Class Notes, March 8, 2012
1.0
Forming new words through derivation
• Compounding was one way that we saw two or more free morphemes coming together to form
new words.
• A second way that languages (including English) form new words is through attaching bound
morphemes to free morpheme to form a new word.
• The Right-hand Head Rule is active for both types of word formation.
• BASE: the part to which affixes can be added. A free morpheme.
o Can be simple or complex (consisting of one or more morphemes).
o Bases get bigger as you attach more affixes.
• AFFIX: bound morphemes that are typically found at the front (PREFIX) or back (SUFFIX) of
words.
o The affix can be the head. Again, always look for the farthest right
morpheme/category label.
2.0
Bound Morphemes (affixes) expressing lexical meanings
• These affixes are called “Derivational Affixes.” They attach to free morphemes (which
themselves can be comprised of multiple morphemes…see Section 3).
2.1
Examples from English
• -able: what does it mean?
readable
what does it mean to be ‘readable’? what category of word is this?
what is the free morpheme? what is its category? we can call this the base.
what is the affix?
lockable, drinkable, findable
*happyable, *sadable, *catable
o Write a rule for –able
 verb + -able  verb
• -en: what does it mean?
whiten
what does it mean to ‘whiten’ something? what category of word is this?
what is the free morpheme? what is its category? we can call this the base.
what is the affix?
soften, madden, quicken
*caten, *readen, *jumpen
*clearen
o Write a rule for –en
• -ness: what does it mean?
happiness
what does ‘happiness’ mean? what category of word is this?
what is the free morpheme? what is its category? we can call this the base.
what is the affix?
usefulness, promptness, sadness
*catness, *readness, *jumpness
o Write a rule for –ness
 adjective + -ness  noun
• -er: what does it mean?
reader
what does ‘reader’ mean? what category of word is this?
what is the free morpheme? what is its category? we can call this the base.
what is the affix?
builder, jumper, defender
*catter, *madder, *sanitier
o Write a rule for –er
 verb + -er  noun
• un-: what does it mean?
unlock
what does it mean to ‘unlock’ something? what category of word is this?
what is the free morpheme? what is its category? we can call this the base.
what is the affix?
undo, unplug, unload
*uncat, *unchair
*unarrive
*unbreak
o Write a rule for un-verb
 unverb + verb  verb
• But wait…there is another ununhappy
unfashionable
unreal
*ungreen
o Write a rule for un-adj
 unadj + adjective  adjective
o Draw a tree for unhappy
3.0 Practice with Derivational Morphemes and Trees
• Key concepts:
o Right-hand Head Rule
 Head
o Base: the free morpheme to which the affix is added
 The Base will continue to get bigger if you keep adding affixes to it.
o Affix: bound morphemes that can attach to the front of a base (where they are
called “prefixes”) or to the end of the base (where they are called “suffixes”).
• Rules for drawing morphology trees:
o Every new base that you form should be capable of existing on its own as a free
morpheme…it should be a grammatical word.
o Every combination of base and affixes should obey the morphological rules that
we established earlier (e.g., N = A + -ness)
• Please draw trees for the following words:
rebuilder
N
4
V
N
2
-er
V
V
rebuild
build is the base for the affix re-.
rebuild is the base for the affix –er.
The head of rebuilder is –er.
unhappiness
N
4
A
N
2
-ness
A
A
un
happy
happy is the base for the affix ununhappy is the base for the affix –ness
The head of unhappiness is -ness
unlikeable
A
4
A
A
un2
V
A
like
-able
like is the base for the affix -able
likeable is the base for the affix un-
4.0 Ambiguous Meanings and Structures for Words Formed by Derivation
• For unlikeable, unhappiness, and rebuilder, there was no other way that the morphemes could
have come together and still met the criteria for well-formed morphological trees.
Remember:
o Every new base that you form should be capable of existing on its own as a free
morpheme…it should be a grammatical word.
o Every combination of base and affixes should obey the morphological rules that
we established earlier (e.g., N = A + -ness)
• Sometimes within the restrictions imposed by the rules for drawing morphology trees, affixes
and bases may still be able to combine in different ways.
o When this happens, we say that a word is AMBIGUOUS. Each of the two (or
more) possible structures is associated with a particular meaning. The meanings
are different because the structures are different (i.e., the order in which
morphemes comes together is different).
• A rich ground for finding ambiguous words formed through derivation is with the prefix un-,
since un- can attach either to adjectives (forming an adjective) or verbs (forming a verb).
unfoldable vs. unfoldable
Meaning 1: Not able-to-be-folded
A
4
A
A
un2
V
A
fold
-able
un- is an affix that attaches to the base foldable (“able to be folded”). Because the contribution
of un- is something like “not adjective,” the meaning that results from putting the pieces
together in the way they have been above is “not able-to-be-folded.”
Context for Meaning 1: Unfortunately, the sheet metal workers discovered that the metal they
were meant to form into car bodies was too stiff to be folded. It was unfoldable.
Meaning 2: Able to be de-folded (able to be made not-folded)
A
4
V
A
2
-able
V
V
unfold
Context for Meaning 2: Mary lives in a small apartment so she has to get space-saving
furniture. One clever thing she purchased was an unfoldable bed: when guests are over, she can
unfold it. When no one is around, she can return the bed to its compact shape.
Key point: Different structures = different meanings