Morphology
There are several ways of
forming words in English and
Arabic, but the most common
ways are derivation, inflection
and compounding. This chapter
is an attempt to discuss the
derivational systems of English
and Arabic comparatively.
Derivation
• Derivation is one of the major processes
of word-formation in English. Derivational
morphemes can produce new words from
existing words in two ways.
• First, they can change the meaning of a
word, e.g. true , untrue. Second, they can
change the lexical category of a word ,e.g.
(true ) is an adjective ,( truly) an adverb ,
(truth) a noun.
Nouns derived from nouns
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•
1-( small x) - : let ,e tte ,-ie
e.g.:- droplet , booklet , cigarette , doggie
2-( female x) :- ess ,- ine
e.g.:- waitress, princess, heroine
3-( inhabitant of x) -: -er,-(i) an
e.g. :- Londoner , new Yorker ,
Texan, Glaswegian 4-(state of being an x)
:-ship ,- hood
• (state of being an x) e.g.:- kingship ,
ladyship ,motherhood , priesthood
• 5-( devotee of x) : - ist, ian
• e.g. contortionist , Islamist , logician ,
historian
Nouns derived from
adjectives and verbs
6 – (- ity) , e.g. Purity ,
equality , ferocity , sensitivity
• 7- (-ness) , e.g. goodness ,
tallness, fierceness,
sensitiveness.
• 8- (-ism) e.g. radicalism,
conservatism
•
Nouns derived from verbs
• There are numerous suffixes for
deriving nouns from verbs. Here are
just a few :• 9- ( - ance ,- ence) e.g. performance ,
ignorance , reference
convergence
, acceptance , dependence .
• 10 – (- ment) ,eg announcement ,
commitment , development , engagement
, agreement , placement
• 11- (-ing ) ,e.g. painting , singing,
building , ignoring
Ns derived from Vs
• 12- (- (a) t) ion ) e.g. denunciation
,commission, organization confusion
• 13- (- al ) e.g. refusal , arrival , referral,
committal , proposal
• 14- (-er ,-or ) e.g. painter , singer
,organizer, grinder
• leader, actor ,director
• 15- (-y) e.g. delivery , flattery, discovery ,
recovery
Nouns derived from members of
other word classes
• (-acy) e.g. conspiracy, supremacy.
• (-age ) e.g. coinage , shortage ,
percentage, shrinkage
• (-dom ) e.g. kingdom, freedom, dukedom
• (-(e)ry) e.g. slavery , refinery
Adjectives derived from
adjectives
• In this category, prefixes predominate; the
only suffix is (-ish) , meaning ( some what
x ) e.g. greenish , smallish , remotish
• By contrast, the prefix (un-)meaning not is
extremely widely spread, e.g.:- unhappy,
unsure, unreliable, undiscovered however
,this does not mean that (un-) can be
prefixed to all adjectives quite freely .
Adj made from prefixes
• Another negative prefixes are (in -) ,( ill-)
,(ir-) (im-)
•
e.g. intangible , illegal , irresponsible
and impossible
• And also other productive prefixes, such
as :
• (dis-) disorder – disobey
• (mis) - Mistrust – misunderstood .
• (non-) non- cooperative – non – existent
Adjectives derived from members of
other word classes
• Further suffixes that commonly form
adjectives from verbs with their basic
meanings, are :• 1- (- able) "able to be x ed" : breakable ,
• agreeable, remarkable, reliable , readable.
• 2- (-ent,-ant) "tending, to x" :-repellent ,
expectant , excellent, confident ,
dependent
• 3- (-ive ) "tending to x" :- repulsive,
explosive , creative, attractive , selective ,
preventive , instructive
Adj made from N
• Suffixes that form adjectives from nouns
are more numerous here are some :• 1-( - ful) e.g. joyful , hopeful, helpful,
meaningful,
• powerful, skillful, faithful, beautiful,
successful
• 2- (-less) e.g. Joyless, hopeless , helpless,
meaningless,
• powerless, homeless ,worthless, useless
• 3-(-al)e.g. original , normal, personal,
national, universal, regional
Adj made from N
• 4- (-ish) e.g. boyish – selfish,
waspish, loutish, foolish, childish
,sheepish
• 5- (-y) e.g. funny, stormy, sunny,
guilty, messy, wealthy, gloomy.
• 6- (-ly) e.g. friendly, orderly, manly,
costly, monthly.
• 7.(- ous) e.g. dangerous , mysterious,
famous, nervous, poisonous.
Adj made from N
• 8-(-ary)e.g. momentary, customary,
fragmentary,
• complimentary, honorary, revolutionary.
• 9- (-ic)e.g. historic, artistic, athletic, basic,
rhythmic,
• photographic, Islamic, scientific, realistic,
• 10-(-some)e.g. handsome, lovesome,
tiresome.
• 11-(-en)e.g. wooden, woolen, golden.
Verbs derived from verbs
• This section is unusual in that all the
affixes are prefixes , most prominent
are (re-) and the negative prefixes
(un-) ,(de-) ,(dis-) ,as in the following
examples
• 1-repaint, re-enter
• 2-untie, untangle
• 3-decompose, desensitize,
• 4- disentangle, disbelieve
Verbs derived from members
of other word classes
• Verbs derived from nouns and from
adjectives are numerous. Some affixes for
deriving verbs from noun are:• 1-(de-) e.g.:-. debug, deforest, delouse.
• 2- (-ize) e.g.:- organize, patronize,
terrorize, realize ,
• materialize , apologize, criticize
• 3- (-(i)fy) e.g.:- beautify, gentrify, petrify,
identify, clarify, glorify, simplify.
V derived from other classes
• 4(-en)e.g.:- shorten- sweeten- lengthenblacken- widen- broaden.
• (de-)e.g:- meaning is (remove x from ).
However, neither
• (-ize) nor (-ify) has a clear-cut meaning
a part from its verb – forming function .
These suffixes can derive verbs from
adjectival bases too, as in nationalize,
tenderize, intensify, purify.
Adverbs-making suffixes
(-ly) e.g., easily – recently ,privately,
noisily, socially
• (-wise) e.g., clockwise, valuwise
• In the chart below, some of the most
common prefixes are listed,
• ante – (before)
• anti-(against)
• auto-(self)
• bi-( two)
Adverbs-making suffixes
• ante – (before)
anti-(against)
• auto-(self)
bi-( two)
• circum ( around)
con-,co(together)
• ex- , e- (out-from)
inter- (between)
• macro- (large) micro- (small)
• mis- (wrong)
mono- (one)
• post- (behind , after)
Adv. Making preffixes
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pre- (first)
pro- (for, before)
re- (again)
sub- (under)
trans- (across)
tri- (three)
uni- (one)
ultra- (beyond)
un-ir-in- (not)