语言学(LectureThree)

1、Lecture Three MorphologyI.Open class and closed class, morphologyOpen class: nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to which new words can be added. For example: beatnik (a person who rejects or avoids conventional behavior)Closed class: conjunctions, prepositions, articles and pronouns to which new w

2、ord are not usually addedMorphology: Morphology refers to the study of the internal structure of words, and the rules by which words are formed.II.Morpheme: the minimal units of meaningA single word may consist of one or more morphemes. Example: a word over 5 morphemesAnti+dis+establish+ment+ari+an+

3、ism (国教废除论)(Hu, Liu & Li, 1988, p. 87)Affixes: prefixes and suffixes, disorder, wonderfulBound morphemes and free morphemes: disorder, girlDerivational morphemes: blacken, physician (may change class or words, a new word is derived or formed)Inflectional morphemes: grammatical markers, signifying su

4、ch concepts as tense, number, case and so on, they do not change the syntactic category of the original words, such as “ed”, and “ing” Some morphemes dont have any lexical meanings in sentences, such as “to” and “it”.III.Morphological rules of word formationThe ways words are formed are called morph

5、ological rules. Examples: un + inhabit + able (un + adjective = not adjective) un + decided (un + adjectival form derived from a verb)Some morphological rules can be productive but some are less.IV.CompoundsCompounds: stringing words together1.Same category: landlady, blue-black, icy-cold2.Category

6、changed keeping the grammatical category of the final word: head-strong, pounds have different stress patterns from the noncompounded word sequence, redcoat, greenhouse; red coat, green house4.The meaning of a compound is not always the sum of the meanings of its parts. For example, redcoat (在美国独立战争

7、中服役的英国士兵), bigwig (有重大影响的人), highbrow, jack-in-a-box (a tropical tree), turncoat (a tractor)Compounding is then a very common and frequent process for enlarging the vocabulary of the English language.ReferencesDai, W. D & He, Z. X. (2002). A new concise course on linguistics for students of English.

8、 Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.Hu, Z. L., Liu, R. Q. & Li, Y. F. (1988). Linguistics: a course book. Beijing: Beijing University Press.TaskDo the following in groups:1.Divide the following words into their separate morphemes by placing a “+” between each morpheme and the next:

9、a. microfile e. telecommunication b. bedraggled f. forefather c. announcementg. psychophysics d. predigestionh. mechanist2.The italicized part in each of the following sentences is an inflectional morpheme. Study each inflectional morpheme carefully and point out its grammatical meaning. Sue moves in high-society circles in London.