1. A physically definable unit
2. The common factor underlying a set of forms 3. A grammatical unit 3.1.2 Identification of words 1. Stability
Words are the most stable of all linguistic units, in respect of their internal structure, i.e. the constituent parts of a complex word have little potential for rearrangement, compared with the relative positional mobility of the constituents of sentences in the hierarchy. Take the word chairman for example. If the morphemes are rearranged as * manchair, it is an unacceptable word in English.
2. Relative uninterruptibility
By uninterruptibility, we men new elements are not to be inserted into a word even when there are several parts in a word. Nothing is to be inserted in between the three parts of the word disappointment: dis + appoint + ment. Nor is one allowed to use pauses between the parts of a word: * dis appoint ment.
3. A minimum free form
This was first suggested by Leonard Bloomfield. He advocated treating sentence as “the maximum free form” and word “the
minimum free form,” the latter being the smallest unit that can constitute, by itself, a complete utterance. 3.1.3 Classification of words
1. Variable and invariable words
In variable words, one can find ordered and regular series of grammatically different word form; on the other hand, part of the word remains relatively constant. E.g. follow – follows – following – followed. Invariable words refer to those words such as since, when, seldom, through, hello, etc. They have no inflective endings.
2. Grammatical words and lexical words
Grammatical words, a.k.a. function words, express grammatical meanings, such as, conjunctions, prepositions, articles, and pronouns, are grammatical words.
Lexical words, a.k.a. content words, have lexical meanings, i.e. those which refer to substance, action and quality, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, are lexical words. 3. Closed-class words and open-class words
Closed-class word: A word that belongs to the closed-class is one whose membership is fixed or limited. New members are not regularly added. Therefore, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc. are all closed items.
Open-class word: A word that belongs to the open-class is one whose membership is in principle infinite or unlimited. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and many adverbs are all open-class items. 4. Word class
This is close to the notion of parts of speech in traditional grammar. Today, word class displays a wider range of more precisely defined categories. Here are some of the categories newly introduced into linguistic analysis.
(1) Particles: Particles include at least the infinitive marker “to,” the negative marker “not,” and the subordinate units in phrasal verbs, such as “get by,” “do up,” “look back,” etc.
(2) Auxiliaries: Auxiliaries used to be regarded as verbs. Because of their unique properties, which one could hardly expect of a verb, linguists today tend to define them as a separate word class.
(3) Pro-forms: Pro-forms are the forms which can serve as replacements for different elements in a sentence. For example, in the following conversation, so replaces that I can come. A: I hope you can come. B: I hope so.
(4) Determiners: Determiners refer to words which are used
before the noun acting as head of a noun phrase, and determine the kind of reference the noun phrase has. Determiners can be divided into three subclasses: predeterminers, central determiners and postdeterminers. 3.2 The formation of word 3.2.1 Morpheme and morphology
Morphology studies the internal structure of words, and the rules by which words are formed. 3.2.2 Types of morphemes
1. Free morpheme and bound morpheme
Free morphemes: Those which may occur alone, that is, those which may constitute words by themselves, are free morphemes. Bound morphemes: Those which must appear with at least another morpheme are called bound morphemes. 2. Root, affix and stem
A root is the base form of a word that cannot further be analyzed. An affix is the collective term for the type of formative that can be used only when added to another morpheme. A stem is any morpheme or combination of morphemes to which an inflectional affix can be added.
A root is the base form of a word that cannot further be analyzed without total loss of identity. That is to say, it is that part
of the word left when all the affixes are removed. In the word internationalism, after the removal of inter-, -al and -ism, what is left is the root nation. All words contain a root morpheme. A root may be free or bound. E.g. black in blackbird, blackboard and blacksmith; -ceive in receive, conceive and perceive. A few English roots may have both free and bound variants. E.g. the word sleep is a free root morpheme, whereas slep- in the past tence form slept cannot exist by itself, and therefore bound. A stem is any morpheme or combination of morphemes to which an inflectional affix can be added. E.g. friend- in friends and friendship- in friendships are both stems. The former shows that a stem can be equivalent to a root, whereas the latter shows that a stem may contain a root and a derivational affix.
3. Inflectional affix and derivational affix Inflection is the manifestation of grammatical relationships through the addition of inflectional affixes, such as number, person, finiteness, aspect and case, which do not change the grammatical class of the stems to which they are attached. The distinction between inflectional affixes and derivational affixes is sometimes known as a distinction between inflectional morphemes and derivational morphemes. We can tell