Structural types
of words.
- The morphological
analysis of word-structure on the morphemic
level aims at splitting the word into
its constituent morphemes - the basic
units at this level of analysis -
and at determining their number and types.
The four
types:
- root words,
- derived words,
- compound,
- shortenings
represent the main
structural types of Modern English words, and conversion, derivation
and composition are the most productive ways of word building.
According to the number of morphemes
words can be classified into:
- monomorphic (root-words)
- consist of only one root-morpheme, e.g. small, dog, make, give, etc.
- Polymorphic
All polymorphic
word fall into two subgroups according to the number of root-morphemes
they have :
- derived
words (composed of one root-morpheme and one or more derivational
morphemes, e.g. acceptable, outdo, disagreeable, etc. )
- compound
words (are those which contain at least two root-morphemes,
the number of derivational morphemes being insignificant. There can
be both root- and derivational morphemes in compounds as in pen-holder,
light-mindedness, or only root-morphemes as in lamp-shade, eye-ball,
etc.)
These structural types
are not of equal importance. The clue to the correct understanding of
their comparative value lies in a careful consideration of:
- the importance of
each type in the existing wordstock, and
- their frequency value in actual
speech. Frequency is by far the most important factor.
According
to the available word counts made in
different parts of speech, we find that:
- derived
words numerically constitute the largest class of words in the existing
wordstock;
- derived
nouns comprise approximately 67% of the total number,
- adjectives about 86%,
whereas compound nouns make about 15% and adjectives about 4%.
- Root
words come to 18% in nouns, i.e. a trifle more than the number of
compound words;
- adjectives
root words come to approximately 12%.
- But we cannot
fail to perceive that root-words occupy
a predominant place. Thus it is the
root-words that constitute the foundation and
the backbone of the vocabulary and that
are of paramount importance in speech.
It should also be mentioned that root
words are characterized by a high degree
of collocability and a complex variety
of meanings in contrast with words of
other structural types whose semantic structures
are much poorer. Root- words also serve
as parent forms for all types of
derived and compound words.
Principles of
morphemic analysis.
- The segmentation
of words is generally carried out according
to the method of Immediate and Ultimate
Constituents. This method is based on
the binary principle.
- At each stage these two components
are referred to as the Immediate Constituents.
- Each Immediate Constituent
at the next stage of analysis is in turn broken into smaller meaningful
elements.
- The analysis is completed
when we arrive at constituents incapable of further division, i.e. morphemes.
These are referred to Ultimate Constituents.
- A synchronic
morphological analysis is most effectively accomplished by the
procedure known as the analysis
into Immediate Constituents. ICs are the two meaningful parts
forming a large linguistic unity.
- This method is
based on the fact that a word characterized
by morphological divisibility is involved in
certain structural correlations.
As we break the word
we obtain at any level only ICs one
of which is the stem of the given
word. All the time the analysis is
based on the patterns characteristic of
the English vocabulary. As a pattern showing
the interdependence of all the constituents
segregated at various stages, we obtain
the following formula:
un+ { [ ( gent-
+ -le ) + -man ] + -ly}
Breaking a word into
its Immediate Constituents we observe in each cut
the structural order of the constituents.
1. un- / gentlemanly
2. un- / gentleman
/ - ly
3. un- / gentle /
- man / - ly
4. un- / gentl /
- e / - man / - ly
A similar analysis on
the word-formation level showing not only
the morphemic constituents of the word
but also the structural pattern on which
it is built.
- The analysis of
word-structure at the morphemic level must
proceed to the stage of Ultimate
Constituents.
For example,
the noun friendliness is first segmented
into the ICs:
[frendl?-]
recurring in the adjectives friendly-looking
and friendly and [-n?s] found in a
countless number of nouns, such as unhappiness,
blackness, sameness, etc. the IC [-n?s]
is at the same time an UC of
the word, as it cannot be broken
into any smaller elements possessing both
sound-form and meaning. Any further division
of -ness would give individual speech-sounds
which denote nothing by themselves. The
IC [frendl?-] is next broken into the
ICs [-l?] and [frend-] which are both
UCs of the word.
- Morphemic analysis
under the method of Ultimate Constituents
may be carried out on the basis of
two principles: the so-called root-principle
and affix principle.
- According to the
affix principle the splitting of the word into its constituent
morphemes is based on the identification of the affix within a set of
words, e.g. the identification of the suffix -er leads to the segmentation
of words singer, teacher, swimmer into the derivational morpheme - er
and the roots teach- , sing-, drive-.
- According to the
root-principle, the segmentation of the word is based on the
identification of the root-morpheme in a word-cluster, for example the
identification of the root-morpheme agree- in the words agreeable, agreement,
disagree.
- As a rule,
the application of these principles is
sufficient for the morphemic segmentation of
words.