Chapter-3-Morphology---Exercises

1 Chapter 3 Morphology Exercise and Discussion Questions I In each question there are four choices Decide which one will be the best answer to the question or will best complete the sentence 1 The morpheme vision in the common word television is a n A bound morphemeB bound form C inflectional morphemeD free morpheme 2 The compound word bookstore is the place where books are sold This indicates that the meaning of a compound A is the sum total of the meaning of its components B can always be worked out by looking at the meanings of morphemes C is the same as the meaning of a free phrase D None of the above 3 The part of speech of the compounds is generally determined by the part of speech of A the first element B the second element C either the first or the second element D both the first and the second elements 4 are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes either free or bound to form a word A Free morphemesB Bound morphemes C Bound wordsD Words 5 The meaning carried by the inflectional morpheme is A lexical B morphemic C grammatical D semantic 2 6 Bound morphemes are those that A have to be used independently B cannot be combined with other morphemes C can either be free or bound D have to be combined with other morphemes 7 modify the meaning of the stem but usually do not change the part of speech of the original word A PrefixesB Suffixes C Roots D Affixes 8 s in the word books is A a derivative affixB a stem C an inflectional affixD a root II Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False 1 Although the vast majority of prefixes do not change the original word class there are prefixes that are class changing a be em en 2 Inflectional ending can be added to derivational ones but not vice versa 3 The syllabic structure of a word and its morphemic structure must correspond 4 Derivations can make the word class of the original word either changed or unchanged 5 Words are the smallest meaningful units of language 6 The smallest meaningful units that can be used freely all by themselves are free morphemes 7 Inflectional morphemes manifest various grammatical relations or grammatical categories such as number tense degree and case 8 The existing form to which a derivational affix can be added is called a stem which can be a bound root a free morpheme or a derived form itself 9 Prefixes usually modify the part of speech of the original word not the meaning of it 3 10 There are rules that govern which affix can be added to what type of stem to form a new word Therefore words formed according to the morphological rules are acceptable words III Define the following terms 1 morphology 2 morpheme 3 free morpheme 4 bound morpheme 5 allomorph 6 root 7 affix 8 inflection 9 derivation 10 compounding V Answer the following questions 1 What are the main features of the English compounds 2 Distinguish between phonologically and morphologically conditioned allomorphs Give examples 3 Discuss the types of morphemes with examples 4 What have you learned about the topic of morphology can you put them into practice in you English learning 4 Suggested answers I In each question there are four choices Decide which one will be the best answer to the question or will best complete the sentence 1 D2 D3 B4 B5 C6 D7 A8 C II Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False 1 T2 T3 F4 T5 F6 T7 T8 T9 F10 F III Define the following terms 1 Morphology Morphology is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed 2 Morpheme It is the smallest meaningful unit of language 3 Free morpheme Free morphemes are the morphemes which are independent units of meaning and can be used freely all by themselves or in combination with oth er morphemes 4 Bound morpheme Bound morphemes are the morphemes which cannot be used indepen dently but have to be combined with other morphemes either free or bound to form a word 5 Root A root is often seen as part of a word it can never stand by itself although it bears clear definite meaning it must be combined with another root or an affix to form a word 6 Affix Affixes are of two types inflectional and derivational Inflectional affixes manifest various grammatical relations or grammatical categories while derivational affixes are added to an existing form to create a word 7 Prefix Prefixes occur at the begin ning of a word Prefixes modify the meaning of the stem but they usually do not change the part of speech of the original word 5 8 Suffix Suffixes are added to the end of the stems they modify the meaning of the original word and in many cases change its part of speech 9 Derivation Derivation is a process of word formation by which derivative affixes are added to an existing form to create a word 10 Compounding Compounding can be viewed as the combination of two or sometimes more than two words to create new words V Answer the following questions 1 What are the main features of the English compounds Orthographically a compound can be written as one word two separate words with or without a hyphen in between Syntactically the part of speech of a compound is determined by the last element Semantically the meaning of a compound is idiomatic not calculable from the meanings of all its components Phonetically the word stress of a compound usually falls on the first element 2 Distinguish between phonologically and morphologically conditioned allomorphs Give examples Morphophonemics is an intermediary level of analysis between phonology and morphology in which the phonological regularities in the framework of morphology especially the systematic phonological variants of morphemes and the conditions of their occurrence are described 1 Phonological conditioning of allomorphs The distribution of the allomorphs of a morpheme is stated in terms of their phonetic environment e g the phonetic variations of the past tense morphemes ed as d in stayed t in heaped and id in needed 2 Morphological conditioning of allomorphs The morphologically conditioned allomorphs of a morpheme are regarded as irregular in contrast to the phonologically conditioned allomorphs which are regarded as regular For instance it is the particular morphemes rather than the sounds of the words that determine the plural forms of nouns E g child children foot feet 3 Discuss the types of morphemes with examples Free morphemes They are the independent units of meaning and can be used freely all by themselves for example book in the word bookish 6 Bound morphemes They are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes either free or bound to form a word such as ish in bookish Bound morphemes can be subdivided into roots and affixes A root is seen as part of a word it can never stand by itself alth