SEMINAR 5

WORD-STRUCTURE IN MODERN ENGLISH

 

1. Morphemes. Classification of Morphemes.

2. Types of Meaning in Morphemes.

3. Morphemic Types of Words.

4. Types of Word-Segmentability.

5. Procedure of Morphemic Analysis.

 

Key words:morpheme, allomorphs, root-morphemes, non-root morphemes, inflection, affix, prefix, suffix, free morphemes, bound morphemes, semi-bound (semi-free) morphemes, monomorphic words, polymorphic words, monoradical words, polyradical words, word-segmentability, the Immediate Constituents (ICs), the Ultimate Constituents (UCs).

 

 

TASKS

 

1. Segment the following words into morphemes. Define (a) the semantic types and

(b) the structural types of morphemes constituting the given words.

 

Model: aimless

The word aimless can be segmented into two morphemes: aim- + -less.

semanticallv aim- is a root-morpheme; -less is an affix.

structurally aim- is a free morpheme; -less is a bound morpheme.

 

Beggarly, postman, shorten, destabilize, sympathy, fruitfulness, maltreatment, disaffected, overrule, photographic, half-eaten, theory, rent-free.

 

2. Translate the following words into Ukrainian, taking into account the lexical meaning of the root and affixational morphemes.

 

Model: weekly

The lexical meaning of the root-morpheme week- is ‘a period of seven days’. The lexical meaning of the affixational morpheme -ly is ‘frequency’. The word weekly is rendered in Ukrainian by the word щотижня.

 

Eyelet, dehouse, neurosis, hostess, betrayal, antipathy, briefly, horsemanship, prewar, famous.

 

3. Define the morphemes the differential meaning of which helps to distinguish between words in the given sets.

 

Model: phraseology, ideology, mythology, neurology

The morphemes phrase -, ide(a)-, myth - and neuro - possess the differential meaning as each of them may serve to distinguish the word it forms from the other words in the given set.

1) notebook, copybook, exercisebook, textbook; 2) crossroads, cross-legged, crosswind, cross-current; 3) city-based, hospital-based, ocean-based, foreign-based;

4) forefoot, forehead, forepart, foreground; 5) raspberries, elderberries, strawberries, cranberries.

 

4. Classify the following words according to the part-of-speech meaning of their affixational morphemes.

 

Model: criticism

The affix - ism indicates that the derived word is a noun.

 

Suitability, hatless, accordingly, combination, befriend, sideways, hospitalize, boyhood, congratulatory, enlarge, northwards, spacious, bureaucracy, quarrelsome, clarify, breakage, drinkable, weaken.

 

5. Analyze the following words according to their morphemic types. Define the subtypes of polymorphic words. Classify polyradical words into two groups: 1) words consisting of two or more roots with no affixational morphemes; 2) words containing two roots and one or more affixational morphemes.

 

Model: duck, illiteratetiess, back-bencher

The word duck is monomorphic. The word illiterateness is polymorphic, monoradical, prefixo-radical-suffixal. The word back-bencher is polymorphic, polyradical, contains two roots and one affixational morpheme (group 2).

 

House, uncover, dark-brown, disappointment, effective, black, historian, book- keeper, cry, mistrust, unanswerable, home-sick, good, ex-wife, laughter-filled, go, unfortunately, age-long, manageability, short-sightedness.

 

6. Group the words according to the type of word-segmentability they may be referred to.

 

Model: exceed, tablet, lifeless

 

Complete segmentability	Conditional segmentability	Defective segmentability
lifeless …	exceed …	tablet …

 

Hostage, nameless, fraction, perceive, pocket, discuss, feminist, contain, overload, pioneer, underestimate, proceed, athlete, pretend, amoral, mirror, unfriendly, assist, gooseberry, obsess, carefulness, manic, attract, budget.

 

7. Analyze the following words from the point of view of their ICs and UCs applying an affix or a root principle.

 

Model: uncommonly

The morphemic analysis of the word uncommonly is based on the application of the affix principle and includes the following stages:

uncommon- (IC) + -ly (strange ly, sad ly) (IC/UC);

un- (un safe, un clean) (IC/UC) + -common (IC/UC). The word consists of 3 UCs.

 

 

Independence, beautifulness, unforgettable, ultra-creative, spotlessness, disrespectful, unladylike, disarmament, injustice, disobedience.