English Word Division

Analyze the following words into morphs using the model given below:

Prefix(es) Root Suffix(es)

inequality in- equal -ity

(a) hospitalization (k) disfunctional

(b) invisibly (l) inconsiderate
(c) uninteresting (m) postcolonial
(d) undercooked (n) unlikelihood
(e) transcontinental (o) relationship
(f) ungrammatical (p) asymmetrical
(g) reinforcement (q) hypersensitivity
(h) prototypical (r) unfriendliness
(i) unforgettable (s) interdependence
(j) impropriety (t) monotheism

Inflectional Affixes
For each of the bold words in the passage from Wallace Stegner's "The Dump Ground"
below, label the inflectional suffix:

pres = present tense compr = comparative degree

past = past tense supl = superlative degree
prsprt = present participle poss = possessive case
pstprt = past participle pl = plural number

The place fascinated us, as it should have. For this was the kitchen midden of all the
civilization we knew. It gave us the most tantalizing glimpses into our neighbors' lives and
our own; it provided an aesthetic distance from which to know ourselves.

The town dump was our poetry and our history. We took it home with us by the wagonload,
bringing back into town the things the town had used and thrown away. Some little part of
what we gathered, mainly bottles, we managed to bring back to usefulness, but most of our
gleanings we left lying around barn or attic or cellar until in some renewed fury of spring
cleanup our families carted them off to the dump again, to be rescued and briefly treasured by
some other boy. Occasionally something we really valued with a passion was snatched from
us in horror and returned at once. That happened to the mounted head of a white mountain
goat, somebody's trophy from old times and the far Rocky Mountains, that I brought home
one day. My mother took one look and discovered that his beard was full of moths.
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I remember that goat; I regret him yet. Poetry is seldom useful, but always memorable. If I
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were a sociologist anxious to study in detail the life of any community, I would go very early
to its refuse piles. For a community may be as well judged by what it throws away - what it
has to throw away and what it chooses to - as by any other evidence. For whole civilizations
we sometimes have no more of the poetry and little more of the history than this (from Wolf
Willow1955: 35-36).

Inflectional versus Derivational Affixes

Is -ly an inflectional or a derivational affix? Like an inflectional affix, it seems to attach to
many (though not all) of the members of the class of adjective, as in quickly, helpfully, sadly,
regrettably, softly, sharply, foolishly. If -ly is an inflectional suffix marking the grammatical
category adverb, then it should meet the following criteria for inflectional suffixes:

(a) never change the part of speech of a root,

(b) follow, not precede, any derivational suffixes,
(c) affix to virtually any member of the category adjective.

Does -ly meet these criteria? Try to think of examples which violate these principles.

Morphological and Morphemic Analysis

1. Divide the following words into morphs (use slashes) and then list the morphemes. Note
that some words may require more than one analysis into morphemes. List the
morphological realization rule(s) responsible for each formation.

Example: mice's
Answer: mice/s {MOUSE} + {pl} + {poss} fusional and agglutinative

(a) least (k) our

(b) set (l) rings
(c) fish (m) sayings
(d) should (n) broken
(e) hoped (o) these
(f) hearing (p) whose
(g) were (q) older
(h) elder (r) her
(i) must (s) taken
(j) topmost (t) women's

Ex. 1. Consider the following words:

illegal ineligible inactive imbalance

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irrelevant intolerant indeterminate immature

impossible insecure illogical irregular
 immoral infamous imbalance injudicious
impatient injury ingrate incongruous

(a) Determine the allomorphs of this derivational prefix.

(b) Determine the conditioning factors for each of the allomorphs.

Ex. 2. Consider the following words:

illegal ineligible inactive imbalance

irrelevant intolerant indeterminate immature
impossible insecure illogical irregular
immoral infamous imbalance injudicious
impatient injury ingrate incongruous

(a) Determine the allomorphs of this derivational prefix.

(b) Determine the conditioning factors for each of the allomorphs.

Ex. 3. Consider the following words:

collect cohabit collide

correct coalesce corrode
connect collate confess
commute commend cohere
combat contend coexist
compute consent coincide
compare condemn

(a) Determine the allomorphs of this derivational prefix.

(b) Specify the underlying form, allomorphs, and conditioning environments.
(c) State the meaning of the morpheme, if possible.
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Ex. 4. Consider the following pairs of words:

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sign signature
design designation
resign resignation

(a) What is the root allomorphy exhibited by all of the forms?

Ex. 5. Derivational Prefixes and Suffixes

1. Sort the prefixes in the words below into the following seven categories according to
meaning:

a. Time
b. Number
c. Place
d. Degree
e. Privative
f. Negative, and
g. Size

Each category has two prefixes. After you have classified the prefixes, use a dictionary
to identify whether the prefix is native English, Latin, or Greek in origin.

postdate maladjusted macrocosm forewarn

bifocal outdoor hyperactivity demilitarize
megawatt defrost polyglot nonentity
disclose foreshadow macroeconomics malpractice
polygon bisexual postelection nonsmoker
subway disarm megalosaur outhouse
ultraconservative hyperthyroidism subfloor ultraviolet

2. Sort the suffixes in the words below according to their class-changing function. The
categories include the following:

(a) N>N
(b) V>N
(c) A>N
(d) N/A > V
(e) N>A
(f) V>A
(g) N/A > Adv
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(There are two examples of each suffix.)

broaden syntactic width idealism
participant falsehood closure straighten
rhetorician clockwise refusal vaccinate
gangster stardom warmth tireless
twofold trial accidental selfish
advisory likelihood friendless politician
conservatism mobster kingdom facilitate
inhabitant contradictory boyish seizure
manifold stepwise thankless global
historic penniless

3. (a) Can you think of a reason why -en may attach to some adjectives, but not to
others, as shown below?
blacken broaden stiffen ripen
deafen tighten soften loosen
*thinen *longen *slimen
*nearen *slowen *narrowen
*highen *holyen *noblen

(b) Can you think of a reason why -ed may attach to some nouns, but not to others,
as shown below?

brown-haired kind-hearted low-spirited

left-handed narrow-minded strong-headed
*brown-coated *heavy-pursed *long-skirted
*one-childed *two-catted *silly-hatted

4. Which is the proper derivation of unknowledgeable? Explain.

(a) 5
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(b)

(c)

Ex. 6: Prefixation
1. Consider the following words:

disbelief dishonorable dislike

discomfort dispassionate disconnect
disharmony dismissive disclose
disorder disgraceful disinfect
displeasure disorderly disown
dishonest dissimilar discontinuous
discharge disobey distrust

(a) What kinds of roots does the prefix dis- attach to? Explain.
(b) Is it a class-maintaining or class-changing prefix?
(c) What are the two meanings of the prefix? Name and give an example from the
list above of each of the two meanings.
(d) In addition to derivation, what process of word formation is involved in the
formation of the following words?

disarm distrust dismember disfigure

disband discolor discourage disbar
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(e) What problem do the following words pose for morphological analysis? Explain.
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discern disgust dissipate disburse

 disparage dismantle dispel discreet

(f) Analyze the following words into morphs and label each morph as R (= root), DP
(= derivational prefix), DS (= derivational suffix), and IS (= inflectional suffix).
Specify the grammatical function of the affixes and the part of speech of the root.

Example: DISCOURAGEMENT dis- (DP) + courage (R - noun) + -ment (DS -

nominalizer)

disheartening
disproportionately
disqualification
disenchantments
disinterested

(h) Draw a tree diagram showing the derivation of the word disreputable.

2. Consider the following words:

antisocial antibacterial antihistamine

antibody antinuclear antihygienic
anticlimax antihero antiseptic

(a) What kinds of roots does the prefix anti- attach to? Explain.
(b) Is the prefix class-changing or class-maintaining?
(c) Give the meaning of the prefix.
(d) What problem do the following words pose for morphological analysis? Explain.

antipathy antidote antithetic antibiotic

(e) In addition to derivation, what process of word formation is involved in the

formation of the following words?

antiwar antifreeze antislip

antitrust antiknock antiwrinkle

(f) Analyze the following words as in (1f) above:

antibacterial
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antiperspirant
antirevolutionary
anticommercialization
antidisestablishmentarianism

(h) Give a tree diagram showing the derivation of the word antidepressant.

Ex. 7: Compounding
1. Identify the syntactic pattern in each of the following compounds and express it in a
lexical rule.

Example: gravedigger N + V + -er > N

(a) hovercraft (m) dugout (y) lukewarm

(b) dairyman (n) hardhearted (z) law-abiding
(c) bath-towel (o) homesick (aa) far-reaching
(d) goldfish (p) proofread (bb) homemade
(e) inroads (q) overqualified (cc) clean-cut
(f) bystander (r) overachieve (dd) fighter-bomber
(g) setback (s) badmouth (ee) earthenware
(h) meltdown (t) redhead (ff) driver's seat
(i) blackout (u) birth control (gg) baking powder
(j) stand-in (v) breakfast (hh) drip-coffee
(k) turnout (w) thoroughgoing (ii) wisecrack
(l) money-hungry (x) quick-change (jj) snowplow

2. The following words are compounds which also include derivational affixes.
Analyze the words, identifying the roots and their parts of speech, as well all the
affixes and their function as nominalizer, verbalizer, adjectivalizer, or
adverbializer.

Example: housekeeper
house (root - noun) + keep (root - verb) + -er (nominalizer)
(a) flightworthiness
(b) chatterbox
(c) owner-occupied
(d) freedom-loving
(e) handicraft
(f) broken-hearted
(g) safety-tested
(h) worldly-wise
(i) antiaircraft
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(j) machine-readable
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(k) chartered accountant

 Ex. 8: Processes of Word Formation

1. Identify the process of word formation responsible for each of the following words. Try to
determine the process before you consult a dictionary, though it may be necessary for
you to do so.

(a) curio (j) serendipity (s) guestimate

(b) (to) laze (k) diesel (t) canary
(c) (to) network (l) (a) ha-ha (u) brain-gain
(d) (to) cohere (m) (to) make up (v) boojum
(e) (a) sitcom (n) (to) total (w) gaffe-slack
(f) (the) muppets (o) (the) hereafter (x) psycho
(g) (a) what-not (p) amphetamine (y) walkie-talkie
(h) margarine (q) (a) construct (z) bonfire
(i) dystopia (r) (the) chunnel

2. The words in column A have been created from the corresponding words in column B.
Indicate the word formation process responsible for the creation of each word in column
A.

Column A Column B
(a) stagflation stagnation + inflation
(b) nostril nosu + thyrl 'hole' (in Old English)
(c) bookie bookmaker
(d) van caravan
(e) Amerindian American Indian
(f) CD compact disc
(g) RAM random access memory
(h) televise television
(i) xerox xeroxography
(j) telathon television + marathon
(k) sci-fi science fiction
(l) elect election
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(m) deli delicatessen

(n) scuba self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
(o) scavenge scavenger
(p) hazmat hazardous material

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