Mid-term Exam
1. Please illustrate the logical relationships of the following terms: free morphemes, bound root, derivational affixes, affixes, morphemes, inflectional affixes, bound morphemes.
2. Prefixation and suffixation are two subclasses of affixation. Please define prefixation and suffixation and explain the difference between them. Use “polite—impolite”, “happy—happiness” to illustrate your point.
3. Comment on the following groups of words to illustrate types of meaning of words and their relationship.
Group 1: “took, taught, became”
Group 2: “have, has, had, had, having”
4. Analyze and comment on three adjectives used in the following sentences based on synonym difference in connotation. [A] Look at that little boy. [B] Look at that small boy. [C] Look at that tiny boy
5. The basic form of English negative prefix in- is [in-], as in inaccurate and insecure. In impossible, [n] is changed to match the place of articulation of its following stop [p]. In illiterate, [n] becomes identical to its following [1]. Which phonological rule does this example illustrate? Please define the rule and give one more example.
Answers:
1. Morphemes may be classified into free morphemes and bound morphemes. Alternatively, morphemes may be divided into roots and affixes. Quite a number of bound roots belong to the class of bound morphemes. Affixes are considered bound morphemes, they may be divided into inflectional affixes and derivational affixes.
2. Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding a prefix or combining form to the base.
Suffixation is the formation of a new word by adding a suffix or a combining form to the base.
Prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the base, and they do not generally alter the word-class of the base, while the suffixation changes the word-class of the base.
polite—impolite, the prefix “im” just change the lexical meaning of the base ?polite?, but it doesn?t alter the word-class. They are still adjectives. happy—happiness, it is a process of suffixation. Although it doesn?t change the lexical meaning of the base, it changes the word-class of the base---from an adjective into a noun.
3. Group1: These words are inflectional affixes, and they are the various irregular verb forms for the past tense and past participle. ?took? is the past tense of the word ?take?, ?taught? is the past tense and past participle of the word ?teach?, ?became? is the past tense of the word ?become?. They are also the inflectional affixes, but they don?t form new words with new lexical meanings when they are added to another word.
Group 2: ?has? is the third person singular present tense of the word ?have?; ?having? is for the present participle; ?had? is the past tense of the word ?have?, while ?had? is the past participle of it. They are all the inflectional affixes, but they don?t form new words with new lexical meanings when they are added to another word.
4. Little, small and tiny are synonyms. But if any emotion is associated with the
designation, we must choose little. \Yet if you should exclaim \small boy!\the phrase is unidiomatic, because the word small has no affective meaning. Under the head-word little in the OALD of 1980, you will find:\preceded by another adj. with no connection of smallness, to indicate affection, tenderness, regard, admiration, or the contrary, depending upon the preceding adj.): Isn't he a little devil! (indicating affectionate regard). What a pretty little house! That poor little girl! (indicating sympathy)...She's a nice little thing (indicating tenderness or regard, but possibly patronage, or a feeling of superiority)...\similar with small.
5. This example illustrates assimilation rule. It assimilates one segment to another by
''copying'' or ''spreading'' a feature of a sequential phoneme on to its neighboring segment, thus making the two phones more similar.
Example : In implausible, [n] is changed to match the place of articulation of its following stop [p]. In illegal, [n] becomes identical to its following [1].