Билет 1-2_Morphemes
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The morphological system of language reveals its properties through the morphemic structure of words.
In traditional grammar the study of the morphemic structure of the word was conducted in the light of the two basic criteria: positional (the location of the marginal morphemes in relation to the central ones) and semantic or functional (the correlative contribution of the morphemes to the general meaning of the word).
In accord with the traditional classification, morphemes on the upper level are divided into root-morphemes (roots) and affixal morphemes (affixes). The roots express the concrete, “material” part of the meaning of the word, while the affixes express the specificational part of the meaning of the word, the specifications being of lexico-semantic and grammatico-semantic character.
The affixal morphemes include prefixes, suffixes, and inflexions. Of these, prefixes and lexical suffixes have word-building functions, together with the root they form the stem of the word; inflexions (grammatical suffixes) express different morphological categories. The root is obligatory for any word, while affixes are not obligatory.
Grammatical suffixes in English have certain peculiarities, which make them different from inflections in other languages: since they are the remnants of the old inflectional system, there are few (only six) remaining word-changing suffixes in English: -(e)s, -ed, - ing, - er, - est, - en; most of them are homonymous, e.g. -(e)s is used to form the plural of the noun (dogs), the genitive of the noun (my friend’s), and the 3rd person singular of the verb (works); some of them have lost their inflectional properties and can be attached to units larger than the word, e.g.:his daughter Mary’s arrival. That is why the term “inflection” is seldom used to denote the grammatical components of words in English.
Besides prefixes and suffixes, some other positional types of affix are distinguished in linguistics: for example, regular vowel interchange which takes place inside the root and transforms its meaning “from within” can be treated as an infix, e.g.: a lexical infix – blood – to bleed; a grammatical infix – tooth – teeth
Further insights into the correlation between the formal and functional aspects of morphemes within the composition of the word may be gained in the light of the so-called “allo-emic” theory put forward by Descriptive Linguistics and broadly used in the current lingu8istic research.
In accord with this theory, lingual units are described by means of the two types of terms: allo-terms and eme-terms. Eme-terms denote the generalized invariant units of language characterized by a certain functional status: phonemes, morphemes. Allo-terms denote the concrete manifestations, or variants of the generalized units dependant on the regular co-location with other elements of language: allophones, allomorphs. A set of iso-functional allo-units identified in the text on the basis of their co-occurrence with other lingual units (distribution ) is considered as the corresponding eme-unit with its fixed systemic status.
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Three main types of distribution are discriminated in the distributional analysis: contrastive, non-contrastive and complementary (comp).
Contrastive (contr.) and non-contrastive (n-contr.) distributions concern identical environments of different morphs. The morphs are said to be in contr. d. if their meanings (functions) are different. They constitute different morphemes. E.g. returned – returning.
The morphs are said to be in n-contr. d. (free alteration) if their meaning (function) is the same. They constitute free variants of the same morpheme. E.g. learned – learnt.
Comp. d. concerns different environments of formally different morphs which are united by the same meaning (function). They are the allomorphs of the same morpheme. E.g. the allomorphs of the plural morpheme [s], [z], [iz].
As a result of the application of distributional analysis to the morphemic level, different types of morphemes have been discriminated which can be called the “distributional morpheme types”.
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On the basis of the degree of self-dependence, free morphemes and bound morphemes are distinguished. Bound morphemes cannot form words by themselves, free can build up words by themselves. E.g. handful: hand – free, -ful – bound.
The auxiliary word-morphemes of various standings should be interpreted in this connection as semi-bound morphemes, since being used as separate elements of speech strings; they form categorical unities with their notional stem-words.
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On the basis of formal presentation, overt and covert morphemes are distinguished. Overt morphemes are genuine, explicit morphemes building up words. The covert morpheme is identified as a contrastive (meaningful) absence of morpheme expressing a certain function.
E.g. clocks: two overt morphemes – root (lexical) and grammatical expressing the plural
Clock: the overt root and the covert (implicit) grammatical suffix of the singular
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On the basis of segmental relation, segmental and supra-segmental morphemes are distinguished. Interpreted as supra-segmental morphemes in distributional terms are intonation contours, accents, pauses. But, on the other hand, these units are functionally connected not with morphemes, but with larger elements of language; words, word groups, sentences.
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On the basis of grammatical alteration, additive and replacive morphemes are distinguished. Additive morphemes are outer grammatical suffixes. They are opposed to the absence of morphemes in grammatical alteration.
E.g. look+ed, small+er
Root phonemes of grammatical interchange are considered as replacive morphemes, since they replace one another in the paradigmatic forms.
E.g. drive-drove-driven, man-men
5. On the basis of linear characteristic, continuous (linear) and discontinuous morphemes are distinguished. The continuous morpheme – uninterruptedly expressed. The discontinuous – a two-element grammatical unit which is identified in the analytical grammatical form (an auxiliary word and a grammatical suffix).
E.g. be … ing – for the continuous verb forms
have…en – for the perfect verb forms
be… en – for the passive verb forms