Module 2: Morphology

Lesson 1: Morphemes Lesson 2: Neologisms

Lesson 1: Morphemes

LET’S TRY
Direction: At the back of this page, enumerate five affixes and five suffixes then give the meaning of
each affix. (10 points)
LET’S LEARN
Direction: Read and understand Morphemes presented below.
Ferdinand de Saussure (b. 1857–d. 1913, Geneva) is widely recognized as the founder of modern
theoretical
linguistics. He defined “language” (la langue) as an internalized system of symbolic units (signs),
defined by their
intrasystemic relations, in contradistinction to “speech” (la parole) as the empirical speech activity.
According to
Saussure, signs of language are arbitrary, in the sense that the relation between their physical and
symbolic
distinction from each other has no other grounds but convention.

Morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit of speech; it may be a word, like “place” or “an,”
or an element
of a word, like re- and -ed in “reappeared.” So-called isolating languages, such as
Vietnamese, have a one-to-one
correspondence of morphemes to words; i.e., no words contain more than one morpheme.
Variants of a morpheme
are called allomorphs; the ending -s, indicating plural in “cats,” “dogs,” the -es in “dishes,”
and the -en of “oxen”
are all allomorphs of the plural morpheme. The word “talked” is represented by two
morphemes, “talk” and the
past-tense morpheme, here indicated by -ed. The study of words and morphemes is included
in morphology.
A "morpheme" is a short segment of language that meets three basic criteria:
1. It is a word or a part of a word that has meaning.
2. It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful segments without changing its meaning or
leav ing a
meaningless remainder.
3. It has relatively the same stable meaning in different verbal environments.

FREE AND BOUND MORPHEMES

There are two types of morphemes-free morphemes and bound morphemes. "Free
morphemes" can stand
alone with a specific meaning, for example, eat, date, weak. "Bound morphemes" cannot
stand alone
with meaning. Morphemes are comprised of two separate classes called (a) bases (or roots)
and (b) affixes.
A "base," or "root" is a morpheme in a word that gives the word its principle meaning. An
example of a
"free base" morpheme is woman in the word womanly. An example of a "bound base"
morpheme is -
sent in the word dissent.
AFFIXES An "affix" is a bound morpheme that occurs before or after a base. An affix that
comes before
a base is called a "prefix." Some examples of prefixes are ante-, pre-, un-, and dis-, as in the
following words:
Antedate
prehistoric
unhealthy
disregard
An affix that comes after a base is called a "suffix." Some examples of suffixes are -ly, -er,
-ism, and -
ness, as in the following words:
Happily
gardener
capitalism
kindness

DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES

An affix can be either derivational or inflectional. "Derivational affixes" serve to alter the
meaning of a
word by building on a base. In the examples of words with prefixes and suffixes above, the
addition of the
prefix un- to healthy alters the meaning of healthy. The resulting word means "not healthy."
The addition
of the suffix -er to garden changes the meaning of garden, which is a place where plants,
flowers, etc.,
grow, to a word that refers to 'a person who tends a garden.' It should be noted that all
prefixes in English
are derivational. However, suffixes may be either derivational or inflectional.

INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES
There are a large number of derivational affixes in English. In contrast, there are only eight
"inflectional
affixes" in English, and these are all suffixes. English has the following inflectional suffixes,
which serve
a variety of grammatical functions when added to specific types of words. These grammatical
functions
are shown to the right of each suffix.
-s noun plural
-'s noun possessive
-s verb present tense third person singular
-ing verb present participle/gerund
-ed verb simple past tense
-en verb past perfect participle
-er adjective comparative
-est adjective superlative

LET’S SEE WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

Direction: Write the letter of your answer before the number. (10 points)
__1. What is the meaning of the word prefix?
a. a word within a word
b. a group of letters put before a root word which changes its meaning
c. a group of letters put at the end of a root word which changes its meaning
__2. What does the word unhurt mean?
a. hurt badly
b. hurt
c. not hurt
__3. If you take away the prefix from disagree, the root word is agree.
a. true
b. false
c. maybe
__4. If you add the prefix ‘un’ to the word wrap, what is the correct spelling of the new word?
a. unwrap
b. unrap
c. unwrap
__5. What do you do if you reread a book?
a. don't read it
b. read it again c. read it for the first timeEL100: Introduction to Linguistics
Esperanza Aduna-Beresford | Page 8 of 33
__6. What kind of affix do you add to the start of a root word?
a. prefix
b. index
c. suffix
__7. Which of the following is a suffix?
a. pre
b. un
c. ed
__8. Which of the following is not a suffix?
a. ful
b. ing
c. re
__9. Which suffix can you add to the end of cook to make a new word?
a. ing
b. ful
c. est
__10. Which suffix can you add to the word peace to make a new word?
a. ing
b. ful
c. est

LET’S REMEMBER

Direction: Transform the given verbs to Nouns and Adjectives by adding suffixes. Write your answers
on the spaces
provided for . (10 points)
Verbs
Nouns
Adjectives
1. admire
___________
___________
2. amazed
___________
___________
3, amuse
___________
___________
4. approach
___________
___________
5. attend
___________
___________
Lesson 2: Neologism

LET’S LEARN

Direction: Read and understand Neologisms presented below.

NEOLOGISMS are newly coined terms, words, or phrases that may be commonly used in
everyday life but have
yet to be formally accepted as constituting mainstream language. Neologisms represent the
evolving nature of the
English language. Over time people create new words that express concepts or ideas that were
previously expressed
using other words or use words that may not have existed at all. Neologisms can be
completely new words, new
meanings for existing words.

EXAMPLES OF MODERN-DAY NEOLOGISMS

A. Examples of Social Networking and Technology Neologisms

1. Google: To use an online search engine as the basis for looking up information on the
World Wide Web.
2. Tweet cred: social standing on Twitter.
3. 404: Someone who’s clueless. From the World Wide Web error message 404 Not Found,
meaning that the requested document could not be located.
4. Crowdsourcing: The activity of getting a large group of people to contribute to a project or
task, especially by
using a website where people can make contributions; for example, online proofreading
services.
5. Spam: Flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force
the
message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it.
6. Geobragging: Repeated status updates noting your location in an attempt to get attention or make
other people jealous.
7. App: Software application for a smartphone or tablet computer.
8. Noob: Someone who is new to an online community or game.
9. Troll: An individual who posts inflammatory, rude, and obnoxious comments to an online
community.
10. Ego surfer: A person who boosts his ego by searching for his own name on Google and
other search engines.

B. EXAMPLES OF POPULAR CULTURE NEOLOGISMS

11. Tebowing: description of a prayerful victory stance derived from NFL quarterback Tim
Tebow.
12. Brangelina: used to refer to supercouple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
13. Metrosexual: A man who dedicates a great deal of time and money to his appearance.
14. Muffin top: This refers to the (often unsightly) roll of fat that appears on top of trousers
that feature a low waist.
15. Stitch ‘n’ bitch: A gathering of individuals who chat or gossip while knitting or
crocheting.
16. BFF: Stands for best friends forever. Used to state how close you are to another
individual.
17. LOL: Laughing Out Loud
18. Chilax: To calm down or relax, it is a slang term used when someone is starting to get uptight about
something that is happening.
19. Racne: Acne located on a woman’s chest.
20. Staycation: A vacation at home or in the immediate local area.

C. TRADEMARKS THAT ARE GENERICIZEDEL100:

Introduction to Linguistics

Brand names or Words that were created especially for advertising and Public Relations
campaigns that are now
used generically. These are sometimes also referred to as generonyms (a neologism in itself):
21. Aspirin
24. Hoover
27. Laundromat
30. Band-aid
22. Kleenex
25. Frisbee
28. Xerox
23. Tupperware
26. Granola
29. Zipper

D. 2012 U.S. ELECTION CAMPAIGN NEOLOGISMS

32. Republican’ts – The 49 percent of Republicans who, in a recent survey, were unable to
explain
the meaning of their party’s initials “GOP.
33. Mitthead – An individual who constantly changes his political positions to suit his
audience
and objectives,”
34. Moon-basing – The act of a candidate or surrogate offhandedly proposing a policy so
outrageous that it significantly harms the candidate’s electability.
35. Unappalin’ – Adjective used to describe a person with a combination of physical
attractiveness,
ruthless ambition and limited mental capacity.
36. Rickwad – An individual who claims to be a devout Christian but supports policies that
indicate otherwise.

E. THE WASHINGTON POST NEOLOGISM COMPETITION

Every year The Washington Post runs an annual competition in which the readers of the
newspaper are asked to
submit alternative meanings to existing words.
37. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
38. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
39. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
40. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
41. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
42. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in
your nightgown.
43. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
44. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
45. Flatulance (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a
steamroller.
46. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
47. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
48. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
49. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
50. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and
gets stuck there.

LET’S SEE WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

Direction: Match the meaning in COLUMN A with the Neologisms in COLUMN B. Write
the letter of your
answer on the space provided for. (10points)
COLUMN A
COLUMN B
__1. Rastafarian proctologist.
a. rickward
__2. Rapidly receding hairline.
b. coffee
__3. Person upon whom one coughs.
c. pokemon
__4. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
d. abdicate
__5. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
e. esplanade
__6. Appalled over how much weight you have gained. f. flatulance
__7. Formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
g. balderdash
__8. Individual who constantly changes his political positions
h. mitthead
to suit his audience and objectives,”
i. flabbergasted
__9. Individual who claims to be a devout Christian
j. rectitute
but supports policies that indicate otherwise.
k. Republicant’s
__10. emergency vehicle that picks you up after you
are run over by a steamroller.

LET’S REMEMBER

Direction: Answer the question in not more than 50 words. Write your answer at the back of this page.
(10points)EL100: Introduction to Linguistics
Esperanza Aduna-Beresford | Page 10 of 33
1. What effects can neologism bring to language?