. cat-s)
-ess (?)
N
N
: it marks feminine gender (e.g. tigr-ess)
-er (?)
N
N
: it marks masculine gender (e.g. widow-er)
-er
A/Adv
A/Adv
: it marks comparative degree (e.g. tall-er, hard-er)
-est
A/Adv
A/Adv
: it marks superlative degree (e.g. tall-est, hard-est)
Derivational affixes(1) : prefix + base (root)
Prefix
Word-class of the input
Meaning
Word-class of the output
Examples
in-
A
'not'
A
in-correct, in-active
un-
A
'not'
A
un-happy, un-friendly
un-
V
'reversive'
V
un-tie, un-dock
re-
V
'again'
V
re-type, re-examine
ex-
N
'former'
N
ex-wife, ex-mayor
en-
N
'put in'
V
en-cage, en-fetter
anti-
N/A
'against'
A
anti-abortion, anti-war
counter-
N
'opposing'
N
counter-fire, counter-offer
post-
N/A
'after'
A
post-election, post-natal
dys-
N
'abnormal'
N
dys-entery, dys-lexia
Derivational affixes(2) : base (root) + suffix
Suffix
Word-class of the input
Meaning
Word-class of the output
Examples
-hood
N
'status'
N
child-hood, parent-hood
-ship
N
'state or condition'
N
friend-ship, reader-ship
-ness
N
'quality, state or condition'
N
happi-ness, kind-ness
-ity
A
'state or condition' etc.
N
sincer-ity, solemn-ity
-less
N
'without'
A
penni-less, power-less
-ly
A
'manner'
Adv
happi-ly, slow-ly
-ly
N
'having the quality of'
A
friend-ly, man-ly
-er
V
'one who V-s'
N
writ-er, sing-er
-able
V
'sth that can be V-ed'
A
drink-able, eat-able
-like
N
'similar to N'
A
lady-like, bird-like
- Contracted forms, clitics
I'm (=am) leaving now.
We'd (=would) rather stay.
He'll (=will) come back soon.
They're (=are) arriving this evening.
They weren't (=not) at home.
MORPHEMES
FREE MORPHEMES BOUND MORPHEMES
CONTENT WORDS FUNCTION WORDS AFFIXES BOUND CONTRACTED
(open class items) (closed class item) ROOTS FORMS,CLITICS
PREFIXES SUFFIXES
nouns conjunctions in- -ity cran- 'll
adjectives determiners un- -ness -mit- 've
verbs auxiliaries pro- -ing -ceive- 's
adverbs prepositions
pronouns
Weeks 3/4
Morphs and allomorphs; Phonological, grammatical, lexical, and morphological conditionings of allomorphs; Suppletion; Morphological realization rules; Morphological analysis vs. morphemic analysis;
Sources: Katamba (Chapter 2.2-4), Martsa (Chapter 2)
Morphs, allomorphs phonological or other realizations of morphemes
Consider the following examples:
per-mit per-miss-ion per-miss-ive
sub-mit sub-miss-ion sub-miss-ive
com-mit com-miss-ion com-miss-ive
shoe-s -s is realized as /z/
dog-s -s is realized as /z/
cat-s -s is realized as /s/
horse-s -s is realized as /wz/
in-accurate in- is realized as /wn/
in-decent in- is realized as /wn/
in-correct in- is realized as /wn/
im-possible in- is realized as /wm/
Morphemic structure vs. morphological structure
Morphemic structure (morphemes) ↔ Morphological structure (morphs)
dogs: 2 morphemes (root/stem+plural) 2 morphs: /d]g/ + /z/
cattle: 2 morphemes (root/stem+plural) 1 morph: /kitl/
talked: 2 morphemes (root/stem+past) 2 morphs: /t]k/ + /t/
sang: 2 morphemes (root/stem+past) 1 morph: /sin/
sheep: 2 morphemes (root/stem+plural) 1 morph: /•i:p/
factual: 2 morphemes (root/base+suffix) 3 morphs: /fikt/ + /u/ + /cl/
Morphological realization rules
(a) The agglutinative rule: each morpheme is realized by a distinct morph; morphs are, as it were, "glued" together (see dogs, talked above);
(b) The fusional rule: a morph realizes more than one morpheme (see cattle, sang above); such a morph is also called a portmanteau morph. (For further details see the grammatical conditionings of allomorphs in section 2.3.3 below);
(c) The null realization rule: a morpheme is never realized as a distinct morph (e.g. the singular morpheme is never realized as a distinct morph in English);
(d) The zero rule: in certain members of a word class a morpheme is not realized as a distinct morph (e.g the plural morpheme is realized by a distinct morph in most English nouns, but not in sheep, deer);
(e) The empty rule: a morph does not realize a morpheme (e.g. in factual above the morph /u/ does not realize any morpheme).
The conditionings of allomorphs (How are the realizations of morphemes conditioned?)
- The phonological conditioning of allomorphs (assimilation [voicing, place of articulation], i-insertion, dissimilation; the Elsewhere principle)
Inflection
(a) select /wd/ after /d/ and /t/ as in wanted, hinted;
(b) select /t/ after any voiceless consonant as in parked, missed, slipped;
(c) select /d/ elsewhere (i.e. after any voiced sound except /d/ as in cleaned, supposed, echoed);
(d) select /wz/ after stridents /s, z. •, Ą, ±, ®/ as in kisses, buzzes, clashes, witches, judges.
(e) select /s/ after voiceless consonants as in cats, caps, myths, puffs.
(f) select /z/ elsewhere (i.e. after all vowels or voiced consonants that are not stridents (sibilants) as in dogs, cans, cows, cobs, cars);
(Note that the rules specified in (d) - (f) also apply to -s inflection of verbs and to -'s cliticization.)
Derivation
(g) select /w/ before velar consonants /h, g, k/ as in ingratitude, incomplete;
(h) select /wm/ before labial consonants /m, p/ as in immature, impossible;
(i) select /wl/ or /wr/ before liquids /l, r/ as in illegal, irregular;
(j) select /wn/ elsewhere (i.e. before vowels and alveolar consonants /t, d, s, z, n/ as in inactive, indecent, intolerant);
(k) select /e/ after word-final /l/ as in cellular, modular, regular;
(l) select (el) elsewhere as in causal, central, environmental.
A summary of phonological conditionings
(a)-(c) (d)-(f)
{past} /wd/ / dental stops -- {plural} /wz/ / stridents --
/t/ / voiceless consonants -- /s/ / voiceless consonants --
/d/ / elsewhere /z/ / elsewhere
(g)-(j) (k)-(l)
{in} /wn/ / -- velars {resemblance} /e/ -- /l/
/wm/ / -- labials /el/ -- elsewhere
/wl/ or /wr/ / -- liquids
/wn/ / elsewhere
Implications of phonological conditioning for spelling
a) Nouns ending in -o with a plural form spelled as -oes: e.g. echoes, heroes, potatoes, vetoes, etc. (Some nouns, however, allow both -os and -oes: e.g. banjo, buffalo, flamingo, volcano, etc.);
b) Nouns ending in -y with plural forms spelled either as -ies after consonants or -ys after vowels: e.g. poppies, spies, stories, (the) Tories, but boys, journeys, (the) Kennedys, moneys, etc. (Note that the same rules apply to the -s inflection of verbs.);
c) Acronyms, initialisms, numerals used as nouns pluralize either in -'s or, rather more frequently, in -s:: e.g. (the late) 1990's or 1990s, CEO's or CEOs, MP's or MPs, and so on.
- The grammatical conditioning of allomorphs
Occasionally the choice of an allomorph may be dependent on a grammatical element, for instance, on the past tense morpheme or on the plural morpheme.
Ablaut
Present tense
Past tense
deal
/di:l/
dealt
/delt/
feel
/fi:l/
felt
/felt/
leave
/li:v/
left
/left/
mean
/mi:n/
meant
/ment/
bleed
/bli:d/
bled
/bled/
meet
/mi:t/
met
/met/
stick
/stwk/
stuck
/stžk/
strike
/strawk/
struck
/stržk/
bind
/bawnd/
bound
/baťnd/
grind
/grawnd/
ground
/graťnd/
sit
/swt/
sat
/sit/
get
/get/
got
/gZt/
shoot
/•u:t/
shot
/•Zt/
break
/brewk/
broke
/brcťk/
choose
/š•u:z/
chose
/š•cťz/
bear
/beb/
bore
/b]:/
bite
/bawt/
bit
/bwt/
forget
/fb'get/
forgot
/fc'gZt/
blow
/blbť/
blew
/blu:/
know
/nbť/
knew
/nju:/
lie
/law/
lay
/lew/
take
/tewk/
took
/tu:k/
give
/gwv/
gave
/gewv/
eat
/i:t/
ate
/et/
drive
/drawv/
drove
/drcťv/
fly
/flaw/
flew
/flu:/
begin
/bw'gwn/
began
/bw'gin/
sing
/sw/
sang
/sin/
Umlaut
Singular
Plural
foot
/fťt/
feet
/fi:t/
goose
/gťs/
geese
/gi:s/
tooth
/tť/
teeth
/ti:p/
mouse
/mZťs/
mice
/maws/
louse
/lZťs/
lice
/laws/
man
/min/
men
/men/
woman
/'wťmcn/
women
/'wwmwn/
Remember: sabre-tooths ('sabre-toothed tigers') or Bigfoots ('large hairy man-like imaginary animals').
Suppletion
be am, are, is, was, were; go went; good better, best; little less, least
- The lexical conditioning of allomorphs
-en plural
child-r-en, ox-en, breth-ren
Voicing plural (root allomorphy) (Voiced segments are printed in bold type.)
Singular
Plural
life
/lawf/
lives
/lawvz/
leaf
/li:f/
leaves
/li:vz/
calf
/kY:f/
calves
/kY:vz/
house
/haťs/
houses
/haťzwz/
mouth
/mať/
mouths
/maťqz/
path
/pa:/
paths
/pa:qz/
Remember: still lifes (paintings), Toronto Maple Leafs (an ice-hockey team)
Zero plural
a) nationality names ending in -ese, -ish, e.g. the Chinese, the English;
b) names of tribes, e.g. the Sioux, the Navajo, the Apache;
c) certain animal names, e.g. sheep, grouse, plaice, salmon;
d) numeral nouns if modified, e.g. two hundred, three million, a few hundred; e) nouns ending in -s, e.g. means, series, barracks, headquarters;
f) substantivized adjectives denoting people and not having singular correlates: (the) rich, (the) poor, (the) disabled (cf. *a rich, *a poor, etc.) . A few animal names can take both the zero and regular plural, e.g. elk, crab, antelope, fish, herring, whereas others take the zero plural allomorph only in a hunting context or when wild species are designated, e.g. hunt for duck, elephant.
Loan-words
Latin words (e.g. alumnus - alumni, stimulus - stimuli, corpus -corpora, genus - genera, stratum - strata, larva - larvae, bacterium - bacteria, erratum - errata, codex - codices,);
Greek words (e.g. analysis - analyses, crisis - crises, thesis - theses, criterion - criteria, phenomenon - phenomena);
Hebrew words (e.g. kibbutz - kibbutzim, binyan - binyanim).
French words (e.g. chassis, corps, patois; but!! bureau-bureaux/bureaus, plateau-plateaux/plateaus;
Italian words (e.g. solo-soli/solos, virtuoso-virtuosi/virtuosos.
Both regular and foreign plural (e.g. mediums ('people communicating with spirits) - media ('television, radio, internet, and newspapers as a group'), indexes ('lists of names or topics referred to in a book') - indices ('exponents'), cherubs ('fat children') - cherubim ('angels'); stylistic correlates like curriculums - curricula, symposiums - symposia, memorandums - memoranda).
A summary of lexically conditioned allomorphy
-:
(the) Chinese, sheep, antelope*,(the) poor, series
French words in -s: chassis, corps, patois (Remember that in these cases the plural is realized only in pronunciation!)
-s:
Root allomorphy: half-halves, house-houses, shelf-shelves
-en:
ox-oxen, brother- brethren, woman-women
-a:
Latin words in -um: bacterium-bacteria, erratum-errata, medium-media*
-ae:
Latin words in -a: antenna-antennae*, formula-formulae*, larva-larvae
-i:
Latin words in -us: alumnus-alumni, fungus-fungi*, stimulus-stimuli
-ices:
Latin words in -ex, -ix: codex-codices, index-indices*, matrix-matrices*
-a:
Greek words in -on: automaton-automata*,criterion-criteria, phenomenon-phenomena
-es:
Greek words in -is: basis-bases, crisis-crises, thesis-theses
-i:
Italian words in -o: banditto-banditti* , libretto-libretti*, virtuoso-virtuosi*
-e(a)ux:
French words retaining the original French suffix, but pronounced as /z/: bureau-bureaux*, chateau-chateaux*, plateau-plateaux*
-im:
Hebrew words: binyan-binyanim, cherub-cherubim*, seraph-seraphim*
Lexical conditioning of allomorphs in derivational morphology
dysentery, dysfunction, dyslexia, dyspepsia, dystrophy
inaccurate vs. *unaccurate, impossible vs. *unpossible, invalid vs. *unvalid
analyst vs. *analist, catalyst vs. *catalist
- The morphological conditioning of allomorphs
(a) select /-mw•-/ before the suffix /-ion/ as in permission, submission.
(b) select /-mws-/ before the suffix /-ive/ as in permissive, submissive.
(c) select /-mwt-/ elsewhere (i.e. whenever there is not an overt suffix allomorph as in permit, submit; or before /-ee/, /-al/, /-ance/ as in permittee, remittal, remittance).
Bound roots: -eive- / -ept- or divid- / divis-
Weeks 5/6
Inflectional morphology: The morphological and morpho-syntactic mappings of grammatical features (number, gender, case, person, degree, tense, aspect); Irregular verbs; The morpho-syntactic analysis (=inflectional forms and properties) of the main English parts of speech: verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns; The case rules of English: The case filter; INFL in the GB theory;
Sources: Katamba (10, 11), Martsa (3)
Differentiating between inflection and derivation
Inflectional morphology (IM)
Derivational morphology (DM)
IM deals with suffixation processes dictated by syntactic operations of: e.g.
determiner-noun head agreement (e.g. this book0 / these books);
subject-predicate agreement (e.g. A book is / Books are on the table);
-case-marking (e.g. accusative case: He sees the girl / her);
person-marking (e.g. He sings);
tense-marking (e.g. She smiled); etc.
IM is syntax-driven, i.e. syntactically determined word-formation.
Inflections are obligatory, i.e. they are required by the syntactic function or position the given word occupies in the sentence. E.g. in He sees her the accusative her is obligatory as it is an internal argument of the predicate in the function of the direct object. (But see the marking of gender in 3.2.)
Inflectional processes tend to apply automatically; e.g. normally there is no grammatical sentence without tense-marking or subject-predicate agreement.
DM deals with affixation processes which help to create complex lexemes from simple lexemes stored in the mental lexicon by applying rules that are also believed to stored in the (mental) lexicon (e.g. friend friend-lyADJ, friend-shipN) Thus DM is viewed as lexicon-driven word-formation.
b) Derivational affixes are usually optional. But compare:
She speaks rapidly vs. The palace rose high and magnificent. In these sentences the use of -ly or the lack of it seem to be dictated by the syntactic positions or functions of rapid, high, and magnificent, like in the case of the inflectional suffixes. Namely rapidly is an adverb or adjunct, whereas high and magnificent are subject complements.
c) Derivational processes tend to be sporadic; e.g. agentivity is marked by a number of suffixes whose selection is (synchronically) not predictable: e.g. singer, applicant, analyst, pianist, contributor.
The inflectional forms and categories of verbs
Lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs
Auxiliaries:
Primary or aspectual (have, be; e.g. Peter has been here; Peter is singing.)
passive (be; e.g. Several workers were fired.)
dummy (do, which is devoid of lexical meaning; e.g. Do you like ice-cream?)
modal (shall, will, can, could, etc.; e.g. He will come back soon.)
semi (have to, need to, used to, etc.; e.g. We have to leave.)
- Inflectional forms of verbs
English lexical verbs have the following inflectional forms constituting their paradigm or, in more traditional terms, their conjugation:
a) The infinitive such as to sit, to count, to sing, which usually occurs after verbs like in He wants to sit / to count / to sing. The form of the infinitive without the particle to is called the bare infinitive; it is required after auxiliaries (e.g. can sit, should count, may sing), or in some specific constructions such as causative (e.g. They had/made him sit and wait), or optionally after help (e.g. help (to) read). Recall that the citation form of verbs in dictionaries is also the bare infinitive;
b) The -s form like in sits, counts, sings, which is used to signify 3rd person singular in the simple present tense. In English this is the only verbal form which, in addition to being marked for tense, is overtly marked for the categories of person and number and consequently this is also the only form to overtly reflect the morpho-syntactic process of agreement. In morphological terms, -s is a portmanteau morph (see previous chapter);
c) The -ing form like in sitting, counting, singing, which is used to mark either the present participle in the progressive aspect in combination with the primary auxiliary be (e.g. She is singing) or the gerund (e.g. We regret leaving London). Note that -ing can be a derivational suffix as well forming a verbal noun (e.g. Her singing was beautiful) or an adjective (e.g. Singing birds);
d) The -ed form to mark past tense, like in counted, tried, wanted. Earlier, in the previous chapter, we saw that the realizations of this morpheme in the case of irregular verbs is grammatically conditioned, which means that the past tense morpheme is realized by stem-alternation or ablaut, as for instance in sit-sat, sing-sang, buy-bought. In some other cases the past tense morpheme is not realized, as in cut, put, which also represent portmanteau morphs;
e) The -en or past participle form, which is used to mark the perfect aspect or the passive voice in combinations with the primary and passive auxiliaries have and be, respectively (e.g. They have already been to England; They were given flowers). This morpheme also has different realizations in English. Recall that its realizations in regular verbs are /-kd/, /-t/,/-d/, spelled always as -ed; in the case of irregular verbs it is realized either as /-(e)n/, spelled as -(e)n (e.g. given, been, sewn) or as ablaut (e.g. sung, come) or as the combination of these (e.g. broken, stolen, sworn) or as ablaut+/t/ (e.g. kept, slept) or, finally, may be absent, as in the case of the invariable portmanteau morphs cut, put. Similarly to the -ing form, the -en form can also be used as an adjective (e.g. in the given situation; note that with regular verbs and in some compound adjectives the suffix is obviously -ed, as the aforementioned article or blue-eyed, short-sleeved);
The inflectional forms b) and d), marking, among others, the inflectional category of tense, are also called finite forms. In contrast, the inflectional forms a), c), and e) are non-finite forms, since they are not capable of marking tense in themselves. In present-day English it is the verb to be that has the richest set of inflectional (finite and non-finite) forms:
(to) be infinitive
am, are, is suppletive forms indicating agreement in person and number in the present tense
was, were suppletive forms indicating agreement in person and number in the past tense
being -ing form participating in the expression of the progressive aspect
been -en form participating in the expression of the perfective aspect and the passive voice
- Inflectional categories of verbs
The inflectional categories of English verbs are tense, aspect, voice, mood, person, and number.
Tense (past, present, future)
Past time Present time Future time
(a) It rained. (b) It is raining. (c) It will rain.
Aspect (progressive, perfective)
Jane has written her thesis.
Jane is writing her thesis.
Voice (active, passive)
(a) Jane has written a thesis on Shakespeare.
(b) A thesis has been written on Shakespeare by Jane.
Mood (indicative subjunctive, imperative)
I insist that you/she/we/they leave.
God save the Queen! / Suffice it to say…
I recommend that you/he/they leave. / I wish I were rich. / I wouldn't do that, if I were you.
Come here!; Be quiet!
Person, number = agreement
Person
Present
Past
singular
plural
singular
plural
1
am, have
are, have
was, had
were, had
2
are, have
are, have
were, had
were, had
3
is, has
are, have
was, had
were, had
- Realizing the inflectional categories of verbs
Peter usually sits on this chair.
Peter sat on this chair.
Peter is sitting here.
Peter didn't sit here.
Peter was sitting here.
Peter has sat there.
Peter has been sitting here.
Peter can / could sit here.
Peter will sit here.
Sitting here is forbidden.
Configurations (circumfixation)
She is work - ing She has work - ed
(present progressive) (present perfect)
We have be - en sing - ing
progressive
perfective
The book has be - en translat - ed
passive
perfective
- The Affix-Hopping Rule
INFL V
T M Perf Prog
past can have -en be -ing sit
Peter could have be-en sit(t)- ing here.
OR
Peter + (ED) + can + (HAVE + EN) + (BE + ING) + sit here
Peter + (can + ED) + HAVE + (BE + EN) + (sit + ING) here
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
(c) Peter could have been sitting here.
Summary
TENSE
ASPECT
Common
Progressive
Perfective
Perfect. + Progress.
VOICE
Active
Passive
Active
Passive
Active
Passive
Active
Passive
(?)
Present
(Non-past 1)
V(s)
is V(e)n
is/are
Ving
is/are
being V(e)n
has/have
V(e)n
has/have been
V-(e)n
has/have been
Ving
has/have been being
V(e)n
Past
V(e)d
was/were V(e)n
was/were Ving
was/were
being V(e)n
had
V(e)n
had been
V-(e)n
had been
Ving
had been being
V(e)n
Future
(Non-past 2)
will V
will be
V(e)n
will be
Ving
will be
being V(e)n
will have
V(e)n
will have been
V-(e)n
will have been
Ving
will have been being
V(e)n
The inflectional forms and categories of nouns and pronouns
number, gender case, person
Number (for nouns see conditionings of allomorphs)
Pronouns
Number
Singular
Plural
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
personal
I
you
he / she / it
we
you
are
possessive
my*; mine
your*; yours
his/her*; hers
its*
our*; ours
your*; yours
their*; theirs
reflexive
myself
yourself
himself /
herself /
itself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves
Gender
Gender
classes
Examples
Pronoun
substitution
animate
personal
A
masculine
king, uncle, boy
who - he
someone,
somebody
B
feminine
queen, aunt,
girl
who - she
C
dual
doctor, teacher
who - he/she
D
common
baby, child
who - he/she/?it
which - it
E
collective
family, jury
which - it
who - they
(some people)
non-personal
F
masculine
higher
animal
bull,
stallion
which - it
(?who) - he
something
G
feminine
higher
animal
cow,
mare
which - it
(?who) - she
H
higher
organism
France, ship
which - it/she
(somewhere)
I
lower animal
ant
which - it
something
inanimate
J
inanimate
box
(somewhere)
Case
grammatical or morphological cases (nominative, accusative, and genitive)
oblique cases (signalling location or direction; instrumental
(a) [NP The boy / He nominative ] is reading a book.
(b) Peter saw [NP the boy / him accusative].
(c) This is [NP the boy's / his genitive bag].
(d) Peter is playing [PP with the boy / with him accusative/instrumental].
Case Filter: NPs in a sentence are licensed if and only if they are assigned grammatical case.
(a) The complements of verbs (e.g. the direct object) receive accusative case: see (17)(b);
(b) The complements of prepositions receive accusative case: see (17)(d);
(c) The subject receives nominative case: see (17)(a);
(d) The nominal specifier of a noun head receives genitive case: see (17)(c).
Morphologicvally invariable pronouns
(a) interrogative pronouns: e.g. how, what, when, where, which, why;
(b) relative pronouns: e.g. that, which;
(c) indefinite (universal and partitive) pronouns: e.g. all, each, every, some, any, many, much, somebody, everything, etc.;
(d) reciprocal pronouns: e.g. each other, one another.
The inflectional forms and categories of adjectives and adverbs
Degrees of comparison: positive (good, young), comparative (better, younger), superlative ((the) best, (the) youngest). Analytic (more, (the) most), synthetic (old-er, young-er, old-est, young-est). (Comparison of inferiority: less / least expensive)
Qualitative adjectives are inflected freely for the degrees of comparison;
Relational adjectives (e.g. wooden, English)
Synthetic degrees of comparison are usually marked in:
monosyllabic adjectives: big-(g)er, fast-er, sly-er, hard-er, late-er, dr(y)-(i)er (but not in like, real, right, wrong);
some dísyllabic adjectives (and their alternative forms prefixed with un- or in-) may take inflections if
ba) they are end-stressed: profound-er, sincer(e)-er, obscure(e)-er, remot(e)-er, sever(e)-er, polit(e)-er (but not exact, correct, abrupt, distinct, which end in two plosives);
bb) they end in a syllabic /l/: subtl(e)-er, nobl(e)-er, gentl(e)-er), abl(e)-er, simpl(e)-er, humbl(e)-er;
bc) they end in -er, -ow, -y, -some: clever-er, narrow-er, luck(y)-(i)er, livel(y)-(i)er, handsom(e)-er (but not proper, eager, tender);
a few miscellaneous adjectives with a short second syllable or a syllabic nasal: common-er, pleasant-er, quiet-er, stupid-er, vulgar-er; (Note that for disyllabic adjectives analytic forms of comparison are also available.)
Adverbs
Let's walk a little more quickly / a little quicker!
John came home later than tomorrow.
Peter is driving faster than Harry.
Weeks 7/8
The semantic and functional types of affixes; Conversion; Creative word-formation: the iterative use and the combinability of suffixes and prefixes; Types of compounds (primary, synthetic, endocentric, exocentric); Neo-classical compounds Unpredictable formations (shortenings, blends, acronyms); Idioms and compounds; Predicates, arguments, theta-roles (in verbal compounds); Morpho-syntactic (lexical) frames; Words in the lexicon;
Sources: Bauer (Chapter 7), Katamba (), Martsa (Chapter 4)
Derivation
Affixes:
(i) modify the meaning of the base without changing its part of speech category, e.g. kindA unkindA class-maintaining
(ii) change the part of speech of the base and its meaning, e.g. friendN friendlyA class-changing
(iii) alter the sub-class (subcategorization) of the base, e.g. friendNconcrete friendshipNabstract/concrete class-maintaining
- Prefixation
(1)
Time
pre-
after-
ante-
: pre-election, pre-human, premarital
: after-dinner, after-school, afterwards
: antecedent, antedate, antenatal
(2)
Place
in-
inter-
intra-
: inside, inborn, inbuilt
: inter-city, interlanguage, interconnect
: intracellular, intramuscular, intravenous
(3)
Size
micro-
mini-
mega-
: microbiology, microfilm, microsurgery
: minibus, mini-skirt, mini-golf
: megablock, megastore, megabyte
(4)
Number
bi-
tri-
multi-
: biweekly, bilateral, bigamy
: triangle, tricolour, tripartite
: multicultural, multi-flavoured, multinational
(5)
Negation
anti-
in-
un-
: anti-colonial, anti-war, anti-nuclear
: incorrect, indecent, inexperience
: unhappy, unpredictable, unwise
(6)
Privation
a-
un-
de-
: atypical, asymmetrical, aseptic
: unlock, untie, unfold
: debug, defrost, depersonalize
(7)
Degree
super-
over-
down-
: super-intelligent, superman, supermodern
: overstate, overestimate, over-exaggerate
: downturn, downgrade, downplay
- Suffixation
(i) Nominalizing suffixes add to a) nouns, b) verbs, c) adjectives. Cf.
-hood, -ism, , -ship (e.g. sisterhood, journalism, courtship)
-er, -ment, -ion (e.g. singer, government, fusion)
-dom, -ity, -ness, (e.g. freedom, activity, greatness,)
(ii) Verbalizing suffixes -ate, -ify and -ize add to both a) nouns and b) adjectives, whereas -en is selected only by adjectival bases. Cf.
a) - nominal bases: e.g. exemplify, mercurate, systematize,
b) - adjectival bases: e.g. centralize, regulate, simplify, blacken
(iii) Adjectivalizing suffixes add to a) nouns, b) verbs, c) adjectives. Cf.
-ful, -ing, -ous, -y (e.g. sinful, interesting, famous, trendy)
-able, -ful, -ive (e.g. agreeable, thankful, suggestive)
-ish, -ly (e.g. bluish, lonely)
(iv) Adverbalizing suffixes -ward, -way(s) add to both a) nouns and b) adjectives, whereas -ly is selected only by adjectives and -wise only by nouns. Cf.
a) - nominal bases: homeward, sideway(s), timewise
b) - adjectival bases: e.g. easily, someway, westward
Splinters
hamburger cheeseburger, fishburger, mushroomburger
alcoholic workaholic, chocoholic
marathon workathon, telathon, swimathon, sellathon
panorama autorama, motorama
cavalcade aquacade, motorcade
Types of affixes
Primary, non-neutral suffixes
Secondary, neutral suffixes
- (at)ion
nátion, perfection *
- ness
awáreness, quíckness
- ity
vánity, divinity *
- less
cáreless, sénseless
- y
suprémacy, democracy *
- y
tréndy, cátty
-ese (!)
journalése, mentalése
- hood
párenthood, nátionhood
- ic/-ical
históric, strategic *
- able
périshable, detáchable
- ive
suggéstive, productive *
- ful
succéssful, beaútiful
- ee (!)
addressée, escapée
- ish
gréenish, fóurish
- (i)ous
audácious, analogous *
- like
ládylike, bírdlike
- (i)al
circumstántial, official *
- ment
góvernment, améndment
Primary, non-neutral prefixes
Secondary, neutral prefixes
re -
refér, recéive
re -
refúr, retýpe
com -
complý, concréte
non -
non-smóker, non-héro
de -
defér, decéit
de -
debúg, defróst
sub -
súbjugate, subject / subjéct
sub -
submíssion, subléase
pre -
presúme, prétext
meta -
metalánguage, metaphýsics
in -
incorréct, impóssible
un -
unláwful, unpredíctable
- (!) self-stressing or auto-stressing
- (*) pre-accenting
- tri-syllabic laxing (e.g. supremacy, satanic, wilderness)
velar softening (e.g. criticize, analogy, electricity)
- Affixes as heads
Consider the meanings of -er, micro-
singer - 'one who sings' (agent)
Londoner - 'one who lives in London' (patient)
holiday-makers - - 'one who is on holiday' (experiencer)
cooker - 'a kitchen appliance for cooking' (instrument)
microgram - 'one millionth of a gram'
micrometer - 'a device for measuring very small objects'
micro-surgery - 'surgery performed under microscope'
microbus - 'a very small bus'
- Feature percolation morphemes constituting a lexeme are interpreted as features of the whole lexeme. With respect to derivatives, this means that affix morphemes take precedence over base morphemes. Cp.
N N
A
V N
[[derive]V ation]N [[product]N ive]A ity]N
!_______________________________________!
grammatical heads
Conversion
Conversion takes place if a lexeme belonging to one lexical category (part of speech) is converted to another lexeme belonging to another lexical category without any overt affixation.
Other names: functional shift or zero-derivation
legal : legal/ize :: clean : clean/ř 'make it A'
atom : atom/ize :: cash : cash/ř 'convert into N'
According to an alternative view on conversion the grammar of present-day English allows speakers to convert a noun to a verb and vice versa, a verb to a noun, etc. simply by relabelling them in the mental lexicon.
Phonological changes accompanying conversion:
(a) torméntV 'tórmentN, recórdV 'récordN (the stress is marked with the acute sign)
(b) houseN houseV, abuseN abuseV (the final consonant of the verbs is voiced)
(c) appropriateA appropriateV, separateA separateV (tensing takes place in verbs)
Basic [(a) - (h)] and marginal [(i) - (r)] patterns of conversion
(a) N V: (to) man, eye, elbow, ship, Xerox, pig (on), ink, pattern
(b) N A: head (bookkeeper), sentence (analysis), paper (toys), computer (program)
(c) V N: (a) run, drive, survey, hammer, spy, cheat, (the) haves and have-nots
(d) A V: (to) better, empty, lower, tame, idle, separate
(e) A N: (the) rich, (a) daily, (a) private, (a) given
(f) Adv A: (the) then (president), above (suggestion)
(g) Particle V: (to) down, up, thwart
(h) Participle A: (a) written exam, (an) exciting film
(i) N (shelf, calf, half) V ((to) shelve, calve, halve)
(j) P N: (the) ins and outs, (the) ups and downs
(k) Adv N: (the) whys and wherefores, hereafter
(l) Prefix N: (the) pros and cons
(m) Derived N V: (to) commission, (to be) provision(ed)
(n) Auxiliary N: (a) must
(o) Phrases N: (the) also-rans, (a) has-been
(p) Vtrans Vintrans: (to) sell cars, cars sell
(q) Vintrans Vtrans: (He) runs (every day), (He) runs (a company)
(r) Nabstract Nconcrete: conversion (a type of word-formation), a conversion (an instance of converting)
Novel formations (J. Aitchison):
He is keying the door (commented by a three-year old, watching someone unlock the door)
I'm shirting my man (said by a five-year-old dressing her doll)
Is it all needled? (asked a three-year-old as a pair of pants were mended)
Innovative uses (J. Aitchison):
Henry Moulinexed the vegetables
Sammy pizza-ed (=dropped it on) the floor.
Felicity pizza-ed the dough (=converted the dough to a pizza). (See endnote 66)
Converted verbs derived from instrumental nouns usually do not allow the explicit mention of the instrument: Cp.
She taped (=fastened with a tape) the picture to the wall.
They chained (=fastened with a chain) the entrance off.
She buttoned (=fastened with buttons) up her dress.
They screwed (=tightened with screws) the lamp to the ceiling.
He learned to fiddle (=to play the fiddle) as a young man.
He piped (=play the pipe) a jig so we could dance.
He elbowed (=pushed) me out of the way.
She fingered (=touched) the silk to feel its quality.
He was thumbing through (=turning over the pages of) the dictionary.
But consider these examples:
He hammered the nail with a rock.
He brushed the clothes with his hands.
I paddled the canoe with a copy of The Financial Times.
She strung up the picture with a wire.
Can you whistle with a blade of grass.
He had to saw the bread with the knife.
They anchored the ship with a rock.
He combed the grass with a rake.
Converted proper names:
I wanted to Rosemary Woods out that conversation ('erase as Woods is alleged to have done')
She wasn't Krishna'd out, she was only hippied out ('affected as a member of the Krishna sect')
You're in danger of being Hieronymus Bosched ('put in a nightmare setting')
The canoe Titanicked on a rock in the river ('crashed on a rock and sank')
The wind Bernoullis around the house ('speeds up according to Bernoulli's Law)
Back-formation (back-derivation)
Marginal cases: (removing the presumed agentive suffixes -ar, -er, -or)
beg, orate, lech, lase, peddle, escalate, edit, swindle, sculpt, hawk
Productive types:
babysit babysitter, typewrite typewriter, televise television, emote emotion, resurrect resurrection, sedate sedative, vivisect vivisection, transcript transcription, connote connotation, sightsee sightseeing, etc.
Compounding
Compounds are lexemes that are made up of bases which as a rule are independent lexemes.
Inconsistencies in spelling: cp.
icecream, ice-cream, ice cream, or wordformation, word-formation, word formation.
How to spot a compound?
Accent subordination or compound stress rule
nominal compounds noun phrases
a hígh chair - a high cháir
a gréenhouse - a green hóuse
a bláckbird - a black bírd
a dáncing master - a dancing máster
But consider: (inconsistencies in stress assignment)
duty-frée, man-máde, easy-góing.
Régent Street but Fífth Ávenue
ápple cake but ápple píe
linguístics book - linguístics téxtbook
láw book - láw téxtbook
tówn house - cóuntry hóuse
a summer níght
the Boston márathon
a silk tíe
a Mahler sýmphony
a learner-dríver
a scholar-áctivist
Austria -Húngary
Would you like mílk sháke? vs. An ice-cold mílk shake is just what I want.
- The headedness of compounds
The Rightheadedness rule or the Right-Hand Head Rule
(a) [blackA birdN]N (b) [kneeN deepA]A (c) [overP exaggerateV]V
Compound heads
But consider:
mother-child a two-headed compound
take-off a left-headed compound
spoilsport a headless compound
Types of compounds (Semantic and formal ~)
Semantic types
endocentric (e.g. airplane, bittersweet),
exocentric (e.g. playboy, crybaby),
appositional (e.g. maidservant, boyfriend),
copulative (e.g. Austria-Hungary, Alsace-Lorraine).
Formal or structural types
root or primary compounds (e.g. drawbridge, madman, schoolmaster)and (para)synthetic or secondary compounds (e.g. chain-smoker, childcare allowance, hay-making).
Syntactic patterns
Compound nouns
N + N
airplane, hatchback, lipstick, bullet train, truck driver, bull's eye, landowner
N + V/N
sunshine, nosebleed, sunrise, handshake, bus-stand, hand-writing, fox-hunting
A + N
bluebird, madman, software, busybody, fast-food, mainland, greenhouse
V + N
pickpocket, spoil-sport, drawbridge, leapfrog
Prt + N
in-crowd, off-off-Broadway, over-kill, background, afternoon
Prt + V
Input, outcast, downpour, outbreak, offspring
V + Prt
take-off, drawback, drop-out, grown-up, fallout
Compound adjectives
N + A
duty-free, lifelong, headstrong, sugar-free, penny-pinching, crashworthy, machine readable, heart-breaking, man-made, computer-assisted
A + A
bittersweet, deaf-mute, icy-cold, red-hot, social-economic, ready-made, easygoing, widespread, far-fetched
N + N
coffee-table (book), glass-steel (skyscraper), seaside, childproof
A + N
redneck, redskin, blue-collar, red-brick, solid-state (physics), cold-blooded, blue-eyed, double-decker, backstreet
V + Prt
see-through (blouse), tow-away (zone), wrap-around (skirt)
Prt + N
in-depth, in-class, outdoor
V + V
go-go, pass-fail, stop-go (economics)
Compound verbs
N + V
carbon-copy, carbon-date, babysit, head-hunt, blockbust
A + V
free-associate, double-book, soft-land, crash-land, fine-tune, whitewash
Prt + V
outnumber, overachieve, overeducate, overcook, underrate
V+V
drink-drive, crash-land, dry-clean, stir-fry
A + N
brown-bag, bad-mouth, blacklist, mainstream
N + N
breath-test
Compound prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns
Prep+Prep
onto, into, upon, without, within
Pr/Adv+Adv
Conj+Conj
whenever, however, so that, as if, as though, as of
Pr+N
myself, whichever, whosoever, someone
- Compound nouns
root compounds synthetic compounds
finger surgery God-fearing
chicken leg hay-making
grammar lesson book-keeper
morphology lecture money-lender
work permit shop clearance
fox-hunt group identification
What is the function of the non-head? Modifier or argument? (Cf. feature percolation and argument- structure.)
N A
A N N A
[[black]A [bird]N] [[knee]N [deep]A]
bull(modifier)dog vs. taxi (argument) driver
stone (modifier) wall vs. tiger(argument)-hunting
Is the head a relational noun (e.g. driver, hunting) or a noun expressing natural (e.g. dog) or cultural (e.g. wall) kinds?
- Compound adjectives
Consider the examples below:
[black hair] -ed] [lice][infest-ed]
[one arm] -ed] [Huston][base-ed]
[long sleeve] -ed] [state][control-ed]
(a) fund-raising (campaign)
gap-filling (tasks)
bodybuilding (exercises)
(a) coffe-table (book)
(a) glass-steel (skyscraper)
blue-collar (workers)
solid-state (physics)
- Compound verbs
Consider the examples below:
babysit ← babysitter
double-book ← double-booking
air-condition ← air-conditioning/air-conditioner
self-identify ← self-identification
brownbag → (to) brownbag
badmouth → (to) badmouth
blacklist → (to) blacklist
mainstream → (to) mainstream
The front row [of a theater] is not a good place to people-watch.
The American people can reality-test for themselves.
[This electronic dictionary] spell-corrects 83,000 words.
I like to channel-surf.
- Compound prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns
See the above table.
- Neo-classical compounds (initial combining forms + final combining forms)
initial combining forms (e.g. geo-, tele-, holo-, astro-, electro-, hydro, morpho-, retro-, theo-)
final combining forms (e.g. -graph, -phone, -logy, -cide, -cracy, -itis, -morph, -phobe, -scope)
- Other types of compounds
Rhyme-motivated compounds (e.g. teeny-weeny, brain-drain, flower-power, culture-vulture),
Ablaut-motivated compounds (e.g. flip-flop, riff-raff, wishy-washy, zig-zag),
Phrase compounds (e.g. son-in-law, (a) pain-in-stomach (gesture), whisky-and-soda, (the) also-rans, (a) has-been, man-of-war, tug-of-war.)
Shortenings and blends
Shortenings
Clippings:
(a) burger hamburger, car motorcar, jams pyjamas, 'Fro Afro, Cong Viet Cong
(b) rehab rehabilitation, condo condominium, fax facsimile, fan fanatic, lab laboratory, psych psychology, chem chemistry, prof professor, math mathematics, gym gymnasium
(c) fridge refrigerator, flu influenza, shrink head-shrinker
(d) high tech high technology, paper boy newspaper boy, chauvinist male chauvinist,
(e) movie moving picture
Acronyms and initialisms:
SALT S(trategic) A(rms) L(imitation) T(reaty)
NATO N(orth) A(tlantic) T(reaty) O(rganization)
BASIC B(eginners) A(ll-Purpose) S(ymbolic) I(nstruction) C(ode)
START ST(rategic) A(rms) R(eduction) T(alks)
yuppie y(oung) up(wardly-mobile) p(rofessiol) ie
B.C. B(efore) C(hrist) / B(ritish) C(olumbia)
YMCA Y(oung) M(en's) C(hristian) A(ssociation)
YWCA Y(oung) W(omen's) C(hristian) A(ssociation)
WHO W(orld) H(ealth) O(rganization)
CEO C(hief) E(xecutive) O(fficier)
r.s.v.p. / RSVP r(épondez) s('il) v(ous) p(lait) = 'reply please'
a.m. / am / AM a(nte) m(eridiem) = 'before noon'
p.m. / pm /PM p(ost) m(eridiem) = 'after noon'
Blends
ch(annel) + (t)unnel chunnel
br(eakfast) + (l)unch brunch
sm(oke) + (f)og smog
escal(ade) + (elev)ator escalator
trans(fer) + (re)sistor transistor
sit(uation) + com(edy) sit-com
vodka + (and) + (mar)tini vodkatini
para(chutist) + trooper paratrooper
film + (bi)ography filmography
sea + (land)scape seascape
sky + (hi)jacker skyjacker
dog + (kid)napping dognapping
Weeks 9/10
Lexical morphology; Lexical strata; The stratum- (level-) ordering hypothesis; Derivation and inflection in lexical morphology;
Sources: Katamba (Chapter 5), Martsa (Chapter 5)
Lexical phonology/morphology
Lexical morphology is meant to be a general model of word-formation, with both inflection and derivation in the broad sense within its scope. In this model word-formation rules are referred to as lexical rules which are distinguished from post-lexical rules operating on the phrase or sentence level after lexical rules have applied.
The level-ordering hypothesis
weak boundary (symbolized by '+') primary affixes are added
strong boundary (symbolized by “#') secondary affixes are added
Consider the table below:
Underived lexical entries / morphemes provided by the lexicon
Level 1 morphology
+ derivation (e.g. history+ic, divine+ity);
+ (irregular) inflection (feet, rang-rung);
V-to-N conversion (to torment - (a) torment)
Level 1 phonology
/hwst'orwc/, /dw'vwnwtw/
/fw:t/, /rin/ - /rsn/
/tj'ment/ - /'tjment/
Level 2 morphology
# boundary derivation (Calvin#ist, happi#ness)
compounding (green#house)
N-to-V conversion ((a) pattern - to pattern)
Level 2 phonology
/'kilvwnwst/, /'hipwnws/
/'grw:nhams/
/'pitn/ - /'pitn/
Level 3 morphology
# (regular) inflection (e.g. mend#ed, dog#s)
Level 3 phonology
/'mendwd/, /dggz/
Syntax (Surface structure)
(e.g. last trip)
Post-lexical phonology
(deletion): /lhs trwp/)
The implications of the level-ordering hypothesis for derivation
- The ordering of derivational affixes (cycle, intrinsic ordering, feeding, bleeding)
(a) history+ic#ism (b)*history#ism+c (c)home#less#ness (d) publ+ic+ity
(e) *power#less#ful (f) *publ+ity+ic (g) de#com+miss+ion#ed
(h) *dis+un#put#able (i) anti#pro#demonstr+at+ion (j) pro#anti#demonstr+at+ion
Bracketing paradoxes:
(a) [[[countV] # abilA] + ityN] (b) [[[readV] # abilA] + ityN]
(c) [Aun # [[acceptV] # abilA] + ityN]
Derivational history: a solution to bracketing paradoxes? ( Each stage is a self-contained lexeme.)
Stage 1: institute [institute]N/V
Stage 2: institution [instituteV]ionN
Stage 3: institutional [institutionN]alA
Stage 4: institutionalize [institutionalA]izeV
Stage 5: institutionalization [institutionaliz(e)V]ationN
Bracket Erasure Convention internal brackets separating the morphs constituting a word are erased whenever the word enters a new stage. Cp.
[institutV]ionN]alA]izV]ation]N -sN [institutionalization]sN
[[steamN][boatN] -sN [steamboat]sN
- The ordering of derivational and inflectional affixes
(a) [[friendN shipN] sPlural] (b) [[institutN ionN alA izV ationN]-sPlural]
[[com missV ionN] edPParticiple] (d) [[happ(i)A] erCompDegree]
(e) [[simplA if(ie)V] s3rd pers sing]
- Some implications of the level-ordering hypothesis for compounds
Consider the following plural forms:
Bigfoots, still lifes, saber-tooths, Maple Leafs (as in Toronto Maple Leafs), and computer mouse;
vs.
*Bigfeet, *still lives, *saber-teeth, *Maple Leaves, and *computer mice.
But!!! Consider these forms:
teeth marks or lice-infested vs. *claws marks or *rats-infested
women doctors vs. *animals doctors, gentlemen farmers vs. *peasants farmers.
Exceptions?: toothbrushes vs. *teethbrushes, gooseberries vs. *geeseberries, goose-pimples vs. *geese-pimples.
Puralia tantum (=only plurals) as non-heads:
arms race (vs. *arm race), almsgiving (vs. *almgiving), clothes-brush (vs. *clothebrush), Humanities Department (vs. *Humanity Department), sales manager (*sale manager).
But!!! Consider these forms:
craftsman, sportsman, kinsman, tradesman, and so on, is not a plural
Paradoxes again:
(a) scissor-handle(s) trouser-hanger(s) pant-liner(s) binocular-case(s)
(b) *scissors-handle(s) *trousers-hanger(s) *pants-liner(s) *binoculars-case(s)
Stage 1: [[truckN] [driveV]]V?
Srage 2: [[[truckN] [driveV]]V?]-erN]N
N
?
N
[truck] [drive] er]
Stage 1: [[driveV] -erN ]N
Stage 2: [[[truckN] [[driveV] -erN ]N]N
Inflection in lexical morphology
Level 1 inflection Level 2 inflection
antennae 'sensitive organs on the antennas 'aerials'
head of insects, etc.'
formulae 'sets of symbols' formulas 'sets of statements or plans'
genii 'supernatural beings' geniuses 'talented people'
indices 'exponents' indexes 'lists of names and topics at
the end of books'
media 'electronic and printed press ' mediums 'people claiming to talk to spirits'
Conversion in lexical morphology
The problem of directionality
to cook → (a) cook
(a) chain → to chain
Which form is the input? (Also see below.)
(a) hammer vs. to hammer 'to use a hammer'
(a) brush vs. to brush 'to use a brush'
import vs. to import 'to be engaged in the import of goods'.
Consider the following table: (The verb is primary if a change of stress is involved.)
Level 1 conversion
compóundV cómpondN
contrástV cóntrastN
digéstV dígestN
escórtV éscortN
impórtV ímportN
incréaseV íncreaseN
miscóuntV míscountN
permítV pérmitN
protéstV prótestN
recórdV récordN
torméntV tórmentN
envélopeV énvelopeN
overflówV óverflowN
Underived lexical item: [tormént]V
Level 1 morphology: conversion
[[tormént]V]N
Level 1 phonology: stress-assignment
[[tórment]V]N
Bracket erasure: [tórment]N
The noun is primary if no change of stress is involved:
pátternN pátternV
pádlockN pádlockV
búttonN búttonV
íronN íronV
The verb is primary:
He hammered the nail with a rock.
He brushed the clothes with his hands.
I paddled the canoe with a copy of The Financial Times.
They anchored the ship with a rock.
The noun is primary:
She taped (=fastened with a tape/*pushpins) the picture to the wall.
They chained (=fastened with a chain/*a rope) the entrance off.
She buttoned (=fastened with buttons/*snaps) up her dress.
They screwed (=tightened with screws/*a piece of wire) the lamp to the ceiling.
The artist inked (=covered with ink/*paint) his drawings.
He stapled (=used staples/*a paper clip to fasten) the papers together.
The conversion of derived items with +suffixes:
press+ureN, proport+ionN, proposit+ionN commiss+ionN, engine+eerN, launder+etteN
pressureV 'to use pressure; pressurize', proportionV 'to adjust sth. to sth. (e.g. to adjust expenditure to one's gains)', propositionV 'to propose sexual intercourse', commissionV 'to give a commission', engineerV 'to arrange or cause, esp. by cunning or secret means', launderetteV 'to wash at a launderette'.
The conversion of derived items with #suffixes:
stretcherN, gliderN, tankerN, chopperN, sweeperN
stretcherV, gliderV, tankerV, chopperV, sweeperV
The conversion of compound items:
Verbs converted from compound nouns (permissible)
Nouns converted from compound verbs (not permissible)
to wallpaper, to snowball, to grandstand, to streamroller (into), to sailplane, to wheelbarrow,
*a babysit, *a stage-manage, *an air-condition, *a backform
Instances of blocking:
*(to) cook#er 'one who cooks' and *(to) guid#er 'one who guides' are blocked due to the prior existence of the agentive cookN and guideN,
Level ordering: affix-driven or base-driven?
(Are affixes reliable means to separate levels?)
Consider the following examples:
Level 1 affixation Level 2 affixation
(a) -er: presbit+er sing#er
(b) -ism: sceptic+ism age#ism
(c) -ist: classic+ist Calvin#ist
(d) -able: separ+able read#able
(e) -y: hol+y trend#y
(f) -ize: classic+ize modern#ize
(g) re-: re+fer re#fur
(h) sub-: sub+jugate sub#type
(i) de-: de+ceive de#frost
Level 1 or Level 2 suffix? Level 1: -able / -ible ('capable of being X+ed' + an idiosyncratic sense) ; Level 2: -able ('capable of X#ed')
(a) decípherable, mánageable, agréeable
(b) compárable, dispútable, repáirable
(c) cómparable, dísputable, répairable
(d) ?!tóleratable, appréciatable, demontrátable
(e) tólerable, appréciable, démonstrable
(f) divídable, percéivable, exténdable
(g) divísible, percéptible, exténsible
b) cómparable 'capable of being compared; equivalent'; (e) tólerable 'capable of being tolerated, moderately good; appréciable 'substantial'; demónstrable 'easy to show and prove'
Weeks 11/12
The open-endedness of the lexicon (blocking, productivity vs creativity); Productivity vs. lexicalization;
Sources: Bauer (Chapter 3), Katamba (Chapter 4), Martsa (Chapter 6)
The open-endedness of the lexicon
How to extend the lexicon?
External sources: borrowings, loanwords
Internal sources: word-formation
Productivity vs. creativity
Creativity the most significant characteristic of the human language faculty; it is reflected in recursive phonological, morphological, syntactic, etc. rules that help native speakers to build grammatical sentences. Some of these rules in turn are more frequent or more general than others. It is assumed that more general rules are at the same time more productive.
Productivity rule-governed creativity: the various ways of producing well-formed words, including established (e.g. helpful, wordless) as well as potential or new lexemes (e.g. unhelpfulness, wordhood, speciesist).
rule-bending creativity: metaphoric or synecdochical extensions (e.g. headhunter 'a person or firm paid to find or recruit staff at a senior level' is metaphorically related to the diachronically primary meaning 'a member of a tribe that collects the heads of its enemies as trophies'. Or, redcap has the meaning 'a railway porter'; here the railway porter is denoted synecdochically by referring to the red cap he wears.)
Productivity and how it is constrained
a) There are processes that are highly general and thus highly productive (-er, -ness);
b) Some other processes are synchronically no longer productive, though occasionally they are quite frequent (e.g. -th, -ment)
c) The majority of word-formation processes are neither very productive, nor are they completely unavailable for creating new words (e.g. -ist, -ee)
Constraints on word-formation (blocking)
Phonological factors (e.g. the nominalizing suffix -al only adds to verbs whose final syllables are stressed; and, in addition, these verbs may have the maximum of two consonants at the end, of which the last-but-one must be a sonorant (i.e. /m/, /n/, /l/, /r/) and the last one must be either a labial (e.g. /v/) or an alveolar (e.g. /n/, /s/, /t/). Cp. arrival, denial, portrayal, renewal, rehearsal, rental.
Lexical factors (e.g. *derival, *convinceal, *permittal are blocked because of derivation, conviction, permission)
Morphological factors (e.g. velar softening)
Semantic factors (e.g. unwell - *unill, unoptimistic - *unpessimistic, unwise - *unfoolish, unhappy - *unsad; blue-eyed, three-legged but .*red-carred ('one who has a red car'), *two-dogged ('one who has two dogs')
Productivity constrained by time
The loss of once fully productive inflectional system. Cf.:
Rosalind: Good my complexion! Dost thou think though I am caparisoned like a man I have a doublet and hose in my disposition? One inch of delay more is a South Sea of discovery. I prithee tell me who is it quickly, and speak apace. I would thou couldst stammer, that thou mightst pour this concealed man out of thy mouth, as wine cometh out of a narrow-mouthed bottle; either too much at once or none at all. I prithee take the cork out of thy mouth, that I may drink thy tidings. (Shakespeare: As You Like It (act III, scene ii),
Political correctness
academic dishonesty - 'cheating'
Californian clubber - 'policeman'
gerontologically advanced - 'old'
Little Bomb - 'the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima'
spatially perplexed - 'drunk'
Lexicalization
It frequently happens that due to some diachronic changes in the language system complex lexemes are stored in the mental lexicon in forms which would not be permissible if productive rules of word-formation had applied to the underlying simplex base forms.
Types of lexicalization
Phonological (e.g. rhétoric, Árabic, choleric)
Morphological (e.g. warmth, government, atypical; hus(<house)band and house, tu(<two)ppence
Semantic (e.g. wheel chair, push chair)
Syntactic (e.g. wagtail, pickpocket, turncoat, scarecrow, telltale, drawbridge, punchcard, drop curtain;
*I disbelieve (that) he is the right person for this job.
*I disbelieve him to be the right person for this job.
I believe that he is the right person for this job.
I believe him to be the right person for this job.
Questions and tasks
Weeks 1/2
Explain the following types of information constituting the knowledge of words:
phonetic and phonological information
morphological information
syntactic information
semantic and pragmatic information
With the help of dictionaries, specify the types of information characterizing the knowledge of the following words (see task (1)):
tiger
entertainment
ridiculous
underachieve
What are the different senses of 'word' and how do they relate to each other?
Explain why it is necessary to draw distinctions between the terms 'root', 'stem', and 'base'.
Explain and exemplify the relation between lexemes and morphemes.
Give examples for simple and complex open class and closed class items.
In what sense can bases/roots be bound?
What is “special” about the special clitic?
How do inflectional and derivational affixes differ from each other?
Why are certain morphemes called free and certain others bound?
Are there infixes in English?
Read the following sentences and say which sense of the term 'word' the underlined items in them represent (see task (2)).
She cut her finger.
Is anybody familiar with the word tripod?
Have you ever been to Mexico?
Sovereign is a loanword in English.
Analyze the following complex words into morphemes; specify the type of each morpheme you managed to identify.
a) failure b) citizenship c) encouragement d) disillusioned e) stationary
f) disembarkation g) cumbersome h) ever-lasting i) escapee j) popular
Identify the roots / bases of words listed in (13).
Are the following affixes class-changing or class-maintaining?
-acy -ment -like -ant -ous -(i)al -ed -ary -hood -ive
anti- counter- micro- sub- re- mega- be- bi- un- dis-
Week 3/4
How do 'morpheme', 'morph', and 'allomorph' relate to each other?
Why is it reasonable to draw a distinction between morphological structure and morphemic structure? Give examples to support your answer.
What is 'Elsewhere principle' and why is it applicable in setting up morphological rules?
Complement Table 5 by giving the past participle forms of verbs in it.
Explain how phonological conditioning of allomorphs takes place.
What is the difference between the grammatical and lexical conditioning of allomorphs?
Explain and exemplify root allomorphy.
Explain the difference between umlaut and ablaut.
Specify which morphological realization rule accounts for the shape of each word below?
salmon sensual denationalization nightingale shook
Describe the morphemic and morphological structure of the words listed in (9).
Give the plural forms of the following nouns and say how these forms are conditioned:
codex torpedo house hue attack virus bacterium louse thesis man-of-war
Specify the instances of morphological conditioning in the following words:
concept electrification separable presumption evacuee admission immoral residential readability analyst
Drawing on section 2.3, formulate the rules conditioning allomorphs of the 3rd person singular morpheme.
State (by checking a), b), c) or d)) whether the underlined segments in the words below represent a) phonological, b) lexical, c) grammatical or d) morphological conditionings of allomorphs.
houses
a)
b)
c)
d)
oxen
a)
b)
c)
d)
impossible
a)
b)
c)
d)
horse's
a)
b)
c)
d)
perception
a)
b)
c)
d)
wreaths
a)
b)
c)
d)
carries
a)
b)
c)
d)
still lifes
a)
b)
c)
d)
lives
a)
b)
c)
d)
matrices
a)
b)
c)
d)
Supply the missing forms of verbs below:
V
V-ing
V-ed
V- en
abide
beat
beseech
bite
cling
dwell
forsake
grind
hurt
mistake
mow
resit
shoe
slink
smite
stride
thrust
unwind
wring
Weeks 5/6
Clarify the basic principles along which inflectional morphology and derivational morphology can be told apart.
What are the inflectional forms and categories of English verbs?
Explain the difference between finite and non-finite forms.
Clarify the notion of paradigm.
Why are the inflectional categories of verbs configurational?
What does the affix-hopping rule account for?
Describe the types of auxiliaries.
Why are (personal) pronouns the only means to justify the category of case in present-day English?
How do inflectional forms and categories distribute among the types of pronouns?
Explain why the notion of gender should be expanded in English.
Compare the analytic and synthetic degrees of comparison.
Explain how the categories of tense, aspect, and voice are expressed in the following sentences:
You will have learnt a lot about morphology by now.
Who has been sitting on my stool?
These scenes are being broadcast to remote countries as well.
Will you be coming tomorrow?
Never have I met such a strange person.
Describe how the affix-hopping rule accounts for the ordering of inflectional forms and categories in the sentences in (12).
With the help of the case filter rule explain how case-forms are assigned to the underlined phrases in the sentences below?
I have already seen this film.
They got acquainted with the painter last summer.
The little girl didn't say a word.
Specify the word-formation (morphophonemic) rules underlying the formation of the synthetic comparative degree form of disyllabic adjectives given below:
remoter
narrower
easier
commoner
handsomer
Weeks 7/8
How do derivational affixes perform the task of creating new words-cum-lexemes?
Explain how the negative and the privative uses of un- differ. Find more examples for both uses in your dictionaries.
In what sense can affixes be heads?
For each primary affix listed in Table 14 specify the change(s) it induces in the respective bases.
Explain why the components of neo-classical compounds do not qualify for affixes.
Give the commonly used clippings or acronyms formed from the following expressions:
mobile vulgus ............., absent without official leave ............, facsimile .........,
omnibus ..........., Australians ..............
Below are a few examples in which splinters are used; in each case try to recover the original word from which the splinter may have been truncated (the examples are adopted from Lehrer, 1998).
e.g. fishburger ← ham-burger
carjacking turkeyfurter nukemare meatitarian rockathon
Specify the types of conversion the underlined words in the examples below represent.
In the sleepy, once tightly regulated world of power companies she [Rebecca Mark] was regarded as both a curiosity and a whirlwind, able to use her feminity and no-nonsense manner to disarm then buffalo the men sitting across the table.
(Newsweek, March 11, 2002; p.36-37)
Those kinds of cutthroat tactics are why some competitors call Dell “a parasite” that piggybacks off the inventions of others, slashes prices and destroys the profit potentials of markets.
(Newsweek, November 18, 2002; p. 61)
Bush jocularly told Woodward that Rice is “constantly motherhenning me”.
(November 25, 2002; p.41)
Perhaps most importantly, the revival of the secret service under Putin has always given his old intelligence cronies a chance to moonlight as entrepreneurs.
(Newsweek, December 2, 2002; p. 17)
Once written off as a political has-been, he, 67, is staging a comeback that owes much to North-Korean regime he's so fond of bashing.
(Newsweek, December 2, 2002; p. 23)
The words below represent computer jargon. Identify and describe the word-formation technique used to create each of them. (This exercise draws on Katamba, 2005.)
firewall intranet spam double-click proxy FTP Do you yahoo? desktop
Relying on the text below and the information provided in it, specify the motivation of the word-formation techniques employed to form the words spider hole and Seedlings.
Lexical innovations are either the non-conventional (i.e. innovative) uses of existent lexemes, e.g. spider hole 'a man-size pit for guarding an entrance' (Newsweek, March 25, 2002; p. 22), or the coinages of hitherto unprecedented lexemes such or Seedlings 'high-ranking British politicians who were converted to the Catholic faith by Michael Seed, a charismatic Franciscan monk' (Newsweek, April 22, 2002; p. 28).
Describe in detail the semantic and formal type of each compound below:
wishy-washy late-comer learner-driver scarecrow high-ranking (to) window-shop
With the help of a dictionary, group the examples below into acronyms, initialisms, clippings, and blends
ADSL AWACS a.k.a CAB DC CAT EXPO hi-fi FAQ G.I. (Joe) laser LCD NASA neocons PEN (Club) p.t.o radar RAM scuba (diving) SUNY TELECOM TESCO TOEFL UCLA UFO
Give the morpho-semantic analysis of each compound given below:
double-parking watchmaker hitch-hiking easy chair bulldog self-abasement sewing machine dining room crybaby jaywalking
Using the examples listed below, discuss in detail the notions of headedness and feature percolation.
refinery sky-walker motherese animalistic postmodernism Big Apple deforestation enlarge quieten betrayal
Below are three definitions of the possible meanings of -ee (V stands for the base-verb). Decide which of them the following nouns exemplify:
escapee employee flirtee promisee trainee
a) 'one who is Ved' b) 'one who is Ved with/on/to/etc.' c) 'one who Vs
Weeks 9/10
Clarify the notion of 'the strength of boundaries' and explain how it is related to primary and secondary affixation discussed in Chapter 4.
Why is Lexical Morphology viewed as an integrated theory of word-formation?
Drawing on Table 16, give a detailed description of the level ordering hypothesis. Find more examples for each level.
Discuss the default ordering of derivational and inflectional affixes.
Explain and exemplify the intrinsic ordering of derivational suffixes.
Put the following compound nouns in the plural; then, considering the implications of the level ordering hypothesis for compounds, comment on each of them:
trouser-hanger woman doctor man-of-war notary public teeth-mark sportsman
gooseberry mother-in-law attorney general president elect
Describe the derivational history of the following words, relying on the level ordering hypothesis. If necessary, consult your dictionaries:
development life-expectancy longevity overachievement frustrations redistribution imagery counter-espionage irregular subpoena
Specify a few implications of the level ordering hypothesis for derivation.
Explain why the following words are problematic in the light of the tenets of lexical morphology:
unhappier truck-driver realistic skepticism (two) spoonsful
Comment on the underlined words in the text below from the point of view of lexical and post-lexical rules applying to them.
Though corruption will surely not disappear, the current need for politicians to raise huge sums of under-the-table cash for re-election will diminish. Perhaps most important, the new system will help shift power from rural voters and rice-farming interests to city dwellers, who are the vast underrepresented majority. (TIME, November 29, 1993)
Relying on the tenets of Lexical Morphology, comment on the ordering of suffixes in examples a) - e); then explain why examples f) - h) are not possible formation in English.
a) history-ic-ism b) suggest-ion-s c) commiss-ion-ed d) power-less-ness e) nat-ion-al-ity f) *grandstood g) *rang ('put on a/mark with ring; surrounded') h) *power-ness-less
Give a short description of the word-formation rule that makes the underlined words possible, paying special attention to the problem of directionality.
The dog treed the squirrel.
Bad luck is dogging me.
They squirreled the money away.
Explain in a principled way why the underlined words are not possible in English.
The new-comer turned out to be a tourist *guider.
During the last few days we have *rung a lot of birds.
As expected, they have *grandstood this time too.
I feel *unpessimistic.
The words below illustrate Level 1 affixation. Mark the primary stress in each of them; then say whether they exemplify the phenomena of a) tri-syllabic laxing, b) stem-extension, c) the truncation of the base's final syllable, d) pre-accenting, e) auto-stressing, and f) segmental variation caused by primary suffixation. (Note that a word occasionally may exemplify more than one phenomenon!)
satanic a b c d e f 6) fusion a b c d e f
separable a b c d e f 7) circumstantial a b c d e f
divinity a b c d e f 8) examinee a b c d e f
kitchenette a b c d e f 9) tonsilitis a b c d e f
length a b c d e f 10) motherese a b c d e f
For each example determine the word-class of the bases that form the input to the suffixation process and the word-class of the output to which the resulting word belongs. Then specify at which stratum in the lexicon is each one of these suffixes located? Justify your answers.
(This exercise is taken from Katamba, 1993)
Suffix
attach to (input word-class?)
Output (word-class?)
Stratum (Justification)
-al/(i)al/(u)al
[autumn]-al]
autumnal
[medicine]-al]
medicinal
[province]-ial
provincial
-(ac)y
[democrat]-acy
democracy
[supreme]-acy
supremacy
-able
[notice]-able
noticeable
[separate]-able
separable
-ible
[deduce]-ible
deductible
[divide]-ible
divisible
-er
[cook]-er]
cooker
[guide]-er]
guider
-ee
[send]-ee
sendee
[escape]-ee]
escapee
Weeks 11/12
How do creativity and productivity correlate in syntax and morphology ?
Describe in detail the correspondence between productivity and the level ordering hypothesis.
Explain in what sense hopelessness represents rule-governed creativity (=productivity) and butterfingers rule-bending creativity.
Drawing on (2), indicate whether the words below exemplify a) rule-governed or b) rule-bending creativity. Give more examples.
deadline a) b)
redhot a) b)
deadly a) b)
redcap a) b)
playground a) b)
birdie a) b)
walkman a) b)
demo a) b)
chunnel a) b)
institutionalization a) b)
If morphological productivity is viewed as a scale, where would you place the derivational processes rendering the following words on this scale?
entertainment famously turncoatism
Explain and exemplify the types of constraints on morphological productivity.
Considering what you have read about the application of -al and -en in this chapter, explain why the following lexemes are disallowed in English:
*detachal *developal *edital *insistal *promisal
*dryen *yellowen *slimmen *laxen *fairen
Why does velar softening not occur in Turkic and pinkish? Find more examples, where velar softening fails to obtain.
Explain why the following words are ill-formed:
*to car, *to airplane (but cf. to bicycle, to bus)
*separatable, *calculatable (but cf. debatable, inflatable)
*greenen, *yellowen (but cf. blacken, redden)
*unpessimistic, *unill (but cf. unoptimistic, unwell)
*one-carred, *black-catted (but cf. one-armed, black-haired)
Specify the inflectional forms and categories the italicized word-forms in (1) in 6.2 mark.
Below are more examples for political correctness. Specify the word-formation techniques underlying individual examples. Start with those mentioned in (2) in 6.2 above. Find more examples.
authorized transaction 'robbery' biologically challenged 'dead' categorial inaccuracy 'a lie' compensation 'salary' honorarium 'bribe' memorial park 'cemetery' orally challenged 'mute' person of size 'an obese person' sanitary engineer 'garbage man'
On what grounds can productivity and lexicalization be differentiated? Give examples.
Comment on the types of lexicalization outlined in this chapter; then explain how the following pairs of phenomena correlate?
phonological lexicalization vs. phonological blocking
morphological lexicalization vs. morphological blocking
semantic lexicalization vs. semantic blocking
In what sense do most exocentric compounds represent semantic lexicalization?
Which type of lexicalization does each word below represent?
phonological b) morphological c) semantic d) syntactic
understand catholic width wagtail commitment disbelieve rhetoric crybaby Monday intrepid
44166. STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH II: THE WORD
Derivational Affixes, p. 1
Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
Much of this is based on Hans Marchand (1969) The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word Formation, second edition. München: C. H. Beck, and on Mark AronoT
(1976) Word Formation in Generative Grammar. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.. Some of the analysis is diTerent, however.
Some aUxes, in addition to being attached to words, can also be attached to non-words (either stems which
do not occur by themselves; or stems which are allomorphs of words, but allomorphs which do not
themselves occur as words; or stems augmented by a connector i or u). These are called Class I aUxes. Other
aUxes are more limited: they can only be attached to stems which are words (free forms). These are Class II
aUxes. Since Class II aUxes are restricted to attaching to words, they are said to attach with a word
boundary (#) instead of a simple morpheme boundary (+).
The vocabulary of English, both words and aUxes, is divided into forms that have their origin in Old English
(called native) and those that came into the language later, most commonly from French (called foreign).
Affixes that form nouns
from verbs
action nouns
General comment: when an action noun is formed from a verb, most of its syntactic properties are preserved.
The subject of the verb becomes the ’s-marked “subject” of the noun, the object of the verb becomes the
“object” of the noun (“objects” of nouns are marked with the preposition of), and so on. For example:
[S Bill reorganized the oUce]
[NP Bill’s reorganization of the oUce]
very productive
Class II
drink#ing, bett#ing, jump#ing, kiss#ing, laugh#ing, print#ing, hous#ing, build#ing
derived from noun: bedd#ing, sheet#ing, carpet#ing
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
-ion/ation/ition [-ation might be +ate+ion]
productive with foreign stems
Class I
rebell+ion, commun+ion
The verb stem usually undergoes a phonological change: attract+ion, express+ion, adopt+ion, act+ion,
execut+ion
Verbs that end with -ate keep the -ate: creat+ion, nominat+ion, negat+ion, decorat+ion, moderat+ion,
educat+ion, authenticat+ion, automat+ion
verbs in -ize take -ation: organ+iz+ation, formal+iz+ation, civil+iz+ation, central+iz+ation,
neutral+iz+ation
Verbs in -ify become -ification: glor(y)+ific+ation, pur+ific+ation, beaut(y)+ific+ation, sanct+ific+ation,
cert+ific+ation, mod+ific+ation
Other examples with -ation: represent+ation, administr+ation, affirm+ation, caus+ation, accus+ation,
conserv+ation, inform+ation, damn+ation, tax+ation, deforest+ation, vari+ation,
continu+ation, flirt+ation (native stem), starv+ation (native stem)
Sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: resumpt+ion, recept+ion, destruct+ion,
prescript+ion, decis+ion, product+ion, persuas+ion, extens+ion, convent+ion, solut+ion,
resolut+ion, revolut+ion, invers+ion
Sometimes the stem is not an independent word: aggress+ion, cognit+ion, nat+ion, sanitat+ion,
illus+ion, compuct+ion, salv+ation
Examples with -ition: repet+ition, add+ition, defin+ition, compos+ition
primarily on foreign stems
Class II
agree#ment, advance#ment, abandon#ment, place#ment, state#ment, advertise#ment,
employ#ment
native roots: acknowledge#ment, amaze#ment, fulfil#ment
There also appear to be words with this suUx with stems that are not words: orna+ment, regi+ment,
environ+ment, or non-free allomorphs of words: excre+ment. But these are diTerent from the
-ment words above because the adjectival suUx -al goes on these words (ornamental, environmental)
but not on the ones above (*statemental, *employmental). So this is a Class I -ment, which is a
distinct suUx from Class II -ment. If we use the -al test, there are three verbs which take +ment
instead of #ment: govern+ment, develop+ment, judg+ment
on foreign stems with Wnal stress (except bury); not productive
Class II
arriv#al, acquitt#al, refus#al, deni#al, approv#al, betray#al, tri#al, buri#al
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
-ance/ence
on foreign stems; not productive
Class I
accept+ance, disturb+ance, resist+ance, clear+ance, assist+ance, depend+ence, differ+ence
The verb stem sometimes undergoes a phonological change: prefer+ence
Native stem: utter+ance
Can go on non-words: expon+ence, emin+ence
agent (subject) nouns
-er/-ar/-or
both native (-er) and foreign (-or, -ar)
very productive
appears to be both Class I and Class II, since there are doublets like receptor and receiver. Historically, this
is related to the fact that the aUx is both native and foreign, but the historical distinction does not necessarily
correspond to the contemporary analysis. We will assume that whenever the stem is a free form, the suUx
is Class II.
bak#er, driv#er, writ#er, hunt#er, sing#er, boil#er, wait#er, toast#er, remind#er, stick#er,
command#er, juggl#er, farm#er, act#or, conquer#or, visit#or, creat#or, li#ar, begg#ar
sometimes has other meaning: din#er, sweat#er
sometimes goes on nouns or adjectives: pott#er, New York#er, lif#er [slang term for a prisoner serving
a life sentence]; foreign#er, northern#er
sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: astronom+er, geograph+er
sometimes the stem is not an independent word: butch+er, aggress+or, incis+or. For some words that
used to belong to this type, a verb has been created by back-formation (peddl+er, burgl+ar)
if the stem is a verb in -ate, sometimes the ate drops and sometimes it stays: don+or, nominat#or
sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word, but when that happens the free allomorph may also
combine with the aUx with a diTerent meaning: recept+or—receiv#er, divis+or—divid#er
Only productive in technical jargon
Class I
inhabit+ant, defend+ant, serv+ant, inform+ant, consult+ant, pollut+ant, cool+ant
sometimes the stem undergoes a phonological change: presid+ent
sometimes the stem is not an independent word: merch+ant, ten+ant
sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: oppon+ent
if the stem is a verb in -ate, the -ate drops: particip+ant, stimul+ant, lubric+ant, irrit+ant
patient (object) nouns
-ee
productive
Class I
appoint+ee, examin+ee, licens+ee, pay+ee, train+ee
for verbs in -ate, the -ate drops: nomin+ee, evacu+ee, amput+ee
for a few cases, it is the subject of the verb: escap+ee, retir+ee
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
from adjectives
very productive
Class II
bright#ness, bitter#ness, good#ness, fair#ness, big#ness, fit#ness, righteous#ness,
careless#ness, drunken#ness, fierce#ness, kindhearted#ness, one#ness
productive on foreign stems
Class I
divers+ity, odd+ity [native stem]
the stem usually undergoes some phonological change: singular+ity, agil+ity, captiv+ity, sincer+ity,
san+ity, chast+ity, electric+ity, historic+ity, superficial+ity, technical+ity
sometimes the stem is the non-free allomorph of a word: simplic+ity
sometimes the stem is not a word: duplic+ity, felic+ity, fidel+ity, hilar+ity
very productive with -able adjectives,-able+ity becomes -ability: abil+ity, poss+ibil+ity, cap+abil+ity,
believe+abil+ity, vis+ibil+ity,
not productive with -ous adjectives, but when they do exist the -ous drops in some words but not in others:
vari+ety, simultane+ity; curi+os+ity, lumin+os+ity
sometimes the suUx is just -ty: certain+ty, safe+ty, sovereign+ty (note British special+ity and American
special+ty)
-th
native
not productive
Class I
The stem undergoes a phonological change: dep+th, wid+th
sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word or not a word at all: leng+th, bread+th
from other nouns
abstract nouns (usually from concrete nouns)
-hood
productive, almost exclusively on native stems
Class II
child#hood, neighbor#hood, baby#hood, parent#hood, brother#hood, nation#hood, state#hood,
priest#hood
sometimes the stem is an adjective: false#hood, likeli#hood
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
productive
Class II
king#dom, martyr#dom, duke#dom, whore#dom, saint#dom, sheikh#dom
sometimes the stem is an adjective: free#dom
productive
Class II
friend#ship, lord#ship, fellow#ship, dictator#ship, companion#ship, comrade#ship, kin#ship,
workman#ship, statesman#ship
sometimes the stem is an adjective: hard#ship
only on foreign stems; not productive
Class I
monarch+y
the stem almost always undergoes a phonological change: pira(t→c)+y, confedera(t→c)+y,
democra(t→c)+y, advoca(t→c)+y, presiden(t→c)+y, constituen(t→c)+y, dependen(t→c)+y,
analog+y
stem is sometimes an adjective: excellen(t→c)+y, efficien(t→c)+y, vacan(t→c)+y, lenien(t→c)+y,
bankrup(t→c)+y
sometimes goes on stems which are not words, or are non-free allomorphs of words: luna(t→c)+y,
conspira(t→c)+y; papac+y
Sometimes the suUx is -cy: captain+cy, normal+cy
Affixes that form verbs
from nouns
∅
“zero derivation” or “conversion”
the most productive way to form verbs from nouns
bridge, hammer, ship, nail, skate, spear, cement, butter,
-ize
see below, under “from adjectives”
not productive
Class I
pur+ify, speech+ify
sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: glor+ify, terr+ify, liqu+efy, beaut+ify [native root]
sometimes the stem is not a word: sanct+ify, quant+ify, cert+ify, mod+ify
44166. STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH II: THE WORD
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
not productive
Class I
hyphen+ate, assassin+ate
Sometimes the stem undergoes a phonological change: chlorin+ate
Sometimes the stem is not a word, or is a non-free allomorph of a word: dehydr+ate, pagin+ate,
orchestr+ate
Mostly, though, this is used in verbs derived from Latin (and some others); the stem without -ate is an
allomorph of the stem with -ate. It is debatable whether ate is actually a suUx in these cases. educ+ate,
nomin+ate, contamin+ate, dedic+ate, navig+ate, don+ate,
not productive
Class I
en+danger, en+list, en+slave, en+trust, en+circle, em+power
Sometimes goes on adjectives: en+large, en+rich, em+bitter, en+able
Sometimes the stem it goes on is not an independent word: em+bark, en+dorse
from adjectives
relatively productive
Class I
equal+ize, popular+ize, tranquil+ize, liberal+ize, central+ize, minatur+ize, western+ize,
national+ize, legal+ize
Also goes on nouns: organ+ize, cannibal+ize, critic+ize, burglar+ize, item+ize
Sometimes the stem undergoes a phonological change: militar(y)+ize, public+ize, romantic+ize;
harmon(y)+ize, agon(y)+ize, apolog(y)+ize, theor(y)+ize, colon(y)+ize, satir+ize
Sometimes the stem is not a word: anglic+ize, hypnot+ize
semiproductive
Class II
dark#en, hard#en, thick#en, light#en, wid#en, tough#en, moist#en, soft#en
sometimes the stem is a noun: length#en, fright#en, threat#en, strength#en
from other verbs
reversative
un-
very productive
Class II
un#lock, un#pack, un#tie, un#do, un#button, un#saddle, un#delete
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
only on foreign words; productive primarily in technical vocabulary
Class II
de#militarize, de#frost, de#compose, de#segregate
only on foreign words; not productive
Class II
dis#allow, dis#obey, dis#trust, dis#agree, dis#like, dis#believe
sometimes has reversative meaning: dis#arm, dis#honor, dis#appear, dis#connect
goes on verbs with the preWx en-: dis#en+tangle
sometimes the stem is a noun or adjective: dis#honest, dis#comfort
very productive; with few exceptions, only goes on transitive verbs
Class II
means ‘again’
re#form, re#assemble, re#educate, re#organize, re#produce, re#count, *re#go
means ‘badly’; relatively productive
Class II
mis#lead, mis#understand, mis#manage, mis#print
Affixes that form adjectives
from nouns
very productive
Class II
cloud#y, guilt#y, blood#y, thirst#y, craz#y, storm#y, milk#y, dirt#y, mess#y, risk#y,
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
relatively productive, especially with foreign stems
Class I
poison+ous, adventur+ous, danger+ous, fam+ous, treason+ous, hazard+ous, wondr+ous,
glori+ous, vari+ous.
sometimes the stem undergoes a phonological change: courage+ous, harmoni+ous
sometimes connected to stem with i or u: rebell+i+ous, tempest+u+ous, uproar+i+ous [compound
stem]
sometimes the stem is not a word: ambit+ious, superstit+ious, scrumpt+ious, simultane+ous,
curi+ous, lumin+ous
productive, especially with the meaning ‘approximately’
Class II
fool#ish, fever#ish, Dan#ish, Jew#ish, clown#ish, styl#ish, self#ish, four#ish
sometimes the stem is a verb or an adjective: tickl#ish; green#ish, dark#ish
relatively productive with foreign stems; the form is sometimes -ar when there is an [l] in the stem
Class I
architectur+al, conjectur+al, elector+al, hormon+al, procedur+al, season+al, post+al, pivot+al,
coast+al, trib+al, music+al, logic+al; pol+ar
sometimes the stem undergoes a phonological change: accident+al, environment+al; circul+ar,
triangul+ar, singul+ar, titul+ar; spectacul+ar
Sometimes the stem is not an independent word: eventu+al, feder+al, later+al, horizont+al, vertic+al,
tempor+al, matern+al; perpendicul+ar, lun+ar
Sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: crimin+al, societ+al, congression+al; popul+ar
Sometimes the stem (either a word or not) is separated from the suUx by i or u: dictator+i+al,
professor+i+al, senator+i+al, editor+i+al, president+i+al, artific+i+al, manager+i+al,
habit+u+al, sens+u+al, spirit+u+al, intellect+u+al, pictor+i+al, vis+u+al; lin+e+ar
on foreign stems, productive mostly in technical terms
Class I
Arab+ic
The stem almost always undergoes a phonological change: poet+ic, German+ic, econom(y)+ic,
histor(y)+ic, demon+ic, parasit+ic, democrat+ic, alcohol+ic, ton+ic
Sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: operat+ic, genet+ic, dramat+ic, problemat+ic
Sometimes the stem is not a word: lunat+ic, heret+ic, agnost+ic, anem+ic (anaem+ic), electr+ic
44166. STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH II: THE WORD
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
-ic-al
A combination of the two preceding suUxes
grammat+ic+al, geograph(y)+ic+al, theoret+ic+al, econom(y)+ic+al, histor(y)+ic+al, theatr+ic+al,
morpholog(y)+ic+al (and other ology words), farc+ic+al, bibl+ic+al
Where -ic and -ic-al adjectives both exist, they usually have diTerent meanings (note econom+ic vs.
econom+ic+al; histor+ic vs. histor+ic+al).
not particularly productive
Class II
king#ly, man#ly, scholar#ly, love#ly, priest#ly, friend#ly, coward#ly
sometimes goes on adjectival stem: good#ly, lone#ly, sick#ly
means “full of …”; opposite is -less
not productive
Class II
care#ful, shame#ful, wonder#ful, cheer#ful, skill#ful, success#ful, waste#ful, hope#ful, joy#ful,
help#ful, law#ful
Sometimes the stem is a verb: forget#ful, mourn#ful
from verbs
-ive/ative/itive
Relatively productive.
Class I
Usually (but not always), if a stem forms an -ive adjective it also forms an ion noun
attract+ive, express+ive, abus+ive, adopt+ive, act+ive
Sometimes the stem undergoes a phonological change: execut+ive
Verbs that end with -ate keep the -ate: creat+ive, nominat+ive, negat+ive, decorat+ive
Sometimes the suUx is -ative: represent+ative, administr+ative, affirm+ative, caus+ative,
conserv+ative, inform+ative, talk+ative [native stem]
sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: resumpt+ive, recept+ive, destruct+ive,
prescript+ive, decis+ive, product+ive, persuas+ive, extens+ive, punit+ive
sometimes the stem is not a word: agress+ive, cognit+ive, nat+ive, pass+ive, pens+ive, capt+ive,
incis+ive
examples with itive (formed from the same verbs that take ition): repet+ition, add+ition, defin+ition
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Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
-able (also spelled -ible)
very productive, produces a “passive” adjective with an ‘able’ meaning
As noted below, there are many doublets. This suggests that -able is both Class I and Class II. Often, there
is a diTerence of meaning between the adjective with +able and the adjective with #able; typically, the
adjective with #able has a more strictly ‘able’ meaning: notice the contrast between cómpar+able and
compár#able. Note also that usually the two pairs of the doublet take diTerent negative preWxes; e.g.
in+divis+ible but un#divid#able.
accept#able, agree#able, commend#able, understand#able, corrupt#ible, discern#ible
With -ate verbs, the -ate usually drops: communic+able, demostr+able, negoti+able
With some -ate verbs, both forms exist: cultiv+able (but also cultivat#able), educ+able (but also
educat#able), navig+able (but also navigat#able), toler+able (but also tolerat#able)
Sometimes the stem can be the non-free allomorph of a word, but it is also possible with the free allomorph:
divis+ible—divid#able, percept+ible—perceiv#able, defens+ible—defend#able
Sometimes the stem is not a word: conscion+able, aud+ible, cred+ible, poss+ible, prob+able,
horr+ible
In a few words, the stem is a noun: service#able, marriage#able, charit+able, objection#able
In addition to the cases mentioned above, there are sometimes two diTerent -able adjectives formed from
the same root with diTerent stress patterns: cómpar+able—compár#able,
répar+able—repáir#able, préfer+able— prefér#able.
from other adjectives
very productive
Class II
un#fair, un#ripe, un#able, un#certain, un#precedented, un#happy, un#reliable
Occasionally on nouns: un#truth, un#ease
in- (im-, il-, ir-)
productive on foreign stems
Class I
in+comprehensible, in+animate, im+possible, il+legal, ir+religious
Sometimes the stem undergoes a phonological change: in+finite
Sometimes the stem is a noun: in+fidelity
Sometimes the stem is not a word: in+ept, in+ert, in+sipid, in+vincible, in+grate
Occasionally on nouns which are derived from adjectives: in+ability, in+justice
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Derivational Affixes, p. 11
Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
Affixes that form nouns/adjectives of “belonging”
Relatively productive
Class I
Rom+an, Chomsky+an, Tibet+an
sometimes the stem undergoes a phonological change: Elizabeth+an, librari+an
sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: Afric+an, Persi+an, Americ+an
very often, the stem is connected to the suUx with i: Boston+i+an, reptil+i+an, mammal+i+an,
Christ+i+an, Canad+i+an, electric+i+an, grammar+i+an, magic+i+an, phonetic+i+an
sometimes the stem is not a word: urb+an, barbar+ian
Sometimes -arian: disciplin+arian, veget+arian, fruit+arian, Parliament+arian, authorit+arian,
totalit+arian
not productive
Class I
legal+ese
Usually the stem undergoes a phonological change: Japan+ese, Vietnam+ese, Chin(a)+ese,
Vienn(a)+ese
Sometimes the stem is a non-free allomorph of a word: Portugu+ese
44166. STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH II: THE WORD
Derivational Affixes, p. 12
Prof. Yehuda N. Falk
Latin preWx + stem forms
These words are all made up of two morphemes, a preWx and a stem. E.g. pre+cede
Class-
Class-maintaining der.affixes
Class-maintaining derivational affixes do not change the word class
of the word to which they are added. They are mainly prefixes:
anti+malaria → anti-malaria
dis+agree → disagree
scholar + ship → scholarship
un + tie → untie
ex + wife → ex-wife
green + ish → greenish
re + open → reopen
Mis-, be-, ex-, mal-, re-, un-, dis-, in-,
INTRODUCTION
To classify words, grammarians use two large categories called form and function. Function is how the word or the phrase is used within the sentence or clause, while form classifies the word or phrase by a simple definition along with some general rules. For example, a noun is classified in form as a word that can made be plural or possessive. The following sentence gives an example of the difference between the two categories:
We admired the stone wall. In this sentence "stone" in function is an adjectival that modifies "wall." In form "stone" is a noun because it can be made plural or possessive: "stones" and "stone's."
This can be better understood in a Web site titled "Adverbials." We can change the class of a word by adding prefixes or suffixes. Example: The word "play" is a verb, but it can be changed to an adjective by adding -ful to make it "playful." The girls play. The girls are playful. Therefore, the class of the word has changed from a verb to an adjective.
Form
There are four form classes:
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Here are some characteristics of the different form classes that will help you distinguish between them:
Nouns
Characteristics of nouns:
depicts a person, place, or thing
determiners and articles (my, the, a)
some derivational affixes: -ion, -ness, -ment, and -er
some inflectional suffixes: -s, -'s, -s'
can be made plural or possessive
Verbs
Characteristics of verbs:
depicts an action
always obeys the verb expansion rule: tense + (modal) + ("have" + "-en") + ("be" + "ing") + main verb
some derivational affixes: -ify, -ate, -ize, en-, de-
inflectional suffixes: -s, -ing, -ed, -en
Adjectives
Characteristics of adjectives:
describes a noun
some derivational affixes: -y, -ous, -ful, -ish
inflectional suffixes: -er, -est
Adverbs
Characteristics of adverbs:
describes a verb
derivational affix: -ly
inflectional suffixes: -er, -est
All of these form classes have derivational and inflectional affixes. These affixes are prefixes or suffixes that change the meaning or the class of a word. Example: Adding in- or un- to a word can make the word negative. She is happy. She is unhappy. The first sentence means that she is happy, and the second one means that she is not happy. An affix may not work for every word in a class, however. Example: Adding -ful to a verb can make it an adjective, but this is not true for all verbs. You could make "thank" into "thankful," but you could not use this suffix in the verb "talk" to make it "talkful." You would add a different suffix: "talkative." The only explanation that can be given for these inconsistencies is that these are rules in the English language that deal with the morphology of word and how they are used. It is something that can be chased back for centuries. This is why it is always useful to have a dictionary if you ever have any questions about a word and its different classes.
Form Class
Derivational Affixes
Inflectional
Suffixes
Noun
-ion*, -ment, -ance
-s*, -'s*,-s'*,
-es*
Verb
en-, be-, de-, -ify, -en, -ate, -ize
-s*, -ing*, -ed*,-en*
Adjective
-ous*, -y, -ful, -fic, -ic, -ate, -ish, -ary, -ive, -able
-er*, -est*
Adverb
-ly*,-wise, -ward
-er*, -est*
*These affixes very often can help you determine the class of the word. For example, most words that end in "-ly" are adverbs.
These are only a few examples of affixes that can be used to change words to other classes. To learn more about some affixes and their meanings, go to a site titled Morphemes.
DEFINITIONS
adjective: member of the form classes; modifies a noun; most adjectives can be inflected to be made comparative or superlative (small, smaller, smallest) and can be qualified or intensified (rather small, very small); some derivational endings (-ous, -ish, -ful, and -ary).
adverb: member of the form classes; modifies a verb--names time, place, reason, manner, and the like; some can be qualified (very slowly, rather slowly); can be made comparative or superlative (more slowly, fastest); some derivational endings (-ly, -wise, -ward).
derivational affixes: a prefix or suffix that is added to a word in a form class to change its meaning or class.
form classes: categories of words that have derivational and inflectional morphemes. Most English words belong to one of the four form classes.
functional shift: a shift in which a word changes classes without the addition of affixes (They call him everyday. -- verb. The call came in after lunch. -- noun).
inflectional suffix: a suffix that changes the grammatical role of a word in a sentence. Example: the suffix -s forms the third-person singular form of most verbs (He talks to his boss every morning.)
noun: a member of the form classes; fills headword slot in a noun phrase; can be plural and possessive (dogs, dog's); derivational endings (-ion, -tion, -ment, -ness); can sometimes function as adjectivals and adverbials (They formed a baseball team.)
verb: a member of the form classes; depicts the action in the sentence; can always be marked with auxiliaries; inflectional endings (-s, -ing, -ed, -en); derivational endings (-ify, -ize, -ate).
TIPS
The Form Classes classify most of the words in the English Language.
All of the classes have derivational affixes, which can change the class of one word to another class.
Remember, if you ever wonder in what situation a word should be used or what the correct affix for a word is, you can refer to a dictionary.
Knowing the affixes of the classes can help you improve your lexicon (vocabulary) to make it more varied. Your writing can also improve because it will help you flow from one class to another easily.
Example: If you know that you can make a noun from a verb by adding -ion( act--action), then that is another way to use that word and you have another word in your "mental dictionary."
EXERCISES
I. Change the form of these words by adding the correct derivational affixes.
Noun Verb Adjective Adverb
1. act
2. form
3. teach
4. partial
5. beautifully
II. Use Inflectional suffixes to make the sentences grammatically correct.
1. The school was work hard for donations.
2. The boy paper was written on the computer.
3. That ladder is the high among the three.
4. This picture is the pretty of the two.
5. All of the dog bones were put in their bowls for their dinner.
Click here for answers to these exercises.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kolln, Martha and Robert Funk. Understanding English Grammar. 5th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1998.
This grammar textbook gives some very useful information on many topics of English.
Fromkin, Victoria, and Robert Rodman. An Introduction to Language. Fifth Edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers. 1993.
This book gives a good understanding of the background on some interesting aspects of the English language like morphology, grammar, and phonology.
Definition
Derivational affixation is the process of adding affixes to roots or bases in order to vary function or modify meaning. Affixation transforms a stem or word from one part of speech to another (from one word class to another).
Examples
Here are some examples of derivational affixation:
hit (verb) to strike something + -er equals hitter (noun); a person who strikes something
bright (adjective) the quality of emitting a lot of light + -ly equals brightly (adverb); manifesting the characteristic of being bright
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes. Affixation is, thus, the linguistic process speakers use to form different words by adding morphemes (affixes) at the beginning (prefixation), the middle (infixation) or the end (suffixation) of words.
Contents
[hide]
1 Positional categories of affixes
2 Lexical affixes
3 Orthographic affixes
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
[edit] Positional categories of affixes
Affixes are divided into plenty of cateagories, depending on their position with reference to the stem. Prefix and suffix are extremely common terms. Infix and circumfix are less so, as they are not important in European languages. The other terms are uncommon.
Categories of affixes
Affix
Example
Schema
Description
Prefix
un-do
prefix-stem
Appears at the front of a stem
Suffix/Postfix
look-ing
stem-suffix
Appears at the back of a stem
Suffixoid[1]/Semi-suffix[2]
cat-like
stem-suffixoid
Appears at the back of a stem but is somewhere between a free and bound morpheme
Infix
Minne⟨flippin'⟩sota
st⟨infix⟩em
Appears within a stem — common in Borneo-Philippines languages
Circumfix
a⟩scatter⟨ed
circumfix⟩stem⟨circumfix
One portion appears at the front of a stem, and the other at the rear
Interfix
speed-o-meter
stema-interfix-stemb
Links two stems together in a compound
Duplifix
teeny~weeny
stem~duplifix
Incorporates a reduplicated portion of a stem
(may occur in front, at the rear, or within the stem)
Transfix
Maltese: k⟨i⟩t⟨e⟩b "he wrote"
(compare root ktb "write")
s⟨transfix⟩te⟨transfix⟩m
A discontinuous affix that interleaves within a discontinuous stem
Simulfix
mouse → mice
stem\simulfix
Changes a segment of a stem
Suprafix
produce (noun)
produce (verb)
stem\suprafix
Changes a suprasegmental phoneme of a stem
Disfix
Alabama: tipli "break up"
(compare root tipasli "break")
st⟩disfix⟨m
The elision of a portion of a stem
Prefix and suffix may be subsumed under the term adfix in contrast to infix.
When marking text for interlinear glossing, as in the third column in the chart above, simple affixes such as prefixes and suffixes are separated from the stem with hyphens. Affixes which disrupt the stem, or which themselves are discontinuous, are often marked off with angle brackets. Reduplication is often shown with a tilde. Affixes which cannot be segmented are marked with a back slash.
[edit] Lexical affixes
Lexical affixes (or semantic affixes) are bound elements that appear as affixes, but function as incorporated nouns within verbs and as elements of compound nouns. In other words, they are similar to word roots/stems in function but similar to affixes in form. Although similar to incorporated nouns, lexical affixes differ in that they never occur as freestanding nouns, i.e. they always appear as affixes.
Lexical affixes are relatively rare. The Wakashan, Salishan, and Chimakuan languages all have lexical suffixes — the presence of these is an areal feature of the Pacific Northwest of the North America.
The lexical suffixes of these languages often show little to no resemblance to free nouns with similar meanings. Compare the lexical suffixes and free nouns of Northern Straits Saanich written in the Saanich orthography and in Americanist notation:
Lexical Suffix
Noun
-o,
-aʔ
"person"
, ełtálṉew̱
ʔəɬtelŋəxʷ
"person"
-nát
-net
"day"
sȼićel
skʷičəl
"day"
-sen
-sən
"foot, lower leg"
sxene,
sx̣ənəʔ
"foot, lower leg"
-áwtw̱
-ew̕txʷ
"building, house, campsite"
, á,leṉ
ʔeʔləŋ
"house"
Lexical suffixes when compared with free nouns often have a more generic or general meaning. For instance, one of these languages may have a lexical suffix that means water in a general sense, but it may not have any noun equivalent referring to water in general and instead have several nouns with a more specific meaning (such "saltwater", "whitewater", etc.). In other cases, the lexical suffixes have become grammaticalized to various degrees.
Some linguists have claimed that these lexical suffixes provide only adverbial or adjectival notions to verbs. Other linguists disagree arguing that they may additionally be syntactic arguments just as free nouns are and thus equating lexical suffixes with incorporated nouns. Gerdts (2003) gives examples of lexical suffixes in the Halkomelem language (the word order here is verb–subject–object):
VERB
SUBJ
OBJ
(1)
niʔ
šak’ʷ-ət-əs
łə słeniʔ
łə qeq
"the woman washed the baby"
VERB+LEX.SUFF
SUBJ
(2)
niʔ
šk’ʷ-əyəł
łə słeniʔ
"the woman baby-washed"
In sentence (1), the verb "wash" is šak’ʷətəs where šak’ʷ- is the root and -ət and -əs are inflectional suffixes. The subject "the woman" is łə słeniʔ and the object "the baby" is łə qeq. In this sentence, "the baby" is a free noun. (The niʔ here is an auxiliary, which can be ignored for explanatory purposes.)
In sentence (2), "baby" does not appear as a free noun. Instead it appears as the lexical suffix -əyəł which is affixed to the verb root šk’ʷ- (which has changed slightly in pronunciation, but this can also be ignored here). Note how the lexical suffix is neither "the baby" (definite) nor "a baby" (indefinite); such referential changes are routine with incorporated nouns.
[edit] Orthographic affixes
In orthography, the terms for affixes may be used for the smaller elements of conjunct characters. For example, Maya glyphs are generally compounds of a main sign and smaller affixes joined at its margins. These are called prefixes, superfixes, postfixes, and subfixes according to their position to the left, on top, to the right, or at the bottom of the main glyph. A small glyph placed inside another is called an infix.[3] Similar terminology is found with the conjunct consonants of the Indic alphabets. For example, the Tibetan alphabet utilizes prefix, suffix, superfix, and subfix consonant letters.[4]
[edit] See also
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