SEMINAR ON THE ISSUES OF THE MORPHEMIC STRUCTURE OF

THE WORD
Get ready to answer the following questions:
1. Why defining the word is such a complex problem?
A linguistic form which bears a partial phonetic-semantic resemblance to some
other linguistic form, is a complex form.
The real essence of a word is not an easy question to answer. The problem
associated with the definition of the term “word” is one of the most complicated in
the analysis of linguistic structure.
• First of all, we should define what units we consider linguistic ones (units of
the language). Any unit can be considered unit of the language on condition it:
1.possesses external (sound) form and semantic content,
2.is not created in the process of speech but used as something already existing and
only reproduced in speech
Thus, separate sounds cannot be considered units of the language, as a separate
sound does not possess meaning. [c] in сонце is meaningless. Only the external
form of сонце can be divided into sounds, but the word itself cannot. Therefore,
sounds are only structural units for making up units of the language.
• Trying to give a definition of the word it is important to remember that the
definition should indicate the most essential characteristic features of the notion
expressed by the term, including the features by which this notion is distinguished
from other similar notions. For instance, in defining the word one must distinguish
it from other linguistic units, such as the phoneme, the morpheme, or the word-
combination.
• The word has a good many aspects. Some scientists denied the possibility of
giving a satisfactory definition of the word because in different languages it
presents itself in different ways and that is why the notion of the “word in general”
does not exist.
2. Find arguments to support the statement that the word is the main
linguistic unit of any language.
• The word is a language reality and makes the principal functional-structural
unit of the language. The leading position of the word among other units is
explained by the importance of the functions it performs. And though in different
languages words can be singled out of the stream of speech differently and that’s
why it may be difficult to suggest the definition common for all languages but still
it is not impossible.
The term “word” has been reinterpreted in a lot of ways and undisputable
criteria have not been produced yet. We can apply:
• orthographical criterion: words are separated by spacing;
• phonological criterion: the word has one primary stress, potential pause
between words but not in the middle of words;
• semantic criterion: the word expresses coherent semantic concept;
• syntactic criterion: the word is the smallest part of the sentence.
With different modifications different criteria have been applied by a lot of
scientists. When grammatical aspects prevailed, they defined the word as “an
ultimate or indecomposible sentence” or as “minimum free form”. When semantic
aspects were of primary importance the word was considered to be the sign of a
separate notion or the linguistic equivalent of a separate concept. When semantic
criterion was combined with phonological the word was defined as “an articulate
sound-symbol in its aspect of
denoting something which is spoken about”
Each of the cited definitions is based on singling out of an important feature of the
word or of a number of features. Let`s summarise the main points:
1. The word is a dialectical unity of form and content.
2. The word is internally stable (in terms of the order of the component
morphemes).
3. The word is the minimum significant unit capable of functioning alone and
characterised by positional mobility (permutable with other words in the sentence).
This permits us to create a basis for the opposition between the word and the
phoneme, and the word and the morpheme. The phoneme and the morpheme
cannot function otherwise than in the word.
 3. Give examples to prove that linguistic form and meaning are
inseparably connected.
A linguistic form which is never spoken alone is a bound form, all others are free
forms. Some linguistic forms bear partial phonetic-semantic resemblances to other
forms: e.g. John ran, John fell, Bill ran, Bill fell; Johnny, Billy; playing, dancing;
blackberry, cranberry, strawberry. A linguistic form which bears a partial phonetic-
semantic resemblance to some other linguistic form, is a complex form. In any
complex form, each constituent is said to accompany other constituents. The
constituent forms in our example above: John ran, Bill fell,play, dance, black,
berry, straw, cran- (unique constituent in cranberry), -y (bound-form constituent in
Johnny, Billy), -ing (bound-form constituent in playing, dancing).
A linguistic form which bears no partial phonetic-semantic resemblance to any
other form is a simple form or morpheme. Thus, play, dance, cran-, -y, -ing are
morphemes. The term morpheme is derived from Greek morphe - form and -eme.
The Greek suffix -eme has been adopted by linguists to denote the smallest unit or
the minimum distinctive feature.
A morpheme can be described phonetically, since it consists of one or more
phonemes. e.g. the morpheme pin bears a phonetic resemblance to other
morphemes, such as pig, pen, tin, ten. On the basis of these resemblances it can be
analysed and described in terms of three phonemes, but, since these resemblances
are not connected with resemblances of meaning, we cannot attribute any meaning
to the phonemes. It is the morpheme that is the smallest meaningful unit of form.
The meaning of a morpheme is a sememe. The linguists assume that each sememe
is a constant and definite unit of meaning, different from all other meanings in the
language.
4. Find at least three facts to prove that Ferdinand de Saussure is rightly
called “the father” of modern linguistics.
He is considered one of the founders of 20th-century linguistics and one of two
major founders of semiotics/semiology.
 Saussure’s ideas formed the central tenets of structural linguistics.
 According to him, linguistic entities are parts of a system and are defined by
their relations to one another within said system.
  Saussure took the sign as the organizing concept for linguistic structure,
using it to express the conventional nature of language in the phrase
“l’arbitraire du signe” (довільність знака). This has the effect of
highlighting what is, in fact, the one point of arbitrariness in the system,
namely the phonological shape of words, and hence allows the non-
arbitrariness of the rest to emerge with greater clarity. An example of
something that is distinctly non-arbitrary is the way different kinds of
meaning in language are expressed by different kinds of grammatical
structure.
5. Study the suggested criteria of defining the word and get ready to
discuss them.
Syntactic criterion
Words are thought of as the smallest meaningful unit of speech that can stand by
themselves.
- Dionysius Thrax (170 BC – 90 BC): the word is the smallest part of the
sentence.
With different modifications this criterion has been applied by a lot of scientists.
Henry Sweet defined the word as “a minimum sentence” and Leonard Bloomfield
as “minimum free form”.
Minimal free form is a term which refers to the smallest unit that can exist on its
own in a sentence. Words are typically assumed to be minimal free forms.
Semantic-logical criterion
Some linguists of the XIXth-the beginning of the XXth century preferred the
semantic-logical criterion while defining the word. W.Humboldt, Е.Zivers,
D.Kudriavskii identified the sentence with the logical statement and considered the
smallest part of the sentence - the word - the sign of a separate notion.
D.Kudriavskii emphasised that that the word and the concept are not the same. The
word is just a sign of the concept that thought uses to make work easier for itself,
the same way the math uses its signs.
Psychological criterion
Followers of the psychological criterion defined the word as the linguistic
equivalent of a separate concept. (В.Вундт). Sometimes semantic-logical and
psychological criteria were combined and the word was defined as “sound symbol
of a concept”.
Semantic-phonological criterion
The semantic-phonological criterion may be illustrated by Gardiner’s definition: A
word is an articulate sound-symbol in its aspect of denoting something which is
spoken about.
Semantic criterion
The purely semantic criterion can be found in Stephen Ullmann`s explanation.
With him connected discourse, if analyzed from the semantic point of view, “will
fall into a certain number of meaningful segments which are ultimately composed
of meaningful units. These meaningful units are termed words”
Syntactic-semantic criterion
Edward Sapir takes into consideration the syntactic-semantic criterion when he
calls the word “one of the smallest completely satisfying bits of isolated “meaning”
into which the sentence resolves itself”.
Antoine Meillet [ɑ̃twan mɛjɛ] combines the semantic, phonological and
grammatical criteria and advances a formula which underlies many subsequent
definitions, both abroad and in our country: “A word is an association of a
particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of a particular
grammatical employment”
6. What three features of the word should make the basis of its adequate
definition?
Important features of the word
1. The word is a dialectical unity of form and content.
2. The word is internally stable (in terms of the order of the component
morphemes).
3. The word is the minimum significant unit capable of functioning alone and
characterized by positional mobility (permutable with other words in the sentence).
This makes the basis for the opposition between the word and the phoneme, and
the word and the morpheme. The phoneme and the morpheme cannot function
otherwise than in the word.
 7. How do we differentiate between free, bound and complex forms of
words? Give examples.
Linguistic form that can stand alone to function as words are called free forms.
i.e. words made up of one(simple) or two(compound) free morphemes
- Simple words: the, run, on, well
- Compound words (made of two free morphemes): keyboard, greenhouse,
bloodshed, smartphone
A linguistic form which is never spoken alone is a bound form, all others are free
forms.
Linguistic forms that can only be attached to another constituent (cannot stand
alone) are called bound forms.
- Examples: pre-, dis-, in-, un-, -ful, -able, -ment, -ly, -ise
A linguistic form which bears a partial phonetic-semantic resemblance to some
other linguistic form, is a complex form. In any complex form, each constituent is
said to accompany other constituents.
i.e. Complex words are words that are made up of both free morpheme(s) and
bound morpheme(s), or two or more bound morphemes.
- Pretest (pre- bound, test free), discontent, intolerable, receive
8. What are the characteristic features of morphemes in comparison with
words?
A linguistic form which bears no partial phonetic-semantic resemblance to any
other form is a simple form or morpheme. Thus, the, ran, cran-, pre-, -ing are
morphemes.
A morpheme can be described phonetically, since it consists of one or more
phonemes. e.g., the morpheme pin bears a phonetic resemblance to other
morphemes, such as pig, pen, tin, ten. On the basis of these resemblances, it can be
analysed and described in terms of three phonemes, but, since these resemblances
are not connected with resemblances of meaning, we cannot attribute any meaning
to the phonemes. It is the morpheme that is the smallest meaningful unit of form.
The meaning of a morpheme is a sememe. The linguists assume that each sememe
is a constant and definite unit of meaning, different from all other meanings in the
language.
A word, unlike a morpheme, is a minimum syntactically complete structure (= a
minimum complete utterance). Another criterion is that words are the smallest
units in a language that can be used alone as a sentence. We can say Go. Here.
Men. We cannot use the bits of words as sentences, as with un -, -ize, in-.
9. Do you agree with the statement that “The total stock of morphemes in
a language is its lexicon”?
Since every complex form is made up entirely of morphemes, a complete list of
morphemes would account for all the phonetic forms of a language. Thus, The
total stock of morphemes in a language is its lexicon However, if we knew the
lexicon of a language, and had a reasonably accurate knowledge of each sememe,
we might still fail to understand the forms of this language.
Every utterance contains some significant features that are not accounted for by the
lexicon.
10. How does L. Bloomfield suggest to classify words proceeding form their
morphemic structure? Comment on the difference of his approach and
the approach applied by the Ukrainian linguist M.Ivchenko.
L. Bloomfield`s classification
A. Secondary words, containing free forms:
1. Compound words, containing more than one free form: door-knob, wild-
animal-tamer. The included free forms are the members of the compound word: in
our examples, the members are the words door, knob, tamer, and the phrase wild
animal.
2. Derived secondary words, containing one free form: boyish, old-maidish. The
included free form is called the underlying form; in our examples the underlying
forms are the word boy and the phrase old maid.
B. Primary words, not containing a free form:
1. Derived primary words, containing more than one bound form: re-ceive,
de-ceive, con-ceive, re-tain, de-tain, con-tain.
 2. Morpheme-words, consisting of a single (free) morpheme: man, boy, cut,
run, red, big.
M.P.Ivchenko’s classification
I. Non-derived words:
1. Non-derived words consisting of the root: тепер, тут, там, дуже, мало,
завжди, скрiзь, можна, у, при, вiд, над, до, i, але.
2. Non-derived words consisting of the root and the ending: мов-а, вод-а, вез-у,
весел-ий. Here belong also words with zero affix: вiк, вiз, нiс.
II. Derived words made up of roots, prefixes and suffixes:
1. Words consisting of the root and the suffix: скрип-к-а, iстор-ичн-ий.
Several suffixes can be used.
2. Words consisting of the root and the prefix: до-пис, пере-клад.
3. Combination of the root with prefixes and suffixes: пере-стриб-ну-ти, про-
свiт-и-ти, за-пев-ни-ти.
III. Compound words created by combining two stems with or without infix:
лiсостеп, скороход.
11.How are morphemes classified and what is the underlying principle of
their classification?
Morphemes may be classified:
1. from the semantic point of view,
2. from the structural point of view.
a) Semantically morphemes fall into two classes: root-morphemes and non-root or
affixational morphemes. Roots and affixes make two distinct classes of morphemes
due to the different roles they play in word-structure.
+Roots and affixational morphemes are generally easily distinguished and the
difference between them is clearly felt as, e.g., in the words helpless, handy,
blackness, Londoner, refill, etc.: the root-morphemes help-, hand-, black-,
London-, -fill are understood as the lexical centres of the words, as the basic
constituent part of a word without which the word is inconceivable.
 b) Structurally morphemes fall into three types: free morphemes, bound
morphemes, semi-free (semi- bound) morphemes.
A free morpheme is defined as one that coincides with the stem 2 or a word-form.
A great many root-morphemes are free morphemes, for example, the root-
morpheme friend — of the noun friendship is naturally qualified as a free
morpheme because it coincides with one of the forms of the noun friend.
+A bound morpheme occurs only as a constituent part of a word. Affixes are,
naturally, bound morphemes, for they always make part of a word, e.g. the suffixes
-ness, -ship, -ise (-ize), etc., the prefixes un-,
Semi-bound (semi-free) morphemes1 are morphemes that can function in a
morphemic sequence both as an affix and as a free morpheme. For example, the
morpheme well and half on the one hand occur as free morphemes that coincide
with the stem and the word-form in utterances like sleep well, half an hour,” on the
other hand they occur as bound morphemes in words like well-known, half-eaten,
half-done.

According to the role morphemes play in constructing words, morphemes are

subdivided into roots and affixes (lat. affixus - прикрiплений).
The latter are further subdivided, according to their position, into prefixes,
suffixes and infixes, and according to their function and meaning, into derivational
and functional affixes, the latter also called outer formatives.
(The term was suggested by E.Nida as contrasted to inner formatives which
is equivalent to our term derivational affixes.)
12.Comment on the types and combinability of stems. Give examples.
An affix can be added to a larger unit than a root.
This happens in words such as blackened, in which the past tense affix -ed is
added to the verbal stem blacken - a unit consisting of the root morpheme black
and the suffix -en.
Thus stems may differ structurally, they may be root stems (work -er), derived
stems (beauti-ful -ly) and compound stems (long-hair -ed).
Stems are combined with definite affixes and their combinability or valency
depends on several reasons:
 grammatical category of stems, e.g. some suffixes can be added only to nouns
(adjectives, verbs etc.),
semantic content of stems and affixes, e.g. stems negative in meaning cannot
tackle prefixes of negation,
phonetic peculiarities of stems and affixes, e.g. some stems ending in lip
consonants take suffixes with initial vowel, e.g. dist-ance.
13.Find the definition of the notion of “paradigm”. Explain the difference
between inflexional and derivational paradigm.
Functional affixes convey grammatical meaning. They build different forms of one
and the same word. Complete sets of all the various forms of a word when
considered as inflectional patterns, such as declentions or conjugations, are termed
paradigms. An inflectional paradigm is therefore defined as the system of
grammatical forms characteristic of a word. e.g. near, nearer, nearest; son, sons,
son’s, sons’.
Lexical derivatives make up a derivational or lexical paradigm. Thus, for instance,
from the word love a number of derivative words can be generated: love, lovely,
loveliness, loveless, lover, loving, lovingly, lovable, beloved.
14.What criteria can be suggested for distinguishing between inflexional
and derivational affixes?
1) Inflexion does not change either the part of speech or the type of meaning
found in the word to which it applies
2)A second property of inflexional affixes has to do with the order in which they
are combined with a stem relative to derivational affixes.
3)A third criterion for distinguishing between inflexional and derivational affixes
has to do with productivity, the relative freedom with which they can combine with
stems of the appropriate category. Inflexional affixes typically have relatively few
exceptions. The suffix -s, for example, can combine with virtually any noun that
allows a plural form. In contrast, derivational affixes characteristically apply to
restricted classes of stems. Thus -ize can combine with only certain adjectives to
form a verb. Modern- size; new- size; legal-size.
! Derivational affixes create new words.
! Inflectional affixes create new forms of the same word
 15.What morphemic processes does declension and conjugation
presuppose? Comment on the difference.

● Types of declension (вiдмiнювання) of nouns, adjectives, numerals,

pronouns are differentiated through the system of endings which reflect
grammatical meanings of case, gender and number or only case (in cardinal
numerals).
● Verbs have a complicated system of conjugation (дiєвiдмiнювання). Main
indicators of the categories of person, gender and number are endings. Endings are
highly abstract. They can be easily attached to all the words belonging to a certain
type of declenation or conjugation and create a definite system of word-forms.
Conjugation versus Declension
Conjugation and declension refer to specific types of inflection:
▪ conjugation describes inflection of verbs. (The inflectional change of verbs
is called conjugation.
▪ In many languages this is more complex than ...
▪ declension, which describes inflection of anything else, usually nouns, but
possibly also pronouns, adjectives, determiners, depending on the language. So it is
he changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the
sentence, by way of some inflection.
Does English use declensions?
In English, the only words that are marked formally are pronouns and the
"declension" of pronouns shows three cases: The subject case, the object case, and
the possessive case. Examples: "I, me, my/mine" and "he, him, his." Other words
distinguish their syntactic usage within a sentence by their word position.
How do you conjugate nouns?
The general rule of thumb for conjugating verbs is that if there's one person, place,
or thing as the subject (not just one noun), then the verb is conjugated in the
singular. If there are multiple people, places, or things, then the verb is conjugated
in the plural.
What is declining a noun?
To decline a noun means to list all possible case forms for that noun.
Declension: Definition
When you look at different languages side by side it can seem as though they have
nothing in common. However, there are many aspects of grammar that can be seen
cross-linguistically, or across languages. One example is that a majority of the
world's languages have declension. Declension is when the form of a noun,
pronoun, adjective, or article (such as ''the'' and ''a'' in English) changes to indicate
number, grammatical case, or gender.
Declension Purpose
Declension indicates number, grammatical case, and gender in a sentence. So what
does that mean? Let's break it down one piece at a time.
1. Number
In most languages, declension for number simply means indicating whether
something is plural or singular. In English, for regular nouns, this means that an ''s''
or ''es'' is added to the end of a word to indicate plurality. The form for ''dog'' is
different than the form for ''dogs'' to tell us when there is more than one. This type
of declension, in English at least, is only applied to nouns.
2. Grammatical Case
Case reflects the function of the noun or pronoun in the sentence. For example,
English has three cases: subjective, objective, and possessive. Subjective case
means that a noun or pronoun can be the subject of a sentence (the noun or
pronoun doing the thing). You see the objective case when the noun or pronoun is
the object of a sentence (in other words, it's having something done to it). Finally,
for the possessive case, the noun or pronoun is in possession of the subject of the
sentence. The forms for each of these cases is different, which is the purpose of
declension.
Here's a specific example: look at the sentence, ''He is holding the ball.'' In this
sentence, ''he'' is inflected (the form is changed) for the subjective case, because
''he'' is the subject of the sentence. You cannot take ''he'' inflected for subject and
place it in the object position. That is why ''She is hugging he'' sounds wrong. In
that example, ''he'' should be ''him'', which is the proper declension for the
objective case in English.
3. Gender
In many languages, nouns have assigned gender, and declension is responsible for
changing the forms of adjectives and nouns to agree with the proper assigned
gender. English mainly sees this in pronouns (he/she/they).
Does English use declensions?
In English, the only words that are marked formally are pronouns and the
"declension" of pronouns shows three cases: The subject case, the object case, and
the possessive case. Examples: "I, me, my/mine" and "he, him, his." Other words
distinguish their syntactic usage within a sentence by their word position.

How do you conjugate nouns?

The general rule of thumb for conjugating verbs is that if there's one person, place,
or thing as the subject (not just one noun), then the verb is conjugated in the
singular. If there are multiple people, places, or things, then the verb is conjugated
in the plural.
What is declining a noun?
To decline a noun means to list all possible case forms for that noun.
Conjugation is the change that takes place in a verb to express tense, mood, person
and so on. In English, verbs change as they are used, most notably with different
people (you, I, we) and different time (now, later, before). Conjugating verbs
essentially means altering them into different forms to provide context. If we
regard verbs as the action part of the speech, conjugation alters verbs to tell us who
is doing the action and when the action takes place. If we didn’t conjugate the verb,
leaving it in what is called the infinitive form (to think, to laugh, to whisper), the
context (tense, person, mood, etc.) might be unclear or lost all together.
Consider the verb to be and the examples of how it is conjugated into the present
tense.
• I am 32 years old.
• You are a terrific foot player.
• Acoustics is the study of the properties of sound.
• The sheep is running across the field.
• The sheep are running across the field.