●Word power We’ll learn in this section some common suffixes that can be added to nouns or verbs to create adjectives. And also some vocabulary related to sales and marketing. Step 1: Brainstorming 1. Please think about the following questions: How are the following words formed? health (noun) healthy(adjective) interest (verb) interesting (adjective) An English word can have several derivatives. And please pay attention to the fact that many English words share the same root word, even though they have different meanings or parts of speech. Now here’s more example for you to better understand word formation. breath (n.) breathe (v.) breathless (adj.) act (v.) action (n.) actor (n.) actress (n.) activity (n.) possible (adj.) impossible (adj.) possibility (n.) possibly (adv.) friend (n.), friendly (adj.), friendless (adj.), friendship (n.), unfriendly (adj.) As you can see, many words are derived by adding suffixes or prefixes to the root words. Often you may come across unfamiliar words while reading, try to use knowledge of word formation to guess their meanings. Will you? And can you give more examples about word formation? 2. Shall we have a competition to see who can give more examples or create more words by adding suffixes or prefixes to the root words? 3. As we know, sometimes an English word can be made up of three parts: a prefix, a stem and a suffix. A stem is the main part of a word. A prefix is a group of letters added to the beginning of a word. A suffix is a group of letters placed at the end of a word. Both prefixes and suffixes modify the meaning of a word or change it into a different word group. The following is a table of common prefixes: Prefix Meaning Examples (adjectives)  un- Not unfair, unnecessary, unimportant, unhappy  in- Not incorrect, invisible, incurable, inaccurate  dis- showing opposite disable, dishonest, disagree, disappear, discover  re- do again rewrite, redo, rebuild, react, retell, recreate  mis- badly or wrongly misunderstand, misdirect, mistake, misuse  Step 2: Learning about Word formation The basic part of any word is the root; to it, you can add a prefix at the beginning and/or a suffix at the end to change the meaning. For example, in the word "unflattering," the root is simply "flatter," while the prefix "un-" makes the word negative, and the suffix "-ing" changes it from a verb into an adjective (specifically, a participle). English itself does not use prefixes as heavily as it once did, but many English words come from Latin, which uses prefixes and suffixes (you can use the word affix to refer either to a prefix or a suffix) quite extensively. For example, the words "prefix," "suffix," and "affix" themselves are all formed from "fix" by the use of prefixes: "ad" (to) + "fix" (attached) = "affix" "pre" (before) + "fix" = "prefix" "sub" (under) + "fix" = "suffix" Note that both the "-d" of "ad" and the "-b" of "sub" change the last letter. Here are some of the most common Latin prefixes (for the meanings of the Latin roots, look up the words in a good dictionary): ab (away) abrupt, absent, absolve ad (to) adverb, advertisement, afflict in (not) incapable, indecisive, intolerable inter (between, among) intercept, interdependent, interprovincial intra (within) intramural, intrapersonal, intraprovincial pre (before) prefabricate, preface prefer post (after) postpone, postscript, postwar sub (under) submarine, subscription, suspect trans (across) transfer, transit, translate Step 3: Ready used materials for Word formation Affixes Morphemes added to free forms to make other free forms are called affixes. There are three principle kinds of affixes: prefixes (at beginning) — "un-" in "unable" suffixes (at end) — "-ed" in "walked" circumfixes (at both ends) — "en--en" in "enlighten" (These always seem to consist of otherwise attested independent prefixes and suffixes.)   A Rule for Forming some English Words Consider the following pairs of English words: Adjective Verb  dark darken  black blacken  red redden  steep steepen  What generalization (rule) can we make? Form: "en" Combination: At the end of Adjectives (suffix) to make Verbs Meaning: "to make (more) Adjective" We can draw a diagram to show the internal structure of one of the words: Verb / \ Adjective -en | black Meaning: "to make (more) black" Likewise we can draw a partial structure (tree diagram) which shows the three properties of rule of combination for the affix: Verb / \ Adjective -en Meaning: "to make (more) Adjective"   Another Rule for Forming some English Words Consider the following pairs of English words: Verb Noun  sing singer  dance dancer  write writer  compute computer  What generalization (rule) can we make? Add "-er" to the end of Verbs to make Nouns with the meaning "someone (or sth.) that Verbs" Noun / \ Verb -er Meaning: "someone (or something) that Verbs"   Rules that don't change category Some affixes create the same kinds of words that they attach to, such as making nouns out of other nouns: Noun / \ Noun -ian | Boston Meaning: "someone from Boston"   Zero Morphemes Some affixes consist of no sounds at all. Zero morphemes DO exist, and we'll see why, and illustrate another concept, allomorphy at the same time. Consider the following words: Adjective Verb  yellow yellow  brown brown  green green  purple purple  The relation between "yellow" (adjective) and "yellow" (verb) is exactly the same as that between "white" and "whiten", which we just considered. But the form of "yellow" doesn't change. So we say that we added a zero suffix: Verb / \ Adjective -? | yellow Meaning: "to make (more) yellow" Zero morphemes are obviously hard to spot because you can't hear them! In these cases you have to notice what ISN'T there. (Sherlock Holmes solves one of his cases by noticing that a dog DIDN'T bark. This was important because there was a situation where any dog would have barked. This is the kind of thinking you have to do to find zero morphemes.)   Allomorphy But now we have two ways to make Adjectives into Verbs meaning "to make (more) Adjective": "-en" ("black-en") and "-?" ("yellow-?") How do we know which rule to use? That is, why not "yellow-en"? One possible (but uninteresting) answer is that we just have to memorize which affix to use for each stem. That is, we just memorize that "black" takes "-en" and "yellow" takes "-?". But we would like a better explanation. As with the phonology problems, the best place to look is "near" where the affix attaches. Since "-en" is a suffix, let's look at the end of the stems. What we find is that we can divide the Adjectives into two classes based on what the last SOUND (NOT letter) of the stem is: Use "-en" if the last sound is: [p] "deep-en" [f] "stiff-en" [v] "live-en" [t] "white-en" [d] "redd-en" [s] "less-en" [?] "fresh-en" [k] "dark-en" Use "-?" if the last sound is: [e] "gray-?" ("His hair grayed (gray-?-ed) before he was twenty.") [n] "brown-?" [m] "dim-?" [l] "purple-?" [r] "clear-?" We can use the same type of diagrams, and indicate the conditions: Verb / \ Adjective -en if Adjective ends in an obstruent (oral stop or fricative) -? if Adjective ends in a sonorant (nasals, approximants, vowels) Meaning: "to make (more) Adjective" When we did phonology problems, we had a notion of "default" or "elsewhere". The same concept can arise in morphology, although in this case the choice is made difficult by the clean cut between obstruents and sonorants. It is true, however, that there are exceptions to this rule with certain unusual adjectives: Verb / \ Adjective -en if Adjective ends in an obstruent (oral stop or fricative) -? Elsewhere Meaning: "to make (more) Adjective" Another example of allomorphy in English is the choice of the negative prefix "il-/ir-/im-/in-". The rules are: Use "il-" when the stem begins with "l": "il-legal" Use "ir-" when the stem begins with "r": "ir-responsible" Use "im-" when the stem begins with "m, b, p": "im-mobile" "im-balanced", "im-possible" Otherwise (elsewhere) use "in-": "in-active", etc. In a diagram: Adjective / \ when Adjective begins with l: il- Adjective when Adjective begins with r: ir- when Adjective begins with a bilabial: im- Elsewhere: in- Meaning: "not Adjective" Notice here that there is a clear case that applies when the other (more specific) rules cannot. This is the DEFAULT or ELSEWHERE rule. The ELSEWHERE concept plays an important role in linguistics and we have already encountered it in phonology and we will encounter it again in this course. Finally, some allomorphy is simply exceptional. There are morphemes which are used with only a limited number of words, such as plural "-en" as in "ox-en", "child-(r)en". Furthermore, some words are so irregular that they have no internal analysis, for example "went" is the SUPPLETIVE form for what would otherwise be "go-ed". Children often use words like *"go-ed" ("went") or *"hold-ed" ("held"). These are called OVERGENERALIZATION errors because the children use a regular productive process on exceptional words.   Compounds The combination of two free forms is called a COMPOUND. Noun / \ Adjective Noun | | black bird Meaning: a particular kind of bird In English the HEAD of a compound is usually the right-hand member (bird). The head supplies the category (Noun) and basic meaning (bird-ness) for the whole compound. Compounds can be used with affixation to produce larger words: Noun / \ Verb -er / \ Verb Verb | | sleep walk Meaning: Someone who walks and sleeps at the same time Noun / \ Noun Noun | / \ window Verb -er | painter Meaning: Someone who paints windows   Bound Roots Both "blackberry" and "blueberry" are kinds of BERRIES, and "black" and "blue" exist as free forms too. So these look like fine compounds. But what about "cranberry", "huckleberry", "strawberry"? We'd like to keep the "berry" part separate, but then what are "cran", "huckle" and "straw"? We call these cases BOUND ROOTS.   Homophonous Morphemes Sometimes two morphemes have the same pronunciation (form) with different meanings. One example form English is the two morphemes "un-": Adjective / \ un- Adjective Meaning: "not Adjective", for example "unhappy" Verb / \ un- Verb Meaning: "do the reverse of Verb", for example "undo", "untie", "unlatch" This can lead to ambiguity in some words with "un-", such as "un-tie-able". There are two possible structures for "un-tie-able": Adjective / \ Verb -able / \ un- Verb | tie Meaning: able( un (tie) ) = "can be untied" Adjective / \ un- Adjective / \ Verb -able | tie Meaning: un( able (tie) ) = "can't be tied" The relative scope of "un-" and "-able" is different in these two cases, leading to a difference in meaning. The difference in meaning also correlates with whether "un-" is modifying a verb or an adjective. When a difference in meaning correlates with a difference in structure like this we call this STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY. Structural ambiguity is a very important concept. We will see exactly the same thing when we analyze sentences.   Other ways of Forming Words Back formations Where one "falsely" uses a rule. "peddler" refers to a person analyze "peddler" as "peddle" + "-er" Blends: "smoke" + "fog" = "smog"; "motor" + "hotel" = "motel" Words from Names: "jumbo", "sandwich" Truncation (Clipping): "gym(nasium)", "(tele)phone" Acronyms: "AIDS" = "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome"   Other references: 句式合成词 整个句子当作一个词用，有的已经固定下来，例如pick-me-up（兴奋剂），what's-his-name（某某人）。整个句子用作形容词的现象比较普遍，把复杂的概念揉成单纯的限制语使行文紧凑。A let-bygones-be-bygones manner（一种“过去的就算了吧”的态度） an if-you-would-only-be-guided-by-me expression（一种“要是你肯听了我的话多好”的神气） 否定前缀 （1）纯粹表示否定的a-, an- 能构成少数新词。加在名词、形容词上，表示没有“某种性质“。如:amoral[=unmoral]不道德，asexual无性别的。a-在元音前变成an-如anonymous [onoma=name]匿名的dis-加在名词、形容词、动词上，表示否定, 如：disadvantage(劣势)，disagreement(不和)，disbelieve(不相信)。（2）表示“错误”的mis- 多作重读，表示“wrongly，badly”。可以适当构造新词：大多用于动词：to misbehave（行为不当）misunderstand（误解）。用于作形容词的分词：misbelieving（信仰不当），misleading（靠不住）。用于动名词：misdealing（不正当手段）。偶而，mis-也表示纯粹的否定词义：to mistrust。（3）表示“反对” anti- 表示“反对，反面” ， 如： anti-social（反社会的） antiseptic（防腐剂） anti-militarist（反军国主义者）。contra- 表示“反对，相反” ， 如： contradiction（矛盾） contrast（对比） contrary（相反的）；counter- 表示“against” ， 如： counteract（还手） counterattack（反攻）。其他前缀 前缀大都表示空间，时间，逻辑上的关系，意思上有引申。ab- apo- se- 这几个前缀或多或少都有“away ，off”的含义。ab- a- abs- 在p， m， v之前作a-，在c， t之前作abs-，不能构造新词，表示“away ，apart， absence”，例如：absent， avoid。se- 表示“separation”（分离），例如：segregate（隔离），sedition（反叛）。ante-，fore- pre-这几个前缀都有“before”的意思。ante- 表示在……前，例：ante-humous（死前），ante-room（前厅）。?fore- 表示时间，空间上的“在前面”，例forehead（前额），foregraound（前景），foretell（预言）。pre- 表示事先，在前，例prehistory（史前），prepayment（预支）。post- 表示时间空间上的在后，例：posterity（后代），post-war（战后）。pro- 表示“代替，利于，亲于”，例pro-chancellor（代大学校长），pro-consul（代理领事）。circum- peri- 这两个前缀跟圆周有关。circum- 表示圆周，如circumference， circumlocution， circumpolar。peri- 表示“round”，如perimeter（周长），perisphere（势力范围）。

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