LING 101 • Lecture outline
M Sept 28
Today’s topic:
• Derivation, inflection, and
compounding
Background reading:
• CL Ch 4, §2.0-2.1
• CL Ch 4, §3
• CL Ch 4, §4
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0. Course information
• HW #4 is due
- Please put it in the pile on the table in the front
that is labeled with your TA’s name and
recitation number
Iyad
Emily
Yuka
Grant
(10:10)— 601
(10:10)— 602
(11:15)— 603
(11:15)— 604
2
1. Types of morphemes
• We’ve seen that morphemes are either free or
bound, and either roots or affixes
• Affixes can be further classified as either
derivational or inflectional
• Summary diagram:
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2. Derivational affixes
• A derivational affix “forms a word with a meaning
and/or category distinct from that of its base”
(CL, p 122)
- Some derivational affixes change the category of
the word they attach to
- Some do not
• Examples (can you state meanings and wordformation rules for these affixes?)
cloud + y → cloudy
un + wrap → unwrap
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2. Derivational affixes
• Sometimes a word formed by derivation takes on a
specialized, unpredictable meaning
- transmit +
[ʃ]ion → transmission
- recite
al
+
→ recital
• What are the implications, in terms of mental
grammar, when this occurs?
- Where in the linguistic system is unpredictable
information handled?
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3. Inflectional affixes
• An inflectional affix “modifi[es]...a word’s form to
indicate grammatical information of various sorts”
(CL, p 131)
Examples:
- number (singular/plural)
- tense and aspect
- comparative/superlative
• Inflectional affixes do not change the category of
the word they attach to
• English has only 8 regular inflectional affixes (if we
count possessive ’s) — memorize them?
(see Table 4.15, p 132)
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3. Inflectional affixes
• Inflection can be marked irregularly, as by vowel
changes (s[æ]ng) or irregular affixes (children)
• Inflection and mental grammar
- Irregular inflectional form: stored in mental
lexicon
- Regular inflectional form: generated by rule
- One piece of evidence for this difference:
The frequency of occurrence of a verb affects the speed
at which people can utter an irregular past form, but not
a regular past form
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4. Inflection vs. derivation
• Some examples to try: Are these affixes derivational
or inflectional?
soften
reading
reading
kingdom
happier
(Heating the wax will soften it.)
(I am reading a book.)
(The reading of the poem was beautiful.)
(The knight rode across the kingdom.)
(My friend is happier than I am.)
• Are the two cases of -ing in this chart the same
affix?
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4. Inflection vs. derivation
• When a word has an inflectional affix, this can
make it more difficult to apply the distributional
tests for word category
- Try it
• If both inflectional and derivational affixes are
added to the same root, what is the order in which
they are added?
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5. Compounding
• A compound is “the combination of two already
existent words” (CL, p 127)
- Actually, “combination of two roots” would be a
more general definition (beyond English)
• What are some examples of compounds?
• Which root in the compound determines the...
- word category of the compound?
- basic meaning of the compound?
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5. Compounding
• The element that determines the category of a
compound, and its basic meaning, is called the
head of the compound
- In English compounds, the rightmost root is
usually the head
• But: Not all compounds have a head
redhead
redneck
sabertooth
• Headless compounds have some interesting
properties
→ What is the plural of eyetooth?
What is the plural of sabertooth?
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5. Compounding
• English orthography (spelling) does not represent
compounds systematically: they may be spelled
with no space, with a hyphen, or even with a space
• Some compounds as spelled in the OED:
greenhouse
blackbird
boat-house
canary-bird
crack house
rhinoceros bird
• How can we tell if we have a compound word or a
phrase?
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5. Compounding
• Stress test (for nouns, in English):
- A two-root N compound has the stress pattern
STRONG-weak
- A two-word phrase ending in a N (and not being
specially emphasized) has the stress pattern weakSTRONG
• Try: French teacher (what do they teach?)
• Does a black BIRD have to be black? What about a
BLACKbird?
European Blackbird (female). Photo credit: Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.de
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5. Compounding
• A compound is a word
- What did we learn last class about the defining
characteristics of a word?
• The elements of a phrase can often be separated,
but the parts of a compound word typically can’t be
(without changing the meaning)
greenhouse
→ *That house is very green.
French teacher → That teacher is very French.
(Which meaning does this work for?)
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6. Exploring word formation
• Can derivation happen before compounding?
After?
• Can inflection happen before compounding?
After?
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6. Exploring word formation
• What are some other ways that words can be
formed? (not on exam, but see CL Ch 4, §5.2 for more
information if you’re interested)
- acronyms: ATM, laser
- clipping/truncation: math, dorm
- blends: brunch, spork
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