PAPER

“ENGLISH WORDS: STRUCTURE AND MEANING”

INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

ARRANGED BY:
NURUL ILMI USFADILA
NIM: 21084014010

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITAS ISLAM MAKASSAR
 FOREWORD
Praise be to God Almighty for giving the author the opportunity to complete this paper. It
is because of His grace and guidance that the author was able to finish the paper entitled
“ENGLISH WORD: STRUCTURE AND MEANING” on time.
Paper English Word: Structure and Meaning is prepared to fulfill the task from Mr.
Muhammad Chairil Imran in Introduction to Linguistics at English education departement of
Makassar Islamic University. In addition, the author also hopes that this paper can add insight for
readers about English Word: Structure and Meaning.
The author would like to thank profusely to Mr. Muhammad Chairil Imran as a lecturer
of Introduction to Linguistics. The task that has been given can increase knowledge and insight
related to the field occupied by the author. The author would also like to thank all those who
have assisted in the preparation of this paper.
The author realizes that this paper is still far from perfect. Therefore, constructive
criticism and suggestions will be accepted by the author for the perfection of this paper.

Makassar, 26 September 2022

The writer
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
FOREWORD
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem formulation
1.3 Paper writing purpose
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Varying definition of meaning
2.3 The morpheme
2.4 Lexical semantics
2.5 Deixis
CHAPTER III
CLOSING
Summary
BIBILIOGRAPHY
 CHAPTER 1
PRELIMINARY
1.1 Background
Words, like sentences and clauses, have a predictable internal structure. The plural marker on
nouns, for instance, occurs at the end of a word (e.g.laws), while what are known as
derivational affixes can occur at either the beginning or the end of a word (e.g. unlawful).
But the similarity between words and sentences and clauses goes beyond the fact that both
have structure. As Sinclair (1991) argues, very often the use of a particular word evokes a
whole series of other words. To describe this feature of language, Sinclair (1991: 110)
proposes the idiom principle, the idea “that a language user has available to him or her a
large number of semiconstructed phrases that constitute single choices, even though they
might appear to be analysable into segments.”

Lexical semantics has also been extensively studied within linguistics proper. For instance,
one way to describe the meanings of words in a more general sense is to categorize the
various relationships existing between them: words with similar or identical meanings are
considered synonyms, those with opposite meanings antonyms. Words such as beagle or
poodle are co-hyponyms: words whose meanings are included within the meaning of the
more general word dog. Another more controversial way of characterizing the meaning of
words has been done in the area of componential analysis. This kind of analysis involves
defining words by breaking them down into their component parts and assigning them
semantic features. On one level, the words puppy and infant share the feature ‘newlyborn.’
These words differ in that infant has the feature ‘human,’ while puppy does not. However,
this area of semantics has proven problematic, primarily because it is difficult to determine
exactly what semantic features are needed. While it is important to discuss existent words in
a language, it is equally important to study the specific processes, known as word formation
processes, that describe the ways that new vocabulary are added to a language.

In addition to having meaning, words also have a “pointing” function. This function is known
as deixis, a word of Greek origin that means ‘to point’ or ‘to show.’ In the sentence The
woman bought a clock, not only does the word woman have meaning (‘an adult female’) but
it points, or refers, to a particular woman in the external world. The ability of nouns and
pronouns to refer is one type of deixis: referential deixis. Other types include spatial and
temporal deixis. For instance, spatial deixis is indicated by prepositions such as in and on or
demonstratives such as this or that, which situate what is being discussed either close to the
speaker/writer (This wine is giving me a headache) or away from him/her (That person
always bothers me). The sentence I walked a mile yesterday contains two temporal markers
that anchor this sentence in the past: the past tense marker on the verb walked and the adverb
yesterday. Other time frames are indicated by the present tense marker in English as well as
the two aspect markers (perfective and progressive).
1.2 Problem Formulation
1. What is introduction to English word: structure and meaning?
2. What is varying definition of meaning?
3. What is the morpheme?
4. What is lexical semantics?
5. What is deixis?

1.3 Paper Writing Purpose

1. To know the introduction English word: structure and meaning.
2. To know varying definition of meaning.
3. To know the morpheme.
4. To know lexical semantics.
5. To know deixis.

CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

A. Varying Definition of Meaning

Types of meaning were distinguished: grammatical meaning and pragmatic meaning.
Grammatical meaning was concerned with the meaning that could be derived directly from
the words, phrases, clauses, and sentences in which language was encoded. Thus, at this level
of meaning, a sentence such as The woman called her husband is meaningful because, for
instance, the word woman designates an adult female and the past tense marker on the verb
indicates that the act of calling took place at some time in the past. The other words in the
sentence could be subjected to a similar analysis. This is meaning as it is represented at the
level of grammar.
 Pragmatic meaning, in contrast, describes meaning as a product of the social context in
which language takes place. Consequently, when a father says to his two children We’re
going to be late, the full meaning of this statement is more than the sum of the words it
contains. Instead, it is a polite way for the father to tell his children to “hurry up.” This is not
to suggest that the words themselves are not meaningful, but rather that the full meaning of
the statement transcends the words that it contains.
Although most semanticists capture this two-way distinction, they do so in different
ways. In popular usage, the distinction between grammatical and pragmatic meaning has
been captured by, respectively, the notions of denotation and connotation. Denotation relates
to the dictionary sense of a word, connotation the associations a word evokes. Thus, at the
level of denotation, a politician is an individual elected to public office (at least in one sense
of the word). However, increasingly the word has developed negative connotations so that
for many people, a politician is somebody who, for instance, is not to be trusted and will say
anything to anyone to get elected. Lyons (1977: 50–6) argues for three types of meaning:
descriptive, social, and expressive. Descriptive meaning is related to grammatical meaning;
social and expressive meaning are two subtypes of pragmatic meaning. Social meaning
“serves to establish and maintain social relations” (Lyons 1977: 51). Expressive meaning is
more particular to the individual and characterizes the particular meaning that individuals add
to language when they speak.
Descriptive meaning, Lyons (1977: 51) asserts, “has been of central concern in
philosophical semantics.” For this reason, it will be the primary focus of this chapter. And
while many linguists and philosophers may, as Lyons does, subcategorize pragmatic
meaning, it is a separate type of meaning deserving of separate treatment.
B. The Morpheme
Morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit that has meaning. Morpheme cannot be
further divided into smaller forms of language, both those that can stand alone or those that
cannot stand alone. Morpheme can be exemplified by words like below.
unbreakable: un-, break,- able (3 morphemes)
flies: fly,-is (2 morphemes)
technique: technique (1 morphemes)
From the example above, it can be seen that morphemes can be in the form of affixes,
roots, and words.
The following are types and examples of morphemes in English.
a. Free Morpheme
Free morpheme is a morpheme that can stand alone into a word without being bound by
another morpheme. These free morphemes are further grouped into two, namely lexical
morphemes (open-class) and functional morphemes (closed-class).
 1. Lexical Morpheme
Lexical morpheme is a morpheme that can stand alone and can accept affixes , suffixes or
prefix. This morpheme consists of:
 noun: excitement
 adjective: irregular
 verb: enforce
 adverb: downward

2. Functional Morpheme
A functional morpheme is a morpheme that can stand alone, but cannot accept affixes,
either suffixes or prefixes. These morphemes include:
 preposition: at, on, in, off, beside
 pronoun: I, you, they, we, he
 conjunction: and, or, but
 interjection: wow!, huff!, ah!
 article: a, an, the
 demostrative: that, this, these, those
b. Bound Morpheme
Bound morpheme is a morpheme that cannot stand alone, because it must be bound with
another morpheme to become a word. These bound morphemes are further grouped into
two, namely derivational morphemes and inflectional morphemes.
1. Derivational Morpheme
Derivational morpheme is a morpheme that changes the class of words or the
meaning of words. This morpheme is in the form of affixes, prefixes and suffixes. Example:

 happy (adj) + happiness word class

–ness (suffix) (noun) : changed
 un- (prefix) + unkind (adj) : meaning changes
kind (adj)
2. Inflectional Morpheme
Inflectional morpheme is a morpheme that does not cause a change in word class
and word meaning. This morpheme only affects the number (plurality) and form of time
(tenses). Example:
 dog (noun) + –s (plural) dogs (noun)
 wait (verb) + –ed (tense) waited (verb)
C. Lexical Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning (Verhaar, 2010 in Dhanawaty et al, 2017, p. 87). This
term comes from the Greek, namely "semantikos" which means to give a sign, important. In
other words, etymologically, semantics is the study of the meaning of signs.
 Type Semantic Type
According to Chaer (2015, pp. 6-11) there are four types of semantics which are
distinguished based on the level or part of the language that is the object of research, the four
types of semantics are as follows.
1) Lexical Semantics which is a type of semantics whose object of research is the
lexicon of a language.
2) Grammatical Semantics which is a type of semantics whose object of research
is grammatical meanings from the morphological level .
3) Syntactical Semantics which is a type of semantics whose research targets
focus on matters related to syntax.
4) Semantics Meaning which is a type of semantics relating to the use of stylistic
forms, such as metaphor, irony, litotes, etc.
 Semantic Benefits
Semantic knowledge will make it easier for writers such as journalists to choose and use
words with the right meaning in conveying information to the general public. Without
knowledge of the concepts of polysemy, homonymy, denotation, connotation and certain
nuances of meaning, it will be difficult for them to convey information accurately and
correctly.

D. Deixis
A deictic expression or deixis is a word or phrase (such as this, that, these, those, now,
then, here) that points to the time, place, or situation in which a speaker is speaking. Deixis is
expressed in English by way of personal pronouns, demonstratives, adverbs, and tense. The
term's etymology comes from the Greek, meaning "pointing" or "show," and it's pronounced
"DIKE-tik."
It sounds more complicated than it really is, for sure. For example, if you would ask a
visiting exchange student, "Have you been in this country long?" the words this country and
you are the deictic expressions, as they refer to the country where the conversation happens
and the person being addressed in the conversation, respectively.
 Types of Deictic Expressions
Deictic expressions can be one of several types, referring to who, where, and when.
Author Barry Blake explained in his book "All About Language":
  Common Frame of Reference Needed
Without a common frame of reference between the speakers, the deixis on its own would
be too vague to be understood, as illustrated in this example from Edward Finegan in
"Language: Its Structure and Use."
When people are together in conversation, it's easy to use deictics as a shorthand because
of the common context between those present—though those present don't actually have to be
in the same location at the same time, just understand the context. In the case of movies and
literature, the viewer or reader has enough context to understand the deictic expressions that
the characters use in their dialogue.

CHAPTER III
CLOSING
Summary
 Words in English have a particular structure: all have a base to which various kinds of
prefixes and suffixes can be attached. English has many derivational prefixes and suffixes.
These affixes can change the meaning of a word (e.g. happy/unhappy) or its part of speech
(e.g. happy[adjective]/happiness [noun]). English also has a small number of inflections: -ed
to mark the past tense on regular verbs, for instance, or -est to create the superlative form of
an adjective. Unlike derivational affixes, inflections do not change the meaning or part of
speech of a word, but instead mark various grammatical relations.
There are various ways to study the meaning of words. Both lexicographers and
semanticists have done extensive work in the area of lexical semantics. Lexicographers have
developed a methodology for determining the meaning of words for purposes of creating
dictionaries. Semanticists have developed various theories designed to study the meaning of
words.

BIBILIOGRAPHY
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/introducing-english-linguistics/english-words-
structure-and-meaning/F36E5D79B17D5268DBFA340AAB22F991
https://englishplusplus.id/morpheme/
https://serupa.id/semantik-pengertian-jenis-manfaat-analisis-makna-dsb/
https://www.thoughtco.com/deictic-expression-deixis-1690428