Assignment II: Morphology (10%)
1. Consider the following data and answer the questions that follow:
List A
red
black
mad
soft
hard
sweet
short
wide
sharp
List B
redden
blacken
madden
soften
harden
sweeten
shorten
widen
sharpen
A. What part of speech does the suffix -en attach to (1 point)?
B. When the suffix -en is attached to a word, what part of speech is the resulting
word (1 point)?
C. In what way does the suffix -en change the meaning of the word it is attached
to (1 point)?
2. Analyze the affixation order of bound morphemes in the following words. Also justify your analysis.
That is, you need to explain why you think a certain morpheme affixes before another (8 points).
misunderstandable
inflammability
oversimplification
overgeneralization
Note: One way to show the order of affixation is to use a tree diagram.
3. The suffix ‘-able’ can affix to verbs to produce adjectives: doable; revisable; lockable. The prefix ‘un-’
occurs with both adjectives and verbs: unhappy, untie; lock. As a result, words such as unlockable can have
two different derivations. Each derivation has a different meaning as shown in the following sentences:
a. The door is unlockable, That’s why you cannot get it locked.
b. The door is unlockable, you should be able to open it without any trouble.
Explain the ambiguity of ‘unlockable’ by describing the two different affixation orders. Draw two tree
diagrams each of which represents each of the meanings. That is you have to indicate which tree represents
which meaning (5 points).
4. Consider the ing-suffixes in the following sentences and answer the questions that follow.
a. I am walking.
b. Walking is a good exercise.
c. That’s a disappointing show.
A. Are the ing-suffixes in the above three sentences the same morpheme? Provide explanation to support
your answer (3 points).
1
.....................................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................................
5. Consider the following words and answer the questions that follow.
uninstall; uninstaller; untrue; unlikely
A. Are the un-prefixes in the four words above the same morpheme? Provide explanation to support your
answer (3 points).
..............................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
B. In the word “uninstaller”, which affix attaches first, un-or -er? Provide explanation to support your
answer (2 points).
.......................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
6. What word formation processes are involved in the following underlined words (2 points)?
a. You can find some job ads on this second page of this newspaper.
..........................
b. Please water my plants twice a week while I am away.
..........................
c. I would rather eat homemade food than eat restaurant food.
..........................
d. Some mushrooms are very poisonous.
..........................
7. Provide four words derived from each the following morphemes. Also indicate: (i) the part of speech of
the word the suffix attaches to, and (ii) the part of speech of the words resulting from the affixation (7
points).
a. –ify _______________ ______________ _________________
_______________
Part of speech of the stem ____________ Part of speech of the resulting word _____________
b - ity _______________
______________
________________
________________
Part of speech of the stem ____________ Part of speech of the resulting word ______________
c. – ize ______________
______________
________________
_________________
Part of speech of the stem ____________ Part of speech of the resulting word ______________
2
d. - ive
_______________
______________
_________________ _________________
Part of speech of the stem ____________ Part of speech of the resulting word ______________
e. –ion _______________
______________
________________
______________
Part of speech of the stem ____________ Part of speech of the resulting word ______________
f. – less _______________
______________
_________________
__________________
Part of speech of the stem ___________ Part of speech of the resulting word ___________
g. –ation _______________ ______________
_________________
__________________
Part of speech of the stem ___________ Part of speech of the resulting word ___________
8. What morphological aspects of English are most difficult for Thai students to learn? And what kind of
teaching activities and exercises would you create to help your students learn those difficult aspects? (10
points)
3