Morphology: Course Code:9077

MORPHOLOGY
Course Code:9077
Study Guide
Department of English
Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities
ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY
MORPHOLOGY
BS English (Four-year Program)
Code: 9077 Unit: 1-9
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
(Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities)
ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD
i
(All Rights Reserved with the Publisher)
Year of Printing ........................ 2023
Quantity .................................... 1000
Layout Setting .......................... Muhammad Zia Ullah
Incharge Printing ..................... Dr. Sarmad Iqbal
Printer........................................ Allama Iqbal Open University
Publisher ................................... Allama Iqbal Open University,

Islamabad
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COURSE TEAM
Chairman of the Course Team Dr Malik Ajmal Gulzar
Course Development Coordinator Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan

Associate Professor
AIOU Islamabad
Writers Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan(AIOU Islamabad)

Prof Ambreena Qayyum (NUML Islamabad)
Dr Anum Ilyas (Iqra University)
Reviewers Prof Dr Nadeem Haider Bukhari

Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan
Editor Ms Humera Ejaz (APCP, AIOU Islamabad)
First Edition December 2023
iii
FOREWORD
The BS English study guides aim to include all possible queries that students may
have and gently stimulate their intellect to probe into further questions. The courses
intend the for professional development of the students in various disciplines of
linguistics and literature using versatile methods adopted by course writers while
writing the units. The topics and ideas presented in each unit are clear and relevant.
Owing to the same reason, the text is comprehensive and accessible to students
having no prior knowledge of linguistics and literature.
The BS English study guides are a powerful tool even for BS English tutors
teaching in various regions, focusing upon a uniform scheme of studies for all the
courses. Also, these courses will help tutors by providing adequate teaching
material for independent teaching. All study guides strictly follow the standardized
nine-unit sub-division of the course content for optimum understanding. The short
introduction at the beginning provides an overview of the units followed by
achievable learning objectives. The study guides also define difficult terms in the
text and guide the students to access learning. The units are finally summed up in
summary points and the assessment questions not only guide students but help to
revise the content developed upon previously formed concepts. Moreover, they
provide links and a list of the suggested readings for further inquiry.
In the end, I am happy to extend my gratitude to the course team chairman, course
development coordinator, unit writers, reviewers, and editors for the development
of the course. Any suggestions for improvement in the program/courses will be
fondly welcomed by the Department of English.
Vice-Chancellor
iv
INTRODUCTION
‘Morphology’ (Course Code: 9077) is one of the core topics in the field of
Linguistics at the BS English level. It is an introductory course which is focused on
the internal structure of ‘word’ as a unit of language. The course is not only an
introduction to morphology as a discipline of linguistics but also familiarizes the
students with important concepts and terminology used in morphology such as
‘morpheme’, ‘allomorph’ and ‘morph’. These concepts are further explained with
examples from English and are supplemented with relevant exercises and
discussions.
The objectives of the course are to introduce important concepts (such as
morphemes, inflectional and derivational operations, word study strategies etc.)
used in the field of morphology as an important level in linguistics and enable the
students to explore and analyze these concepts with data from English and other
languages. In addition, the module highlights some major morphological models
and theories prepare the students for morphological concepts in future.
With this kind of rich content, it is hoped, the module will provide a solid
foundation to the students of the BS English program for enhancing their insight
into the field of morphology. This coursebook is written in connection with another
course ‘Syntax (Course Code: 9066)’ and builds alongside the concepts and
features of syntactic structure discussed in it. Ideally, this course on ‘morphology’
should be taught to students before they are taking ‘syntax’ as a course.
The following are unit-wise objectives as given in the present module:
Unit-1: Introduces morphology as an overall discipline of linguistics. For the
proposal, ‘morphology’ is defined and compared with other sub-fields
of linguistics such as phonology, syntax, semantics, and other important
sub-disciplines.
Unit-2: Defines ‘word’ and provides an in-depth introduction to ‘word’ as the
main subject matter of morphology. As discussed in the last unit,
morphology is the study of the internal structure of words of a word, we
need to explore it further in detail and make the basic subject of
morphology for the students. This unit explores words as a meaningful
building block of language and analyzes words further as types, tokens,
and lexical items.
Unit-3: Takes further into detail ‘words and morphemes’. It starts with
analyzing the structure of words by explaining parts of words such as
base form and affixes. It goes on to d morphemes and various kinds of
morphemes (bound and free). Here roots are also made clear for the
students to differentiate among the morphemes, roots stems stem. unit
end by explaining affixes (suffices prefixes and infixes) with examples
from English and from other languages.
Unit-4: Presents the internal structure of the word - it is very important to
explore this structure the and various morphological operations
involved. This unit is going to explore the morphological rules creating
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various types of morphemes and allomorphs. The study of allomorphs
is the focus of this unit, and the relevant topics are highlighted for the
understanding of students.
Unit-5: Provides a brief description of the word formation processes. It briefly
defines and explains various processes with examples such as affixation,
compounding, conversions, clipping, blending, suppletion, acronyms,
borrowing, coinage, apophony, and reduplication.
Unit-6: Discusses further the internal structure of words focusing on describing
various ways through which words are combined and compound and
phrasal words are created. The topics included in this unit are;
compounds versus phrases, compound verbs, compound adjectives,
compound nouns, headed and headless compounds, and phrasal words.
Unit-7: Defines ‘inflectional morphology’ as an important field and discusses
how various morphological operations are carried out to form words and
modify them convey grammatical and content meaning. In this unit, we
have also introduced various types of inflexion and grammatical
categories related to and as part of inflectional morphology.
Unit-8: Deals mainly with various strategies for studying and analyzing words.
The idea is to enable students to explore word structure and acquire and
use knowledge related to the study of word structure.
Unit-9: Provides a brief survey on ‘morphological theories’. For this purpose,
major morphological theories are briefly introduced with their brief
descriptions and specific features.
This is a book mainly written for the students of BS English at Allama Iqbal Open
University. The book, however, also caters for the needs of any university in
Pakistan offering the topic (morphology) at the undergraduate level. It is also
relevant for a course on introduction to ‘grammar’ and ‘syntax’ and is equally
effective for teachers teaching English linguistics at school and college levels.
The step-by-step approach used in the book is designed to introduce the
fundamental aspects of ‘morphology’ to undergraduate students with no or little
background in the subject area. Accordingly, it is hoped that the students would
find some interest in the topic towards the end of the course and would explore it
for their major research in future.
Happy reading!

Associate Professor of English
Course Coordinator
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All praise to ALLAH (SWT), we finally made our way to formulate a long-thought
concept into the shape of a book. Several people were instrumental in making it a
reality. The undersigned would like to express his gratitude to:
• Prof. Dr Zia Ul-Qayyum, Vice Chancellor, Allama Iqbal Open University,

Islamabad for showing his trust and confidence in the faculty at English
Department by allowing us the launch of four-year BS English degree program of
which the present course is a part.
• Prof. Dr Hassan Raza, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at
AIOU Islamabad, for his very kind support and guidelines during the launch of the
program and the process of developing materials including this coursebook.
• The members of the Committee-of-Courses (CoC) of the English Department
including Prof. Dr Nadeem Haider Bukhari (UoAJK), Prof. Dr Rafique Ahmed
Memon (UoSindh), Prof. Dr Saiqa Imtiaz (BZU), and Prof. Dr Munazza Yaqub
(IIUI) for their suggestions and recommendations.
• Dr Malik Ajmal Gulzar, Chairman Department of English for his support and
suggestions during the write-up of this course.
Special thanks to my wonderful co-authors and reviewers who have been very
patient with my queries and, at times, enquiries during the development of the
course - for their great work and valuable suggestions. They include:
• Prof. Dr Nadeem Haider Bukhari (UoAJK, Muzafarabad).

• Dr Saira Maqbool (AIOU, Islamabad).
• Dr Munir Khan Khattak, (AIOU, Islamabad)
My thanks are also due to Dr Zahid Majeed (Director of APCP) and Ms Humera
Ejaz (Editor at APCP) and the very cooperative staff at PPU AIOU Islamabad.
The remaining shortcomings in the course are my own and any suggestions for the
improvement of the course would be wholeheartedly welcome and the same will
be incorporated in its subsequent revision.

Associate Professor of English
Course Coordinator
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CONTENTS
FORWORD .......................................................................................................... iv
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vii
Unit 1 INTRODUCTION TO MORPHOLOGY ...............................................1
Unit 2 WHAT IS A WORD? ..............................................................................17
Unit 3 WORDS AND MORPHEMES...............................................................33
Unit 4 MORPHOLOGICAL RULES ...............................................................45
Unit 5 WORD FORMATION PROCESSES ...................................................59
Unit 6 COMPOUND WORDS AND PHRASES WORDS..............................87
Unit 7 INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY .....................................................99
Unit 8 WORD STUDY STRATEGIES ...........................................................117
Unit 9 MORPHOLOGICAL THEORY .........................................................129
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Unit-1
INTRODUCTION TO MORPHOLOGY
Written by: Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan

Reviewed by: Dr Munir Khan Khattak
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CONTENTS
Introduction .......................................................................................................3
Learning Objectives .................................................................................................3
1.1 What is Morphology? .....................................................................................4
1.2 Morphology and Phonology ...........................................................................5
1.2.1 What is Phonology? ...............................................................................6
1.2.2 What is Morphology? ............................................................................6
1.3 Morphology and Graphology ..........................................................................7
1.4 Morphology and Syntax ..................................................................................8
1.5 Morphology and Semantics ..........................................................................10
1.6 Morphology and Phraseology .......................................................................11
1.7 Morphology and Sociolinguistics .................................................................13
1.8 Summary Points ............................................................................................14
1.9 Assessment and Evaluation...........................................................................15
1.10 Further Readings ...........................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Being the first unit of the module, the present chapter is going to introduce
morphology as an important discipline of linguistics. For the purpose, it is defined
and compared wit fields of linguistics such as phonology, syntax, semantics, and
other important sub-disciplines. Mainly, it covers the following topics in this unit:
o What is morphology?
o Morphology and phonology
o Morphology and graphology
o Morphology and syntax
o Morphology and semantics
o Morphology and phraseology
o Morphology and sociolinguistics
Based on these topics, it is hoped that the topic ‘What is morphology’ will be
made clear to the students.
While presenting these important topics on the subject, the following major
learning objectives were the focus of the unit.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Define morphology as a sub-field of linguistics.

• Compare morphology as a branch of linguistics with other branches such as
syntax, phonology, and semantics.
• Explore morphology as an important field of study in detail.
• Comment on morphology as the study of word structure.
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1.1 WHAT IS MORPHOLOGY?
In order to understand morphology as a subfield of linguistics, it is important to
understand the levels of the study of language.
A language can be studied at different levels. For example:
At word level = Morphology

At sound level = Phonology
At sentence level = Syntax
At meaning level = Semantics
And so on…
Note the following diagram and various levels of language studies. These are called
levels of linguistics:
Pragmatics: the study of

language in use (meaning in
context of discourse)
Semantics: the study of literal
meaning of phrases and sentences
Syntax: the study of sentence
structure (also called word order)
Morphology: the study of word
internal structure
Phonology: the study of
arrangement of sounds
Phonetics: the study of speech
sounds (production, transmission
and reception)
[figure taken from: tinyurl.com/mut8ucx2]
The term ‘morphology’ as a subject is defined as:
Morphology is the field of study which explores the internal construction of words.
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Morphology studies the internal structure of words and, as a subject, it forms one
of the core parts of linguistics today.
Morphology is a Greek term and is a combination of:
‘morph’ means ‘shape, form’, and - which means ‘the study of’.
In morphology, we study the structure of words. For example, if we want to study

the structure of a word like ‘badly’, we will be required to divide it into various
parts (technically called morphemes). So, it will be like this:
BAD + LY
Free morpheme Bound morpheme
(Badly = word)
This very simple analysis shows that ‘badly’ is a word made of two morphemes
(bad and ly) whereas ‘bad’ is a free morpheme and ‘ly’ is a bound morpheme and
together they make this word ‘badly’ possible. We will discuss these morphemes
in detail later in the next units.
Morphology, thus, is a sub-branch of linguistics. It was mentioned as a subject for

the first time around the 1850s by German linguist August Schleicher who used this
tr to study various forms of words.
In the next sections, we are going to compare ‘morphology’ with some other
important fields of linguistics.
1.2 Morphology and Phonology

Morphology and phonology are two distinct branches of linguistics. The former deals
with the internal structure of words and talks about word formation whereas the subject
matter of the later discipline is the sound system and speech distribution in a language.
The difference between phonology and morphology is very easy to understand if

one can remember that phonology deals with sound systems and morphology deals
with word formation. Phonology and morphology are some of the main sub-
branches in linguistic analysis of languages. Phonology is the study of sounds and
sound systems in languages. Morphology mainly deals with the words in a
language. Both these subject areas are important to analyze a language.
Let us look at the two terms, Morphology and Phonology, and the difference
between them in detail.
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1.2.1 What is Phonology?
Phonology is a subfield of linguistics that deals with the study of the sound systems
of languages. It focuses on the analysis of the patterns and relationships between
the sounds used in language, as well as the rules that govern how they are combined
to form words.
Phonology is concerned with the phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound
that can distinguish meaning in a language. For example, in English, the sounds /p/
and /b/ are distinct phonemes because they can change the meaning of a word, as
in "pat" and "bat."
Phonology also examines how sounds are organized into larger units, such as
syllables and words, and how they are affected by the surrounding sounds. For
example, in English, the pronunciation of the "t" in "cat" and "cart" is different
because of the influence of the surrounding sounds.
Phonology also deals with the study of intonation, stress, and rhythm in speech. These
aspects of speech are important for conveying meaning and emphasis in language.
Phonology is an important field of study for understanding the complex sound

systems of languages and how they function in communication.
1.2.2 What is Morphology?

Morphology is a subfield of linguistics that deals with the study of the structure of
words and how they are formed, as well as the rules governing their formation. It
focuses on the internal structure of words and the various meaningful units that
make them up, such as prefixes, suffixes, roots, and stems.
Morphology examines how words are created by combining smaller units of

meaning, known as morphemes, and how these morphemes are used to form words
with different grammatical functions, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
For example, the word "unhappy" consists of the prefix "un-" meaning "not," the
root "happy," and the suffix "-y" indicating an adjective.
Morphology also investigates how words change their form to reflect different
grammatical contexts, such as tense, number, and case. For example, the word "cat"
can become "cats" to indicate plurality, and "cats" to indicate possession.
Morphology plays an essential role in understanding how words are formed and
how they function within a language's grammar.
Now we can compare morphology with phonology and conclude the discussion.
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Morphology and phonology are two subfields of linguistics that study different
aspects of language.
Morphology is the study of how words are formed and how they relate to each
other. It examines the internal structure of words, including their roots, prefixes,
and suffixes. Morphology also investigates how words change in form to convey
different meanings or to reflect different grammatical functions, such as tense,
number, or case.
Phonology, on the other hand, is the study of how sounds are organized and used
in language. It looks at the sound system of a language, including the phonemes
(the smallest units of sound that distinguish one word from another), the rules
governing their distribution and pronunciation, and how they interact with each
other to form larger units such as syllables and words.
In short, morphology deals with the structure and formation of words, while
phonology deals with the sounds and sound patterns of a language. Both are
important areas of linguistics that help us better understand how language works.
1.3 MORPHOLOGY AND GRAPHOLOGY

Graphology is the study of handwriting as a means of analyzing character. Also
called handwriting analysis. Graphology in this sense is not a branch of linguistics
The term graphology is derived from the Greek words (meaning) "writing" and "study."
In linguistics, graphology is sometimes used as a synonym for graphemics, the

scientific study of the customary ways spoken language is transcribed.
In general, the scientific basis for graphological interpretations of personality is

questionable. (Graphology." Encyclopedia Britannica, 1973)
Graphology is the study and analysis of handwriting to infer personality traits,

emotions, and other personal characteristics. It is a controversial and largely
unproven field of study that is not widely recognized as a legitimate science.
Graphologists examine various aspects of handwriting, such as the size, shape, slant,
spacing, pressure, and rhythm of the writing, to make inferences about the writer's
personality, character, and emotions. For example, they may analyze the size of letters to
determine whether the writer is introverted or extroverted, or they may examine the
pressure of the writing to determine the writer's level of emotional intensity.
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However, scientific studies have not found consistent evidence to support the
claims of graphology. The results of graphological analyses are no more accurate
than chance or subjective impressions. Therefore, graphology is not considered a
reliable or valid method of personality assessment and is not used by most
psychologists or other mental health professionals.
Graphology in a real sense is not a level oa language study. Sometimes, it is

connected to morphology when linguists analyze handwritten or typed text for
specific purposes such as forensic investigations. Experts also use morphology
along with graphology when they want to explain some specific parts (morphemes)
used by certain individuals or communities for their studies.
Morphology and graphology are two different fields of study that are not directly
related to each other.
Morphology is a subfield of linguistics that deals with the study of the structure of
words and the rules governing the formation of words in a language. It analyzes the
internal structure of words and how they are related to each other through
morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning in a language.
Graphology, on the other hand, is a pseudoscientific practice that claims to be able

to infer personality traits, emotions, and other personal characteristics from a
person's handwriting. It is not recognized as a legitimate field of study by most
scientists and mental health professionals.
In summary, morphology is a legitimate field of linguistic study, while graphology is a

controversial and unproven practice that is not recognized by most professionals.
1.4 MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX

Morphology and syntax are very closed , and we need to understand their integral
connections. Although morphology and syntax are two subfields of linguistics that
study different aspects of language, yresely related and the syntactic variation ts
the morphological structure of words.
Morphology is the study of the structure and formation of words in a language. It

deals with the smallest units of meaning in a language, called morphemes, and how
they are combined to form words. Morphology examines the internal structure of
words and the rules governing how morphemes can be combined to create new
words, including inflectional and derivational processes.
Syntax, on the other hand, is the study of how words are combined to form
sentences and larger units of meaning in a language. It examines the rules that
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govern the order and arrangement of words in a sentence and how they create
meaning. Syntax also explores the relationships between different parts of a
sentence, such as subjects, verbs, objects, and complements.
Here are some examples:
cat, set, meat, fish, trust, quick …..
These words are all free morphemes and they stand alone.
A bound morpheme, on the other hand, cannot stand alone. It has no real meaning
and can stand on its own.
Examples:
-ed
See -ed in words like:
walked, played, and searched.
Think about this (-ed) as a bound morpheme which cannot stand alone
-un
See -un as in words like:
unpleasant, unwanted, unattended.
-un is also not a standalone morpheme.

Syntax and morphology as disciplines together help linguists and researchers
understand how human languages work. In short, for most linguistic analyses, both
of the subjects complement each other.
Syntax studies rules and procedures are related to the formation of sentences in a
language. It looks at the word order and word arrangement the sentence le, vel.
Now remember that the order and arrangement influence of the sentence. Consider
the following simple sentence:
Example: The puppy chased the rat.
Change the word order to: 'the rat chased the puppy’.
You can note that the meaning got changed with the change in order. Both of the
above sentences have the same words but their order has changed their collective
meaning. This is the power of syntax. Thus, understanding syntax is very important
study different categories and various combinations of words in sentences.
Syntax, as a word, comes from the Greek language which means ‘to arrange
together’. When study the sentence construction, we can find that there are different
complexities of words and different orders of them create sentences.
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Remember that a simple sentence is comprised of a subject and a predicate.
For example: The player ran. Subject (the player) Predicate (ran)
The following table clarifies the comparison between the two sub-disciplines of
linguistics:
Syntax and morphology are different subjects and fields that are used to understand
different levels of language studies. Languages have their very different and very
specific word order (arrangement) and linguists explore these differences and
specialities at the levels of morphology and syntax.
In short, morphology is concerned with the internal structure of words, while syntax
is concerned with the structure of sentences and larger units of meaning. Both are
important areas of linguistics that help us understand how language works.
1.5 MORPHOLOGY AND SEMANTICS

Semantics refers to the branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words,
phrases, sentences, and texts. It is concerned with how language users understand
and interpret the meaning of linguistic expressions in context.
Semantics is important for understanding how words and sentences work together
to create meaning. It involves analyzing the relationships between words and how
they contribute to the meaning of a sentence or text. For example, in the sentence
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"I saw the man with the telescope," the word "telescope" modifies "man" and tells
us more about whomthe speaker saw.
In addition to understanding the meaning of individual words and phrases, semantics also
involves analyzing the meaning of sentences as a whole. This includes understanding
how the order of words and phrases, grammatical structures, and other linguistic features
contribute to the overall meaning of a sentence.
Semantics is also concerned with how meaning is conveyed through non-linguistic

means, such as gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice. It plays an important
role in communication, as it helps us understand the intended meaning of a message
and avoid misunderstandings.
Here we can compare both semantics and morphology now. Morphology and semantics
are two different branches of linguistics that deal with different aspects of language.
Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure and formation of
words. It deals with the internal structure of words, including their root, affixes, and
inflexions. Morphology is conc how words are formed and how they are related to
each other. For example, in English, the word "unhappily" is formed by adding the
prefix "un-" and the suffix "-ly" to the base word "happy." Morphology is also
concerned with understanding how words can be inflected to indicate grammatical
features such as tense, number, and gender.
Semantics, on the other hand, is the branch of linguistics that studies the meaning
of words, phrases, sentences, and texts. Semantics is concerned with understanding
how words and phrases are used to convey meaning and how the meaning of a
sentence is constructed through the combination of words and phrases. It is
concerned with the relationship between language and the world, and how we use
language to express thoughts, ideas, and beliefs.
In summary, morphology is concerned with the structure and formation of words,

while semantics is concerned with the meaning of words and how they are used to
convey meaning in context. Since the study of literal meaning is significant in
semantics, we need to connect morphology with it and discuss it further in the
section below.
1.6 MORPHOLOGY AND PHRASEOLOGY

Phraseology is a particular mode of expression, especially one characteristic of a
particular speaker or subject area. In linguistics, at times, we need to study meaning
and formations at the level of multi-word expressions. These expressions carry
conventionalized and context-specific meanings, resulting in what is called
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phrasemes. For such analyses, we need to combine morphology with phraseology
and study both together.
Phraseology refers to the study of phrases, particularly the use of specific phrases
in the language. It involves analyzing the structure, meaning, and usage of phrases
in different contexts and identifying how phrases contribute to the overall meaning
of a sentence or discourse. Phraseology can also refer to the specific phrases and
expressions that are commonly used in a particular language, culture, or domain,
such as legal or medical phraseology. In language learning, phraseology can be an
important aspect to focus to develop natural, fluent communication skills.
In other words, phraseology studies a set of fixed expressions such as phrases,

phrasal verbs, idioms and other multi-word lexical items. These collective lexical
items are sometimes called phrasemes. For example, Dutch auction ng means some
auction in which the prices fall, and the meanings are not related to Netherlands.
The study of expressions at the level of the word, what would be called
morphological phrasemes, is considered very important in modern linguistics. The
consideration expressions reveal that these, o the hole, fall int the same as
multi-word phrasemes.
In phraseology and other such descriptions, we study:
a. Morphologically complex expressions

b. Morphological idioms
c. Phrasemes
d. Other compositional and non-compositional combinations of elements.
Phraseology and morphology are both important aspects of language, but they refer
to different things.
Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words and how they are formed
from smaller units called morphemes. Morphology involves analyzing how words
can be modified through the addition of prefixes and suffixes, the creation of
compound words, and the inflection of verbs and nouns to indicate tense, aspect,
mood, number, and gender. Morphology is concerned with the rules governing the
formation of words in a language.
Phraseology, on the other hand, is the study of phrases and the way that they are
used in language. Phraseology involves analyzing the meaning, usage, and structure
of multi-word expressions such as idioms, collocations, and phrasal verbs. It also
involves studying the ways in which phrases can be combined to create longer
utterances, such as sentences and paragraphs.
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In summary, morphology is concerned with the internal structure of words, while
phraseology is concerned with the structure and usage of multi-word expressions
in language.
1.7 MORPHOLOGY AND SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Sociolinguistics is the study of relationship between language and society.
Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society. It
examines how language is used in different social contexts and how it reflects and
influences social norms, attitudes, and power relations. Sociolinguistics is an
interdisciplinary field that draws on insights from linguistics, sociology,
anthropology, psychology, and other disciplines.
Sociolinguists study a wide range of language-related phenomena, including

language variation and it is concerned with how language use interacts with, or is
affected by, social factors such as gender, ethnicity, age or social class. It is the
study of word choice and uncovering, interpreting and describing the socially
motivated options a choices an individuals in a community.
Sociolinguists describe how people speak differently in a variety of social contexts,

and socially determined situations - how specific functions of language convey
social meaning or aspects of identity. It teaches us about our social situation and
the real-life attitudes. We need to connect sociolinguistics and morphology to
understand how words are differently formed and pronounced by different classes
and individuals considering their variations and background connections.
There are certain topics which are considered important to study under the interface
of morphology with sociolinguistics such as:
a. Historical sociolinguistics
b. Gender variation
c. Language change such as Late Modern English
d. Morphological productivity
e. Word formation in connection with social class variation
f. Nominal suffixes and type frequency connected with class variation and
background connections.
Now there is a great deal of relationship between morphology and sociolinguistics

as linguists study sociolinguistics with the help of morphological knowledge. The
study of morphology complements the study of sociolinguistics. It is, therefore,
important to consider the knowledge of morphology for studying the socially
constructed meanings of words and phrases as the subject matter of sociolinguistics.
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1.8 SUMMARY POINTS
➢ Phonology as a subject focuses on sound systems (speech grammar) of
languages whereas morphology as a field pays attention to morphemes as
meaning blocks and the word structures of languages.
➢ Graphology is the study of handwriting as a means of analyzing character.

It is sometimes also studied as an interesting branch of knowledge.
➢ Syntax as a term comes from Greek which means ‘to arrange together’.
Syntax explores the structure of sentences and word order/arrangement in a
sentence.
➢ Semantics is the study of meaning. It is also studied as a feature of syntax,

sometimes about the 'truth value' of the sentence. Meanings are so
important and are often found more interesting - to see how an utterance is
used and what it means in a specific context.
➢ Phraseology, as a subject, is the study of fixed expressions, or sets of

expressions, such as phrasal verbs, idioms, and other types of multi-word
lexical units. These units are often called phrasemes.
➢ Sociolinguistics is an important branch of linguistics. It is the study of the

relationship between language and society. It is concerned with how
language uses interact with, or are affected by, social factors such as age,
gender, geographical area, ethnicity, or social class.
14
1.9 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
1. What is morphology? Discuss the difference between morphology and syntax
in your own words.
2. What is morphology and how it is different from phonology?
3. Define morphology and differentiate between morphology and syntax
4. Compare morphology with other sub-fields of linguistics such as syntax,

semantics and phonology by examples from your mother tongue.
5. Define the following terms with an example:

• Morphology
• Phonology
• Graphology
• Semitics
• Syntax
• Phraseology
6. Write a detailed note on the interface of morphology and sociolinguists.
15
1.10 FURTHER READINGS
Aronoff, M., & Feudman, K. (2010). What is Morphology? (Second edition). John
Wiley and Sons.
Booij, G. (2007). The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Morphology. OUP.
Katamba, F. (2004). Morphology: Morphology and its Relation to Semantics and

the Lexicon. Routledge.
Medina, G.P. (Ed.) (2011). Morphosyntactic Alternations in English: Functional

and Cognitive Perspectives. Equinox Publishing.
Matthews, H. P. (1991). Morphology (Second Edition). Cambridge University

Press.
Spenser, A. (1991). Morphological Theory. Wiley-Blackwell.
Spenser, A., & Zwicky, M. A. (Eds.), (2001). The Handbook of Morphology.

Wiley-Blackwell
Online sources:
https://ielanguages.com/morphology.html
16
Unit-2
WHAT IS A WORD?

17
CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................19
Learning Objectives ...............................................................................................19
2.1 Words as Meaningful Units.....................................................................20
2.2 Words as Building Blocks of Language ..................................................23
2.3 Words as meaningful building blocks of Language ...............................24
2.4 The Nature of Words ...............................................................................25
2.5 Words as Types and Words as Tokens....................................................26
2.5.1 Words with predictable meanings ....................................................27
2.6 The Lexicon.............................................................................................28
2.7 Words as Lexical Items ...........................................................................29
2.8 Summary Points ......................................................................................30
2.9 Assessment and Evaluation .....................................................................31
2.10 Further Readings .....................................................................................32
18
INTRODUCTION
The present unit is going to introduce and define ‘word’ as the main subject matter
of morphology. As discussed in the last unit, morphology is the study the of internal
structure of wordsword, we need to explore it further in detail and make it as the
basic subject of morphology for the students. This unit explores wordsas a
meaningful building block of language and analyzes words further as , tokens,
andnd as lexical items.
The following topics are mainly included in the present unit:
• Words as meaningful units

• Words as building blocks of language.
• The nature of words
• Words as types and word as tokens
• The lexicon
• Words vs lexical items
• Define word and analyze word stenciled.

• Comment on word tincture
• Explore words as types and tokens.
• Define lexicon.
• Differentiate between words and lexical items.
19
2.1 WORDS AS MEANINGFUL UNITS
Word is the smallest independent unit of grammar in a language. There are still
some ambiguities in the definitions. For example, what do we mean by
‘independent unit’ and how morphology is related to grammar. In the following
lines, we will try to clarify these points. This definition is further discussed below.
Word as an independent unit:

A word is an independent unit when it:
- does not depend on other words.
- can be separated from other units (words/phrases).
- can change its position.
Example:
Analyze this sentence: The boy looked at the cows.
Cows is a word which can occur at other positions in this sentence and/or stand on
its own.
The plural ‘s’ (at the end of the word ‘cows’) is a marker of plurality (and is a
morpheme). It is not independent and is dependent on the noun ‘cow’ to receive
meaning.
Now let us change the position of the word ‘cows’ and see the sentence:
The cows looked at the boy.
– What is the man looking at? – Cows.
Some words are thus both independent as they can be separated from other words
and can move around in sentences. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning
in a language.
The building blocks of morphology are MORPHEMES.

Words have internal structure as they are built of even smaller pieces and units
called morphemes.
SIMPLE WORDS:
They do not have internal structure as they are consisting of one morpheme):
Examples: man, work, play, build, run.
20
Such words cannot be split into further smaller parts (morphemes) which carry
meaning or function.
COMPLEX WORDS:
Words which have internal structure and consist of two or more morphemes.
Examples: player: affix -er is added to the root play to form a noun.
Thus, morphemes are the smallest meaning-bearing units of language.
FREE VS BOUND MORPHEMES:
Free morpheme:
A simple word, consisting of one morpheme e.g. man, house, pen, work, high, table,
and wrap. As you see they are words in themselves.
Bound morpheme:
These are morphemes that must be attached to another morpheme to receive
meaning.
Example: UNKINDNESS
UN- and -NESS are the bound morphemes
Both of them require the root KIND to form this word.
Such morphemes are also called affixes as they are attached/fixed to the stem.
There are two types as outlined below:
Prefix (front of the base)= Un- Suffix (end of the base)= -ness
21
Drawing Morphology Trees:
A step-by-step guide to drawing a morphology tree is given here:
The complete morphology trees are given below.
Simple Morphology Tree
Complex Morphology Tree
22
2.2 WORDS AS BUILDING BLOCKS OF LANGUAGE
Words are the basic building blocks of language. They are the smallest unit of
language that has meaning and can stand alone or combine with other words to form
more complex expressions.
A word can be defined as a unit of language that represents a single concept, object,
or action. It is a combination of sounds or letters that have a specific meaning and
are used to communicate a message. For example, the word "cat" refers to a furry,
four-legged animal with whiskers and a tail.
Words can be classified into different types based on their function in a sentence.
For instance, nouns are words that represent people, places, things, or ideas; verbs
are words that describe actions, events, or states of being adjectives describe
qualities or attributes of nouns; adverbs describe qualities or attributes of verbs; and
prepositions show the relationship between nouns and other words in a sentence.
Moreover, words can be combined to form phrases and sentences, which are the
fundamental units of communication in language. The combination of words allows us
to convey complex ideas, express emotions, share information, and connect with others.
23
Words are the basic building blocks of language, and they allow us to communicate
effectively with others. Understanding how words work and how they can be
combined to form phrases and sentences is crucial to developing strong language skills.
Here are few examples:
The first building block is a phoneme.

It is the most basic unit of speech - an individual sound.
All languages use phonemes.
English uses approximately forty-four.
Phonemes are so basic that they do not have any meaning until put together.
The second building block is a morpheme.

A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language - formed from a
combination of phonemes.
There are two types, content morphemes and function morphemes.
The content morphemes hold the basic meaning of a word and function morphemes
are prefixes and suffixes.
The most important and final building block of language is WORD.

Grammar is the rules of language that specify how phonemes, morphemes, words
and phrases should be combined to meaningfully express thoughts.
Grammar is made up of syntax and semantics.

Syntax is the grammatical rules that specify in what order the words and phrases
should be arranged in a sentence to convey meaning.
2.3 WORDS AS MEANINGFUL BUILDING BLOCKS OF

LANGUAGE
Words are meaningful building blocks of language because they convey specific
ideas and concepts. Each word has a unique meaning that can be understood by
speakers of the same language.
When we use words to form sentences, we are able to communicate complex

thoughts and ideas. For example, the sentence "I went to the store to buy some
milk" conveys a specific action (going to the store), a purpose (buying milk), and a
person (the speaker).
Words also allow us to express our emotions and feelings. For instance, the words
"happy," "sad," "angry," and "excited" all convey different emotional states. By
using these words, we can communicate our emotions to others and connect with
them on a deeper level.
24
Furthermore, words can have cultural and social significance. Some words may be
associated with certain cultures or communities, and they may have specific
meanings or connotations within those contexts. For example, the word "chai" in
Hindi means tea, but it can also have cultural significance in Indian culture as a
symbol of hospitality and friendship.
Words are meaningful building blocks of language because they convey specific
ideas, emotions, and cultural significance. By understanding the meanings of words
and how they can be used in context, we can communicate effectively and connect
with others on a deeper level.
An English dictionary is the key when we don’t know the meaning of a word. A
dictionary entry basically consists of not only the meaning, but also some
information about grammar and how to spell the word.
In order to understand how word serves as a building block of language, let us see
the following sentence:
Pakistan is a great country.

1 2 3 4 5
2.4 THE NATURE OF WORDS
Words are the basic units of language because they are the smallest meaningful
elements that can stand alone or be combined with other words to form more
complex structures. A word is a unit of language that represents a single concept or
idea, and it can convey meaning on its own.
For example, the word "dog" refers to a specific animal, and it can be used in a
sentence such as "I saw a dog in the park." This sentence contains a subject (I), a
verb (saw), and an object (a dog). The word "dog" serves as the object of the
sentence, and it conveys a specific meaning within the context of the sentence.
Words can be classified into different categories based on their grammatical

function in a sentence, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns,
prepositions, and conjunctions. Each of these word categories plays a specific role
in constructing sentences and conveying meaning.
Moreover, words can be combined to form phrases and sentences, which are the
fundamental units of communication in language. By combining words, we can
express complex ideas and convey information to others.
25
In summary, words are the basic units of language, and they serve as the building
blocks for constructing meaningful sentences and communicating effectively with
others. Understanding how words work and how they can be combined to form
sentences is essential for developing strong language skills.
Here are an few more examples:
Warning shouts: ‘Fire!’
Conventional commands: ‘Lights!’, Camera!’, ‘Action!’
Items on shopping list: ‘carrots’, ‘cheese’, ‘eggs’.
It seems, then, that a word is not just a building-block of sentences. Rather it is a

building-block with a meaning that is unpredictable, or at least sufficiently
unpredictable that learners of English, and even sometimes native speakers, may
need to consult a dictionary in order to discover it.
We may be tempted to think that this constitutes everything that needs to be said
about words: they are units of language which are basic in two senses:
1. They have meanings that are unpredictable and so must be listed in

dictionaries and
2. They are the building-blocks out of which phrases and sentences are formed.
Next, we discuss words as tokens and words as types.
2.5 WORDS AS TYPES AND WORD AS TOKENS

In linguistics, the term "word" can refer to two different concepts: word types and
word tokens.
A word type is a distinct form of a word that represents a specific concept or idea.
For example, the word "cat" is a word type that represents a specific type of animal.
Word types are typically listed in dictionaries and are used to represent the lexicon
of a language.
On the other hand, a word token is an instance of a word type that appears in a
specific context. For example, in the sentence "I saw three cats in the park," the
word "cat" appears three times, and each instance of the word is a word token.
While word types represent the abstract concept of a word, word tokens are the
concrete instances of words that appear in actual speech or writing. Word tokens
26
can vary in form depending on the context in which they appear, such as different
tenses of a verb or plural forms of a noun.
The distinction between word types and word tokens is important in linguistic
analysis because it allows us to study both the abstract properties of words as well
as their concrete usage in language. By analyzing both word types and word tokens,
we can gain a deeper understanding of the structure and function of language.
Token having a reference of individual occurrence of a type of the words.
Example:
Gina will go to London next week,

and she intends going to Makkah
next month.
The same word in that sentence (to and next) are distinct token of a single type. In
much the same way, on can say that two performance of the same tune, or two
copies of the same book are distinct tokens of one type.
The type- token distinction is relevant to the notion “word” in this way. Sentences
maybe said to be composed of word-tokens, but it is clearly not word-tokens that
are listed in dictionaries. The distinction between a type and token is an ontological
one between a general sort of thing and its particular concrete instances.
2.5.1 Words with predictable meanings

Some words in a language have predictable meanings based on their structure,
usage, or etymology. These words can be useful for language learners because they
can help predict the meaning of unfamiliar words and improve their vocabulary.
Here are some examples of words with predictable meanings:
Prefixes and suffixes: Many words in English have prefixes and suffixes that can
help determine their meaning. For example, the prefix "un-" typically means "not"
or "opposite," as in the words "unhappy" and "unfriendly." Similarly, the suffix "-
less" often means "without," as in the words "fearless" and "meaningless."
Compound words: Compound words are formed by combining two or more words
to create a new word with a different meaning. The meaning of the compound word
can often be predicted by understanding the meanings of its component parts. For
example, the word "lighthouse" is a compound word made up of "light" and
27
"house," which together create a word that means a structure that guides ships by
emitting light.
Borrowed words: Many words in English come from other languages, and their
meanings can often be predicted based on their origin. For example, the word
"piano" comes from Italian and means "soft" and "loud," which describes the
instrument's ability to play both quiet and loud sounds.
In summary, some words in a language have predictable meanings based on their

structure, usage, or etymology. Understanding these words can help language
learners improve their vocabulary and better understand the language they are
learning.
2.6 THE LEXICON

The lexicon is the collection of all the words and phrases in a language, along with
their meanings, pronunciations, and grammatical properties. It includes all the
words that are used in written and spoken language, including common words,
technical terms, idioms, and slang.
The lexicon is an essential component of language, and it plays a crucial role in our
ability to communicate effectively. When we learn a language, we must learn the
words and phrases that are used in that language, along with their meanings and
how they are used in context.
The lexicon is not a fixed entity, and it is constantly evolving as new words and
phrases are added and old ones fall out of use. For example, the emergence of new
technologies and cultural changes can lead to the creation of new words, such as
"selfie" and "emoji," which have become commonly used in recent years.
In addition to individual words, the lexicon also includes phrases and idiomatic
expressions, which are groups of words that are commonly used together and have
a meaning that may not be predictable from the individual words themselves. For
example, the phrase "kick the bucket" means to die, but the individual words "kick"
and "bucket" do not have that meaning on their own.
The lexicon is a vast and complex repository of words and phrases that are essential
for effective communication in a language. Understanding the lexicon is an
essential part of language learning and communication.
28
Another important thing is that the lexicon of a language keeps growing and
building further. There are certain mechanism how new words are invented in a
language.
Here are few examples of these mechanisms:
The mechanisms, not mutually exclusive, are:
Innovation: the planned creation of new roots (often on a large-scale),

such as slang, branding.
Borrowing: of foreign words.
Compounding: (composition), the combination of lexemes to make a single
word.
Abbreviation of compounds. Acronyms, the reduction of
compounds to their initial letters, such as NASA and laser
(from "LASER").
Inflection: a morphology changes with a category, such as a number or
tense.
Derivation: a morphological change resulting in a change of category.
Agglutination: the compounding of morphemes into a single word.
2.7 WORDS AS LEXICAL ITEMS

In linguistics, words are often referred to as lexical items. A lexical item is a unit
of meaning that is represented by a word or a group of words that function as a
single unit.
Lexical items can include individual words, such as "book" or "dog," as well as
multiword expressions, such as "kick the bucket" or "piece of cake." In general,
lexical items are any meaningful units of language that can be listed in a dictionary.
Lexical items are an essential part of language, as they allow us to convey meaning
and communicate effectively. By understanding the meanings and usage of lexical
items, we can express our thoughts and ideas clearly and accurately.
In addition to their meaning, lexical items also have various grammatical properties,
such as tense, number, and gender. For example, the word "book" can be used in
different tenses, such as "I read a book yesterday" or "I will read a book tomorrow."
Similarly, the noun "cat" can be pluralized to "cats" or given a possessive form,
such as "the cat's tail."
Common types of lexical items include:

1. Words: e.g., cat, man, tree
29
2. Parts of words: e.g., -s in cats, -er in player, non- in non-descript, -est in
saddest
3. Phrasal verbs: e.g., see off, put off or sell out
4. Multiword expressions: e.g., on the other hand, by the way, through and
through inside out
5. Collocations: e.g., motor cycle, motor vehicle, absolutely convinced.
6. Institutionalized utterances: e.g. I'll get it, that’ll do, would you like a cup
of coffee?
7. Idioms: e.g. break a leg, kick the bucket, a bitter pill to swallow
8. Sayings: e.g. The early bird gets the worm, The devil is in the details
9. Sentence frames and heads: e.g. that is not as...as you think
10. Text frames: e.g., In this paper we explore..., initially… finally, First...;
Second...; Lastly...
Lexical items are the building blocks of language, and their meanings and
grammatical properties play a fundamental role in our ability to communicate
effectively.
SUMMARY POINTS
➢ Word is the smallest independent unit of grammar in a language.
➢ Language is a foundation or building block of thinking. It has three building

blocks i.e., phonemes, morphemes, and words.
➢ Words are the basic units of language.
➢ The distinction between a type and token is an ontological one between a

general sort of thing and its particular concrete instances.
➢ The lexicon is the collection of all the words and phrases in a language,
along with their meanings, pronunciations, and grammatical properties. It
includes all the words that are used in written and spoken language,
including common words, technical terms, idioms, and slang.
➢ Lexical items are the building blocks of language, and their meanings and
grammatical properties play a fundamental role in our ability to
communicate effectively.
30
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
1. Define word as a morphological unit
2. How word secure as building blocks in the internal suture languages
3. Explain words as types and as token as used in morphological studies
4. Define the following terms unit
• Lexicon
• Words vs lexical items
• Words as tokens
• Words as types
5. Write a detailed note the nature of words with examples from English and
regional Pakistani Languages
31
FURTHER READINGS
Wiley and Sons.
Booij, G. (2007). The Grammar of Words: an Introduction to Morphology. OUP.
Metthews, H. P. (1991). Morphology (Second Edition). Cambridge University
Press.
Wiley-Blackwell
Online sources:
https://www.writework.com/essay/building-blocks-language
32
Unit-3
1 WORDS AND MORPHEMES

33
CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................35
3.1 Parts of Word ............................................................................ 36

3.2 Base Form and Affixes ................................................................ 36
3.3 Morpheme ................................................................................. 37
3.4 Bound and Free Morphemes ........................................................ 38
3.5 Affixes and Typology of Affixes .................................................. 39
3.6 Prefixes, Roots, Suffixes of Affixes ............................................... 40
3.6.1 Prefixes ............................................................................................41
3.6.2 Roots ................................................................................................41
3.6.3 Suffixes ............................................................................................42
3.7 Summary Points ......................................................................... 42
3.8 Assessment and Evaluation .......................................................... 43
3.9 Further Readings ........................................................................ 44
34
INTRODUCTION
The present unit is going to take up further into detail the overall topic of the module
i.e., ‘words and morphemes. It starts with analyzing the structure of words by
explaining parts of word such as base form and affixes. And then, it goes on to
define morphemes and various kinds of morphemes (bound versus free). Here roots
are also made clear for the students to differentiate among the morphemes, roots
and stem. The unit ends with explaining affixes (suffices prefixes and infixes) with
examples from English and of other languages.

• Parts of word
• Base form and affixes
• Morpheme
• Bound and free morphemes
• affixes and typology of affixes
• Prefixes, suffixes of affixes
While presenting these important topics on the subject, the following major
• Define word, basis morphological terms such as morphemes morph and

allomorph.
• Explain various kinds of morphemes such as bound morphemes and free
morphemes.
• Differentiate among roots, stem, and affixes.
• Comment on the typology pf affixes, and discus about prefixes, suffixes and
infixes.
• Explore the typology of roots and use dicone for the purpose
35
3.1 PARTS OF WORD
We need to revisit what we already did in Unit-2 to understand how a word is

divided into various parts. Consider the same word
RE-Privat(e)-ISE
You cans see that how this word is divided into THREE parts. This will show
how different parts can together make a whole word. Further, it shows how a root
and base could be at the back of a complete word.
Consider few more examples:
Morphology = Morpho + Logy
Remember that in morphology, we need to divide a word into various morphemes.

Before discussing morphemes, let us see how an affix is added to a base form in
the next section.
3.2 BASE FORM AND AFFIXES

Consider this long word for your example here:
36
Anti – dis – establish – ment – arian – ism
The following tree diagram will show that how just a single base form has many
affixations in the beginning and at the end of it.
3.3 MORPHEME
A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. It is a linguistic term

used to describe the smallest part of a word that carries meaning or grammatical
information.
A morpheme can be a single word, such as "cat" or "dog," or it can be a part of a

word, such as the suffix "-ing" in the word "running." In some cases, a morpheme
can also consist of a whole phrase, such as "not happy."
morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language and play a crucial role
in forming words and conveying meaning. By understanding the structure and
function of morphemes, we can better understand how words are formed and how
they convey meaning in language.
The examples of morphemes include, swim, swimming, cat, cats, arrive, arrived,
nation, and international etc.
37
3.4 BOUND AND FREE MORPHEMES
Morphemes can be classified into two types: free morphemes and bound
morphemes. Free morphemes can stand alone as words and carry meaning on their
own, such as "book" or "run." Bound morphemes, on the other hand, cannot stand
alone and must be attached to other morphemes to form words. Examples of bound
morphemes include prefixes, such as "un-" in "unhappy," and suffixes, such as "-
ly" in "quickly."
Morphemes can also be further divided into two types based on their function:
content morphemes and function morphemes. Content morphemes carry meaning
and refer to things, actions, or qualities, such as "cat" or "happy." Function
morphemes, on the other hand, do not carry meaning on their own but serve a
grammatical function, such as indicating tense or pluralization. Examples of
function morphemes include verb endings such as "-ed" for the past tense and plural
markers such as "-s" and "-es."
Example:
Free morpheme: bad
Bound morpheme: -ly
Word: badly
Affixes are often the bound morphemes. This group includes prefixes, suffixes,
infixes, and circumfixes. Prefixes are added to the beginning of another morpheme.
Suffixes are added to the end. Infixes are inserted into other morphemes.
Circumfixes are attached to another morpheme at the beginning and at the end.
Following are examples of each of these:
Prefix: re- added to do produces redo

Suffix: -or added to edit produces editor
Infix: -um- added to fikas (strong) produces fumikas (to be strong) in Bontoc
Circumfix: ge- and -t to lieb (love) produces geliebt (loved) in German
There are two categories of affixes: derivational and inflectional. The main
difference between the two is that derivational affixes are added to morphemes to
form new words that may or may not be the same part of speech and inflectional
affixes are added to the end of an existing word for purely grammatical reasons.
38
Here is a list of common English inflectional affixes:
Types of morphemes:
Free: Open Class

Closed Class
Bound: Derivational
Inflectional
We will discuss them in detail later in the next sections.
3.5 AFFIXES AND TYPOLOGY OF AFFIXES
Affixes are morphemes that are attached to a word to modify its meaning or
grammatical function. There are two types of affixes: prefixes and suffixes. A
prefix is an affix that is attached to the beginning of a word, while a suffix is an
affix that is attached to the end of a word.
The typology of affixes refers to the different ways in which they can be classified
based on their form and function. Here are some common types of affixes:
Inflectional affixes: These are affixes that modify the grammatical properties of a
word, such as tense, number, and case. Examples of inflectional affixes in English
39
include the "-s" suffix for pluralization (e.g. "cat" becomes "cats") and the "-ed"
suffix for past tense (e.g. "walk" becomes "walked").
Derivational affixes: These are affixes that modify the meaning of a word or
change its part of speech. For example, the prefix "un-" can be added to the word
"happy" to create the word "unhappy," which means the opposite of happy.
Similarly, the suffix "-ness" can be added to the adjective "happy" to create the
noun "happiness."
Prefixes and suffixes that have a specific grammatical function: These include
prefixes such as "pre-" and "post-" that indicate time or order, and suffixes such as
"-able" and "-ful" that indicate the ability or tendency to do something.
Infixes: These are affixes that are inserted into the middle of a word. They are less
common in English but are found in some other languages. For example, brother-
in-law in English.
Affixes are an important part of the morphological structure of a language and play
a key role in modifying the meaning and function of words. Below is the table of
common affixes used in English:
3.6 PREFIXES, ROOTS AND SUFFIXES
As part of morphological studies, we need to understand prefixes, roots and suffixes

with a little more detail. The following three tables covers some of the important
40
information on these morphemes. Go through these examples carefully and think
about your own words for clarifying the concepts given.
3.6.1 Prefixes
A prefix is a morpheme that is added to the beginning of a word to modify its
meaning. For example, the prefix "un-" can be added to the word "happy" to create
the word "unhappy," which means not happy.
3.6.2 Roots
A root is a morpheme that contains the core meaning of a word and cannot be
further broken down into smaller units of meaning. For example, the root "act" is
the core meaning of words like "actor," "actress," and "action."
41
3.6.3 Suffixes
A suffix is a morpheme that is added to the end of a word to modify its meaning or
grammatical function. For example, the suffix "-able" can be added to the word
"read" to create the word "readable," which means capable of being read.
Prefixes, roots, and suffixes are three different types of morphemes that can be used
to build words in a language.
By combining prefixes, roots, and suffixes, we can create new words and modify
the meaning of existing words. For example, the word "unhappiness" is formed by
combining the prefix "un-," the root "happy," and the suffix "-ness."
It is important to note that the order in which prefixes, roots, and suffixes are
combined can affect the meaning of the word. For example, the word
"disrespectful" and "respectless" have different meanings even though they both
use the same prefix and suffix, because the order of the morphemes is different.
Overall, understanding the role of prefixes, roots, and suffixes in building words
can help us better understand the structure and meaning of the words we use in
everyday communication.
3.7 SUMMARY POINTS
➢ In morphology, we need to divide a word into various morphemes e.g., base

form, and affixes.
➢ Prefixes, roots, and suffixes are three different types of morphemes that can
be used to build words in a language.
➢ By combining prefixes, roots, and suffixes, we can create new words and
modify the meaning of existing words. For example, the word
"unhappiness" is formed by combining the prefix "un-," the root "happy,"
and the suffix "-ness."
42
➢ A prefix is a morpheme that is added to the beginning of a word to modify
its meaning. For example, the prefix "un-" can be added to the word "happy"
to create the word "unhappy," which means not happy.
➢ A root is a morpheme that contains the core meaning of a word and cannot
be further broken down into smaller units of meaning. For example, the root
"act" is the core meaning of words like "actor," "actress," and "action."
➢ A suffix is a morpheme that is added to the end of a word to modify its
meaning or grammatical function. For example, the suffix "-able" can be
added to the word "read" to create the word "readable," which means
capable of being read.
1. Define base form and affixes of word as morphological units.

2. Define morpheme with examples from English and Urdu languages.
3. Explain with example the type of morphemes:
• Bound morphemes
• Free morphemes
4. Definitude affixes roots and stems with example from English and Urdu.
5. Write a detailed on the typology affixes roots.
6. Explain the following terms:
• Zero suffix
• Prefixes
• Affixes
• Suffixes
• Infixes
43
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44
Unit 4
1 MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE

45
CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................47
4.1 Allomorphs ................................................................................................48
4.2 Typology of Allomorphs............................................................................49
4.2.1 Additive Allomorph .........................................................................50
4.2.2 Replacive Allomorphs .....................................................................51
4.2.3 Suppletive Allomorphs ....................................................................51
4.2.4 Zero Allomorphs /Ø/ ........................................................................52
4.3 Cognates.....................................................................................................52
4.4 Homophony in Roots and Affixes .............................................................53
4.5 Language Types: Isolating, Fusional, and Agglutinating ..........................54
4.5.1 Fusional Languages ........................................................................54
4.5.2 Agglutinative Languages ................................................................54
4.5.3 Isolating language ............................................................................55
4.6 Summary Points .........................................................................................56
4.7 Assessment and Evaluation........................................................................57
4.8 Further Readings ........................................................................................58
46
INTRODUCTION
As morphology is the study of internal structure of word, it is very important to
explore this stature and various morphological operations involved. This unit is
going to explore the morphological rules creating various types of morphemes and
allomorphs. The study of allomorphs is the focus of this unit, and the following
topics are highlighted for the understanding of students.
• Allomorphs
• Typology of allomorphs
• Zero allomorphs
• Irrigator allomorphs
• Fossilized allomorphs
• Cognates
• Homophony in roots and affixes
• Morphological criteria for language types such as isolating, fusional, and
agglutinating.
While presenting these importance topics on the subject, the following major
• Define allomorphs and explore the logology of allomorphs

• Explain various morphological rules and operations
• Explore various types of allomorphs such as Zero, fossilized, regular, and
irregular allomorphs
• Define and guide examples of cognates from English and Urdu
• Explain the morphological criteria for language typology
• Comment on the morphological typology of languages such as isolating,
fusional, and agglutinating.
47
4.1 ALLOMORPHS
An allomorph is a variant form of a morpheme that is phonetically or

phonologically conditioned. In other words, an allomorph is a different
pronunciation of the same morpheme that occurs in different linguistic contexts.
For example, the plural morpheme "-s" in English has three allomorphs: /s/, /z/, and
/ɪz/. The choice of which allomorph to use depends on the sound that precedes it.
For example, in the word "cats," the plural morpheme is pronounced as /s/ because
the preceding sound is voiceless. In the word "dogs," the plural morpheme is
pronounced as /z/ because the preceding sound is voiced. And in the word
"watches," the plural morpheme is pronounced as /ɪz/ because the preceding sound
is a sibilant consonant.
Another example of allomorphy can be seen in the past tense morpheme "-ed" in
English. The pronunciation of the morpheme can vary depending on the last sound
of the verb stem. For example, in the verb "walk," the past tense is formed by adding
the allomorph /t/ to the end of the verb stem, resulting in "walked." However, in the
verb "hug," the past tense is formed by adding the allomorph /d/ to the end of the
verb stem, resulting in "hugged."
Allomorphy is an important aspect of morphology and can play a crucial role in the
way words are pronounced and used in a language.
We can now see this in a figure form:
We also need to study allomorph in connection to ‘morpheme’. The following

table shows the difference between the two:
48
The sections below describe the basic terms used in morphological rules of a
language such as allomorphs, typology of allomorphs, zero allomorphs, irregular
allomorphs, fossilized allomorphs, cognates, and homophony in roots and affixes.
4.2 TYPOLOGY OF ALLOMORPHS
There are different types of allomorphs that can occur in a language. Here are some
common types of allomorphs:
Phonologically conditioned allomorphs: These allomorphs are determined by the

phonological context of the morpheme. For example, in English, the plural
morpheme "-s" has three phonologically conditioned allomorphs, which are
determined by the preceding sound.
Morphologically conditioned allomorphs: These allomorphs are determined by the

morphological context of the word. For example, in English, the past tense
morpheme "-ed" has two morphologically conditioned allomorphs, which are
determined by the final sound of the verb stem.
49
Lexically conditioned allomorphs: These allomorphs are determined by the specific
word that the morpheme is part of. For example, in some English words, the prefix
"in-" is pronounced as /ɪn/ (such as in "incorrect"), while in other words it is
pronounced as /ɪm/ (such as in "impossible").
Regional or dialectal allomorphs: These allomorphs occur in different regions or

dialects of a language. For example, in some English dialects, the past tense of "get"
is "got," while in other dialects it is "gotten."
Allomorphy is an important phenomenon in the study of morphology, as it can help

explain why morphemes are pronounced differently in different words and contexts.
• Additive allomorph
• Suppletive allomorph
• Replacive allomorph
• Zero allomorph
Here we are going to discuss these very general
4.2.1 Additive Allomorph
a. Past tense: /D/, /ID/ and /T/ (pronunciation). Examples:
/D/ /ID/ /T/

Called Parted Talked
Played Glided Laughed
Begged Needed Watched
Seemed Rated Passed
Stabbed Hated Tripped
Dogged Farted Plucked
Praised Mended Missed
Loved Added Dwarfed
Plowed Friended Matched
b. Plural: /S/, /Z/, /IZ/ (pronunciation). Examples:
Consider the following words as examples of the three distinct forms for the
plural suffix -(e)s: [z], [s], and [əz]:
/S/ /Z/ /IZ/

Books Frogs Houses
50
Cats Wolves Fizzes
Desks Cars Buses
Laps Bees Lenses
Wallets Hippos Kisses
Sticks Blossoms Speeches
Laughs Oars Badges
Months Beds Bushes
4.2.2 Replacive Allomorphs

Replacive allomorphs have an infix or internal change of word. Such examples
can be found in irregular verbs in pluralization of nouns.
Irregular forms of verbs
Drink Drank Drunk

Sing Sang Sung
Begin Began Begun
Sink Sank Sunk
Pluralization of nouns through replacive allomorphs
Tooth Teeth
Foot Feet
Man Men
Goose Geese
4.2.3 Suppletive Allomorphs

In such allomorphs, the structure of word is changed a lot but the meanings are
the same. Examples:

Eat Ate Eaten
Bid Bade Bidden
Break Broke Broken
Go Went Gone
Pluralization of nouns through suppletive allomorphs
Mouse Mice
Ox Oxen
Louse Lice
Person People
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4.2.4 Zero Allomorphs /Ø/
For zero allomorphs, the words are not changed. In such cases, the allomorphs are
not really visible but are applied in a specific context and are adding to the
meaning in a different sense. See the following examples:
Hurt Hurt Hurt

Let Let Let
Hit Hit Hit
Set Set Set
Pluralization with zero allomorphs
Sheep + -s(=Ø) = sheep

Deer + -s(=Ø) = Deer
Pike Pike
Swine Swine
4.3 COGNATES
Cognates are words in two or more languages that have a similar form and meaning
because they share a common origin. These words are often related to each other
through historical linguistic processes such as language borrowing, language
change, or language evolution.
For example, the English word "mother" and the Spanish word "madre" are
cognates because they share a similar form and meaning, and both words can be
traced back to a common ancestral language (in this case, Proto-Indo-European).
Cognates can be helpful for language learners, as they provide a way to make
connections between words in different languages and can help with vocabulary
acquisition. However, it is important to note that not all similar-looking words are
cognates, and sometimes similar-looking words may have different meanings in
different languages. Additionally, over time, cognates may diverge in form and
meaning due to linguistic change, so the relationship between cognates may
become less obvious over time.
Examples of cognates:
Here are a few examples of cognates (including those that share only the stem and
not all the affixes, which are semi-cognates, or paronyms) and their roots:
52
Night: nui (French), noche (Spanish), Nacht (German), nacht (Dutch), natt
(Swedish, Norwegian); root: Indo-European, nókʷt
Constipated: constipado (Spanish); root (stem): Latin cōnstipāt-

Nourish: nutrir (Spanish), noris (Old French); root: nutritivus (Medieval Latin)
Atheist: ateo/a (Spanish), athéiste (French), atheos (Latin); root: átheos (Greek)
Controversy: controversia (Spanish); root: controversus (Latin)
Comic: (meaning comedian): cómico (Spanish); root: cōmĭcus (Latin)
Abortion: aborto (Spanish); root: abŏrtus (Latin)
Government: gobierno (Spanish), governement (Old French), gubernus (Late
Latin); root: gŭbĕrnāre (Latin, loaned from Greek)
The Arabic word ‫ سالم‬salām, the Hebrew shalom, the Assyrian Neo-Aramaic shlama
and the Amharic selam 'peace' are good examples of cognates, derived from the
Proto-Semitic *šalām- 'peace'.
4.4 HOMOPHONY IN ROOTS AND AFFIXES
Homophony is a linguistic phenomenon where two or more words have the same
pronunciation but different meanings. In morphology, homophony can occur with
roots and affixes, where two or more morphemes have the same pronunciation but
different meanings.
For example, in English, the prefix "un-" and the word "one" are homophonous, but
they have different meanings. The prefix "un-" is used to indicate negation or
reversal, while "one" is a cardinal number. Similarly, the English word "lie" (to
recline) and the past tense of the verb "lay" are homophonous, even though they
have different meanings and are derived from different roots.
Homophony can also occur with inflectional morphemes. For example, in English,
the plural morpheme "-s" and the possessive morpheme "-'s" are homophonous,
even though they have different functions.
Homophony can sometimes cause confusion in language processing, especially for

non-native speakers or in situations where the context is unclear. However, in most
cases, homophony is not a major obstacle to communication, as the meaning of a
word is usually clear from the context in which it is used.
53
4.5 LANGUAGE TYPES: ISOLATING, FUSIONAL, AND
AGGLUTINATING
There is a morphological criterion to classify languages in terms of their
morphological nature. This kind of classification is also called ‘morphological
typology’. Morphological typology is a way of classifying the languages of the
world (see linguistic typology) that groups languages according to their common
morphological structures.
Here we are going to discuss three categories of language: fusional languages,

agglutinative and isolating. We will discuss three kinds of morphological types
briefly here:
4.5.1 Fusional languages
Fusional languages are languages where a single word can contain multiple
morphemes that convey several grammatical or lexical meanings simultaneously. In
fusional languages, morphemes often have multiple functions, which can make it
difficult to distinguish between them.
Fusional languages are also known as inflectional languages, and they are often
contrasted with isolating languages, which have a simpler grammatical structure and
rely on word order and separate particles to convey meaning.
Examples of fusional languages include Latin, Russian, and Arabic. In Arabic, the
word "kitābun" means "book," and contains the root "ktb" and the nominative case
ending "-un."
Fusional languages can be challenging for learners because they require a thorough
understanding of the language's inflectional system and the ability to recognize and
interpret complex morphological forms. However, they can also be rich and
expressive, allowing for a great deal of information to be conveyed in a single word.
4.5.2 Agglutinative languages
Agglutinative languages are languages where words are formed by combining
morphemes, each of which expresses a single grammatical or lexical meaning. In
agglutinative languages, morphemes are usually added to a root or stem to modify
its meaning or indicate its grammatical function. This process of adding morphemes
is called agglutination, hence the name agglutinative languages.
Agglutinative languages are characterized by a relatively fixed word order and a
high degree of regularity in their morphology. Examples of agglutinative languages
include Turkish, Japanese, and Swahili.
54
In Turkish, for example, the word "evlerimizde" means "in our houses" and consists of
the root "ev" (house), the plural morpheme "-ler," the possessive morpheme "-imiz"
(our), and the locative case ending "-de" (in). Each of these morphemes expresses a single
meaning, and they are added to the root in a predictable way.
Agglutinative languages can be relatively straightforward for learners because they have
a regular system of morphology, and the meaning of a word is often transparently linked
to its constituent morphemes. However, they can also be quite complex, with long words
and many possible combinations of morphemes.
Agglutinative languages include Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Malayalam, Turkish, Mongolian, Korean, Japanese, Swahili, Zulu and Indonesian.
4.5.3 Isolating language
An isolating language is a language where each word is made up of one or more
independent morphemes, each of which carries a single meaning. In isolating
languages, grammatical relationships between words are expressed through word
order or the use of separate function words or particles, rather than through
inflectional morphology.
Examples of isolating languages include Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai.
In Mandarin Chinese, for example, the word "wǒ" means "I" and consists of a single
morpheme. The word "shū" means "book" and also consists of a single morpheme.
To indicate the plural, the word "men" is added after the noun, as in "shūmen"
meaning "books."
Isolating languages can be relatively simple to learn because they have a relatively
straightforward grammar and a limited number of morphemes to memorize.
However, they can also be more difficult to speak fluently because of the frequent
use of function words or particles to convey grammatical meaning.
Overall, the complexity of a language's morphology and syntax varies widely, and
isolating languages are just one example of a type of language that has a relatively
simple grammatical structure.
Although historically languages were divided into three basic types (isolating,
inflectional, agglutinative), the traditional morphological types can be categorized
by two distinct parameters:
1. Morpheme per word ratio (how many morphemes there are per word)
2. Degree of fusion between morphemes (how separable words' inflectional
morphemes are according to units of meaning represented)
A language is said to be more isolating than another if it has a lower morpheme per
word ratio.
55
4.5 SUMMARY POINTS
➢ An allomorph is a variant form of a morpheme that is phonetically or

phonologically conditioned. In other words, an allomorph is a different
pronunciation of the same morpheme that occurs in different linguistic
contexts.
➢ Cognates are words in two or more languages that have a similar form and
meaning because they share a common origin. These words are often related
to each other through historical linguistic processes such as language
borrowing, language change, or language evolution.
➢ Homophony is a linguistic phenomenon where two or more words have the

same pronunciation but different meanings. In morphology, homophony
can occur with roots and affixes, where two or more morphemes have the
same pronunciation but different meanings.
➢ Fusional languages are languages where a single word can contain multiple
morphemes that convey several grammatical or lexical meanings
simultaneously. In fusional languages, morphemes often have multiple
functions, which can make it difficult to distinguish between them.
➢ Agglutinative languages are characterized by a relatively fixed word order

and a high degree of regularity in their morphology. Examples of
agglutinative languages include Turkish, Japanese, and Swahili.
➢ An isolating language is a language where each word is made up of one or

more independent morphemes, each of which carries a single meaning. In
isolating languages, grammatical relationships between words are
expressed through word order or the use of separate function words or
particles, rather than through inflectional morphology.
➢ There are three kinds of morphological types such as fusional languages,

agglutinative languages, and isolating languages.
56
1. What are morphological rules and what is the focus of these rules?
2. Define allomorph and give example of various type of almost focus English
and Urdu.
3. Define the following terms with examples from English and Urdu Pakistani
Language:
• Allomorphy
• Zero allomorphy
• Regular allomorphy
• Inregular allomorphy
• Fossilized allomorphy
• Cognats
• Roots
• Affixes
4. What is the criteria language typing morphologically?
57
Wiley and Sons.
Press.
Wiley-Blackwell
58
Unit 5
WORD FORMATION PROCESSES
Written by: Dr Saira Maqbool

59
CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................61
5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................62
5.2 Affixation ................................................................................................62
5.2.1 Prefixation ....................................................................................63
5.2.2 Suffixation ....................................................................................63
5.3 Compounding ..........................................................................................68
5.4 Conversion ..............................................................................................70
5.4.1 Verbification .................................................................................70
5.4.2 Nonce Words ................................................................................70
5.4.3 Shift in meaning ...........................................................................71
5.4.4 Grammaticalisation ......................................................................71
5.4.5 Stress Shift ....................................................................................71
5.4.6 Pronunciation................................................................................72
5.5 Clipping ...................................................................................................72
5.6 Blending ..................................................................................................74
5.7 Suppletion................................................................................................75
5.8 Initialisms and Acronyms........................................................................76
5.9 Borrowing or Calquing............................................................................78
5.10 Coinage, Eponyms and Toponyms .........................................................78
5.10.1 Coinages ......................................................................................79
5.10.2 Toponyms ...................................................................................79
5.10.3 Eponyms .....................................................................................80
5.11 Apophony ................................................................................................81
5.12 Autonyms and Exonyms .........................................................................82
5.13 Summary .................................................................................................84
5.14 Exercise ...................................................................................................85
60
INTRODUCTION
This unit is going to present a brief description of the word formation processes. It
briefly defines and explains the various processes with examples such as affixation,
compounding, conversions, clipping, blending, suppletion, acronyms, borrowing,
coinage, apophony, and reduplication. Later, this unit offers summary and few
exercises for the students. It also encourages students to read further study materials
on the topic as suggested at the end of this unit.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
• Understand word formation process

• Understand role of affixes in morphology
• Explain inflectional and derivational morphology
• Understand internal structure of words
• Understand and analyze morphemes relationship
• Understand and use key concepts in study of complex word analysis
61
5.1 INTRODUCTION TO WORD FORMATION PROCESS
The word formation process, also known as the morphological process, is the way how
new words are created, either through the alteration of already existing words or
through entire innovation, and how they eventually enter the language. There are
different types of word formation processes employed to create new words. However,
derivation and inflection, (also called inflexion), are the two major word formation
processes. All the changes in word formation process are either derivational or
inflectional. Derivation and inflection are distinct in the following ways:
Inflection Derivation
Produces grammatical variants of the Produces a new word based on an

same word. existing word.
Modifies a word to express different Changes the word class (also called
grammatical categories such as tense, parts of speech; form class; lexical
mood, voice, aspect, person, number, class; syntactic category).
gender and case.
Does not change the meaning of a Modifies the meaning of the root. For
word. For example: determine→ example: modern → modernize (to
determines, determining, determined make modern).
The following list is not exhaustive, but it

includes the major word formation processes:
5.2 AFFIXATION
The process of adding one or more affixes to a root word is the most common type of
derivation. Affixation is a term used to describe a process that includes both prefixation
and suffixation. New words in English are created by driving words from already
existing forms. The standard term used for this primary method in English is called as
"affixation," which has an impact on both word class and meaning.
Some examples of affixation with the affixes in bold is given below.
• Unlucky • capable • overactive • breakable

• laziness • actively • undress • hospitalize
• displeasure • unaware • refill • enjoyment
There are two types of affixations in English:
62
5.2.1 Prefixation
It is a morphological process where words are formed by adding an affix to the
front of a root word. The type of affix used in this process is known as prefix. For
example: un + happy → unhappy.
5.2.2 Suffixation
In this morphological process words are formed by adding an affix to the end of a
root word. The term "suffix" refers to this type of affixation. For example, adding
a suffix less to the root word care results in a new word careless. Suffixation can
change the word class and form both. However, it does not change the
basic meaning. For example, changing lazy into laziness produces no change in the
basic meaning but the word class is changed from an adjective to a noun. Similarly,
suffixing plural morpheme ‘’s’ to the end of root word cat can change the form of
word from singular to a plural as in cats but the basic meaning remains same.
63
Gender /
Making Making
Making nouns Making adjectives size
verbs adverbs
marking
young-ster break-age capital- god-ly Chin-ese slow-ly tiger-ess

auto-cracy happi-ness ize logic-al air-y basic-ally novel-ette
bureau- real-ism real-ise obligat- east- bride-
crat soci-ology ampl-ify fragr-ant ory ward(s) groom
local-ite brave-ry sharp-en democrat-ic child-ish crab-wise widow-er
conduct-or discov-ery activ-ate war-like religi-ous edge- washer-
believ-er fores-eer abus-ive terrace-d ways woman
remov-al Americ-an compassion- import-ed country- washer-
supervis- assist-ant ate confus- wide man
ee agree-ment form-ative ing owl-let
socialis- owl-let add-itive south- beast-ie
ation mouth-ful beauti-ful ward
deci-sion space-ship help-less age-long
activation chin-ese renew-able flouresc-
un-ity allo-cation illeg-ible ent
advoca-ate soft-ware doctrin-aire trouble-
real-ist Australia-n some
fore-goer Itali-an
homo- commission-
phobe aire
audio- aero-phobia
phile
child-hood
sweep-er
runn-er
Here's a very brief summary of suffixation.
64
Activity:
Word Formation Tasks
Prefixes:
Place the prefixes in the right category (note that sub-, super-, and un- each occur
twice). The numbers in brackets tell you how many you should have in each
column.
tri-angle ex-principal super- sonic uni-code di-transitive
fore-see pre-medical de-code mal-function ultra-violet
arch-angle in-discernible dis-honour under-age un-do
super-market pseudo-name un-do im-possible out-source
un-just sub-set mis-guide a-side non-sense
co-author counter-part anti-body pro-European mini-van
inter-mediate trans-gender sub-way post-colonial re-vert
65
Attitudive Negative Critical/ Number Place Time and Degree
Ordering or Size
(how things (opposite, Pejorative (tell how Reverses (Location)
act on each not or may or an action (what
other) lacking) (always how (higher, came first)
negative) much) lower,
between
etc)
(5) (4) (3) (4) (3) (3) (6) (5)
66
SUFFIXES
Place the suffix in the right category:
young-ster local-ite Child-hood America-an Director-

auto-cracy ship
employ-ee Sweep-er Occup-ant
conduct-or Chin-ese
mobiliz- break-age ship-ment
mobil-ize ation remov-al
real-ism help-ful
politic-al insan-ity air-y
happi-ness sense-less
magni-fy weak-en dark-ish
brav-ery owl-let
glad-ly real-ist berlin-er
clock-wise read-able
hero-ic child-like religi-ous
mountain-eer mouth-ful
act-ive predict-ed
east-wards
active-ly
Making Nouns Making Verbs Making Making Adverbs

Adjectives
67
5.3 COMPOUNDING
It is a word formation process in which two or more root morphemes are combined
to create a new word. The root morphemes in compounding are known as
compounds or compound words. Compounds in linguistics can be both native and
borrowed. Native compounds in English are free morphemes that can exist
independently. Examples:
• basketball
• sportsman
• sunflower
• fireplace
• fireplug (a regional word for 'fire hydrant')
• blackboard
• snowball
• cupcake
• mailbox
• email
• talking-to
• cup holder
• e-ticket
• grandmother
• outside
• inside
Some compounds have a preposition as one of the constituent words as evident in

the last two example. In contrast to English, roots cannot stand alone in Greek and
Latin. Therefore, compounds are made up of bound roots. This property
is preserved in English compounds composed of borrowed morphemes from Latin
and Greek. Examples include the words "photograph" and "iatrogenic," and
thousands of other ancient words.
There are many other ways to write compounds in English which also include
compounds with space between roots, compounds with a hyphen between roots, or
none. The nature of a word as a compound remains unaffected despite of its various
forms of writing style. The norm of writing compounds can change over time,
usually in direction from separate words (for example, email was originally written
with a hyphen, and today and tomorrow were written as to-day and to-morrow in
the 19th century).
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Compounds can incorporate words from any parts of speech is another thing to keep
in mind. Although noun-noun is the most common type of compounds but still there
are other compounds combined with different parts of speech. For example,
adjective-noun compounds (electric light, blackbird, hard disc), verb-noun
compounds (cross-fire, note-book, bath-room), and even verb-particle compounds
where "particle" simply refers to a word creating spatial expression that serves to
complete a literal or metaphorical path as in run-through and hold-over.
Compounds of these parts of speech are sometime different in the part of speech of
whole compound vs. the part of speech of its components. Despite their component
parts, the last two are nouns.
Some compounds contain more than two component words. These are created by
systematically fusing words to create compounds. For instance, the phrase "black-
board duster" is created from the terms "black-board" and "duster," where the first
part, "black-board," is a compound created from the words "black" and "board."
Similarly, water-cooler stand, pipe-line mechanic, and even examples of more
complex compounds such as top-rank university.
There are several subtypes of compounds that have nothing to do with the parts of
speech and are instead based on how the words sound. These subtypes are not
exclusive of one another.
• Rhyming compound: These words are created by combining two rhymes.

Examples include: white-light, artsy-fartsy,
• In English, there are some words that are formally very close to rhyming
compounds but are not quite compounds because the second part is simply a
meaningless item placed with a root word to create the rhyme. Higgledy-piggledy
and teeny tiny are the examples of such words.
• This creation process in English, which is known as hypocoristic language, is

connected to kid talk (talk directed towards children). Examples include: Georgie
Porgie, Bunnie-Wunnie, Henny Penny, Snuggly-Wuggly, and Piggie-Wiggie.
• Words made of two nearly identical components but with different vowels is
another word type that resembles rhyming compounds. Another meaningless form
is usually used for the second element: pitter-patter, zigzag, tick-tock, riffraff, and
flip-flop.
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5.4 Conversion
The word conversion refers to the change of a word from one class to another. It
is also referred to as functional shifting, for some certain reasons. The process of
changing a word from one class to another is frequently referred to as zero
affixation or null affixation because there are no morphological modifications
made.
I claim he is right → I have a claim

He smiled at me → He replied with a
Verb → Noun
smile
He bores me → He's a bore
Don't make it dirty → Don't dirty it

Adjective → Verb
Don’t make it spoiled → Don’t spoil it.
Put it in a bottle → Bottle it

Noun → Verb
He's the nurse → He's nursed for years
He's a comic actor → He's a comic

Adjective → Noun He's a young man → He mixes with the
young
The following are the most usual conversions in English:
5.4.1 Verbification
Changing a noun into a verb is known as verbification. The most common examples
include
I searched it on Google → I googled it

he sat on chair → he chaired the meeting
I had a drink → I drink a glass of water
he is our host there → he is hosting us
She sent an email → she emailed her documents

They covered it with tiles → They tiled it
5.4.2 Nonce Words

Sometimes, new coinages can be produced through a simple conversion. For
instance, the word ask has only been used as a verb for decades. The phrase "big
ask" dates only to 1987 (in Australian English). Possibly the phrase can now be
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heard as a noun, particularly in management and sporting jargon in phrases like the
ask is that... . If new terms meet a need, they may be welcomed into the language.
For instance, the early 18th century recorded verb push, which means to advance
an idea or product, but later it started being used as noun and the noun was derived
by conversion. For example: The product needs a push, was likely to be a nonce
word that filled a lexical gap. By the way, this procedure is often referred to as
suppletion, and the outcome is termed suppletive form.
5.4.3 Shift in meaning

Some words can change meaning significantly and sometimes only slightly when a
verb is changed to a noun or vice versa, sometimes. As an illustration, the verb
intimate means "suggest," as opposed to intimate with a small shift in vowel length
being used as adjective which means closely related to. When used as a noun, the
term concentrate refers to a substance that has been strengthened and has a different
meaning from when it is used as a verb (focus attention). Paper is a noun denotes a
substance, in contrast this word as a verb refers to attach paper to a wall in a room.
Contrarily, collocate does not its meaning when used as a verb or a noun.
5.4.4 Grammaticalization
We don't usually change words from a lexical class into a functional class because
it is extremely uncommon for a language to pick up new terms in closed word
classes. Nouns do not change into conjunctions, and verbs do not change into
prepositions, etc. However, when this happen, there is a recognizable historical
process at work in many languages, including English.
The word going is frequently used as a verb form of the verb go and it has the same
meaning as the verb go in sentences like ‘’they are going to the store’’ which may
imply they are presently travelling to the stores. The word has been
grammaticalized in Modern English and now serves as an auxiliary verb
designating acts that are currently planned, as in the sentence: "I'm going to forgive
him within few years." The function word used to signify a potential occurrence
may be pronounced faintly, making it possible to distinguish between the two uses
of going (spelled as gonna).
5.4.5 Stress Shift

Some words can serve as nouns and verbs. The conversion's direction is somewhat
debatable. When you read this list aloud, what do you notice?
• The export business. Pakistan exports mangoes.
• He earned respect. He is respected everywhere.
• Will you give us a discount? What is the available discount?
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• Don't insult him. That's a nasty insult.
The stress shifts. First syllable is stressed in noun and second in verb. There are
many verb-noun combinations that function in this way. This process is call
"phonetic alternation."
5.4.6 Pronunciation
Other modifications to the pronunciation also take place in addition to the shifting
of the stress. For instance, the noun combat is pronounced /ˈkɒm.bæt/ with the first
vowel unstressed, yet the verb combat is pronounced /kəm.ˈbæt/.
• record: /’rɛkɔːd/ goes to /rɪˈkɔːd/ (change to the first vowel from /ɛ/ to /ɪ/)
• abuse: /əˈbjuːs/ goes to /əˈbjuːz/ (final consonant change from /s/ to /z/).
• combine: /ˈkɒmbaɪn/ to /kəmˈbaɪn/ (vowel change from /ɒ/ to /ə/ ).
In pairs like house house (noun: /haʊs/) and house (verb: /haʊz/), mouth (noun:
/maʊθ/) and mouth (verb: /maʊð/), thief (noun: /θi:f/) and thieve (verb: /θi:v/), the
final consonant is often pronounced differently.
Usually but not always, the spelling change determines the pronunciation.
Consonants /s/, /f/ and /θ/ are usually changed to /z/, /v/ and /ð/ respectively:
Noun verb
Teeth /tiːθ/ teethe /tiːð/
Abuse /ə.ˈbjuːs/ abuse /ə.ˈbjuːz/
Sheath /ʃiːθ/ sheathe /ʃiːð/
5.5 CLIPPING
Clipping is a process in which one part of a word is "clipped" off the remaining
portion, the remaining word now also signifies the same thing as what the whole
term meant. For instance, the word "phone" is a late anglicization of an older
compound telephone. Another clipping is burger, which is created by cutting off
the first few letters of the word hamburger. (This clipping was only possible once
hamburg+er was transformed into ham+burger.)
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Blending and clipping both are related processes. The beginning, the end,
sometimes both, and very rarely an internal syllable can all be removed from a
word. See the following examples:
• pram [clipped in three ways from perambulator]

• plane [clipped from zoological aero plane]
• van [clipped from caravan]
• bus [clipped from omnibus]
• pen [clipped from fountain pen]
• gas [clipped from gasoline]
• photo [clipped from photograph]
The process is referred to as apocope when a word is clipped at the end.
Examples are:
information → info
legitimate → legit
champion → champ
public house → pub
advertisement → ad
gigabyte → gig
credibility → cred
photograph → photo
magazine → mag
cinematograph → cinema
picture → pic
gymnasium → gym
examination → exam etc.
The apocope is often less formal, though not always; it can also be slang.
The final clipped word could also be restricted to only particular use. We can have
both a medical exam and a medical examination. The clipped form exam is only
used formally and informally in educational context. In the former, exam refers to
students’ test, but in the latter, a medical practitioner will conduct an inquiry. For
instance, it is not possible to have it.
The surgeon gave her a thorough exam.
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5.6 BLENDING
One of the most crucial word building processes in English is blending. It is a
creative process in which speakers combine two words based on sound structure
rather than morpheme structure. The resulting words in such combination are called
blends. Usually, when we mix roots or affixes to construct words, one morpheme
ending before the next one begins. For instance, we form application using the
morphemes app+li+ca+tion. Each morpheme has definite limits and follows the one
before it. No morphemes cross each other. However, with blending, a portion of
one word is sewn onto another word without respect to the boundary between one
morpheme and another. For instance, the words swoosh and swastika were
combined to form the phrase "Nike swoosh as a logo symbolizing corporate power
and hegemony." The part ‘swoosh’ remains recognizable and whole in the blend,
but neither the word swastika nor the blend contains a morpheme for the part ‘tika’.
Both the form and the content have been perfectly merged in the blend. The
swastika and the swoosh are conceptually merged into a single new type of item
that has features from both and combined properties from neither source, due to the
implied similarity between them in the meaning. Other terms include "Hollywood
social set," "mockumentary," "spoof documentary," glitterati (combining glitter
and literati), and mockumentary (combining mock and documentary).
Brunch (breakfast and lunch), motel (motor hotel), electrocute (electric and
execute), smog (smoke and fog), and cheeseburger (cheese and hamburger) are
some examples of blends that have been popular for a while. These are from the
first fifty years of the 20th century. Others such as stagflation (stagnation and
inflation), spork (spoon and fork), and carjacking (auto and hijacking) have
emerged since the 1970s. The following blends are more recent:
• globish (global and English) 'a variety of English globally recognized'

• splog (spam and blog) 'fake blog designed to attract traffic for Google-
ranking'
• Britpoperati (Britpop and literati) 'those having knowledge about current
British pop music'
To form a third word, two words can be blended and sometime clipped.
A portmanteau word is a common term used to describe the outcome.
For instance:
• Indo-pak [a blend of India and Pakistan]
• biopic [a blend of biography and picture]
• brunch [a blend of breakfast and lunch]
• grimmer [a blend of gleam and shimmer]
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• sitcom [a blend of situation and comedy]
• clash [a blend of clap and crash]
• genome [a blend of gene and chromosome]
• Oxbridge [a blend of Oxford and Cambridge]
• permafrost [a blend of permanent and frost]
• simulcast [a blend of simultaneous and broadcast]
• moped [a blend of motor and pedal]
• smog [a blend of smoke and fog]
• telethon [a blend of television and marathon]
• webinar [a blend of web and seminar]
Two main types of blending are recognized in the literature:
• Total blending, when both words are changed in some way, as in brunch, where
breakfast is reduced to two letters ("br") and lunch loses its initial letters.
• Partial blending, in this type of blending one word maintains its form unchanged
while other is changed, as in the case of webinar, when only the word seminar is
clipped, and word web remains unchanged.
5.7 SUPPLETION
The terms suppletion is basically the use of two or more phonetically distinct roots
of different forms of the same word. For example, the adjective bad and its
suppletive comparative form worse are examples of suppletion.
The term "strong suppletion, is used when the allomorphs are highly dissimilar and
are from different etymological origins," as in the adjective forms good and best.
"Weak suppletion is used if some similarity is discernible," as in the
words five and fifth. "The term 'suppletion' gradually made its way into
grammatical descriptions and other linguistic works in the late 19th century
(Osthoff, 1899; Thomas, 1899:79). For example, if a verb lacks a form in a certain
category, it is supplied by some other verb. "In linguistic theory of the 20th century,
'suppletion' came to be fully established as a concept with the advent of
structuralism, where the concept was central to the theory.
J.R. Hurford et al., Semantics: A Coursebook, (2007) writes that in bad - worse as
a case of suppletion, worse is very clearly semantically related to bad in exactly
the same way as larger is related to large, but there is no morphological
relationship between the two words as no phonetic similarity exists between them.
Suppletion takes place when the syntax requires a form of a lexeme that is
morphologically unpredictable. In English, for example, the paradigm for the
verb be is characterized by suppletion. am, are, is, was, were,
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and be are phonologically different, and they are also unpredictable on the basis of
the paradigms of other English verbs. Pronoun suppletion is another thing we
observe. Compare I and me or she and her. Suppletion is most likely to be found in
the paradigms of high-frequency words.
Good, Better, Best "The forms good, better and best, which belong to the adjective
good... show suppletion as the relationship between the morphs representing the
root morpheme is phonologically arbitrary. It is senseless to argue that there is a
single underlying representation in the dictionary for the origin of go and went or
good and better. The best we can do is to satisfy ourselves with listing these
allomorphs together under the same entry.
5.8 INITIALISMS AND ACRONYMS

An acronym is a term constructed from the initials of other words in a phrase, and
some of them have an ancient origin (such as CIA). A distinction can be made
between acronyms proper (which can be uttered, such as NATO) and those which
are initialisms where each letter is spoken individually. Some of these terms may
blend word and letter pronunciations, and in some situations, the pronunciations of
the terms vary depending on the speaker. For example, some speakers pronounce
the acronym ASAP (As Soon As Possible) as one word and some pronounce it as
four separate letters.
Acronyms are formed not just from the first letter of each word in a phrase as in the
case of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) but they are also formed from the
first two or three letters in some or all of the words such as RADAR (Radio
Detecting And Ranging). In addition, whether functional words (such and, by, of,
etc.) are incorporated into the formation depends on the final term that make words
easier to pronounce or recognize. The functional word by is removed from laser
but is kept in other contexts, like DOB (date of birth).
To indicate that the letters in an acronym stand for words, it is customary to write
them in upper case. But it is a custom that is often broken.
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Acronym Formed from Pronounced as
Light Amplification
by Simulated
Laser One word /ˈleɪ.zə/
Emission of
Radiation
North Atlantic
NATO One word /ˈneɪ.təʊ/
Treaty Organization
As Soon As One word or the /ˌeɪ.es.eɪ.ˈpiː/ or
ASAP
Possible initials /ˈeɪ.sæp/
Self-Contained
Scuba Underwater One word /ˈskuː.bə/
Breathing Apparatus
QUasi-Autonomous
Quango Non-Governmental One word /ˈkwæŋ.ɡəʊ/
Organisation
STrategic Arms
START One word /stɑːt/
Reduction Treaty
Graphics
Gif One word /ɡɪf/
Interchange Format
What You See Is
wysiwyg One word /ˈwɪz.iː.wɪɡ/
What You Get
Unidentified Flying One word or the
UFO /ˈju.fəʊ/ or /juː.ef.ˈəʊ/
Object initials
Frequently Asked One word or the
FAQ /fæk/ or /ef.eɪ.ˈkjuː/
Questions initials
Compact Disc Read- As two initials plus
CD-ROM /siː.diː.ˈrɒm/
Only Memory one word
Joint Photographic As one initial plus
Jpeg /ˈdʒeɪ.peɡ/
Experts Group one word
British Broadcasting
BBC As initials /ˌbiː.biː.ˈsiː/
Authority
Federal Republic of
FRG As initials /ef.ɑː.ˈdʒiː/
Germany
Anti-Aircraft
AAA Triple plus initial /ˈtrɪp.l̩ .eɪ/
Artillery
World-wide web Initial plus number
W3C /ˈdʌb.ljuː.θriː.siː/
Consortium plus initial
IOU I Owe You I owe you /ˈaɪ.əʊ.ju/
Personal
PIN Identification Pin (number) /pɪn.ˈnʌm.bə/
Number
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Acronyms may also be subject to inflexion as in the case of plural forms, VIPs,
FAQs, IOUs, lasers and verbal uses such as OD for overdose which is sometimes
inflected as OD'd for its past tense and participle use.
5.9 BORROWING OR CALQUING

There are two ways that words are borrowed from other languages:
1. In the native tongue. We refer to these as borrowed or loan words. When a

word is borrowed, its class may be changed. For instance, the Turkish
adjective bosh, which means "empty," may be changed to the English noun
"empty talk" to signify the same thing.
The importation of a language's dialect into standard usage or of one variety of the
same language into others is a subset of borrowing. The loan words that were
originally used in dialects only but now have moved into standard use and those
that have been imported from American or Australian English are the most evident
cases in English.
Example:
loaf [originally from rhyming slang, loaf of bread ,to mean head or brain,]
safari [originally from Arabic An expedition or observing animals in their natural
atmosphere]
utensil [originally from Latin. word ‘utensilia’ refers to things or resources for use]
justice [originally the word justice emerged from the old French justice or jostise,
which means administration of law]
2. Calque also known as loan translation is the process of borrowing words or

phrases from another language by literal word for word or root for root
translation.
Example:
blue ribbon [from the French cordon blue]

loan word [from the German Lehnwort]
it goes without saying [from the French ça va sans dire]
masterpiece [from the Dutch meesterstuk]
5.10 COINAGE, EPONYMS AND TOPONYMS

Coinages can occur when a person or group consciously introduces a new word into a
language to fill what they believe to be a lexical gap. Coinage is also known as
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"neologisms." They are similar to but distinct from eponyms, new words named after a
notable person, and toponyms, new terms named after a place (real or fictional).
Here are some examples and further description of the three types.
5.10.1 Coinages
a. Neologisms are terms created entirely from scratch, affixes added creatively
to existing words to create new ones, or words used in brand-new word classes
(such as ask or high as nouns). Examples include:
• Quark, a term used in particle physics and created by James Joyce.

• Catch 22 (as used in Joseph Heller's book of the same name).
• quiz [of unknown provenance but perhaps created by a Dublin theatre
management in the 19th century]
• Agnostic (created in 1869 by Thomas Henry Huxley)
We now have terms like "soft- hard- mal- bloat etc. + ware," "helpdesk," "to
google," "to text," "air conditioner," and "LED," which are all related to modern
technology and are frequent source of neologisms.
We also come across blends of words in coins, such as malvertising, fanzines,

gigantic, and bit (a combination of binary and unit).
b. Retronyms is a new word or phrase created for an old object or concept whose
original name become associated with something else. Retronyms also called
lexemes (often noun-noun compounds or categorised nouns) become
necessary as technology develops. For instance, the term "rotary-dial
telephone" is now required to describe something that was formerly referred
to simply as a telephone since most telephones do not require you to use a
rotary dial to place a call, but all telephones did at one time.
Example:
• FM radio [previously, simply radio or wireless]

• smart phone [previously mobile phone]
• CRT television [previously television set]
• landline [previously telephone line]
• digital typewriter [previously typewriter]
• sailing ship [previously ship]
• digital camra [previously camra]
• hand pump [previously pump]
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5.10.2 Toponyms
Technically speaking, a toponym is only the name of a location, particularly if it is
originated from a geographical feature, like The Lake District. Many English words
are derived from place names, making them toponyms (although it would be more
appropriate to refer to them as toponym-derived words). They are typically
attributed to goods that originate from specific locations or occasions that are
intimately related to them.
Examples:
• kashmir, jodhpur [from areas of India]

• ulster [from the province in Ireland]
• bourbon [from a county of Kentucky]
• marathon [from a location in Greece]
• bikini [from a Pacific island]
• panama hat [although probably not a hat from Panama]
• meander [from a river in Turkey]
5.10.3 Eponyms
Eponyms may be derived from names of real or imaginary individuals. They
usually lose their initial capitalization over time and cease to be recognized as
proper nouns. They usually relate to items that are closely linked to a person,
character, or aspect of that person.
Examples:
wellington boot [from the general of that name]

scrooge [from the character in Dickens]
boycott [from Charles Boycott, an Irish land agent]
biro [from the inventors of the pen, László Bíró and his brother György]
5.11 APOPHONY
A number of additional more or less repulsive terms for apophony include ablaut,
vowel mutation, internal modification, stem modification or mutation, internal
inflexion, and others.
It simply refers to changing a word internally to indicate a number, case, person, or

tense. Although prefixes and suffixes are used more frequently in modern English,
but many irregular verbs, pronouns, determiners, and plural forms are still
internally altered for tense, case, and number.
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Similar to many other ancient and modern Germanic languages, Old English
frequently used internal mutation or apophony to convey different forms of marked
meanings. Few new ones are generated, although many of these are still present in
the language. (The past tense of sneak, which is technically produced by suffixation
as sneaked but is increasingly formed by internal vowel mutation as snuck, is an
exception to this rule. The gradual replacement of shrank with shrunk as the past
tense of shrink is a related phenomenon). Here are a few instances of word forms
created through apophony:
Verb tenses
Blind Bound
Lie Lay
Rise Rose Risen
Sing sang Sung
Weave wave
The following is a list of irregular verb forms

many of which are produced by apophony:
Noun to verb formations and vice versa
Advice Advise
Belief Believe
Blood Bleed
Breath Breathe
Brood Breed
Food Feed
Gift Give
Life live
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Practice Practice
Sing Song
Wreath wreathe
With stress movements:
Contrast Contrast
Export Export
Object Object
permit permit
PLURALS
Foot feet
Goose geese
Louse Lice
Mouse mice
Tooth Teeth
Wolf Wolves
Wife Wives
TWO DETERMINERS
That Those
This these
CASE FORMATIONS
Me My Mine
He him His
They Their
Us Our
Who whose
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5.12 AUTONYMS AND EXONYMS
A word utilized by a group of people to represent themselves is called an autonym.
For instance, an Indo Aryan ethnic community frequently refers to itself as
Romany, and British people refer to themselves as Brit.
An exonym is a word (often created or borrowed from another language) used to

represent a group of individuals but not by those individuals to describe themselves. For
instance, although Americans occasionally refer to their fellow countrymen as gringos
in a derogatory manner, they seldom use the term themselves, unless ironically.
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5.13 SUMMARY POINTS
➢ It is a method of creating new words in which an affix is joined to a root (also

known as a stem or base).
➢ A root is an independent, autonomous morpheme, also known as an unbound
morpheme.
➢ An Affix, on the other hand, is a bound morpheme that can be either inflectional
or derivational and never occurs by itself; instead, it is always joined to a free
morpheme.
➢ A word form or grammatical category, such as tense, person, number, gender,
or case, is modified by an inflectional affix. Rats are an illustration of this.
➢ A derivational affix affects the root's parts of speech while keeping the
grammatical category the same.
➢ The root's meaning is changed in this manner. For instance: write - writer.
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1: What is affixation? Explain the role of affixation in word formation process?
2: Describe compounding in detail with examples.
3: What is conversion? Explain forms of conversion?
4: Describe difference between blending and clipping.
5: Explain the difference between borrowing and calque.
6: Define coinage, toponyms, and eponyms.
7: Define autonyms and exonyms.
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Heinrichs, Ann. (2011). Prefixes and suffixes. Mankato, Minn: The Child's World.
Murray, Kara. (2015). Prefixes and suffixes. Edited by Machajewski Sarah editor.
New York: Power Kids Press.
Reaburn, Ron. (2000). Roots, prefixes, & suffixes of the English language.
Vancouver, BC: Vancouver Community College.
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Unit 6
COMPOUND WORDS AND

PHRASEL WORDS

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CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................89
6.1 Phrases versus compounds ....................................................... 90

6.2 Compound Verbs ................................................................... 91
6.3 Compound Adjectives ............................................................ 92
6.4 Compound Nouns .................................................................. 93
6.5 Headed and Headless Compounds ............................................. 94
6.6 Phrasal Words ...................................................................... 94
6.7 Summry Points ..................................................................... 96
6.8 Self- Assessment Questions ...................................................................97
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INTRODUCTION
This unit is going to further discuss the internal structure of words focusing on
describing various ways through which words are combined and compound and
phrasal words are created. We are going to focus mainly on the following topics:
• Compounds versus phrases

• Compound verbs
• Compound adjectives
• Compound nouns
• Headed and headless compounds
• Phrasal words
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the unit, you will be able to:
• Understand difference between compounds and phrases

• Understand structure and function of compound verbs
• Understand structure and function of compound nouns
• Understand structure and function of compound adjectives
• Understand head and headless compounds
• Understand the structure of phrasal verbs
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6.1 PHRASES VERSES COMPOUNDS
When two or more words are combined to make a single part of speech, they are
called as a phrase. A phrase is a collection of related words that is employed as a
unit of speech but does not contain a verb and a subject. Further, compound words
are words created by combining the root words. Closed compounds are written as
a single word, hyphenated compounds are written with two hyphens, and open
compounds are written as two independent words. Some compounds are more
common than the others. Some writing such as newspaper headlines use
compounds frequently. But before going into further discussion, we must address a
problem that has not previously been addressed that every compound word we have
examined has contained at least one bound morpheme. English roots are usually
unbound rather than bound. How can we determine whether a pair of these roots
forms a compound word or phrase that functions as a sentence-building component
as opposed to a complex word?
There are sufficient instances to demonstrate the validity of the distinction between
compounds and phrases, even though a definitive answer is not always possible.
Think of the terms "green house" (in its literal sense) and "greenhouse" (meaning a
glass structure where delicate plants are reared). The primary stress in the first
phrase is on the word "house," whereas the main stress in the second expression is
on the word "green." This difference in sound reflects the difference in meaning.
The following examples show how frequently this pattern of semantic contrast
between expressions stressed in different places occurs:
• black bóard bláckboard
‘board that is black’ ‘board for writing on’
• silk wórm sílkworm
‘worm made of silk’ (e.g. soft toy) ‘caterpillar that spins silk’
• hair nét háirnet
‘net made of hair’ ‘net for covering hair’
• white house (the)Whíte House
‘house that is white’ ‘residence of the US President’
• toy fáctory tóy factory
‘factory that is a toy’ ‘factory where toys are made’
The items in numbers 1 to 5 on the left, such as "green house," are phrases because
English phrases have the last word stressed, unless a contrast is being made explicit
or implied (for example, "They live in a white house, not a yellow one!"). The right-
most items such as gréenhouse, which have the first element stressed, are generally
categorized as compounds. Nevertheless, this pattern of stress consistently applies
to compound nouns only, not to compounds in other word classes.
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In addition to the stress, a second criterion commonly used to separate compounds from
phrases is semantics, which refers to the tendency of compounds to have more or less
idiosyncratic or unpredictable meanings. Most of the compounds in 1–5 fall under this
category. However, as being semantically unpredictable does not always equate to
being a word, so this criterion should be used with care. Nevertheless, it is true that
words are more likely to be lexical items than phrases are. Therefore, it will not be
always erroneous to use semantic peculiarity as a sign of compound status.
6.2 COMPOUND VERBS

A compound verb is a verb, a noun, an adjective, or a preposition that is followed
by a verb and is counted as a single verb. The compound verbs are substantially
less frequent than the verbs formed by affixation. However, there are other varieties
that can be identified by their structural differences:
• Verb-verb (VV): stir-fry, freeze-dry

• Noun-verb (NV): hand-carry, air-tight, steam-clean
• Adjective-verb (AV): dry-fruit, clear-cut
• Preposition-verb (PV): understand, outreach, overdraw.
However, only the PV type (preposition-verb) is truly widespread, because some

compounds containing under-, over-, and outdo not require classification as
lexical items. For instance, the prefix out- may be added to any verb designating a
competitive or potentially competitive activity to produce a transitive verb meaning
"outdo in Xing," while the prefix over also allows for the creation of new phrases
(e.g. overpolish, overcriticise, overbleach).
All of these compounds have a verb as the rightmost part, and the activity that the
compound as a whole denotes is typically a variation of the activity that the right-
most element denotes. These compounds will be referred to as right-headed, with
the head as the rightmost element.
A multi-word compound that serves as a single verb is known as a compound verb

or complex predicate in linguistics. A light verb or vector, one of the components
of the compound, carries any inflections, denoting tense, mood, or aspect, but only
offers subtle shades of meaning. The compound's other "primary," component is a
verb or noun that controls much of its meaning and specifies its arguments. The
conjunctive participial form is typically either base or [in Verb + Verb
combinations]
Because the primary verb determines the semantics, as formally represented by a

predicate, even though both verbs appear in the surface form, a compound verb is also
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referred to as a "complex predicate." The naming convention determines whether
Noun+Verb (N+V) compounds are regarded as "compound verbs." In general, N+V
compounds are included in the term complex predicate, whereas V+V compounds are
generally included in the phrase compound verb. However, a few of authors
particularly Iranologists designate N+V combinations as compound verbs.
Serial verbs, which often denote a series of events and in which the verbs have
roughly equal semantic and grammatical weight, should be distinguished from
compound verbs. Additionally, they must be separated from combinations of main
verbs and auxiliary verbs.
There are two categories of complex predicates:
1.V+V compounds: Compound verbs with a second "light verb" (LV) that is
preceded by a primary or "heavy verb" are known as "V+V compounds." All V+V
compound verbs, with a few exceptions, alternate with their simple counterparts.
To put it another way, dropping the light verb or vector has very little impact on
either grammar or meaning: ‫"نکل گیا‬nikal gya" versus ‫"نکال‬nikal" both imply "(I/he)
went out."
2.N+V compounds: A combination of a noun and a verb that turns the noun into a
verbal structure; the N determines the arguments and the semantics, and the V
carries the tense markers and inflections, particularly with LVs like "do," "take,"
"give," etc. Examples in English include phrases also called stretched verb like "go
for a walk" or "commit suicide." Some of the verbs that take part in N+V
compounds also take part in V+V compounds as LVs. Contrary to V+V
compounds, which are uncommon because of the frequent verb "do," N+V
compounds are widespread in all languages across the globe.
6.3 COMPOUND ADJECTIVES

When two or more adjectives are combined to modify the same noun, a compound
adjective is formed. To prevent ambiguity or confusion, these nouns should be
hyphenated. For instance:
1. Diana delivered a six-page report.
2. We bought a three-year old cat.
An adjective and an adverb cannot be combined to form a compound adjective.

Since it is already clear that the adverb modifies the adjective rather than the next
noun, there is no need for a hyphen.
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Example:
1. It was a terribly hot day.

2. It is an amazingly good idea.
A compound adjective should not contain a hyphen if the adjectives are capitalized,
such as when they are a component of a title.
A hyphenated adjective is another name for a compound adjective.
Let's examine the following phrases:
• I saw a man-eating alligator.

• I saw a man eating alligator.
A compound adjective can be found in the opening sentence.

Unlike the second, which does not.
However, meanings of these two phrases are extremely dissimilar.
Examples of compound adjectives
1. This is a four-foot man.

2. Driving is my part-time job.
3. This is an all-too-common idea.
4. Beware of the green-eyed monster.
5. Fish is a cold-blooded animal.
6. I like his brightly-lit office!
7. He is an obedient and well-behaved subordinate.
8. I like open-minded persons.
6.4 COMPOUND NOUNS

A compound noun is a noun that is categorized by its form. According to Nina
(2010), a compound word is a collection of words that function as a single unit in
a sentence.
Here are some examples of compound noun forms:
• Noun + noun; English story, grocery store

• Possessive noun + noun: Teacher’s diary, girl’s college
• Adjective + noun: Electric light, a common room
• Verb + noun: Watchman, washing machine
• Noun + verb: Rainfall, haircut
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• Gerund + noun: Dining room, singing bird
• Noun + gerund: Book keeping, ship building
• Preposition + noun: Upstairs, offshore
• Verb + preposition-adverb: Make-up, grown-up
• Noun + prepositional phrase: Sister-in-law, commander-in-chief
6.5 HEADED AND HEADLESS COMPOUNDS

Headed compounds, such as blackboard, greenstone, etc., are compounds with an
inner center (this is known as endocentric). However, headless compounds are
those that lack an internal center (they are known as exocentric), such as pickpocket
and faintheart, which are not the types of pockets or hearts, rather they are persons.
(Carstairs-McCarthy, 2002). A few compound nouns of the VN type resemble
secondary compounds in that the noun to the right of the verb is thought to be its
object:
• Pickpocket, killjoy, cutpurse
These are also headless; the pickpocket, for instance, is not a particular type of
pocket. The conclusion drawn from these analyses is that there will be certain
headless nouns in which the second element is not even a noun. The fact that heart
and pocket are nouns is really unrelated to the fact that faintheart and pickpocket
are also nouns.
• Take-off, sell-out, wrap-up, sit-in
This can be applied to the nouns in this context, where the root is a verb plus another word.
6.6 PHRASAL WORDS

Similar relationships to those indicated in syntax are reflected on the one hand in
some compounds, such as the verb-object relationship between hair and restore in
hair restorer. On the other hand, because the two words appear in the opposite order,
the verb-object relationship is communicated in this compound quite differently
from how it is expressed in syntax: we say this ingredient restores hair, not *This
ingredient hair restores. There is a clear distinction between sentence structure and
compound word structure here. There are also complex objects that have the
function of being words, but they have a clause or a phrase as their internal
structure rather than a compound. Although there isn't a standard name for these
things, Carstairs-McCarthy (2002) defines it as "phrasal words”.
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A phrasal word is a noun, such as the noun "jack-in-the-box." This appears to be a
noun phrase structurally, exactly like the expressions "people on the street" or "a
book on the shelf," where the head noun, "Jack," is modified by the preposition "in
the box." However, it creates its plural by adding the suffix -s to the entire
expression rather than the head noun (as in books on the shelf): not "jacks-in-the-
box," but "jack-in-the-boxes," as in they jumped around like jack-in-the-boxes. It
functions like a word even though it is structurally a phrase. Compare this to the
term "brother-in-law," which has a form that is similar but has a connotation that is
at least idiosyncratic. One significant distinction is that brother-in-law produces its
plural by adding the suffix -s to the head noun rather than the entire expression:
brothers-in-law. Therefore, despite the hyphens, "brother-in-law" is not a word but
rather a phrase.
Can phrases other than noun phrases constitute phrasal word? Yes, is the answer.
1.Examples of adjectival are "dyed-in-the-wool" (as in a "dyed-in-the-wool

Republican") and "couldn't care less" (as in an attitude).
2. According to syntactic principle, "dyed-in-the-wool" appears to be an adjective

phrase made up of an adjective ("dyed," which means "artificially colored")
modified by a prepositional phrase, similar to "suited for the party" or "devoted to
his children."
The behaviour of a dyed-in-the-wool is that of a word rather than a phrase because

such a phrase cannot totally precede the noun it modifies (we say a man devoted to
his children or suitable music for the party, not *a devoted to his children man or
*suitable for the party music). Couldn't care less has a verb phrase structure but
behaves like an adjective once more (example: "Your attitude is even more couldn't
care less than hers!").
The governor general, attorney general, court martial, and lord lieutenant are good
examples of a tiny and somewhat archaic class of lexical terms. Which word should
be used to form their plural: attorney generals or attorneys general? If you prefer
the former, these items could initially seem like more phrasal words, but they differ
from typical English noun phrases in that the adjective comes after the noun rather
than before it. Therefore, it seems preferable to interpret them as illustrations of an
idea we haven't yet encountered: endocentric words, which, according to
convention, have their heads on the left rather than the right. On the other hand, if
you pick the second type of plural (attorneys general), they resemble your
brother(s)-in-law more because they are lexicalized phrases rather than actual
words. No matter how these items are studied, their structure is odd, so it is not
strange if, in the end, neither kind of plural sounds entirely correct.
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SUMMARY POINTS
➢ When two or more words are combined to make a single part of speech,
they are called a phrase.
➢ Compound words on the other hand are words created by combining roots.
➢ A compound verb is a verb, a noun, an adjective, or a preposition that is
followed by a verb and counts as a single verb.
➢ When two or more adjectives are combined to modify the same noun, a
compound adjective is formed.
➢ Headed compounds, such as blackboard, greenstone, etc., are compounds
with an inner centre (this is known as endocentric).
➢ However, headless compounds are those that lack an internal centre (they
are known as exocentric).
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1: Explain difference between compounds and phrases?
2: Explain head and headless compounds with examples?
3: Define phrasal words structure?
4: Can phrases other than noun phrases constitute phrasal words?
5: Explain the possible forms of compound nouns with example?
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Aarts, Bas. (2007). Syntactic gradience: The nature of grammatical
indeterminacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Adams, Valerie. (1973). An introduction to modern English word-

formation. London: Longman.
Alexander, Louis George. (1988). Longman English

grammar. London: Longman.
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Unit 7
INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY

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CONTENTS
Introduction ...................................................................................................102
Learning Objectives .............................................................................................102
7.1 Inflectional and Derivational Morphology ...........................................103
7.1.1 Inflectional Morphology ................................................................103
7.1.2 Derivational Morphology...............................................................104
7.2 What distinguishes inflectional from derivative morphology? .............104
7.3 Grammatical Categories ........................................................................104
7.3.1 Decimal ..........................................................................................104
7.3.2 In/Definiteness ...............................................................................105
7.3.3 Tense and Aspect ...........................................................................105
7.3.4 Case ................................................................................................106
7.3.5 Person .............................................................................................106
7.3.6 Gender ............................................................................................106
7.3.7 Mood ..............................................................................................107
7.4 Functions of Major Linguistics Categories ...........................................107
7.4.1 Nouns: Singular and Plural ............................................................107
7.4.2 Natural and Grammatical Genders: Masculine, Feminine, and
Neuter .............................................................................................107
7.4.3 DEFINITIONS: Definite and Indefinite .......................................107
7.4.4 Possession: First, second, and third; singular and plural ...............107
7.4.5 NOUN CLASS (Grammatical gender) ..........................................108
7.4.6 PARADIGM FOR CASE (DECLENSION) .................................108
7.5 ADJECTIVES .......................................................................................108
7.5.1 Relational: Qualitative: Defective..................................................108
7.5.2 DEGREE: Comparative and Superlative .......................................109
7.6 VERBS ..................................................................................................109
7.6.1 Transitivity: Transitive and Intransitive.........................................109
7.6.2 Aspect: Perfective and imperfect ...................................................109
7.7 TENSE ..................................................................................................110
7.8 VOICE: Active, Passive ........................................................................110
7.9 MOOD...................................................................................................110
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7.10 Conjugation Classes ..............................................................................111
7.11 Participles ..............................................................................................111
7.12 Quantifiers .............................................................................................111
7.13 Inflectional Affixes ...............................................................................111
7.14 Regular and Irregular Inflection ............................................................113
7.15 Summry Points ......................................................................................114
7.16 Self- Assessments Questions .................................................................115
7.16 Further Readings ...................................................................................116
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INTRODUCTION
The focus of the present unit is to introduce ‘inflectional morphology’ as an
important field and discuss how various morphological operations are carried out
to form words and modify them in order to convey grammatical and content
meaning. We are also going to introduce various types of inflection and
grammatical categories related to and as part of inflectional morphology. The main
topics covered in this unit are:
• Inflectional and derivational morphology
• Grammatical category
• Types of grammatical categories
• Inflectional affixation
• Regular and irregular inflection
• Forms of nouns
• Forms of Verbs
• Forms of Adjectives
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, the students will be able to:
• Understand inflectional and derivational morphology

• Explain grammatical categories
• Understand inflectional affixation
• Understand forms of nouns, verbs and adjectives
• Understand regular and irregular inflection
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7.1 INFLECTIONAL AND DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY
The smallest meaningful morphological unit in a language is called a morpheme. It
is impossible to divide or examine this unit further. There are two basic categories
of morphemes: inflectional and derivational. Therefore, the study of these two
categories of morphemes is covered by inflectional and derivational morphology,
respectively.
7.1.1 Inflectional Morphology

The study of the processes that separate the word forms in particular grammatical
categories is known as inflectional morphology. This comprises procedures that
produce inflectional morphemes, like affixation and vowel change.
A suffix known as an inflectional morpheme is added to a word in order to give it

a certain grammatical feature, such as its number, mood, tense, or possession.
However, the grammatical classification a word cannot be altered by inflectional
morphology. You can add with a verb, noun, adjective, or adverb an inflectional
morphology. For instance, the verb "run," which is plural, can become single by
adding the suffix "-s." The past tense of the verb dance is also created by adding
the suffix "-ed" (danced).
Here are a few more examples:
Cat - Cats
Teach - Teaches
Clean - Cleaned
Pretty – Prettier
The aforementioned examples show that inflectional morphemes usually result in

alternative word forms rather than the new words. Additionally, because inflection
only adds details to a word or emphasizes on a particular meaning, it rarely alters
the fundamental meaning of a word. As a result, dictionaries do not list words with
inflectional morphology as separate entries.
7.1.2 Derivational Morphology

Derivational morphology is the study of how new words are created that differ from
their bases in either syntactic category or meaning. A derivational morpheme is
thus an affix we apply to a word to produce a new term or a new form of an existing
word. A derivational morpheme can also alter meaning or grammatical
classification of a word.
Examples:
Change in Meaning
Leaf → Leaflet
Pure →Impure
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Change in Grammatical Category
Help (verb) → Helper (noun)
Logic (noun) → Logical (adjective)
As it is evident from the above examples, derivational morphemes create new

words by altering the category or meaning of the original words. Thus, these terms
can be discovered in dictionaries under new entries.
7.2 WHAT DISTINGUISHES INFLECTIONAL FROM

DERIVATIVE MORPHOLOGY?
Derivational morphology is the study of creation of new words that differ from their
bases in either syntactic category or meaning, as opposed to inflectional
morphology, which examines how words are modified to fit into various
grammatical situations. This is the main distinction between inflectional and
derivational morphology. Derivational morphology differs from inflectional
morphology in usage in that derivational morphemes are affixes that can alter
meaning or grammatical category of a word while inflectional morphemes only
function as grammatical markers and indicate some grammatical information about
a word.
Derivational morphology differs from the inflectional morphology in that it

produces new words, whereas inflectional morphemes create new forms of the
same word.
7.3 GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES

To change form of a word for grammatical purposes, it must possess a certain set
of syntactic characteristics known as a grammatical category (ensuring agreement
between words). Following are some examples of different grammatical categories
such as number, definiteness, tense and aspect, case, person, gender, and mood.
7.3.1 Decimal
The numerable property is simply indicated by the category NUMBER (singularity
or plurality). It is a grammatical category that represents count distinctions and
consists of nouns, pronouns, adjective agreement, and verb agreement (such as
"one", "two", or "three or more").
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The two number categories in English are singular and plural.
Word Type Number Category
Singular Example Plural Example
Noun cat, mouse cats, mice
Pronoun I, me, you, he, him, she, we, us, you, they, them
her, it
Adjective this, that, a, an, my, your, these, those, our, your,
his, her, its their
Verb am, is, was, has, I play, he Are, were, have, they play
plays
7.3.2 In/Definiteness
Definite and indefinite nouns are separated by the category Definiteness.
Determiners are generally used to connect this grammatical category to nouns. A
determiner, such as a, an, the, every, or some, is a word that establishes the type of
reference a noun or noun phrase has. It makes a distinction between
referents/entities that can be recognized in a specific context (definite noun phrases)
and those that cannot (indefinite noun phrases). Languages convey definiteness
very differently from one another, and some languages do not express it at all.
For example, the choice of determiner in English generally indicates definiteness.
Some determiners, like a, an, many, any, either, and some, usually indicate an
indeterminate noun phrase. The noun phrase is designated as definite by other
words like the, this and every.
Property of definiteness within the noun prefix having a relation function can be
seen in some African languages. This relation function is shared by determiners,
quantifiers, genitive nouns, and adjectives in a concatenation of noun modifiers.
They all depend on the noun head, expressing this relationship through some parts
of the noun prefix known as the agreement element.
The agreement element between izicathulo 'shoes' the noun head and its modifiers
are indicated in bold. According to this definition, the noun and its modifiers share
a definiteness feature with these agreement pieces of the class 10 prefix izi-.
Whether agreement is morphologically indicated or not, all modifiers have the
semantic feature of specific identification associated with them, which serves to
amplify their definiteness (Alcock, 2000).
7.3.3 Tense and Aspect

The time at which the actions or activities occurred is referred to as the category
Tense. An expression's time can be used to make references to the past, present, or
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future. Any verb form that indicates the time at which an action occurred is said to
have a tense. The English tense and the Sepedi tense are depicted in the illustrations
below.
The way a verb indicates time is expressed by the category Aspect. Verbs' aspect
markers let us know whether an activity has ended or is still in progress. This
grammatical category is related with tense. The verbs in the below mentioned
illustrations describe the status of the action.
7.3.4 Case
The functional role of a word or noun phrase is expressed by the category Case.
This grammatical category illustrates how different noun phrases relate to the verb
in a sentence in different ways (subject, direct object or indirect object).
7.3.5 Person
Whether a pronoun refers to the speaker (first person), the addressee (second
person), or a third person depends on the category PERSON.
7.3.6 Gender
The categorization of nouns into masculine, gender, and neuter is referred to as
Gender.
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7.3.7 Mood
The category Mood is related to sentence type (statements, questions and
commands). Mood is a term used to describe different forms of finite verb
(indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional or subjunctive).
7.4 Functions of Major Linguistics Categories

7.4.1 Nouns: Singular and Plural
Some languages use nouns to indicate the number of objects they refer to. Only the
single and plural forms of numbers are distinct in English. When referring to
singular objects or referents that are neither singular nor plural, the former is
employed (mass nouns like contemplation). Plural also refers to singular things,
such as glasses, the category is obviously grammatical rather than semantic.
7.4.2 Natural and Grammatical Genders: Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter

Some languages have two different gender categories. Natural gender is one type
of gender, which is related to the referent's gender and separates nouns referring to
males from those referring to females. There is also a grammatical gender, which
is only a system of noun classes and has nothing to do with natural gender. The
Indo-European languages usually blend the two, i.e., do not distinguish one from
the other, so in French, for instance, la table 'the table' purely reflect grammatical
gender which is feminine and la femme 'the woman' expresses the combined natural
and grammatical.
Many languages that distinguish between the two types of gender also use an
agreement system that requires adjectives that modify gendered nouns to have a
gender-congruent ending. Additionally, verbs frequently reflect the gender of their
subject nouns and, sometimes, their object nouns as well. The most typical genders
are Masculine (represented by "M") and Feminine (represented by "F"), while some
languages also contain Neuter (represented by "N").
7.4.3 DEFINITNESS: Definite and Indefinite

Most languages have a system for identifying definite and indefinite objects. One
that the speaker assumes the audience is familiar with from prior discussion or
personal experience is referred to as a definite object. You might say, for instance,
I bought an armadillo today if you don't assume the listener knows what you are
talking about. You would typically say I bought the armadillo today if the listener
can see the armadillo or if you have already mentioned it to the listener.
7.4.4 Possession: First, second, and third; singular and plural

According to the possession category, the referent is said to possess the noun
designated with this category. This category serves the same purposes as verbal
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person, i.e., the first, second, and third person single and plural. The possessive
pronouns my, your, yours, his, her, hers, it, etc. are used in English to denote
ownership. Other languages, like Turkish, "conjugate" their nouns by adding
inflectional affixes.
7.4.5 NOUN CLASS (Grammatical gender)

Grammatical gender and noun class are closely related; in Indo-European
languages, the two usually overlap. All nouns must fall under one of the categories
that make up the noun class. Although there is a tendency for nouns with similar
meanings or of the same gender belong to the same class, yet they have no semantic
meaning attached to them. For example, all feminine nouns belong to same class,
and similarly the names of trees or towns usually belong to the same class. The
physical shape of the referent can determine the noun class in Chinese and several
African languages. There are always exceptions to these patterns, but there is no
exception to the rule that all nouns must belong to some noun class.
7.4.6 PARADIGM FOR CASE (DECLENSION)

Languages need a way to identify the specific grammatical relations in sentence,
such as the relationship of subject to the verb, the relationship of direct and indirect
objects to the verb, and the Means relationship to the verb. There are only a few
adverbial relations in languages that could be stated by lexemes but are invariably
represented by grammatical structures, such as cases, ad positions, or both.
Locative, origin, goal (all of which may be spatial or temporal) are the adverbial
relations. Turkish utilizes a standard set of cases (Case Paradigm).
7.5 ADJECTIVES
7.5.1 Relational: Qualitative: Defective
In languages, there are three categories of adjectives.
Relational adjectives are formed from nouns and serve to identify a noun. For
example, the adjective dental floss serves to identify a noun without providing any
further information about the type of floss in question. It is important to note that
these adjectives cannot be compared, exist in the predicate position (only the
attributive position is permitted), or go through derivation.
Qualitative adjectives bestow some quality on the noun they modify. Flimsy floss
tells us something about the floss itself since it has the property of flimsiness as
these adjectives must pass the following tests in order to qualify for comparison,
derivation, occurrence in predicate or attributive positions (flimsily, flimsiness).
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Defectiveadjectiveonly appear in the predicate position and do not complete
derivation or comparison Aloft and outdoors are the
examples of defective adjectives.
English Relational & Qualitative Adjecives
Relational Qualitative Defective
budget-ary (decision) delicate (decision) *the adrift boat
*The decision was budgetary The decision was delicate The boat was adrift
*budget-ari-ness delicac-y *adrift-ness
*budget-ari-ly delicate-ly *adrift-ly
*very budget-ary very delicate *very adrift
*more adrift than
*more budget-ary than more delicate than
7.5.1 DEGREE: Comparative and Superlative

The qualitative adjectives assign a quality to the nouns they modify. The noun
almost always has that quality to varied degrees. Therefore, qualitative adjectives,
but not relational or defective adjective, may be compared. The comparative degree
and the superlative degree are the two functions that make up the comparison
category. They operate in three Indo-European languages as follows.
The Comparative & Superlative Degrees

ENGLISH
old-er (than) the old-est
more important (than) the most important
7.6 VERBS
7.6.1 Transitivity: Transitive and Intransitive
If the direct objects are accepted by verbs, they are transitive; if not, they are
intransitive. Some verbs, like the English word "to eat," can fall into either category,
depending on the situation.
Karim ate the duck Karim ate.
7.6.2 Aspect: Perfective and imperfect

Some languages make a distinction between whether an action or condition has
been completed or not rather than whether it has already happened. (Most languages
make various distinctions between tense and aspect.)
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7.7 TENSE
Distant Past, Past, Present, Future, Distant Future Tense describes the period of
time that an action or state occurred relative to the speaking act. There are only five
tenses recognized by languages:, present, past, past perfect ,future, and distant
future (future perfect). All five exist in English.
English Tenses
Future I will write, I'm gonna write.
Future Perfective I will have written
Present I write, I am wrting
Past I wrote, have written
Past Perfective I had written
7.8 VOICE: ACTIVE, PASSIVE

Most languages have a means of shifting the semantic emphasis from the subject to
the object. If the subject is focused, the verb is placed in the active voice; if the
object is focused, the verb is placed in the passive voice.
Voice in Western IE Languages

LANGUAGE Active Voice Passive Voice
A letter is written by
ENGLISH John writes a letter
John
Une lettre est écrite
FRENCH Jean écrit une lettre
par John
Johannes schreibt Ein Brief wird von
GERMAN
einen Brief John geschrieben
7.9 MOOD
Indicative, imperative, and subjunctive verbs can also change according to mood
or modality. The three main modalities are indicative, which merely states that
something happens, imperative, which demands that something happens, and
subjunctive that implies the possibility of something happening and usually also
implies that it does not happen.
The Moods of English

Indicative: John eats
Imperative: Eat!
Subjunctive: I would eat, Were I to eat
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7.10 CONJUGATION CLASSES
Like the grammatical gender of nouns, verbs are classified arbitrarily into lexical
classes known as conjugation classes. A verb simply belongs to one class or the
other; there is no semantic justification for this. All Latin verbs (including French,
Italian, and Spanish) must have a conjugation class marker.
7.11 PARTICIPLES
The status of participles falling into the system of grammatical categories is unclear.
They display the tense, aspect, and voice categories, just like verbs, but unlike
verbs, they modify nouns like adjectives and agree using adjective affixes.
Participles are most likely deverbal relational adjectives since they cannot occur in
the predicate and do not compare, undergo derivation, or intensify, There are just
six participle functions that can be used in languages:
Present Active
Present Passive
Past Active
Past Passive
Future Active
Future Passive
7.12 QUANTIFIERS
Quantifiers also include the numbers along with words like many, some, and
several. The ordinal numbers are relational adjectives deriving from numbers, while
the cardinal numbers are quantifiers.
1. Cardinal numbers are: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine
2. Ordinal numbers are: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth,
and ninth
7.13 INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES

An affix is considered as an inflectional if it:
• conveys a grammatical contrast that is required for the word class of its stem
in a certain grammatical context.
• keeps the stem's word class intact.
• is usually situated more away from its root than a derivational affix
• results in a predictable, unexceptional alteration in meaning.
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Examples of grammatical categories that are expressed by the inflectional affixes
include the following:
• Tense
• Aspect
• Case
• Modality
• Number
• Person
• Voice
The inflectional morphemes, contrary to the derivational process as demonstrated

by the juxtaposition of precise and un-precise, do not change either a referential or
cognitive meaning. Further, unlike derivational morphemes that change the
grammatical category of a word, inflectional morphemes never change the word-
class of the base to which they are attached. Then, how inflectional morphemes
create new words? Inflectional morphemes change the form of a word to enable it
to fit into a specific syntactic slot, says Francis Katamba. In other words,
inflectional morphemes serve as grammatical markers by representing grammatical
concepts like number, gender, case, and tense. So the noun car in both its singular
and plural forms refers to the same extra linguistic thing. Therefore, the prefix -s
tells us of the bare number of volumes. There are currently eight inflectional affixes
in the English language, all of which are suffixes, despite the fact that it is already
axiomatic that English is not as inflected as Latin, German, or Finnish.
Affixes Function Example

-s plural apple-s
-s 3rd person, singular present tense walk-s
- ing progressive study-ing
- ed past tense walk-ed
- er comparative fast-er
- est superlative fast-est
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Inflectional affixes in English
Grammatical
Affix Mark Part of speech
category
-s Number plural nouns
nouns and noun
phrases, pronouns
-'s/'/s Case genitive
(marks independent
genitive)
-self Case reflexive pronouns
-ing Aspect progressive verbs
-en/-ed Aspect perfect verbs
-ed Tense past (simple) verbs
Person, number, 3rd person singular
-s verbs
aspect, tense present (simple)
Degree of
-er comparative adjectives and adverbs
comparison
Degree of
-est superlative adjectives and adverbs
comparison
7.14 REGULAR AND IRREGULAR INFLECTION

There are often one or more common inflection patterns that words in a given word
class may follow when they are subject to inflection in a given language. Regular
words are those that inflect in a consistent manner; irregular words inflect
differently.
For example, there are both regular and irregular verbs in many languages that use
verb inflection. Regular verbs in English use the ending -[e]d to generate its past
tense and past participle. Words like stay, walk, and enter are regular verbs. Few
hundred verbs, such as write-wrote-written and go-went-gone, have distinct
patterns, and these are referred to as irregular verbs. Rarely, there are regular verbs
that were irregular in earlier forms of the language. Irregular verbs often preserve
patterns that were regular in earlier forms of the language but that are now anomal
(See English Verbs and English Irregular Verbs for further information).
There are also irregular comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and
adverbs, such as the English worse and worst and the French yeux (the plural of
oeil, "eye"), as well as irregular plural nouns, such as the English mice, children,
and women (see English plural), and the French yeux (which correspond to the
positive form good or well).
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SUMMARY POINTS
➢ The smallest meaningful morphological unit in a language is called a

morpheme. It is impossible to divide or examine this unit further.
➢ There are two basic categories of morphemes: inflectional and
derivational.
➢ Inflectional morphemes usually result in alternative word forms rather
than new words.
➢ Derivational morphology is the study of how new words are created that
differ from their bases in either syntactic category or meaning.
➢ To change a word's form for grammatical purposes, it must possess a
certain set of syntactic characteristics known as a grammatical category.
➢ Some grammatical categories are some examples of different grammatical
categories: number, definiteness, tense and aspect, case, person, gender,
and mood.
➢ In languages, there are three categories of adjectives i.e., Relational,
Qualitative, Defective
➢ Some of the major categories of verbs are a. Transitivity: Transitive and
Intransitive verbs b. Aspect: Perfective and Imperfect
➢ Regular words are those that inflect in a consistent manner; irregular words
inflect differently.
➢ Irregular verbs often preserve patterns that were regular in earlier forms of
the language but that are now anormal.
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1: Explain inflectional and derivational morphology in detail?
2: What is grammatical category? Explain the types of this category.
3: Explain difference between regular and irregular inflection.
4: Explain inflectional affixation.
115
Ansaldo, Umberto, Jan Don, & Roland Pfau (eds). (2008). Special issue: Parts of
speech: Descriptive tools, theoretical constructs. Studies in Language 32.3.
Evans, Nicholas. (2000). Word classes in the world’s languages.
In Morphologie/morphology: An international handbook on inflection and word-
formation. Edited by Geert Booij, Christian Lehmann, and Joachim Mugdan, 708–
732. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Rauh, Gisa. (2010). Syntactic categories: Their identification and description in
linguistic theories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Unit 8
WORD STUDY STRATEGIES

117
CONTENTS
Introduction ...................................................................................................119
8.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................120
8.1.1 The Importance of Vocabulary Learning Strategies ......................120
8.2 Word Part Strategy ................................................................................122
8.3 Word roots .............................................................................................123
8.4 The UseDictionaries ries .......................................................................124
8.5 Using word cards ...................................................................................124
8.6 The Word Card Strategy .......................................................................125
8.7 The Keyword Technique .......................................................................126
8.8 Summry Points ......................................................................................126
8.9 Self-Assessment Questions ...................................................................127
8.10 Further Readings ................................................................................ 128
118
INTRODUCTION
This unit is an exploration of strategies for studying and analyzing words. The idea
is to enable students to explore word structure and acquire and use knowledge
related to the study of word structure. The main topics covered in this unit include:
• Word study strategies
• Introduction
• Word parts
• Frequency of affixes
• Word stems
• The knowledge required to use word parts
• Monitoring and testing word building skills
• Word part strategy
• Using dictionaries
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Understand and explain words parts

• Get knowledge of using word parts
• Understand monitoring and testing word building skills
• Use word part strategies
• Understand role of affixes in word structure
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8.1 INTRODUCTION
5.1.1 The Importance of Vocabulary Learning Strategies
It is generally acknowledged that in order to understand English as a second
language, one must acquire a significant amount of the vocabulary. Laufer (1997)
stated that "a strong vocabulary is required at every stage of language
development". Therefore, Lexis and vocabulary are seen as being essential to
learning and teaching languages. However, according to academics, pupils are
unable to absorb all of the vocabulary they need in a single academic year. In
English, there are at least 54,000 word families. The acquisition of such a large
vocabulary is not a requirement for the second language learners. There is a
learning task that they must complete. The vocabulary size of native English
speakers is of great importance to teachers of English as a second language since it
can indicate how many words second language learners need to acquire.
Nation and Waring (1997) postulated that a university-educated native speaker of

English has a vocabulary of about 20,000 word families, which is still a big deal
for language learners. Thus, it is crucial to prepare kids for independent learning
and to encourage them to build their own vocabulary. They also claim that after
acquiring a vocabulary of 3,000 or so high frequency words, second language
learners must create vocabulary acquisition strategies to understand and learn low
frequency terms on their own. A crucial first step, according to Sökmen (1997) is
to "recognize one's own way of learning" and grasp some practical vocabulary
learning techniques.
One of the most important vocabulary tactics that students can use is the word part
strategy. Acquisition of a second language, general learning procedures include
vocabulary learning strategies. In the process of discovering language strategies,
there is a lot of interest in researching vocabulary learning strategies, yet according
to Schmitt (1997) "few individual vocabulary strategies have been examined in
depth. He attempted to define vocabulary learning strategies by adapting Rubin's
(1987) definition of a learning strategy. Vocabulary acquisition strategies can be
any strategy that have an impact on this broadly defined process, He defines
learning as "the process through which knowledge is collected, stored, retrieved,
and employed". Schmitt's (1997) wide definition differs with Nation's (2001)
assertion that a strategy should include the following characteristics:
• provide options, meaning there are several strategies to pick from.

• be complex, because there are numerous steps to learn
• Need education and benefit from training
• boost the effectiveness of vocabulary acquisition and usage.
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The qualities listed above are present in many vocabulary learning strategies.
Nation creates a classification system for vocabulary learning techniques. Planning
vocabulary learning is the initial step, and it entails selecting words, selecting a
component of word knowledge, selecting a strategy, and planning repetition.
Exploring sources is the second approach for learning vocabulary. It entails
employing techniques for learning information about words, including as word
analysis, context usage, reference sources, and comparisons to other languages.
Establishing vocabulary knowledge, which includes methods of retaining and
applying knowledge, is the third strategy for learning new words.
The procedures involve three main categories: noticing, retrieving, and producing.
A taxonomy of vocabulary learning techniques was also constructed by Schmitt
(1997), and it is structured "according to both the Oxford system and the
Discovery/Consolidation divide". There are fifty-eight distinct vocabulary
acquisition techniques on the list. In the beginning, the techniques are separated
into two main categories: "strategies for the discovery of a new word's meaning"
and "strategies for consolidating a word once it has been discovered".
These 58 strategies are then subdivided into five groups: metacognitive strategies,
social strategies, memory strategies, cognitive strategies, and determination
strategies. For grasping the meaning of a new word, there are two categories of
vocabulary acquisition strategies: social and determination strategies. Social
strategies are approaches to elicit word interpretations from others. While four
possibilities for determination strategies—guessing from context, using reference
materials, using L1 cognates, and using structural understanding of the language—
can help with vocabulary development. The techniques for making guesses based
on structural knowledge include part-of-speech analysis and affix and root analysis.
One method for using reference materials is to use a dictionary, either bilingual or
monolingual, as well as word lists or flash cards. Using word parts, dictionaries,
and word cards are the three-word study strategies that Nation (2001), who also
agrees with Schmitt's (1997) classification of determination strategies, discusses in
detail because they “are all intentional approaches to vocabulary learning and fit
within the strand of language focused learning”.
Schmitt (1997) conducted a survey to investigate trends of Japanese learners’

perceptions of helpfulness regarding fourteen strategies in addition to creating a
taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies. According to the findings, "analysing
affixes and roots" is regarded as one of the top five beneficial strategies by 83% of
college students. Therefore, cognitive development and language ability should be
taken into account while choosing vocabulary learning strategies. The subjects of
this study are all college students since it appears that they favour word part methods
over other types of strategies. According to Nation and Waring (1997) using word
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pieces and mnemonic devices to recall words, guessing words from context, and using
word cards are the three vocabulary acquisition methodologies. Additionally,
researchers have identified three key strategies for expanding learners’ vocabulary:
concentrating on the term’s definition, acquiring new words in context, and employing
word formation rules or other word building tools (Nation).
8.2 WORD PART STRATEGY

One of the three main strategies that can speed up vocabulary learning and help
students become autonomous vocabulary learners is the use of word part strategy;
the other two are guessing from context and memory technique (Schmitt, 2000). As
a result, word part strategy is a crucial vocabulary learning technique that can help
learners expand their vocabulary and develop independence. So, both teachers and
students should pay attention to word part approach.
The majority of English content words can modify their form by adding affixes,
which include prefixes, suffixes, and roots (Nation). The analysis of word families
in a corpus demonstrates that word parts are a highly common and significant
element of English vocabulary. However, it is still up for debate as to whether
language users see words as composed of parts or as unanalyzed wholes. Aitchison
(2003) illustrated that derivational affixes are initially attached to the roots in the
mental lexicon, whereas inflectional suffixes are added later.
However, there is proof that some "complex words" and some "lower frequency, regular
formed, semantically transparent suffixed words" are recreated each time they are used.
Language users have the ability to break down or dismantle words using a back-up store
(words that have been examined for their morphemes) and then utilize a lexical toolkit
(word creation rules) to build new words. According to Aitchison (2003), the capacity to
break down words can help students understand new vocabulary and improve memory
by connecting words with related morphemes. Thus, using the word part strategy,
students can acquire new words by breaking them down into morphemes and then
connecting them to the existing words or affixes.
Using word parts involves two phases, says Nation (1989):

• Dissect the unidentified word into its component. Learners must be able to
identify prefixes and suffixes in words in order to complete this phase.
• Connect the word's meaning to the meaning of the word pieces. The learners
must understand the definitions of the common word parts for this step.
Additionally, for this phase, the students must be able to rephrase a word's
dictionary definition to include the prefix, stem, and, if applicable, suffix of the
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term. The first phase necessitates having a basic understanding of word part
strategy, or the capacity to break up new words. As an illustration, the word
unbelievable is made up of three components: un-, break, and -able. Learners must
be able to identify the word pieces before utilizing the approach. The second phase
requires advanced knowledge of the approach because students must be able to
connect the meanings of the word pieces with the dictionary meaning of the
complete word in order to assist understanding. This requires more than just
knowing the meanings of each part of the word.
As was noted in Section 1.2.2, irregular affixes can be problematic and confusing. The
phrase "deceptive transparency" is used by Laufer (1997) to refer to words that
"appear as comprised of meaningful morphemes". He uses the phrases "outline,"
"discourse," and "falsities" as examples to illustrate his point; in the experiments,
pupils perceived "outline as out of line; discourse as without direction; and facilities
as falling cities". Therefore, morphemes that are irregular and unable to convey
meaning will make acquiring new vocabulary harder.
However, Laufer asserts that learners' capacity to dissect a word into its
components can facilitate "the recognition of a new term and its subsequent
production" if derivational affixes are visible and function as expected. According
to Schimitt (2000), the most common affixes should be taught first, and Bauer and
Nation's (1993) affix list "may be utilized as a helpful (but not infallible) guidance
as to which affixes should be easier and which more difficult to master". The
majority of the affixes investigated in the study are thus all regular affixes, such as
-ation, -ize, -ous, -ance, -ant, in-, anti-, and sub-, with the exception of the often
used re- and de- suffixes.
8.3 WORD ROOTS

Complex word stems can have bound or free forms. Words without any affixes are
referred to as free forms. It is only possible for bound forms to have a prefix or a
suffix. Small groups of bound stems can be studied in beneficial ways by advanced
English speakers. Making substitution tables around these stems is one method of
determining whether they are worthwhile to learn. The stem needs consideration if
it may join with numerous affixes to produce a significant number of words. Here
are some illustrations. The following words can be added to the port table, export,
exportable, exporter, exportation, etc. Besides, there are other important stems such
as fer (refer, prefer), form (deform, reform), ject (reject, injection), pos (oppose,
propose), plic (complex, applicable), scrib (scribble, subscribe), spect (inspect,
spectacles), sta (circumstance, constant), and tract, (tractor, subtract). It is
worthwhile to look at whether there are affixes and stems that are significant in the
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learners' areas of specialization if they have specific reasons for learning English. For
instance, affixes and stems like -itis, haemo-, and photo- can allow students of medicine,
botany, and zoology to access many technical words in their respective subjects.
8.4 THE USE OF DICTIONARIES

There are many different uses for dictionaries. Scholfield (1982,1997) has
consistently made a distinction between the varied demands and strategies for
dictionaries that are to be used for production (writing and speaking), listening, and
understanding (speaking and writing). Dictionary use can be used as a learning tool
in addition to being a source of knowledge (Nation, 1989). The majority of
dictionary uses are covered by the list that follows.
i. Comprehension (decoding): Look up unfamiliar words you come across when

reading, listening, or interpreting. • Verify words whose meanings are only partially
known. • Verify assumptions based on context.
ii. Production (encoding) • Research unfamiliar words before speaking, writing,

or translating. • Research the partially known words you need to pronounce, write,
or translate, including their spelling, pronunciation, meaning, grammar, usage
restrictions, collocations, inflections, and derived forms. • Verify a word's
existence. • Verify the spelling, pronunciation, meaning, etc. of known terms. •
Instead of using a well-known word, choose a different one. • Resolve an error
iii. Learning • Pick unfamiliar terms to study. • Increase understanding of lesser-

known words, particularly their etymology. We shall examine these various
purposes in more detail in the sections that follow.
8.5 USING WORD CARDS

The process of creating associations between a foreign language word's written or
spoken form and its meaning is referred to as "learning through word cards" (often
in the form of a first language translation, although it could be a second language
definition or a picture or a real object, for example). According to Carroll (1963)
this name has been purposefully chosen to prevent confusion with other
terminology like "list learning" (Griffin & Harley, 1996) "paired associate learning"
and "learning word pairs" and to link this type of learning with a specific strategy.
List learning is not a recommended tactic, as we shall see, if the order of the items
in the list cannot be easily modified. Word pairs imply that the meaning must be
stated in a single word, while the term "paired associates" refers to the relationship
between form and meaning. The simplest way to learn from word cards is for a
student to write a foreign word on one side on a small, portable card and its
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translation in the student's native tongue on the other. The student looks at each
foreign word on a deck of cards, trying to remember what it means. The student
flips the card over and examines the translation if it cannot be retrieved.
8.6 THE WORD CARD STRATEGY

Learning with word cards is a method for rapidly expanding vocabulary through
targeted intentional learning. Many students already employ this method, but it is
not always as effective as it may be. The strategy's design significantly drew from
research on vocabulary learning, mnemonic devices, and paired associate learning.
Here we shall look at the steps in the strategy.
The initial stage is to select appropriate words to learn. Discover valuable terms.
High-frequency terms and words that clearly meet language use requirements ought
to be given precedence. Those words should not be learned together that are formal
equivalents to one another, that are close synonyms, opposites, or free associates,
or that are members of the same lexical group.
The word cards must be ready for the second phase. To make them easier to carry along,
small cards should be utilized. To aid memory, place the meaning of the words on one
side and the word itself on the other. On one side of the card is the word or phrase that
needs to be taught, and on the other is its definition. The word should be used in a
sentence context rather than as a single word to make learning easier and fast.
Using word cards effectively will determine how effective they are at teaching. The
learner can recall the word's meaning from memory by writing the word on one
side and its definition on the other. In comparison to seeing the word and it’s
meaning simultaneously, having to recall the meaning leads to far better learning.
This is one reason why cards work better as a learning tool than vocabulary lists
and notebooks. The word form and its meaning are typically both visible together
in lists and notebooks. The meaning must be hidden if lists and notebooks are to be
utilized to aid learning so that students have a chance to recall the information from
memory. Learn first receptively, then productively. The ideal way to learn words is
to first learn them receptively (see the word, remember its meaning), and then learn
them productively (see the meaning, recall the word form). The degree of learning
difficulty and the intended use of the knowledge should both be taken into account
in this situation. According to Griffin and Harley (1996) most of the time, receptive
learning is simpler than productive learning. Therefore, it is typically simpler to
learn and to remember a word's meaning than it is to remember a word's form for a
given meaning. Due to the limited amount of prior knowledge of the second
125
language, it can be challenging to remember vocabulary at the early stages of
language learning. Therefore, it is preferable to learn vocabulary by receptive
learning first and productive learning second. Turning over the word cards in the
deck, studying the definition, and attempting to remember the second language term
are all steps in the constructive learning process.
8.7 THE KEYWORD TECHNIQUE

The keyword strategy is basically a way to establish a strong connection between
the form of an unpronounceable word and its meaning. After the student has
encountered the unfamiliar word and has discovered or been given its meaning,
there are two steps involved. The first step is to come up with a word (the keyword)
from your first language that sounds like the initial few letters or the entire unknown
word. The learner's second phase is to create a mental image that combines the
meanings of the word with the unfamiliar word. For instance, the Indonesian word
for "door," pintu, can be used as a keyword by a learner who wants to acquire the
English word pin. The student then conjures up a picture of a door and a pin.
8.8 SUMMARY POINTS

➢ It is generally acknowledged that in order to understand English as a second
language, one must acquire a significant amount of the vocabulary.
➢ However, according to academics, pupils are unable to absorb all of the
vocabulary they need in a single academic year.
➢ After acquiring a vocabulary of 3,000 or so high frequency words, second
language learners must create vocabulary acquisition strategies to
understand and learn low frequency terms on their own.
➢ Schmitt's wide definition differs with Nation's (2001) assertion that a
strategy should include the following characteristics:
• provide options, meaning there are several strategies to pick from.
• be complex because there are numerous steps to learn
• Need education and benefit from training
• boost the effectiveness of vocabulary acquisition and usage.
➢ The analysis of word families in a corpus demonstrates that word parts are
a highly common and significant element of English vocabulary.
➢ The process of creating associations between a foreign language word's written
or spoken form and its meaning is referred to as "learning through word cards"
➢ The keyword strategy is basically a way to establish a strong connection
between the form of an unpronounceable word and its meaning.
126
1. Why are vocabulary learning strategies important for understanding word

structure? Name the common types of vocabulary learning strategies.
2. What are vocabulary learning strategies? Explain the Word-Root Strategy
and the Keyword technique.
3. Explain difference between Word Part Strategy and Word Card Strategy of
vocabulary learning.
4. How can dictionaries be utilized in classrooms as a part of vocabulary
learning strategies?
5. Reflect on your personal word learning strategies and write them in order
of their usefulness.
6. Write short notes on the following terms:
• Word Parts Strategy
• Word Roots Strategy
• Using Dictionaries
• Word Card Strategy
• The Keyword Technique
127
Darwin. (2019). Increasing Students Vocabulary Mastery of The Seventh Grade At
Mts AlKhairat Sandana Through Words On Card Strategies. (Research Paper)
Pamungkas, S. A. (2019). Strategies In Teaching Vocabulary at First Year in Smp
N 2 Beringin, Kabupaten Semarang. (Research Paper)
128
Unit 9
MORPHOLOGICAL THEORY

129
CONTENTS
Introduction ...................................................................................................131
9.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................132
9.2 A-Morphous Morphology .....................................................................132
9.3 Articulated Morphology ........................................................................134
9.4 Categorical Morphology .......................................................................136
9.5 Distributed Morphology ........................................................................137
9.6 Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology .................................................139
9.7 Natural Morphology ..............................................................................140
9.8 Network Phonology...............................................................................141
9.9 Paradigm Function Morphology ...........................................................142
9.10 Prosodic Morphology ............................................................................143
9.11 Word-Syntax Morpheme .......................................................................144
9.12 Self-Assessment Questions ...................................................................146
9.13 Further Readings ...................................................................................147
130
INTRODUCTION
The present unit is going to provide a brief survey on ‘morphological theories. For
this purpose, major morphological theories are briefly introduced with their brief
descriptions and specific features. The main theories and models covered here
include:
• Word Structures in Generative Grammar
• A-Morphous Morphology
• Categorial Morphology
• Construction Morphology
• Distributed Morphology
• Lexeme–Morpheme Base Morphology
• Stratal Optimality Theory
• Minimalist Morphology
• Natural Morphology
• Network Morphology
• Paradigm Function Morphology
• Prosodic Morphology
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Explore different theories in the field of morphology

• Analyze word structure according to different theories
• Develop theoretical understanding of morphological structure of words
• Critically evaluate different models of morphology
• Comment on various models of word structure
• Provide description of specific features of these models and approaches
• Compare various models of word structure
131
9.1 INTRODUCTION TO MORPHOLOGICAL THEORY
Currently there are thirteen prominent theories of morphology which are A
Morphous Morphology, Articulated Morphology, Autolexical Syntax, Categorial
Morphology, Distributed Morphology, Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology,
Lexical Morphology and Phonology, Natural Morphology, "Network Model",
Network Morphology, Paradigm Function Morphology, Prosodic Morphology, and
Word Syntax. We shall discuss here each theory according to their classifying
features.
9.2 A-MORPHOUS MORPHOLOGY

An innovative theory of word structure is presented in A-Morphous Morphology,
which connects to a complete generative grammar of language. It challenges the
idea that complex words are constructed by concatenating simple minimal signs or
morphemes and suggests that word structure is instead characterized by a system
of interactions between words that are guided by rules. The renowned linguist
Stephen Anderson (1992) discusses the effects of his original viewpoint on topics
related to language change, language typology, and the computer study of word
structure in his book.
Since 1977, Stephen R. Anderson has been a prominent figure in morphological

theory due to several publications published in journals like Linguistic Inquiry,
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. His approach to morphosyntactic
representations and his investigation of verb forms in diverse languages,
particularly Georgian, must be mentioned in any overview of contemporary
theories of inflection. But he didn't produce a complete book on morphology until
recent years (Anderson, 1992). The fact that Anderson's main stated goal is to
challenge the morphological mainstream (both structuralist and generative) by
proposing a morphology without morphemes, whether inflectional or derivational,
makes the news seem intriguing as well as significant. This challenge may seem
paradoxical or even contradictory to some readers because Anderson maintains in
conventional manners that "the purpose of study in morphology is the structure of
words". Breaking down a word or a sentence into its individual morphemes is not
always simple, but many would argue that explaining a complicated word structure
is inextricably linked to breaking it down into its individual morphemes. Anderson
tries to convince us otherwise, but how?
132
The name A-Morphous Morphology is intended to directly challenge the traditional
role of the morpheme as a primitive in word structure, focusing instead on lexical
roots or stems, and operations applied thereto. Anderson asserts again and again in
his book "the notion of a separable morphological "component" is probably
untenable." Halle and Marantz (1993) are perplexed by this conviction and
fundamentally misinterpret Anderson's (1992) claims, assuming that morphemes
must be included in Anderson's structural representations before their phonological
representations are removed and astonishingly, reinserted later in the derivation.
This is because morphemes are the only way that morphosyntactic information can
enter a syntactic structure, regardless of the explicit recognition of the asymmetry
between lexical roots and morphological operations represents something of a
paradigm change in morphology, and there is a considerable gap between the word-
based and morpheme-based camps. Primary focus is placed on inflection in A-
Morphous Morphology and its immediate predecessor, the Extended Word and
Paradigm (EWP) framework, from which there is minimal discernible break
(Anderson, 1977). For example, compared to inflection's three chapters in EWP,
derivation, cliticization, and compounding each get one chapter. Instead of the
minimal "idiosyncraticon" (Zwicky, 1992:338) inherited from Bloomfield
(1933:269), the lexicon in A-Morphous Morphology is an unlist-like collection of
knowledge that a speaker may possess, regulated by rules of changing generality
(Anderson, 1992:183). The stem is considered to be the relevant word-like unit by
Anderson (he rarely, if ever, uses the word "lexeme"); derivation is considered to
be a lexicon-internal phenomenon (see LMBM below; contrast PFM below); and
inflection is considered to "fall outside the lexicon" in the sense that [inflectional
rules] represent knowledge of the form taken by words as a result of the syntactic
structure in which they appear" (Anderson, 1992:183-84). Therefore, the Split
Morphology Hypothesis (Perlmutter, 1988) is implied by the model of the grammar
(see Anderson, 1982:594), with inflection essentially "in" the syntax and derivation
in the lexicon. When the characteristics of inflectional and derivational word-
formation rules (WFRs) in A-Morphous Morphology are compared, an interesting
viewpoint can be acquired (Anderson, 1992). A formal structural description that
outlines requirements for S (the input's lexical stem) and M (the aspect(s) of the
morphosyntactic context that the specific WFR realises); and b. a formal structural
133
change, "not only affixation but also other phonological alterations like as
metathesis, replacement, deletion, etc."
While Derivational WFRs are distinguished by the following:
a: formal structural descriptions, structural changes,
b: syntactic, semantic, and semantic structural descriptions and changes.
c. A formal structural description that specifies the class of input stems the rule can
apply to and any additional conditions.
d. A formal structural change that specifies the modification rule performs to create
the phonological form of the derived stem from the form of the input stem.
9.3 ARTICULATED MORPHOLOGY
Steele (1990, 1995) outlines Articulated Morphology in great detail as it possesses

a distinctive set of characteristics. Although it is "amorphous" in that affixation is
not as important as lexical stems, AM is incremental in that no more information
(beyond the root) is included in a complicated construction that was not there before
the application of some rule. Operations are components of rules, and rules are
applied in order to produce output of the desired type. Since AM is restricted to the
inflectional domain, it is not possible to address all of the issues that a more
comprehensive theory might encounter. Since the rules are understood to apply on
stems and the framework assumes that derivation is in operation, it is safe to say
that AM is word/lexeme-based in orientation. It is forbidden for inflectional rules
in AM to change or omit information already contained in a morphological object
to which they are applied.
The issue of extrinsic ordering of rule application is effectively avoided since rules
must be sensitive to the informative content of their inputs. When a rule is applied
to a certain sort of item, it increases its informational value and may also change
the phonological structure of the object. It is simple to create a rule that adds
information but does not carry out any phonological operations because AM is not
morpheme-based. Since a "zero-morph" is not introduced into the structure due to
this type of rule's identity function on the phonological level, the following
metatheoretical benefit is obtained.
134
Steele (2002) claims that AM is founded on the following three principles:
1. In the absence of the relevant inflectional processes, associate a stem with
the informative subpart that is particularly associated with the stem (i.e.,
stems are informationally reduced);
2. Examine inflectional operations as giving details to the morphological
object they are applied to (i.e., rules produce feature specifications; they
may add values for features present in their input that have not yet been
specified, they may add feature-value pairs that are entirely absent from the
input, or they may do both at once);
3. Classify morphological objects according to the type of information they present
and classify operations according to the type of object they are applied to.
Steele's (2002) AM rules are formalized as a domain (input conditions) and a co-
domain (output conditions), which is effectively a comparison of the
representation's before- and after-states. There is no acknowledgement that, as a
result, the rules are extremely repetitive and that, if the domain contents were
subtracted from the co-domain, the only difference would be an inflectional
morpheme. Since AM substitutes minimal representations and enriched inflectional
rules for A-Morphous Morphology's realization emphasis on fully specified
representations and minimal rules, the comparison is extremely appropriate. AM's
ability to permit "in principle, any number of distinctions in the morphological
kinds" is praised by Steele, depending on whether the person's prefixes or proclitic
are in or out of inflection, Potawatomi requires three or four:
Stem is defined as "a morphological item without Number."
A transitive object with one less N[Number] characteristics than arguments is

described by the extended stem.
• Word: "an object whose parameters are each linked to a Number attribute"
• Indexed Form: "a morphological object that is saturated for both Person and
Number."
The relationship between syntax and morphology is a topic that Autolexical Syntax
directly tackles. Semantic, syntactic, and morphological modules function independently
135
of one another while simultaneously constraining the category of well-formed statements
in a language, according to Sadock (e.g., 1988). In this method, a possible expression
might be interpreted semantically but not syntactically, or vice versa, and in either case
it would be disregarded. About morphological structure, the same is true. Therefore, it is
suggested that one can "troubleshoot" any ungrammatical expression and identify the
problematic component(s) as the root of the issue. However, the restrictiveness of the
original model, has been undermined by more recent work in the framework (e.g.,
Singer, 1999), which uses the violable-constraints approach of Optimality Theory to
allow for varying impacts of violations of the criteria of the three components. Sadock
refers to the word "lexeme," although he never defines it specifically. His definition must
be closer to the standard morpheme because he explicitly includes affixes, clitics, bound
roots, and stems in this group, even if morphologically complicated stems are treated as
units under the morphological rules. By taking this stance, Autolexical Syntax is
positioned at or very close to the first continuum's morpheme-based pole.
9.4 CATEGORICAL MORPHOLOGY
Schmerling (1983) urges practicing Montague Grammarians to go back to the

basics, especially those who were applying the category theory, without taking into
account Montague's (1970) unique brand of linguistic metatheory, which is actually
very dissimilar from the prevailing presumptions in other theories of grammatical
structure. The theoretical framework, according to Schmerling, "includes distinct
phonological, syntactic, and semantic systems, while invoking neither "morpheme"
nor "levels". According to her, the fundamental components of a language are a set
of expressions A and an index of operations. The set A includes "all the expressions
produced from these by repeated application of the operations; it contains nothing
else," in addition to the fundamental expressions (i.e., morphological simplexes).
Although the lexicon she specifies is more populous than a morpheme-based theory
generally requires, Schmerling (1983) describes her version of Montague Grammar
as a formalisation of the Item-and-Process (IP) approach to word production. It has
nothing to do with the placement of specific meaningful parts (a la Item-and-
Arrangement (IA)), but rather with operations that stand alone from the definitions
of the words they contribute to. The remaining components of language are "a set
of rules to assign category indices recursively to derived expressions" and "an
136
assignment of category indices to the basic expressions". The three parts of a
category-assigning rule are the index of the operation used in the rule, the index of
the input categories, and the index of the rule's output category. Despite
Schmerling's de-emphasis on concatenation, the idea of operations operating at the
borders of expressions is a typical occurrence in categorical grammar. The theory's
mainstay is the pattern of functors that accept arguments and combine to provide a
more comprehensive statement of a certain category. In particular, Schmerling
(1983) discusses events that follow cliticization, a kind of "internal change of an
expression at its peripheral". Edge concatenation is thought to be the operation that
initiates modifications and alternations. Empirical evidence for untriggered
mutations and ablaut, such as English man/men, cast doubt on this premise. These
types of situations actually reinforce her initial claim that morpheme-as-thing (IA-
type) analyses are unduly constrained and only include affixation under very
abstract assumptions. Her method for dealing with portmanteau words like the
French du and au entails substituting the "amalgamated" version for the words de
+ le and à + le, respectively. Similar to how cliticization is addressed, the host is
replaced with the clitic group.
More specifically, if we assume that each given operation is equal to any other,
non-concatenative morphology is identical to concatenative morphology.Then, it
appears that non-concatenative operations do not attain equality in Schmerling's
model if we compare the relative power and latitude of a substitution operation to
an operation that accepts an expression as an argument and modifies it.
9.5 DISTRIBUTED MORPHOLOGY
With GB-Principles and Parameters Syntax, Distributed Morphology (DM) aims to

rival Word Syntax and LMBM (both below) as the preferred morphological
interface. DM, which is primarily an inflection theory, places Morphological
Structure (MS) between Surface Structure and Phonological Form in the classic T-
or Y-diagram of the language (Halle & Marantz, 1993). This allows for the
accommodation of syntactic, morphological, and phonological constituency
incompatibilities prior to phonological implementation. The term "Scattered
Morphology," which is meant to "emphasize the fact that the machinery of what
137
historically has been called morphology is not contained in a single component of
the grammar, but rather is distributed among several separate components," was
coined by the author. They assert that word production can occur at any
grammatical level, but they only provide techniques based on the syntactic
movement of heads. This is consistent with a post-SS component that focuses
mostly on inflectional implementation. In (sub-) terminal nodes under X0, specific
abstract morphosyntactic properties are lexically inserted to produce inflection in
DM. Under X0, nodes are generated in an amount equal to the number of realisable
inflectional categories plus one for the lexical stem. These morpheme-nodes are
subject to "morphological operations," which combine those that are realised by a
single fused exponent; morphemes with multiple exponents are "fissioned," with
the pieces being shifted to their proper locations. The correct number of (sub-)
terminal nodes must be determined in DM in order to properly insert inflectional
morphemes into the lexicon.
DM never addresses the issue of what causes (sub-) terminal nodes under X0, which
one might want to attribute to position or function in a syntactic construction
(perhaps because it is too obvious?), but the resulting metaphor is one of building
structures to suit prospective residents (the inflectional properties), then remodeling
to allow cohabitation (fusion) or separation (fission). The relative order is less
important because one feature moves to be with another during fusion, Like fusion,
fission also lacks concern for ordering; after cloning a node, distinct positioning
criteria dictate where the co-nodes are placed. While doing so, one is aware of
"what to do" because they are aware of "what's about to happen," i.e., which
morphemes will occupy these structures. Fission and fusion are described as "well-
motivated" actions by Halle and Marantz (1993), but this is only true if one
considers abstract morphosyntactic nodes to be individual atoms that must be
formed and subsequently dealt with before it's too late, or before PF. Although it is
not at all necessary, this assumption fits with the Government and Binding (GB)
emphasis on computation, substantial abstract structure, and minimal units.
The usage of morphosyntactic characteristics in DM is primarily ad hoc, with

features of any kind ([±strong] next to [±past] next to [±participle]) when necessary.
Despite the first being lexical class, the second being morphosyntactic, and the third
perhaps being merely morphological, this creates the desired impression that this is
a cohesive picture. According to Halle and Marantz (1993), in DM, vocabulary is
added into abstract, well-formed syntactic structures very late, provided that the
(sub-) terminal nodes' properties do not distinguish the morphemes from which they
are to be inserted. All morphemic material's phonological properties are added at
MS and not earlier. The specific morphemes supplied could cause DM to employ
"morphologically conditioned phonological rules," also known as "readjustment
138
rules." Such changes following vocabulary insertion make sense because there is
no phonological material to act on before MS.
9.6 LEXEME-MORPHEME BASE MORPHOLOGY
Language theory known as lexeme-morphe base morphology (LMBM) is intricate

and ambitious. Because of the significance the theory's creator places on a
morphological element, it can be referred to as a theory of language. All of the
boundaries between linguistic modules are described as morphological interfaces
that contain algorithms that translate one module's representations into another
(Beard, 1995). Given that the grammar appears to be morpho-centric, it might seem
that LMBM would be a morphologist's heaven. Although the sequence of
assumptions is coherent, there are many unconventional assumptions about
categories, morphological realisation (the Morphological Spelling (MS)
component), the nature and content of the lexicon, and much more. This ambitious
theory's implementation necessitates a revision of almost every traditional
component of grammar. The use of LMBM in a given analysis is very certain to
run into confused resistance from the uninformed majority because the assumptions
demand significant explication and justification.
The body of knowledge on Lexical Morphology and Phonology (LM&P) is both

extensive and complex. It illustrates the convergence of morphological (level
ordering) and phonological (rule strata) approaches, which share some but not all
of the same theoretical presumptions regarding the causes and effects of
morphophonology. Without a box-and-arrows representation of the modules in the
grammar, no LM&P writing is complete. This is because a big concern in LM&P
is getting the surface facts correct with the broadest rule set possible, or as unified
an underlying representation as possible, or (somewhat contradictorily) both of
these at the same time.
139
9.7 NATURAL MORPHOLOGY
The Natural Morphology (NM) movement advocates for clearer distinctions

between various categories of sound-structural rule and grammar-related elements.
However, when viewed in the context of the gradient model of language that NM
ultimately suggests, this may look a little strange. In the same way, when Natural
Phonology distinguishes between automatic and non-automatic phonology, NM
aims to separate morpho (pho) nological rules from both automatic phonology and
morphology proper. According to Dressler (1985), morphonology—which is
neither a component nor a member of any of its neighbors—represents the interface
between morphology and phonology. He distinguishes between morphonological
rules (MPRs) and allomorphic rules (AMRs) based on a productivity criterion that
is relatively ill-defined. Dressler (1985) seeks to divide rule types according to
phonological, morphological, “lexical,” stylistic, and other constraints on
application. He makes a clear distinction between the segments involved in
morphonological alternations and their domain of application. Dressler’s approach
bears the appearance of a flock of pigeons jostling for their pigeonholes for no other
reason than the deep taxonomy of rule kinds produced by his diagnostics. In this
framework, a sound structural rule can include a vast variety of requirements in
addition to the phonological ones, and this does not present any formal or logical
issues because the large variety of linguistic and extralinguistic restrictions are "in
the model." A rather arbitrary and enigmatic system of "demerits" (scores of 1-5)
that are assigned to a rule as a measure of its relative "naturalness," according to
generality of application, phonetic distance between alternants, and other factors,
attempts to counteract this expressive capacity.
140
9.8 NETWORK PHONOLOGY
The "Network Model," a functionally oriented perspective of morphology that

prioritizes an organized system, was put forth by Joan Bybee, a key figure in the
Natural Generative Phonology movement (Hooper, 1976; 1979). In the
introduction to her book from 1985, Bybee notes that it would seem surprising to
some that her focus had changed from a phonological approach that was extremely
specific to one that focused on "a distinct set of difficulties". The thorough
separation of morphophonemics from articulatory- and perceptual-based
phonology (referred to as "phonology proper"), on the other hand, inevitably leads
to a method for approaching morphology. Bybee compares the arbitrary nature of
most of morphophonology to the arbitrariness seen throughout morphemics,
l'arbitraire du signe, by highlighting the fact that morphophonology is
morphologically conditioned and so a subset of the field of morphology. Because
there are just too many variations from a one-to-one form meaning connection, the
descriptive segmentation of morphemes is not of significance from the perspective
of functionalist theory. The purpose of Bybee's theory of morphology is to "propose
some principles in a theory of morphology whose goal is to explain the recurrent
properties of morphological systems, including fusion and allomorphy, which are
traditionally viewed as problems [many-to-one and one-to-many meaning-form
connections, respectively], in terms of the general cognitive and psychological
characteristics of human language users". Psycholinguistic research is a significant
source of proof supporting the Network Model's statements regarding cognition.
Similar to this, cross-linguistic data from linguistic typology is also important
because the aim is to explain recurring patterns. Contrarily, many formalist theories
have a tendency to downplay such evidence because it introduces gradient
patterning rather than clean category behavior.
141
The Surrey Morphology Group has created Network Morphology. The computer
language DATR (Evans & Gazdar, 1996), which was created with lexicon modeling in
mind, is an essential component of the theory. Network Morphology's lexical knowledge
model is built on the widely used computational concepts of hierarchy and inheritance.
Strongly hierarchical, Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar (GPSG) and Head-Driven
Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) characterizations of phrases are analogous to the
typed feature matrices used for individual lexical entries in Network Morphology lexica.
These representations have been modified for direct computational implementation as
lines of computer code. A reader who may not always be able to see the dependency
relations in the compressed featural format may find it beneficial because authors of
articles in Network Morphology frequently switch between feature notation and tree
diagrams. The Network Morphology lexicon, which is based on the idea of feature
inheritance, starts at the very top with the type word and branches into subtypes in
accordance with syntactic categories. Every time a collection of lexemes deviates from
the default feature set in a systematic fashion, new subtypes are motivated. In order to
override the feature value that the subtype would ordinarily inherit from the super type,
a subtype must have a distinct feature value that differs from the bigger class. Because
of this, sister types and dependent types essentially share the settings that they both
inherited from a single parent node. As a result of the definition of lexical classes and
subclasses, generalizations can now refer to specific nodes or nodes that are related to
each other hierarchically. This implies that generalizations won't apply to dissimilar
classes, i.e., those that aren't closely related in the hierarchy, at the same time.
9.9 PARADIGM FUNCTION MORPHOLOGY
142
Paradigm Function Morphology (PFM) is based on lexemes. Stump's work is
heavily influenced by Arnold Zwicky's theory and metatheory, and PFM elaborates
on several of the main concepts of Zwicky's Interface Prog. Although Stump (1991)
is typically cited as the beginning of PFM in the literature, his less formally focused
article from 1990 contains some significant forerunners: The suggested framework
represents an understanding of the line between inflection and derivation that is
completely at conflict with the split morphology hypothesis. This paradigm in
particular, takes the position that all morphological processes take place within the
lexicon and does not see inflection as an extra lexical phenomenon. It allows some
mixing of inflection and derivation rather than assuming that all rules of derivation
inherently precede all rules of inflection. The types of expressions produced by
inflectional and derivational processes are used to distinguish them. The paradigm
is given considerable significance by PFM as an organizing element in morphology,
in contrast to Matthews (especially in 1972) and Carstairs. While acknowledging
the paradigm, many theories approach it as an epiphenomenon, something with
educational or possibly only curiosity value (e.g., Anderson, 1992). However, This
does not imply, that PFM views the paradigm as a primitive.
9.10 PROSODIC MORPHOLOGY
Autosegmental Phonology develops into prosodic morphology (Goldsmith, 1976).

McCarthy's (1979) examination of Classical Arabic provided certain suggestions,
which were considerably condensed in McCarthy (1981), leading to the
development of an approach that transcends the constraints of the two-dimensional
Word Syntax trees. It is necessary to integrate non-concatenative morphology into
the same fundamental framework as concatenative morphology (McCarthy, 1981).
McCarthy (1981) uses the abstract multidimensional representations, or tiers,
existent in autosegmental theory to do this. Root and non-root morphemes are more
parallel at the formal level if each morpheme is represented on its own tier. The
morphemes' segmental and/or featural content are independently mapped to a
prosodic skeleton to represent the asymmetry. As a result, discrete morphemes can
be preserved although the pieces of these morphemes can appear intermittently in
the output string, a situation that is not always possible in representations of two
dimensions (or fewer). For example, the perfective active form of the classical
143
Arabic word kattab is "cause to write," with the morphemes "write," "-a-a-," which
can be reduced to "a," and "CVCCVC," which stands for "causative." McCarthy
(1981:385) uses the accepted Hebrew term binyan to describe the fifteen abstract
morphological classes for the (majority) triconsonantal roots of Classical Arabic
(im). McCarthy's (1981) analysis calls for many stipulative exclusions to the
"unmarked" structures of association between segments and the skeletal slots, such
as when the middle of three consonants spreads rather than the more typical "one-
to-one, then spread from the last attached segment to fill the remainder of
appropriate slots" (which would result in *katbab instead of the attested kattab
previously mentioned). Pre association allows for some overrides of the unmarked
association patterns, allowing one to say things like, "Attach edge segments, then
distribute as-yet-unattached segments to fill remaining." McCarthy (1981) makes
this suggestion with the functional justification that failing to make sure that at least
edge elements are attached before spreading may have the effect of hiding the
identity of the root (possibly foreshadowing faithfulness and opacity concerns in
his later work on optimality theory).
9.11 WORD-SYNTAX MORPHEME
Word Syntax, an approach to morphology, holds a unique place in linguistic theory,

particularly when it comes to GB-style syntax and its offspring. It owes a lot to the
traditional Item-and-Arrangement (IA) method proposed by Hockett in 1954.
Morphemes are the fundamental components of words in word syntax. The only
way bound morphemes differ from free morphemes is by sub classifying for a stem
of a particular type to attach to. Word Syntax is a natural term for this method
because it is easy to understand how words and phrases are being compared while
reading an analysis. The dissertation by Lieber (1981) is cited as an illustration of
the Word Syntax movement during this period of crystallization. According to this
viewpoint, morphology primarily concerns the combination of discrete meaningful
units called morphemes, and binary-branching tree-structures provide an
explanation for how a morphologically complex expression acquires its meaning
and morphosyntactic characteristics.
144
SUMMARY POINTS
➢ There are thirteen prominent theories of morphology which are A Morphous

Morphology, Articulated Morphology, Autolexical Syntax, Categorial
Morphology, Distributed Morphology, Lexeme-Morpheme Base
Morphology, Lexical Morphology and Phonology, Natural Morphology,
"Network Model", Network Morphology, Paradigm Function Morphology,
Prosodic Morphology, and Word Syntax
➢ A-Morphous Morphology challenges the idea that complex words are
constructed by concatenating simple minimal signs or morphemes and
suggests that word structure is instead characterized by a system of
interactions between words that are guided by rules.
➢ Articulated Morphology is incremental in that no more information (beyond
the root) is included in a complicated construction that was not there before
the application of some rule.
➢ According to Categorical Morphology the fundamental components of a
language are a set of expressions A and an index of operations. The set A
includes "all the expressions produced from these by repeated application
of the operations; it contains nothing else," in addition to the fundamental
expressions (i.e., morphological simplexes).
➢ According to Distributed Morphology the fundamental components of a
language are a set of expressions A and an index of operations. The set A
includes "all the expressions produced from these by repeated application
of the operations; it contains nothing else," in addition to the fundamental
expressions (i.e., morphological simplexes).
➢ Language theory known as lexeme-morphe base morphology (LMBM) is
intricate and ambitious. Because of the significance the theory's creator
places on a morphological element, it can be referred to as a theory of
language.
➢ The Natural Morphology (NM) movement advocates for clearer distinctions
between various categories of sound-structural rule and grammar-related
elements.
➢ Network Morphology's lexical knowledge model is built on the widely used
computational concepts of hierarchy and inheritance.
➢ Paradigm Function Morphology (PFM) this The theory is based on lexemes.
This paradigm, in particular, takes the position that all morphological
processes take place within the lexicon and does not see inflection as an
extra lexical phenomenon.
➢ Paradigm Function Morphology This paradigm, in particular, takes the
position that all morphological processes take place within the lexicon and
does not see inflection as an extra lexical phenomenon.
145
➢ Autosegmental Phonology develops into prosodic morphology (Goldsmith
1976). McCarthy's (1979) examination of Classical Arabic provided certain
suggestions, which were considerably condensed in McCarthy (1981),
leading to the development of an approach that transcends the constraints
of the two-dimensional Word Syntax trees.
➢ Word Syntax, an approach to morphology, holds a unique place in linguistic
theory, particularly when it comes to GB-style syntax and its offspring.
1. What are morphological theories and models?

2. Describe important morphological theories and models by giving their
important features.
3. Briefly define the following theories of morphology:
• A Morphous Morphology
• Articulated Morphology
• Autolexical Syntax
• Categorial Morphology
• Distributed Morphology
• Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology
• Lexical Morphology and Phonology
• Natural Morphology, "Network Model"
• Network Morphology
• Paradigm Function Morphology
• Prosodic Morphology
• Word Syntax Morphology
146
Anderson, S. (1992). A-Morphous Morphology. CUP.
Aronoff, M. (1993). Morphology By Itself. MIT Press.
Stump, G. (2001). Inflectional Morphology. A theory of paradigm structure. CUP.
Hammond, M. & Noonan, M. (eds). (1988). Theoretical Morphology: approaches

in modern linguistics. Academic Press.
147
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MORPHOLOGY

Code: 9077 Unit: 1-9

Year of Printing ........................ 2023

Quantity .................................... 1000

Layout Setting .......................... Muhammad Zia Ullah

Incharge Printing ..................... Dr. Sarmad Iqbal

Printer........................................ Allama Iqbal Open University

Publisher ................................... Allama Iqbal Open University,

Chairman of the Course Team Dr Malik Ajmal Gulzar

Course Development Coordinator Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan

Writers Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan(AIOU Islamabad)

Reviewers Prof Dr Nadeem Haider Bukhari

Editor Ms Humera Ejaz (APCP, AIOU Islamabad)

First Edition December 2023

Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan

• Prof. Dr Zia Ul-Qayyum, Vice Chancellor, Allama Iqbal Open University,

• Prof. Dr Nadeem Haider Bukhari (UoAJK, Muzafarabad).

Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan

Written by: Dr Muhammad Kamal Khan

Learning Objectives .................................................................................................3

1.1 What is Morphology? .....................................................................................4

1.2 Morphology and Phonology ...........................................................................5

1.2.1 What is Phonology? ...............................................................................6

1.2.2 What is Morphology? ............................................................................6

1.3 Morphology and Graphology ..........................................................................7

1.4 Morphology and Syntax ..................................................................................8

1.5 Morphology and Semantics ..........................................................................10

1.6 Morphology and Phraseology .......................................................................11

1.7 Morphology and Sociolinguistics .................................................................13

1.8 Summary Points ............................................................................................14

1.9 Assessment and Evaluation...........................................................................15

1.10 Further Readings ...........................................................................................16

• Define morphology as a sub-field of linguistics.

A language can be studied at different levels. For example:

At word level = Morphology

Pragmatics: the study of

[figure taken from: tinyurl.com/mut8ucx2]

The term ‘morphology’ as a subject is defined as:

Morphology is a Greek term and is a combination of:

In morphology, we study the structure of words. For example, if we want to study

Morphology, thus, is a sub-branch of linguistics. It was mentioned as a subject for

1.2 Morphology and Phonology

The difference between phonology and morphology is very easy to understand if

Phonology is an important field of study for understanding the complex sound

1.2.2 What is Morphology?

Morphology examines how words are created by combining smaller units of

1.3 MORPHOLOGY AND GRAPHOLOGY

In linguistics, graphology is sometimes used as a synonym for graphemics, the

In general, the scientific basis for graphological interpretations of personality is

Graphology is the study and analysis of handwriting to infer personality traits,

Graphology in a real sense is not a level oa language study. Sometimes, it is

Graphology, on the other hand, is a pseudoscientific practice that claims to be able

In summary, morphology is a legitimate field of linguistic study, while graphology is a

1.4 MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX

Morphology is the study of the structure and formation of words in a language. It

-un is also not a standalone morpheme.

1.5 MORPHOLOGY AND SEMANTICS