Morphology and Word Formation

Definition In linguistics, morphology is the study of words and how they are formed. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words, such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

What is a morpheme? Morpheme is defined as the smallest speech unit which can have meaning. a meaningful morphological unit of a language that cannot be further divided (e.g. in, come, -ing, forming incoming ).

Free and bound morphemes Free morpheme: It is the morpheme that can occur as a single word with meaning as act in (actor). Example: girl, system, desire, hope, act, phone, happy…etc.

Bound morpheme: It is the morpheme that cannot stand alone as a single word as or in (actor). It has meaning only when connected to other morphemes. un- (uncover, undo), dis- (displeased, disconnect), pre- (predetermine, prejudge). -er (singer, performer) -ist (typist, pianist) -ly (manly, friendly) (un- kind –ness)

Lexical and functional morphemes Free morphemes fall into two categories. The first category is called lexical morphemes. It is set of ordinary nouns, adjectives and verbs. They carry the ‘content’ of the messages we convey.

and, but, when, because, on, near, above, in, the, that, it, them. Functional morphemes Functional morphemes consist of functional words in the language such as conjunctions, prepositions, articles and pronouns. Examples: and, but, when, because, on, near, above, in, the, that, it, them.

Affixes: English words can be classified into simple or complex. A simple word consists of a free base morpheme; a complex word consists of a base morpheme and other elements (bound morphemes) that can be attached to the beginning or end of the bases.

The word (unhappily) is made up of a base morpheme 'happy' and the bound morphemes are “un – ly”. These elements are called "Affixes".

Affixes: are bound morphemes that can be attached to the beginning (prefixes) or the end of words (suffixes). [ affix ……… simple form …….. affix]. un ………. happi ………… ly

Derivational and inflectional morphemes

Derivational morphemes They can be suffixes or prefixes. They involve change in the word meaning and class (part of speech). Un + happy = unhappy (change in meaning) En + rich = enrich (change in class, adjective into verb)

Derivational affixes always precede inflectional ones if they come in the same word. For example: "modern-ize-s". No other affixes can be added after inflectional ones.

Inflectional Affixes (morphemes): are suffixes "elements that are added to the end of a word.” They do not come at the beginning of a word. There are only 8 inflectional morphemes in English. 1- They do not change the meaning or part of speech of the word. (boy/boys (n.) – read / reads (v.) – tall / taller / tallest (adj.))

Derivational Inflectional Prefixes and suffixes Only suffixes Derive new words Only shows difference in number, tense, possession Change in meaning No change in meaning Change in class No change in class (part of speech)

Derivation in Arabic Arabic morphology consists primarily of a system of consonant roots which interlock with patterns of vowels. Pattern Consonantal root ك ت ب

We can also get

Word formation processes

1. Compounding is the process of creating compounds by stringing together separate words in order to make new words. There are varied combinations of (nouns – adjectives – verbs and particles).

Types of compounds Compound nouns: involve different parts Noun + noun: bath towel; boy-friend; death blow policeman, boyfriend, water tank, dining-table, bedroom, motorcycle, printer cartridge, bus stop, egg rolls

b. Verb + noun: pickpocket; breakfast, drive inn, fire place, guide book, handle bar, note book, pay day, post man, search engine, show room, watch man, taste buds, stop clock

c. Noun +verb: nosebleed; sunshine, sunrise, haircut, hairdo, spoon-feed

d. Verb +verb: make-believe, sleepwalk e d. Verb +verb: make-believe, sleepwalk e. Adjective + noun: deep structure; fast-food, high school, smallpox, bluebird, greenhouse. f. Particle + noun: in-crowd; down-town, down stair, off shore, out patient, on line, over weight, underworld

g. Adverb + noun: now generation, onlooker bystander, afterthought, inside h. Verb + particle: cop-out; drop-out

2. Compound verbs a. Noun + verb: sky-dive b. Adjective + verb: fine-tune c. Particle + verb: overbook d. Adjective + noun: brown-bag (to bring sth to a restaurant)

3. Compound adjectives Noun + Noun + Adjective Noun + Past participle Part-time, north-west, bullet-proof Noun + Adjective World-famous, sugar-free Noun + Past participle Wind-powered, sun-dried, water-cooled Noun + Present participle English-speaking, time-saving, record-breaking Adjective + Past part. Ready-made, Adj. + Pres. Part. Good-looking, long-lasting, slow-moving Adjective + noun Last-minute, short-term Adv. + Past part. Densely-populated, highly-respected Adv. + Pres. Part. Never-ending Number + Noun Five-minute, one-way

Arabic compounds consist of lexical items separated by a blank. Compounding in Arabic Arabic compounds consist of lexical items separated by a blank. 1. Compound Nouns: Noun + apposited noun: Proper nouns: عبد الله، محي الدین، ام كلثوم، امرؤ القیس، شجرة الدر

- Geographical names: دیر یاسین، كفر الشیخ، خمیس مشیط، مكة المكرمة، بیت لحم، عین جالوت، شرم الشیخ، عین الحلوة، رأس تنورة، بحیرة طبریا، جزر الفلبین، خط الاستواء، تل الزعتر - Titles أمیر المؤمنین، رئیس الجمھوریة، رئیس الوزراء، وزیر الدفاع، رئيس الجامعة، النائب العام، وكیل الوزارة - Compounds numarals ثلاث عشر، إثنان وعشرون

Noun + adjective: These are very productive in Arabic ,as in the following: Geographical names: الاتحاد السوفیاتي، بریطانیا العظمى، الولایات المتحدة الامریكیة ، المحیط الھادي البحرالاحمر، Subject names: طب شعبي، الفیزیاء النوویة، علاج طبیعي، Technical terms الامعاء الدقیقة، الشعیرات الدمویة، نزلة صدریة، انزلاق غضروفي، حدیث، قدسي، الھجرة النبویة، طائرة نفاثة، حكم ذاتي، الأدب الجاھلي، العصورالوسطى، العصرالوسیط، المجلس النیابي، الامم المتحدة، النیابة العامة، المجلس النیابي،

Noun + apposited noun + adjective جمھوریة مصر العربیة، اتحاد الجمھوریات السوفیاتیة الاشتراكیة، وسائل الاتصال الجماھیریة Particle + noun اللاوجود، لامبالاه، Verbal Compounds: تأبط شراً Compound Particles: لئلا، ممن، فیمن، ألاّ، ایما، حینما، ریثما، لئن

3. Coining/coinage (invention) is the process where the new words are coined or invented from existing material to represent a new invention or development. Examples: wireless, hypermarket, Aspirin, nylon, zipper, Teflon

Some other words are used as the generic name for different brands (trademarks) of products, such as: Kleenex, Xerox,

Examples of borrowing: بامبرز، نيدو Coinage in Arabic Coinage can take place in Arabic either through borrowing or derivation. Examples of borrowing: بامبرز، نيدو Examples of derivation:مطار، موقف، مطبعة

4. Borrowing Borrowing: Taking words from other languages From other languages to English. Examples: Alcohol (Arabic), Boss (Dutch), Piano (Italian), Robot (Czech), Yogurt (Turkish), Tycoon (Japanese).

Borrowing in Arabic Arabic borrows words like امبراطور emperor, كاردینال cardinal, میل mile, فلسفة philosophy, جغرافیة geography, فوتوغراف photograph, كامیرا camera, لیزر laser, فاكس fax, تلفزیون television, دبلوماسیة diplomacy, دیمقراطیة democracy, قنصلیة consulate, استراتیجیة strategy.

5. Clipping Some words are used in shortened form by subtracting one or more syllables from a word. This shortening sometimes occurs at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word, or at both ends of a word. EXAMPLES Shortened word............................Full word photo...............................................photograph plane...............................................aeroplane pram...............................................perambulator bus..................................................omnibus flu...................................................influenza phone.............................................telephone hanky.............................................handkerchief maths.............................................mathematics lab..................................................laboratory

Clipping in Arabic Clipping is not common in Arabic. It can sometimes occur due to grammatical rules as in يكتبان لم يكتبا في مدينتنا قاضٍ عادلٌ ... أصل الكلمة "قاضي" معلمون ...... معلمو المدرسة

6. Blends/blending Two words are sometimes clipped and the clippings are joined to form a new word. EXAMPLES brunch.....from.........breakfast and lunch smog........from.........smoke and fog telecast.......from......... television and broadcast motel.........from........motorists and hotel

Blends in Arabic sea surfing = ركمجة sea tide + موجة riding ركوب الزمكان from زمان + مكان برمائي from بري + مائي كهرومائي from كهربائي + مائي

7. Backformation A word of one type (may be noun) is reduced to another word of another type (may be verb) Television became televise, donation became donate,

Backformation in Arabic ‘ كھرباءe electricity’ Noun → ‘ كَھرَب to electrify’ Verb ‘ عولمة globalization’ Noun → عولم to globalize’ Verb ‘ برمجة programming’ Noun →بَرمَج to programme’ Verb ‘ عربيArabic’ Noun → عرب to Arabianize’ Verb ‘ دولي international’ Noun →دَوّل to internationalize’ Verb

8. Acronyms An acronym is formed by joining together the initial letters (or sometimes a little larger parts) of other words and is pronounced as a word. Acronyms Full form AIDS Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome BASIC Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (A computer language) B2C Business to Customer LASER Light Amplification by Simulated Emission of Radiation UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation

Acronyms فتح، حماس، داعش، Borrowed acronyms اليونسكو ، الاوبك ، اليونيسيف

ROOT vs. STEM Root Roots are the cores 'hearts' of words or those parts of words that are not analysable into further morphemes. For instance: 'nature' is the root in the word 'naturalization' – it is the heart of this word.

Roots can either be free or bound Free roots can appear alone in English in all parts of speech. All monosyllabic words are free roots such as 'cat, write, sad, near, room, create and fast. Also some multisyllabic words are free roots such as 'margin, pretty

Bound roots cannot occur alone in speech as they carry no meaning. They combine forms from Latin origin and Greek; they often appear in English words of Latin and Greek origin such as 'geology' (geo+logy), 'predict' (pre+dict), 'conceive (co+ceive' and nonchalance.

Stem The stem of a word is that part of the word to which the last morpheme is structurally added. For example, the word 'nature' is the stem of 'natural; natural is the stem of naturalize; and naturalize is the stem of naturalization.

A root can also be a stem and a stem can be a root. However, while all roots can be stems, not all stems are roots. For example; 'person' is both the stem and root of 'personal' is the stem but not the root of 'personality' as the root of 'personality' is 'person'.

The Difference between a Root and a Stem "The terms root and stem are sometimes used interchangeably. However, there is a subtle difference between them.

a root is a morpheme that expresses the basic meaning of a word and cannot be further divided into smaller morphemes

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