DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY SEMINAR 1TheoryI. 1. State the definition of the sign in Saussurian terms 2.Saussure characterized the sign as being arbitrary and having relative value. Comment on this.

3. Give the definition of sign after Hjelmslev4. Define the notion of simple and complex linguistic signs, constituent sign.5. Are morpheme and sign notions of the same sort?6. Give the definition of morpheme, constituent morpheme.7. Mention the basic properties of inflectional and derivational morphemes.8. Define the notions of morph, allomorph, phonological conditioning, lexical/morphological conditioning, suppletion9, State the working criteria by which morphs are grouped together into classes of invariant morphemesPractice:

(a)In view of the above distinctions discuss the words below:

A

B C

D

Blackberry misguide mistakediscolourdiscipleBlueberry misinform mischief disclaimdiscreetGooseberry misplace mistress dismantlediscussBlackbird mislead disable

disperseButterfly misdate

disagreeWithstand misjudgeUnderstand

Undergo

Undertake

E

Retake

receive

recover

Repay

refer

refuse

Rearrangeresume

remove

(b)-Identify the suffixes in the underlined words. To what word-class (lexical category) do the words to which the suffixes are added belong, and what word-class results?

-Decide whether the suffixes are inflectional or derivational. Justify your decision.

I ducked

He was sheepish

He ducks

Two ducks

three ducklings

He is humourless You are ducking the issue

(c) state the lexical category of the base to which en- is attached

-what is the lexical category of the new word?

- what is the meaning (or meanings) of en- in these words

-Is there reason to consider the affix as a homophonous morpheme?Base New Word

Base

New wordcage en-cage

noble

en-noble

large en-large

rich

en-richrobe en-robe

rage

en-rage

danger en-danger

able

en-abled) What is the allomorph of the plural morpheme that occurs in the group of words below? Is the choice phonologically, morphologically or lexically conditioned?(i) addenda, data, strata, media, desiderata(ii) stimuli, radii, fungi, alumni

(iii) asses, fishes, badges, leeks, moths, cups, bards, mugs, rooms, keys, shoes

e) Argue that the underlined morphemic segments below belong to an invariant morpheme:

Inexpensive

baker

argumentation

Impossible

driver

deformation

Illogical

survivorrebellion

Irrational

beggar

additionf) multiple affixation: identify the root morpheme and the affixes that make up the complex words below: diction, dictate, dictatorial, contradict, contradictory, contradiction, contradictoriness, benediction

(g) take the free morpheme nation and add as many prefixes and suffixes as you can. Attempt to go through at least four rounds of affixation.

(h)Examine carefully the following sentence:

Mr Nickleby shook his head, and motioning them all out of the room, embraced his wife and children, and having pressed them by turns to his languidly beating heart, sunk exhausted on his pillow. (Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby)a) List five free and three bound morphemes that occur in the sentence

b) List three functional morphemes in the sentence