Riassunti Inglese

GRAMMAR

It refers to systematic patterns both within words and within sentences (Morphology +

Syntax).

MORPHOLOGY

It is the area of grammar that studies the structure of words / it is the area of

grammar that studies how morphemes combine together to form words and so

how they contribute to the creation of meaning and new words.

Morpheme the smallest unit of language that combine both a meaning and, or a



grammatical function / abstract meaningful unit which combine to create words.

Morph the concrete realisation of a morpheme.



Allomorph one of the different phonetic or graphic realisation of a morpheme,

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alternative realisations or variants of the same morpheme.

Polymorphemic or complex words = more than one morpheme.

Monomorphemic or simple words = one morpheme only.

Bound morpheme morphemes that cannot occur on their own as separate words.



Root the morpheme which determines the meaning of a word, with no affixes



attached to it.

Base is the form of a word to which any affixes can be attached.



Derivational morphology

It refers to how words change to create new words (affixation).

Prefixes

Suffixes

Exercises:

- Free lexical morphemes: Believe, Heart, Morning, Close, Line, Feel, Run, Joy

- Free functional morphemes: The, A, To, By, After, And, While.

Inflectional morphology

It refers to how words change to fit the grammatical context.

Regular English inflections according to word class

Word class Inflectional Grammatical Descriptive Examples

suffix function designation

Noun -s plural number {pl.} books

Noun ‘s possessive {poss.} Mary’s house

case

Verb -s 3 person {3 pers. she plays

rd rd

singular sing.}

present tense

Verb -ed past tense {past} they worked

Verb -ed past {past part.} they have

participle worked

Verb -ing present {pres. they are

participle part.} working

Adjective -er comparative {comp.} taller

degree

Adjective -est superlative {superl.} tallest

degree

Forms of personal pronouns

Person Number Gender Subject case Object case

st

1 sing. I me

pl. we us

nd

2 sing. you you

pl. you you

rd

3 sing. masc. he him

fem. she her

neuter it it

pl. they them

Types of irregular plurals

Irregular plurals Description/Explanation Examples

Irregular suffixes Nouns form the plural child – children

adding the Old English ox – oxen

suffix -en

Foreign plurals Nouns of Greek, Latin and phenomenon –

French derivation retain phenomena

the original plural form datum – data

curriculum – curricula

medium – media

corpus – corpora

stimulus – stimuli

bureau – bureaux

Vowel mutation or Nouns form the plural by tooth – teeth

replacive morph changing vowel of the root man -men

goose – geese

mouse – mice

Voicing or final The last consonant of the wife – wives

consonant root changes from hoof – hooves

voiceless to voiced and scarf – scarves

the inflectional suffix -s is knife – knives

added leaf – leaves

Zero inflection/zero The singular and the plural sheep – sheep

morph forms are identical deer – deer

fish – fish

trout – trout

Inflection of irregular verbs

1. Zero morph: Hurt-hurt-hurt

2. Vowel mutation: Swim-swam-swum

3. Vowel mutation + irregular inflection: Speak-spoke-spoken

4. Replacive morphs: Lose-lost-lost

5. Suppletion: Go-went-gone

Word formation processes

- Affixation: we add prefixes or suffixes to a base. Prefixes are class-maintaining

and affect meaning, suffixes are class-changing.

NOUN SUFFIXES: -(a)tion, -dom, -ee, -ery, -ess, -ette, -hood, -ism, -ity,

 -let, -ness, -ment, -ship.

ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES: -alible, -allial, -ar, -ary, -ed, -esque, -ful, -ic, -ish,

 -ive, -less, -like, -ly, -ous, -some, -y.

VERB SUFFIXES: -ate, -en, -ify, -ise/-ize.

 ADVERB SUFFIXES: -ly, -wise.

 NEO-CLASSICAL AFFIXES: bio-, eco-, -logy.



- Compounding: The combination of two or more free morphemes to form a

lexeme with a new meaning.

- Shortening/clipping: it consists in cutting the beginning or end of a longer

word. Examples: Prof (professor), Gym (Gymnasium), Bike (bycicle), Ad

 (advertisement), Math (Mathematics), Fax (facsimile), Phone (telephone),

Exam (examination), Flu (influenza), Lab (laboratory), Memo

(memorandum), Photo (photograph), Café (cafeteria) …

- Blending: blends are results of the merging of two other words to form a new

one with a corresponding fusion of their meanings.

Examples: Brunch (breakfast + lunch), Camcorder (camera + recorder),

 Hi-tech (high + technology), Medicare (medical + care), smog (smoke +

fog) …

- Semantic shift: The change of meaning of existing lexemes.

- Conversion or zero derivation: The process of changing the class of a word

without any change of form.

- Backformation

- Acronym/initialism: forming a word from the letters of a phrase.

- Reduplication: words made with rhyming pairs.

- Loanword/borrowing: taking a word from another language.

- Rhyming pairs

Examples: zigzag, bling-bling, hip-hop, riff-raff, willy-nilly, hush hush …



Exercise:

1. Automatic – auto = clipping

2. Information, entertainment – infotainment = blending

3. Modulator, demodulator – modem =

4. Love, seat – loveseat = compounding

5. International, police – Interpol = blending

6. A comb – to comb = conversion

7. Delicatessen – deli = clipping

8. Editor – to edit = backformation

9. Ping-pong = reduplication

10.See-saw = reduplication

11.Bungalow = loanword/borrowing

Morphological analysis rd

- HIM: 1 morph and 5 morphemes {HE} + {3 person} + {sing.} + {masc.}



+ {object} rd

- HER: 1 morph and 5 morphemes {SHE} + {3 person} + {sing.} + {fem.}



+ {object} rd

- HIS: 1 morph and 5 morphemes {HE} + {3 person} + {sing.} + {masc.} +



{possessive}

- BRIGHTER: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {BRIGHT}+ {comparative}

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- HELPFUL: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {HELP}+ {adjective}

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- MORE:1 morph and 2 morphemes {MUCH}+{comparative}

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- BEST: 1 morph and 2 morphemes {GOOD}+{superlative}

- SMALLER: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {SMALL}+{comparative}

 

- UNFAITHFULNESS: 4 morphs and 4 morphemes {neg.} + {FAITH} + {adj.}

+ {noun}

- STUDYING: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {STUDY} + {present participle}

- COOKED: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {COOK} + {past} / {past participle}



- HIT: 1 morph and 2 morphemes {HIT}+{present}, {HIT} + {past}, {HIT} +



{past participle}

- WRITTEN: 1 morph and 2 morphemes + {past participle}

{WRITE}

- WENT: 1 morph and 2 morphemes {GO} + {past}

 rd

- PRAYS: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {PRAY} + {3 person singular present}



- HAVING: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {HAVE} + {present participle}



- THOSE: 1 morph and two morphemes {THAT} + plural}

 st

- ME: 1 morph and 4 morphemes {I} + {1 person} + {singular} + {object}

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- BOOTS: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {BOOT} + {plural}

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- SLEEPY: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {SLEEP} + {adjective}

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- UNTIDY: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {negative} + {TIDY}

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- SADNESS: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {SAD} + {noun}

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- PAINTERS: 3 morphs and 3 morphemes {PAINT} + {noun} + {plural}

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- WOMEN’S: 2 morphs and 3 morphemes {WOMAN} + {plural} +

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{possessive}

- UNEMPLOYMENT: 3 morphs and 3 morphemes {negative} + {EMPLOY} +

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{noun}

- MINE: 1 morph and 4 morphemes {I} + {first person} + {singular} +

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{possessive}

- UNEATABLE: 3 morphs and 3 morphemes {negative} + {EAT} + {possible}

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- HEADLINE: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {HEAD} + {LINE}

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- PUBLISHERS: 3 morphs and 3 morphemes {PUBLISH} + {noun} + {plural}

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- GONE: 1 morph and 2 morphemes {GO} + {past participle}

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- FIREMEN’S: 3 morphs and 4 morphemes {FIRE} + {MAN} + {plural} +

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{possessive}

- FASTEST: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {FAST} + {superlative}

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- WOLVES: 2 morphs and 2 morphemes {WOLF} + {plural}

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-

SEMANTICS

Semantic is the meaning or interpretation of meaning of a word, sign, sentence ecc.

Denotation the straightforward dictionary definition.

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Connotation the ideas and feelings associated to the word.

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Polysemy meanings are related

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Homonymy meanings are unrelated

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Syntagmatic relationship (horizontal) refers to the relationship a word has with

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other words that surround it.

1. Collocation: relationship between a lexical item and other lexical items /

relationship between words at the lexical level (very – good). Some words

typically occur together. Some lexemes co-occur rather freely (free coll.), others

are more limited (restricted coll.) or totally restricted (frozen coll.).

- Phrasal verbs: they are also called multi-word verbs. Their meaning is partly or

wholly idiomatic and they can be replaced by a single-word lexical item (put off

= postpone).

- Prepositional verbs: they cannot be replaced by a single-word lexical item

and do not have idiomatic meaning (agree on).

Examples of collocations:

2. Colligation: relationship between a lexical item and a grammatical category /

relationship between words at the grammatical level (very – adjective).

Paradigmatic relationship (vertical) refers to the relationship between words



that are the same parts of speech and which can be substituted for each other in the

same position within a given sentence.

1. Hyponymy: the sense relationship that relates words hierarchically. Some

words have a more general meaning, while others have a more specific

meaning, while referring to the same entity (food – meat, vegetables).

2. Meronymy: it involves part-whole relation between words (arm – body / wheel –

car).

3. Synonymy: it is the relationship between two words that have same sense. A

Synonym is the word of the same parts of speech which have similar meaning

but not identical meanings.

4. Antonymy: words that are opposites in meaning (hot – cold).

SYNTAX

1. Prescriptive: rules proscribe (say what is incorrect) and prescribe (say what is

correct) in a language.

2. Descriptive: describe how elements in sentences relate to each other.