Chapter 14 - The Structure of Words

Aluno: Alessandro Martins dos Santos

Professor: Rodrigo Jappe
Disciplina: Língua Inglesa - Cultura e identidade
 Morphology
● The study of the structure of words;
● Lexicon and Grammar;
● Ways of describing the properties of different words
such as (a, horses, took, indescribable, washing
machine, and antidisestablishmentarianism).
● Divided into derivational morphology and inflectional
morphology;
 Derivational Morphology
● Studies the way in which new items of vocabulary can be
built up out of combinations of elements. E.g.
(in-describ-able);

The derivational field of a single word (from J. Tournier, 1985).

● Tournier’s detailed study includes extremely full listings of the
derivational affixes¹;
● Excluding variant forms, he gives 386 prefixes and 322 suffixes;
● Affixes of this kind come and go: -nik, for example in the late
1950s with the launch of a dog into space (pupnik, woofnik,
muttnik, etc.) Sputnik 2 spaceship.
● Most suffixes are purely lexical, their primary function being to
change the meaning of the base form: e.g. derivational suffixes
include: -ness, -ship, and -able.
● Prefixes have a purely lexical role, allowing the construction of a
large number of new words: un-, de-, anti-, super-, etc.

¹A set of letters generally added to the beginning or end

of a root word or base word to modify its meaning.
 Inflectional Morphology
● Describe the elements (or morphemes) out of which words
can be constructed;
● Many words cannot be broken down into grammatical parts:
boy, a, yes, person, elephant, problem. These words consist
only of a base (root) form and we can only describe what the
words mean;
● Few suffixes are purely grammatical, to show how the word
must be used in a sentence: e.g. plural -s, past tense -ed, and
comparative -er - These are the inflectional suffixes
 Inflectional Suffixes
● noun plural, e.g. -s (kid - kids)
● genitive case, e.g. -'s (He’s car)
● 3rd person singular, e.g. -s (She runs)
● past tense, e.g. -ed (I helped)
● contracted negative -n’t (She doesn’t like)
● objective pronoun, e.g. him (People loved him)
● present participle, e.g. -ing form (I love dancing)
● past participle, e.g. -ed form (I have worked)
● comparison, e.g. -er -est (He is taller than me - He is the fastest)
 Adjectives
● Inflections provide one of the ways in which the quality
expressed by an adjective can be compared;
● The comparison can be to the same degree, to a higher
degree, or to a lower degree.
● Base form of the adjective is called the absolute form: big,
happy;
● The inflections identify two steps in the expression of a higher
degree:
○ -er produces the comparative form: bigger, happier.
○ -est produces the superlative form: biggest, happiest.
 Adjectives
● There are no inflectional ways of expressing the same or lower
degrees in English;
● They are expressed syntactically:
○ Same degree: X is as big as Y.
○ Lower degrees: X is less interested than Y. - Z is the least
interested of all.
● A syntactic way of expressing higher degree:
○ Comparative: A is more beautiful than B.
○ Superlative: C is the most beautiful of all.
 Adjectives
There are two ways of expressing higher degree, which form
should be used?
● Adjectives of one syllable usually take the inflectional form: big,
thin, small, long, fat, red.
○ Exceptions: real, right, and wrong do not allow *realler,
*wrongest, etc.
○ Nor do participles when they are used as adjectives: That’s
the most burnt piece of toast I’ve ever seen! (not *the
burntest).
 Adjectives
● Adjectives of three syllables or more use only the syntactic
form: we do not say *beautifuller or *interestingest;
● Exceptions: few three-syllable adjectives which begin with un-
do allow the inflection: unhealthier and unhappiest;
● Two-syllable adjectives permit both forms of comparison: That’s
a quieter / more quiet place.
○ A few, such as proper and eager, are straightforward: they
do not allow the inflection at all.
● Adjectives ending in -y, -er, and -le, favour the inflection:
happier, cleverer, and gentlest are commoner than more/most
happy, etc. - It’s a stylistic choice.
Irregular comparative forms - pg 217