Текст № 10. A base is the form to which an affix is added

A base is the form to which an affix is added. In many cases, the base is also the root. In books, for example, the element to which the affix -s is added corresponds to the word's root. In other cases, however, the base can be larger than a root. This happens in words such as blackened, in which the past tense affix -ed is added to the verbal base blacken — a unit consisting of the root morpheme black and the suffix -en. Black is not only the root for the entire word but also the base for -en. The unit blacken, on the other hand, is simply the base for -ed.

One should distinguish between suffixes and inflections in English. Suffixes can form a new part of speech, e.g.: beauty — beauti ful. They can also change the meaning of the root, e.g.: black — black ish. Inflections are morphemes used to change grammar forms of the word, e.g.: work — work s — work ed — work ing. English is not a highly inflected language.

Depending on the morphemes used in the word there are four structural types of words in English:

1) simple (root) words consist of one root morpheme and an inflexion (boy, warm, law, tables, tenth);

2) derived words consist of one root morpheme, one or several affixes and an inflexion (unmanageable, lawful);

3) compound words consist of two or more root morphemes and an inflexion (boyfriend, outlaw);

4) compound-derived words consist of two or more root morphemes, one or more affixes and an inflexion (left-handed, warm-­hearted, blue-eyed).

In conformity with structural types of words we distinguish two main types of word-formation: word-derivation (encouragement, irresistible, worker) and word-composition (blackboard, daydream, weekend).

Термины и терминосочетания по теме «Морфология»

Тема 5. Лексикология