PREGUNTAS TIPO TEST.

SEGUNDO PARCIAL DE GRAMÁTICA

1. What is the name given to a general psycholinguistic mechanism that prevents complex forms from
being formed if a synonymous word is already present in the speaker’s lexicon?

A. Haplology
B. Blockage
C. Pre-emption

Respuesta correcta: C

2. What do the following words illustrate?: industrialization, solidification, concentration.

A. None of the previous options

B. Morphologically-conditioned affix allomorphy
C. Phonologically-conditioned affix allomorphy

Respuesta correcta: B

3. Which of the following terms is NOT equivalent to productivity?

A. Creativity
B. Profitability
C. Availability

Respuesta correcta: A

4. What process have the following derived words suffered?: persuasion, confusion, transfation

A. Velar softening
B. Stress shift
C. Palatalization

Respuesta correcta: C

5. How do we call rule-governed innovation?

A. Analogy
B. Productivity
C. Creativity

Respuesta correcta: B

6. What phenomenon does the pair infect-infection, possess-possession illustrate?

A. Affix allomorphy
B. Velar softening
C. Base allomorphy

Respuesta correcta: C

7. What kind of restriction accounts for the non-possible word *dieable?

A. Syntactic
B. Phonological
C. Morphological

Respuesta correcta: B

1
8. Adjectival bases ending in -ly cannot take on the adverb-forming suffix -ly. What type of restriction is
this?

A. Morphological and phonological

B. Phonological
C. Morphological

Respuesta correcta: B

9. What does the following word illustrate?: cellular

A. Both
B. Affix allomorphy
C. Haplology

Respuesta correcta: A

10. What property of the distinction between inflection and derivation does the emergence of new affixes
illustrate?

A. That inflectional affixes belong to an open system.

B. That derivational affixes belong to a closed system
C. That derivational affixes belong to an open system

Respuesta correcta: C

11. Which word of the following list is the odd one out?: painful, helpful, dreadful, beautiful, cupful,
lawful, powerful, colorful, shameful, doubtful, graceful, thoughtful

A. beautiful
B. thoughtful
C. cupful

Respuesta correcta: C

12. What’s the best way of measuring the productivity of an affix?

A. To count its type frequency

B. To count the number of hapax legomena in a corpus
C. To count the number of neologisms in a dictionary

Respuesta correcta: C

13. The word forgivingness fails to illustrate (i.e. it is a counterexample) one of the criteria proposed for
the distinction between inflection and derivation. Which one?

A. Productivity
B. Semantic predictability
C. Distance from the root

Respuesta correcta: C

14. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Class 1 affixes appear nearer the root

B. Class 1 affixes trigger and undergo phonological processes
C. Class 1 affixes are phonologically inert

Respuesta correcta: C

2
15. What is the extent of use of an affix?

A. The number of hapaxes

B. The number of types
C. The number of neologisms

Respuesta correcta: B

16. What is the word Covid-19 an example of?

A. Compound
B. Clipping
C. Acronym

Respuesta correcta: C

17. The words “nuclear” and “phenomenal” have been formed on “nucleus” and “phenomenon”. What
type of adjustment have they suffered?

A. Truncation
B. Stress shift
C. Base allomorphy

Respuesta correcta: A

18. A word that can be created by a productive word formation process but is not attested is

A. A possible word
B. a creative word
C. A non-existing word

Respuesta correcta: A

19. What are the following words examples of?: flip-flop, sing-song, chit-chat, wishy-washy, tick-tock,
ping-pong

A. rhyme compounds
B. onomatopoeia
C. ablaut compounds

Respuesta correcta: C

20. Applying the criteria proposed for the distinction between inflection and derivation, how would you
regard the suffix -ly?

A. As equally inflectional and derivational

B. As an inflectional-like affix
C. As a derivational-like affix

Respuesta correcta: B

21. Which of the following properties does NOT characterize a prototypical derivational affix?

A. It comes further from the root

B. It is a member of a large open set of affixes
C. It does not play a role in the syntax of the sentence

Respuesta correcta: A

3
22. What do the following derived words illustrate?: illegal, irresponsible, immature

A. Affix competition
B. Morphologically-conditioned allomorphs
C. Phonologically-conditioned affix allomorphy

Respuesta correcta: C

23. Which of the following words is not an example of semantic lexicalization?

A. yellow fever
B. working woman
C. blackmail

Respuesta correcta: B

24. What does the following examples illustrate? Mary dances *beautiful (incorrect) vs Mary dances
beautifully (correct)

A. That the suffix -ly is syntactically relevant

B. That the process forming adverbs in -ly is semi-productive
C. That the suffix -ly is derivational-like

Respuesta correcta: A

25. What name is given to items with the lowest possible frequency (i.e. occurring only once) in a corpus?

A. Hapax legomena
B. Neologisms
C. Nonce formations

Respuesta correcta: A

26. What does the following word illustrate?: pub

A. Procope
B. Apocope
C. Truncation

Respuesta correcta: B

27. What word formation process was a work in the creation of the word hamburger?

A. Commonization
B. Blending
C. Compounding

Respuesta correcta: A

28. What does the “domain” of a word formation process refer to?

A. The number of bases that meet the conditions for the process.
B. The number of words created by means of the process.
C. The number of restrictions the process is subjected to.

Respuesta correcta: A

4
29. What process is the word “teen” an example of?

A. fore clipping
B. back clipping
C. It’s a simple word

Respuesta correcta: B

30. Which of the following properties is NOT a characteristic of the prototypical inflectional affix?

A. It will change the major grammatical category.

B. It will be added to every base in the appropriate part of speech (i.e. will be very productive).
C. It will be relevant for the syntax.

Respuesta correcta: A

31. How many different inflectional affixes are there in English?

A. eight
B. Five
C. Ten

Respuesta correcta: A

32. How do we call words that are analyzable but semantically unpredictable?

A. Bound roots
B. Transparent words
C. Opaque words

Respuesta correcta: C

33. What does the word “unsay” in the sentence “Once you say something you cannot unsay it” illustrate?

A. A wrong word.
B. The result of a productive word formation process.
C. The creative use of a productive word formation process.

Respuesta correcta: C

34. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Derivational affixes are syntactically relevant.

B. In a specialized syntactic construction, inflected words cannot be replaced by simple words.
C. Inflectional affixes are obligatory to the sentence.

Respuesta correcta: A

35. What morpho-phonological adjustment do the following derived words undergo? Symbolic, Chinese,
picturesque

A. Affixation
B. Stress shift
C. Truncation

Respuesta correcta: B

5
36. What do the following derived words illustrate?: unimportant, indecent, non-smoking

A. Morphologically conditioned affix allomorphy

B. Affix competition
C. Phonologically conditioned affix allomorphy

Respuesta correcta: B

37. What name is given to the stage in the history of a lexeme when it becomes to be accepted by other
speakers as a known lexical item, i.e. it becomes part of the usage of a community?

A. Nonce formation
B. Institutionalization
C. Lexicalization

Respuesta correcta: B

38. If an affix has a high number of clearly productive competitors, how will this affect its productivity?

A. negatively (i.e. the affix will be less productive)

B. positively (i.e. the affix will be more productive)
C. it will not affect the productivity of the affix

Respuesta correcta: A

39. What property do the following words suffixed in -ize illustrate? hospitalize “put into hospital”,
carbonize “turn into carbon”, functionalize “make (more) functional”

A. Semantic unpredictability
B. Semi-productivity
C. Affix competition

Respuesta correcta: A

40. Which of the following statements IS true?

A. In English, both inflectional and derivational morphemes can occur at either end of the base words
B. Where both derivational and inflectional elements are found together, the derivational element is more
intimately connected with the root
C. Where both derivational and inflectional elements are found together, the inflectional element is more
intimately connected with the root

Respuesta correcta: B

41. What word-formation process is the word “hashtag” an example of?

A. Blending
B. Prefixation
C. Compounding

Respuesta correcta: C

42. Which of the following is a positive factor for the productivity of an affix?

A. The existence of a high number of words with this suffix (type frequency)
B. The existence of clearly productive competitors
C. The existence of restrictions on the base

Respuesta correcta: A

6
43. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Productivity is a gradable notion

B. Productivity is only concerned with actual words of the language
C. Productivity is related to the cognitive ease with which speakers can process and produce new words
with a suffix

Respuesta correcta: B

44. How do we call the number of different attested words with an affix at a given point in time?

A. Token frequency
B. Affix frequency
C. Type frequency

Respuesta correcta: C

45. How would you analyse the words in the following set?: strengthen, wooden, heighten, widen, woolen,
silken, golden, lengthen, oxen, deafen, widen, maiden, weaken

A. As the result of the same word formation process

B. As the result of inflectional and derivational processes
C. As the result of two different word formation processes

Respuesta correcta: B

46. What derivational process has been used in the formation of the word income (“a guaranteed
minimum income for all citizens”)?

A. Blending
B. Clipping
C. Compounding

Respuesta correcta: C

47. Which of the following affixes is more productive?

A. One that is used in the formation of new words

B. One with a wide extent of use
C. One that is found in a large number of words

Respuesta correcta: A

48. What kind of restriction accounts for the non-possible word “healthity”?

A. Phonological
B. Semantic
C. Morphological

Respuesta correcta: C

49. How do we refer to the formation of a new lexeme on the basis of a previous one?

A. Analogy
B. Creativity
C. Productivity

Respuesta correcta: A

7
50. What type of restriction is there for the formation of adjectives in -ed like blue-eyed, red-haired,
big-boned, etc?

A. Morphological
B. Semantic
C. Syntactic

Respuesta correcta: B

51. Which of the following cases does not follow the “blending rule”?

A. findom (finantial+domination)
B. complisult (compliment+insult)
C. sharent

Respuesta correcta: A

52. Which process is at work in the word “scuba”?

A. Initialism
B. Acronymy
C. Clipping

Respuesta correcta: B

53. What process is shown in the word flu (influential)?

A. Apocope
B. Procope
C. Both

Respuesta correcta: C

54. What is ware in the following words: crimeware, eduware, malware, netware...?

A. Suffix
B. Combining form
C. Splinter

Respuesta correcta: B

55. What morphological type does the word “granny nanny” illustrate?

A. Onomatopoeia
B. Rhyming compound
C. Ablaut compound

Respuesta correcta: B

56. Which of the following compounds are usually written with a hyphen?

A. Noun compounds
B. Attributive adjective compounds
C. Predicative adjective compounds

Respuesta correcta: B

8
57. What phonological criterion is traditionally used to define compounds?

A. Compounds are stressed on the left constituent

B. Compounds are stressed on the right constituent
C. None

Respuesta correcta: A

58. How can the following compounds be analysed semantically: hand-made, grass-green, dog- attack

A. Endocentric
B. Coordinative
C. Bahuvrihi

Respuesta correcta: A

59. Define endocentric compounds

A. The head is a hyponym of C

B. C is a hyponym of the head
C. There is no head

Respuesta correcta: B

60. Which of the following compounds is not bahuvrihi?

A. cutthroat
B. paleface
C. redskin

Respuesta correcta: A

61. Compounds are referentially opaque. What does this mean?

A. Cs have no reference
B. Their component cannot be referred back individually
C. Cs are not transparent

Respuesta correcta: B

62. What does the following word show: passers-by

A. a morphological restriction of compounds

B. a left-headed compound
C. a syntactic restriction of Cs

Respuesta correcta: B

63. Which of the following statement is true?

A. Most English compounds are right-headed

B. Most English compounds are left-headed
C. There are no left-headed compounds in English

Respuesta correcta: A

9
64. Why are words like “musicology” better analysed as a type of compound?

A. Because -ology is recurrent

B. -ology is bound
C. -ology is a highly lexical

Respuesta correcta: B

65. What’s the best analysis for “error-free”?

A. compound
B. derived word
C. phrase

Respuesta correcta: B

66. Which of the following operations is not possible with lexicalized compounds?

A. expansion
B. interruptibility
C. both

Respuesta correcta: A

67. Which of the following statements is true?

A. compounds stress is always placed on the right-hand component

B. compounds stress is always placed on the left-hand component
C. stress position in compounds depends on different factors

Respuesta correcta: C

68. What specific type of exocentricity does “roll neck” show?

A. possessive compound
B. ellipsis
C. romance type

Respuesta correcta: B

69. Identify the semantic type of the following compound: poet-singer

A. endocentric
B. coordinative
C. exocentric

Respuesta correcta: B

70. Exocentricity is not a homogeneous phenomenon. Which type do the following ones illustrate?: paper,
whiparse

A. bahuvrihis
B. romance type
C. ellipsis

Respuesta correcta: B

10
71. What’s the common property of the following compounds?: poorhouse, pickpockets, widespread

A. they are all endocentric

B. all nouns
C. all different

Respuesta correcta: C

72. What syntactic pattern of compounds is the result of stress-shift in a phrase?

A. N-N compounds
B. V-A compounds
C. A-N compounds

Respuesta correcta: C

73. What is a root compound?

A. A compound whose head is morphologically complex and whose non-head constituent is interpreted
as... of the head
B. a compound whose components are both roots
C. those in which the non-heads add a locative, manner, or temporal specification to the head

Respuesta correcta: C

74. Which of the following compounds is verbless?

A. homework
B. swimming-pool
C. girlfriend

Respuesta correcta: C

75. Which of the following statements about the identification of compounds is true?

A. the crucial distinguishing criterion is stress

B. semantic and syntactic criteria are reliable
C. most of the diagnostic criteria only work with highly lexicalized compounds

Respuesta correcta: C

76. What is the segment -derm in the word dermatitis?

A. prefix
B. splinter
C. combining form

Respuesta correcta: C

77. What is a synthetic compound?

A. a compound with a verb among its components

B. a compound whose head is morphologically complex and whose non-head constituent is interpreted as
an argument of the head
C. a compound whose non-head adds a locative, manner, or temporal specification to the head

Respuesta correcta: B

11
78. Which of the following definitions accounts for the process of conversion more accurately?

C. Conversion is a derivational process by which an item is adapted to a new word class without the
additional affix.

79. What semantic type do the following examples of conversion illustrate? oil, carpet, fence

A. locative
B. locatum
C. instrument

Respuesta correcta: B

80. What criterion can be used to analyze the following words as cases of conversion?: to audition, to
compliment.

A. pragmatic dependence
B. phonetic shape
C. stylistic colouring

Respuesta correcta: A

81. Which of the following statement IS true in conversion?

C. If one member of a pair is semantically dependent on the other member or semantically more
dependent member is derived from the other.

Respuesta correcta:

82. What kind of conversion is shown in the following example? We don’t need another Einstein

A. there is no conversion
B. a minor type
C. a change of secondary word-class

Respuesta correcta: C

83. Which of the following cases does not include an example of conversion?

A. he waltzed her into the room

B. the book sells well
C. the window was broken

Respuesta correcta: C

84. What type of conversion do the following examples show?: A woman with a surprised look on
her face, the cheese isn’t even melted

A. verb to adj
B. adj to verb
C. none

Respuesta correcta: A

12
85. What semantic type do all the following examples illustrate?: powder, cash, cripple

A. instrument
B. agentive
C. resultative

Respuesta correcta: C

86. In which way is frequency of occurrence relevant to determine the direction of derivation in
conversion?

A. derived words are usually less frequent than their bases

B. derived words are usually more frequent than their bases
C. frequency is not a relevant criterion

Respuesta correcta: A

87. What alternative name is given to synthetic compounds?

A. argumental
B. non argumental
C. non verbal

Respuesta correcta: A

88. Spot the odd one out in the following list of compounds

A. birth-control
B. waiting-room
C. letter-writing

Respuesta correcta: C

89. What is the name given to the plural formation in the italicized noun “two hundred inhabitants”?

A. quantitative plural
B. partitive
C. zero plural

Respuesta correcta: A

90. Which of the following nouns is inherently plural?

A. news
B. sheep
C. people

Respuesta correcta: A

91. Which of the following plural nouns is there a mismatch between morphology and syntax?

A. the poor
B. spirits
C. oxen

Respuesta correcta: A

13
92. Which of the following nouns is dual?

A. bridegroom
B. firefighter
C. crew

Respuesta correcta: B

93. Which of the words is a non-personal female noun?

A. goose
B. spinster
C. stallion

Respuesta correcta: A

94. What are common gender nouns?

A. nouns that can refer to female and male entities

B. nouns that are not proper names
C. nouns that can be treated as having personal or non-personal reference

Respuesta correcta: C

95. What is the meaning of the genitive in the phrase “queen’s English”?

A. origin
B. agentive
C. idiomatic

Respuesta correcta: A

96. Which of the following semantic functions is more likely to be expressed in the genitive?

A. agentive
B. partitive
C. objective

Respuesta correcta: A

97. How many different morphological forms are there for English verbs?

A. three
B. five
C. more than five

Respuesta correcta: B

98. Which property do the principal parts of the following irregular verbs share?: meet, lead, light

A. suffix
B. ed1-ed2 identity
C. vowel identity

Respuesta correcta: C

14
99. Which type of comparative construction is preferred by complex adjectives in al, -an, -ant, -ate,
-esque, -ful, -ive, -some?

A. periphrastic
B. inflectional
C. both

Respuesta correcta: A

100. What is the preferred comparative structure for adverbs in -ly?

A. inflectional
B. periphrastic
C. both

Respuesta correcta: B

15
 UNIT 3: INFLECTIONAL VERSUS DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY

1. Result of the process: word form versus lexeme

The primary distinction between inflection and derivation can be described in terms of the outcome of each of
these processes. While inflection produces word forms of a single lexeme (allolexes), derivation produces new
lexemes. Therefore, the main distinction between inflection and derivation is a functional one. Some definitions
of inflection could be:

Inflection produces from the stem (or stems) of a given lexeme all the word
Lyons
forms of that lexeme which occur in syntactically determined environments.

Inflection is the morphological marking of properties on a lexeme resulting

Booij
in a number of forms for that lexeme, a set of grammatical words.

In the case of inflection, the lexeme is inflected for different grammatical subcategories, so that new allolexes
are created, that is, new members of the same paradigm. This means that inflectional morphemes encode
grammatical categories, such as:

Plural Person Tense Case

worker-s work-s work-ed John’s

On the other hand, derivational morphemes encode lexical meaning. That means derivation produces new
lexemes, that is, new paradigms, by:

- Changing the meaning. For example, “kind-unkind” or “able-unable”.

- Changing the grammatical class (possibly also the meaning). For example, “friend-friendly”,
“speak-speaker” or “large-enlarge”.

1.1. Are inflection and derivation class-changing or class-maintaining processes?

There are two approaches:

- Inflection. It is always class-maintaining. For instance, “eat”, “eats” and “eating” are all verbs.
- Derivation. It is always class-changing. For instance, “friend-friendship” (both are bonus but a
different subcategory) or “beauty-beautiful”. However, it can also be class-maintaining, such as
“kind-unkind”.

2. Productivity

Inflection is more productive. Inflectional categories can be attached regularly to any word of the appropriate
grammatical class, such as the third-person singular and past tense on all regular main verbs or the plural on all
countable nouns:

walk-s read-s surprise-s exhaust-s operate-s assault-s

According to Allerton, inflection is of general applicability. Typically, inflectional morphology displays

lexemic (or inflectional) paradigms. Moreover, inflection normally does not show gaps in paradigms:

walk walks walked walking

love loves loved loving

1
Derivation is semi-productive. Derivational affixes cannot be attached regularly to any word of the
appropriate grammatical class. They require further specification of the type of base to which they can be
attached (restrictions).

exhaust-ive operat-ive assault-ive

walk-ive read-ive surprise-ive

Different syntactic classes of verbs have the same inflectional properties. In English, for instance, both
transitive (explain) and intransitive verbs (sneeze) take -s in the third person singular. The inflectional process,
thus, is not sensitive to the subcategorization of the base. However, this lexical information is crucial for
derivational rules. For instance, an English adjective in -able is normally constructed only from transitive
verbs, such as “explainable”.

Therefore, derivation is particularistic. According to Allerton, the lexical distribution of derivational affixes is
defective as derivation typically shows gaps in paradigms (if any can be established). It means that paradigms
cannot be set up for derivational morphology. If we try to produce a paradigm with the derivational suffixes
“-ate”, “-ant”, and “-ation”, we soon get frustrated:

Verb (X-ate) Noun-ant (one who Xs) Noun-ion (act of X)

communicate communicant communication

donate donation

navigate navigation

rotate rotation

militate militant

applicate applicant application

accountant

natation

The following examples illustrate that phonological or semantic similarity of the bases is not a sufficient
condition to take a given suffix:

Phonologically similar bases Semantically similar bases

regress / regress-ion mountain-eer / *hill-eer

confess / confess-ion engin-eer / *motor-eer
caress / *caress-ion profit-eer / *advantag-eer
*sess / sess-ion dis-bellief / *dis-accept

A semi-productive suffix is not used regularly with all bases of the appropriate class or subclass (similar
phonological pattern, similar meaning). The limitations on the productivity of derivational affixes are
responsible for the fact that they enter into competition with each other:

Abstract nouns Agentive nouns

glad-ness petition-er
complex-ity grammar-ian
efficien-cy conservation-ist

2
Also, there is a competition for derivational affixes. Regarding unpredictability, we cannot always predict
which affix can be attached to a specific base.

2.1. What might determine the choice of a particular affix (instead of another semantically
similar affix)?

- Phonological restrictions. Verbal bases selecting “-ee” to form nouns denoting “one who is X” are
characterised by a particular stress pattern (stress on the second syllable) For example, detain-ee,
employ-ee, address-ee, refer-ee, apoint-ee.
- Morphological restrictions. Morphological restrictions determine which suffixes can be used based on
a word’s origin, and how suffixes combine with words based on their structure:
○ Etymology. Latinate bases take “-ity” (sanity, but not healthity) and “-ant” (assistant, but not
writeant); non-Latinate bases prefer “-hood” (childhood, but not directorhood); adjective +
noun compounds follow specific patterns, allowing words like highroad, blackboard, and
busybody.
○ Structure of complex base. Adjectives ending in “-less” or “-ful” take “-ness” to form
abstract nouns (carelessness, not carelessity); words taking “-ity” usually follow specific
structures like “-ic, -al, -able, -id” (specificity, globality, readability, lucidity); verbs ending in
“-ize” form abstract nouns with “-ation” (dramatization, legalization).
- Syntactic restrictions. Transitive verbs take “-able” to form adjectives. For instance, acceptable or
eatable, but not becomable.
- Semantic restrictions. Semantic restrictions determine when certain word formations are valid based
on meaning:
○ Compounds. These work only if the base is an inalienable property of the noun. For
example, “blue-eyed” is correct, but “two-carred” is not.
○ The prefix “un-”. This is not used with adjectives that already have a negative meaning. For
example, “unhappy” is valid, but “unsad” is not.

2.1.1. Are there exceptions to the former criterion?

Inflection Derivation

Adverbs in “-ly”
Modal verbs
Agentive nouns in “-er”
Invariably singular/plural nouns
Abstract nouns in “-ness”

3. Semantic predictability

The products of inflectional morphology are typically semantically regular. For example, a plural morpheme
will always add the grammatical feature “more than one” to the singular noun, so that “cars” will be to “car”
what “girls” is to “girl”.

3.1. Lexicalization

The products of derivational morphology are typically semantically irregular.

- Concentrate-concentration (result of V-ing), commemorate-commemoration (object which vs someone/

something), accommodate-accommodation (place where one is V-ed).
- Hospitalize (put into hospital: locative), carbonize (make into carbon: resultative), functionalize (make
more functional: causative).
- Tom’s stories provided endless amusement (the state resulting from being amused), The children spent
all their pocket money on the amusements (equipment designed to provide amusement in a fairground).

We also distinguish:

- Recorder. A machine that records, not a technician who records.

- Drinker. A person who drinks in excess/habitually.
- Darkroom. A photographic work-room, not a TV room.
- Undercoat. First coat of paint, not a garment.

3
 - Overcoat. Outer coat garment.

Further examples could be: hotdog, blueprint, chairman, or mainland.

3.2. Transparent vs opaque

- Transparent. Analysable and semantically predictable, such as airmail.

- Opaque. Unanalysable and/or semantically unpredictable, such as prefer (unanalysable) or blackmail
(analysable but semantically unpredictable).

However, many derivational affixes also have a perfectly regular meaning, for example, -er, -able.

4. Close versus open system

Inflection involves a few variables in a closed system. English inflectional affixes are:

s plural -ed past participle

-s third sing. pres. tense -ing
‘s saxon genitive -er comparative
-ed past -est superlative

For each morphosyntactic feature or category, there is more than one value:

- Number category (nouns). 2 values (sg, pl).

- Tense category (verbs). 2 values (present, past, no future in English).
- Degree category (adjectives). 3 values (positive, comparative, superlative).

Therefore, derivation may involve many variables in an open system as new affixes are added to the system.
For instance, “-oholic-” (alcoholic, workaholic, chocoholic, shopaholic, fruitoholic, pornoholic, Potterholic
dictionary) family-oholic, sexoholic, carboholic, stormoholic, beanoholic, coalcoholic, or bookaholic); “e-”
(e-mail, etrade, e-democracy, ecash); “-gate” (watergate, Monicagate, Russiagate, mastergate, Delsygate,
BarÇagate).

However, inflectional affixes can be lost throughout the history of the language.:

5. Agreement

Concord refers to the system whereby two or more lexemes are obligatorily marked for the same
morphological categories to show a specific syntactic relationship between them. For example, adjective +
noun, subject + verb, or antecedent and anaphoric expression.

The inflectional properties of a given noun are copied under agreement with adjectives and other noun
modifiers; however, the derivational morphemes of a word are never copied under agreement.

Inflection is relevant for the syntax because there is a reformulation of the statement that inflection produces
word-forms while derivation produces new lexemes.

6. Distance from root

- Inflection. It occurs outside all derivation. For instance, workers or colonializing.

- Derivation. It can occur inside derivation. For instance, untruthfulness.

It is said that where both derivational and inflectional elements are found together, the derivational element is
more intimately connected with the root.

In English, derivational morphemes occur at either the end of the base words, whereas regular inflection is
always expressed by suffixes. If an affix is located before the base it is derivational.

4
 7. Meaning

Derivational processes change:

- The conceptual semantics associated with the input form. For example, the word “underworld” has a
different meaning from the word “world”, from which it is formed.
- The number of arguments of a base (“subcategorization” of an item) and the selectional restrictions
that a unit imposes on these arguments. For example, the verb “wail” takes a subject, whatever or
whoever makes a sound that expresses suffering, but it never takes a direct object expressing the cause
of that suffering (*John wailed the dead). The verb “be-wail”, in contrast, requires a direct object
expressing precisely this notion (John bewailed the dead).

LACK OF CLEAR DIVIDING LINES BETWEEN INFLECTION AND DERIVATION

1. Comparative

Commutability within the sentence is derivational-like. For instance, “He is getting ghastlier” or “He is getting
ghastly”.

2. English past participle

The –ed form is an inflected form of the verb, as we can see in “She threaded her shoelace through the holes”.
However, it can have a predicative and attributive position, such as “Her hair had become threaded with grey”
or “A threaded needle”. In other cases, premodification by intensifiers is allowed as in “People crowded the
theatre, a very crowded room”.

3. -ing forms

If word form is used in the creation of the progressive form, it is inflectional. For example, “The car that
crashed was speeding”. It can be:

- Preceded by determiner object.

- Introduced by of, such as “The writer of books”.
- Change of grammatical category.

Also, we have different options:

- “-ing” represents different (homophonous) suffixes. An inflectional affix, a derivational

noun-forming affix, or a derivational adjective-forming affix.
- Cases of conversion or zero-derivation. A noun and an adjective have been created from an inflected
form of the verb without adding anything.
- Class-changing inflection.

4. Appreciative morphology

It refers to the processes that add to the base an evaluative meaning related to its size, intensity or degree or to
the opinion that the speaker has of it:

- Diminutive affixes. Small size, intensity and degree, or endearment). For example, far-fardim.
- Augmentative affixes. Big size or increased degree. For example, big-bigaug.
- Pejorative affixes. Negative evaluation. For example, house-housepejo.

Therefore, it is important to distinguish between:

- Inflectional properties. Class-maintaining, productive, and semantically regular.

- Derivational properties. Close to root, not copied in agreement processes, and idiosyncratic
properties.

5
So, the distinction between derivation and inflection is not categorical. Rather, we are dealing with a
continuum on which the different processes can be located.

Correlation between the meaning expressed by a morphological category and the form its expression takes:
derivation encodes lexical meaning, while inflection encodes grammatical categories. However, the
expression of the concept of causativity in English can be involved:

- Lexically. For instance, drop.

- Morphologically (derivation). For instance, shorten.
- Syntactically. For instance, to make someone happy.

If the same meaning is expressed not only by employing derivational suffixes but also using syntax and the
lexicon, the correlation between meaning and derivation is not so clear.

A morphological category may be inflectional in some languages and derivational in others, or the other way
around. Therefore, if the same meaning can be expressed by inflection or by derivation, the semantic criterion
fails.

5. Prototype

The prototype of any category is the member or set of members of a category that best represents the
category as a whole. Not everything fits perfectly in a category. Different members of the category have a
different number of properties. And, the higher the number of properties a member of a category shows, the
more prototypical it will be.

For example, a robin or a dove are prototypical examples of the category bird, while a penguin is less
prototypical; nevertheless, the English word “fist” is classified as a noun because it behaves distributionally the
same as prototypical nouns. However, the concept “fist” does not fit the prototype of a noun, because a “fist”
does not characteristically persist over a long period of time. Some languages do not express this concept with a
simple noun at all.

prototypical inflectional affix prototypical derivational affix

Will not change major grammatical category

Will create new lexemes
Will have a regular meaning
Will change major grammatical category
Will be added to every base in the appropriate part of
Will have an irregular meaning
the speech
Will come closer to the root
Will be ordered after all derivational markers
Will be a member of a large open set of affixes
Will be a member of a small closed set of affixes
Will not play a role in the syntax of the sentence
Will be relevant for the syntax

Actual inflectional or derivational affixes in real languages will diverge from these prototypes, possibly to such
an extent that we can be in doubt as to which class they belong.

6
 UNIT 4: ENGLISH DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY

1. Lexicalisation

1.1. Terminological distinctions

- Nonce formation/neologism. A new complex word a speaker/writer coined spontaneously to cover

some immediate need. For instance, “a shuicide bomber” is a terrorist with a bomb in his shoes or a
“failfriend” by analogy with “failson”.
- Institutionalization. The stage in the history of a lexeme when it becomes to be accepted by other
speakers as a known lexical item. It means that it becomes part of the usage of language. For instance,
Google, selfie, Brexit, Covid 19, brunch, drunch (a meal that combines lunch and dinner), or dunchfast
(a meal eaten once a day that combines breakfast, lunch, and dinner).
- Lexicalization. That stage in the history of vocabulary-item when, because of some change in the
language system, the lexeme takes on a form or a meaning different from that resulting from the
application of productive rules. It is a non-productive form. For instance, prefer does not mean “pre” +
“fer”, as “fer” (“bring” in Latin) has no meaning in current English.

The factors that influence the creation and adoption of new words (neologisms) include:

- Status of the first source/user. For example, chortle (snort and chuckle) or assassination.
- Prestige. For example, deja vu or tsunami.
- Convenience for gaining a particular effect. It can be humouristic (alcoholidays) or euphemistic
(adult entertainment, comfort woman, big-boned, vertically-challenged, or pregnancy termination).
- Convenience for saving space. For example, BBC, AIDS, or compounds.
- Relevance of the concept denoted. For example, selfie, tweet, or Brexit.
- Specific contextual conditions (political, environmental, economic, health…). For example, climate
emergency, Barcagate, or covid-19.

1.2. Types of lexicalization

1.2.1. Semantic lexicalization

Semantic lexicalization is the historical process of semantic change whereby certain forms are left isolated and
unmotivated.

It means “payment exorted by intimidation” not “mail which is

black”. Originally, it meant “illicit money”.
Blackmail
The opposite happens to “blackboard” which means “board that is
black” as it is derived from a productive rule.

It means “a rank within police force hierarchy” (it is lexicalized

as it is listed in the lexicon).
Police
inspector
The opposite happens to “ticket inspector” which means “one
who inspects tickets” as it is derived from a productive rule.

The factors that influence semantic lexicalization include:

- Change in language. For example, mincemeat used to mean “mixture of currants, raisins, sugar,
apples, spices”, and not “minced meat” as now.
- Change in the cultural background. For example, blueprint means “a design plan or other technical
drawing” or “something which acts as a plan, model, or template for others”, its origin came from the
original process in which prints were composed of white lines on a blue ground or of blue lines on a
white ground; schreib-feder means “pen” and not “writing feather” as it was in origin.
- Result of the loss of semantic information. For example, understand or prefer.
- Result in the addition of semantic information. For example, a wheelchair (for invalid people) or a
pushchair (for children).

1
 1.2.2. Syntactic lexicalization

Syntactic lexicalization refers to the unpredictable syntactic behaviour of the complex or compound word.

- External to the complex form. Some complex words do not follow the same rules as their simpler
versions. For instance, “I disbelieve him” is correct, but “I disbelieve that he is clever” or “I disbelieve
him to be clever” are incorrect; however, “I believe him”, “I believe that he is clever”, or “I believe him
to be clever” are correct
- Internal syntactic lexicalization. Some compound words have fixed structures and don’t always
follow predictable rules. For instance, V + N compounds mean “one who V + O”, such as scarecrow,
telltales, or pickpockets.

1.2.3. Morphological lexicalization

Morphological lexicalization happens when certain affixes or roots stop following the normal rules of word
formation and are used in a fixed way, without being productive in creating new words.

- Unproductive affixes. Some suffixes are no longer used to create new words. For example, “-ment”
(government) or “-th” (depth) are not used to form many new words anymore.
- Unproductive roots. Some roots also lose their ability to form new words. For example, “ed-” (edible)
or “leg-” (illegible) are no longer used to create new words.

1.2.4. Phonological lexicalization

Phonological lexicalization refers to a weird phonological behaviour of the word.

- Prosodic features. For instance, ‘Arabic, ‘chivalric, ‘choleric, syn’chronic, or pho’netic.

- Segmental features. For instance, Monday (/m∧nd /), payday (/pe de /).
- Mixed types. It refers to unproductive roots and affixes, such as length.

2. Productivity

2.1. Introduction

- Inflection. Productive, paradigms, general applicability.

- Derivation. Semi-productive, defective, particularistic.

2.1.1. What is a “productive” derivational process?

The derivational process works with any base of the appropriate grammatical class. There is a large enough
number of members of the speech community that use it. This means that speakers can produce and process
new words created by this process with ease. For example:

X-ness sweetness, fitness, brightness

X-ly swiftly, softly, quickly

X-some cumbersome, wholesome

X-al withdrawal, rebuttal

2.1.2. Productivity vs creativity

Both refer to the speaker’s ability to extend the language system. However, while productivity is rule-governed
innovation, creativity is unpredictable. For instance, headhunter means “a member of a tribe that keeps the
heads of his human victims” (productive process) and “one who recruits executives for a large corporation”
(creative process).

2
In the creative use of the word, the meaning cannot be derived directly from the rule. However, creative uses
may become part of the language system if used by the speech community.

Another example could be the following: before saying something that you regret later, you should think twice
because once you say it you cannot unsay it; “un-” is used with some verbs to create derived verbs with a
reversative meaning (I can tie the shoelaces and the untie them), however, “say” does not allow reversative
meaning, therefore, this is a creative use.

2.1.3. Productivity vs analogy

Analogy refers to the formation of one lexeme based on a previous one. For example, slow food (fast food),
failfriend (failson), Irangate (Watergate), drunk (lunch). It is therefore the limiting (lowest) case of
productivity. However, an analogical formation can pave the way for a whole new pattern. Another example
could be: the suffix “-gate” which became a pattern for naming scandals after “Watergate”; at first, “Irangate”
was an analogy, but over time, more words followed the same model, creating a new pattern, such as
“monicagate” or “nipplegate”.

Productivity is a gradient notion, a matter of degree and a comparative notion. Moreover, there is a rank order
of productivity:

Productive Semi-productive Non-productive / dead

-ism, -less, -er, -ful, -ness,

-hood, -ee -ment, -th, -dom
-able, -ly

Affixes are often labelled as “quasi-”, “marginally”, “semi-”, “fully”, “quite”, “immensely”, and “very
productive”. Therefore, there are some related terms:

- Availability. Productive processes are available to speakers.

- Profitability. Degree of productivity. For instance, “-ness” is more productive than “-ity”.

Productivity is concerned with both existing/actual (attested, listed in dictionaries) and potential/possible
words. It connects with description and prediction. For example, incentivize in 1989. Furthermore, there are
some factors influencing the degree of productivity of a wors-formation process:

- Their present distribution. Number of words with this suffix, frequency.

- The number of clearly productive competitors.
- The existence of restrictions on the base (domain of the process).
- Clear-cut (very specific) lexical meaning.
- The cognitive ease with which speakers can produce and process new words with this suffix.
- Transparency. When a process is transparent there is a one-to-one correspondence between form and
meaning, that is, when an affix is attached the phonological form of both morphemes stays the same
and the meaning is predictable. For instance, solidify (its meaning is predictable) and ratify (Its
meaning is predictable).
- Usefulness. For instance, “-ness, -ity” (the state of being X) and “-ess” (used to create nouns referring
to jobs performed by women or positions held by women).

2.1.4. Measuring productivity

2.1.4.1. Type of frequency

The type of frequency of an affix (quantitative measure) refers to counting the number of attested different
words with that affix at a given point in time, The problem is that there can be many words with a given affix,
though speakers don’t use it to make up new words. For example, “-ment”:

addressment approvement ceasement

divorcement assurement omitment

3
 2.1.4.2. Neologisms

Neologism consists of counting the number of newly coined derivatives in a given period. Its methodology
refers to the use of dictionaries, for instance, in the 20th century 284 new verbs in “-ize” were registered.
Nevertheless, there are some problems:

- Many new words escape the eyes of the OED lexicographers. The number of “-ness” neologisms
listed in the OED roughly equals that of “-ize” neologisms, though ness is the most productive suffix in
English. Only 11 neologisms of the highly productive suffix wise are listed.
- Words created by the most productive processes. These are transparent and are very often not
included in dictionaries, while the results of less productive processes are. This might give a
paradoxical result (a higher number of words created by less productive processes).

Corpora is used for counting the number of types, it means the number of different words, with an affix (extent
of use). At the same time, it is useful for counting hapax legomena, which refers to items with the lowest
possible frequency (a type with a token frequency of one, occurring only once).

With productive processes, we expect large numbers of low-frequency words and small numbers of
high-frequency words. Low-frequency words correlate with neologisms and are indicators of productivity; they
show that speakers feel free to play with the process; indeed, many of them are not listed in dictionaries.
Therefore, the higher the number of hapaxes with an affix, the higher the number of neologisms, hence the
higher the productivity. For example:

-en -ly

44 types Thousands of types

1 hapax Many hapaxes
Low frequency + 1 hapax = low productivity Huge frequency + hapaxes = highly productive

So, if we divide de number of hapaxes by the number of all tokens containing the affix, we get a number
corresponding to the probability of finding a new word with that suffix. Baayen’s productivity formula,
productivity in the narrow sense, is the following:

P (productivity score) = n1 (number of hapaxes) / N (total number of tokens)

2.2. Word formation rules

2.2.1. Introduction

The task of word-formation rules and syntactic rules is to tell what sort of new words a speaker can form, it
means to predict possible words.

- Structural description. Syntactic specification (grammatical category, subcategorization).

- Semantic description.
- Exemplification, conditions (limitations on the base) and effects (morphonological adjustments,
semantic effects, and argument structure).

2.2.1.1. Unitary base hypothesis

It means that word-formation rules only operate over a single type of syntactically or semantically defined
base. For example, “-able” (fashion-able, accept-able). Then, different word formations must be proposed for
their creation. Consequently, there are two homophonous suffixes “-able”:

- Some adjectives are derived from nouns, and some adjectives from verbs.
- The meaning of the resulting adjective is different. For instance, denominal adjectives mean
“characterised by X” and deverbal adjectives mean “able to be Xed”.

4
To proceed when extracting the word formation rules for some formally similar derived words, it is
recommended to follow these steps:

- Identify the structural differences among apparently similar words by looking at the grammatical
class of outcome (verbs: strengthen, widen; adjective: golden; noun: maiden) and the grammatical
class of the base (denominal verb: strengthen; deadjectival verb: widen).
- Semantic analysis.

2.2.2. Restrictions on productivity (limitations on the base)

2.2.2.1. Phonological restrictions

2.2.2.1.1. Segmental

When we have an adjective and we add “-ly” to it, we obtain an adverb, as in kindly. But, it is important to
consider that “-ly” is not necessarily a morpheme, as it can be:

- A suffix. For example, friendly and daily.

- A base ending in i + ly. For example, oily.
- A base ending in “-ly” where “-ly” is part of the base. For example, silly.

This is just an example of a more general restriction consisting in the avoidance of the repetition of identical
phonological structure in morphologically complex words, known as haplology.

Also, when we have an adjective and we add “-en” to it, we obtain a verb (inchoactive). Some examples could
be: blacken, dampen, quieten, toughen, harden, lengthen, or loosen. However, there are some conditions for the
attachment of “-en”:

- Base must be monosyllabic.

- The last sound of the base can be /k/, /t/, /s/, /d/, /θ/, /f/, /p/, but not /n/, /l/, /η/, or a vowel. This is
because the base must end in obstruent (sounds that are produced by a severe obstruction of the air
stream, stops, fricatives, and affricates). So, bases that constitute these conditions constitute the
domain of this process.

2.2.2.1.2. Suprasegmental

When we have a verb and we add “-al” to it, we obtain a noun. For example:

Possible words Non-possible words

arrive - arrival enter - enteral

betray - betrayal promise - promisal
construe - construal manage - managerial
deny - denial answer - answeral
propose - prposal forward - forwardal

The domain of this process is based which are stresses on the final syllable, such as a’rriv-al.

2.2.2.2. Morphological restrictions

Regarding etymology, we distinguish 2 bases:

- Latinate bases. For example, “-ity” (sanity, rapidity) or “-ant” (assistant, inhabitant, servant).
- Native bases. For example, “-hood” (childhood) or adjective + noun compounds (highroad,
blackboard, busybody, hothouse, redhead, quickstep).

5
If we consider make-up / structure of the complex base, we distinguish 2 conditions:

- Negative condition. For instance, “X-ment + al” (emploiment) or “adjective in -less/-ful + *-ity” to
form abstract nouns (carelessness / *carelessity).
- Positive condition. For instance, “X-ic / -al / -able / -id +-ity” to form abstract nouns (specificity,
globality, readability, lucidity). Since the domain for “-ity” is latinate bases, it makes sense that bases
with a latinate suffix are made suitable bases for “-ity”; “V-ize + -ation” to form abstract nouns
(dramatization, legalization); in “N-ion + -iest / -al”, verbal nouns in “-ion” take “-ist” to form agentive
Ns (exhibitionist), and “-al” to form adjectives (exceptional).

2.2.2.3. Syntactic restrictions

- Syntactic class of Base. For instance, in the agentive noun formation “-er” the base must be a verb.
- Subcategorization of Base. For instance, transitive verbs + “-able” (acceptable).

2.2.2.4. Semantic restrictions

- Adjectives in “-ed”. The base must be the inalienable property of head nouns, for example,
blue-eyed.
- Adjectives in “-ly”. It is used to create new words meaning “related to” or “characteristic of”.
Moreover, the base must be human, for example, actorly, auntly, readerly, spinsterly, or writerly.

It is important to mention that negative prefixes are not used with adjectives based on a negative value on
evaluative scales. For example, *unsad (unhappy), un-pessimistic (unoptimistic), or unill (unwell). Therefore,
derivatives must be interpretable as contraries, which means opposites expressing a contrast on a
bi-dimensional scale of “more or less” (between gradable adjectives and their respective opposites), as in
happy-unhappy, clear-unclear, comfortable-uncomfortable. But, there are som exceptions:

- Complementary. One expression stands in contrast to a set of other related expressions, such as green
- *ungreen.
- Contradictory. Expressions that exclude one another, such as unique - *ununique (multiple).

Nominalizations are also important:

- Agent nominalization. The entity denoted by the complex word must be an agent, such as writer,
*dier.
- Patient nominalization. The entity denoted by the complex word must be a patient/patient-like entity,
such as. employee, *runnee.

These semantic restrictions concern semantic roles. They can also concern selectional restrictions. Patient
nouns in “-ee” denote a human/animate object, such kick, which takes human and non-hum objects, as we can
see in “better to be the kicker than the kickee” (kickee denotes a person who gets kicked); however, tear, which
means pull (something) apart or to pieces with force, is a non-human object, so, *tearee is not a possible English
word.

2.2.2.5. Lexical restrictions

In lexical restrictions, the suffix is only added to certain lexemes:

Non-productive affixes Productive affixes

-ric (bishopric) Adjectives in “-ous”+ “-ity” form a

-ter (laughter, slaughter), noun (curiousity, voraciousity).
-th (length, strength, width, depth,
warmth, breath) However, furiosity is not correct.

6
 2.2.2.6. Pragmatic restrictions

A word will not be formed to denote an action/ item or quality that does not exist. For instance, “I ungrow
vegetables in my garden” is not possible.

Normally only a limited number of bases, defined by phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic
criteria, are available for a given process. Discovering which bases are available and specifying the restrictions
on those bases are very difficult tasks for the linguist.

Therefore, Bauer stated that in morphology it is often extremely difficult to state the input conditions with the
requisite degree of accuracy.

2.2.2.6.1. Blocking

The non-existence of the derivative in the speech community is because of the prior existence of some other
lexeme. It is a general psycholinguistic mechanism that prevents complex forms from being formed if a
synonymous word is already present in the speaker’s lexicon. It might be seen as a pragmatic restriction, as a
new word is not created because there is no need for it. For example:

*stealer (thief) *deliver-er (delivery boy)

*cycler (cyclist) *un-good (bad)
*studier (student) *un-big (small)
*shop assister (shop assistant) *decent-ness (decency)

However:

- Blocking does not entirely prevent the coining of words by individuals. All that is blocked is the
institutionalization of the word. For instance, “the ten stealers” means fingers, by Shakespeare.
- It only applies as long as the word is genuinely synonymous with the existing word.
- Blocking fails to work with the most productive derivational processes.
- It appears not to apply in synthetic compounds. For instance, sheep stealer.
- It does not apply when two synonymous words with two different affixes come into being at the
same time, though eventually one wins out over the other. For instance, expectance-expectancy,
complemental-complementary.
- In other cases, blocking fails for no apparent reason. For example, computate-compute, conspicuity-
conspicuousness, divorce-divorcement.
- Blocking may be triggered by homonymy as well as by synonymy. It means that a word is not created
or disappears because there is another homonymous word with somehow embarrassing meaning. For
example, liver (person who lives) is blocked because of the existence of the homonymous liver (inner
organ); suer (someone who sues) is blocked because of homophony with sewer (pipe); French voleur
(flier) is blocked because there is another voleur meaning (thief).

2.2.3. Effects of morphological rules

2.2.3.1. Morphophonological adjustments

2.2.3.1.1. Stress variation

- Unstressed suffixes (no change). For instance, -hood (‘child - ‘childhood), -ness, -ish, -ment, -like,
-ist, -age, -ful, -ism.
- Stressed suffixes. For instance, -esque (pictu‘resque), -ese, -ee, -ette.
- Unstressed suffixes (change).
○ Preceding syllable. For instance, -ic (‘symbol - sym‘bolic), -ity (pro‘ductive - produc‘tivity),
-ian (‘grammar - gram‘marian), -ial (‘tutor - tu‘torial).
○ First syllable. For instance, -ence (pre‘fer - ‘preference).

7
It is important to distinguish between:

- Class I. Trigger and undergo phonological processes (produc‘tivity - pro‘ductive) and nearer the
root, may be attached to bound morphemes (flacid, inept, tortuous).
- Class II. Phonologically inert (productiveness) and only attached to words (childlike, motionless,
unfair).

2.2.3.1.2. Allomorphic variation

2.2.3.1.2.1. Vowel changes in the base

- Result from stress conditions of word formation processes.

○ Vowel reduction. Full vowel becomes weal (/ə/). Some examples could be: author-authority,
cremate-crematorium, photograph-photography.
○ Vowel strengthening. Weak vowel becomes ful (/ə/). Some examples could be: atom-atomic,
real-reality, or Milton-Miltonic.
- Great vowel shift. It affects Middle English long vowels, whereby their articulación is changed.
Therefore, it accounts for the inconsistent spelling of Present-Day English. For example,
divine-divinity (/a /-/ /), nation-national (/e /-/æ/), profound-profundity (/au/ - /Λ/),
serene-serenity
(/i/-/e/).

2.2.3.1.2.2. Consonantal alternations in the base

(morphologically-conditioned allomorphs)

Palatalization: /t, d, s, z/ + -ion /i, j/ = /∫, ჳ/ Velar softening: /k/ = /s/

/t/ - /∫/ subvert-subversion, + -ity electric-electricity

translate-translation opaque-opacity
/d/ - /∫/ suspend-suspension + -ize critic-criticize
/s/ - /∫/ convulse-convulsion + -ism romantic-romanticism
/d/ - /ჳ/ persuade-persuasion + -ify opaque-opacify
/s/ - /ჳ/ fuse-fusion

2.2.3.1.2.3. Affix allomorphy

- Nasal/liquid assimilation (phonologically conditioned. /m/ = m, p, b (impolite).

- Haplology/ dissimilation (phonologically conditioned). -ar after -l (nodule-nodular).
- Morphologically conditioned allomorphy. “-ery” after monosyllabic bases (piggery), “-ry” after
disyllabic bases (chickenry), “-ation” after “-ize” (industrialization), “-cation” after “-ify”
(solidification), “-ion” after “-ate” (concentration). Also, we have “-sion” (recursion) and “-tion”
(absorption).
- Allomorphy borrowed from the donor language.
○ “a-” + consonant (asexual); “an-” + vowel (anaerobic).
○ “bi-” +consonant (bilabial); “bin-” +vowel (binocular).

2.2.3.1.2.4. Truncation

Truncation refers to

- Deletion of a designated base-final morpheme when adding a designated suffix. For example, V-ate +
-ee = -ate (nominate-nominee, addressee, appointee, demonstrate-demonstrable, lubricate-lubricant).
- Deletion of the inflectional endings from the Romance languages before the addition of derivational
endings (the deleted material is neither inflectional nor affixal in English). For instance, cerebell(um)ar,
gener(a)ic, nebul(a)ous, nucle(us)ar, phenomen(on)al.
- Deletion of -ly in the comparative forms of adverbs in -ly. For instance, strongly-stronger,
quickly-quicker, softly-softer.
- Further examples: emphas(is)ize, summar(y)ize, Chlor(ine)al, ventriloqu(y)al, Malt(a)ese, Chin(a)ese.

8
 2.2.3.2. Semantic effects

The use of paraphrases means that there is a lack of theoretical significance, misleading (not
language-specific), and possible semantic specialization of the derived word. For example:

drinker: “the person who drinks habitually”

bricklayer: “the person who lays bricks as a profession”
nutcracker: “instrument created for the purpose of cracking nuts”

2.2.3.3. Argument structure

- Argument inheritance. For instance, John refuses the offer - John’s refusal of the offer.
- Change of quantitative valency. For instance, John opens the door - The door open (reduction), The
soldiers marched to the camp - The captain marched the soldiers to the camp (extension).
- Change of qualitative valency. For instance, John loaded hay (theme) on the cart (location) - John
loaded the cart (patient) with hay (instrument).

9
 UNIT 5: WORD-FORMATION PROCESSES

1. Introduction

Word formation processes are real. You might not be aware of this, but you use them every day to create new
words or to make sense of new words you come across. This happens in academic contexts and also in
everyday language.

- Chef’s kiss. A movement in which you put your fingers and thumb together, kiss them, and then pull
your hand away from your lips as a way of showing that you think that something or someone is
perfect or excellent; you can also use “chef’s kiss” to refer to something that you think is perfect or
excellent, or as an adjective to describe something like this.

2. Why do we keep inventing new words?

Some words enter language along with the introduction of the things/concepts they name into society, such
as iPhone, iPad, Potterhead, Blackberry thumb, Smartphone face, or Google.

- Circular fashion. A type of sustainable fashion that promotes minimal manufacturing through the
ongoing reuse of garments and accessories or their components.
- Eco-chic. Of or relating to a style, design or product that is attractive and fashionable as well as
eco-friendly and sustainable.
- Selfie.
- Selfie stick. It was created to name this new object used to make selfies.
- Usie. A group photograph taken by one of the members of the group.
- Track-a-holism. A compulsion to monitor one’s health and fitness metrics, particularly those generated
by apps and electronic devices.
- Brexit (British + exit). It was probably formed on the pattern of Grexit, coined earlier in 2012 to mean
“Greek exit fromEurozone”.
- Bespoke Brexit (noun). A Brexit agreement made-to-measure for the UK and EU, which does
not simply copy and paste from trade agreements of other countries (for example Canada or
Norway) with the EU.
- Blind Brexit (noun). A vague agreement for a transition period without clearly-defined final
terms (which would be hammered out later).
- Brexchosis (noun). A feeling of despair among those who voted to stay in the EU.
- Braccident (noun). The possibility of Brexit occurring unintentionally, “by accident”.
- Brexiety (noun). A state of anxiety about Brexit experienced by Brexit opponents.
- Brexit Day (noun). 29 March 2019 (the date of the official departure of the UK from the
European Union at 23:00 hours) followed by a transition period until the end of 2020.
- Brexiteer also Brexiter (noun). A person in favour of the UK leaving the European Union.
- Brexodus (noun). A higher than usual number of EU nationals emmigrating from the UK.
- Brexthrough (noun). Sudden progress in UK-EU negotiations (hardly used).
- Brino (noun). Brexit in name only.
- Hard Brexit also clean Brexit (noun). Brexit.
- No deal Brexit (noun). Brexit without any final agreement.
- Regrexit (noun). A supposed regretting of the decision to vote for Brexit.
- Soft Brexit (noun). A watered-down agreement leaving the UK half-in and half-out of the EU.
- Brexicon. A full dictionary of Brexit-related jargon.
- COVID-19. It is a new name for a new disease, coined as an abbreviated form of “coronavirus disease
2019”.
- Coronavirus. It is the broader name for the family of viruses that includes COVID-19, and its
entry has been revised to show that relationship.
- Diagnosis.
- Index case. It is defined as the first documented case of an infectious disease or genetically
transmitted condition or mutation in a population, region, or family.
- Index patient. It is defined as an individual affected with the first known case of an infectious
disease or genetically transmitted condition or mutation in a population, region, or family.
- Patient zero. It is defined as a person identified as the first to become infected with an illness
or disease in an outbreak.

1
 - Contact tracing. It means the practice of identifying and monitoring individuals who may
have had contact with an infectious person as a means of controlling the spread of a
communicable disease.
- Community spread. It refers to the spread of a contagious disease to individuals in a
particular geographic location who have no known contact with other infected individuals or
who have not recently travelled to an area where the disease has any documented cases.
- Super-spreader and its related noun superspreading. They refer to an individual who is
highly contagious and capable of transmitting a communicable disease to an unusually large
number of uninfected individuals.
- Prevention.
- Social distancing. It is a new term for most of us but has become ubiquitous in coverage of
safe practices for preventing the spread of the disease. A new definition has been added to
social distance and the verb socially distance has also been added.
- Self-quarantine. It means to refrain from any contact with other individuals for a period of
time (such as two weeks) during the outbreak of a contagious disease usually by remaining in
one's home and limiting contact with family members.

Abbreviations of various kinds may be preferred because they’re short:

- FOMO. Fear of missing out.

- MIL. Mother in Law.
- MOOC. Massive open online course.
- YOLO. You only live once (carpe diem).
- LDR. Long-distance relationship.
- LAT. Living apart together.
- AI. Artificial Intelligence.

Writers and advertisers invent new words to display creativity and to make their texts, and hence their products,
memorable.

Shakespeare is often held up as a master neologist because at least 500 words (critic, swagger, lonely, hint) first
appear in his works but we have no way of knowing whether he invented them or was just transcribing things he
had picked up elsewhere.

It’s generally agreed that the most prolific minter of words was John Milton, who gave us 630 coinages,
including lovelorn, fragrance and pandemonium.

Geoffrey Chaucer (universe, approach), Ben Jonson (rant, petulant), John Donne (self-preservation,
valediction) and Sir Thomas More (atonement, anticipate) lag behind. It should come as no great surprise that
writers are behind many of our lexical innovations. But the fact is, we have no idea who to credit for most of our
lexicon.

Finally, people get tired of their old words and replace them with new ones. New words are especially attractive
if they come from exotic places. For instance, tsunami (tidal wave), or selfie (self-portrait).

3. Ways of creating new words

- From existing words and parts.

- Borrowed from other languages.
- From scratch.
- Using metaphor and metonymy.

3.1. Borrowed from other languages

.
Loanwords or borrowings, are words which are adopted into a native language from a different source
language. Such borrowings have shaped the English language almost from its beginnings, as words were
adopted from the classical languages as well as from successive waves of invasions (Vikings, Normans).

2
Even by the 16th Century, long before the British Empire extended its capacious reach around the world,
English had already adopted words from an estimated 50 other languages, and the vast majority of English
words today are foreign borrowings of one sort or another.

Sometimes these adoptions have come by a circuitous route. For example, the word “orange” originated with the
Sanskrit “naranj”, “naranga”, “narangaphalam” or “naragga”, which became the Arabic “naranjah” and the
Spanish “naranja”, entered English as a “naranj”, changed to a “narange”, then to an “arange” and finally an
“orange”.

Sometimes the tortuous route and degrees of filtering through other languages can modify words so much that
their original derivations are all but indiscernible. For instance, both “coy” and “quiet” come from the Latin
word “quietus”; “sordid” and “swarthy” both come from the Latin “sordere”; “entirety” and “integrity” both
derive from the Latin “integritas”; “salary” and “sausage” both originate with the Latin word “sal”; “grammar”
and “glamour” are both descended from the same Greek word “gramma”.

3.2. From scratch

Many of the new words added to the ever-growing lexicon of the English language are just created from scratch
and often have little or no etymological pedigree. For example, the word dog, etymologically unrelated to any
other known word, which, in the late Middle Ages, suddenly and mysteriously displaced the Old English word
hound (or hund) which had served for centuries.

Some of the commonest words in the language arrived in a similarly inexplicable way, such as jaw, askance,
tantrum, conundrum, bad, big, donkey, kick, slum, log, dodge, fuss, prod, hunch, freak, bludgeon, slang, puzzle,
surf, pour, slouch, or bash.

3.3. Using metaphor and metonymy

Existing words expand their meaning for new uses, such as “mouse”.

4. Word formation processes

Major Minor

Affixation Eponyms
- Prefixation Reduplication
- Suffixation Onomatopoeia
infixation Back-formation
- Conversion Clipping blending
Acronyms
Compounding Hypocorism

4.1. Major word formation processes

4.1.1. Affixation

It is the creation of new words by attaching affixes to the root (desirable) or base (undesirable). It can be a
recursive process.

- Prefixation. For example, “non-smoker”.

- Suffixation. For example, “use-less”.
- Inflixation. For example, “eco-fucking-nomics”, “handy-bloody-cap”, or “fan-freaking-tastic”.

4.1.2. Derivation

- Disconnectionist. A person who advocates spending time away from online activities, particularly for
mental or spiritual rejuvenation.
- Uptitling. Renaming a job with a grandiose or inflated title; giving an employee a more senior job title
in lieu of a pay raise.

3
 - Delightion. The state of being delighted.
- Qt3.14 (from “quiu ti pi”). A cute attractive person; a cutie-pie.

4.1.3. Conversion

Word formation process by which one word belonging to a specific grammatical class is converted into a
different word belonging to a different class without adding any morphological marker. It could be
considered as a subcase of affixation: zero-affixation (derivational approach). It is also referred to as
“functional shift” (syntactic approach). For example, “clean” (adjective) = “clean” (verb), its definition is
“cause to be clean”.

4.1.4. Compounding

It is the addition of two or more bases to create a new lexical item. Three different possible orthographic
realizations:

- Solid. For example, wastepaper.

- Hyphenated. For example, week-end.
- Open. For example, corner shop.

Also, it is important to distinguish indeterminacy, such as word-formation and word formation.

In some cases, it implies more than the mere addition of two bases: some modification of one of the bases in the
process of addition, such as blue-eyed or trouse(s)leg. Moreover, there is a morpho-semantic process with
syntactic connection, for example, “taxi driver”, which means “driver of a taxi”.

- Conscious uncoupling. A ritual designed to lead a couple to an amicable divorce or breakup.

- Digital dementia. Impaired memory and cognitive functioning due to the extended use of digital
devices.

4.2. Minor word formation processes

These are processes related to any of the previous processes but display more specific properties. Therefore,
they are not so commonly used (although some of them are very common in specific contexts or are
increasingly used in new formations, such as blending).

4.2.1. Commonization / Eponyms

It is a process whereby a proper name enters the language as a common noun.

In onomastics, the name of a person after whom something (an invention or a place) is named; is also called an
appellative. Eponymous words include cardigan, biro and sandwich. Place names in some countries are also
often eponymous

The process often causes no change in the input word (apart from changing a first capital letter into a small
one). Therefore, when a change of grammatical category takes place there are cases of conversion. For instance,
xerox (from Xerox).

4.2.2. Based on personal names

- Sandwich. From the name of the Earl of Sandwich, who enjoyed eating meat between slices of bread.
- Boycott. From Charles Boycott, an English land agent in Ireland. In September 1880 protesting
tenants demanded from Boycott a reduction in their rents. He not only refused but also ejected them
from the land. Everyone in the locality refused to deal with him, his workers stopped working, and
local businessmen stopped trading with him.
- Cardigan. From Earl of Cardigan, 19th century; a style of waistcoat that he favoured.
- Guy. The Gunpowder Plot in Great Britain, 1606.
- Vandal. From Guy Fawkes, a Catholic conspirator, a member of any person who cruelly destroys
property; from the proper name Vandal, denoting a member of a destructive, warlike tribe.
- Romeo. An ardent male lover, from Shakespeare’s Romeo.

4
 - Casanova. From Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt who wrote vividly about his sexual
adventures throughout most of Europe.
- Bikini. The islands where the atom bomb was tested; presumably this piece of clothing gets its name
from the style of female native costumes encountered there.
- Cheddar. A village in Somerset from which the cheese first came.

4.2.3. Based on commercial brand names

It refers to rade names entering general vocabulary as common nouns in the 20th century. For example,
“kleenex” is an absorbent disposable paper tissue from “kleenex”; the same has happened with aspirin, xerox,
tampax, hoover, feddex, sello tape, and google. This is a metonymic process at work.

4.2.4. Cases with change

- Gin. From Genever.

- Sherry. From Xerez (now Jerez).
- Hamburger. From Hamburg steak, some form of beef found in Germany in the 19th century and
brought to the US by German immigrants.
- Denim. From serge (“a type of cloth”) from Nimes, southern France.
- Wellies. From Wellingtons from Duke of Wellington.

4.2.5. Reduplication

It is the creation of compounds with two elements which are practically identical or very similar. There are
two types:

- Rhyme compounds. Normally two nouns rhyme with each other, such as walkie-talkie, nitwit,
lovey-dovey, and super-duper. The limiting case is verbatim repetition, that is, both components are
identical, as in pooh-pooh, so-so, and bye-bye. Also in nursery words like ma(m)ma or pee-pee.
- Ablaut compounds (or vowel gradation, as in sing-sang-sung). The two elements only differ in an
internal vowel. Some examples could be: flip-flop, sing-song, chit-chat, wishy-washy, tick-tock, or
ping-pong.

4.2.6. Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is found in cases where words imitate natural sounds, as in:

hiss (of humans, snakes, steam)

murmur (of voices and brooks)
cock-a-doodle-doo (of cocks/roosters)
quack (of ducks)

The imitative word may also act as the name of the animal itself, such as “cuckoo”. Some verbs are formed
from coded sounds people make, such as “boo”, “pooh-pooh”, or “shush”.

4.2.7. Back-formation

Sometimes speakers mis-analyse words into base and affix and then delete the fake affix. Formation of a new
lexeme by the deletion of what appears to be a suffix, from an derived word. The reversed rule of normal
derivation is called the subtracting process. Some examples could be:

edit - editor mass-produce - mass-production

baby-sit - baby-sitter televise - television
burgle - burglar enthuse - enthusiasm

4.2.8. Clipping

A lexeme is shortened not necessarily at morpheme boundaries (that is, sections of words, not necessarily
morphemes or even full syllables, are removed), while still retaining the same meaning and still being a

5
member of the same class. For instance, “prof” from “professor”, where “-essor” is not a suffix, that is, it is not a
morpheme.

So, clipping is not based on morphological analysis of the base but on syllable structure. We distinguish:

- Apocope. Back-clipping. For example, “ad” (advertisement), “lab” (laboratory), or “gas” (gasoline).
- Procope. Fore-clipping. For example, “burger” (hamburger) or “bus” (omnibus).
- Both. Back- and fore-clipping. For example, “flu” (influenza), “fridge” (refrigerator), or “still”
(distillery).
- Compound clippings (also clipped compounds or complex clipping). One or the two components in a
compound are shortened and a new lexeme is created. For example, “sci-fi” (science fiction),
“poly-sci” (political science), “phys-ed” (physical education), “Amerindian” (American Indian), or
“navicert” (navigation certification).
- Initial syllables (or even letters). For example, “tacsatcom” “tactical satellite communications), alnico
(aluminum nickle cobalt, or COVID-19 (corona virus disease 2019).

Clipped pronunciation may change spelling, such as “mike” (microphone), “bike” (bicycle), “fax” (facsimile),
“pram” (perambulator), or “varsity” (university). Therefore, it may change pronunciation.

4.2.9. Hypocorism

A final “-y” or “-ie” is added to a back-clipped word, as in:

movie moving picture

telly television
hanky handkerchief
barbie barbeque
selfie self-portrair

Hypocorism yields the same result as simply adding the diminutive suffix “-y” or “-ie”, as in: mommy
daddy doggy ducky dolly.

The term “hypocorism” comes from a Greek word meaning “to use child-talk”. So, it is a way of showing
affection and closeness to someone or something. In brief, hypocorisms could be used as pet names or
nicknames, such as Harry from Harold, Andy from Andrew, or Billy from William.

Hypocorisms probably originated as baby-talk with names of grandparents, aunts and uncles, or siblings as in:
granny (from grandmother) and aunty (from aunt).

It often retains some of the intimacy and playfulness of nursery language. For example, “brekkie” for breakfast
or “Chrissy pressies” for Christmas presents. It is also commonly used in informal speech, especially among
British and Australian speakers in everyday life.

4.2.10. Blendings/portmanteau words

It refers to lexemes formed from parts of two or more other words in such a way that there is no
transparent analysis into morphs, the two or three words are fused into one. Some examples could be:

- Brunch. Breakfast + lunch.

- Mincome. A guaranteed minimum income for all citizens. (minimum + income).

They are similar to compound clippings, but in blending the two source words are independent words that are
joined in one, whereas in compound clippings the two source words make a compound.

In addition, source words of blends are chosen such that they are much more similar to each other than random
words and this is not necessarily true of complex clippings. For instance, “mocktail” (mock + cocktail),
“slanguage” (slang + language), or “sexperience” (sex + experience). When the deleted segment is shared by
both bases, the term telescoping is used.

6
 4.2.10.1. The “blending rule”

Usually, blending takes place following a pattern: AB + CD = AD. That is, we join the first part of the first
word and the last part of the second. For example, “brunch” (breakfast + lunch or “simulcast” (simultaneous
+ broadcast). The resultant blend partakes of both original meanings.

By contrast, compound clipping involves the loss of final material in both bases: AB + CD = AC. For example,
“modern” (modulator + demodulator). Clipped compounds preserve much less material than blends normally
do.

Another problem in delimiting the category of blend is the occurrence of splinters. For example, Potterholic,
chocoholic, stormoholic, or familyholic; these words have all been formed by adding suffix “-ic” plus part of the
source word “-ohol” from alcoholic. So, “-oholic-” is like a suffix and the “workoholic” and similar words could
be analysed as derived words.

A splinter is a portion of a word that is usually non-morphemic, to begin with, but has been split off and used
recurrently on new bases, that is, a “brand-new” affix. Semantically, they carry some of the semantic content
of the original word from which they split and therefore are more contentful than typical affixes.

The line between a derivative with a splinter and a blend may be hard to draw. Increasingly, blending is a
creative, jocular process:

- Alcoholidays. From alcohol and holidays.

- Celebutante. From celebrity and debutante.
- Californication. Apparently from California and fornication.
- Blog. From Web and log.
- Infotainment. From information and entertainment.
- Mocktail. From mock and cocktail (cocktail without alcohol).

4.2.11. Acronym

It is a word coined by taking the initial letters of the words in a set of words and using them as a new
word.

4.2.11.1. Initialism or alphabetism

The initials are pronounced separately as a sequence of letters, as in CD, USA, UFO, and PC.

4.2.11.2. Acronymy proper

The letters are pronounced together to form a single word, such as:

- Laser. Lightwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

- Nato. North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
- Aids. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
- Ram. Random access memory.
- Nimby. Not in my backyard.
- Golf. Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden.
- Scuba. Self-contained under water breathing apparatus.

There are also various forms mixing initials and syllables, like:

- Radar. From radio distancing and ranging.

- Binac. From binary automatic computer

The acronym may be perceived as a separate word and respelled as such:

- Deejay. For DJ from disk jockey.

- Emcee. For MC from a master of ceremonies

7
Some acronyms just happen, but others are planned:

- CARE packages. Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere.

- MAGIC. Machine for automatic graphics interface to a computer.
- MADD. Mothers Against Drunk Driving

4.2.12. Word-formation in technical language

Computer jargon is especially interesting because it has grown so fast:

- Acronyms. For instance, PC, CD-ROM, or RAM.

- Blending. For instance, “E-zine” (electronic and magazine modelled on e-mail) or “net-izen” (internet
and citizen).

4.2.13. Group formation

Sometimes, a new word is created paving the way for a group of similar new words. For example,

ware-glassware-silverware-jasper ware)
hardware-software-freeware-shareware-donationware-nagware
cybernetics-cybertechnology-cybergenetics-cyberspace-cybersearch-cybersex-cyborg
hypertext-hyperlink-hypermedia-hypermarket-hypertext-mark up language (html)
Google-Google bombing-googleability-Googlejuice-Gloogleverse-GooTube-ungoogleable

Therefore, we can distinguish some metaphors:

mouse virus
zip window
cookie surfing
snail mail