LINGUISTICS is the scientific study of a language.

From the structural point of view, language implies the

notions of system and structure. It can be seen as a system of sub-systems operating on the inventory of
particular structural units.

LANGUAGE STRATA (LAYERS) are morphology, orthography, syntax, phonology, and lexicology.
Structural units of these language strata are morpheme, grapheme, word, phoneme and lexeme.

MORPHOLOGY is a sub-branch of linguistics which deals with the internal structure of words. The
elementary unit of analysis in morphology is a morpheme and the highest in hierarchy is a word.
Morphology = morphe (Greek, form) + logia (reasoning), therefore morphology is the study of form. M
deals with varying word-forms (covered by the term inflection/accidence which refers to the study of
changes in the word-form due to different contexts INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY) and also with the
processes which produce new words (the term related to the study of word-forming processes is
WORD-FORMATION). The inflection and word-formation are joined in the discipline of language study
called morphology.

GRAMMAR is the study or use of the rules about how words change their form and combine with other
words to make sentences. It is the system of rules and procedures formulated as algorithms operating
on the inventory of language units.
GRAMMAR OF WORDS is a system of rules in the domain of lexis which can be formulated as
algorithms.

WORD-FORMATION refers to either the variety of morphological word-forming processes or to the

study of such processes. A process (word-forming or inflectional) is said to be productive if it can
produce new words and word-forms. Some processes are fully-productive (like some inflectional
processes), some are semi-productive (partial productivity) and some have stopped being productive
and have no synchronic relevance. Word-formation can be influenced and limited by PRAGMATICS, and
pragmatic factors include hypostatization (requirement of existence, a word will not be formed to
denote sth that does not exist) and nameability requirement (a word must denote not only sth that is
real but also sth that is nameable). The non-occurrence of a lexeme can be due to the existence of
another form (blocking the existence of the words thin, little and preparation precludes the
existence of unthick , unlittle and preparement). Limitations on productivity can be purely
LINGUISTIC (phonological: livelily is blocked due to phonological reasons; morphological: polynational is
blocked on morphological grounds because the rule which says that a Greek prefix is not to be combined
with a Latin base is violated; semantic: dark-eyed is acceptable and black-shoed is not because the
quality of wearing black shoes is not important). CALQUE is a name for a translation loan, its a word or
expression which is a result of literal translation from another language, the input parts are English but
the word-formation pattern of another language is followed) or they can be imported from a foreign
language (in which we call them LOANS) with no or slight adjustments. New words that come into the
language take the form of NONCE WORDS (those coined for one occasion to meet an immediate need)
or the form of NEOLOGISMS, new words which are intended to stay in the language. Basic sources for
new words are creating, borrowing, combining, shortening, blending and shifting.

Q: What are demarcation problems concerning the distinction between inflectional morphology and
word-formation? Provide examples. How about hybrid forms such as participles and gerunds?
A: The formal means by which inflection and derivation are expressed are often the same. In both the
processes of affixation, vowel change, reduplication, etc. may be used. In many languages, participles
behave like adjectives in that they can be used attributively and as predicates, and agree in gender,

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number and case with the noun that they modify. On the other hand, participles still have verbal
potential in that they case-mark noun phrase arguments. Participles also feed deadjectival word
formation. They lexicalize quite often adjectives with idiosyncratic meaning. Gerunds are another case
of transpositional inflection: they are verbal forms with nominal properties.

LANGUAGE SYSTEM is a system of linguistic units or elements used in a particular language. The concept
of system symbols and sounds, the concept of structure words, symbols and sounds.

PARADIGMATIC AND SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS work in combination, so that a sentence has a

particular syntagmatic form which determines what can go where, while the paradigmatic provides or
produces the possibilities for various particular meanings and substitutions in each position of the
syntagmatic chain. The two principles of contrastiveness and constituent structure represent the way a
language is organized on the syntagmatic (combinatory) and paradigmatic (selectional) axes of language
structure. Paradigmatic relations at the linguistic level of morphology are the relations between the
elements of structure (words or morphemes) which are possible alternatives at every single point of
syntagmatic chain, e.g. paradigmatic relations hold between in- in inaccurate and im- in impossible, or
between head in headstand and hand in handstand, also between get in he got a letter and receive in he
received a letter.

PARADIGM is a set of language forms (words or morphemes) which are possible alternatives at every
point of a selectional axis of language structure. INFLECTIONAL PARADIGMS refer to all word-forms
which share the same grammatical meaning but differ in endings (toy-toys). LEXICAL PARADIGMS refer
to sets of words which share the same root morpheme (like, liking, likely, unlikely, likelihood,
unlikelihood) or which share the same derivational suffix (booklet, coverlet, cutlet, droplet, starlet). The
minimal number of members which constitute a paradigm is two (let-letting, cut-cutting, orange-
oranges, toy-toys).

MINIMAL PAIR two words identical in all respects but one, which is referred to as distinctive feature.
examples of minimal pairs in morphology:
a. heartache locative meaning component & heartbreak no locative meaning
component
b. bottle-washer it has purpose maker & bottle-washer no purpose maker
c. folding-machine agentive meaning component & folding-door no agentive
meaning component
d. candle-lighter agentive meaning component & candle-lighter instrumental
meaning component
e. fly-catcher it has species maker & fly-catcher no species maker

WORD definitions:
1. A rule of thumb definition: a word is the smallest language unit which has a definite
morphological structure and meaning and which can be used in isolation.
2. An orthographic definition of a word: a word is any sequence of letters bounded on either side
by a space or punctuation mark. This definition cannot be applied to all languages since not all
languages mark word boundaries. Such a definition can be problematic having in mind different
ways in which one and the same word can be written (compounds are notorious in that respect:
eye patch/eye-patch). This definition can be further complicated by the examples which involve
polysemy and homonymy (railway line, fishing line, washing line, curved line). Another question
related to the orthographic definition is whether compounds count as one word or two, how the

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 idioms should be treated (compare: He got hot under the collar and He got annoyed; compare:
Is it raining hard? Cats and dogs.) or how contracted forms should be treated.
3. A phonological definition: a word is the uninterrupted sequence of sounds between potential
pauses. Such a definition is also deficient in that the problem of stops occurs (stops or breaks
need not coincide with the word-boundaries, they can depend on factors which are not all
linguistic but psychological).
4. Combinatory principle: word is a unit which can freely combine with other units of the same
order
5. Semantic criterion: a unit which has a particular meaning
6. The criterion of historical continuity: something which one generation of language speakers
passes on to another generation as a word

WORDS can be monomorphemic/simple and polymorphemic/complex. Words are elements which

have positional mobility they can change their position within a syntagmatic chain without producing
ungrammatical output. All words do not have an equal mobility potential. The morphemes as word
constituents appear in a rigidly fixed sequential order they cannot change their position freely
without producing ungrammatical output. Words are the elements of structure which resist
interruption by the insertion of other language material. Other language material can be inserted at
word boundaries.

IDIOMS traditionally described as expressions whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of
their parts have to fulfill 2 requirements: first, that they be lexically complex and second that they
should be a single minimal semantic constituent. All idioms are elementary lexical units and they exhibit
internal cohesion characteristic of single words; they also resist interruption and the re-ordering of
parts. For example, under the table is lexically complex, but semantically simplex (its meaning is
secretly).

WORD-BASED MORPHOLOGY is a theory which states that all word-formation processes are word-
based, i.e. word-formation rules are applied to an already existing word.

BACK-FORMATION is the word-forming process the output of which is a word obtained by the deletion
of actual or supposed affixes (sight-see from sight-seeing, head-hunt from head-hunting). Some call it
retrograde derivation.

WORD-AND-PARADIGM is an approach to morphology where the concept of paradigm is pivotal. The

word-forms are derived by complex rules which are applied in fixed order.

LEXICAL WORDS include: nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. They are also known as full words or
content words. These words carry high information content and are syntactically structured by the
grammatical words. Lexical words are open-class words and their number is potentially unlimited.

GRAMMATICAL WORDS are pronouns, articles, auxiliary verbs, prepositions and conjunctions. They
are known as functional words, functors or empty words. These words constitute a closed class and their
number is finite. Some authors call grammatical words morphosyntactic words.

LEXEME is an abstract unit of vocabulary arbitrarily (i.e. conventionally) chosen to stand for the whole of
the paradigm (lexical or inflectional). It appears in a dictionary in its citation form as the entry word
(SEEM).Lexemes are the basic contrastive units of vocabulary.

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TRANSPARENCY characteristic of a lexeme which refers to its analyzability. A word is transparent if it is
clearly/unambiguously analysed into its constituent morphs (washable = wash + able meaning that can
be washed). OPAQUE is a characteristic of a lexeme which refers to its analyzability. A word which is not
clearly analyzable into its constituent morphs is said to be opaque (carriage, bondage, dosage, barrage,
pocketful, bagful, mouthful, plentiful, teaspoonful, businesslike, warlike, trickery, weaponry, gadgetry,
bitter, bizarre, bilateral).

WORD-FORM is a form which is an orthographic or phonological representation of a lexeme. Word-

forms in the written language are called orthographic words.

MORPHEME is the smallest language unit which has both sound-form and meaning, exists in abstracto
and what we deal with in reality is in fact its realization (either as a sound-form or a sequence of graphic
symbols) referred to as a morph or an allomorph (which is a lexically of grammatically conditioned
morph variant). In writing, a morpheme is enclosed in braces, e.g. /s/, /z/, /iz/ are phonetically
conditioned allomorphs of the morpheme {present tense} and also of the morpheme {plural}.
Grammatically conditioned allomorphs - /haus/ and /hauziz/ form the morpheme {house}, determined
by the presence of the grammatical markers of singular or plural. Lexical conditioning means that the
choice of allomorph depends upon a lexeme (move-moved or shoot-shot). Morphemes which are root
morphemes do not have grammatical meaning. Derivational morphemes with the same denotative
meaning may differ in connotation only (positive evaluation, derogatory). Stylistic reference may also be
found in morphemes.

SYLLABLE is a unit of pronunciation typically larger than a single sound and smaller than a word. A
morpheme can have more than one syllables (e.g., library) or less than one syllable (e.g., -s, -s, the two
homophonous morphemes). Another difference between a syllable and a morpheme is that while a
morpheme has to be meaningful, a syllable may or may not be. None of the component syllables in the
word library and syllable is meaningful. Morphemes and syllables can coincide.

MORPH is a segment of a word-form which represents a particular morpheme. FREE MORPH is a morph
which can occur in isolation. BOUND MORPH is a morph which cannot stand on its own as a word.
REPLACIVE MORPH is the replacement of a phoneme or sequence of phonemes in one word-form with
a different phoneme or a sequence of phonemes in corresponding word-form. PORTMANTEAU MORPH
is a single morph which simultaneously represents a bundle of several different grammatical elements. It
is a morph which realizes more than one morpheme (s in speaks: {third person}, {singular number},
{present tense}). ZERO MORPH refers to the situation when there is no overt marker of a particular
morpheme even though there are parallel situations where there are overt markers of that particular
morpheme. Some linguists refer to such an allomorph as a phantom allomorph. DISCONTINUOUS
MORPH is a morph which is interrupted by some other speech material (sequence of sounds or letters),
e.g. have taken. The most usual examples of discontinuous morphs are circumfixes and transfixes.
Circumfix is a discontinuous morph, an affix which surrounds the base. Transfix is a discontinuous
morph which is interspersed (i.e. placed at intervals) throughout the base with which it occurs. Empty
morph refers to a surplus word-building element which does not realize any morpheme. In other words,
when the number of morphs exceeds the number of morphemes represented we are dealing with
empty morphs (resident resident-i-al, sense-sens-u-al, u and i are empty morphs). A UNIQUE MORPH
is one which only occurs in a single combination of morphemes. Unique morphs are also called
cranberry morphs because the first element in cranberry is considered to be unique (also strawberry,
raspberry, bilberry).

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ABLAUT is regular alternation of a word element, especially a vowel, indicating a change in grammatical
function.

SUPPLETION allomorphs of a morpheme are phonetically unrelated (go-went).

EXPONENCE is a term for realization. It can be case that single morphological property is realized by
several morphs (/s/, /z/, /iz/ for plural) or that a number of different morphological properties are
realized in a single morph (present tense, third person, singular). The morphs are therefore the
exponents of the properties.

MARKEDNESS refers to the quality of exhibiting a certain feature reflected in the exponents of the
grammatical categories. The member of the paradigm which is morphologically and semantically simpler
is assumed to be unmarked. The oppositions are usually binary but they can also be hierarchical (in the
case of multimember paradigms, e.g. the category of person has 3 members). The term markedness
has also been used by generative semanticists and componential analysts to refer to a word as having
or not having a particular component of meaning (wine-taster (agentivity) and wine-cooler).
Markedness can also refer to stylistic markers in words (Aussie (informal) Australian (formal)).
MARKERS are those components of the meaning of a lexical item which are systematic for the language,
i.e. the relations into which the item enters are systematic, in that the analysis of other lexical items
makes reference to them.

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS has to do with the separating of morphologically complex language

material or abstract entity into its constituent elements (opposed to synthesis); it is the process which is
a method of studying the nature of words and morphemes, determining their essential features and
their relations. CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS upon two basic principles on which language is based: the
principle of structure and the principle of contrastiveness. Contrastive analysis is a detailed synchronic
comparison of the structure of a native and a target language. Contrastive analysis aims at discovering
the features of sameness and difference in the semantic structure of correlated words in a pair of
languages which are contrasted or in a pair of variants (dialect, register, stylistic) within one and the
same language. Contrastive analysis is based upon 2 basic principles on which languages is based: the
principle of structure and the principle of contrastiveness. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS in morphology is
important because of its precision and its relevance to information theory, communication engineering,
speech recognition IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENT ANALYSIS as an analytical procedure has to do with the
defining of the relevant relationships which hold between morphologically relevant structural units. It
relies upon a model which holds that the combinations of such units are structured into hierarchically
organized sets of binary constructions. Its aim is to segment structurally complex lexical units into two
independent sequences (called immediate constituents) and to reconstruct the hierarchical structural
organization of the complex lexical unit. Successive segmentation results in ultimate constituents, i.e.
end-elements of the structure which cannot be further analysed and which are equal to morphemes.
Immediate constituents represent the word-formation structure while the ultimate constituents show
the morphemic structure of polymorphemic words. DISTRIBUTIONAL ANALYSIS AND CO-OCCURRENCE
which deal with two fundamental concepts: the concept of distribution by which we understand the
occurrence of a lexical unit relative to other lexical units of the same level and the concept of co-
occurrence which means aptness of a word to co-occur (i.e. to collocate) with other words with which it
shares some common semantic component. TRANSFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS may be defined as
repatterning of word-structure with the aim of disambiguation of word-meaning of the words which are
structurally the same and which have the sane distributional patterns. Componential analysis assumes
that word-meaning can be decomposed into elementary semantic components. Semantic components

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are of 2 kinds: semantic markers (semantic features which are shared with other words, e.g. the marker
of purpose) and semantic distinguishers semantic features which are distinctive, word-specific,
which individualize the word. COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS is the study of computer systems for
understanding and generating natural language. Its aim is to understand language in terms of processes,
regularities and procedures and to be able to interpret and generate natural language.

SYNCRETISM refers to the situation where the same form is used to represent distinct morphological
concepts (washed past tense, past participle). Also, two members of a lexical paradigm can be realized
by homonymous word-forms (mop, v. and mop, n.).

BASE or operand is any item to which affixes can be added. Roots and stems are special kinds of base.

ROOT is that part of a word-form which remains when all inflectional and derivational affixes have been
removed. In words which are composite there can be 2 or more roots (lemon-squeezer). Sometimes the
root can be an obligatory bound morph (tele in telephone) or there can be 2 bound morphs as roots
(telegram, telegraph, telescope). The root has both synchronic and diachronic relevance (spect in
respect, suspect, prospect; press in pressure, impress, suppress; vert in divert, introvert, convert,
revert).

STEM is a part of the word-form which remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed.

WORD FAMILIES OR WORD CLUSTERS are lexical groups composed of words with semantically and
phonemically identical root-morphemes (life, lifeless, lifelike, lifeline).

LEXICAL VALENCY OR COLLOCABILITY is the aptness of a word to appear in various combinations of

words. The aptness of a word to appear in specific syntactic structures is called GRAMMATICAL
VALENCY.

PREFIX is an obligatory bound morpheme which does not realize a lexeme and which precedes the base.
There are 2 types of prefixes: those not correlated with any independent word (and that would be in
line with the definition of a prefix) un- , dis- , mis- , de- , en-, im-, ir-, il-, in-, non-, a- - and those which
are correlated with functional words, i.e. prepositions and preposition-like adverbs, e.g. out-, over-, up-,
under-. This latter category of prefixes is termed SEMIBOUND PREFIXES they can occur both as
independent words and as derivational prefixes. Prefixes which shift a word to another category are
called class-changing prefixes, e.g. be- in befriend. Prefixes which do not change the word class of a
word are called class-maintaining prefixes, e.g. arch- in archbishop. Classification of prefixes can be
based on different principles. Diachronically, prefixes can be classified: as native: un- and as foreign: uni.
Synchronically they can be classified: according to the word-class of a prefixal derivative: noun-forming,
verb-forming, adjective-forming; according to the type of the base to which they are added: deverbal,
(re- in reconsider), denominal (ex- in ex-boyfriend), deadjectival; semantically prefixes can be mono-
and polysemous, e.g. like- has one meaning, and ery 4 meanings; according to the generic denotative
meaning there are: negative prefixes (un-, non-, in-, dis-), reversative prefixes (un-, de-, dis-, e.g. untie),
prefixes of time and order (fore-, pre-, post-, ante-, ex-), prefix of repetition re-, locative prefixes (sub-,
inter-, intra-, trans-, circum-); there are prefixes of degree and size (hyper-, mini-, out-, over-, sub-,
super-, sur-, ultra-, under-); there are prefixes of attitude (anti-, contra-, counter-, pro-); number prefixes
are: bi-, di-, poly-, multi-, semi-, tri-, uni-, mono-; there are also stylistically neutral (un-, im-, pre-, re-)
and stylistically marked prefixes (pseudo-, quasi-, uni-, ultra). Some new prefixes (for neologisms) are:

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anti, be, bin, contro, electro, ergo, extra, hydro, super, quadri PREFIXAL DERIVATIVE is a word which is
the output of the word-forming process of derivation by means of a prefix.

SUFFIX is an obligatory bound morpheme which does not realize a lexeme and which follows the base.
Suffixes can have lexical or grammatical meaning in which case they are called inflectional.
Classification of suffixes is the following: according to the part of speech formed there are noun suffixes
(-er, -dom, -ness, -ee, -ery, -ance); there are adjective suffixes (-able, -less, -ful, -ic, -ous); there are verb-
forming suffixes (-en, -ify, -ize); there are adverb-forming suffixes (-ly, -ward, -wise); according to the
base to which the suffix is added they can be: deverbal (-er, -ing, -ment, -able), denominal (-less, -ish, -
ful, -ist, -some), deadjectival (-en, -ly, -ish, -ness); according to semantic criteria they can denote: the
agent of an action (-er, -ant, -ist), collectivity (-age, -dom, -ery), diminutiveness (-ie, -let, -ling); from the
point of view of stylistic reference they can be: stylistically neutral (-able, -er, -ing) and marked (-oid, -
ish); according to the degree of productivity, there are suffixes which are highly productive, e.g. er, -
ness, -able and there are those which are less frequent, e.g. ure, -ft; suffixes can be divided into 2
categories: class-changing and class-maintaining suffixes. Some suffixes can be polysemous (-ful) and
others can have only one meaning (-ent). Some suffixes can be homonymous, e.g. ly (adverb- and
adjective-forming suffix). There is synonymy in suffixes (-er and -ist). As to their origin, they can be
native (-ness, -ish, -dom) or foreign (-ation, -ment, -able). SUFFIXAL DERIVATIVE is a word which is the
output of the word-forming process of derivation by means of a suffix. Examples of suffixal derivatives
would be suffixal verbs (darken), suffixal nouns (princedom), suffixal adverbs (downwards).
INFLECTIONAL SUFFIX is a suffix which has a grammatical meaning. As to their distribution all
inflectional morphemes in English are suffixes. In English there are 9 inflectional morphemes which mark
different grammatical categories: {s1} plural, {s2} third person singular present simple tense indicative
{s3} genitive, {d1} past simple tense, {d2} past participle, {ing1} present participle, {ing2} gerund,
{er} comparative degree, {est} superlative degree. The number of inflectional suffixes is not equal to
the number of grammatical categories and some suffixes are actually portmanteaus they represent
more than one category. INFLECTION is the process the output of which are all the word-forms of that
lexeme which occur in syntactically determined environments; in English inflection involves a stem and
an inflectional suffix. SUPERFIX OR SUPRAFIX refers to suprasegmental internal modification of a base
(export and export).

AFFIX is an obligatory bound morph which does not realize a lexeme. According to their distribution, the
commonest types of affixes are prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes are always lexical, while suffixes can be
either lexical or grammatical. Affixes can have word-forming function in which case they are called
derivational or they can have the grammatical function of forming a grammatical paradigm and in that
case they are termed inflectional. Affixation is a word-forming process where new words are formed by
adding derivational affixes. Derived words formed by affixation may be the result of one or several
applications of word-formation rules, i.e. the bases enter derivational relations of different degrees, e.g.
in sleep, law, luck, help, were dealing with zero degree of derivation; sleepy, lawful, lucky, helpless are
the output of a derivational process and they contain 1 derivational affix, so they illustrate a first degree
derivation; sleepiness, unlawful, unlucky, helplessness contain 2 derivational affixes and they represent
the case of second degree derivation. Derivational affixes are most commonly divided into prefixes and
suffixes. Distinction is made between prefixal and suffixal derivatives according to the last stage of
derivation un+lawful = prefixal derivative, encourage+ment = suffixal derivative.

AGGLUTINATION is a process of word-formation in which morphemes are combined without fusion or

morphophonemic change. Agglutinative language is a language where morphemes have relatively
constant shape and where there is one-to-one correspondence between a morph and a morpheme.

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AGREEMENT is the term which is superordinate to concord and government. Both concord and
government are subsumed under the term agreement.

ANALOGICAL FORMATION is a new formation clearly modeled on one already existing lexeme, e.g.
formations in -scape based on landscape as in moonscape.

ASPECT is a grammatical category concerned with verbs. Major distinction within the category of aspect
is made between perfective and imperfective/durative aspect. Within imperfectivity the distinction is
made between progressive and non-progressive aspect. In English the progressive aspect is marked with
the auxiliary verb be plus the main verb with the ing inflection. The {ing} is realized in writing as ing
regardless of the orthographic shape of the stem. The changes that occur in writing when the stem and
the inflectional suffix are joined can be the following: final e drops before the ending, with the
exception of the verbs ending in ee, -ye, -oe, -ge; final consonant of a monosyllabic accented verb gets
doubled before the ending; sometimes the letters l, m, p are doubled before the inflection; in stems
ending in ie the ie is replaced by y before ing inflection. The {ing} is pronounced // without
exception. The progressive aspect is bound by verbal meaning so that it occurs only with dynamic verbs:
activity verbs, process verbs, sensation verbs and repetition verbs. Stative verbs indicating perception
and cognition do not allow the use of the progressive, e.g. desire, dislike, hate, prefer, understand,
know. Exponents of the perfect are have or has and the inflectional suffix {ed}. The rules governing the
realizations of the {ed} inflection as part of the verb form called past participle are the same as those
governing the realizations of the past tense marker.

BI-DIRECTIONALITY is a property of lexical rules. It states the fact that the rules of word-formation are
two-directional so that the morphemes can move in either direction. Derivation by addition generates
words like: solo + ist > soloist, and derivation by subtraction: edit < editor.

BLEND is the output word of the word-forming process of blending, e.g. paragliding < para (chute) +
gliding, motel < mot (orist) + (ho) tel Blends are also called portmanteau words. BLENDING is
compounding by means of clipped forms. The result of blending is a blend or portmanteau word which is
a new lexeme formed from parts, not necessarily morphemes, of two or more other lexemes, e.g. smog
< sm (oke) + (f)og. The majority of blends are neologisms. As for formal characteristics of blends, a blend
is formed of irregular fragments of two or more words. Two types of blends can be distinguished:
ADDITIVE, which can be transformed as and phrase, and RESTRICTIVE, transformable as the phrase
containing a head word and a prehead modifier which restricts its meaning. Based on the criterion of
the nature of fragments entering the process of blending, blends can be: BLENDS CREATED OF
PHONAESTHEMES (elements based on the principle of expressive symbolism), e.g. flimmer < flicker +
shimmer, BLENDS CREATED AS SUFFIXED WORDS, e.g. washeteria this group of words is the least
likely to be interpreted as blends, and the process is more like suffixing through analogy; the third group
of blends are COMPOUND BLENDS which can be nominal compound blends, adjectival compound
blends and verbal compound blends; there are neo-classical compound blends.

CASE is the relation in which one noun, pronoun or adjective stands to some other word or words in the
syntagmatic string or the form of the noun, pronoun or adjective which shows that relation. Case
relations can be shown by case endings, i.e. inflectional suffices which mark these relations. The total
number of the forms with case inflections constitute a paradigm which is traditionally referred to as
DECLENSION. In English, the category of case relates to nouns, pronouns and determiners. English
nouns have a two-case system: the unmarked common case and the marked genitive case, or
possessive. The forms of the genitive inflection are the following. The s genitive is pronounced in

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singular only and in 3 ways, depending on the preceding sound. There are 3 allomorphs of the genitive
morpheme: // after //; /z/ comes after a vowel or a voiced consonant; /s/ comes after a
voiceless sound. The genitive inflection is written in 2 ways: as s or apostrophe ().An of-genitive can
be combined with an s genitive and this construction is called double genitive. As for pronouns in
English they usually have two cases: common and genitive, but there is a set of pronouns and
determiners which present a three case system: subjective, objective, genitive.

COMPOUND is the result-word of the process of compounding. It consists of at least 2 potentially free
morphemes and no subsequently added bound morphemes through the process of affixation, e.g.
honeymoon is a compound, but honeymooner is the output-word of the process of derivation by means
of a suffix. The first element of a compound may itself be a compound, e.g. aircraft carrier, and such
cases are referred to as STRING COMPOUNDS. Combinations of more than 2 noun elements are called
NOUN SEQUENCES. Distributional patterns, i.e. order and arrangement of the bases, of compounds are
fixed and cannot be changed without consequent change of meaning, e.g. sky blue and blue sky. From
the point of view of structure, compounds may have derivational patterns which are monosemic, i.e.
the ones where there is one-to-one correspondence between structure and meaning, and polysemic,
where were dealing with structural ambiguity (such as toy-man, a man who makes toys, and a toy
shaped like a man). The semantic centre of the compound is most often the meaning of the second
component modified and restricted by the meaning of the first, e.g. spy-hole is a kind of a hole. On the
basis of semantic centres and the built-in semantic relations within the structural patterns, compounds
can be classified so as to belong to different semantic groups: object-instrument compounds with
purpose marker (air-freshener), object-agent compounds with habitual and profession marker
(bartender), compounds indicating action (wine tasting), instrument-action compounds (phone call),
agent compounds with profession marker (cleaning lady), place compounds with purpose marker
(dining room). There are compounds that are fully motivated and their meaning is transparent (sky
blue); some compounds are motivated only to certain extent and the degree of motivation varies
(window-shopping); some lack motivation altogether and are opaque (nightcap an alcoholic drink
taken at bedtime). According to the degree of semantic independence compounds can be
PARATACTIC/coordinative/copulative/additive, where were dealing with the case in which both
components of a compound have equal status (boy-friend). These compounds fall into three groups:
reduplicative or repetition compounds, made by repetition of the same base (fifty-fifty). Reduplicative
compounds can repeat the first element with a slight change in phonetic shape, and we can describe
these compounds as rhythmical twin forms (zig-zag). Many repetition compounds are nonce-words or
nursery words. Compounds can also be onomatopoeic (pooh-pooh). Third category of paratactic
compounds are so called additive compounds which denote a person or an object which is
characterized by 2 qualities which are equally important (producer-director). Opposite to paratactic
compounds there is a category of HYPOTACTIC compounds/subordinative compounds, where the parts
of a compound are semantically related in such a way that one member is subordinated to the other
(matchmaker). According to the types of bases compounds can be classified into compounds proper
(bottle-opener), and derivational compounds (long-legged). According to means of composition,
compounds are classified into compounds formed by joining constituents with no linking element (table-
mat) and compounds with a linking element (electro-chemical).

CONCORD refers to the situation when 2 or more lexemes are obligatory marked for the same
morphological categories, e.g. this boy and these boys. Of 2 forms showing concord, the use of one
necessitates the use of the other, e.g. I can be only combined with am; this kind of concord is termed
bilateral concord. It can also happen that the relation between 2 elements is unilateral in the sense that
one element can be combined with several other elements, e.g. are combines with you in sg. and pl., we

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and they; this kind of concord is called unilateral concord. The term concord is subsumed under the
term agreement so that by concord is meant formal agreement in person, number, gender or tense (or
more than one simultaneously) between 2 or more lexemes or parts of a sentence.

CONVERSION is the process whereby a lexeme changes its word-class without addition of an affix as an
overt morphological class-marker. Other terms which refer to the same phenomena are: functional shift,
functional change, shifting, functional conversion. Prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, interjections and
even affixes can be used as bases for conversion. Many of these form classes can undergo conversion
into more than one form class, e.g. down as a preposition can be converted to a verb, to a noun, to
adjective. Shifting has to do primarily with the shift in grammar or in meaning. SHIFT OF GRAMMAR
means functional shift, i.e. a shift from one use to another, and SHIFT OF MEANING comprises
specialization of meaning, e.g. frame meaning a walker for handicapped people, generalization of
meaning, e.g. whole package having all qualities, metaphor (virus, a kind of self-replicating computer
program), metonymy (kiwi meaning New Zealander). The major kinds of conversion are noun to verb (to
bridge), verb to noun (guess), adjective to noun (the blind), and adjective to verb (to empty). There are
also minor categories of conversion, e.g. conversion from affixes to nouns: isms and ologies; from verbs
to adjectives: built-in, see-through; from phrases to adjectives: under-the-table. COMPLETE
CONVERSION covers the cases where the converted word has taken all the characteristics of a new
word-class: the verb floor, converted from the noun floor, takes on all characteristics of regular verbs. In
cases of PARTIAL CONVERSION, the converted word takes on only some of the characteristics of the
other word-class, e.g. the rich doesnt take s in plural. APPROXIMATE CONVERSION refers to the fact
that a word in the course of conversion may undergo a change of pronunciation or spelling. The
principle kinds of alteration are: voicing, vowel modification and shift of stress.

DEFINITENESS is a grammatical category realized by the following members: unmarked, indefinite, and
definite. Definiteness denotes a not-determined, not specifically determined and specifically determined
scope of reality to which a noun refers. Exponents of definiteness are the definite and indefinite
articles. Unmarked members of definiteness paradigm have zero marker, i.e. zero article. The indefinite
article has 2 allomorphs: //, // and so does the definite article the allomorphs of which are: //,
//. Some words in English are inherently marked for definiteness, such as some kinds of pronouns
and determiners (me is definite, oneself indefinite).

DEGREE is encoded in adjectives and adverbs. This grammatical category expresses the relative intensity
of the features. The unmarked form, the one with the zero marker, is referred to as positive or absolute.
Exponents of the comparative are the inflectional suffix er and the function words more and less.
Exponents of the superlative are the suffix est and the function words most and least. More, less, most
and least are used in periphrastic equivalents of the inflected forms including er/-est. The choice
between er and more and less on the one hand and est and most and least on the other is
semantically conditioned er/more and most being used to indicate superiority, and less and least to
indicate inferiority. The choice between more and er and est and most is morphologically conditioned
and its regulated by the rules of grammar. Monosyllabic adjectives normally form their comparison by
inflection, but there are some exceptions, e.g. real and right. Disyllabic adjectives can also take
inflections but within this class there are examples of both inflected and periphrastic forms, e.g. friendly
friendlier/more friendly friendliest/most friendly. Polysyllabic adjectives and adverbs choose
periphrastic forms. There are a number of irregular comparisons formed through suppletion. As for the
inflectional degree suffixes, they are realized in writing in the following way: as er, -est if the stem
doesnt end in e; as r, -st if the stem ends in e. The comparative suffix is always pronounced // and
superlative suffix //, which means that there are no allomorphs.

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GENDER is a grammatical category which refers to a set of classes of nouns, membership in a particular
class being shown by the form of the noun itself or by the form or choice of words that modify, replace
or otherwise refer to the noun. Gender distinctions in English are made either with nouns or pronouns.
In the case of nouns the opposition is binary: feminine-masculine, and in the case of pronouns:
masculine, feminine, neuter. Gender in nouns is represented either by lexical opposition of formally
unrelated words: gentleman lady, lord-lady, cock- hen or by lexical oppositions of formally related
words which contain overt morphological gender markers: hero heroine, host-hostess. There are
nouns with dual gender: artist, cook, singer, criminal, enemy, fool Gender distinctions in English are
also expressed by pronouns and determiners. Personal, possessive, reflexive and emphatic pronouns
and possessive determiners for 3rd person singular show feminine-masculine-neuter gender
oppositions. Gender in English is principally a matter of the choice of one of the 3 personal or possessive
pronouns of the 3rd person singular to refer to a preceding noun and that kind of gender is called
REFERRING GENDER.

GOVERNMENT means that one element in a sentence determines which morpheme is added to another
element (about whom).

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OR MORPHOLOGICAL CATEGORY is a superordinate to morphological

features which realize it. Inflectional suffixes and functional words feature grammatical categories and
their presence is obligatory in all cases in which a certain category operates. The inflectional suffixes
and functional words which realize certain grammatical category are said to be its exponents. The
inflectional suffixes mark plural number and possessive case in nouns, 3rd person singular and past
tense in verbs, comparative and superlative degree in adjectives and adverbs. The functional words
mark: person, number, gender and case in pronouns, person and number in determiners, definiteness
with nouns, degree in adjectives and adverbs, modality in verbs. Inflectional suffixes together with
functional words mark aspect and voice in verbs.

MODALITY is a grammatical category expressed primarily by the modal verbs, a subclass of auxiliary
verbs, whose main representatives are: can, may, must, shall and will; other modals, e.g. ought, used,
need, dare; adverbs of modality: possibly, probably, surely EPISTEMIC modality is found in expressions
of will, belief, intention, possibility, probability and necessity. DEONTIC modality is found in expressions
of permission, obligation and requirement.

MOOD. The English verb has 3 moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. The imperative has the
same form as the base of the verb and the same holds for the indicative and subjunctive, with the
exception of the 3rd person singular present subjunctive which lacks the morphological marker s and
the preterit subjunctive form of the verb be which is were in all persons. The indicative is used in
matter-of-fact sentencesl the subjunctive in statements which express a wish or will and occasionally in
adverbial clauses of concession and condition; the imperative mood is used to give orders or commands
or to make requests.

NUMBER in English distinguishes between singular and plural. The only remainder of a dual is both
Exponents of plural number in nouns are the forms s, -es, in writing and allomorphs: /iz, z, s/ in speech.
The morpheme {s} meaning plural number is realized in writing as es if it is preceded by the letters s, x,
z, ch, sh; the {s} morpheme is written s in all other cases. Most words that end in o have es inflexion,
the exception to this are the words felt as foreign, shortened words (pianos) and the words in which
there is a vowel before o. After a consonant, the letter y changes so that the ending is ies; words
ending in y preceded by a vowel letter simply add s; the ending f in most nouns changes to ves.

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There are a few instances of irregular plural survivals of old formation (ox-oxen). Some foreign plurals
have not been fully naturalized (medium - media). Many nouns do not change in plural and the
examples of the unchanged plural are sheep-sheep. Some plurals have meanings which are not found in
singulars: letters (literature, learning). There are certain nouns which are almost never used except in
the plural (pluralia tantum nouns). There are nouns which are singular invariables, i.e. singularia tantum
(news, liguistics). As for number in pronouns and determiners, its only sometimes that it is overtly
marked (one-ones) and there are some pronouns and determiners which are the same in plural and
singular (who, what, the). There are those which are only used in singular (each, one, he, itself). There
are pronouns and determiners which have separate forms for singular and plural (myself-ourselves). The
generic number, the one which refers to the whole class and equally to each and every member of the
class, is expressed by every, any, all.

PERSON refers to the distinction between the speaker (1st person), the person or persons spoken to
(2nd person) and what is neither speaker nor addressee (3rd person). In English, the distinction applies
to the pronouns, personal, reflexive, emphatic and possessive, possessive determiners and verbs,
both auxiliary and full. In the case of pronouns and determiners category of person is inherent (I, me,
you). Modern English is virtually free from personal inflexions and the survivals of personal
distinctions in verbs are the following: the s in the 3rd person singular of most verbs; in the second
person there are forms in t or st with the old pronoun thou. The term GENERIC PERSON is used for
what can be said to comprise all persons and in English one is used in this sense. Instead of one which is
formal the personal pronouns we or you are used in familiar speech.

SHORTENING or clipping is the process of word-building by means of subtracting one part of the input
word, or parts of two or more words (examination > exam, Federal Bureau of Investigation > FBI). The
correlation could be such that the clipped form becomes a separate word, these we call etymological
doublets (fan - fanatic). FINAL CLIPPING OR BACK-CLIPPING OR HIND-CLIPPING is the type of clipping
where the end of the original word is clipped and the beginning is retained (ad < advertisement). INITIAL
CLIPPING OR FORE-CLIPPING is the type of clipping where the beginning part is subtracted and the end
part is retained (cello - violoncello). Final and initial clipping can be combined and that we call BOTH-
ENDS CLIPPING (fridge - refrigerator). The middle part of the word can be syncopated so that this type
of clipping is called syncope (the middle part is left out) maths mathematics. The omission of the
middle part is also called ellipsis. Words composed of the initials are called acronyms.

TENSE is a grammatical category. It is the linguistic expression of time relations indicated in verb forms:
thus, one form indicates present time, another form indicates past time, still another form indicates
future time. The present tense is identical with the base of the verb which means that is morphologically
unmarked; however to this base is added the s ending in the 3rd person singular indicative so that this
tense mark is inextricably confused with marks for person, number and mood. The only par excellence
tense marker is the past tense marker. In regular verbs, this marker, regularly represented as {ed} is
realized in writing as d if preceded by the letter e, or ed in all other cases. The allomorphs of {ed} are
/id/ after /t/ and /d/; /d/ after vowels and voiced consonants; /t/ after voiceless consonants.

How does the system of rules in the domain of lexis relate to the system of rules operating in the
domain of syntax? They are related through agreement -the syntactic rules in some constructions
require a certain word-form.

DELEXICAL VERBS (do, give, have, make, take) are alternatively called light verbs.

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Arnoff M. Word Formation in Generative Grammar
Bauer L. English Word-Formation
Marchand H. Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation
Marchand H. Studies in Syntax and Word-Formation

PARTIAL HOMONYMY means that some word-forms are homonymous but the whole of the paradigm is
not identical. Compare: box 1 - box, boxes and' box 3 (a verb, meaning 'to fight') - box, boxes, boxed,
boxing or seal 1 and seal 2 - seal, seals and seal 3 (a verb meaning 'to mark with a seal') - seal, seals,
sealed, sealing.
The identity of distributional pattern, however, does not necessarily mean that the words have the
same meaning. Illustrate. - make in make a car or make a move or move in move the table and move in
move somebody. or give in give a present, give a push, give a cry, give a smile
What is the difference between nonce words and neologisms? - It is quite important to draw the
distinction between a neologism and a nonce word, the main difference between the two being that the
nonce words are coined ad hoc to meet some immediate purpose and are unlikely to become a
permanent part of the vocabulary (e.g. the adjective show-businessy in, say, I am not very
showbusinessy or the verb to red-card in The football player was red-carded); so are the stunt words, a
special kind of nonce words which are highly idiosyncratic and jocular (e.g. chop-o-holics, meaning hair-
stylists who love short hair-cuts, amberlievable (coined from amber-coloured hair and unbelievable),
furrious (fur and furious), purrfect (blend of purr and perfect in purrfect pets referring to cats). Both
nonce words and stunt words, however, may find their way into the language (e.g. Watergate coinage
triggered: Irangate, and, recently, highly topical Monicagate and Zippergate showing how rapidly a new
suffix can come into widespread use; such is the case with the informal and humorous -aholic or -oholic
meaning 'addicted to' in the paradigm: bookaholic, cashaholic, chocoholic, writaholic).
COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION refers to the situation when two morphs never occur in the same
position in certain contexts, e.g. the negative prefix im- occurs before bases starting with the sounds /p/
or /b/, e.g. improbable, impartial, impatient, impenetrable, imbalance and the prefix ir- precedes the
bases starting with /r/, e.g. irregular, irreplaceable, irreproachable, irresistible, irresolute. A vice versa
situation is not possible, e.g. . irpossible, . imregular. These two morphs divide the contexts between
them, they are contextually conditioned. and we say that they are in complementary distribution (the
occurrence of one morph excludes the occurrence of the other in the same position).
CONTRASTIVENESS is one of two basic principles on which contrastive analysis is based upon in the
functional approach semantic investigation is directed to the analysis of the difference and sameness in
meaning:
a. polysemic words of different languages are not co-extensive (there is no one-to-one
correspondence between the words and there is the difference in contextual scope):
i. sat in Serbian is both watch and clock in English
ii. head is not always translated as glava: head of bed=uzglalje, head of an
organization=rukovodilac
b. the difference in the lexical meaning of correlated words accounts for the difference of
their collocability in different languages:
iii. new=nov but new potatos=mladi krompir
GRAMMATICAL VALENCY is the aptness of a word to appear in specific syntactic structures
f. make:
i. make a point (V+O)
ii. make clear (V+Adj.)
iii. make you do something (V+O+Inf.)
iv. make yourself understood (V+O refl.+Past Participle)

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CONJUGATION is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection; in English
it may be affected by person, number, tense, aspect, mood and voice.
MARKRES OF GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS can be inflectional suffixes, functional words and word order
a. case is signaled by:
i. inflectional suffix s in Tims leg hurts.
ii. functional word of in Something is wrong with the leg of the table.
iii. word order in Summer time reminds me of childhood.

In preterit, there is just one example which encodes number: was (s.): were(p.)
VOICE is a grammatical category featured through the opposition active - passive and found in transitive
verbs. The exponents of passive voice are constructions involving the verb be and past participle (is
being built, will be seized). Passive is used with verbs which are transitive and those which are primarily
intransitive but which may get converted to transitive ones and therefore can be used as causatives:
walk is primarily intransitive but it may be used transitively as in: He walked me back home.

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