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现代英语词汇学（第二章）ModernEnglishLexicologyChapter2•MorphologicalStructureandWord-Formation•2.1Thecomponentpartsofaword:Morpheme•Amorphemeisthesmallestmeaningfullinguisticunitoflanguage,notdivisibleoranalyzableintosmallerforms.Itisalsothesmallestunitofgrammaticalanalysis.WhatisusuallyconsideredasinglewordinEnglishmaybecomposedofoneormoremorphemes:•onemorpheme-----------nation•twomorphemes-----------nation+al•threemorphemes--------------nation+al+ize•fourmorphemes---------------de+nation+al+ize•morethanfourmorphemes-------------de+nation+al+iz+ationAword,therefore,maybeanalyzableintooneormoremorphemes.Amorphemeisalsoatwo-facetlanguageunitwhichpossessesbothsoundandmeaning.Itisthereforedifferentfromaphoneme,whichonlyconveyssounddistinction.Thusk/keiandu/ju:/areonlyphonemes,fortheyhavenomeaning;a/eiandi/ai/arephonemeswhentheyexistin,forexample,tameandtimerespectively;itisimpossibleintheseinstancestosingleouttheirindividualmeaning.Theybecomemorphemesonlywhenaisusedasanindefinitearticleorasaprefix,andI(capitalized)designatesthefirstpersonsingular.Amorphemeisnotidenticalwithasyllable,either,sincethelatterhasnothingtodowithmeaning.Amorphememayberepresentedbyonesyllable,likeboyandchild,orbytwoormoresyllables,asinla·dy,croc·o·dile.Oftenthesyllabicstructureofawordanditsmorphemicstructuredonotcorrespond,asshownintheaboveexampleswhereamorphemeisrepresentedbymorethanonesyllables.Anothergoodexampleistheworddis·a·gree·a·ble,whichconsistsoffivesyllablesasagainstthreemorphemes(dis+agree+able).•2.2Typesofmorphemes•Therearedifferentwaysofclassifyingmorphemes.Inourtextbook,morphemesaregroupedintocontentmorphemes,grammaticalmorphemesandallomorphs.•1)Contentmorphemes•Contentmorphemesalsoknownasfreemorphemesarethosethathavecompletemeaningsinthemselvesandcanbeusedasfreegrammaticalunits.Theyarewordsintraditionalsense.Man,walk,kindarecontentmorphemes.•2)Grammaticalmorphemes•Grammaticalmorphemesmayalsobeboundmorphemesoraffixes;affixesaresegmentsthatareaddedtoaroot.•InEnglish,thisrootisusuallyafreemorpheme,forexample,thewordacceptableisformedbyarootacceptandanadjectivemarker–able.Butinsomecasesthisrootisaboundmorpheme,forexample,intheworddictation,dict-isaboundroot.ItisaLatinrootwhichconveysthemeaningof“sayorspeak”,butitisnotwordinitsownright.Yetwithaffixes,itcanformanumberofwords.Forexample,withtheprefixescontra-(=against)andpre-(=before)weobtaintheverbscontradictmeaning“speakagainst”andpredictmeaning“tellbeforehand”;•withthesuffix–ion,weformcontradictionandprediction;withthesuffix–or,wehavecontradictorandpredictor.Apartfromthese,dictum,dictate,dictation,dictator,diction,dictionaryareallderivedfromtheroot–dict-.InEnglish,boundmorphemesareeitherLatinorGreek.Althoughtheyarelimitedinnumber,theirproductivepowerisamazing.TheygivebirthtothousandsandthousandsofderivedwordsinmodernEnglish.•Manymorphemeshavesemanticmeaningattachedtothem.Certainlyallfreemorphemesdo.Boundmorphemes,however,maynot.Thepluralmarker–sandthepasttensemarker–d/-edbythemselveshavenosemanticmeaning,theycontainonlygrammaticalmeaning.Thesameappliestothesuffixes–tionand–ise:-tionmaybeusedtoformanounand–isetoformaverb.•3)Allomorphs•Amorphememaytakevariousshapesorforms.Forexample,theinflectionalmorpheme_(e)sofbooks,pigs,horseshasthesamemeaning“morethanone”,yetithasthreedifferentphonologicalforms:/-s,-z,-iz/.Theyarecalledallomorphs.“Anallomorphisanyofthevariantformsofamorphemeasconditionedbypositionoradjoiningsounds”(WNWD).Thus,forexample,theallomorphs–ion/-tion/-sion/-ationarethepositionalvariantsofthesamesuffix.•Theydonotdifferinmeaningorfunctionbutshowaslightdifferenceinsounddependingonthefinalphonemeoftheprecedingverb;forinstance,verbsendingin/t/,usuallytake–ion;verbsendingwithconsonantsotherthan/t/,take–tion;verbsendingin–ifyand–izetake–ation;verbsendingin–d,-de,or–mit,take–sion.Allomorphsalsooccuramongprefixes.Theirformthendependsonthefirstletterofthewordtowhichtheywillbeadded.Aprefixlikeim-occursbeforep,b,m;itsallomorphsareir-beforer;il-beforel;in-beforeallotherconsonantsandvowels.Im-,ir-,andil-arethusallomorphsofthemorphemein-.•2.3Methodsofword-formation•TheexpansionofvocabularyinmodernEnglishdependschieflyonword-formation.Therearevariouswaysofformingwords,butbyandlarge,thevariousprocessescanbeclassifiedonthebasisoffrequencyofusage,intoaffixation,conversion,compounding(composition),back-formation,abbreviation(shortening),blending,andthefirstthreeprocessesarethemostproductive.AccordingtoPylesandAlgeo(1980),wordsproducedthroughaffixationconstitute30%to40%ofthetotalnumberofnewwords;compoundingyields28%to30%ofallthenewwords;conversiongives26%ofthenewvocabulary.•A.Affixation•Theprocessbywhichwordsareformedbyaddingaffixestoarootiscalledaffixation.Thisprocessisalsoknownasderivation,fornewwordscreatedinthiswayarederivedfromoldforms.Thewordsformedinthiswayarecalledderivatives.Englishaffixescanbedividedintoprefixesandsuffixes.Affixesthatcomebeforetherootarecalledprefixes;thosethatcomeaftertherootarecalledsuffixes.Accordingtothepositionswhichaffixesoccupyinwords,affixationfallsintwosubcla