MH

THE
60
MORPHOLOGY
OF
ENGLISH
 Morphemes

We now turn our attention to the study of the internal structure of

words, which is known as morphology. We shall use the term word loosely,
in its familiar sense, since a strict definition will not be necessary till later.

A. Definition of Morpheme
Before we can examine the structure of words, we must become acquainted
with an entity known as the morpheme. A morpheme is a short segment
of language that meets three criteria:
.
1 It is a word or a part of a word that has meaning.
2. It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without violation
of its meaning or without meaningless remainders.
3. It rebuts in differing verbal environments with a relatively stable
meaning.
Let us examine the word straight /stret/ in the light of these criteria.
First of all, we recognize it as a word and can find it listed as such in any
dictionary. Second, it cannot be divided without violation of meaning. For
83
84 the morphology of English

example, we can, by dividing straight /stret/, get the smaller meaningful

forms of trait /tret/, rate /ret/, and ate /et/, but the meanings of these
violate the meaning of straight. Furthermore, when we divide it in these
ways we get the meaningless remainders of /s-/, /st-/, and /str-/. Third,
straight recurs with a relatively stable meaning in such environments as
straightedge, straighten, and a straight line. Thus straight meets all the cri¬
teria of a morpheme.
As a second example let us compare the morpheme bright (= light)
with the word brighten (= make light). In sound the only difference be¬
tween the two words is the added /-an/ of brighten, and in meaning the
difference is the added sense of “make” in brighten. This leads us to con¬
clude that /-an/ means “make.” Thus we see that /-an/ is a part of a
word that has meaning. We also know that it cannot be divided into smaller
meaningful units and that it recurs with a stable meaning in words like
cheapen, darken, deepen, soften, and stiffen. It is therefore obvious that
/-an/ must be considered a morpheme.

Exercise 8-1
After each word write a number showing how many morphemes it con¬
tains.
1. play 11. keeper
2. replay 12. able
3. date 13. unable
4. antedate 14. miniskirt
5. hygiene
6. weak
7. weaken
—. 15. rain
16. rainy
17. cheap
8. man
9. manly
18. cheaply
19. cheaper
-.
10. keep 20. cover

Exercise 8-2
Write the meaning of the italicized morphemes.
1. antedate
2. replay
3. manly
4. keeper
5. unable
6. rainy
7. cheapest
8. inactive
9. impossible
10. malfunction (noun)
 Morphemes 8J

B. Free and Bound Morphemes

Morphemes are of two kinds, free and bound. A free morpheme is one
that can be uttered alone with meaning. For instance, in reply to “What
are you going to do now?” you might answer “Eat.” This is a free mor¬
pheme. A bound morpheme,’ unlike the free, cannot be uttered alone with
meaning. It is always annexed to one or more morphemes to form a word.
The italicized morphemes in exercise 8-2 are all bound, for one would not
utter in isolation forms like ante-, re-, -ly, -er, and un-. Here are a few
more examples: preview, playeJ, activity, supervise, inter-, -vene.

Exercise 8-3
Underline the bound morphemes It is possible for a word to consist en-
tirely of bound morphemes.
1. speaker 6. biomass
2. kingdom 7. intervene
3. petrodollar 8. remake
4. idolize 9. dreamed
5. selective 10. undo

affixes = bound morphemes

C. Bases
Another classification of morphemes puts them into two classes: bases and
affixes. A base morpheme is the part of a word that has the principal
meaning.1 The italicized morphemes in these words are bases: denial,
lovable, annoyance, re-enter. Bases are very numerous, and most of them
in English are free morphemes; but some are bound, like -sent in consent,
dissent, and assent. A word may contain one base and several affixes.

xThis ad hoc definition will do for our present purpose. A more exact definition,
which requires terms that you will not meet until later, would go something like this:
A base is a linguistic form that meets one or more of these requirements:
1. It can occur as an immediate constituent of a word whose only other immediate
constituent is a prefix or suffix.
Examples: react, active, fertilize

2. It is an allomorph of a morpheme which has another allomorph that is a free

form.
Examples: 4epth (deep), wolves (wolf)

3. It is a borrowing from another language in which it is a free form or a base.

Examples: biometrics, microcosm, phraseology

The third point is open to the theoretical objection that it imports diachronic lore to
clarify a synchronic description.
86 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

Readability, for example, contains the free base read and the two affixes
-abil- and -ity; and unmistakable has the free base take and the affixes un-,
mis-, and -able.

Exercise 8-4
Underline the bases in these words.
1. womanly 6. lighten 11. unlikely
2. endear 7. enlighten 12. prewar
3. failure 8. friendship 13. subway
4. famous 9. befriend 14. falsify
5. infamous 10. Bostonian 15. unenlivened

All the bases in the preceding exercise are free bases. Now we shall look
at bound bases, to which it is sometimes hard to attach a precise meaning.
A good number of bound bases in English come from the Latin and Greek,
like the -sent- in sentiment, sentient, consent, assent, dissent, resent. The
standard way to pin down the meaning is to search for the meaning com¬
mon to all the words that contain the base (in these words, -sent- means
“feel”). A base may have more than one phonemic form. In the above list
it has these forms: /santi-/, /scnS-/, /-sent/, and /-zent/. Here is an exer¬
cise in this method.

Exercise 8-5
Write in the blanks the meaning of the italicized bound bases. To be exact,
we should write these words below in phonemic script to show the various
forms of the base, but this would involve a complication that will be ex¬
plained later. So here we must be content to indicate the base in a loose
way with spelling.
L audience, audible, audition, auditory hearing;sound

2. suicide, patricide, matricide, infanticide kill

mouth
3. oral, oration, oracle, oratory
’
water
4. Aquaplane, aquatic, aquarium, aquanaut
5. photography, xerography, biography, calligraphy
body
.
process of writing/recording

6. corps, corpse, corporation, corporeal

to stretch
tenable, tenant, tenure, tenacious
7. hang
pendulum, pendant, suspenders, impending
8. -
handmade
9.
manual, manicure, manuscript throw
10. eject, inject, project, reject .

This method can be difficult and baffling. An easier way that often works
is to look up in your dictionary the word in question, like consent, and in
the etymology find out the Latin or Greek meaning of the base. Under
 Morphemes 87

consent you will find that -sent means “feel” in Latin, and this area of
meaning seems to have been retained for the base of all the words in the
-sent list. Also, you will find some of the more common base morphemes
listed as separate entries. The following, for example,, are all separately
entered in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary: phot-, photo- (light);
xer-, xero- (dry); bi-, bio- (life); mis-, miso- (hate); ge-, geo- (earth);
biblio- (book); -meter (measure); tele-, tel- (distant); -phil, -phile (lover);
-logy (science or study of).
Exercise 8-6
Look up in your desk dictionary the meanings of the bound bases italicized
in the words below. Write the meanings of these bound bases in the first
column. In the second column write another English word that contains the
same base.
1. geography
2. bio logy living things study biogas astrology

3. biblio phile book lover bibliography homophile

4. intervene between to come/go intervention

5. comprehend with seize '

6. recur again run

7. inspect into look

_
8. oppose ..- . .

9. inspire to breathe

10. rodent
11. portable carry
12. rapture break
13. annual year
14. carnal meat ’

15. bigamy marriage

D. Difficulties in Morphemic Analysis

Let us now digress long enough to point out that the identification of mor¬
phemes is not as tidy a business as may appear in these exercises and that
there are serious, perhaps insoluble, difficulties in morphemic analysis.
The first difficulty is that you have your own individual stock of mor¬
phemes just as you have a vocabulary that is peculiarly your own. An ex¬
ample will make this clear. Tom may think of automobile as one morpheme
meaning “car,” whereas Dick may know the morphemes auto- (self) and
mobile (moving), and recognize them in other words like autograph and
mobilize. Dick, on the other hand, may consider chronometer to be a single
morpheme, a fancy term for “watch,” but Harty sees in this word two
morphemes, chrono- (time) and meter (measure), which he also finds in
88 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

chronology and photometer, and Sadie finds a third morpheme -er in it, as
in heater; thus, mete (verb) to measure, -I
— er, one who, or that which.
The second difficulty is that persons may know a given morpheme but
differ in the degree to which they are aware of its presence in various
words. It is likely, for instance, that most speakers of English know the
agentive suffix /-ar/ (spelled -er, -or, -ar) meaning “one who, that which,”
and recognize it in countless words like singer and actor. But many may
only dimly sense this morpheme in professor and completely overlook it in
voucher, cracker, and tumbler. Thus, can we say that sweater has enough
pulse in its -er to be considered a two-morpheme word? This will vary with
the awareness of different individuals. A less simple case is seen in this
group: nose, noseful, nosey, nasal, nuzzle, nozzle, nostril, nasturtium. Only
a linguistically knowledgeable person would see the morpheme nose in
each of these words. Others will show considerable differences in aware¬
ness.
Thus, we conclude that one individual’s morphemes are not those of an¬
other. This is no cause for deep concern, though it may be a source of con¬
troversy in the classroom, for we are dealing with the morphemes of the
English language, not merely with the individual morpheme inventories
of Tom, Dick, Harry, and Sadie.
But in the language itself there are problems of morphemic analysis be¬
cause the language is constantly changing. One problem is that of obso¬
lescence.
Morphemes may slowly fade away into disuse as the decades and cen¬
turies roll by, affecting our view of their morphemehood. For instance, we
can be sure that troublesome, burdensome, lonesome, and cuddlesome are
two-morpheme words consisting of a base morpheme plus the suffixal mor¬
pheme -some. Winsome, however, has an obsolete base (Old English wynn,
pleasure, joy), so that the word is now monomorphemic. Between these
two extremes are words like ungainly. This means of course “not gainly,”
but what does gainly mean? Certainly it is not in common use. In current
dictionaries it is called “rare” or “obsolete” or “dialectal,” or is unlabeled.
Then should we call ungainly a word of one or two or even three mor¬
phemes?
Another problem results from the fact that metaphors die as language
changes. Let us take the morpheme -prehend- (seize) as an example. In
apprehend ( = to arrest or seize) and prehensile it clearly retains its mean¬
ing, but in comprehend the metaphor (seize mentally) seems to be dead,
and the meaning of the word today is merely “understand.” Does it then
still contain the morpheme -prehend-1 Another case is seen in bankrupt
(bench broken). The morpheme bank, in the sense of a bench, may be
obsolete, but -rupt is alive today in rupture and interrupt. The original
metaphor is dead, however, and the meaning of these two morphemes does
not add up at all to the current meaning of bankrupt. Is the word then a
single morpheme?
 Morphemes 89

This last matter, additive meanings, is a problem in itself. Meaning is

very elusive, and when morphemes combine in a word, their meanings tend
to be unstable and evanescent; they may even disappear altogether. Con¬
sider, for example, the morpheme pose (place). In “pose a question” the
meaning is clear, and it is probably retained in interpose (place between).
But in suppose and repose the meaning appears to have evaporated. Be¬
tween these extremes are words like compose, depose, impose, propose, and
transpose, in which the sense of pose seems to acquire special nuances in
combination. Which of all these words, then, may be said to contain the
morpheme pose (place)? Such are some of the problems in morphemic
analysis that have plagued linguists.

Optional Exercise 8-7

This exercise is an excursus into dead metaphor, simply to show you a fas¬
cinating aspect of words that many people are unaware of. Look up the
etymology of the following words in your desk dictionary and note the orig¬
inal meaning that underlies the words. A little thought will show you the

1. daisy
_—
connection between the original meaning and the present sense.
6. hazard
2. muscle . 7. calculate
3. supercilious
4. window
5. easel
— 8. spurn
9. stimulate
10. stagnate

E. Affixes
An affix is a bound morpheme that occurs before or within or after a base.
There are three kinds, prefixes, infixes, and suffixes, two of which you have
already met in passing. Now we shall deal with them in greater detail.
Prefixes are those bound morphemes that occur before a base, as in
import, prefix, reconsider. Prefixes in English are a small class of mor¬
phemes, numbering about seventy-five. Their meanings are often those of
English prepositions and adverbials.

Exercise 8-8
Look up in your desk dictionary each italicized prefix. (Be careful here. If
you are looking up the prefix in- in the American College Dictionary, you
will find eight entries for in. The first is the word in itself, which you don’t
want. The next three are prefixes, indicated as such by a hyphen after the
morpheme; thus, in-. One of these is what you are looking for. Sometimes,
when you have located the exact entry you want, you will find several
meanings for it, as is the case with de-.) From the meanings given for the
90 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

prefix, choose the one that fits the word and write it in the first column. In
the second column write another word containing the same prefix with the
same meaning. Numbers 3, 7, 8, and 11 contain variants of a prefixal mor¬
pheme.
1. antifreeze
2. circumvent around circumvolve
3. copilot together, with cooperative
collapse colonel
compact
convene
corrode
4. contradict against
5. devitalize off
6. disagreeable not
7. insecure
imperfect
illegible
irreverent
8. inspire into

imbibe
9. intervene
10. intramural within
11. obstruct
oppose
12. prewar
13. postwar
14. proceed
15. retroactive
16. semiprofessional
17. subway
18. superabundant
19. unlikely2
20. undress

2 In the New York Times Russell Baker wrote: “Congress passes a bill. The Presi¬
dent unpasses it Then Congress disunpasses it”
Infixes are bound morphemes that have been inserted within a word.
In English these are rare. Occasionally they are additions within a word,
as in un get at able, where the preposition at of get at is kept as an infix
in the -able adjective, though the preposition is usually dropped in simi¬
lar words, like reliable (from rely on) and accountable (from account for).
But infixes in English are most commonly replacements, not additions.
They occur in a few noun plurals, like the -ee- in geese, replacing the -oo-
of goose, and more often in the past tense and past participles of verbs,
like the -o- of chose and chosen replacing the -oo- of choose. When we
meet such infixes at the end of this chapter, we shall call them by the more
precise term of “replacive allomorphs.”
 Morphemes SI

Exercise 8-9
In the following groups of words, underline each infix. In the case of verbs,
the stem (= dictionary-entry form) is the form into which the infix is in¬
serted. Thus, in freeze, froze, frozen the stem is freeze, and into this the
infix o is inserted in the past tense froze and the past participle frozen.
1. foot, feet 6. shake, shook, shaken
2. mouse, mice 7. ring, rang, rung
3. take, took, taken 8. tear, tore, tom
4. grow, grew, grown 9. ride, rode, ridden
5. spin, spun, spun 10. find, found, found

Suffixes are bound morphemes that occur after a base, like shrinkage,
failure, noisy, realize, nails, dreamed Suffixes may pile up to the number
of three or four, whereas prefixes are commonly single, except for the nega¬
tive un- before another prefix. In normalizers we perhaps reach the limit
with four: the base norm plus the four suffixes -al, -ize, -er, -s. When suf¬
fixes multiply like this, their order is fixed: there is one and only one order
in which they occur.

Exercise 8-10
In these words the base is italicized. After each word write the number of
suffixes it contains.
1. organists 2 6. contradictorily 2
2. personalities 3 7. trusteeship 2
3. /lirtatiously 3 8. greasier 2
4. atomizers 3 9. countrified 2
5. friendliest 2 10. responsibilities 3

Exercise 8-11
Each group contains a base and suffixes. Make each into a word. In each
case see if more than one order of suffixes is possible.
1. -ed, live, -en
2. -ing, -ate, terrain
-
3. -er, -s, mor, -al, -ize
4. provinc, -s, -ism, -ial
5. -ly, -some, grue .
6. -ity, work, -able
7. in, -most, -er
8. marry, -age, -ity, -abil
9. -dom, -ster, gang
10. -ly, -ion, -ate, affect
92 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

F. Inflectional Affixes
The inflectional affixes can be schematized as follows :

Inflectional
Affix Examples Name
1. {-spl.} dogs, oxen, mice noun plural
2. {-ssgps} boy’s noun singular possessive
3. {-S pl ps} boys’, men’s noun plural possessive
4. {-s 3d) vacates present third-person
singular
5. {-ING vb} discussing present participle
6. {-Dpt} chewed, rode past tense
7. {-D pp) chewed, eaten, swum past participle
8. {-ER Cp} bolder, sooner, nearer comparative
9. {-EST Sp} boldest, soonest, nearest superlative

The words to which these affixes (suffixes and infixes) are attached are
called stems. The stem includes the base or bases and all the derivational
affixes. Thus, the stem of playboys is playboy and that of beautified is
beautify.

The inflectional suffixes differ from the derivational suffixes in the follow¬
ing ways, to which there are few exceptions.

1. They do not change the part of speech.

Examples: sled, sleds (both nouns)
cough, coughed (both verbs)
cold, colder (both adjectives)

2. They come last in a word.

Examples: shortened, villainies, industrializing

3. They go w:ffi ail stems of a given part of speech.

Examples: He eats, drinks, dreams, entertains, motivates.

4. They do not pile up; only one ends a word.

Examples: flakes, working, higher, written

The exception here is {s pl ps), the plural possessive of the noun, as in

“The students’ worries.”
 Morphemes 93

Exercise 8-12
Write the morphemic symbol and name for each inflectional affix in bold¬
face type. The term affix here includes both suffixes, like dreamed, and
infixes, like swum, rode, rang.
1. The flagpole stood in front of Main Hall.
2. Four pledges were initiated.
3. Shirley pledges to do her best.
4. The pledge’s shirt was tom.
5. The pledges’ shirts were tom.
6. We were discussing the editorial.
7. The novel was shorter than I had expected.
8. They waited at the dock.
9. Which is the longest route?
10. Have you taken calculus yet?
1 1 . Chris played well in the second set.
12. The dealer weighed the poultry.
13. Would you mind repeating the question?
14. The sheets were soon ironed.

15. He never locks the door.

94 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

G. Derivational Suffixes
In addition to a short list of inflectional suffixes English has a large supply
of another kind of suffix, called derivational suffixes. These consist of all
the suffixes that are not inflectional. Among the characteristics of deriva¬
tional suffixes there are three that will be our immediate concern.
1. The words with which derivational suffixes combine is an arbitrary
matter. To make a noun from the verb adorn we must add -ment no
— —
other suffix will do whereas the verb jail combines only with -ure to make
a noun, failure.

Exercise 8-13
The left-hand column contains ten words. The right-hand column contains
thirteen derivational suffixes used to make nouns and having the general
meanings of “state, condition, quality, or act of.” By combining these suf¬
fixes with the words listed, make as many nouns as you can.
4,
1. happy 1. -hood 11. -ance
2. friend 9, 2. -acy 12. -th
3. girl 1,7 3. -ism 13. -ure
4. compose 8,13 4. -ness
5. shrink 6 5. -ment
6. active 10,4,8 6. -age
7. supreme 2 7. -y
8. true 12,3,4
8. -ation
9. pagan 9. -ship
10. discover 3 10. -ity
7
Nouns:

2. In many cases, but not all, a derivational suffix changes the part of
speech of the word to which it is added. The noun act becomes an adjec¬
tive by the addition of -ive, and to the adjective active we can add -ate,
making it a verb, activate. Although we have not yet taken up the parts of
speech, you probably know enough about them to distinguish between
nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, as you are asked to do in the next
exercise.
 Morphemes 95

Exercise 8—14
The words in the second column are formed by the addition of a deriva¬
tional suffix to those in the first column. After every word in both columns
indicate its part-of-speech classification by N (noun), V (verb), Aj (ad¬
jective), or Av (adverb).
V N
1. break breakage
v a
2. desire desirable
v n
3, conspire conspiracy
v n
4. rehearse rehearsal
a v
5. ideal a v
idealize
6. false a av
falsify
7. sweet sweetly
8. doubt v a doubtful
n n
9. mouth mouthful
v n
10. sing singer
v n
11. familiarize familiarization
n a
12. passion passionate
n/v n
13. host hostess
v/n a
14. gloom gloomy
n n
15. martyr martyrdom
n n
16. novel n a/av
novelist
17. day daily
v a
18. prohibit prohibitory
v a
19. excel v a
excellent
20. create creative
n a
21. vision visionary
n a
22. cube cubic
23. ripe a v ripen
24. real a n realism
25. accept v n . acceptance

3. Derivational suffixes usually do not close off a word; that is, after a
derivational suffix one can sometimes add another derivational suffix and
can frequently add an inflectional suffix. For example, to the word fertilize,
which ends in a derivational suffix, one can add another one, -er, and to
fertilizer one can add the inflectional suffix -s, closing off the word.

Exercise 8-15
Add a derivational suffix to each of these words, which already end in a
derivational suffix.
1. reasonable
2, formal
3. organize
4. purify
5. purist
96 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

Exercise 8-16
Add an inflectional suffix, one of those listed on page 92, to each of these
words, which end in derivational suffixes. In the third column put any
words you can think of that are formed by a suffix following the inflectional
suffix you added in the second column.
1. kindness 's,es

2. beautify ed,es

3. quarterly -ies
4. popularize s,d,ing

5. depth 's,s

6. pressure s,'s

7. arrival s,'s

8. orientate -s,-d,-ing

9. friendly -er,-est

10. funny -er,-est

A glance in the dictionary will reveal that many words have relatives,
close and distant, and in grammatical study it is often necessary to examine
families of related words. To label such families we employ the word para¬
digm. There are two kinds of paradigms, inflectional and derivational. The
inflectional will be explained later. The derivational paradigm is a set of
related words composed of the same base morpheme and all the deriva¬
tional affixes that can go with this base. Here is an example: man, manly,
mannish, manful, manhood, manikin, unman, manliness, manward, man¬
fully, mannishly.

Exercise 8-17
You are given here five bases, or words with their bases italicized. Give all
the words in the derivational paradigm of each. Do not include words
with two bases, like manhunt or manpower. (Use other paper for this ex¬
ercise.)
1. sin
2. kind
3. live /laiv/

—
4. transport (-port = carry)
5. audible (aud- hear)

H. Suffixed Homophones
Some suffixes, both inflectional and derivational, have homophonous forms.
The inflectional morpheme {-er cp} has two homophones. The first is
the derivational suffix {-er n), which is attached to verbs to form nouns.
This is a highly productive suffix, that is, it is used to produce hundreds
 Morphemes 97

of English nouns like hunter, fisher, camper, golfer, lover. It is often called
the agent -er and conveys a meaning of “that which performs the action of
the verb stem,” as in thriller and teacher. It may also be attached to non¬
verbal stems, e.g., probationer, New Yorker, teen-ager, freighter. The -er
on such words could be said to convey a more general meaning of “that
which is related to”; and since this meaning is inclusive of the previous
one, both these -er suffixes can be considered to belong to {-er n}.
The second derivational -er morpheme appears at the end of words
like chatter, mutter, flicker, glitter, patter. This {-er rp} conveys the mean¬
ing of repetition. The acceptance of this {-er rp}, however, is problematic
and raises questions about the analysis of the remainders in words of this
class. For example, if the -er in glitter is a morpheme meaning repetition,
we are left with the remainder glitt-, whose morphemic status is dubious.

Exercise 8-18
Identify the italicized -er as
1. {-er cp} inflectional suffix, as in bigger
2. {-er n} derivational suffix, as in singer
3. {-er rp) derivational suffix, as in flutter
1. This is a heavier tennis racket than I want.
2. We watched the shimmer of the evening light on the waves.
3. The fighter weighed in at 180 pounds.
4. He was tougher than he looked.
5. The jabber of voices came through the open door.

The verbal inflectional suffix {-ing vb} has two homophones in -ing.
The first one is the nominal derivational suffix {-ing nm}, which is found
in words like meetings, weddings, readings. This nominal {-ing nm} is
obviously derivational since it permits the addition of an inflectional suffix
to close it off, the noun plural {-s pl). When such a word occurs alone
without the inflectional suffix, e.g., meeting, the -ing is ambiguous, for it
could be either {-ing vb}, as in “He was meeting the train” or {-ing nm},
as in “He attended the meeting.”
The second homophone of {-ing vb} is the adjectival morpheme
{-ing aj}, as in a charming woman. There are two tests by which the verbal
{-ing vb} can be distinguished from the adjectival {-ing aj}.
The verbal {-ing vb} can usually occur after as well as before the noun
it modifies, e.g.,
I saw a burning house.
I saw a house burning.
The adjectival {ing aj} can be preceded by a qualifier like very, rather,
quite, or by the comparative and superlative words more and most, as in
It is a very comforting thought.
This is a more exciting movie.
98 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

but not
*1 saw a rather burning house.
Also, compare
that interesting snake
that crawling snake.
The adjectival {-ing aj} can occur after seems:
That snake seems interesting,
whereas the verbal {-ing vb} cannot:
*That snake seems crawling.

Exercise 8—19
Identify the -ing's of the italicized words by these symbols:
=
V-al verbal {-ing vb}
N-al = nominal {-ing nm}
=
Aj-al adjectival {-ing aj}
1. It was a charming spot.
2. Jim lost both fillings from his tooth.
__
3. It was located by a sweetly babbling brook.
4. It was exciting to watch the flight. _
__
5. Old sayings are often half-true.
6. From the bridge we watched the running water.
7. That barking dog keeps everyone awake. __
8. He told a convincing tale.
9. The shining sun gilded the forest floor. _
10. Matisse’s drawings are magnificently simple. __
11. A refreshing shower poured down,
12. The attorney made a moving appeal. __
13. A moving elephant is a picture of grace.
14. What an obliging fellow he is!
15. That was a touching scene.
_
The verbal inflectional {-d pp} has a homophone in the adjectival deri¬
vational {-Daj}, as in

Helen was excited about her new job.

She was a devoted mother.3 .
The adjectival {-d aj} is characterized by its capacity for modification by
qualifiers like very, rather, quite, and by more and most.

3 {-D aj} is considered derivational because it often can be followed by another

suffix, e.g., excitedly, devotedness.
 Morphemes 99

Example: A rather jaded tapestry hung over the fireplace.

The verbal {-d pp}, on the other hand, does not accept such modifiers. We
would not, for example, say
*The very departed guests had forgotten their dog.
The seems test for adjectival {-ing aj} is applicable to adjectival {-d aj};
for example, “The tapestry seems faded” but not “The guests seem de¬
parted.”

Exercise 8-20
Identify the suffixes of the italicized words with these symbols: V-al
{-Dpp};Aj-al= {-d aj}.
=
v
1. You should read the printed statement.
2. Merle was a neglected child.
3. This is a complicated question.
a
a
—
4. His chosen bride had lived in India. v
v —
5. He bought a stolen picture.
6. The invited guests all came.
7. We had a reserved seat.
v
v
a
——
8. The skipper was a reserved (= quiet) man.
9. A celebrated painter visited the campus.
10. A worried look crossed his face.
. a
a
— ———
Exercise 8-21
Ambiguity occurs when the -ed suffix can be interpreted as either {-D pp}
or {-d aj}. This exercise will illustrate. For each sentence below write two
meanings.
1. It was a finished job.
a. ' •
__
b.
2. Our new surgeon is reserved.
a. ; ;
b. , . .

The adverbial derivational suffix {-ly av} is added to most adjectives to

form adverbs of manner, as in rich, richly; kind, kindly; formal, formally;
happy, happily. A small group of adjectives does not take this {-LY av},
among them big, small, little, tall, long, fast.
This adverbial {-LY av} has as a homophone the derivational suffix {-LY
aj}, an adjectival morpheme that is distributed as follows:
1. It is added to monosyllabic nouns to form adjectives that are inflected
with -er, -est.
Examples: love, lovely; friend, friendly; man, manly
100 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

2. It is added to nouns to form adjectives that are not inflected with -er,
-est.
Examples: king, kingly; beast, beastly; scholar, scholarly;
mother, motherly; leisure, leisurely
3. It is added to a few adjectives, giving alternate adjectival forms that
are also inflected with -er, -est.
Examples: dead, deadly; live, lively; kind, kindly; sick, sickly
Here the adjectives kindly and lively are homophonous with the adverbs
kindly and lively, which end in {-ly av}. For example, we see the adverb
in “She spoke kindly to the children,” and the adjective in “She was the
kindliest woman in the village.”
4. It is added to a short list of “time” nouns to form adjectives.
Examples: day, daily; hour, hourly; month, monthly
These are not inflected with -er, -est, and some of them undergo functional
shift to become nouns, e.g., “He subscribes to two dailies and three quar¬
terlies.”

Exercise 8-22
Identify the italicized -ly as either (1) {-ly av) adverbial derivational suf¬
fix, as in glumly; or (2) {-ly aj) adjectival derivational suffix, as in
fatherly.
1. The witness testified falsely.
2. Grace has a deadly wit.
3. Janet always behaved with a maidenly demeanor.
4. He tiptoes softly into the room.
5. Jimmy receives a weekly allowance.
6. The dear old lady has a heavenly disposition.
7. She spoke quietly to her grandson.
8. What a timely suggestion!
9. What a mannerly child!
10. It was a cowardly act.

Exercise 8-23
This is an exercise reviewing the inflectional and derivational suffixes. La¬
bel the italicized suffixes as DS (derivational suffix), IS (inflectional suf¬
fix), or Amb (ambiguous).
I D
1. princes
2.
3.
princess
findings
D
D
— 6. weaver
7. leaner
8. satirize
A
D
4. friendlier I 9. sputter D
5. shows I 10. brighten D
 Morphemes 101

11. quickly D 16. hearing A

12. rectify D 17. drier A
13.
14.
15.
brotherly
respectable
younger .
D
D
I - -
—
.. -
18. grievance
19. droppings
20. sunny
D
D
D

1. Noun Feminine Forms

English has a small clutch of nouns with feminine derivational suffixes. All
but one of these feminizing suffixes (-ster) are of foreign origin. They have
been added to a masculine form or to a base morpheme. Here is a list of
most of them, with examples of the feminine nouns to which they have
been attached and the corresponding masculine forms.

Suffix Masculine Feminine

1. -e fiancd fiancee
2. -enne comedian comedienne
3. -ess patron patroness
4. -etta Henry Henrietta
5. -ette farmer farmerette4
6. -euse masseur masseuse
7. -ina George Georgina
8. -ine hero heroine
9. -ster spinner spinster
10. -stress seamster seamstress (= -ster + -ess)
11. -ix aviator aviatrix8
These suffixes vary in vitality from -ess, the most productive, to -stress,
which is completely dead. Two of them, -enne and -euse, occur only in
words borrowed from French. The -e, also from French, is merely ortho¬
graphic and is not heard in the spoken word. The -ster is no longer a femi¬
nizing suffix but now indicates any person, usually male: gangster, oldster,
prankster.
English also has about fifty pairs of words with separate forms for the
masculine and the feminine, e.g., bull, cow; uncle, aunt; gander, goose. But
these are a matter of lexicography rather than morphology, and we shall
pass them by.

4 The suffix -ette can also be a diminutive, as in kitchenette.

6 Some feminine forms have gone out of fashion. Today, for example, we say
pilot and poet instead of aviatrix and poetess. The current tendency in English is to
avoid feminine forms.
102 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

Exercise 8-24
Write the feminine form (or erstwhile feminine form) of these words.
1. Paul -ine
9. -ine
Carol
2. chanteur chanteuse . 10. emperor empress
3. protege protégée 1 1. launderer laundress
4. czar czarina 12. proprietor proprietress
5. songster songstress 13. waiter waitress
6. major majorette 14. tricker trickster
7. heir heiress 15. executor executrix
8. equestrian equestrienne

J. Noun Diminutive Forms

In English six diminutive suffixes can be found. These are morphemes
which convey a meaning of smallness or endearment or both. They are the
following:
1. -ie,-i,-y as in auntie, Betty, sweetie, Willy
2. -ette as in dinette, towelette
3. -kin, -ikin, -kins as in lambkin, manikin
4. -ling as in duckling, darling (= little dear)
5. -et as in circlet
6. -let as in booklet, starlet
The vowels of these diminutive suffixes are three front vowels: /i/, /1/,
and /e/.
The first suffix, pronounced {if and spelled -ie, -i, and -y, is highly
productive. It is frequently attached to one-syllable first names to suggest
endearment and intimacy, or smallness, as in Johnny, Janey, Jackie, and
Geri. Similarly, it is attached to common nouns, as in doggie, sweetie,
birdie.9
The second suffix is also in active use, generally to indicate smallness.
Thus, a dinette is a small dining area, and a roomette is a small room.
The other four diminutive suffixes exist in the language as diminutives
but are rarely if ever added to new nouns. In short, they are unproductive,
inactive. Furthermore, in some words, like cabinet and toilet, the meaning
of the diminutive suffix has faded away to little or no significance.
8 Warning to students: Some of these diminutive suffixes have homophones that
can be a source of confusion. Here, for instance, are four of them:
1. -y, an adjective-forming suffix added to a noun, as in cloudy
2. -ie, a noun-forming suffix added to an adjective, as in smartie, toughie
3. -ette, a feminine suffix, as in majorette
4. -ling, a noun suffix denoting animals, as in yearling, shearling, fledgling, nestling,
weanling
 Morphemes 103

Exercise 8-25
Give a noun diminutive form for each of the following words.
1. Bob bobby 6. baby babykin 11. lord lordling
2. goose gosling 7. pack packet 12. drop droplet
3. statue statuette 8. pup puppy 13. lad laddie
4. lock locket 9. table tablet 14. man
manikin
5. dear dearie 10. Ann annie 15. cigar

In addition to these six diminutives, many others have come into English
as a part of borrowed words. These were diminutives in their own or parent
language but are non-morphemic in English. For illustration, here is a
handful of them.
mosquito panel Venezuela
bambino morsel quartet
armadillo damsel bulletin (two successive
diminutives here)
peccadillo scalpel falsetto
flotilla satchel stiletto
Priscilla muscle Maureen
cookie particle lochan
colonel pupil formula
citadel violin capsale
violoncello
novel (noun) puppet calculus
Most of these borrowed diminutive endings, you will observe, contain the
vowels /i/, /1/, and /e/, though these vowels have often been reduced to
/a/ in English because of lack of stress. Only the last four do not have a
front vowel or /a/ in the diminutive suffix. Furthermore, nearly all these
suffixes have lost the diminutive sense that was once alive in them.

Exercise 8-26
Diminutive suffixes occur in many languages. Here are a few samples.
Underline the diminutive suffixes. Then list the three vowels that occurred
in these suffixes.
1. French fillette /fijet/, little girl
sonnette /sonet/, little bell
2. Spanish casita /kasita/, little house
maquinilla /makiniya/, little machine
3. Italian stanzina /stantsina/, little room
4. Romanian fetita /fetitsa/, little girl
5. Hawaiian puliki /puliki/, vest
6. German Hilndchen /hgntQen/, puppy
7. Portuguese casinha /kasina/, little house
8. Dutch huisje /hiiisja/, little house
104 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

K. Immediate Constituents
—
Up to this point we have scrutinized the four sorts of morphemes bases,
prefixes, infixes, and suffixes—-of which words are composed. Now w'e shall
see how these are put together to build the structure that we call a word.
A word of one morpheme, like blaze, has, of course, just one unitary
part. A word of two morphemes, like cheerful, is obviously composed of
two parts, with the division between them:
cheer|ful
But a word of three or more morphemes is not made up of a string of in¬
dividual parts; it is built with a hierarchy of twosomes. As an illustration
let us examine the formation of gentlemanly, a word of three morphemes.
We might say that man and -ly were combined to form manly and that
gentle and manly were then put together to produce the form gentlemanly.
But the total meaning of gentlemanly does not seem to be composed of the
meanings of its two parts gentle and manly, so we reject this possibility.
Let’s try again. This time we’ll say that gentle and man were put together
to give gentleman. And if we remember that gentle has the meanings of
"distinguished,” "belonging to a high social station,” we see that the mean¬
ing of gentleman is a composite of those of its two constituents. Now we
add -ly, meaning “like,” and get gentlemanly, like a gentleman. This man¬
ner of forming gentlemanly seems to make sense.
Now when we analyze a word we show this process but in reverse. We
usually divide a word into two parts of which it seems to have been com¬
posed. Thus
gentleman lyJ
We continue in this way, cutting every part into two more until we have
reduced the word to its ultimate constituents, that is, to the unit morphemes
of which it is composed. Our analysis of gentlemanly would look like this:
gentle| man ly j
Next, let us suppose that the word to be analyzed is ungentlemanly. If we
make the same first cut as before, cutting oS the -ly, we get ungentleman
plus -ly. But as English contains no such word as ungentleman, our word
could not be composed of the two parte ungentleman and -ly. Instead, let’s
cut after the un-. This gives un- plus gentlemanly, a common English nega¬
tive prefix plus a recognizable English word. This seems to be the right way
to begin, and as we continue we get this analysis.
uni gentle|man I ly

We have now shown the layers of structure by which the word has been
—
composed, down to the ultimate constituents un-, gentle, man, and -ly.
In doing word diagrams like those above to show layers of structure, we
 Morphemes 105

make successive divisions into two parts, each of which is called an imme¬
diate constituent, abbreviated IC. The process is continued until all com¬
ponent morphemes of a word, the ultimate constituents, have been isolated.
Here are three recommendations on IC division that will assist you in
the exercise to follow:
1. If a word ends in an inflectional suffix, the first cut is between this
suffix and the rest of the word. So:
pre conceiv |ed mal formation|s
2. One of the IC’s should be, if possible, a free form. A free form is one
that can be uttered alone with meaning, e.g., enlarge, dependent, support¬
able. Here are examples of wrong and right first cuts:

Wrong: en| large ment Right: en large|ment

in depend |ent in [depend ent
in support | able in [support able
3. The meanings of the, IC’s should be related to the meaning of the
word. It would be wrong to cut restrain like this:
rest| rain
because neither rest nor rain has a semantic connection with restrain. Nor
would a division of starchy as
star |chy
be right because this would give an unrelated morpheme and a meaning¬
less fragment. The two examples are properly cut in this way:
re|strain starch |y
The ultimate constituents are the morphemes of which the word is com¬
posed.

Exercise 8-27
One of the following IC diagrams showing the layers of structure is wrong.
Which one is it and why?
1. help|less 6. start |ed
7. life ] less I ness
8. anti cler|ic al

9. favor|it| ism

5. re fertil [ ize 10. un|law|ful

106 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

Exercise 8-28
Diagram these words to show the layers of structure.
1. item ize d 9. Ice land ic

2. pre' pro fess ion al 10. super natur al

3. news paper dom 11. un com fort able

4. counter de claration 12. fest iv al

5. mal con struc tion 13. en gag\ing

6. contra diet ory 14. ex press ion ism

7. dis en throne 15. mis judg ment

8. mid after noon

L. Allomorphs
It is now time to sharpen and extend our understanding of the morpheme.
So far we have been treating the morpheme as if it were invariable in pho¬
nemic form, that is, in the way it is pronounced. But in the preceding exer¬
cises you may have noticed occasional variations in phonemic form. In
exercise 8-16 (page 96), for instance, the morpheme {press} of pressure
ends in an /s/, whereas the same morpheme standing alone as the word
press ends in /s/. Likewise, the first morpheme in depth is pronounced
/dep/, but the same morpheme occurring as the word deep has the pho¬
nemic form of /dip/. So we see that a morpheme may have more than one
phonemic form.
Next we’ll go back to the past-tense ending, the morpheme {-d pt}. We
learned in exercise 2-3 of the phonology section that this morpheme has
three phonemic forms, the choice depending on the preceding sound. After
an alveolar stop, /t/ or /d/, the sound is /ad/, as in parted /parted/ and
faded /fedad/. After a voiceless consonant other than /t/ it is /t/, as in
passed /pa?st/ and laughed /lieft/. After a voiced sound other than /d/ it
is /d/, as in seemed /aimA/ and begged /begd/. Furthermore, these three
 Morphemes 107

phonemic forms of {-d pt) are not interchangeable. The occurrence of one
or another of them depends on its phonological environment, in this case,
the preceding sound. This pattern of occurrence of related forms, accord¬
ing to which each form occupies its own territory and does not trespass on
the domain of another, is called complementary distribution, abbreviated
CD. When the related forms of a set, like the three forms of {-D pt}, have
the same meaning and are in complementary distribution, they are called
allomorphs, or positional variants, and belong to the same morpheme. So
we say that the morpheme {-d pt) has three allomorphs: /-ad/, /-t/, and
/-d/. This is expressed in the formula:
{-D pt} = /-ad/ - /-t/ ~ /-d/
Braces are used for morphemes and slants for allomorphs; a tilde (~)
means “in alternation with.” It must be emphasized that many morphemes
— —
in English have only one phonemic form, that is, one allomorph for ex¬
ample, the morphemes {boy} and {-hood} each have one allomorph
—
/bay/ and /-hud/ as in boyhood.
Now we are in a position to refine our understanding of free and
bound morphemes (page 85). It is really not the morpheme but the allo¬
morph that is free or bound. Consider, for example, the morpheme {louse}.
This has two allomorphs: the free allomorph /laws/ as a singular noun
and the bound allomorph /lawz-/ in the adjective lousy.

Exercise 8-29
Each pair of words here contains one free and one bound allomorph of the
same morpheme. Indicate the morpheme in braces and write each allo-
morph between slants in phonemic script.
Morpheme Free allomorph Bound allomorph
Example: long, length {long} /brj/ /leg-/
1. strong, strength strong /strcg str3g-
2. chaste, chastity /tSeist/ tSaest-
3. courage, courageous kvreidg kerei
4. Bible, Biblical
5. wife, wives

Exercise 8-30
Explain why a/ an are allomorphs of one morpheme.
108 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

Exercise 8-31

—
Write the base morpheme and its allomorphs for each group. Supply pri¬
mary stresses in answers.
Examples: steal, stealth {steal} = /stil/ /stel-/
1. wide, width
2. broad, breadth .
3. wolf, wolves
4. dble, ability
5. supreme, supremacy
6. divine, divinity
7. fame, famous, infamy, infamous
8. vision, televise, revise
9. sun, sunny, sunward
_______________
10. dtom, atdmic

Exercise 8-32
This exercise, related to exercise 2-2, concerns the plural morpheme {-s pl},
which (we’ll say for the moment) has three allomorphs. Write out each
plural word in phonemic script. Then, using these as evidence, list the allo¬

2. naps
3. passes
6.
7.
8.
fizzes
dishes
garages
_
morphs of {-s pl} and describe their complementary distribution.
1. sons 11. churches
12. gorges
13. sums
4. hogs 9. hoes 14. heaths
5. sacks 10. staffs 15. gongs
Allomorphs and CD:

M. Conditioning: Phonological and Morphological

In examining the past-tense morpheme {-d pt}, we saw that the three allo-
~
morphs /-ad -d ~ -t/ were in CD and that this distribution was deter¬
mined by the phonological environment, in this case by the nature of the
preceding sound. The same was true of the plural morpheme {-s pl}, where
the addition of /-SL/t /-z/, or /-s/ was also determined by the kind of
sound immediately preceding the suffix. In these and similar cases, when
the phonological environment determines which allomorph is used, we say
that the selection of allomorphs is phonologically conditioned.
 Morphemes 109

But the plural morpheme {-s pl} has further allomorphs, as shown by
the /-an/ of ox-oxen and by the /0/ (zero) suffix of sheep-sheep. These
two, /-an/ and /0/, are in CD with all the others in that they stay in their
own territory, associate only with specific words, and do not overlap in

—
positions where /-az/, /-z/, and /-s/ are found. But the positions in which
they occur that is, the words they attach themselves to—have nothing to
do with their phonological environment. Instead the use of /-an/ as the
plural of ox is determined by the specific morpheme ox; in other words, ox

— —
simply takes /-an/ and that’s that. Likewise, the occurrence of the plural
0 allomorph in a few words swine, deer, sheep, trout, pike, quail, grouse,
and others is determined by the fact that these special morphemes require
a 0 plural. In such cases, when we can describe the environment that re¬
quires a certain allomorph only by identifying specific morphemes, we say
that the selection of allomorphs is morphologically conditioned.
To describe by formula these five allomorphs of {-s pl} we write

The
— {-S pl} = /-az/ ~ /-z/ ~ /-s/ « /-an/
morphologically conditioned alternation.

Exercise 8-33
=0 /0/
refers to a phonologically conditioned alternation and the » to a

Write the formula to express the fact that the past-tense morpheme {-d pt}
has, in the verb be, the two morphologically conditioned allomorphs was
and were.

N. Replacive Allomorphs
Most of the allomorphs we have been dealing with have been additive; that
is, we have been forming words by adding prefixes and suffixes to bases.
Now we must look at an allomorph of a different kind, the replacive, which

—
can be illustrated by going back to the past-tense {-D pt}. We noted that
this morpheme has three allomorphs, /-ad -t ~ -d/. But if this is all, how
do we account for forms like sang? It would appear to contain an allo¬
morph of {-d pt} since it is a parallel formation with regular past-tense
forms:
Yesterday we parted /partad/
Yesterday we laughed /teft/
Yesterday we played /pled/
Yesterday we sang /saeij/
What happens is that there is a replacement here instead of an additive.
110 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

The /1/ of sing is replaced by the /ae/ of sang to signal the past tense. This
is symbolized as follows:
/saerj/ = /sir)/ + /1 > ae/7
Here the /1 > ae/ is another allomorph of {-D pt), and you can readily see
how it is in CD with the others. Sometimes replacive allomorphs are called
“infixes,” because they are positioned within a word, as opposed to prefixes
and suffixes, as in sang and rode.

Exercise 8-34
Write the allomoiphic formula for each of the following past-tense forms.
Examples: spin, spun /span/ = /spin/ + /1 > a/
1. see, w
2. begin, began
3. bite, bit
4. give, gave
5. grow, grew
6. ride, rode
7. grind, ground
8. take, took
9. tear, tore
10. speak, spoke

O. Homophones
You are acquainted with many pairs, trios, and even foursomes of words in
English which sound alike but differ in meaning: heir, air; pare, pair, pear.
Such words are called homophones. In morphology it must be remembered
that words like these are different morphemes.
Examples: Did you like the meet? /mit/ (track meet)
Did you like the meat? /mit/ (roast beef)
The same is true of bound forms. Compare
Verbal inflectional suffix: It feels /-z/ good
Noun plural inflectional suffix: Those frogs /-z/
Noun possessive inflectional suffix: John’s /-z/ book
These three homophonous /-z/s are three different morphemes.

7 The symbol
> means “becomes,”
 Morphemes HI

Exercise 8-35
Write the morphemes to which each of these homophonous allomorphs
belongs.
Examples: /et/ = {ate}
/et/ = {eight}
1. /mit/ meet 4. /per/
/mit/ meat /per/
/mit/ mete /per/
2. /mayt/ might
5. /its/
/mayt/ /its/
mite
/mayt/ 6. /tu/
3. /yu/ might
/tu/
/yu/ you /tu/
/yu/ ewe /tu/

P. Phonesthemes
Phonesthemes are speech sounds that in themselves express, elicit, or sug¬
gest meaning. For instance, let us consider a minima! pair, the Chinese
words ch’ing /Cn]/ and ch’ung /Cug/. One of these means “heavy,” the
other “light,.” The question for you is “Which meaning goes with which
word?” If you, like most respondents, say that ch’ing means “light” and
ch’ung means “heavy,” you are correct. And since the two words differ
only in their vowels, it must be these vowels that elicit the two meanings.
These vowels, then, are phonesthemes.
Two of the most common phonesthemes in English are the pair of high
front vowels, /i/ and /1/, suggesting smallness. These appear in many
words that have smallness as a part of their meaning. Here are a few: wee,
peep, squeak, seep, bit, jiffy, clink, tipple, giggle, dwindle, whimper, chink.
They are also two of the three diminutive vowels in English, as exemplified
in birdie and manikin.
The presence of the “small” phonesthemes /i/ and /1/ in English is not
only known by language students but sensed by the average person. Witness
two cases. A recent cartoon employed these two vowels to make its point.
It showed an auto mechanic in a garage talking with an unhappy car owner
whose engine had been malfunctioning. The mechanic pointed out, “In
car language ‘clunk, rattle, thump’ means ‘too bad you didn’t listen when I
said “ping, ping, squeak” ’!” And a radio comedian presented a large public
with this gag: “What do you call a large pipsqueak?” “A poopsquawk.”
Another common English phonestheme is the vowel /a/, as in dung,
slut, flunk. Professor F. W. Householder, in a study of over six hundred
112 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

English monosyllables, found that the vowel /a/ has, in a large majority of
cases, the general meaning of “undesirable.”8 These monosyllables will il¬
lustrate: muck, gunk, dump, slum, grunt, dud, klutz, glum, grudge. And in
words of more than one syllable the meaning of “undesirable” seems to be
present in terms like these: grumpy, grumble, blunder, clumsy, humdrum,
muddle, slovenly, puddle, lunkhead.
At the beginnings of words, a number of consonant clusters appear to
have phonesthematic value. Among them are these:
/gl-/ = light. Examples: glow, glare, glint, gleam, glisten
/&-/ = moving light. Examples: flame, flash, flare, flambeau
/sp-/ = point. Examples: spire, spark, spot, spout, spade
=
/si-/ movement. Examples: slide, slink, slosh, slither, slouch, slump
At the ends of one-syllable words, the voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/
are expressive of an abrupt stoppage of movement. Examples of these are
slap, pat, flick, tap, hit, crack. In contrast with these, a final voiceless
fricative /§/ suggests an unabrupt stoppage of movement, as in mash and
squash. The expressiveness of these sounds becomes especially noticeable
when we observe contrasts like these: clap vs. clash-, bat vs. bash-, smack vs.
smash-, crack vs. crash.
At the ends of two-syllable words, we find the phonesthemes /-al/ and
/-ar/, each having the meaning of “repetition.” The repetition may be of
auditory or visual details. Examples:
/-ar/ chatter, clatter, gibber, patter, sputter, mutter, jabber, twitter,
litter, shatter, clatter, flutter, shimmer, stammer
/-A/ babble, giggle, twinkle, waggle, freckle, dribble, juggle, crackle,
chuckle, rattle, sparkle, stipple, prattle, wriggle, drizzle
A speech sound is a phonestheme only when its imputed sense is related
to the sense of the word of which it is a part. Thus, as the sense of /i/
and /1/ is related to the sense of wee and drizzle, these two vowels are
phonesthemes in these words. But in words whose meaning does not in¬
clude smallness, the /i/ and /1/ are merely meaningless vowels. Thus seat
and sit and countless others with /i/ and /1/ do not contain phonesthemes.
Some words are doubtful cases. For example, does whisper really contain
the phonesthemes /1/ for smallness and /-ar/ for repetition?
Whether or not phonesthemes should be considered morphemes is
problematic. But since their existence is now generally accepted and since
numerous linguists do acknowledge their morphemic status, we shall label
them morphemes.

8 “On the Problem of Sound Meaning, an English Phonestheme,” Word, 2:83—84,

1946.
 Morphemes 1 13

Exercise 8-38
The phonesthemes in the following words are underlined. Give the mean¬
ing of each.
1. spike 11. clossv
2. flicker 12. spatter
3. glimmer 13. shrink
4. nibble 14. warble
5. crud- 15. ugly
6. sulky 16. kid
7. snap 17. tack
8. splash 18. sniffle
9. sip 19. slit
10. senorita 20. jangle

Oral Exercise 8-A

The Romanian word mic /mik/ has one of these meanings: sad, small,
dark, slow, tall. Which one is it? How do you know?

Oral Exercise 8-B

The eminent grammarian Otto Jespersen recounts this incident: “One sum¬
mer, when there was a great drought in Fredriksstad (Norway), the fol¬
lowing words were posted in a W.C. [= toilet]: ‘Don’t pull the string for
bimmelin, only for bummelum.’ This was immediately understood.”9

Explain why this was immediately understood.

0“Symbolic Value of the Vowel I” (1922) in Linguistica (Copenhagen: Levin and
Munksgard, 1933), p. 284.
 Words

A. Definition of "Word"
That the word is a genuine linguistic unit is scarcely questioned, and every¬
one seems to know what it is. Teachers have no difficulty in making up
spelling lists, which consist of words. Lexicographers produce dictionaries,
whose entries are mainly words. When we read, we recognize words by the
white spaces between them. Occasionally, however, we are puzzled by
printed forms of words that are inconsistent one with another. Here are
several examples from one page of a scholarly desk dictionary, Webster’s
New Collegiate Dictionary (eighth edition). This book on the same page
lists woodchuck and woodcock as one word and wood duck and wood
louse each as two words. All four words have the same stress pattern, and
no formal criteria are evident for differences in the printed form. Such
moot cases apart, however, we commonly have no doubt about the identity
of words.
But all these instances are concerned with written words, whereas in
linguistic analysis our main interest is in the spoken word. Here again the
isolation of the unit called a word appears easy. If one asks “What does
mean?” or “How do you pronounce .?” the blank usually
represents a word. And there is a high correlation between the written and
114
 Words H5

the spoken forms of words. Yet the task of devising an exact definition of
word is a prickly one that has engendered much controversy.1

—
Let us begin with the act of speech. When people are speaking, they
often pause formulating their thoughts, getting the sentence structure in
order, and groping for the right word. Such pauses do not occur within
words, but between words. This is our cue, and it leads us to a useful defi¬
nition of word, that of Professor Charles F. Hockett: “A word is . . any .
segment of a sentence bounded by successive points at which pausing is
possible.” 2 This pausing can be either silent or vocalized by “u-u-u-h.”
The following sentence will illustrate:
PPP PPPPP PP P8
Since the streetlamp is out, I must call up our councilman.
In this sentence the positions of possible pauses are marked by p's, and
every segment between two p's is a word. Note that call up is considered a
—
word. Call up belongs to a special class of two-part verbs like keep on

—
(continue), take off (depart), butt in (interrupt), and show up (appear)
that speakers of English seem to sense as single words. Hence there
would normally be no pause between the two parts.

Exercise 3-1
In this exercise let us apply the foregoing definition to ascertain the num¬
ber of words in the following sentences. In the first blank write the num¬
bered position or positions where a pause would not be possible, or likely.
In the second blank write the number of words in the sentence.
123 45 67
Example: Cohen gave his brother a power-of-attomey. AT. .
1 2 3 4567 0-8
1. Little Jimmy plays with a big soft ball.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7-7
2. His older brother likes to play softball.
1 2 3 4 5 3-5
3. Will you look up the address?
12 3 45 678 6 7 8- 6
4. He has always been a Johnny-on-the-spot.
12 34
1 2 34 5 6
56
5. A dark room is conducive to sleep.
7
6. He develops films in the darkroom upstairs.
0 - 7
„
6 - 7 — .
* This definition of a word is useful for many words: “A word is the smallest seg¬
ment of speech that can be used alone.” But it hardly accounts for words like not,
the, a, if, and with.
2 A Course in Modern Linguistics (New York: Macmillan, 1958), p. 167.
2 Each “p" marks not only a point where pausing is possible, but also positions
where the insertion of other words is possible.
116 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

B. Simple and Complex Words

English words may be classified on the basis of the kinds and combinations
of morphemes of which'they are composed. We shall adopt a classification
of three main classes: simple, complex, and compound words.
1. Simple words consist of a single free morpheme.
Examples: slay, flea, long, spirit
2. Complex words contain, as their immediate constituents, either two
bound forms or a bound and a free form.
Examples of two bound forms as IC’s:
matri I cide tele | vise
ex | elude cosmo|naut
Examples of bound and free forms as IC’s:
dipso | mania lion |ess
tele | phone eras | er

Exercise 9-2
Make the first IC cut in the words below which permit such cutting. Then
classify each word, using S for simple and Cx for complex.
1. knave 8. purist 15. enable
2. knavish 9. oyster 16. mete
3. graph 10. misanthrope 17. meter
4. telegraph 11. philosophy 18. hydrometer
5. aquanaut 12. cannibal . 19. discography
6. bicycle 13. refusal 20. skinik
7. pure 14. dental (cf. sputnik)

C. Compound Words
The third class of words is compound words. These have free forms, usu¬
ally two, as their immediate constituents.

Examples: green [ house out |side no |show

under ) go over |ripe attorney | general

A small number of compound words have three or four free forms as coor¬
dinate IC’s.

Examples: happy | -go j -lucky spic |and | span

 Word. 117

Compound words resemble grammatical structures in that they imply,

though they do not state, a grammatical relationship. Here are a few of the
structures implied:
Implied Grammatical Structures Examples
1. subject + verb ..
Earthquake (. earth quakes)
..
crybaby (. baby cries)
2. verb + object .
killjoy (. . kills joy)
3. verb + adverbial ..
stdpover (. stops over)
..
ddwnpour (. pours down)
..
stdy-at-home (. stays at home)
..
underestimate (. estimates
under)
4. subject + be + adjectival ..
high chair (. chair is high)
5. subject + be + nominal ..
girl friend (. friend is a girl)
6. subject + be + adverbial .
ingroup (. . group is in)
7. prepositional phrase extrasensory (beyond the senses)
8. adjective modified by preposi¬ ..
treetop (. top of tree)
tional phrase
9. coordination give-and-take

Exercise 9-3
Using the nine numbers given above, indicate the number of the gram¬
matical structure implied by each compound word.
1. workman 1 7. praiseworthy
2. afternoon 7 „ 8. outgo
3. pickpocket 2 9. fly-by-night
4. quicksand 4 10. booster shot
5. knockdown 11. overheat
6. airtight 12. rough-
and-ready
—
Compound words can be distinguished from grammatical structures in
three ways.
1. Compound words cannot be divided by the insertion of intervening
material between the two parts, but grammatical structures can be so di¬
vided. As illustration, let us compare two sentences:
a. She is a sweetheart.
b. She has a sweet heart
In the first the compound word sweetheart is indivisible: you cannot insert
anything between sweet and heart. But in the second sentence you could
say
She has a sweeter heart than her sister.
She has a sweet, kind heart
She has a sweet, sweet heart
118 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

thereby dividing the components sweet and heart. Thus sentence b contains
a grammatical structure, not a compound word. Following this principle
of divisibility, we find that the next sentence is ambiguous:
She loves sweet potatoes.
When sweet potatoes means the yellow kind, the expression cannot be
divided and is therefore a compound word. But when the words refer to
white potatoes that are sweet, then division is possible, as in
She loves sweet, fresh potatoes,
and we have a grammatical structure.
2. A member of a compound word cannot participate in a grammatical
structure. Compare hard ball and baseball. Hard bdll is a grammatical
structure of modifier plus noun, and its first member, hard, can participate
in the structure very hard:
It was a very hard ball.
But one cannot say
*It was a very baseball,
as baseball is a compound word. Ambiguous cases can occur in sentences
like
He is fond of sparkling water.
When sparkling water refers to ordinary water that sparkles, the first mem¬
ber, sparkling, can participate in a grammatical structure, e.g., brightly
sparkling water. So sparkling water with this meaning is a grammatical
structure. But when the expression refers to carbonated water, such par¬
ticipation cannot occur and we have a compound word.
3. Some compound nouns, you may recall, have the stress pattern {'
as in bluebird, that distinguishes them from a modifier plus a noun, as in
blue bird, which structure carried the stress pattern {*'}• For the same
reason a swimming teacher is different from a swimming teacher. You
should also remember that you cannot depend on the printed form of
words to reveal this distinction. For example, the compound noun high
chair (a chair for children) and the modifier plus noun high chdir (a
chair that is high) are both written as two words.

* An asterisk before a sentence or a phrase means that the sentence or phrase is

ungrammatical.
 Words 119

Exercise 9-4
Indicate whether each italicized expression is a compound word (Cd) or
a grammatical structure (Gs). Pay no attention to hyphens or spaces, for
these are deceptive.
1. Jim’s new car is a hardtop.
2. This, jar has a rather hard top.
3. It was a jack-in-the-box.
4. There was a plant in the box.
5. A h6t ddg is not a hot dog.
6. He has a dog in the manger attitude.
7. She has a strong hold on him.
8. She has a stronghold in the Women’s Qub.
9. George found his father-in-law.
10. George found his father in trouble.
11. They bought it on the black market.
12. The electricity went off, and we were caught in a black,
completely lightless, market.
13. Henry is a designing teacher.
14. Henry is a designing teacher.

Exercise 9-5
For a review of the three classes of words, identify the following items with
these symbols:
S Simple word • Cd Compound word
Cx Complex word Gs Grammatical structure
Make the IC cuts for Cx and Cd.
1. sharpshooter 12. rat-a-tat
2. sharp shdoter 13. beauty
3. act 14. beautify
4. react 15. geometry
5. rattlesnake 16. bull’s eye
6. passbook (of target) .
7. apparatus 17. bull’s eye
8. glowworm (of bull)
9. import 18. outlast
10. ripcord 19. biochemical
11. unearth 20. inaccessible
 Processes
of Word
Formation

It has been estimated that the English language contains more than a
million words, of which fewer than half are included in unabridged dic¬
tionaries. It is natural to wonder where all these words came from. The
answer is not difficult to find.
First of all, our language contains a core of words that have been a
part of it as far back as we can trace its history, 5000-plus years. A few
examples are these words: sun, man, foot, father, eat, fire, I, he, with, of.
Second, English has been a prodigious borrower of words from other
languages throughout its history, and a vast number of borrowed words
are now in our language. This has come about through invasions, im¬
migration, exploration, trade, and other avenues of contact between En¬
glish and some foreign language. Below are a few examples of these
borrowings. In many cases a word may pass, by borrowing, through one
or more languages before it enters English. A case in point is the Arabic
plural noun hashshashin, hashish eaters, which entered French in the form
assassin, and from French was borrowed into English.

1. chauffeur French stoker of train engine,

driver
120
 Processes of Word Formation 121

English Word Source Language Meaning in Source Language

2. campus Latin field, plain
3. guru Hindi spiritual leader
4. sheikh Arabic old man, chief
5. alligator Spanish the lizard
6. window Old Norse wind eye
7. agnostic Greek unknowable
8. bazaar Persian market
9. chow mein Chinese fried noodles
10. sake Japanese rice wine
11. macho Spanish male

— —
A look at the etymologies in your desk dictionary they are the part of
each entry enclosed in brackets will give you an idea of the amount of
borrowing that has taken place in English and of the many languages that
have contributed to make the English word-stock rich and full.
Apart from borrowing, English gets new words by means of easily de¬
finable processes employed by users of English. It is to these that we shall
now turn our attention.

A. Compounding
Compounding is simply the joining of two or more words into a single
words, as in hang glider', airstrip, cornflakes, busybody, downpour, cutoff,
skywarn, alongside, breakfast, long-haired, devil-may-care, high school. As
the foregoing examples show, compounds may be written as one word, as a
hyphenated word, or as two words. Occasionally it is hard to say whether
or not a word is a compound; compare, for instance, despite with in spite
of and instead of with in place of.

B. Derivation
Derivation is the forming of new words by combining derivational affixes
or bound bases with existing words, as in disadvise, emplane, deplane,
teleplay, ecosystem, coachdom, counselorship, re-ask. Words like these,
some of which you have never heard before, are often formed in the heat
of speaking or writing. You will note that they are immediately under¬
standable because you know the meaning of the parts.

C. Invention
Now and then new words are totally invented, like kodak, nylon, dingbat,
floosy, goof, quark, and blurb, but few of these find their way into the
common vocabulary.
122 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

D. Echoism
Echoism is the formation of words whose sound suggests their meaning,
like hiss and peewee. The meaning is usually a sound, either natural like
the roar of a waterfall or artificial like the clang of a bell. But the meaning
may also be the creature that produces the sound, like bobwhite. Ex¬
amples: moan, click, murmur, quack, thunder, whisper, lisp, chickadee,
bobolink. The vulgar “four-letter” words of English are largely echoic;
and at the other end of the cultural scale are the echoic words called ono-
matopoetic in literary studies, which are frequent in poetry.

Exercise 10-1
Indicate by the first letter the process of formation represented by each of
the words below.
Compounding Invention
Derivation Echoism
1. roughneck 6. pop
2. codgerhood 7. cream puff
3. clink (of glasses) 8. wheeze
4. doodad . 9. weirdoism
5. dacron 10. exflux

E. Clipping
Clipping means cutting off the beginning or the end of a word, or both,
leaving a part to stand for the whole. The resultant form is called a clipped
word. The jargon of the campus is filled with clipped words: lab, dorm,
prof, exam, gym, prom, math, psych, mike, and countless others. As these
examples suggest, the clipping of the end of a word is the most common,
and it is mostly nouns that undergo this process. Clipping results in new
free forms in the language and sometimes in the creation of new mor¬
phemes, like prof and mike.

Exercise 10-2
Give the original words from which these clipped words were formed.
1. porno 9. curio
2. disco 10. memo
3. taxi 11. Fred
4. cab 12. Al
5. deli 13. Tom
6. vibes 14. Joe
7. gin 15. Phil
8. hype
 Processes of Word Formation 123

Less common than the back-clipped words, like the foregoing, are those
words that lose their forepart, like plane and phone.

Exercise 10-3
Give the original words from which these clipped words were formed.
1. sport (game) 6. wig
2. pike (road) 7. cute
3. bus 8. Gene
4. van 9. Beth
5. chute 10. Tony

Only a very few words have been formed by both fore and aft clipping.
Four common ones are flu, Liz, still (apparatus for distilling hard liquor),
and fridge.
Clipped words are formed not only from individual words but from
grammatical units, such as modifier plus noun. Paratrooper, for example,
is a clipped form of parachutist trooper. In cases like this it is often the
first part that is shortened while the second part remains intact. Also, two
successive words may be clipped to form one new word, as in sitcom
(= situation comedy).

Exercise 10-4
Give the originals of these clipped words.
1. Amerindian
2. maitre d’ /meter di/
3. contrail .
4. taxicab
5. moped
6. agitprop
7. comsat
8. agribusiness
—
F. Acronymy
Acronymy is the process whereby a word is formed from the initials or be¬
ginning segments of a succession of words. In some cases the initials are
pronounced, as in MP (military police, or Member of Parliament). In
others the initials and/or beginning segments are pronounced as the spelled
word would be. For example, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organiza¬
tion) is pronounced as /neto/ and radar (radio detecting and ranging) as
/redar/.
124 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

Exercise 10-5
Pronounce these acronyms and give their originals.
1. RV
2. NOW
3. UNESCO
4.
OK .
5.
scuba
6.
OPEC
7. WASP
8. ICBM
9. jeep
10. laser

In the last forty years there has been a great increase in the use of acro¬

— —
nyms. They tend to abound in large organizations for instance, in the
army, in government, and in big business where they offer neat ways of
expressing long and cumbersome terms. The very names of some busi¬
nesses have been acronymized, like Nabisco, Texaco, and Alcoa. Many ac¬
ronyms are used and understood only by initiates in a given field, like the
military CQ, TDY, and BOQ, whereas others gain general currency, like
GI, CO, and PX. It is likely that you employ some campus acronyms that
would not be understood elsewhere.

G. Blending
Blending is the fusion of two words into one, usually the first part of one
word with the last part of another, as in gasohol, from gasoline and alcohol.
The resultant blend partakes of both original meanings. Many blends are
nonce words, here today and gone tomorrow, and relatively few become
part of the standard lexicon. The two classes, blends and clipped words,
are not sharply separated, and some words may be put into either class.

Exercise 10-8
Give the originals of these blends :
1. flunk
2. happenstance
3. stagflation
4. simulcast
5. gelignite
6. smog
7. dumbfound
8. telecast
9. dandle
10. splatter
 Processes of Word Formation 125

Exercise 10-7
Give the blends that result from fusing these words.
1. transfer + resistor =
2. automobile + omnibus = -
3. escalade + elevator =
4. blare or blow + spurt
———
5. squall + squeak =

H. Back-formation
If someone should ask you, “What does a feeper do?” you would probably
answer, “He feeps, of course.” You would answer thus because there exist
in your mind such word-pairs as tell-teller, reap-reaper, write-writer, sing¬
singer; and you would reason, perhaps unconsciously, that on the analogy
of these forms the word feeper must have a parallel verb jeep. Likewise,
centuries ago, after the introduction of the nouns peddler, beggar, swindler,
and editor into our language, speakers followed the same analogy and cre¬
ated the verbs peddle, beg, swindle, and edit. This process is just the re¬
verse of our customary method of word formation, whereby we begin with
a verb like speak and, by adding the agent morpheme {er n}, form the
noun speaker. The process is called back-formation. It may be defined as
the formation of a word from one that looks like its derivative. An exam¬
ple is hedgehop, from the noun hedgehopper. Back-formation is an active
source of new words today.

Exercise 10-8
1. The noun greed is a back-formation from the adjective greedy. Write
four pairs of words that constitute an analogy for the creation of
greed.

2. The pairs revise-revision and supervise-supervision are in common

use in English. From this analogy what verb is back-formed from
television?
3. English has many pairs on the pattern of create-creation, separate¬
separation, and deviate-deviation. On this analogy what back-forma¬
tions would you expect from donation and oration?
and
126 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

Exercise 10-9
These verbs are back-formations. Write the words from which they are
back-formed.
1. housekeep 9. escalate
2. typewrite 10. reminisce
3. administrate 11. snap-judge
4. resurrect 12. deficit-spend
5. baby-sit 13. emote .
6. advance-register 14. reluct
15. party-poop
7. laze 16. back-seat-drive
8. sidle 17. hang glide

I. Folk Etymology
The tennis term let ball affords a good illustration. In this context let
has retained the obsolete meaning of “prevented,” common in the language
of Shakespeare.1 A let ball is one which has been prevented from taking
its true course by touching the top of the net. It is an entirely different word
from the let that means “allow.” But a neophyte, hearing the word on the
tennis court, may understand it as net, because /1/ and /n/ are not far apart
in sound and net makes sense to him whereas let does not. Thus he may

—
use the term net ball until corrected by a more knowledgeable player.
Such a process changing a word, in part or in whole, to make it more
—
understandable and more like familiar words is known as folk etymology.

Exercise 10-10
Look up in your desk dictionary the following examples of folk etymology
and write the source of each in the blanks. Usually the reason for the
change will be apparent.
1. female 5. Welsh rarebit
2. carryall 6. coleslaw
3. cockroach 7. bridegroom
4. hangnail 8. helpmate

1 In Hamlet, Act I, scene 4, Hamlet says to his two friends who are holding him
back from following his father’s ghost;
Unhand me, gentlemen.
By heaven I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me.”
Here lets means “prevents.” A modem reader, understanding lets as “allows,” would
get exactly the opposite meaning from that which Shakespeare intended.
The obsolete meaning of let survives also in the legal phrase “without let or
hindrance.”
 Processes of Word Formation 127

J. Antonomasia
Antonomasia means the formation of a common noun, a verb, or an adjec¬
tive from the name of a person or place. For example, the word frisbee
comes from the Frisbie Bakery in Bridgewater, Connecticut, whose pie tins
were used for a throwing game. The term vandal derives from the Vandals,
a Germanic people who overran southern Europe 1500 years ago and
sacked and looted Rome in the fifth century.
Names from history and literature have given us many common nouns.
A lover, for instance, may be called a romeo, a don juan, a casanova, or a
gay lothario. If he is too quixotic, he may meet his Waterloo at the hands of
some sheba or jezebel.

Exercise 10-11
Look up in your desk dictionary the following instances of antonomasia
and write the original of each in the blanks.
1. sandwich 6. denim
2. hamburger 7. cashmere
3. frankfurter 8. jeans
4. wiener 9. leotard
5. baloney, bologna 10. guy

K. Reduplication
Reduplication is the process of forming a new word by doubling a mor¬
pheme, usually with a change of vowel or initial consonant, as in pooh-
pooh, tiptop, and hanky-panky. The basic, originating morpheme is most
frequently the second half, like dilly-dally, but it may be the first half, like
ticktock, or both halves, like singsong, or neither half, like boogie-woogie.
Since the word reduplication has three meanings relevant to our discus¬
—
sion the process, the result of the process (that is, the new word), and
—
the element repeated let us avoid confusion by calling these words “twin¬
words.”

Exercise 10-12
Underline the originating morpheme in each of these twin-words:
1. wiggle-waggle 4. super-duper
2. pitter-patter 5. hugger-mugger
3. nitwit 6. lovey-dovey
128 THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH

Twin-words can be divided into three classes, leaving only a small resi¬
due of irregular forms.
1. The base morpheme is repeated without change.
Examples: clop-clop, tick-tick
This is the smallest class. The twin-words in this group are often onomato-
—
poetic that is, they represent sounds, like gobble-gobble and chug-chug.
2. The base morpheme is repeated with a change of initial consonant
Examples: fuddy-duddy, tootsie-wootsie, razzle-dazzle, roly-poly,
teeny-weeny, heebie-jeebies, hootchy-kootchy.

3. The base morpheme is repeated with a change of vowel.

Examples: chitchat, tiptop, criss-cross.
The first vowel is usually the high front lax vowel /1/, and the second is a
low vowel /re/, /a/, or //.
Examples: zigzag, ticktock, pingpong

Exercise 10-13
Identify the class of twin-word by one of these numbers:
1. Repetition without change
2. Repetition with change of initial consonant
3. Repetition with change of vowel
1. knick-knack
2. ding-dong
3. wishy-washy
— 6. hotsy-totsy
7. hocus-pocus
8. flipflop
4. quack-quack 9. humdrum
5. rowdy-dowdy 10. nitty-gritty