Chapter 2 Morphological structure of English words

1.          Explain the following terms and provide examples:

Morpheme(语素，词素): the morpheme is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of language, not divisible or analyzable into smaller forms.

one morpheme：nation

two morphemes: national

three: morphemes: nation +al +ize

 

allomorphemes:语素变体， 形位变体： Some morphemes are realized by more than one morph according to their position. Such alternative morphs are allomorphemes. E.g. the morpheme of plurality (-s) has a number if allomorphemes in different sound context, e.g. in cats/s/, in bags/z/, in matches/iz/.

 

Free morphemes(自由语素或形素): The morphemes have complete meaning and can be used as free grammatical units in sentences, e.g. cat, walk. They are identical with root words. morphemes which are independent of other morphemes are considered to be free.

 

Bound Morphemes(粘着语素)--- The morphemes cannot occur as separate words. They are bound to other morphemes to form words, e.g.  recollection (recollection)  collect – free morpheme  re-and –ion are bound morphemes. (include bound root and affix) Bound morphemes are found in derived words.

 

2.          What are the difference between inflectional and derivational affixes?

Inflectional affixes(屈折词缀) --- Affixes attaches to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships are inflectional, thus known as inflectional morphemes. The number of inflectional affixes is small and stable.
a. There is the regular plural suffix( 复数)-s(-es) which is added to nouns such as machines, desks.
b. Simple present for the third person singular. –s(-es)
c. The possessive case of nouns. ‘s(名词所有格)
d. –er and –est to show comparative and superlative degree(比较级及最高级)
e. The past tense marker –ed(过去式)
f. –ing to form present participles or gerunds.(正在进行时或是动名词)

Derivational affixes(派生词缀): Derivational affixes are affixes added to other morphemes to create new words.

 

3.          In what two ways are derivational affixes(派生词汇) classified?

     Prefixes (前缀)--- Prefixes are affixes that come before the word, such as, pre+war, sub+sea

Suffixes (后缀)--- suffixes are affixes that come after the word, for instance, blood+y.

4.          How are words classified on the morphemic level?

1)Free and bound morphemes

Free morphemimes: The morphemes have complete meaning and can be used as free grammatical units in sentences, e.g. cat, walk. They are identical with root words. morphemes which are independent of other morphemes are considered to be free.

Bound morphemes: The morphemes cannot occur as separate words. They are bound to other morphemes to form words, e.g.  recollection (recollection)  collect – free morpheme  re-and –ion are bound morphemes. (include bound root and affix) Bound morphemes are found in derived words.

    2)Roots and affixes

    A root is the basic form of a word, which cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity. (What remains of a word after the removal of all affixes.) .e.g. “internationalists” removing inter-, -al-, -ist, -s, leaves the root nation.  
Affixes --- Affixes are forms that are attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or function. Almost affixes are bound morphemes.

    

 

 

 

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