Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Tasks
- Introductory unit
- 1 Language standards and rules
- 2 Varieties of English
- 3 Types of grammar
- 4 Language systems and syllabuses
- 5 Forms and functions
- 6 An introduction to phonology
- 7 The consonants
- 8 The vowels
- 9 Rhythm and connected speech
- 10 Sentence stress and intonation
- 11 Word formation, spelling and word stress
- 12 Lexical meaning
- 13 Word classes and phrases
- 14 Sentence structure: the simple sentence
- 15 Sentence structure: the complex sentence
- 16 Negatives and questions
- 17 The verb phrase
- 18 Time and tense
- 19 Aspect: progressive
- 20 Aspect: perfect
- 21 Modality
- 22 Futurity
- 23 Hypothetical meaning and conditionals
- 24 The noun phrase
- 25 Determiners
- 26 Adjectives and adverbs
- 27 Prepositions and phrasal verbs
- 28 Cohesion
- 29 Texts
- 30 Conversation
- Key and commentaries
- Introductory unit
- 1 Language standards and rules
- 2 Varieties of English
- 3 Types of grammar
- 4 Language systems and syllabuses
- 5 Forms and functions
- 6 An introduction to phonology
- 7 The consonants
- 8 The vowels
- 9 Rhythm and connected speech
- 10 Sentence stress and intonation
- 11 Word formation, spelling and word stress
- 12 Lexical meaning
- 13 Word classes and phrases
- 14 Sentence structure: the simple sentence
- 15 Sentence structure: the complex sentence
- 16 Negatives and questions
- 17 The verb phrase
- 18 Time and tense
- 19 Aspect: progressive
- 20 Aspect: perfect
- 21 Modality
- 22 Futurity
- 23 Hypothetical meaning and conditionals
- 24 The noun phrase
- 25 Determiners
- 26 Adjectives and adverbs
- 27 Prepositions and phrasal verbs
- 28 Cohesion
- 29 Texts
- 30 Conversation
- References
- Index
11 - Word formation, spelling and word stress
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 February 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Tasks
- Introductory unit
- 1 Language standards and rules
- 2 Varieties of English
- 3 Types of grammar
- 4 Language systems and syllabuses
- 5 Forms and functions
- 6 An introduction to phonology
- 7 The consonants
- 8 The vowels
- 9 Rhythm and connected speech
- 10 Sentence stress and intonation
- 11 Word formation, spelling and word stress
- 12 Lexical meaning
- 13 Word classes and phrases
- 14 Sentence structure: the simple sentence
- 15 Sentence structure: the complex sentence
- 16 Negatives and questions
- 17 The verb phrase
- 18 Time and tense
- 19 Aspect: progressive
- 20 Aspect: perfect
- 21 Modality
- 22 Futurity
- 23 Hypothetical meaning and conditionals
- 24 The noun phrase
- 25 Determiners
- 26 Adjectives and adverbs
- 27 Prepositions and phrasal verbs
- 28 Cohesion
- 29 Texts
- 30 Conversation
- Key and commentaries
- Introductory unit
- 1 Language standards and rules
- 2 Varieties of English
- 3 Types of grammar
- 4 Language systems and syllabuses
- 5 Forms and functions
- 6 An introduction to phonology
- 7 The consonants
- 8 The vowels
- 9 Rhythm and connected speech
- 10 Sentence stress and intonation
- 11 Word formation, spelling and word stress
- 12 Lexical meaning
- 13 Word classes and phrases
- 14 Sentence structure: the simple sentence
- 15 Sentence structure: the complex sentence
- 16 Negatives and questions
- 17 The verb phrase
- 18 Time and tense
- 19 Aspect: progressive
- 20 Aspect: perfect
- 21 Modality
- 22 Futurity
- 23 Hypothetical meaning and conditionals
- 24 The noun phrase
- 25 Determiners
- 26 Adjectives and adverbs
- 27 Prepositions and phrasal verbs
- 28 Cohesion
- 29 Texts
- 30 Conversation
- References
- Index
Summary
1 The morphemes that comprise the words in the sign are: no, park, -ing, in, drive, way, do, n’t [not], even, think, of, park, -ing, here, car, -s, will, be, tow, -ed, at, own, -er, -’s, ex-, -pense. There are 26 in all.
Note that some of the morphemes are purely grammatical, e.g. the plural marker -s in cars, and the past participle marker -ed in towed. Words that result from the addition of grammatical morphemes are called inflections. Hence, the plural marker -s is an inflectional morpheme.
Derivational morphemes, on the other hand, change the meaning of a word, including its part of speech. The resulting word is called a derivative. Thus, the noun owner is derived from the verb own.
Note also that the meaning of some morphemes is obscure, and can be retrieved only through the study of word history (known as etymology). Thus, the word expense derives from a Latin word that was in turn formed from two Latin morphemes, ex- and pendere, the second of which is not a functioning morpheme in English, and is not used to form new words. By contrast, the morpheme -way, as in driveway, is a functioning morpheme, witness freeway, parkway, subway, etc.
2 a These word-formation processes occur in most languages although to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the language. For example, word compounding is a common means of forming words in German; Latin-based languages such as Italian and Portuguese favour affixation.
b Note that, for the purposes of this exercise, the inflectional affixes (see Task 1 above), e.g. plural -s, have been ignored.
everyday = compounding (every + day)
activity = affixation (active + -ity)
phones = clipping (from telephone)
multi-functional = affixation (multi- + function + -al)
expensive = affixation (ex- + pense + -ive)
camcorders = blending (from camera + recorder; recorder is itself formed from affixation:
record + -er)
yesteryear = blending (from yesterday + year)
smartphones = compounding (smart + phone)
background = compounding (back + ground)
smallish = affixation (small + -ish)
classrooms = compounding (class + room)
carpeted = conversion (the verb to carpet from the noun carpet)
USB = abbreviation
mic = clipping (of microphone)
podcasting = blending (of pod + broadcasting)
production = affixation (produce + -tion)
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- About LanguageTasks for Teachers of English, pp. 249 - 253Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2017