Lecture 3 Words and word-formation processes derivation

somp

somps, somping, sompist and sompism Are somps well paid? Oh, its not bad. But I cant imagine somping for the rest of my life.

The Sompist Role in Broadcasting Sompism as a Vocation

What exactly is a word-formation?

Word-formation processes: a) derivation affixation: 1 prefixation, 2 suffixation, 3 infixes; b) compounding; c) blending; d) backformation; e) conversion; f) clipping; g) acronyms; h) coinage; i) multiple processes j) root-creation (lecture 12).

Bauer (1991, p 34): MORPHOLOGY

INFLECTIONAL (deals with forms of individual lexemes)

WORD-FORMATION (deals with formation of new lexemes) DERIVATION (affixation) COMPOUNDING (more than one root)

a) CLASS-MAINTAINING b) CLASS-CHANGING

a) COMPOUND NOUNS b) COMPOUND VERBS c) COMPOUND ADJECTIVES

DERIVATION DERIVATION from Latin derivatio/derivationis drawing or pouring off a stream1 from an analogy between language and a river. DERIVATION: 1) They were met by a friend A friend met them. 2) English word nice Latin nescius. 3) noun purification from verb purify from adjective pure. from rivus

DERIVATION TERMONOLOGY Affix (16th C: from French affixe, Latin affixus = attached to)2 1) 2) 3) 4) the prefix (anti- in anti-war), the suffix (-ity in formality), the infix (-m- in recumbent3 but not cubicle4, a relic from Latin), and the interfix (reduced and in sun n sand).

Formative5 (1870s as formative element) = Slovak formant: 1) -ness in darkness, forming a noun from an adjective, 2) the prefix un- and suffix -ly in unkindly, 3) The dancers performed gracefully, the formatives (joned by plus signs) are the + dance + er + s perform + ed grace + full + ly. Compare and consider AFFIX, BASE and MORPHEME. Derivative6 ( from Old French derivatif, from Latin derivativus led off)

The Oxford Companion, p 261 2 The Oxford Companion, p 21 3 recumbent .qH!jUl-a?ms.adj LITERARY lying down: She looked at Timothy's recumbent form beside her.
4

cubicle

.!jit9-aH-jk<.

noun [C] a small space with walls or curtains around it, that is separate from the

rest of a room and where you can be private when taking clothes off, etc: a shower cubicle; I was getting undressed in one of the cubicles. 5 The Oxford Companion, p 375 6 derivative .cH!qHu-H-sHu.noun [C] SPECIALIZED a new word, made or developed from another word: 'Detestable' is a derivative of 'detest'.

MORPHOLOGICAL DERIVATION

In static terms: transformation trans + prefix form base + ation suffix

In dynamic terms: from form to transform to transformation pure purify purification transformation or transformation form transform transformation form formation transformation

N.B. pure purify purification purificational

purificationalism

antipurificationalistically

DERIVATIONAL PARADIGM derivational string In English, the abstract vernacular paradigm X Xy Xiness sand sandy sandiness Latinate paradigm beginning X Xal Xally centre: central, centrally, centralism, centralistic, centralistically, centrality, centralness, centralize, centralizing, centralized, centralizer, centralization actuality potentiality

Extra information about an American linguist ARONOFF

ARONOFF, Mark (Ph.D.1974) Mark Aronoff has been on the Stony Brook faculty since receiving his Ph.D. His research touches on almost all aspects of morphology and its rel ati ons t o phonol ogy, s ynt ax, s emanti cs , and ps ychol ingui sti cs. He has used a wide variety of methods in his work, ranging from t raditi onal morphol ogical anal ys i s of bot h prim ar y and s econdar y dat a from a wide variety of languages to lexical decision experiments to di cti onary-bas ed counti ng. He m aintai ns a s econdar y r es earch i nt erest i n writi ng s ys t em s, es peci all y how t he y rel at e t o s poken l anguage and linguistic awareness. He also has a strong commitment to promoting the teaching of linguistics at all levels and was the founding chair of the committee on language in the schools of the Linguistic Society of America. Recent research projects and publications have dealt with morphological productivity in English and its relation to theories of the mental lexicon; the lexical semantics of English affixes; suffix combinations in English and German; and the morphology of sign languages. From 1995 to 2001, he served as Editor of Language, the Journal of the Linguistic Society of America.