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Some Elements ofMorphological

Theory

SupplementaryReadings

Other Types ofWord Formation

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

Inflectional vs.DerivationalAffixes

. . . . . .

Some Elements of Morphological Theory

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Supplementary Readings

The following readings have been posted to the Moodlecourse site:

I Contemporary Linguistics: Chapter 4 (pp. 127-143)

The following reading (on Moodle) is not essential, butyou might find it helpful/interesting:

I Language Instinct: Chapter 5 (119-152)

Theory

Other Types ofWord FormationInfixation

Reduplication

Internal Change (Ablaut)

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

The Basics of MorphologyThe Fundamental Question (for Linguists):What are the rules and mental representations that underlie ourability to speak and understand a language?

Last Class:Some of those rules concern the formation of words.

Morphological Rule Illustrative Word:N → V + /1ô/ playerN → A + /nEs/ happinessA → V + /@bl

"/ doable

A → V + /iN/ sickeningA → A + /1ô/ tallerV → /ôi/ + V reinvestA → /2n/ + A uninterestingV → /2n/ + V unlock

Morphology:The study of rules of word formation (word structure).

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Going Further...

I So far, we’ve seen two kinds of morphological rule:

I Prefixation:attaching a prefix to the beginning of a morpheme

I Suffixation:attaching a suffix to the end of a morpheme

I These are the main types of morphological rule in English.

I However...I There are other types of morphological rules in the

languages of the world...

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Infixation

Suffix:An affix that attaches to the end of a morpheme.

Prefix:An affix that attaches to the beginning of a morpheme.

Infix:An affix that is inserted into a morpheme.

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Infixation in Tagalog

Consider the following pairs of words from Tagalog.

[bili] ‘buy’ [binili] ‘bought’[basa] ‘read (pres)’ [binasa] ‘read (past)’[sulat] ‘write’ [sinulat] ‘wrote’

Observations:

I The words on the left are verbs.

I The words on the right are verbs.

I The words on the right are just like the ones on the left, except[in] appears after the first sound.

I For each of these pairs, the verb with [in] is in the past tense.

Hypothesis: Tagalog morphology contains the following rule:

I “You can form a V from a V by inserting [in] after the first sound.”

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Observations:

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Observations:

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Infixation in English

Consider the following pairs of words from English.

incredible in-freakin’-crediblefantastic fan-freakin’-tasticMassachusetts Massa-freakin’-chusettsunderestimated under-freakin’-estimated

Observations:

I The words on the left are adjectives, nouns, verbs.

I The words on the right are also adjectives, nouns, verbs.

I The words on the right are just like the ones on the left, except‘freakin’ appears inside them.

Hypothesis: English morphology contains the following rule:

I For any word of English, you can form another word by sticking‘freakin’ inside it.

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Observations:

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Observations:

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Constraints on English InfixationSkeptical Question:Uhm...isn’t this just people saying ‘freakin’ while in the middleof saying something else?

Fun Fact:You can’t just put ‘freakin’ anywhere inside a word of English.

incredible in-freakin’-credible *incredi-freakin’-blefantastic fan-freakin’-tastic *fantas-freakin’-ticMassachusetts Massa-freakin’-chusetts *Mass-freakin’-achusettsunderestimated under-freakin’-estimated *underes-freakin’-timated

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Fun Fact:You can’t just put ‘freakin’ anywhere inside a word of English.

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Fun Fact:Instead, it has to go just before the syllable receiving ‘mainstress’

Conclusions:

I The insertion of ‘freakin’ is rule governed.

I The rule refers to stress, and so it is a ‘linguistic’ rule.

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Fun Fact:Instead, it has to go just before the syllable receiving ‘mainstress’

Conclusions:

I The insertion of ‘freakin’ is rule governed.

I The rule refers to stress, and so it is a ‘linguistic’ rule.

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Reduplication

Suffixation:Attaching an affix to the end of a morpheme.

Prefixation:Attaching an affix to the beginning of a morpheme.

Infixation:Inserting an affix inside a morpheme.

Reduplication:Copying a morpheme, or part of a morpheme.

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Reduplication in Bahasa Indonesian

Consider the following pairs of words from Bahasa Indonesian.

[oraN] ‘man’ [oraN oraN] ‘men’[anak] ‘child’ [anak anak] ‘children’[maNga] ‘mango’ [maNga maNga] ‘mangoes’

Observations:

I The words on the left are nouns.

I The words on the right are nouns.

I The words on the right are doubles of the ones on the left.

I For each of these pairs, the doubled word is plural.

Hypothesis:Bahasa Indonesian morphology contains the following rule:

I “You can form a N by doubling another N.”

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Observations:

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Observations:

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Reduplication in English

I Reduplication is an incredibly commonword-formation process across languages.

I We even have it in English (to a limited extent):

I “Is she just sort of a friend, or is she a friend friend?”

I “I don’t want a taco salad, I want a salad salad.”

I “She’s reading a book book, not just a ‘graphic novel’.”

I The Rule of English Reduplication:A noun can be reduplicated to mean ‘a true instance of the type’.

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Suffixation:Attaching an affix to the end of a morpheme.

Internal Change (Ablaut):Altering some phoneme(s) within a morpheme.

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Internal Change (Ablaut) in English

[spik] ‘speak’ [spowk] ‘spoke’[ôajt] ‘write’ [ôowt] ‘wrote’[Ùuz] ‘choose’ [Ùowz] ‘chose’

Observations:

I The verbs on the right look just like those on the left, except thevowel has changed (to [ow]).

I The verbs on the right are the past-tense versions of the verbson the left.

I Form past-tense of some verbs by changing the vowel to [ow].

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Observations:

Theory

Reduplication

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Observations:

Theory

CompoundingThe Facts

Right-Hand Head Rule

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

CompoundingSuffixation:Attaching an affix to the end of a morpheme.

Internal Change (Ablaut):Altering some phoneme(s) within a morpheme.

Compounding:Forming a word by combining together two other words.

I Unlike the other processes, compounding combinestwo free morphemes.

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Compounding in EnglishSome Compounds in English:

blackboard (black + board)dollhouse (doll + house)jumpsuit (jump + suit)steamroll (steam + roll)whitewash (white + wash)breakdance (break + dance)nationwide (nation + wide)blue-green (blue + green)

Compounds and English Spelling:I Sometimes compounds are written as a single word (mailman).

I Sometimes they are hyphenated (blue-green, spoon-feed).

I Sometimes they are written as two separate words:

I dog houseI fire engineI oil wellI television repair specialization exam

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Compounds and English Spelling:I Sometimes compounds are written as a single word (mailman).

I Sometimes they are hyphenated (blue-green, spoon-feed).

I Sometimes they are written as two separate words:

I dog houseI fire engineI oil wellI television repair specialization exam

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Question:What shows that things like ‘dog house’ are single, compoundwords?

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Answer = Stress

I In a compound, main stress is on first word.

I In a phrase, main stress can be on last word.

blackbird a black cardog house an old housefire engine a broken engine.oil well an empty well

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Morphological Rules for Compounding

Important Fact:The way that compounding works reveals somethinginteresting about prefixation and suffixation.

I To see this, we’ll begin by writing out some rules forcompounding.

I In doing this, we’re going to pay careful attention to:I The categories of the words in the compound

(noun, verb, adjective)

I The category of the resulting compound(noun, verb, adjective)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Noun-Noun CompoundsIn English, two nouns are ‘compounded’ together into a singlenoun.

Illustration: ‘Dollhouse’ N

/dAl/ /haws/

The Rule This Suggests:

N → N + N(A noun may be formed from a noun followed by another noun)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Adjective-Noun CompoundsIn English, an adjective and a noun are ‘compounded’ togetherinto a single noun.

Illustration: ‘Blackbird’ N

/blæk/ /b1ôd/

N → A + N(A noun may be formed from an adjective followed by a noun)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Verb-Noun CompoundsIn English, a verb and a noun are ‘compounded’ together into asingle noun.

Illustration: ‘Jumpsuit’ N

/Ã2mp/ /sut/

N → V + N(A noun may be formed from a verb followed by a noun)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Noun-Verb CompoundsIn English, a noun and a verb are ‘compounded’ together into asingle verb.

Illustration: ‘Spoon-feed’ V

/spun/ /fid/

V → N + V(A verb may be formed from a noun followed by a verb)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Adjective-Verb CompoundsIn English, an adjective and a verb are ‘compounded’ togetherinto a single verb.

Illustration: ‘Whitewash’ V

/ûajt/ /wAS/

V → A + V(A verb may be formed from an adjective followed by a verb)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Verb-Verb CompoundsIn English, two verbs are ‘compounded’ together into a singleverb.

Illustration: ‘Breakdance’ V

/bôejk/ /dæns/

V → V + V(A verb may be formed from a verb followed by another verb)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Noun-Adjective CompoundsIn English, a noun and an adjective are ‘compounded’ togetherinto a single adjective.

Illustration: ‘Nationwide’ A

/nejS1n/ /wajd/

A → N + A(An adjective may be formed from a noun followed by an adjective)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Adjective-Adjective CompoundsIn English, two adjectives are ‘compounded’ together into asingle adjective.

Illustration: ‘Blue-green’ A

/blu/ /gôin/

A → A + A(An adjective may be formed from an adjective followed by anotheradjective)

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

An Emerging PatternRule Illustrative WordN → N + N ‘dollhouse’N → A + N ‘blackbird’N → V + N ‘jumpsuit’V → N + V ‘spoon-feed’V → A + V ‘whitewash’V → V + V ‘breakdance’A → N + A ‘nationwide’A → A + A ‘blue-green’

A Crucial Observation:The category of the compound is always the same as thecategory of the last word in the compound.

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/blæk/ /b1ôd/

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/blæk/ /b1ôd/

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/Ã2mp/ /sut/

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/spun/ /fid/

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/ûajt/ /wAS/

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/nejS1n/ /wajd/

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

A Characterization:The category of the compound is ‘copied up’ from the categoryof the rightmost word in the compound.

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Heads and WordsVocabulary:X is the head of Y if:

I X is a part of YI The category of Y is ‘copied up’ from the category of X

Word Head of Wordblackbird (N) bird (N)jumpsuit (N) suit (N)spoon-feed (V) feed (V)whitewash (V) wash (V)nationwide (A) wide (A)

Heads and Meaning:Sometimes the head contributes the ‘core meaning’ of the compound.

I A ‘blackbird’ is a kind of bird.I A ‘jumpsuit’ is a kind of suit.I To ‘breakdance’ is to dance.

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Heads and WordsVocabulary:X is the head of Y if:

I X is a part of YI The category of Y is ‘copied up’ from the category of X

Word Head of Wordblackbird (N) bird (N)jumpsuit (N) suit (N)spoon-feed (V) feed (V)whitewash (V) wash (V)nationwide (A) wide (A)

Heads and Meaning:Sometimes the head contributes the ‘core meaning’ of the compound.

I A ‘blackbird’ is a kind of bird.I A ‘jumpsuit’ is a kind of suit.I To ‘breakdance’ is to dance.

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

The Right-Hand Head RuleThe Right-Hand Head RuleIn an English compound, the head is the right-most morpheme.

I We can now get rid of all those separate ‘compounding rules’:

N → N + N ‘dollhouse’N → A + N ‘blackbird’N → V + N ‘jumpsuit’V → N + V ‘spoon-feed’V → A + V ‘whitewash’V → V + V ‘breakdance’A → N + A ‘nationwide’A → A + A ‘blue-green’

I ‘Right-Hand Head Rule’ makes all these rules redundant.

I Suppose you put together a N and a V into a single word.

I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a V.

I And so we don’t need a separate rule of ‘V → N + V’

Theory

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

The Right-Hand Head RuleThe Right-Hand Head RuleIn an English compound, the head is the right-most morpheme.

I We can now get rid of all those separate ‘compounding rules’:

N → N + N ‘dollhouse’N → A + N ‘blackbird’N → V + N ‘jumpsuit’V → N + V ‘spoon-feed’V → A + V ‘whitewash’V → V + V ‘breakdance’A → N + A ‘nationwide’A → A + A ‘blue-green’

I ‘Right-Hand Head Rule’ makes all these rules redundant.

I Suppose you put together a N and a V into a single word.

I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a V.

I And so we don’t need a separate rule of ‘V → N + V’

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Rethinking English MorphologyOur Morphological Rules for English:

N → V + /1ô/ playerN → A + /nEs/ happinessA → V + /@bl

"/ doable

Observation 1:Prefixation never changes the category of the word:

I V → /ôi/ + VI A → /2n/ + AI V → /2n/ + V

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

"/ doable

Observation 1:Prefixation never changes the category of the word:

I V → /ôi/ + VI A → /2n/ + AI V → /2n/ + V

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

"/ doable

Observation 2:Suffixation sometimes changes the category of the word:

I N → V + /1ô/

I N → A + /nEs/

I A → V + /@bl"/

I A → V + /iN/

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

"/ doable

A Key Proposal:Let’s suppose that affixes have a category type, like free words.

Suffix Category Meaning/1ô/ N “one who does X”/nEs/ N “state of being X”/@bl

"/ A “able to be Xed”

/iN/ A “tends to X people”

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Affixes and HeadsSuffix Category Meaning/1ô/ N “one who does X”/nEs/ N “state of being X”/@bl

Key Consequence:Right-Hand Head Rule means we can get rid of our separatesuffixation rules!

/plej/ /1ô/

I Suppose you put together a V and “-er” into a single word.

I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a N.

I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘N → V + /1ô/’

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/plej/ /1ô/

I Suppose you put together a V and “-er” into a single word.

I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘N → V + /1ô/’

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/hæpi/ /nEs/

I Suppose you put together an A and “-ness” into a single word.

I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘N → A + /nEs/’

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/du/ /@bl"/

I Suppose you put together a V and “-able” into a single word.

I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a A.

I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘A → V + /@bl"/’

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/bOô/ /iN/

I Suppose you put together a V and “-ing” into a single word.

I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a A.

I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘A → V + /iN/’

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Key Consequence:Right-Hand Head Rule means we can get rid of our separateprefixation rules!

/ôi/ /du/

I Suppose you put together “re-” and a V into a single word.I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a V.I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘V → /ôi/ + V’

(Note that we cannot determine the category of “re-”)

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/ôi/ /du/

I Suppose you put together “re-” and a V into a single word.I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a V.I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘V → /ôi/ + V’

(Note that we cannot determine the category of “re-”)

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/2n/ /du/

I Suppose you put together “un-” and a V into a single word.I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a V.I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘V → /2n/ + V’

(Note that we cannot determine the category of “un-”)

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

/2n/ /kul/

I Suppose you put together “un-” and a A into a single word.I The ‘RHHR’ alone says that the word must be a A.I Therefore, we don’t need a separate rule of ‘A → /2n/ + A’

(Note that we cannot determine the category of “un-”)

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Affixes and HeadsKey Consequence 1:We can now eliminate nearly all our rules of prefixation and suffixation:

"/ doable

A → V + /iN/ sickeningV → /ôi/ + V reinvestA → /2n/ + A uninterestingV → /2n/ + V unlock

Key Consequence 2:We now know why prefixation never changes category:

I Given the RHHR, a prefix can never be a head.

Key Consequence 3:We now know why suffixation can change category:

I Given the RHHR, a suffix can be a head.

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

"/ doable

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

"/ doable

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

Inflectional vs.DerivationalAffixesThe Facts

Inflectional vs. Derivational

Right-Hand Head RuleRedux

Morpheme OrderingConstraint

. . . . . .

Suffixation that Doesn’t Change CategoryObservation:Some suffixation doesn’t change the category of the resulting word.

Rule Illustrative Word

A → A + /1ô/ “taller” [tAl1ô]

V → V + /d/ “called” [kAld]

N → N + /z/ “bees” [biz]

Question:Do these suffixes pose a problem for our Right-Hand Head Rule?

Answer:I These suffixes have some special properties.I Those properties distinguish them from other affixes we’ve seen.I Those properties suggest they are a different kind of affix.I In the end, they pose no problem for our RHHR...

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Differences in ProductivityObservation 1:Affixes like /2n/, /@bl

"/, /iN/ sometimes fail to combine with words

because of their meaning.

Undo (to reverse doing) *Unshoot (to reverse shooting?)Doable (able to be done) *Arriveable (able to be arrived?)Annoying (makes people annoyed) *Eating (makes people eaten?)

Observation 2:The suffixes /1ô/, /d/, /z/ never fail to combine with words becauseof their meaning.

I Make up any new adjective, verb, noun you like...I They will be able to combine with /1ô/, /d/, /z/ (respectively)

A Complication: Some As/Vs/Ns don’t combine with /1ô/, /d/, /z/

I *intelligenter, *speaked, *childs

But, these words do combine with (irregular) morphemes with thesame meaning

I more intelligent, spoke, children

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Differences in ‘Syntactic Effects’

Observation 1:The presence of /1ô/, /d/, /z/ can have effects on other words in asentence.

Dave is taller than Bill *Dave is tall than Bill.Dave has called. *Dave has call.The boys are happy. *The boy are happy.

Observation 2:The presence of affixes like /2n/ and /ôi/ doesn’t have any effect onthe broader sentence.

Dave will redo the assignment Dave will do the assignment.Dave will untie the ribbon Dave will tie the ribbon.Dave is uncool. Dave is cool.

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Differences in ‘Syntactic Effects’

Observation 1:The presence of /1ô/, /d/, /z/ can have effects on other words in asentence.

Dave is taller than Bill *Dave is tall than Bill.Dave has called. *Dave has call.The boys are happy. *The boy are happy.

Observation 2:The presence of affixes like /2n/ and /ôi/ doesn’t have any effect onthe broader sentence.

Dave will redo the assignment Dave will do the assignment.Dave will untie the ribbon Dave will tie the ribbon.Dave is uncool. Dave is cool.

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Inflectional vs. Derivational Affixes

Summary of Observations:

I Some affixes (/1ô/, /d/, /z/) have the following properties:I They don’t affect the category of the resulting word.I They never fail to combine with a word because of its

meaning.I Their presence affects other words in the sentence.

I Other affixes have the following properties:I They do affect the category of the resulting word.I They sometimes fail to combine with words because of

their meaning.I Their presence needn’t affect other words in the sentence.

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Inflectional vs. Derivational AffixesInflectional Morphology

I Doesn’t affect the category of the resulting word.I Never fails to combine with a word because of its meaning.I Presence can affect other words in the sentence.

Derivational MorphologyI Can affect the category of the resulting word.I Sometimes fails to combine with words because of their

meaning.I Presence needn’t affect other words in the sentence.

Categorization of Morphemes in English:Inflectional Derivational/1ô/ (for As) /1ô/ (for Vs)/d/ /nEs/

/z/ /@bl"/

/2n/ (for As and Vs)/ôi/

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Inflectional vs. Derivational AffixesInflectional Morphology

I Doesn’t affect the category of the resulting word.I Never fails to combine with a word because of its meaning.I Presence can affect other words in the sentence.

Derivational MorphologyI Can affect the category of the resulting word.I Sometimes fails to combine with words because of their

meaning.I Presence needn’t affect other words in the sentence.

Categorization of Morphemes in English:Inflectional Derivational/1ô/ (for As) /1ô/ (for Vs)/d/ /nEs/

/z/ /@bl"/

/2n/ (for As and Vs)/ôi/

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Inflectional Suffixes and CategoryQuestion:

I Why don’t inflectional suffixes affect the category of the word?I Why does RHHR seem not to apply to them?

An Idea:Let’s suppose that, unlike derivational affixes, inflectional affixes don’thave a category.

A /1ô/

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

An Idea:Let’s suppose that, unlike derivational affixes, inflectional affixes don’thave a category.

A /1ô/

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Revised Right-Hand Head RuleIn an English word, the head is the right-most morpheme that has acategory.

The Answer:Since inflectional suffixes don’t have a category, the word theyattach to is always the head!

A /1ô/

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Revised Right-Hand Head RuleIn an English word, the head is the right-most morpheme that has acategory.

The Answer:Since inflectional suffixes don’t have a category, the word theyattach to is always the head!

A /1ô/

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

The Morpheme Ordering ConstraintThe following fact provides a tool for telling whether an affix isinflectional / derivational.

The Morpheme Ordering Constraint:I An inflectional affix can be added to a word containing a

derivational one.I But, a derivational affix can’t be added to a word containing an

inflectional one.

Illustration:

Bakers *TallernessN

/bejk/ /1ô/

A /1ô/

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Using the ConstraintThe following fact provides a tool for telling whether an affix isinflectional / derivational.

The Morpheme Ordering Constraint:I An inflectional affix can be added to a word containing a

derivational one.I But, a derivational affix can’t be added to a word containing an

inflectional one.

A Test for ‘Derivational’ Status:If a derivational affix can be added to a word containing affix X,then X must also be a derivational affix.

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

The Suffix ‘-Ish’The Rule: A → A + /IS/An adjective can be formed by suffixing ‘-ish’ to an adjective.

blue blueishyoung youngishtall tallishangry angryish

Properties of ‘-Ish’:‘-Ish’ has some of the properties of ‘inflectional’ affixes:

I Does not affect the category of the wordI Applies to just about any adjective you can imagine.

Question: Is ‘-ish’ a derivational or an inflectional affix?

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

The Suffix ‘-Ish’

Fact:You can add a derivational morpheme to a word containing ‘-ish’.

I blueishness (compare *bluerness)I youngishness (compare *youngerness)I tallishness (compare *tallerness)

Conclusion:The suffix ‘-ish’ is indeed a derivational affix (not an inflectional one).

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

Theory

Compounding

Heads and Affixes

. . . . . .

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