Term
| The four kinds of information required to use a word |
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Definition
Sounds and their sequencing: phonological
Its meaning: Semantics
How related words are formed: Morphological
Its category and how to use it in a sentence: Syntax |
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Term
| Definition of the mental lexicon. How does it differ from a desk dictionary? |
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Definition
| The sum total of words we know; also, their pronunciation, part of speech, other forms, meaning, encyclopedic knowledge depending on context. They are organized on associative principles. We see things as a network of meaning. We associate words with marriage, not just their technical definition. We access it through our modes of experience. We have subconscious lexicon, where the unconscious knowledge of speech comes in. For example, we know about loose meanings of suffixes and we know idioms. Dictionary definitions are not associative and doesn’t have a web of connections associated with it. It is just one set definition. |
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Definition
| known traditionally as parts of speech and also called morphosyntactic categories in linguistics) |
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Term
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Definition
A. Suffix tests:( = morphological tests)
(1) Can you add an -s to the word, with the result meaning 'more than one'?
Ex.: desk + s = desks means 'more than one desk' TEST PASSED = 'desk' is probably a noun
(2) Can you add -'s to the word, with the result meaning'belongs to'?
Ex.: cat + 's = cat's means 'belonging to the cat', as in 'the cat's tail' TEST PASSED = 'cat' is probably a noun
B. Sentence-slot tests: ( = syntactic tests)
(3) Can the word appear alone after an article or determiner such as a, an, the, some, this, my?
Ex.: 'The desk' sounds OK; TEST PASSED = 'desk' is a noun
'The cat' sounds OK; TEST PASSED = 'cat' is a noun
Example of a word that fails: 'explore'
Suffix tests: 'explores' is an English word but doesn't meant 'more than one explore' ; 'explore's' is not an English word, e.g. *the explore's goal
Sentence-slot tests: 'The explore' doesn't sound right. ALL TESTS FAILED; 'explore' is not a noun |
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Term
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Definition
A. Suffix tests:( = morphological tests)
(1) Can you add -s to the word, with the result meaning 'someone does the action'?
Ex.: explore + s = explores means 'someone does the action of exploring' TEST PASSED
(2) Can you add -ing to the word?
Ex.: explore + ing = exploring TEST PASSED
B. Sentence-slot tests: ( = syntactic tests)
(3) Can the word follow helping verbs such as 'will ____', 'should ____'?
Ex.: will explore, should explore sound OK; TEST PASSED
We conclude that 'explore' is a verb. Try these tests with 'desk' to see if it qualifies as a verb. |
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Term
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Definition
A. Suffix tests: ( = morphological tests)
(1) Can you add -er to the word with the result meaning 'more of the quality', a higher degree of the quality named by the word?
Ex. tall + er = taller means 'more tall' TEST PASSED
(2) Can you add -est to the word, with the result meaning 'having the highest degree of the quality named by the word'?
Ex. tall + est = tallest means 'highest degree of tallness' TEST PASSED
B. Sentence-slot tests: ( = syntactic tests)
(2) Can you use 'more' and 'most' in front of the word when the word fails to accept '-er' and '-est' ?
Ex. more + expensive = more expensive means higher degree of expensiveness TEST PASSED
(3) Can you put the word in the blank in a sentence like this: The house seems _________. (You need to substitute a different word for 'house' sometimes). |
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Term
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Definition
Adverb is the most difficult of these four categories to test.
A. Suffix tests
(1) Same as for adjective.
B. Sentence-slot tests
(2) 'More' and 'most' tests as for adjective.
(3) Can you put the word in the blank following one of these verbs (supply a subject for the sentence that fits the meaning of the word being tested: (These verbs are verbs which can be followed ONLY by adverbials. Any single word which can follow them is an adverb.)
_______ sneak / behave / vanish ___(adverb slot)__________
Examples: They sneaked quietly. Children sometimes behave wildly. |
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Term
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Definition
| a pro-form that substitutes for a noun (or noun phrase), such as, in English, the words it (substituting for the name of a certain object) and he (substituting for the name of a person). |
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Definition
| a, the, some, my, his, all, that, those |
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Term
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Definition
| a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in “the man ON the platform,” “she arrived after dinner,” “what did you do it FOR ?” |
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Term
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Definition
| coordinating conjunctions should be easy to recognize, since they join two elements of the same type – nouns, noun phrases, verb phrases, sentences, etc. Trickier are subordinating conjunctions, which integrate one clause into another such that the clause plays a grammatical role such as subject, direct object, or adverbial in the larger clause; in other words, the subordinate clause modifies some part of the overall sentence: often the verb, but also nouns (in which case they are relative clauses |
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Term
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Definition
| the smallest meaningful unit of language (any part of a word that cannot be broken down further into smaller meaningful parts, including the whole word itself). The word 'items' can be broken down into two meaningful parts: 'item' and the plural suffix '-s'; neither of these can be broken down into smaller parts that have a meaning. Therefore 'item' and '-s' are both morphemes. |
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Definition
| a morpheme that can stand alone as an independent word |
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Definition
| a morpheme that cannot stand alone as an independent word, but must be attached to another morpheme/word (affixes, such as plural '-s', are always bound; roots are sometimes bound, e.g. the 'kep-' of 'kept' or the '-ceive' of 'receive'. |
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Term
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Definition
| an element (free or bound, root morpheme or complex word) to which additional morphemes are added. Also called a STEM. A base can consist of a single root morpheme, as with the 'kind' of 'kindness'. But a base can also be a word that itself contains more than one morpheme. For example, we can use the word 'kindness' as a base to form the word 'kindnesses'; to make 'kindnesses', we add the plural morpheme, spelled '-es' in this case, to the base 'kindness'. |
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Term
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Definition
| a (usually free) morpheme around which words can be built up through the addition of affixes. The root usually has a more-specific meaning than the affixes that attach to it. Ex.: The root 'kind' can have affixes added to it to form 'kindly', 'kindness', 'kinder', 'kindest'. The root is the item you have left when you strip all other morphemes off of a complex word. In the word dehumanizing, for example, if you strip off all the affixes -- -ing, -ize, and de-, human is what you have left. It cannot be divided further into meaningful parts. It is the root of the word. |
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Term
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Definition
| a bound morpheme which attaches to a base (root or stem). PREFIXES attach to the front of a base; SUFFIXES to the end of a base; INFIXES are inserted inside of a root. An example of a prefix is the 're-' of 'rewrite'; of a suffix, '-al' of 'critical'. |
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Term
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Definition
| the process by which affixes combine with roots to indicate basic grammatical categories such as tense or plurality (e.g. in 'cat-s', 'talk-ed', '-s' an d'-ed' are inflectional suffixes). Inflection is viewed as the process of adding very general meanings to existing words, not as the creation of new words. |
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Definition
| the process by which affixes combine with roots to create new words (e.g. in 'modern-ize', 'read-er', '-ize' and '-er' are derivational suffixes). Derivation is viewed as using existing words to make new words. The inflection/derivation difference is increasingly viewed as shades of gray rather than an absolute boundary. Derivation is much less regular, and therefore much less predictable, than inflectional morphology. For example, we can predict that most English words will form their plural by adding the affix <-s> or <-es>. But how we derive nouns from verbs, for example, is less predictable. Why do we add <-al> to 'refuse', making 'refusal', but '-ment' to 'pay' to make 'payment'? 'Payal' and 'refusement' are not possible English words. We have to do more memorizing in learning derivational morphology than in learning inflectional morphology. |
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Term
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Definition
| a word consisting of a single morpheme; a word that cannot be analyzed into smaller meaningful parts, e.g. 'item', 'five', 'chunk', 'the'. |
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Term
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Definition
| a word consisting of a root plus one or more affixes (e.g. 'items', 'walked', 'dirty'). |
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Definition
| a word that is formed from two or more simple or complex words (e.g. landlord, red-hot, window cleaner). |
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Term
| the eight inflectional morphemes of English and what meaning or inflectional category each expresses. |
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Definition
| They are number in nouns, tense/aspect in verbs, and comparison in adjectives. |
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Term
| How are complex words built? |
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Definition
| Complex words are built one morpheme at a time ("hierarchically"); one is added to the root to create a complex word, which, in turn, can receive another affix, producing another word, to which yet another affix can be added, etc. Be able to give a few examples, tracing the progression correctly. For instance, reopeners progresses from open > reopen > reopener > reopeners, not open > opener >reopener > reopeners. |
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Term
| Processes by which new words are created |
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Definition
affixation (including prefixes and suffixes), compounding, shortening (also known as clipping),
acronyms, blends, backformation, conversion/functional shift, semantic shift, borrowing from other
languages, coinage (inventing new words from scratch). ii) More: appropriation of brand names (jello, kitty litter, band-aid, kleenex) and onomatopoeia (creating
words that sound like what they name, e.g. hiss, quack). |
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Term
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Definition
| adding a derivational affix to a word. Examples: abuser, refusal, untie, inspection, pre-cook |
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Term
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Definition
| joining two or more words into one new word. Examples: skateboard, whitewash, cat lover, self-help, red-hot, etc. |
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Definition
| (also called conversion or functional shift): Adding no affixes; simply using a word of one category as a word of another category. Examples: Noun-verb: comb, sand, knife, butter, referee, proposition. |
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Term
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Definition
no affix is added to the base, but the stress is shifted from one syllable to the other. With the stress shift comes a change in category.
Noun Verb
cómbine combíne
ímplant implánt
réwrite rewríte
tránsport transpórt
Noun Adjective
cóncrete concréte
ábstract abstráct |
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Term
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Definition
| shortening of a polysyllabic word. Examples: bro (< brother), pro (< professional), prof (< professor), math (< mathematics), veg (< 'vegetate', as in veg out in front of the TV), sub (< substitute or submarine). |
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Definition
| forming words from the initials of a group of words that designate one concept. Usually, but not always, capitalized. An acronym is pronounced as a word if the consonants and vowels line up in such a way as to make this possible, otherwise it is pronounced as a string of letter names. Examples: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), radar (radio detecting and ranging), NFL (National Football League), AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations). |
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Definition
| Parts (which are not morphemes!) of two already-existing words are put together to form a new word. Examples: motel (motor hotel) brunch (breakfast & lunch), smog (smoke & fog), telethon (television & marathon), modem (modulator & demodulator), Spanglish (Spanish & English). |
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Definition
| A suffix identifiable from other words is cut off of a base which has previously not been a word; that base then is used as a root, and becomes a word through widespread use. Examples: pronunciate (< pronunciation < pronounce), resurrect (< resurrection), enthuse (< enthusiasm), self-destruct (< self-destruction < destroy), burgle (< burglar), attrit (< attrition), burger (< hamburger). This differs from clipping in that, in clipping, some phonological part of the word which is not interpretable as an affix or word is cut off (e.g. the '-essor' of 'professor' is not a suffix or word; nor is the '-ther' of 'brother'. In backformation, the bit chopped off is a recognizable affix or word ('ham ' in 'hamburger'), '-ion' in 'self-destruction'. Backformation is the result of a false but plausible morphological analysis of the word; clipping is a strictly phonological process that is used to make the word shorter. Clipping is based on syllable structure, not morphological analysis. It is impossible for you to recognize backformed words or come up with examples from your own knowledge of English, unless you already know the history of the word. Most people do not know the history of the words they know; this is normal. |
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Term
| Adoption of brand names as common words |
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Definition
| a brand name becomes the name for the item or process associated with the brand name. The word ceases to be capitalized and acts as a normal verb/noun (i.e. takes inflections such as plural or past tense). The companies using the names usually have copyrighted them and object to their use in public documents, so they should be avoided in formal writing (or a lawsuit could follow!) Examples: xerox, kleenex, band-aid, kitty litter. |
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Term
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Definition
| (pronounced: 'onno-motto-pay-uh'): words are invented which (to native speakers at least) sound like the sound they name or the entity which produces the sound. Examples: hiss, sizzle, cuckoo, cock-a-doodle-doo, buzz, beep, ding-dong. |
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Term
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Definition
| a word is taken from another language. It may be adapted to the borrowing language's phonological system to varying degrees. Examples: skunk, tomato (from indigenous languages of the Americas), sushi, taboo, wok (from Pacific Rim languages), chic, shmuck, macho, spaghetti, dirndl, psychology, telephone, physician, education (from European languages), hummus, chutzpah, cipher, artichoke (from Semitic languages), yam, tote, banana (from African languages). |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
Nouns:
Number [-s, -es: book/books, bush/bushes]
Possessive [-'s, -': the cat's tail, Charles' toe]
Verbs:
3rd person singular present [-s, -es: it rains, Karen writes, the water sloshes]
past tense [-ed: paint/painted]
perfect aspect: [-ed: paint/painted ('has painted) (past participle)]
progressive or continunous aspect: [-ing: fall/falling, write/writing (present participle)]
Adjectives:
comparative (comparing two items) [-er: tall/taller]
superlative (comparing +2 items) [-est: tall/tallest] |
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