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Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 47 some independent property that all possible bases have and all impossible bases don’t have. Strictly speaking then, we are not dealing with a rule that can be used to form new words, but with a rule that simply generalizes over the structure of a set of existing complex words. Such rules are sometimes referred to as redundancy rules or word-structure rules. The redundancy rule for -th could look like this: For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 48 (24) redundancy rule for -th phonology: X-/T/, X = allomorph of base base: {broad, deep, long, strong, true, warm} semantics: ‘state or property of being X’ In most cases, it is not necessary to make the distinction between rules that can be used to coin new words and rules that cannot be used in this way, so that we will often use the term ‘word-formation rule’ or ‘word-formation process’ to refer to both kinds of rule. Before finishing our discussion of word-formation rules, we should address the fact that sometimes new complex words are derived without an existing word- formation rule, but formed on the basis of a single (or very few) model words. For example, earwitness ‘someone who has heard a crime being commited’ was coined on the basis of eyewitness, cheeseburger on the basis of hamburger, and air-sick on the basis of sea-sick. The process by which these words came into being is called analogy, which can be modeled as proportional relation between words, as illustrated in (25): (25) a. a : b :: c : d b. eye : eyewitness :: ear : earwitness c. ham : hamburger :: cheese : cheeseburger d. sea : sea-sick :: air : air-sick The essence of a proportional analogy is that the relation between two items (a and b in the above formula) is the same as the relation between two other, correponding items (c and d in our case). The relation that holds between eye and eyewitness is the same as the relation between ear and earwitness, ham and hamburger relate to each other in the same way as do cheese and cheeseburger, and so on. Quite often, words are analogically derived by deleting a suffix (or supposed suffix), a process called back- formation. An example of such a back-formation is the verb edit which was derived from the word editor by deleting -or on the basis of a propotional analogy with word pairs such as actor - act. Another example of back-formation is the verb escalate, which For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 49 occurs with two meanings, each of which is derived from a different model word. The first meaning can be paraphrased as ‘To climb or reach by means of an escalator To travel on an escalator’ (OED), and is modeled on escalator. The second meaning of escalate is roughly synonymous with ‘increase in intensity’, which is back-formed from escalation which can be paraphrased as ‘increase of development by successive stages’. The words in (26) can be called regular in the sense that their meaning can readily be discerned on the basis of the individual forms which obviously have served as their models. They are, however, irregular, in the sense that no larger pattern, no word-formation rule existed on the basis of which these words could have been coined. Sometimes it may happen, however, that such analogical formations can give rise to larger patterns, as, for example, in the case of hamburger, cheeseburger, chickenburger, fishburger, vegeburger etc. In such cases, the dividing line between analogical patterns and word-formation rules is hard to draw. In fact, if we look at rules we could even argue that analogical relations hold for words that are coined on the basis of rules, as evidenced by the examples in (26): (26) big : bigger :: great : greater happy : unhappy :: likely : unlikely read : readable :: conceive : conceivable Based on such reasoning, some scholars (e.g. Becker 1990, Skousen 1992) have developed theories that abandon the concept of rule entirely and replace it by the notion of analogy. In other words, it is claimed that there are not morphological rules but only analogies across larger sets of words. Two major theoretical problems need to be solved under such a radical approach. First, it is unclear how the systematic structural restrictions emerge that are characteristic of derivational processes and which in a rule-based framework are an integral part of the rule. Second, it is unclear why certain analogies are often made while others are never made. In a rule-based system this follows from the rule itself. For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 50 We will therefore stick to the traditional idea of word-formation rule and to the traditional idea of analogy as a local mechanism, usually involving some degree of unpredicability. 4. Multiple affixation So far, we have mainly dealt with complex words that consisted of two elements. However, many complex words contain more than two morphemes. Consider, for example, the adjective untruthful or the compound textbook reader. The former combines three affixes and a base (un-, tru(e), -th and -ful), the latter three roots and one suffix (text, book, read, and -er). Such multiply affixed or compounded words raise the question how they are derived and what their internal structure might be. For example, are both affixes in unregretful attached in one step, or is un- attached to regretful, or is -ful attached to unregret. The three possibilities are given (27): (27) a. un + regret + ful b. un + regretful c. unregret + ful The relationship between the three morphemes can also be represented by brackets or by a tree diagram, as in (28): (28) a. [un-regret-ful] 3 g 8 un- regret -ful b. [un-[regret-ful]] 3 8 3 regretful 3 3 8 un- regret -ful c. [[un-regret]-ful] For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 51 3 8 unregret 8 3 8 8 un- regret -ful How can one decide which structure is correct? The main argument may come from the meaning of the word unregretful. The most common paraphrase of this word would probably be something like ‘not regretful’. Given that meaning is compositional in this word, such an analysis would clearly speak for structure (28b): first, -ful creates an adjective by attaching to regret, and then the meaning of this derived adjective is manipulated by the prefix un If un- in unregretful was a prefix to form the putative noun ?unregret, the meaning of unregretful should be something like ‘full of unregret’. Given that it is not clear what ‘unregret’ really means, such an analysis is much less straightforward than assuming that un- attaches to the adjective regretful. Further support for this analysis comes from the general behavior of un-, which, as we saw earlier, is a prefix that happily attaches to adjectives, but not so easily to nouns. Let us look a second example of multiple affixation, unaffordable. Perhaps you agree if I say that of the three representational possibilities, the following is the best: (29) [un-[afford-able]] 3 8 3 affordable 3 3 8 un- afford -able This structure is supported by the semantic analysis (‘not affordable’), but also by the fact that -un only attaches to verbs if the action or process denoted by the verb can be reversed (cf. again bind-unbind). This is not the case with afford. Thus *un-afford is an impossible derivative because it goes against the regular properties of the prefix un The structure (29), however, is in complete accordance with what we have said about un For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 52 Sometimes it is not so easy to make a case for one or the other analysis. Consider the following words, in which -ation and re-/de- are the outermost affixes (we ignore the verbal -ize for the moment): For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 53 (30) a. [re-[organize-ation]] [[re-organize]- ation] 3 8 3 8 3 organization reorganize 8 3 3 8 3 8 8 re- organize -ation re- organize -ation b. [de-[centralize-ation]] [[de-centralize]-ation] 3 8 3 8 3 centralization decentralize 8 3 3 8 3 8 8 de- centralize -ation de- centralize -ation In both cases, the semantics does not really help to determine the structure. Reorganization can refer to the organization being redone, or it can refer to the process of reorganizing. Both are possible interpretations with only an extremely subtle difference in meaning (if detectable at all). Furthermore, the prefix re- combines with both verbs and nouns (the latter if they denote processes), so that on the basis of the general properties of re- no argument can be made in favor of either structure. A similar argumentation holds for decentralization. To complicate matters further, some complex words with more than one affix seem to have come into being through the simultaneous attachment of two afffixes. A case in point is decaffeinate, for which, at the time of creation, neither caffeinate was available as a base word (for the prefixation of de-), nor *decaffein (as the basis for -ate suffixation). Such forms are called parasynthetic formations, the process of simultaneous multiple affixation parasynthesis. 5. Summary This chapter has started out with a discussion of the various problems involved with the notion of morpheme. It was shown that the mapping of form and meaning is not For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 54 always a straightforward matter. Extended exponence, cranberry morphs, and subtractive morphology all pose serious challenges to traditional morphemic analyses, and morphs with no (or a hard-to-pin-down) meaning are not infrequent. Further complications arise when the variable shape of morphemes, known as allomorphy, is taken into account. We have seen that the choice of the appropriate allomorph can be determined by phonological, morphological or lexical conditions. Then we have tried to determine two of the many word-formation rules of English, which involved the exemplary discussion of important empirical, theoretical and methodological problems. One of these problems was whether a rule can be used to form new words or whether it is a mere redundancy rule. This is known as the problem of productivity, which will be the topic of the next chapter. Further reading For different kinds of introductions to the basic notions and problems concerning morphemic analysis you may consult the textbooks already mentioned in the first chapter (Bauer 1983, Bauer 1988, Katamba 1993, Matthews 1991, Spencer 1991, Carstairs-McCarthy 1992). A critical discussion of the notion of morpheme and word- formation rule can be found in the studies by Aronoff (1972) and Anderson (1992). For strictly analogical approaches to morphology, see Becker (1990), Skousen (1995), or Krott et al. (2001). For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 55 Exercises Basic level Exercise 2.1. Describe three major problems involved in the notion of morpheme. Use the following word pairs for illustration a. (to) father - (a) father (to) face - (a) face b. David - Dave Patricia - Trish c. bring - brought keep - kept Exercise 2.2. Discuss the morphological structure of the following words. Are they morphologically complex? How many morphemes do they contain? Provide a meaning for each morpheme that you detect. report refrain regard retry rest rephrase reformat retain remain restate Exercise 2.3. Explain the notion of stem allomorphy using the following words for illustration. Transcribe the words in phonetic transcription and compare the phonetic forms. active - activity curious - curiosity affect - affection possess - possession For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 56 Advanced level Exercise 2.4. Determine the internal structure of the following complex words. Use tree diagramms for representing the structure and give arguments for your analysis. uncontrollability postcolonialism anti-war-movement Exercise 2.5. Determine the allomorphy of the prefix in- on the basis of the data below. First, transcribe the prefix in all words below and collect all variants. Some of the variants are easy to spot, others are only determinable by closely listening to the words being spoken in a natural context. Instead of trying to hear the differences yourself you may also consult a pronunciation dictionary (e.g. Jones 1997). Group the data according to the variants and try to determine which kinds of stems take which kinds of prefix allomorph and what kind of mechanism is responsible for the allomorphy. Formulate a rule. Test the predictions of your rule against some prefix-stem pairs that are not mentioned below. irregular incomprehensible illiterate ingenious inoffensive inharmonic impenetrable illegal incompetent irresistible impossible irresponsible immobile illogical indifferent inconsistent innumerable inevitable Exercise 2.6. In chapter 2 we have argued that only those verbs can be prefixed with un- that express an action or process which can be reversed. Take this as your initial For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org [...]... notion of a nonredundant lexicon should be rejected But what has all this to do with productivity? This will become obvious in the next section, where we will see that (and why) productive processes are characterized by a high proportion of low-frequency words For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 64 4 Measuring productivity We... accessed in the mental lexicon This turns out to be of crucial importance for the understanding of productivity Different measures of productivity are introduced and applied to a number of affixes Finally, some general restrictions on productivity are discussed 1 Introduction: What is productivity? We have seen in the previous chapter that we can distinguish between redundancy rules that describe the... above that productivity is a gradual phenomenon, which means that some morphological processes are more productive than others That this view is widespread is evidenced by the fact that in the literature on word-formation, we frequently find affixes being labeled as „quasi-“, „marginally“, „semi-“, „fully“, „quite“, „immensely“, and „very productive“ Completely unproductive or fully productive processes... For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 68 this was a randomly picked sample) and looked them up in Webster’s Third The words are ranked according to frequency (3) -able derivatives: BNC frequency and listedness in Webster’s Third -able derivative token Listed in Webster’s Third frequency absorbable 1 yes abusable 1 no accruable... is predictable by rule need not be listed This would be the most economical way of storing lexical items Although non-reduncancy is theoretically For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 60 elegant and economical, there is a lot of evidence that the human brain does not strictly avoid redundancy in the representation of lexical... Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 65 given period, the so-called neologisms In doing this, one can show that for instance an affix may have given rise to many neologisms in the 18th century but not in the 20th century The methodological problem with this measure is of course to reliably determine the number of neologisms in a given period For students of English this problem... readily available for new formations In sum, this means that unproductive morphological categories will be characterized by a preponderance of words with rather high frequencies and by a small For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 67 number of words with low frequencies With regard to productive processes, we expect the opposite,... mechanisms For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 56 are responsible for the productivity of a word-formation rule This is the question we want to address in this chapter What makes some affixes productive and others unproductive? 2 Possible and actual words A notorious problem in the description of the speakers’ morphological competence... formulation of this insight more than half a century ago, a number of productivity measures have been proposed There is one quantitative measure that is probably the most widely used and the most widely rejected at the same time According to this measure, the productivity of an affix can be discerned by counting the number of attested different words with that affix at a given point in time This has also... productivity of these affixes For more material and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 57 A further problem that we would like to solve is why some affixes occur with a large number of words, whereas others are only attested with a small number of derivatives What conditions these differences in proliferance? Intuitively, the notion of productivity . visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 2: Studying Complex Words 53 (30 ) a. [re-[organize-ation]] [[re-organize]- ation] 3 8 3 8 3 organization reorganize 8 3 3 8 3 8 8 re-. and information, please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 55 3. PRODUCTIVITY AND THE MENTAL LEXICON Outline In this chapter we will look at the mechanisms. visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Chapter 3: Productivity 56 are responsible for the productivity of a word-formation rule. This is the question we want to address in this chapter.