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Lecture 6.

WORD FORMATION IN THE ENGLISH

AND UKRAINIAN LANGUAGES. AFFIXATION.

1. Word-formation and other ways of nomination in Modern English.

2. Two levels of morphological analysis.
2.1. Principles of morphemic analysis and its basic units.
2.2. Derivational analysis and basic units of derivational system.
3. Affixation. Classification of affixes.

1. Word-formation and other ways of nomination in Modern English.

Language is the main means of human intercourse. The communicative

function, is the main function of the language; it is closely connected with the
other, nominative function. We’ll speak about this function in more detail.
Nominative function is the function of giving names to things, objects; it is
called nomination, i.e. a word is a nominative unit. What are the means of
nomination in English and in Ukrainian?

Most often the new objects are named with the help of words already
existing in the language. What is meant here is change of meaning. It's the first
means of nomination.
Creation of new nominative units which may be words or word-groups - is
the other means of nomination. New words are never pure inventions, i.e. they are
never made up of nothing.
Very many words are borrowings, i.e. they are taken from other languages,
e.g., detente, sputnik.
Another way of nomination is split of polysemy, when the word is highly
polysemantic, some of its meanings are drift so far apart that the link between them
is lost. E.g. watch existed in OE, it meant "vigil" (бодрствование), then it meant
"people who were on guard'' (стража); 2. “a primitive device showing time”; 3.
"new instrument, more perfect, showing time". By and by "a primitive device..."
was forgotten, and the link between it and the "new instrument..." was forgotten;
now there are two homonymous words: watch - 1. vigil, 2. instrument showing
time.
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Another type of nomination is numerous abbreviations, e.g., YCL, exam,
p.m., a.m., etc.
Opposed to all these there is a way of nomination which is more important,
it is the creation of new words. (word-formation). E.g., bridge-builder,
neocolonialism, wage-freeze, minicar, writer. Some words are formed with the
help of suffixes or prefixes, i.e. the formation of new words out of morphological,
derivational elements existing in the language, after some definite patterns. This is
what is called word-formation – is a patterned, way of making new words out of
the material existing in the language. W-formation is one of the main means of
nomination. It differs from the other types of nomination because it's a patterned
way (some linguists are of opinion that abbreviation is patterned too, but its
patterns are different from those of word-formation).
Change of meaning and split of polysemy are closely connected.
Abbreviation is connected with patterned ways (according to some linguists). All
the ways of nomination are at the same time ways of replenishing of the
vocabulary, but word-formation is only one part of replenishing of the vocabulary.

2. The two levels of morphological analysis.

In Modern linguistics there are two levels of approach to the study of

morphological structure of words: the level of morphemic analysis (i.e.
segmentation of a word into morphemes, the number and type of these
morphemes), and the level of derivational analysis (i.e. derivational pattern after
which the word has been built). E.g., en/courage – en/courage/ment – the number
of morphemes is 2 and 3, the morphological structure of these words is different;
en/courage/ment - courage/ous/ly – the number of morphemes is the same,
but the nature is different: pf – root – sf, R – sf – sf.
en/courage/ment – un/employ/ment – the number and the nature of
morphemes is the same, thus, according to the morphemic analysis their structure
is the same (pf – R – sf). But the derivational structure is different: the first is the
suffixal formation – encourage/ment; the second case is a prefixal formation -
un/employ/ment.

2.1. Principles of morphemic analysis and its basic units.

The basic unit of the morphemic level is the morpheme. It is defined as the
smallest indivisible two-facet language unit. Two-facet here means an association
of a certain meaning with a certain sound-form (a morpheme is the smallest
meaningful unit of the language). Morphemes may be classified from a) the
semantic point of view, b) the structural point of view.
Semantically morphemes fall into two classes: root-morphemes and
affixational morphemes. Roots and affixational morphemes make two distinct
classes of morphemes due to the different roles they play in the word-structure.
The root-morpheme is a morpheme in which the lexical meaning is concentrated,
i.e. it's the lexical nucleus of the word. E.g., teach – in teach, teacher, teaching.
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Affixational morphemes are subdivided according to their position, into prefixes,
suffixes and infixes, and according to their function and meaning, into derivational
and functional affixes. A prefix preceeds the root-morpheme, a suffix follows it.
An infix is an affix placed within the word, like -n- in stand. The type is not
productive. Functional affixes serve to convey grammatical meaning; they build
different forms of one and the same word, e.g., near, nearer, nearest; son, son's,
sons, sons'. Derivational affixes form different words with different lexical and
lexico-grammatical meaning, e.g., foolish, foolishly, foolishness. Derivational and
functional morphemes may happen to be identical in sound form, but they are
substantially different in meaning and function. E.g., unwanted, “-ed” is not a
functional affix as in played, studied, but derivational. Lexicology is primarily
concerned with derivational affixes, the other group of functional affixes is the
domain of grammarians.
Structurally morphemes fall into three types: free morphemes, bound
morphemes, semi-free (semi-bound) morphemes.
A free-morpheme is defined as one that coincides with the stem or a word-
form (the stem is the part of the word which remains unchangeable throughout the
paradigm). A great many root-morphemes are free, that is those root morphemes
that coincide with the stem of the word, e.g., friendship.
A bound-morpheme exists only as a part of a word. Affixes are usually
considered to be bound-morphemes (-ness, -ize, -ship, dis-, de-), but many root-
morphemes, especially those of Greek or Romanic origin, are bound morphemes,
e.g., conceive, theoretical, barbarism.
Semi-bound (semi-free) morphemes are those that can function both as an
affix and as a free morpheme, e.g., well, half in well-known, to feel well, half-done,
half an hour.
The relationship between the two classes of morphemes discussed above can
be graphically presented in the following diagram:

The analysis of word-structure on the morphemic level consists in breaking a

word into the constituent morphemes. It is the method of Immediate and Ultimate
Constituents. This method is based on a binary principle which means that we
divide the word into two parts at a time. At each stage these two components are
referred to as the Immediate Constituents (ICs). Each IC at the next stage of
analysis is in its turn broken into two smaller meaningful elements. The analysis is
completed when we arrive at constituents incapable of further division, i.e.
morphemes. They are referred to as Ultimate Constituents (UCs). The procedure of
segmenting a word into its UC morphemes may be presented with the help of a
box-like diagram:
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The lower layer contains the ICs resulting from the first cut, the upper one
those from the second, the shaded boxes representing the ICs which are at the same
time the UCs of the word.
According to the number of morphemes words are classified into
monomorphic and polymorphic. Monomorphic or root-words consist of only one
root morpheme, e.g., small, dog, make, give. Polymorphic words according to the
number of root-morphemes are classified into two subgroups: monoradical (or one-
root words) and polyradical words, i.e. words which consist of two or more roots.
Monoradical words fall into two subtypes: 1) radical-suffixal words, i.e. words that
consist of one root-morpheme and one or more suffixal morphemes, e.g.,
acceptable, acceptability, blackish, etc.; 2) radical-prefixal words, i.e. words that
consist of one root-morpheme and a prefixal morpheme, e.g., outdo, rewrite; 3)
prefixo-radical-suffixal, i.e. words which consist of one root, a prefixal and a
suffixal morphemes, e.g. disagreeable, misinterpretation, etc.
Polyradical words fall into two types; 1) polyradical words which consist of
two or more roots with no affixations morphemes, e.g., bookshelf, lamp-shade,
etc.; 2) words which contain at least two roots and one or more affixational
morphemes, e.g., safety-pin, light-mindedness, wedding-pie, class-consciousness,
etc.

The morphemic analysis defines the Ultimate Constituents (UCs), their

typical sequence and arrangement, but it doesn't reveal the hierarchy of morphemes
making up the word. The morphemic analysis doesn't aim at finding out the nature
and arrangement of ICs of the word, e.g., unmanly and discouragement are
referred to the same type as both are segmented into three UCs representing one
root, one prefixational and one suffixational morpheme.
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2.2. Derivational analysis and basic units of derivational system.

Derivationally all words form two structural classes: simple, or non-derived

words and complex words or derivatives. Non-derived are words which cannot be
segmented into ICs. Morphemically it may be monomorphic when its stem
coincides with the free root-morpheme, e.g., hand, come, blue, etc., or
polymorphic when it is a sequence of bound morphemes, e.g., anxious, theory,
public, etc. Derivatives are secondary, motivated units, made up as a rule of two
ICs, e.g., friendliness, schoolmasterish, etc. The ICs are brought together
according to specific rules of order and arrangement preconditioned by the system
of the language. It follows that all derivatives are marked by the fixed order of
their ICs.
The aim of derivational analysis is to study the nature, type and arrangement
of the ICs of the word. In other words, the derivational analysis aims at
establishing structural and semantic patterns words are built on, i.e. its derivative
structure. Though the derivative structure of the word is closely connected with its
morphemic structure and often coincides with it, it differs from it in principle.
The basic elementary units of the derivative structure of words are:
derivational bases, derivational affixes and derivation patterns.
A derivational base is the part; of the word to which another base or an affix
is added to make up a new word. Structurally derivational bases fall into three
classes: 1) bases that coincide with morphological stems, e.g., duti/ful, dutiful/ly;
day-dream, day-dream/er; 2) bases that coincide with word-forms, e.g.,
un/smiling, un/known; 3) bases the coincide with word-groups of different
degrees of stability, e.g., second-rate/ness, flat-waist/ed, etc.
The first class, i.e. bases that coincide with morphological stems, make the
largest group. Bases of this class are functionally and semantically distinct from all
kinds of stems. Functionally, the morphological stem is the part of the word which
is the starting point for its forms, the stem remains unchanged through its word-
forms, e.g., filmstar (0), filmstar(s), filmstar('s), filmstar(s'). A derivational base is
the starting point for different words, e.g. the nominal base hand gives rise to
nouns (hand-bag, handwriting, shorthand), to adjectives (handy), verbs (to hand).
Derivational affixes are ICs of numerous derivatives in all parts of speech.
Derivational affixes differ from affixational morphemes in their function within the
word, in their distribution and in their meaning.
Derivational affixes possess two basic functions: 1) stem-building which is
common to all affixational morphemes: derivational and non-derivational. E.g.,
"ic-" in public, comic, music; 2) word-building which is the function of building a
lexical unit of a structural and semantic type different from the one represented in
the source unit, e.g., historic, economic, classic.
Both bases and affixes are combined according to a set of rules known as
derivational patterns. A derivational pattern is a scheme on which words are made
up. The pattern consists of two parts: the left and the right. In the left-hand part we
have the base and another base or and affix, and in the right-hand part we have the
resulting word. E.g.:
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im/person/a/liz/ation – pf + R + 3sf (morphological composition)
impersonalize / ation – v + sf = N (derivational pattern)
en/courage/ment – pf + R + sf (morph. pat.); V + sf = N (deriv. pat.)
un/employ/ment – pf + R + sf (morph. pat.); pf + n = N (deriv. pat.)
Morphemically they are the same, but derivationally they are different: the
1 – suffixal formation, the 2nd – prefixal formation.
st

The derivational bases, derivational affixes and derivational patterns are the
micro units of the derivational system of the English language; the macro units of
this system are the derivational row of words and the derivational cluster. These
two units comprise words built on the same or different derivational patterns.
to father father fatherhood fatherless fatherly
V N N A D
- mother - - -
- brother - - -
Vertically we have words with the same derivational element (n + less = A);
these words are called a derivational row (set): it is a group of words built on the
same derivational pattern, the words possess the identical affixal morpheme, the
words have the same structural meaning, though each of them has a meaning of its
own (in the given example the common derivational meaning – devoid of smth
denoted by the base).
Horizontally we have words containing the same root and built on different
patterns; these are the so-called derivational clusters. A derivational cluster (DC)
is a complex unity of words possessing the same root-morpheme but built on a
number of patterns and characterized by specific organization.
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It is not an abstract theory, it helps to understand the meaning of the new

words.

3. Affixation. Classification of affixes.

Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding

derivational affixes to stems. On the morphemic level every word formed by
means of affixation has only one root-morpheme, which is its semantic center and
one or more derivational affixes. For instance, the word displease has only one
root-morpheme and one derivational affix – the prefix dis- . On the derivational
level derived words comprise a primary stem, the stem being in itself either a
simple, a derived or a compound stem and a derivational affix. For instance,
violonist = n + -ist (a simple stem), friendliness = (n + -ly) + -ness (a derived
stem), chairmanship = (n + n) + -ship ( a compound stem).
Prefixation is the formation of new words with the help of prefixes.
Prefixes are affixes which precede the root. There are about fifty prefixes in
Modern English. Prefixes may function in more than one part of speech,
prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the stem, but they seldom affect
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the lexico-grammatical meaning of the word, they don’t change the part of
speech of the word.
Prefixes may be classified from synchronical and diachronical approach.
Synchronically prefixes can be classified in different ways.
Semantically prefixes are classified according to the meaning they
convey to the derived word. There are some groups of prefixes:
1. Negative prefixes are prefixes of negative meaning such as: un-, in-,
dis-, ir-, im-. E.g.: ungrateful, incorrect, irreligious, immaterial. Prefix
in- occurs in different phonetic shapes depending on initial sound of
the stem it is affixed to: il- (before [l]), ir- (before [r]), im- (before [p,
m]), in- in all other cases, e.g. illegal, irrational, improbable, immobile,
inactive.
2. Prefixes denoting reversal of an action such as: un-, re-. E.g.: rewrite,
unfasten.
3. Prefixes denoting order and time relation such as: fore-, pre-, post-,
over- E.g.: foresee, pre-historic, post-position, overspread.
4. Prefixes denoting locative relation such as: sub-, inter-,
trans, super-. E.g.: subway, transformation, superstructure .
5. Prefixes denoting pejoration such as: mis-, pseudo-. E.g.: misprint.
16. Prefixes denoting oppositions such as: contra-, anti-, counter-. E.g.:
contradiction, antipode.
Stylistically prefixes may be classified into neutral and coloured.
Neutral prefixes occur in all styles of speech. E.g.: over-, un-, pre-, dis-,
sub-, etc.
Coloured prefixes are used only in particular style. E.g.: super- is peculiar
to the style of scientific prose.
The degree of productivity is shown by the number of words with this
prefix. This is the ability of prefixes to make new words. Productive prefixes
can make new words in Modern English. E.g.: un-, in-, re- etc.
Unproductive prefixes don’t make new words. E.g.: be-, de-, arch-, co- etc.
Type of base to which prefixes are added. Some prefixes can
combine with the stem of only one part of speech.
Denominal prefixes are used only with the stem of nouns: ex-, arch-, dys-,
per-. E.g.: ex-president, dysgarmony, archbishop.
Deverbal prefixes are used only with the stem of verb: be-, de-, en-, out-,
re-. E.g.: rewrite, belong.
Deadjectival prefixes are used only with the stem of adjective: un-, ir-.
E.g.: uneasy, irregular.
But there are some prefixes which are used with nouns, verbs, adjectives:
co-, contra-, mis-, post-, pre-, sub-, over- etc. E.g.: co-operate (verb), co-
operation (noun), co-operative (adjective).
Class prefixes form. There are prefixes which can transpose parts of
speech but they are much fewer in number. Prefixes which form verbs: be- :
belittle, befoul, belong; de- : decamp, debus;
en- : enfree, enlarge.
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Suffixation is the formation of words with the help of suffixes. Suffixes
usually modify the lexical meaning of stems and transfer words to a different part
of speech. Chains of suffixes occurring in derived words having two and more
suffixal morphemes are sometimes referred to in Lexicography as compound
suffixes. Such is the case, for instance, with the suffixes: -ably = -able + -ly (e.g.
profitably, unreasonably); -ically = -ic + -al + -ly (e.g. musically, critically); -ation
= -ate + -ion (e.g. fascination, isolation) and some others.
There are different classifications of suffixes in linguistic literature, as
suffixes may be divided into several groups according to different principles.
The first principle of classification that, one might say, suggests itself, is the
part of speech formed. With the scope of the part-of-speech classification suffixes
naturally fall into several groups such as:
1) noun-suffixes, i.e. those forming or occurring in nouns (e.g. –er, -dom, -ness,
-ation, etc. cf. Teacher, brightness, justification, etc.)
2) adjective-suffixes, i.e. those forming or occurring in adjectives (e.g. –able,
-les, -ful, –ic, -ous, etc. cf. Agreeable, careless, doubtful, poetic, courageous)
3) verb-suffixes, (e.g. –en, -fy, -ize, etc. cf. Satisfy, harmonize, etc.)
4) adverb-suffixes (e.g. –ly, -ward, cf. Quickly, eastward, etc.)
A classification of suffixes may also be based on the criterion of sense
expressed by the suffix. Proceeding from this principle suffixes are classified into
various groups within the bound of a certain part of speech. For instance, noun-
suffixes fall into those denoting:
1) the agent of verbal action (e.g., -er, -ant, etc cf. Baker, dancer, defendant).
2) nationality (e.g. –an, -ian, -ese, etc. cf. Arabian, Russian Chinese, etc.).
3) collectivity (e.g. –age, -dom, –ery (-ry), etc. cf. freightage, officialdom,
peasantry, etc.).
4) diminutiveness (e.g. –i.e, -let, -ling, etc. cf. Birdie, cloudlet, wolfling, etc.).
The usage of diminutive in English, i.e. words describing small specimen of
the things denoted by corresponding primary words is rather restricted. Even
those words that are usually called “diminutive” are at the same time adjectives,
i.e. they express the feeling with which the person or thing described is regarded.
The diminutive suffixes: -ling, -let, (-et, -kin), -in, -ette, are not frequent.
The suffix –ling has diminutive force in some names of a young animals:
catling, duckling; and young plants: oakling, seedling.
Most personal nouns with the suffix –ling are expressive of law estimation
or contempt, e.g. dukeling, kingling.
The suffix -let is more frequently added to names of things than to name of
persons. Examples of the former are: booklet, eyelet. Words in –let denoting
people, e.g. princelet, kinglet, usually have derogatory meaning, though less
strongly than derivatives with the suffix –ling.
The suffix –kin with diminutive or endearing force, is today used only a
jocular formative with a depreciative tingle, e.g. lordkin, boykin, etc. The suffix
–ette is the French –ette, e.g. novelette, leaderette – short editorial paragraph;
recent American coinages are: kitchenette - miniature kitchen in modern flats.
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Suffixes may also be classified into various groups according to a lexical-
grammatical character of the stem the suffix is usually added to. Proceeding from
this principle one may divide suffixes into:
1) those added to verbal-stems, (e.g. –er, -ing, -ment, -able, etc. cf. Speaker,
reading, agreement, suitable, etc.);
2) those added to a noun-stem (e.g. –less, -ish, -ful, -ist, -some, etc. cf.
Handless, childish, mouthful, violinist, troublesome, etc);
3) those added to adjective-stem (e.g. –en, -ly, -ish, -ness, etc. cf. Blacken,
slowly, reddish, brightness, etc.);
Still another classification of suffixes may be worked out if one examines them
from the angle of stylistic reference. Recent research has revealed that derivational
affixes, suffixes in particular, are characterized by quite a definite stylistic
reference falling into two basic classes:
1) those characterized by neutral stylistic reference such as: -able, -er, -ing;
2) those having a certain stylistic value such as –oid, -(i)form, -aceous, -tron.
Suffixes with neutral stylistic reference may occur in words of different
lexico-stylistic layers. Cf. Agreeable/steerable (e.g. steerable spaceship), etc. As
for suffixes of the second class, they are restricted in use to quite definite lexico-
stylistic layers of words, in particular to terms, cf. Rhomboid, asteroid,
crustaceous, cyclotron, etc.
Suffixes are subdivided into monosemantic and polysemantic. The noun-
suffix –er is used to coin words denoting in particular (1) persons following
some special trade or profession cf. Baker, driver, etc., (2) persons doing a
certain action at the moment in question, cf. Packer, chooser, etc., (3) device,
tool, implement, cf. Blotter, boiler, etc.
Many homonymic derivational suffixes can be found among those forming
both different parts of speech and the same part of speech. For instance the
adverb-suffix –ly added to adjective-stems is homonymous to the adjective-
suffix –ly affixed to noun –stems, cf. Quickly, slowly, and lovely, friendly.
Distinction should also be made between terminal and non-terminal suffixes.
Terminal suffixes take only the final position in a word, such as: the nounal
suffixes –al (refusal, survival), -hood, -ness, -ship, -kin, -let, -ling.
Non-terminal suffixes can be followed by other suffixes, e.g. lead-leader-
leadership, love-lovely-loveliness, etc.
In the Ukrainian language the suffixation is very productive way of word
formation. Suffixes transfer the word to another part of speech. Usually it occurs
in the noun and adjective formation, rarely in verb and other part of speech
formation.
досліджувати – дослідник
правда – правдивий
зима – зимувати
In some cases suffixes do not shift word to another part of speech.
злодій – злодюга
дід – дідуга
дівка – дівуля
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In Ukrainian there is such kind of word-formation as the so called “zero
suffixation” – the formation of new word without adding derivational affix. It may
occur in:
1) Verbal nouns – виробити виріб, написати напис
2) Adjectival nouns - зеленийзелень, молодиймолодь
3) Some adjectives – золотозолотий, вдовавдовий
4) Some numerals - стосотий, п’ятьп’ятий
5) Some nouns- кумкума, онуконука
In Ukrainian besides prefixation and suffixation exist three more ways of
word-formation. They are postfixation, suffixation-postfixation and
prefixation-postfixation.
Postfixation is used to form verbs with the help of postfix –ся.
сушити – сушитися
лити – литися
Suffixation – postfixation is the formation of words by adding suffix and
postfix to stems. Usually it occurs in verb-formation from noun and adjective
stems.
колос – колоситися
роса – роситися
гордий – гордитися

Prefixation – postfixation is the way of word – formation when prefix and

postfix are added to the stem.
літати - злітатися
бігти - розбігтися
читати - вчитатися