January 2006 2

WORD STRUCTURE
1. What is a lexeme? - 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). The term lexeme also embraces items which are
composite (which consist of more than one word-form), e.g. multiword verbs (live up to), phrasal
verbs (let down) and idioms (leave somebody in the cold). Lexemes are the basic contrastive
units of vocabulary..
2. What does the word transparent mean in reference to a lexeme? Illustrate. What does the
word opaque mean in reference to a lexeme? Illustrate. - 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).
3. In the following examples say whether we are dealing with transparent or opaque lexemes:
sophisticated opaque, complicated opaque, duplicated opaque, reciprocated opaque
4. Divide the words untreatable and hierarchical into morphemes. un+treat+able, hierarch+ic+al
5. What is the difference between a morpheme and a syllable? - 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). Therefore, a morpheme cannot be considered the same as a syllable. 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.
6. Give 2 examples to show that root morphemes do not have grammatical meaning and
therefore are not grammatically marked. - Morphemes which are root morphemes do not have
grammatical meaning as can be seen in the following examples: the morpheme {man} in manly,
manish, manlike, manhood, mankind, manhole, man-hour, manhunt, man-made, manslaughter,
a two-man canoe (not *two-men canoe), a ten-man expedition (*ten-men expedition) is not
marked for number or case, it has no grammatical meaning.
7. What is an empty morph? - EMPTY MORPH refers to a surplus word-building element which
does not realise any morpheme. In other words, when the number of morphs exceeds the
number of morphemes represented we are dealing with empty morphs, e.g. compare on the
one hand: addition -addition-al, sensation -sensation-al, ornament- ornament-al, parent -
parent-al and on the other: fact - fact-u-al, sense - sens-u-al, president - president-i-al, resident
- resident-i-al ('u' and 'i' are empty morphs).
8. Among the following examples there are those which contain empty morphs: medicinal, tribal,
sensual, conceptual, componential.
9. What is root in reference to word-formation? - ROOT is that part of a word-form which remains
when all inflectional and derivational affixes have been removed, e.g. believe in unbelievingly,
announce in announcements. The root is a basic part of a word, elementary and unanalysab(i.e
In words which are composite there can be two or more roots, e.g. lemon and squeeze in lemon-
squeezer or fancy, dress, ball in fancy-dress ball. Sometimes the root can be an obligatorily
bound morph, e.g. tele in telephone, telecommuter, telephoto; or there can be two bound
morphs as roots, e.g. telegram, telegraph, telescope. The root has both synchronic and
diachronic relevance.
 10. Identify bases in the following words: lawlessness law, inconsolable console
PRODUCTIVITY
1. Comment on the italicized words in the following example from the point of view of word
formation: She is an excellent tennis player; however, she has highs and lows conversion
2. Futile, adj. and utilitarian, adj. combine to give futilitarian, adj. This word formation process is
referred to as __________. blending
3. Having in mind the concept of semantic transfer, explain the potentially paradoxical sentence:
Red Square was white. In what way would you resolve the paradox? Red Square was covered
in snow?
4. Lexical derivation is a 2-directional process. State whether the following words have been
generated by the process of addition or subtraction: looker-on - addition, happy-go-lucky-
addition, stage-manage-subtraction, stage-management-addition, developmental-addition,
conservationist-addition, spin-dry-subtraction, flat-footed-addition.
5. Analyze the following Netspeak words from the point of view of word-formation: Internet
compounding, www shortening, mailbombing compounding?, snail mail compounding?
6. Apply transformational analysis to the following sets of words and see if they embody the
same logical pattern: chair maker and coffee maker; holiday maker and match maker and
sandwich maker; bakery, brewery, cannery, gunnery, winery.