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Slouching Towards Deponency: A Family of Mismatches in the Bantu Verb Stem*

Jeff Good

in Deponency and Morphological Mismatches

This chapter discusses some morphological idiosyncrasies that involve the four Bantu verbal suffixes. The terms passivization and applicativization are used in the chapter to refer to abstract ... More

This chapter discusses some morphological idiosyncrasies that involve the four Bantu verbal suffixes. The terms passivization and applicativization are used in the chapter to refer to abstract morphological processes that can be applied to basic verb roots. These can create derived verb stems that show the syntax and semantics that are associated with those terms. Background information on the Bantu verb stem is provided in the second section, while the third section features a simpler morphological irregularity found in the verb stem. The chapter also discusses morphological mismatches in the verb stem and various classes of deponent verb stems.Less

Standard Chinese

San Duanmu

in Syllable Structure: The Limits of Variation

This chapter offers an analysis of distribution patterns of sounds and syllables in Standard Chinese, including sound frequencies and onset, rhyme, syllable, and tonal frequencies. It also discusses ... More

This chapter offers an analysis of distribution patterns of sounds and syllables in Standard Chinese, including sound frequencies and onset, rhyme, syllable, and tonal frequencies. It also discusses reasons for the many non‐occurring syllables, the [ɚ]‐suffix, syllabic consonants, homophone density, and syllable loss.Less

Derivation

D. Gary Miller

in Latin Suffixal Derivatives in English: and Their Indo-European Ancestry

This chapter discusses various theoretical issues concerning derivation, conversion, constraints on derivation (e.g., blocking and the haplological constraint), cumulative and substitutive ... More

This chapter discusses various theoretical issues concerning derivation, conversion, constraints on derivation (e.g., blocking and the haplological constraint), cumulative and substitutive derivation, deverbal and deradical derivation, backformation, productivity, verbs and adjectives, types of states, property concepts, different result states, internal and external causation, changes of state, bases of the Latin verb, the Aspect head hypothesis, composite suffixes, and Caland(-Wackernagel) stems.Less

The Neuter S‐stem Nouns

Torsten Meissner

in S-Stem Nouns and Adjectives in Greek and Proto-Indo-European: A Diachronic Study in Word Formation

The neuter s-stem nouns constitute one of the best established word formation categories in the Indo-European languages and it is certain that they are deep-rooted in the parent language itself. The ... More

The neuter s-stem nouns constitute one of the best established word formation categories in the Indo-European languages and it is certain that they are deep-rooted in the parent language itself. The Proto-Indo-European background of these nouns is briefly assessed in this chapter, giving due regard to problems concerning their inflection and derivation. The conditions under which new s-stem neuter nouns could be formed will then be determined. In keeping with the aim of his book of looking at morphologically and semantically closely defined classes of words in the context of the language system as a whole, the most important suffixes competing with the formations in -εσ/-οζ are examined here.Less

Epilogue: Combining the Threads

Torsten Meissner

in S-Stem Nouns and Adjectives in Greek and Proto-Indo-European: A Diachronic Study in Word Formation

The overall aim of this study is to determine the morphological and semantic characteristics of the various sigmatic formations, while accounting for their development within Greek and from ... More

The overall aim of this study is to determine the morphological and semantic characteristics of the various sigmatic formations, while accounting for their development within Greek and from reconstructed PIE into Greek. None of the suffixes involved could be studied in isolation, and to this end the consideration of their mutual interaction as well as of the connection between them and morphologically different but semantically close or equivalent formations was necessary. One lesson to be learned by this study is a fundamental one: that morphology and semantics are inseparable.Less

Complex Caland Formations

Philomen Probert

in Ancient Greek Accentuation: Synchronic Patterns, Frequency Effects, and Prehistory

This chapter discusses the recessive accentuation of occasional adjectives with primary -ro- and -no-, and of all adjectives of material with -ino- and adjectives with -(s)uno-, -imo-, and -umo-. ... More

This chapter discusses the recessive accentuation of occasional adjectives with primary -ro- and -no-, and of all adjectives of material with -ino- and adjectives with -(s)uno-, -imo-, and -umo-. Recessive accentuation in adjectives with primary -ro- and -no-, in so far as it can be explained, is due to relatively idiosyncratic properties of the individual words. The consistent recessive accentuation of words with -ino- (the material suffix), -(s)uno-, -imo-, and -umo- obviously cannot be explained on this basis. It is argued that these four suffixes are originally complex Caland suffixes, while the -ino- forming finally accented spatial or temporal adjectives (type pukinós ‘compact’, earinós ‘of spring’) has a non-Caland -i. Root accentuation (becoming Greek recessive accentuation) is argued to be inherited in complex Caland formations, and perhaps other endocentric formations.Less

Summary and Further Consequences

Philomen Probert

in Ancient Greek Accentuation: Synchronic Patterns, Frequency Effects, and Prehistory

This chapter draws together results and suggests that the accentual stability of very frequent words and of words containing frequent and synchronically recognized suffixes both result from the ... More

This chapter draws together results and suggests that the accentual stability of very frequent words and of words containing frequent and synchronically recognized suffixes both result from the stability of lexical accents attaching to frequently occurring morphemes, whether lexical stems or suffixes. Further classes of Greek word are suggested (deverbative ā-stems; personal names) whose accentuation might have been influenced by the loss of analysis and the subsequent accentual regularization, and accentual phenomena in Latin and English are compared. Consequences for Indo-European, linguistic theory, and the understanding of accentual change are explored. A final section argues that the results do not prove the literal existence of synchronic phonological rules, but could also be expressed in terms of analogy-based morphological processing.Less

Morphological Change

D. Gary Miller

in Language Change and Linguistic Theory, Volume II: Morphological, Syntactic, and Typological Change

The origin and diffusion of two English suffixes are treated. The first is 3sg. ‐s, which is not of Scandinavian origin but resulted from generalization of ‐s from is to has to other irregular ... More

The origin and diffusion of two English suffixes are treated. The first is 3sg. ‐s, which is not of Scandinavian origin but resulted from generalization of ‐s from is to has to other irregular monosyllabic verbs, to which ‐s was restricted in Early Modern English, and finally to regular verbs. The second study is deadjectival ‐en, which expanded under Norse contact in northeast England. Novel English verbs were created by semantic analogy to the Nordic models, which imposed a set of constraints: monosyllabic base, trochaic foot structure, and root‐final obstruent. A brief comparison with the spread of other affixes reveals that derivational and inflectional formatives spread by lexical diffusion. General utility and extralinguistic factors determine the rapidity of the spread and the degree of productivity.Less

Extending the Vocabulary

Adrienne Lehrer

in Wine and Conversation

Wine vocabularies can be extended morphologically by adding suffixes such as –y, –ish, –ic, –ful or –ous to nouns to construct adjectives: woody, stylish, metallic, graceful, and harmonious. More ... More

Wine vocabularies can be extended morphologically by adding suffixes such as –y, –ish, –ic, –ful or –ous to nouns to construct adjectives: woody, stylish, metallic, graceful, and harmonious. More commonly, however, new wine descriptors are added by extending the meanings of words from other semantic fields. A wine can be sharp, meaning that it causes an intense taste sensation, just as a sharp object can cause an intense feeling sensation. Many metaphorical words are used to describe the texture, strength, and age of wines. Descriptors like feminine and masculine can be interpreted by their associations with standard wine descriptors. A feminine wine is light, perfumed, and delicate; a masculine is big, heavy, and possibly rough. Less

Introduction

Muriel Norde

in Degrammaticalization

This introductory chapter explores the concepts of grammaticalization, lexicalization, and degrammaticalization, and areas of overlap between them. Both grammaticalization and degrammaticalization ... More

This introductory chapter explores the concepts of grammaticalization, lexicalization, and degrammaticalization, and areas of overlap between them. Both grammaticalization and degrammaticalization are defined as composite changes, comprising primitive changes at several linguistic levels. It discusses some controversial types of grammaticalization, pragmaticalization, and clause combining, as well as theoretical issues such as the question of whether grammaticalization, lexicalization, and degrammaticalization are autonomous processes, whether grammaticalization studies is a theory, and the role of linguistic reconstruction. It also contains an in-depth case study of the grammaticalization of the Romance MENTE-suffix.Less

Debonding

Muriel Norde

in Degrammaticalization

This chapter deals with the third and final type of degrammaticalization. Debonding is defined as ‘a change whereby a bound morpheme in a specific linguistic context becomes a free morpheme’. Like ... More

This chapter deals with the third and final type of degrammaticalization. Debonding is defined as ‘a change whereby a bound morpheme in a specific linguistic context becomes a free morpheme’. Like deinflectionalization, debonding involves bound morphemes, but where in deinflectionalization grams remain bound and gain a new function or meaning, in debonding affixes and clitics become free morphemes and do not necessarily gain a new function or meaning. Debonding can be said to comprise two subtypes, since inflectional affixes and clitics on the one hand and derivational affixes on the other behave slightly differently. Examples include infinitival markers, connective particles becoming free connectives, and numeral suffixes becoming quantifiers.Less

Conjugated ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ in SDR-Dialects

Jeroen van Craenenbroeck

in The Syntax of Ellipsis: Evidence from Dutch Dialects

This chapter focuses on the fact that in certain dialects of Dutch the polarity markers yes and no can be accompanied by subject clitics and/or agreement suffixes. Just as in the previous chapter, ... More

This chapter focuses on the fact that in certain dialects of Dutch the polarity markers yes and no can be accompanied by subject clitics and/or agreement suffixes. Just as in the previous chapter, there are many empirical similarities between this construction and Short Do Replies. This chapter argues that the structure underlying conjugated instances of yes and no is in fact a Short Do Reply that has been PF-deleted. As such, this construction combines PF-deletion and pro. The chapter also provides an account for the absence of clitics and (complementizer) agreement endings under sluicing.Less

English Derivational Morphology: Productivity, Processing, and Ordering

Timothy J. O’Donnell

in Productivity and Reuse In Language: A Theory of Linguistic Computation and Storage

This chapter reviews the empirical and theoretical literatures on English derivational morphology—in preparation for the simulation results presented in the following chapter. This chapter is divided ... More

This chapter reviews the empirical and theoretical literatures on English derivational morphology—in preparation for the simulation results presented in the following chapter. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part provides an overview of derivational morphology in English and emphasizing a number of empirical phenomena not witnessed in the domain of the English past tense. The second part of the chapter reviews the empirical literature on derivational morphology. In particular, it discusses seven classes of empirical phenomena: base selectivity, phonological complexity and regularity, semantic transparency, frequency, productivity, processing, and morpheme combination and ordering. The final part of the chapter reviews theories of three of these classes of phenomena. First, theories of productivity with a special emphasis on relationship between the frequency distributions of words and word parts and the productivity of morphological processes. Second, the chapter reviews theories of morphological processing, with an emphasis on the relationship between the frequencies of word parts and the decomposition/retrieval of words. Third, the chapter discusses the empirical phenomena of morpheme combination and ordering, with an emphasis on the relationship between morpheme ordering and productivity.Less

English Derivational Morphology: Simulations

Timothy J. O’Donnell

in Productivity and Reuse In Language: A Theory of Linguistic Computation and Storage

This chapter presents simulation results for English derivational morphology. The first part of the chapter gives a general overview of the modeling assumptions used for the simulations of the ... More

This chapter presents simulation results for English derivational morphology. The first part of the chapter gives a general overview of the modeling assumptions used for the simulations of the English derivational system. In the second part of the chapter, it is demonstrated that, of the five models in the book, only the inference-based model, fragment grammars, produces plausible predictions for the productivity of individual English suffixes. It is furthermore shown that the single-suffix productivity predictions of fragment grammars are driven by the proportion of low frequency words in the input data, and the relationship between this result and other theoretical frameworks is discussed. A second set of analyses examines predictions of the five models with regards to the decomposition and retrieval of existing words, showing how the probability of decomposition and retrieval depend on the relative frequencies of words and their parts, as predicted by several models in the literature. The last set of analyses demonstrate that fragment grammars also provides the best explanation of the pattern of morpheme combination and ordering in English derivational morphology. The model produced predictions that are globally consistent with the empirical generalization that more productive affixes tend to appear outside of less productive affixes (productivity-and-ordering generalization), but is also able to account for exceptions to this principle.Less

The Suffixes -ismus and -ita in Nouns in Czech

Magda Ševčˇíková

Pius ten Hacken, Renáta Panocová, Pius ten Hacken, and Renáta Panocová (eds)

in The Interaction of Borrowing and Word Formation

This chapter documents the interplay between borrowing and word formation on the example of the suffixes -ismus and -ita, which are listed among the most common suffixes in loan nouns in Czech. The ... More

This chapter documents the interplay between borrowing and word formation on the example of the suffixes -ismus and -ita, which are listed among the most common suffixes in loan nouns in Czech. The suffixes are both used to form abstract nouns but differ in many aspects. The suffix -ismus combines with bases that form larger derivational families than those of -ita but still most nouns in -ita share their root with several other derivatives, too. By analysing selected derivatives and their mutual relations across a large amount of derivational families, the study demonstrates that the size and inner structure of derivational families can provide significant knowledge about the meaning of the formations analysed. The meanings of the suffixes are described by patterns which involve the most relevant derivatives with explicitly marked derivational relations. Using the patterns, it is possible to explain semantic nuances that have not been described with loan words in Czech so far.Less

On stress *

Gerjan van Schaaik

in The Oxford Turkish Grammar

This chapter explains the difference between syllables with primary stress and syllables which receive secondary or tertiary stress. These notions are relevant because words may consist of many ... More

This chapter explains the difference between syllables with primary stress and syllables which receive secondary or tertiary stress. These notions are relevant because words may consist of many syllables, thereby in principle each offering an equal number of candidates for primary stress. In uninflected words primary stress can fall on any syllable; per word there is a fixed syllable bearing stress, but as soon as inflectional elements kick in, this may change. Many inflectional suffixes attract stress and this gives the general impression that the stress position shifts with every addition, but on the other hand, some word stems with non-final stress retain their primary stress position when inflected. This chapter ends by pointing out that for some words the meaning depends on the stress position.Less

On negation

Gerjan van Schaaik

in The Oxford Turkish Grammar

This chapter is intended as a mere announcement that there are three types of negation in Turkish. Each of these types has its own specific domain. First, to a verbal stem various (verbal) suffixes ... More

This chapter is intended as a mere announcement that there are three types of negation in Turkish. Each of these types has its own specific domain. First, to a verbal stem various (verbal) suffixes can be attached. Verbal negation goes by suffixation, and if a verb is to be negated, the negating suffix is added directly to the verb stem. Secondly, nominal sentences all make use of the negation particle değil ‘not’. The third type of negation occurs in existential expressions: the notion ‘there is’ is expressed by var and its negational counterpart is yok ‘there is not’. Furthermore, to a limited extent intrinsic negation is expressed in adverbial phrases by olmadan ‘without’ or by a noun expanded by the privative suffix –sIz ‘without’. Also the particle ne … ne ‘neither … nor’ has a negative meaning.Less

Building words

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald

in The Languages of the Amazon

This chapter addresses the structure and make-up of words in Amazonian languages. We start with their typological profile, and what kinds of morphemes words consist of. There are no isolating ... More

This chapter addresses the structure and make-up of words in Amazonian languages. We start with their typological profile, and what kinds of morphemes words consist of. There are no isolating languages in Amazonia. A few languages have a number of prefixes, but suffixes predominate. Body-part perfixes are an expecially salient feature of Panoan languages. In a number of languages, suffixes may appear in different order within one word. Nouns and verbs are usually clear-cut classes. The status of ‘adjectives’ is hardly ever a straightforward matter. In a number of languages, adjectives are similar to verbs in some of their features. In marking person, Amazonian languages distinguish more than just me, you and ‘the third person’. The final section addresses the ways in which number can be expressed, through pronouns, nouns and verbs.Less

New Words and Changing Uses

Jeanne Fahnestock

in Rhetorical Style: The Uses of Language in Persuasion

The English lexicon changes constantly as users coin new words and press existing words into new uses. Novel English words are formed by a variety of methods, including compounding existing words, ... More

The English lexicon changes constantly as users coin new words and press existing words into new uses. Novel English words are formed by a variety of methods, including compounding existing words, adding affixes, clipping, blending, creating acronyms, and converting from one part of speech to another. Many of these word-morphing and coining options were discussed in rhetorical manuals, and understanding these methods of word formation leads to an appreciation of English morphology. Coined words are often rhetorical “hot spots”; they indicate an arguer's attempt to convey a novel content/form pairing, and they often argue for “newness” in themselves. This chapter offers examples of each form of coinage, some from arguments where the new word trenchantly delivers an argument. The chapter also covers the inevitable processes of users changing meanings over time, and of losing words as they fall out of current if not potential usage. The process of change and loss is illustrated with an extended case study of the variable meanings of the word junk, beginning with its use by Darwin in a passage from The Voyage of the Beagle where the sense is difficult to recover.Less

The French input

D. Gary Miller

in External Influences on English: From its Beginnings to the Renaissance

French influence on English was largely lexical, but because of the high volume of loanwords the effect on English morphology was extensive. This chapter outlines the historical context in which ... More

French influence on English was largely lexical, but because of the high volume of loanwords the effect on English morphology was extensive. This chapter outlines the historical context in which thousands of words were transferred, the two main dialects from which they came, the death of French in England as seen in records of the London Grocers’ Company, and the suffixes that became productive in Middle and Early Modern English.Less