Scribd
Upload
815 views

The Hierarchical Structure of Words

The document discusses the hierarchical structure of words. Words have a layered structure, with morphemes organized in a systematic linear order but also forming nested constituents. To fully represent a word's structure, we must indicate the root, derivational affix meanings, and part of speech. This additional information shows words have a two-dimensional hierarchical structure rather than just a linear string of morphemes. A labeled branching tree is the best representation to show the nested relationships within a word's morphology.

Uploaded by

Vy Phương
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
815 views

The Hierarchical Structure of Words

The document discusses the hierarchical structure of words. Words have a layered structure, with morphemes organized in a systematic linear order but also forming nested constituents. To fully represent a word's structure, we must indicate the root, derivational affix meanings, and part of speech. This additional information shows words have a two-dimensional hierarchical structure rather than just a linear string of morphemes. A labeled branching tree is the best representation to show the nested relationships within a word's morphology.

Uploaded by

Vy Phương
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

The Hierarchical Structure of Words

1. Morphemes within words

 morphemes in words have a strict and systematic linear order


consider the morphological structure of fiendishness under this definition:

fiend + -ish + -ness

 within words, morphemes are also organized in highly patterned ways


words have an obvious linear order, but they also have a layered structure

fiend + -ish  fiendish + -ness  fiendishness

( ( (fiend) + -ish) + -ness)

2. Representing the hierarchical structure of words

 in order to provide a more complete representation of the structure of a word,


we need to take into account the following:

 the fact that every simple word contains one root


 the meanings of the derivational affixes in the word
 the fact that each lexical item represents a particular part of speech

 we can convey this additional, necessary information by labeling the


parentheses around each and every constituent

(( (( fiend)Root + ( -ish )DA)Adjective + ( -ness )DA) Noun

 this additional structure is a consequence, as we saw above, of the recursive


application of derivational rules with the result that lexical items may be
embedded in other lexical items.

 the internal structure of words is not a one-dimensional string of morphemes but


a two dimensional hierarchy of related constituents

 nested parentheses are one way of representing hierarchical structures of this


sort, but they have the disadvantage of looking linear
 an alternative representation which makes the hierarchy more apparent is a
branching tree

fiendishness

fiendish -ness

fiend -ish

 the appropriate representation for the morphological structure of words is


a labeled branching tree

fiendishnessnoun

fiendishadjective -ness DA

fiendroot -ish DA

You might also like