Morphology (2) (29-Jan-2004)
Affixor Selection Principle
English does not have many inflectional affixes, but has very many
derivational affixes. The association of derivational affixes with stems is
rule governed: this is sometimes called the affixor selection
principle, which means that a derivational affix selects a stem of a
particular word class.
These rules change over time, so for example in Chaucer's writing we have
"fairhood", "brighthood", and "cleanhood" which are not recognised words today
(although "childhood", and "motherhood" are, as they were then). So in this
case, it seems that the rule governing the "-hood" suffix has become more
restricted, and we describe this selection based on the grammatical classes of
the words which the affix attaches to. In the case of "-hood", it would
appear that while previously it could attach to adjectives and nouns, its
ability to attach to adjectives has been lost.
To try and establish the ASP for a given affix, we
typically ask a speaker of the language (or ourselves) to say whether or not
certain words make sense. So for example, looking at words that end with
"-ist", we can see a pattern:
- columnist
- herbalist
- *perseverist
- *complainist
From this, it seems like "-ist" cannot attach to verbs but can attach to nouns
and adjectives. Similarly, the affix "-ant"
- dependant
- inhabitant
- *familant
- *localant
can attach to verbs but not adjectives or nouns. From these examples we can
hypothesise the ASPs, and then test these with other
words.
The following are invalid because:
- *friendment : "-ment" attaches to verbs, not nouns
- *plasticable : "-able" attaches to verbs, not nouns
- *moderny : "-y" attaches to nouns, not adjectives
- (to) *healthen : "-en" attaches to adjectives, not verbs
- *certainless : "-less" attaches to nouns, not adjectives
- *preventary : "-ary" attaches to nouns, not verbs
Note that in some cases it may not be immediately clear, since some words are
used in more than one grammatical class. For example "sleep" can be a noun or
a verb, so the existence of the word "sleepy" is not in itself strong enough
evidence of the ASP for "-y".
Some languages use affixes to express ideas that in English would require a
separate word, e.g. "-ino" affix in Italian is used to indicate "small". Note
also that languages other than English which have apparently similar affixes
don't necessarily have the same ASP.
Other types of word formation
As well as affixation, other ways that words in English may be formed are:
- compounds are formed by joining two or more free roots together,
e.g. "greenhouse". When this is done in English, the stress for the compound
word is always on the first syllable, and the head of the compound
(that is, the semantically most important part of the word) goes on the right
("right-hand head rule" - typical of Germanic languages). E.g. a greenhouse
is a type of house, a cowshed is a type of shed. You wouldn't have
*birdblack.
In Italian, the head of a compound word is on the left (this
is typical of Romantic languages).
Compounds often have meanings which may not be obvious from
the component words, e.g. checkbox, but compounding is a very productive
mechanism
- conversion is when a word that has one form is adapted for use in
another grammatical class, e.g. the noun "napalm" is used as a verb
- coinage is when words are invented, perhaps borrowing bits of other
words, or bits of latin, to fill a purpose. E.g. Kodak, Xerox, googol
- backformation is where a word is created as a result of "incorrect
morphological analyis" (Fromkin p97). For example, "enthuse" from
"enthusiasm"
- borrowing e.g. futon, pizza
- clipping e.g. flu, advert
- acronym e.g. vat, unesco
With the exception of compounds and conversion, none of the formations in the
above list are grammatically systematic.
Useful book readings for this lecture:
- Crystal: "Encyclopedia of Language", p90
- Fromkin+al "An Introduction to Language" pp 82-99
Sounds, Grammar and Meaning page