Chapter 3 1. Estimating your vocabulary. Answers to this question will vary depending on
student, dictionary, etc. What follows is simply one example of how to estimate
one's vocabulary.
a. Count the number of entries on a typical page. They are usually bold-faced.
63 entries per page
b. Multiply the number of words per page by the number of pages in the
dictionary. 63 entries X 1330 pages = approximately 83,790 main entries c. Pick four pages in the dictionary at random. Count the number of words on
these pages.
61 entries + 62 entries + 68 entries + 61 entries = 252 total
d. How many of these words do you know?
183 words known
e. What percentage of the total words on the four pages do you know?
73%
f. Multiply the words in the dictionary by the percent you arrived at in (5).
You know approximately 61,000 English words.
0ngliSh morphemes.
a. retro + act + ive
b. be + friend + ed
c. tele + vise
d. margin
e. en + dear + ment
f. psych + ology or psych + 0 + logy
g. un + palat + able
h. holi + day
i. grand + mother
j. morph + em + ic
k. mis + treat + ment
"­
1. act + ive + ate +~ (0 V\
W+
~
11 Chapter 3 1. Estimating your vocabulary. Answers to this question will vary depending on
student, dictionary, etc. What follows is simply one example of how to estimate
one's vocabulary.
a. Count the number of entries on a typical page. They are usually bold-faced.
63 entries per page
b. Multiply the number of words per page by the number of pages in the
dictionary. 63 entries X 1330 pages = approximately 83,790 main entries c. Pick four pages in the dictionary at random. Count the number of words on
these pages. 61 entries + 62 entries + 68 entries + 61 entries = 252 total d. How many of these words do you know?
183 words known
e. What percentage of the total words on the four pages do you know?
73%
f. Multiply the words in the dictionary by the percent you arrived at in (5).
You know approximately 61,000 English words.
t@nglish morphemes.
a. retro + act + ive
b. be + friend + ed
c. tele + vise
d. margin
e. en + dear + ment
f. psych + ology or psych + 0 + logy
g. un + palat + able
h. holi + day
i. grand + mother
j. morph + em + ic
k. mis + treat + ment
"1. W+ act + ive + ate +~ f (; l/l
~
11 + peter
n. air + sick + ness
m. salt
G
Identify morphological sequences.
A
B
a. nOlSY crow
b. scarecrow
3. phrase consisting of adjective plus noun
c. the crow
6. grammatical morpheme followed by lexical
morpheme
5. root morpheme plus derivational suffix
d. crowlike
;:.... e. crows
V
1. compound noun
4. root morpheme plus inflectional suffix
Identify morphological elements.
A
B
a. terrorized
3. inflectional suffix
b. uncivilized
1. free root
c. terrorize
d. lukewarm
4. derivational suffix
e. imRossible
6. derivational prefix
~ Zulu morphology.
2. bound root
Part A .a. The morpheme meaning "singular" is um-. b. The morpheme meaning "plural" is aba-.
c.
Zulu -fundisi
-bazi
English
"married woman" "boy" "parent" "teach" "carve" -limi
"farm" -dlali
"play" -fundi
"read" -fazi
-fani
-za1i
PartB
d. The verbal suffix morpheme is -a.
e. The nominal suffix morpheme is -i.
f. A noun is formed in Zulu by suffixing the nominal morpheme and prefixing a
singular or plural morpheme to the root. Schematically, this is:
noun = number prefix + root + nominal suffix
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g. The root morpheme meaning "read" is -fund-.
h. The root morpheme meaning "carve·" is -baz-.
6. Michoacan Aztec morphology.
a. (2)
b. (1)
c. (2)
h
d. (5)
e. (1)
(!J butch morphology.
a. To form an infinitive, add the suffix -en to the root. Schematically, this is:
Infinitive = Root + -en
b. To form a past participle, circumfix the prefix ge- and the suffix -d to the
root. Schematically, this is: Past Participle = ge- + Root + -d 8. Swahili morphology.
a. Identification of morphemes
m- noun prefix attached to singular nouns of Class I
wa- noun prefix attached to plural nouns of Class I
a- prefix attached to verbs when the subject is a singular noun of Class I
wa- prefix attached to verbs when the subject is a plural noun of Class I
ki- prefix attached to singular nouns of Class II
vi- prefix attached to plural nouns of Class II
ki- prefix attached to verbs when the subject is a singular noun of Class II
vi- prefix attached to verbs when the subject is a plural noun of Class II
-toto "child"
-tu "person"
-su "knife"
-kapu "basket"
-fika "arrive"
-lala "sleep"
-anguka "fall"
-me- present perfect tense
-na- present progressive tense
-ta- future tense
b. The verb is constructed by stringing together from left to right (1) the verbal
prefix indicating the noun class and the number of the subject, (2) the
tense, (3) the verbal stem. Schematically, this is:
Verb = Class prefix + Tense prefix + Verbal stem
c. (1) "The child is falling." = mtoto anaanguka.
(2) "The baskets have arrived." = vikapu vimefika.
(3) "The person will fall." = mtu ataanguka.
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9. Reduplication in Samoan.
a. (1) "they weave" = lalaga
(2) "they travel" = savavali
(3) "he sings" = pese
b. To fonn a plural verb fonn, reduplicate (copy) the penultimate (next to the
last) consonant-vowel (CV) syllable and insert it before (or after) that syllable.
Schematically, this is:
Plural verb fonn: ClV l ClV l C 2V 2
Singular verb fonn: C I V I C 2V 2
lalaga
1 a g a
10. Humorous definitions. Sample answers:
stalemate:
"husband or wife no longer interested"
The definition results from incorrectly interpreting this
word as a compound of stale and mate, where stale means
"no longer fresh" and mate is "a husband or wife."
"able to be merged"
effusive:
This word appears to be related to the stemjuse, meaning
"merge" and the suffix -ive, meaning "having a tendency,
character, or quality" such as "creative" or "explosive."
"a group of ten singers"
tenet:
This word has been interpreted as a combination of the
number ten and -et, such as found in words relating to
music, e.g., quartet and duet.
dermatology:
"a study of denns"
The word ending -ology as in biology, meaning "study of,"
has been recognized, but the definer clearly has no idea
what derm means.
"not very smart"
ingenious:
Here, the bound morpheme -genious has been mistaken for
genius, meaning "very smart" and correctly interpreted as
meaning "not very smart" when the negative morpheme in­
is prefixed.
"a female fish"
finesse:
The word was interpreted as the noun fin "fish appendage"
plus the SUffIX -esse e) "female" as in words such as lioness
or actress.
amphibious:
"able to lie on both sea and land"
Amphibious has been correctly used, but the phib part of it
is humorously interpreted as fib, to tell a lie.
deceptionis t:
"secretary \yho covers up for his boss"
This is a blend of the words deception and receptionist.
14 mathemagician: sexcedrin: "Enron's accountant"
A blend of mathematician and magician, implying that the
person in question is good at manipulating numbers to cre­
ate a false impression.
"medicine for mate who says, 'sorry, I have a headache.' "
A blend of the word sex with the headache medicine
Excedrin.
"hormonal supplement administered as pasta"
A blend of testosterone and anyone of the pasta words end­
ing in -roni such as macaroni.
aesthetominophen: "medicine to make you look beautiful"
A blend of aesthetics-having to do with beauty-and ace­
tominophen, the analgesic medicine.
histalavista: "say goodbye to those allergies"
The Spanish expression hasta la vista "see
you later" is
I
influenced by the allergy medicines called antihistamines.
aquapella:
"singing in the shower"
The "a ca" of a cappella, "singing without instrumental
accompaniment," is taken to be aqua meaning "water."
testosteroni: 11. Acronyms and alphabetic abbreviations. Sample answers:
Acronyms
1. NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
2. SCUBA: Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
3. DOT: Department of Transit
4. HUD: Housing (and) Urban Development
S. NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Alphabetic abbreviation. 1. UPS: "United Postal Service
2. ACLU: American Civil Liberties Union
3. ASAP: As Soon as Possible
4. IRS: Internal Revenue Service
5. AKA: Also known as
Inventing acronyms.
1. WORM: World Organization for the Raising of Mollusks
2. TIOLI: Take it or leave it
3. PATUI: People Against The Use of Insecticides
4. NOWIIC: Not while I'm in charge
5. SNORT: Social Network Of Royal Tunnels
Inventing alphabetic abbreviations.
1. LNST: Late Night Snacking Time
2. SILTL: Society of Introductory Linguistics Text Lovers
15 -
o
3. ALGALW: a little goes a long way
4. CLA: Cat Lovers Anonymous
5. ATB: around the bend
Asymmetries.
a.
Words Nonwords
*descript
nondescript
*cognito
incognito
*beknownst
unbeknownst
*peccable
impeccable
*promptu
impromptu
*plussed
nonplussed
*domitable
indomitable
*nomer
misnomer
b. Answers will vary, may include overwhelm (*whelm), cranberry (*cran),
unkempt (*kempt), antibellum (*bellum).
13. Composite words.
a. sci-fi TV series =
b. campaign =
c. at-home wear =
-d. kind of pen =
e. conservative =
OJ a About Cartoon. V
headliner + journey
farm building + tempest
tub of water + court attire
formal dance + sharp end
correct + part of an airplane
Noun
(1)
(2)
~
Noun
Noun
~
Noun
Adjective
~-page
~
I
;w-page
er; If.
I
Noun Adjective
I
report
Star Trek
barnstorm
bathrobe
ball point
right wing
book
Noun
A
Noun
I
book
~)~j..
16 Noun
report
b. indecipherability
Noun
Adjective
ity
~
m
Adjective
~
Verb
able (abil)
~
de
Noun
cipher
15. Italian morphology.
a. The root morpheme meaning "robust" is robust.
b. The morpheme meaning "very" is -issimo.
c. The Italian for:
1. "a robust wine" is un vino robusto.
2. "a very red face" is unafaccia rossissima
3. "a dry face" is unafaccia secca.
16. Turkish morphology.
a. "to"-e
b. suffixes
c. "from an ocean" denizden
d. three (deniz-im-de)
17. Chickasaw morphology.
a. 1. chaaha "to be tall"
2. hopoba "to be hungry"
b. 1. -tok past tense
2. sa- "I"
3. chi- "you"
4. 0- (i.e., nothing) "he/she"
c. 1. chisipokni "you are old"
2. sipoknitok "he was old"
3. hoosipokni "they are old"
17 18. Little-End Egglish.
i. The possessive morpheme is the prefix z-. The first person singularmor­
pheme is the suffix -ego. The second person morpheme is suffix -iva.
ii. "my egg white" is zvelego.
iii. "hard-boiled egg" is pe.
i v. "our" is -gogo.
v. "for" is bo-.
18