Comparative Analysis of Word Building in Prose and Poetry on the basis of E.A. Poe's works
Contents
IntroductionOne.
Word Building as Lexicological Phenomenon
.1
Word Building as a part of Lexicology
.2
The Ways of Word Building
.2.1
Affixation
.2.2
Conversion
.2.3
Abbreviation
.2.4
CompositionTwo. Analysis of the Examples from E. A. Poe’s Prose and Poetry
.1
Derivation by means of Affixation
.1.1
Suffixation
.1.2
Prefixation
.2
Conversion
.3
Abbreviation
.4
Composition
Introduction
theme of
our diploma paper is “Comparative Analysis of Word Building in Prose and
Poetry” (on the basis of E.A. Poe's works). The cause of this selecting is the
linguistic importance of this subject because word building is a major part of
morphology representing the study of construction rules of words and
comparative analysis of its usage in a few different kinds of literature (prose
and poetry in our case) can bring a particular linguistic value. Our
investigation is connected with E.A. Poe’s works because both prose and poetry
are represented in his literary creation and they give a vast field for the
linguistic research due to high quality and innovation.main goal is to
prove that major processes of word building play a relevant role in prose and
poetry in E. A. Poe’s works and to investigate which of them are the most
frequent and productive.
It leads to several objectives:)
to select theoretical sources connected with the subject-matter;) to study
these theoretical sources;) to learn what ways of word building exist;) to find
out which of these ways are the most productive;) to investigate the works of
E. Poe (in poetry and prose);) to pick out and analyze a certain amount of
examples in order to prove the hypothesis of the diploma;) to come to certain
conclusions;) to present the results of the investigation
The hypothesis of the work is
that affixation is the most productive process of word building in E. A. Poe’s
prose and poetry.
(Actuality of the diploma is
in the importance of the subject and practical investigation of the novels
written in British English and American English)
Actuality
of this paper is in the importance of the subject of the research that opens
prospects in further studying of this aspect, because knowledge of
word-formation is one of the most effective aids to the expanding of one’s
vocabulary, and is of great value in inferring word meaning.following methods
of investigation have been used, such as: selective, syntactical, and
comparative (different methods of translation). The structure of the
work is the following: Introduction, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Conclusions,
Bibliography, and two Appendixes.
Chapter One
is called “Word Building as a Lexicological Phenomenon”. It contains many
theoretical data on different ways of word building as affixation, conversion,
abbreviation, and dealing with compounds - composition. We see that there are
numerous different patterns of compound formations, which can be distinguished,
based on formal and semantic criteria. It represents the theoretical material
for studying of such authors as: V. Adams, Ginsburg R.S., Arnold I.V, H.
Marchand, and O. Meshkov O.D. etc.
Chapter Two
is entitled “Analysis of the Examples on the Basis of E.A. Poe’s Prose and
Poetry”. It represents about 200 examples picked out of E. Poe’s prose and
poetry, which are collected, classified, analyzed, and presented in different
tables. The chapter is divided into several subchapters. Each of them gives the
detailed analysis of the examples picked out of E.A. Poe’s prose and poetry of
each above mentioned word formation pattern.
Conclusions
is the part of the diploma in which the results of the investigation as well as
the confirmation of the hypothesis of the work is shown to our satisfaction,
that is, affixation is the most productive process of word building in E.A.
Poe’s prose and poetry.
Bibliography
presents a good and important selection of the authors dealing with the subject
of the investigation and some internet sites connected with the same subject.
It also presents the list of dictionaries used in the course of work and
literary sources by E.A. Poe.
Appendix 1 shows
the examples, which were not included in Chapter Two.
Appendix 2
presents the statistic data of the research.
Chapter One. Word Building as a
Lexicological Phenomenon
building is the study of words,
dealing with the construction or formation rules of words in a certain
language. This paper studies and analyses various ways of word-building two
kinds of literature (prose and poetry) so that similarities and differences are
found between them through comparison. This will be done in the following,
theoretically-oriented chapter, where we present some theories that have
explicitly aimed at modeling these relationships.have studied the theoretical
sources dealing with numerous affixation processes in English in this part of
the diploma. We saw that it is not always easy to differentiate affixes from
other morphological entities, and then after investigating some general
characteristics of English affixation, we see that suffixation and prefixation
are very common and extremely restricted phenomenon in English word-formation.
In the next section of this chapter we will have a closer look at the
characteristics of some non-affixational processes by which new words can be
derived. First, three major problems of conversion will be discussed and, then
abbreviations will be investigated. We have touched upon one of the most
productive means of creating new words in English, compounding, in the final
subparagraph of our work. We have seen that there are numerous different
patterns of compound or composed formations which can be distinguished on the
basis of formal and semantic criteria., the term “word building” does not have
a clear cut, universally accepted usage. It is sometimes referred to all
processes connected with changing the form of the word by, for example,
affixation, which is a matter of morphology. In its wider sense word formation
denotes the processes of creation of new lexical units. Although it seems that
the difference between morphological change of a word and creation of a new term
is quite easy to perceive, there is sometimes a dispute as to whether blending
is still a morphological change or making a new word. There are, of course,
numerous word formation processes that do not arouse any controversies and are
very similar in the majority of languages. [12, 34]of the distinctive
properties of human language is creativity, by which we mean the ability of
native speakers of a language to produce and understand new forms in their
language. Even though creativity is most apparent when it comes to sentence
formation, it is also manifest in our lexical knowledge, where new words are
added to our mental lexicon regularly. The most comprehensive expositions of
word formation processes that speakers of a language regularly use both consciously
and unconsciously to create new words in their language are presented in this
paper. [9, 56]
1.1 Word building as part of
lexicology
term word-building or derivational
pattern is used to denote a meaningful combination of stems and affixes that
occur regularly enough to indicate the part of speech, the lexico-semantic
category and semantic peculiarities common to most words with this particular
arrangement of morphemes. Every type of word building (affixation, conversion,
abbreviation, and composition for compound words) as well as every part of
speech has a characteristic set of patterns. [3, 81]word-building are
understood processes of producing new words from the resources of this
particular language. Together with borrowing, word building provides for
enlarging and enriching the vocabulary of the language.English language is in a
permanent state of renewal and change. Language is the mirror of society and
the English vocabulary reflects the quick social, cultural, and scientific
changes undergone by modern society. New entries are constantly added, as
speakers have to refer to new concepts, objects, and ideas. In the English
vocabulary verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs belong to open classes, that is
to say, they are open because they can be extended indefinitely by the addition
of new items. [4, 45]these new words, save exceptions, are not created from
nowhere, but are either borrowed or formed by combining words or parts of words
which already exist in the language, abbreviating them or changing their word
class Speakers of English can easily coin new terms to suit their needs.
Journalists, in particular, take advantage of the power that the English
language has to generate new terms. When we read a newspaper or a magazine we
are likely to come across words which we have never seen or heard before
because they have just been coined by a creative speaker or writer. However,
native speakers are perfectly able to process innovative word uses, and these
words can be easily understood because they share the pattern of established
words in the vocabulary. If alcoholic is familiar, then other words formed on
the same pattern, such as “workaholic or shopaholic”, are also comprehensible.
Knowledge of word-formation is, therefore, one of the most effective aids to
the expanding of one’s vocabulary, and is of great value in inferring word
meaning. [1, 79]are various ways of forming words, but largely, the various
processes can be classified based on frequency of usage, into major and minor
processes. There are three major processes, namely, affixation, conversion,
abbreviation and compounding. There are eight minor processes, namely,
blending, clipping, acronymy, back-formation, words from proper names,
reduplication, neo-classical formation and miscellaneous. We will only touch
upon major processes of word building because the attempt to pick out and
analyze all the processes in E. Poe’s prose and poetry turned out to be
fruitless due to their specificity. [5, 26]dealing with word-formation proper,
we will first explain some of the terminology to use in the study and
discussion of word building. The rule of word-formation define the scope and
methods whereby speakers of language may create new words; for instance, the
“-able” word-formation rule says, “-able is to be added form an adjective
meaning “fit to be “, or to nouns to form an adjective with the sense showing
the quality of”. In addition, one of the noun compound formations is noun plus
noun. However, it should be pointed out that any rule of word-formation is: “of
limited productivity in the sense that not all words which result from the rule
of the rule are acceptable: they are only acceptable only when they have gained
an institutional currency in the language” [11, 15]
“Root “, “stem “, and «base «are terms
used in linguistics to designate that part of a word that remains when all
affixes have been removed. If we describe a word as an autonomous unit of
language in which a particular meaning is associated with a particular sound
complex and which is capable of a particular grammatical employment and able to
form a sentence by itself we have the possibility to distinguish it from the
other fundamental language unit, namely, the morpheme. According to the role
they play in constructing words, morphemes are subdivided into roots and
affixes. The latter are further subdivided, according to their position, into
prefixes, suffixes and infixes, and according to their function and meaning,
into derivational and functional affixes, the latter also called endings or outer
formatives. [10,40]root is a form, which is further analyzable, either in terms
of derivational or inflectional morphology. It is that part of a word -form
reform that remains when the inflectional and derivational suffixes have been
removed. “A stem is of concern only when dealing with inflectional morphology
inflectional (but not derivational) affixes are added to it: it is the part of
the word-form which remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed.”
[12, 47] When a derivational or functional affix is stripped from the word,
what remains is a stem. The stem expresses the lexical and the part of speech
meaning. This stem is a single morpheme; it contains nothing but the root, so
it is a simple stem. [11, 25]example, in the word desirable, “desire” is the
base to which a suffix “-able” is added or in order words, an “-able”
word-formation rule is applied; but “-desire” is also the root because it is
not further analyzable. However, when “un-»is then added to desirable the whole
of this item “desirable” would be referred to as the base, but it could not be
considered a root because it is analyzable in terms of derivational morphology,
nor is it a stem since it does not permit the adding of inflectional affixes.a
subject of study, word-formation is that branch of lexicology, which studies
the pattern on which a language, in this cases the English language, coins new
word. Thus, affixation, conversion and compounding or composition, are the
three major types of word-formation in contemporary English.morphemes are
subdivided into two large classes: roots (or radicals) and affixes. The latter,
in their turn, fall into prefixes which precede the root in the structure of
the word (as in “re-read”, “mis-pronounce”, “unwell”) and suffixes which follow
the root (as in “teach-er”, “cur-able”, “diet-ate”). [5, 70], which consist of
a root and an affix (or several affixes), are called derived words or
derivatives and are produced by the process of word building known as
affixation (or derivation).Derived words are extremely numerous in the English
vocabulary. Successfully competing with this structural type is the so-called
root word, which has only a root morpheme in its structure. This type is widely
represented by a great number of words belonging to the original English stock
or to earlier borrowings (“house”, “room”, “book,” work”, “port”, “street”,
“table”, etc.). Modern English, has been greatly enlarged by the type of
word-building called conversion (e. g. to hand, v. formed from the noun hand;
to can, (v). from can, (п).; to pale, (v). from pale, (adj).; a find, (n). from
to find, (v).; etc.). [1, 59]widespread word-structure is a compound word
consisting of two or more stems (e. g. “dining-room”, “bluebell”, and
“mother-in-law”, “good-for-nothing”). The word-building process called
“composition” produces words of this structural type.somewhat odd-looking words
like flu, pram, lab, M. P., V-day, H-bomb are called shortenings, contractions
or curtailed words and are produced by the way of word-building called
shortening (contraction).minor types of word-formation, together with the four
major types of word-formation (affixation, conversion, abbreviation and
compounding) are the means by which new words are created in the English
language. Genuine coinages are rare. [6, 56]
1.2 The Ways of Word building
this subparagraph, we present a
number of word-formation processes that involve affixes as their primary or
only means of deriving words from other words or morphemes and the processes,
which derived words without any graphical changes. The four types (root words,
derived words, compounds, shortenings) represent the main structural types of
Modern English words, and conversion, derivation and composition the most
productive ways of word-building. [2,45]
1.2.1 Affixation
Affixation consists in adding
derivational affixes (i.e., prefixes and suffixes) to roots and stems to form
new words. For example, if the suffix -able is added to the word pass, the word
passable is created. Likewise, if to the word passable the prefix “in-“is
attached, another word is formed, namely impassable. Affixation is a very
common and productive morphological process in synthetic languages. In English,
derivation is the form of affixation that yields new words.is one of the most productive
ways of word building throughout the history of English. It consists in adding
an affix to the stem of a definite part of speech. Affixation is divided into
suffixation and prefixation. The process of affixation consists in coining a
new word by adding an affix or several affixes to some root morpheme. The role
of the affix in this procedure is very important and therefore it is necessary
to consider certain facts about the main types of affixes. [2, 62])
Suffixationis the formation of words with the help of suffixes. Suffixes
usually modify the lexical meaning of the base and transfer words to a
different part of speech. There are suffixes how-ever, which do not shift words
from one part of speech into another; a suffix of this kind usually transfers a
word into a different semantic group, e. g. a concrete noun becomes an abstract
one, as is the case with child-childhood, friend-friendship, etc.main function
of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech from another; the
secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech.
(e.g. «educate» is a verb, “educatee” is a noun, and “music” is a noun,
“musicdom” is also a noun). [5, 56]are different classifications of suffixes in
linguistic literature, as suffixes may be divided into several groups according
to different principles:
) The first principle of
classification that, one might say, suggests itself is the part of speech
formed. Within the scope of the part-of- speech classification suffixes
naturally fall into several groups such as:) Noun-suffixes, i.e. those forming
or occurring in nouns, e. g.”-er,” “-dom”, “-ness”,» -ation”, etc. (teacher,
Londoner, freedom, brightness, justification, etc.);) Adjective-suffixes, i.e.
those forming or occurring in adjectives, e. g. “-able”, “-less”, “-ful”,
“-ic”, “-ous”, etc. (agreeable, careless, doubtful, poetic, courageous, etc.);)
Verb-suffixes, i.e. those forming or occurring in verbs, e.g.”-en”, “-fy”,
“-ize” (darken, satisfy, harmonize, etc.);) Adverb-suffixes, i.e. those forming
or occurring in adverbs, e.g.”-ly”, “-ward”. (quickly, eastward, etc.). [8, 76]
) Suffixes may also be classified
into various groups according to the lexico-grammatical character of the base
the affix is usually added to. Proceeding from this principle one may divide
suffixes into:) Deverbal suffixes (those added to the verbal base), e. g.
“-er”,”-ing”, “-ment”, -able”, etc. (speaker, reading, agreement, suitable,
etc.);) Denominal suffixes (those added to the noun base), e. g. “-less”,
“-ish”, “-ful”, “-ist”, “-some”, etc. (handless, childish, mouthful, violinist,
troublesome, etc.);) De-adjectival suffixes (those affixed to the adjective
base), e. g. “-en”, “-ly”, “-ish”, “-ness”, etc. (blacken, slowly, reddish,
brightness, etc.). [11, 80]
) A classification of suffixes may
also be based on the criterion of sense expressed by a set of suffixes.
Proceeding from the principle suffixes are classified into various groups
within the bounds of a certain part of speech. For instance, noun-suffixes fall
into those denoting:) the agent of an action, e. g. -er,”-ant” (baker, dancer,
defendant, etc.);) Appurtenance, e. g. “-an”, “-ian”, -ese, etc. (Arabian,
Elizabethan, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.);) Collectivity, e.g. “-age”,
“-dom”, “-ery” (“-ry”), etc. (freightage, officialdom, peasantry, etc.); d)
diminutiveness, e. g. “-ie”, “-let”, “-ling”, etc. (birdie, girlie, cloudlet,
squirreling, wolfing, etc.). [11, 82]
) Suffixes are also classified as to
the degree of their productivity.is usually made between dead and living
affixes. Dead affixes are described as those which are no longer felt in Modern
English as component parts of words; they have so fused with the base of the
word as to lose their independence completely. It is only by special
etymological analysis that they may be singled out, e. g. “-d” in “dead”,
“seed”, “-le”, “-l”,”-el” in “bundle”, “sail”, “hovel”; “-ock” in “hillock”;
“-lock” in “padlock”; “-t” in “flight”, “gift”, “height”. It is quite clear
that dead suffixes are irrelevant to present-day English word building; they
belong in its diachronic study.affixes may be easily singled out from a word,
e. g. the noun- forming suffixes “-ness”, “-dom”, “-hood”, “-age”, “-ance”, as
in “darkness”, “freedom”, “childhood”, “marriage”, “assistance”, etc. or the
adjective-forming suffixes “-en”, “-ous”, “-ive”, “-ful”, “-y” as in “wooden”,
“poisonous”, “active”, “hopeful”, “stony”, etc. [15,32], not all living
derivational affixes of Modern English possess the ability to coin new words.
Some of them may be employed to coin new words on the spur of the moment;
others cannot, so that they are different from the point of view of their
productivity. Accordingly they fall into two basic classes - productive and
non-productive word-building affixes.has been pointed out that linguists
disagree as to what is meant by the productivity of derivational affixes.
Following the first approach all living affixes should be considered productive
in varying degrees from highly productive (e. g. “-er”, “-ish”,”-less” etc.) to
non-productive (e. g. “-ard”, “-cy”, “-ive” etc.)., it becomes important to
describe the constraints imposed on and the factors favoring the productivity
of affixational patterns and individual affixes. The degree of productivity of
affixational patterns very much depends on the structural, lexico-grammatical
and semantic nature of bases and the meaning of the affix. For instance, the
analysis of the bases from which the suffix -ize can derive verbs reveals that
it is most productive with noun-stems, adjective-stems also favor ifs
productivity, whereas verb-stems and adverb-stems do not, e. g.”
criticize”(critic),”organize “(organ), “itemize” (item), “mobilize” (mobile),
“localize”(local), etc. [2,51]of the semantic structure of a verb in “-ize”
with that of the base it is built on shows that the number of meanings of the
stem usually exceeds that of the verb and that its basic meaning favors the
productivity of the suffix “-ize” to a greater degree than its marginal
meanings, e. g. “to characterize - character”, “to moralize - moral”, “to
dramatize - drama”, etc.treatment of certain affixes as non-productive
naturally also depends on the concept of productivity. The current definition
of non-productive derivational affixes as those which cannot hg used in Modern
English for the coining of new words is rather vague and maybe interpreted in different
ways. Following the definition the term non-productive refers only to the
affixes un-likely to be used for the formation of new words, e.g. “-ous",
“-th”, “fore-“and some others (famous, depth, foresee).one accepts the other
concept of productivity mentioned above, then non-productive affixes must be
defined as those that cannot be used for the formation of occasional words and,
consequently, such affixes as»-dom”,“-ship”,“-ful”,“-en”,“-ify”,“-ate” and many
others are to be regarded as non-productive. The theory of relative
productivity of derivational affixes is also corroborated by some other
observations made on English word-formation.instance, different productive
affixes are found in different periods of the history of the language. It is extremely
significant, for example, that out of the seven verb-forming suffixes of the
Old English period only one has survived up to the present time with a very low
degree of productivity, namely the suffix “-en” (e. g. to soften, to darken, to
whiten). [6,39], there are cases when a derivational affix being nonproductive
in the non-specialized section of the vocabulary is used to coin scientific or
technical terms. This is the case, for instance, with the suffix “-ance” which
has been used to form some terms in Electrical Engineering, e.g. capacitance,
impedance, reactance. The same is true of the suffix “-ity” which has been used
to form terms in physics, and chemistry such as alkalinity, luminosity,
emissivity and some others. [10,67]) Prefixationmorphemes affixed before the
stem are called prefixes. Prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the stem, but
in so doing them seldom affect its basic lexico-grammatical component.
Therefore, both the simple word and its prefixed derivative mostly belong to
the same part of speech. The prefix “mis-“, for instance, when added to verbs,
conveys the meaning “wrongly”, “badly”, “unfavorably”; it does not suggest any
other part of speech but the verb. Compare the following oppositions: behave -
misbehave, calculate - miscalculate, inform - misinform, lead - mislead,
pronounce - mispronounce. The above oppositions are strictly proportional
semantically, i.e. the same relationship between elements holds throughout the
series. There may be other cases where the semantic relationship is slightly
different but the general lexico-grammatical meaning remains, (cf. giving -
misgiving, take - mistake and trust - mistrust.) [16, 65]is the formation of
words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In English it is characteristic
for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be
classified according to the nature of words in which they are used: prefixes
used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in
notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g.
“un-»(unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes
because they are met in the language as words, e.g. “over-“(overhead).main
function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same
part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five prefixes
in Modern English form one part of speech from another (“bebutton,
“interfamily”, “postcollege” etc). [8,124]can be classified according to
different principles:
. Semantic classification:semantic
effect of a prefix may be termed adverbial because it modifies the idea
suggested by the stem for manner, time, place, degree and so on. A few examples
will prove the point. It has been already shown that the prefix “mis-»is
equivalent to the adverbs wrongly and badly, therefore by expressing evaluation
it modifies the corresponding verbs for manner.1 The prefixes pre- and post-
refer to time and order, e. g. historic - pre-historic, pay - prepay, view
-preview. The last word means “to view a film or a play before “it is submitted
to the general public’. Compare also: graduate: postgraduate (about the course
of study carried on after graduation), Impressionism: Post-impressionism. The
latter is so called because it came after Impressionism as a reaction against
it. The prefixes “in-“,” a-“,” ab-“, “super-“, “sub-“, “trans-»modify the stem
for place, e. g. income, abduct ‘to carry away’, subway, transatlantic. Several
prefixes serve to modify the meaning of the stem for degree and size. [15,137]
the examples are “out-“, “over-“and “under-“.) Prefixes of negative meaning,
such as: “in-“(invaluable),” non-“(nonformals),” un-“(unfree) etc,group of
negative prefixes is so numerous that some scholars even find it convenient to
classify prefixes into negative and non-negative ones. The negative ones are:
“de-“, “dis”-,“in-»“im-“,” il-“, “ir-“. Part of this group has been also more
accurately classified as prefixes giving negative, reverse or opposite meaning.
[6, 165]general idea of negation is expressed by “dis-” it may mean “not”, and
be simply negative or “the reverse of, “asunder”, “away”, “apart” and then it
is called reversative. Cf. agree - disagree (not to agree) appear - disappear
(disappear is the reverse of appear), appoint - disappoint (to undo the
appointment and thus frustrate the expectation), “disgorge” (eject as from the
throat), “dishouse “(throw out, evict).) Prefixes denoting repetition or
reversal actions, such as: “de-“(decolonize) “re-“(revegetation), “dis-“(disconnect))
Prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as:
“inter-“(interplanetary), “hyper-“(hypertension), “ex-“(ex-student),
“pre-“(pre-election), “over-“(over drugging) etc.
. Origin of prefixes:the point of
view of etymology, affixes are subdivided into two main classes: the native
affixes and the borrowed affixes. By native affixes, we shall mean those that
existed in English in the Old English period or were formed from Old English
words. The latter category needs some explanation. The changes a morpheme
undergoes in the course of language history may be of very different kinds. A
bound form, for instance, may be developed from a free one. This is precisely
the case with such English suffixes as “-dom”, “-hood”, “-lock”, “-ful”,
“-less”, “-like”, “-ship”, The suffix»-hood” that we see in childhood, boyhood
is derived from Old English had “state”. The OE “-dom “was also a suffix
denoting state. The process may be summarized as follows: first “-dom “formed
the second element of compound words, and then it became a suffix and lastly
was so fused with the stem as to become a dead suffix in wedlock. The nouns
freedom, wisdom, etc. were originally compound words. The most important native
suffixes are: “-d”, “-dom”, “-ed”, “-en”, “-fold”, “-ful”, “-hood”, “-ing”,
“-ish”, “-less”, “-let”, “-like”, “-lock”, “-ly”, “-ness”, “-oc”, “-red”,
“-ship”, “-some”,“-teen”,” -th”, “-ward”, “-wise”,”-y”. [9, 77]) Native
(Germanic), such as: “un-“, “over-“, “under-“etc.) Romanic, such as: “in-“,
“de-“,”ex-“, “re-“etc.) Greek, such as: “sym-“, “hyper-“etc.we analyze such
words as: “adverb”, “accompany” where we can find the root of the word (verb,
company) we may treat “ad-“,“ac-“as prefixes though they were never used as
prefixes to form new words in English and were borrowed from Romanic languages
together with words. In such cases we can treat them as derived words. But some
scientists treat them as simple words. Another group of words with a disputable
structure are such as: “contain”, “retain”, “detain” and “conceive”, “receive”,
“deceive” where we can see that “re-“, “de-“, “con-»act as prefixes and
“-tain”, “-ceive” can be understood as roots. But in English these combinations
of sounds have no lexical meaning and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some
scientists treat such words as simple words, others as derived ones. [11,
56]majority of prefixes affect only the lexical meaning of words but there are
three important cases where prefixes serve to form words belonging to different
parts of speech as compared with the original word. These are in the first
place the verb-forming prefixes “be-»and “en-“, which combine functional
meaning with a certain variety of lexical meanings. “Be-“forms transitive verbs
with adjective, verb and noun stems and changes intransitive verbs into
transitive ones. Examples are: belittle (v) “to make little”, benumb (v) “to
make numb”, befriend (v) “to treat” [3, 182]
1.2.2 Conversion
Conversion is the derivational
process whereby an item changes its word class without the addition of an
affix. [1,89 ] Thus, when the noun “sign” shifts to the verb “sign(ed)” without
any change in the word form we can say this is a case of conversion. However,
it does not mean that this process takes place in all the cases of homophones
[3, 68]. Sometimes, the connection has to do with coincidences or old
etymological ties that have been lost. For example, “mind” and “matter” are
cases of this grammatical sameness without connection by conversion-the verbs
have nothing to do today with their respective noun forms in terms of
semantics.is particularly common in English because the basic form of nouns and
verbs is identical in many cases. It is usually impossible in languages with
grammatical genders, declensions or conjugations. [11, 43]status of conversion
is a bit unclear. It must be undoubtedly placed within the phenomena of
word-formation; nevertheless, there are some doubts about whether it must be
considered a branch of derivation or a separate process by itself (with the
same status as derivation or compounding). [5, 88]this undetermined position in
grammar, some scholars assert that conversion will become even more active in
the future because it is a very easy way to create new words in English. There
is no way to know the number of conversions appearing every day in the spoken
language, although we know this number must be high. As it is a quite recent
phenomenon, the written evidence is not a fully reliable source. We will have
to wait a little longer to understand its whole impact, which will surely
increase in importance in the next decades.is a characteristic feature of the
English word-building system. It is also called affixless derivation or
zero-suffixation. Saying that, however, is saying very little because there are
other types of word building in which new words are also formed without affixes
(most compounds, contracted words, sound-imitation words, etc.). [3,150] the
notion of conversion is to re-classification of secondary word classes within
one part of speech, a phenomenon also called transposition.consists in making a
new word from some existing word by changing the category of a part of speech,
the morphemic shape of the original word remaining unchanged. The new word has
a meaning, which differs from that of the original one though it can more or
less be easily associated with it. It has also a new paradigm peculiar to its
new category as a part of speech. The term «conversion» first appeared in the
book by Henry Sweet «New English Grammar» in 1891. Conversion is treated
differently by different scientists, e.g. prof. A.I. Smirntitsky treats
conversion as a morphological way of forming words when one part of speech is
formed from another part of speech by changing its paradigm, e.g. to form the
verb «to dial» from the noun «dial» we change the paradigm of the noun (“a
dial”,”dials”) for the paradigm of a regular verb (I dial, he dials, dialed,
dialing). A. Marchand in his book “The Categories and Types of Present-day
English” treats conversion as a morphological-syntactical word-building because
we have not only the change of the paradigm, but also the change of the
syntactic function, e.g. I need some good paper for my room. (The noun «paper»
is an object in the sentence). I paper my room every year. (The verb «paper» is
the predicate in the sentence) [1, 90]from the perhaps more obvious possibility
to derive words with the help of affixes, there are a number of other ways to
create new words on the basis of already existing ones. We have already
illustrated these in the first chapter of this book, when we briefly introduced
the notions of conversion, truncations, clippings, blends, and abbreviations.
In this chapter we will have a closer look at these non-concatenative
processes. We will begin with conversion. Conversion can be defined as the derivation
of a new word without any overt marking. In order to find cases of conversion
we have to look for pairs of words that are derivationally related and are
completely identical in their phonetic realization.can be seen from the
organization of the data, different types of conversion can be distinguished,
in particular noun to verb, verb to noun, adjective to verb and adjective to
noun. Other types can also be found, but seem to be more marginal (e.g. the use
of prepositions as verbs, as in to down the can). Conversion raises three major
theoretical problems that we will discuss in the following: the problem of
directionality, the problem of zero-morphs and the problem of the
morphology-syntax boundary. [11, 92]question of conversion has, for a long
time, been a controversial one in several aspects. The essence of this process
has been treated by a number of scholars (e. g. H. Sweet), not as a
word-building act, but as a mere functional change. From this point of view the
word hand in Hand me that book is not a verb, but a noun used in a verbal
syntactical function, that is, hand (me) and hands (in She has small hands) are
not two different words but one. Hence, the саsе cannot be treated as one of
word-formation for no new word appears. [15,128]to this functional approach,
conversion may be regarded as a specific feature of the English categories of
parts of speech, which are supposed to be able to break through the rigid
borderlines dividing one category from another thus enriching the process of
communication not by the creation of new words but through the sheer
flexibility of the syntactic structures.this theory finds increasingly fewer
supporters, and conversion is universally accepted as one of the major ways of
enriching English vocabulary with new words. One of the major arguments for
this approach to conversion is the semantic change that regularly accompanies
each instance of conversion. Normally, a word changes its syntactic function
without any shift in lexical meaning. E. g. “both in yellow leaves and in the
leaves were turning yellow the adjective denotes color”. Yet, in the leaves
yellowed the converted unit no longer denotes color, but the process of
changing color, so that there is an essential change in meaning. The change of
meaning is even more obvious in such pairs as “hand” - “to hand”, “face” - “to
face”, “to go” - “a go”, “to make” -»a make”, etc. [15,180]two categories of
parts of speech especially affected by conversion are nouns and verbs. Verbs
made from nouns are the most numerous amongst the words produced by conversion:
e. g. “to hand”, “to back”, “to face”, “to eye”, “to mouth”, “to nose”, “to
dog”, “to wolf”, “to monkey”, “to can”,” to coal”, “to stage”, “to screen”, “to
room”, “to floor”, “to blackmail”, “to blacklist”, “to honeymoon”, and very
many others.are frequently made from verbs: do (e. g. “This is the queerest do
I've ever come across. Do - event, incident”), go (e. g.” He has still plenty
of go at his age. Go - energy”), “make”, “run”, “find”, “catch”, “cut”, “walk”,
“worry”, “show”, “move”, etc.can also be made from adjectives: “to pale”, “to
yellow”, “to cool”, “to grey’, “to rough” (e. g. “We decided to rough it in the
tents as the weather was warm”), etc.can be formed from nouns of different
semantic groups and have different meanings because of that, e.g.) Verbs have
instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting parts of a human
body e.g. to eye, to finger, to elbow, to shoulder etc. They have instrumental
meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting tools, machines, instruments,
weapons, e.g. to hammer, to machine-gun, to rifle, to nail,) Verbs can denote
an action characteristic of the living being denoted by the noun from which
they have been converted, e.g. to crowd, to wolf, to ape,) Verbs can denote
acquisition, addition or deprivation if they are formed from nouns denoting an
object, e.g. to fish, to dust, to peel, to paper,) Verbs can denote an action
performed at the place denoted by the noun from which they have been converted,
e.g. to park, to garage, to bottle, to corner, to pocket,) Verbs can denote an
action performed at the time denoted by the noun from which they have been
converted e.g. to winter, to week-end. [11, 94]can be also converted from
adjectives, in such cases they denote the change of the state, e.g. “to tame”
(“to become or make tame”), “to clean”, “to slim” etc. Nouns can also be formed
by means of conversion from verbs.nouns can denote:) instant of an action e.g.
“a jump”, “a move”,) process or state e.g. “sleep”,” walk”,) agent of the
action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted, e.g. “a
help”, “a flirt”,” a scold”,) object or result of the action expressed by the
verb from which the noun has been converted, e.g. “a burn”, “a find”, “a
purchase”,) place of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has
been converted, e.g. “a drive”, “a stop”, “a walk”. Many nouns converted from
verbs can be used only in the Singular form and denote momentaneous actions. In
such cases we have partial conversion. Such deverbal nouns are often used with
such verbs as: “to have”, “to get”, “to take” etc., e.g. “to have a try”, “to
give a push”, “to take a swim”. [10, 95]frequent but also quite possible is
conversion from form words to nouns. e. g. “He liked to know the ins and outs.”
“Shan’t go into the whys and wherefores.” “He was familiar with ups and downs
of life.” Use is even made of affixes. Thus, ism is a separate word nowadays
meaning ‘a set of ideas or principles’, e. g. “Freudism”, existentialism and
all the other “-isms”.all the above examples the change of paradigm is present
and helpful for classifying the newly coined words as cases of conversion. But
it is not absolutely necessary, because conversion is not limited to such parts
of speech which possess a paradigm. That, for example, may be converted into an
adverb in informal speech: I was that hungry I could have eaten a horse.
[3,189]speaker realizes the immense potentiality of making a word into another
part of speech when the need arises. One should guard against thinking that
every case of noun and verb (verb and adjective, adjective and noun, etc.) with
the same morphemic shape results from conversion. There are numerous pairs of
words (e. g. love, n. - to love, v.; work, n. - to work, v.; drink, n. - to
drink, v., etc.) which did, not occur due to conversion but coincided as a
result of certain historical processes (dropping of endings, simplification of
stems) when before that they had different forms. On the other hand, it is
quite true that the first cases of conversion (which were registered n the 14th
c.) imitated such pairs of words as love, n. - to love, v. for they were
numerous in the vocabulary and were subconsciously accepted by native speakers
as one of the typical language patterns [6, 167]
1.2.3 Abbreviation
In the process of communication,
words and word-groups can be shortened. The causes of shortening can be
linguistic and extra-linguistic. By extra- linguistic causes, changes in the
life of people are meant. In Modern English many new abbreviations, acronyms,
initials, blends are formed because the tempo of life is increasing and it
becomes necessary to give more and more information in the shortest possible
time. There are also linguistic causes of abbreviating words and word-groups,
such as the demand of rhythm, which is satisfied in English by monosyllabic
words. When borrowings from other languages are assimilated in English, they
are shortened. Here we have modification of form on the basis of analogy, e.g.
the Latin borrowing “fanaticus” is shortened to «fan» on the analogy with
native words: man, pan, tan etc. There are two main types of shortenings:
graphical and lexical. [2,209]
. If the abbreviated written form
lends itself to be read as though it were an ordinary English word and sounds
like an English word, it will be read like one. The words thus formed are
called acronyms (from Gr. “acros“- end +”onym “- name). This way of forming new
words is becoming more and more popular in almost all fields of human activity,
and especially in political and technical vocabulary: “U.N.O”., also” UNO -
United Nations Organization”, “NATO - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization”,
“SALT-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks”. The last example shows that acronyms
are often homonymous to ordinary words; sometimes intentionally chosen so as to
create certain associations. Thus, for example, the National Organization for
Women is called NOW. Typical of acronymic coinages in technical terminology are
JATO, laser, maser and radar. JATO or “jato” means “jet-assisted take-off”;
“laser” stands for “light amplification by stimulated emission radiation”;
“maser”- for “micro-wave amplification and stimulated emission radiation”;”
radar” -“for radio detection and ranging, it denotes a system for ascertaining direction
and ranging of aircraft, ships, coasts and other objects by means of
electro-magnetic waves which they reflect”. Acronyms became so popular that
their number justified the publication of special dictionaries, such as D.D.
Spencer’s “Computer Acronym Handbook”. [5,189] Acronyms present a special
interest because they exemplify the working of the lexical adaptive system. In
meeting the needs of communication and fulfilling the laws of information
theory requiring a maximum signal in the minimum time the lexical system
undergoes modification in its basic structure: namely it forms new elements not
by combining existing morphemes and proceeding from sound forms to their
graphic representation but the other way round - coining new words from the
initial letters of phrasal terms originating in texts.
. The other subgroup consists of
initial abbreviation with the alphabetical reading retained, i.e. pronounced as
a series of letters. They also retain correlation with prototypes. The examples
are well known: “B.B.C. - the British Broadcasting Corporation”; “G.I. - for
Government Issue”, a widely spread metonymical name for American soldiers on
the items of whose uniforms these letters are stamped. The last abbreviation
was originally an Americanism but has been firmly established in British
English as well. “M.P” is mostly used as an initial abbreviation for Member of
Parliament, also military police, whereas “P.M.” stands for Prime Minister.are
freely used in colloquial speech as seen from the following extract, in which
СР. Snow describes the House of Commons gossip: They were swapping promises to
speak for one another: one was bragging how two senior Ministers were “in the
bag” to speak for him. Roger was safe, someone said, he'd give a hand. “What
has the P.M. got in mind for Roger when we come back?” The familiar colloquial
quality of the context is very definitely marked by the set expressions: in the
bag, give a hand, get in mind, etc. [12, 34]
. The term abbreviation may be also
used for a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in a text in place
of the whole for economy of space and effort. Abbreviation is achieved by
omission of letters from one or more parts of the whole, as for instance “abbr”
for abbreviation, “bldg”- for building, “govt”- for government, “wd”- for word,
“doz” or “dz” for dozen, “ltd” for limited, “B.A”.- for Bachelor of Arts,
“N.Y”.- for New York State. Sometimes the part or parts retained show some
alteration, thus, “oz” denotes ounce and “Xmas” denotes Christmas. [15, 34]
. An interesting feature of
present-day English is the use of initial abbreviations for famous persons’
names and surnames. Thus, George Bernard Shaw is often alluded to as G.B.S.,
Herbert George Wells as H.G. The usage is clear from the following example:
“Oh, yes... where was I?” “With H.G.’s Martians,” [7,137]is no uniformity in
semantic relationships between the elements: Z-bar is a metallic bar with a
cross section shaped like the letter “Z”, while “Z-hour” is an abbreviation of
“zero-hour” meaning “the time set for the beginning of the attack”, “U” is
standing for upper classes in such combinations as “U-pronunciation”,
“U-language”. Cf. “U-boat” (a submarine). Non-U is its opposite.will have been
noted that all kinds of shortening are very productive in present-day English.
They are especially numerous in colloquial speech, both familiar colloquial and
professional slang. They display great combining activity and form bases for
further word-formation and inflection.of words consists in clipping a part of a
word. As a result we get a new lexical unit where either the lexical meaning or
the style is different from the full form of the word. In such cases as
»fantasy» and «fancy», «fence» and «defence» we have different lexical
meanings. In such cases as «laboratory» and «lab», we have different styles.
[2,112]does not change the part-of-speech meaning, as we have it in the case of
conversion or affixation, it produces words belonging to the same part of
speech as the primary word, e.g. “prof” is a noun and professor is also a noun.
Mostly nouns undergo abbreviation, but we can also meet abbreviation of verbs,
such as to rev from to revolve, to tab from to tabulate etc. But mostly
abbreviated forms of verbs are formed by means of conversion from abbreviated nouns,
e.g. “to taxi”, “to vac” etc. Adjectives can be abbreviated but they are mostly
used in school slang and are combined with suffixation, e.g. comfy, dilly,
mizzy etc. As rule pronouns, numerals, interjections, conjunctions are not
abbreviated. The exceptions are: “fif” (fifteen), “teenager”, in one’s teens
[7,189]abbreviations are classified according to the part of the word which is
clipped. Mostly the end of the word is clipped, because the beginning of the
word in most cases is the root and expresses the lexical meaning of the
word.type of abbreviation is called “deflexion” or“apocope”. Here we can
mention a group of words ending in “o”, such as disco (dicotheque), expo
(exposition), intro (introduction) and many others. On the analogy with these words
there developed in Modern English a number of words where «o» is added as a
kind of a suffix to the shortened form of the word, e.g. combo (combination),”
Afro” (African) etc. In other cases the beginning of the word is clipped. In
such cases we have apheresis, e.g. “chute” (parachute), “varsity” (university),
“copter” (helicopter), “thuse” (enthuse) etc. Sometimes the middle of the word
is clipped, e.g. “mart” (market), “fanzine” (fan magazine) “maths”
(mathematics). Such abbreviations are called syncope. Sometimes we have a
combination of apocope with apheresis,when the beginning and the end of the
word are clipped, e.g. tec (detective), van (avanguard) etc. [8,176] Sometimes
shortening influences the spelling of the word, e.g. «c» can be substituted by
«k» before «e» to preserve pronunciation, e.g. mike (microphone), Coke
(coca-cola) etc. The same rule is observed in the following cases: fax
(facsimile), teck (technical college), trank (tranquilizer) etc. The final
consonants in the shortened forms are substituted by letters characteristic of
native English words.
1.2.4 Composition
This type of word-building, in which
new words are produced by combining two or more stems, is one of the three most
productive types in Modern English, the other two are conversion and
affixation. Compounds, though certainly fewer in quantity than derived or root
words, still represent one of the most typical and specific features of English
word-structure. [2,113]words are words consisting of at least two stems which
occur in the language as free forms. In a compound word the immediate
constituents obtain integrity and structural cohesion that make them function
in a sentence as a separate lexical unit. E. g.: I'd rather read a time-table
than nothing at all.or compounding is the way of word building when a word is
formed by joining two or more stems to form one word. The structural unity of a
compound word depends upon: a) the unity of stress, b) solid or hyphenated
spelling, c) semantic unity, d) unity of morphological and syntactical
functioning. These are characteristic features of compound words in all
languages. For English compounds some of these factors are not very reliable.
As a rule English compounds have one uniting stress (usually on the first
component), e.g. hard-cover, best-seller. We can also have a double stress in
an English compound, with the main stress on the first component and with a
secondary stress on the second component, e.g. blood- vessel. The third pattern
of stresses is two level stresses, e.g. snow- white, sky-blue. The third
pattern is easily mixed up with word-groups unless they have solid or
hyphenated spelling. [7,103]in English compounds is not very reliable as well
because they can have different spelling even in the same text, e.g. war-ship,
blood- vessel can be spelt through a hyphen and also with a break, insofar,
underfoot can be spelt solidly and with a break. All the more so that there has
appeared in Modern English a special type of compound words which are called
block compounds, they have one uniting stress but are spelt with a break, e.g.
air piracy, cargo module, coin change, pinguin suit etc. The semantic unity of
a compound word is often very strong. In such cases we have idiomatic compounds
where the meaning of the whole is not a sum of meanings of its components, e.g.
to ghostwrite, skinhead, brain-drain etc. In nonidiomatic compounds semantic
unity is not strong, e. g., “airbus”, “to bloodtransfuse”, “astrodynamics” etc.
English compounds have the unity of morphological and syntactical functioning.
They are used in a sentence as one part of it and only one component changes
grammatically, e.g. these girls are chatter-boxes. «Chatter-boxes» is a
predicative in the sentence and only the second component changes
grammatically. There are two characteristic features of English compounds: a)
both components in an English compound are free stems, that they can be used as
words with a distinctive meaning of their own. The sound pattern will be the
same except for the. The stems are bound morphemes, as a rule.) English
compounds have a two-stem pattern, with the exception of compound words which
have form-word stems in their structure, e.g. middle- of-the-road,
off-the-record, up-and-doing etc. The two-stem pattern distinguishes English compounds
from German ones. [9,146]) Ways of forming compound wordsstructural cohesion of
a compound may depend upon unity of stress, solid or hyphenated spelling,
semantic unity, unity of morphological and syntactic functioning, or, more
often, upon the combined effect of several of these or similar phonetic,
graphic, semantic, morphological or syntactic factors. [6,64]integrity of a
compound is manifest in its indivisibility, i.e. the impossibility of inserting
another word or word-group between its elements. If, for example, speaking
about a sunbeam, we can insert some other word between the article and the
noun, e. g. a bright sunbeam, a bright and unexpected sunbeam, because the
article a is a separate word, no such insertion is possible between the stems sun
and beam, for they are not words but morphemes here. Syntactic ties are ties
between words, whereas in dealing with a compound one studies relations within
a word, the relations between its constituents, the morphemes. In the compound
spacecraft space is not attribute, it is the determinant restricting the
meaning of the determinatum by expressing the purpose for which craft is
designed or the medium in which it will travel.great variety of compound types
brings about a great variety of classifications. Compound words may be
classified according to the type of composition and the linking element;
according to the part of speech to which the compound belongs; and within each
part of speech according to the structural pattern (see the next paragraph). It
is also possible to subdivide compounds according to other characteristics,
i.e. semantically, into motivated and idiomatic compounds (in the motivated
ones the meaning of the constituents can be either direct or figurative). A
classification according to the type of the syntactic phrase with which the
compound is correlated has also been suggested. Even so there remain some
miscellaneous types that defy classification, such as phrase compounds,
reduplicative compounds, pseudo-compounds and quotation compounds.
[15,178]classification according to the type of composition permits us to
establish the following groups:
) The predominant type is a mere
juxtaposition without connecting elements: “heartache” (n), “heart-beat”(n),
“heart-break”(n), “heart-breaking”(a), “heart-broken”(a), “heart-felt”(a).
) Composition with a vowel or a
consonant as a linking element. The examples are very few: “electromotive” (a),
“speedometer” (n), “Afro-Asian” (a),” handicraft”(n),” statesman”(n).
) Compounds with linking elements represented
by preposition or conjunction stems: “down-and-out” (n), matter-of-fact” (a),
“son-in-law”(n), “pep-per-and-salt”(a), “wall-to-wall” (a),” up-to-date”(a),
“on the up-and-up”(adv) (continually improving), “up-and-coming”, as in the
following example: “No doubt he’d had the pick of some up-and-coming jazzmen in
Paris. There are also a few other lexicalised phrases like” devil-may-care”
(a), “forget-me-not”(n), “pick-me-up”(n), “stick-in-the-mud”(n),” what’s-her
name”(n). [12, 97]classification of compounds according to the structure of
immediate constituents distinguishes:
) Compounds consisting of simple
stems: “film-star”;
) Compounds where at least one of
the constituents is a derived stem: “chain-smoker”;
) Compounds where at least one of
the constituents is a clipped stem: “maths-mistress” (in British English) and
“math-mistress” (in American English). The subgroup will contain abbreviations
like “H-bag” (handbag) or “Xmas” (Christmas), “whodunit” (n) (for mystery
novels) considered substandard; [11,112]
) Compounds where at least one of
the constituents is a compound stem: “wastepaper-basket”.what follows the main
structural types of English compounds are described in greater detail. The list
is by no means exhaustive but it may serve as a general guide.) Classification
of English compoundsto the parts of speech compounds are subdivided into:
. Noun compounds: Noun compounds are
subclassified according to the syntactic relation of the compounding elements:)
Subject and verb: The verb may take the form of the base or that of the base
plus “-ing”. Example are headache «the headaches», heartbeat «the heart beat»;
crybaby «the baby cries»; commanding officer «the officer commands» and
revolving door «the door revolves».) Verb and object: The verb may take the
form of the base or that of the base + “-ing”. For example: pickpocket «to pick
pockets» birthcontrol «to control birth»; “house-keeping «to keep house»; and
dressmaking «to make dresses».The type housekeeping and dressmaking is very
productive.) Verb and adverbial: Verbal noun in “-ing” + “adverbial”
(consisting of a prepositional phrase); e.g. swimming pool «to swim in the pool
or a pool for swimming»; diving board «to dive from a board», drinking cup «to
drink out of a cup»; typing paper «to type on paper». It is a very productive
type. [3, 89]) Subject and object: steamboat «steam powers the boat»; gaslight
«the gas produces light»; honeybee «the bee produces honey».) Restrictive
relations: the first element restricts the meaning of the second: raindrop «a
drop of raining»; moonwalk «a walk on the moon»; evening school «a school in
the evening»; tablecloth «a cloth for the table»; ashtray «a stray for ash»;
breakfast time «the time for breakfast».These types of words like ashtray,
tablecloth and breakfast time expressing purpose is very productive.)
Appositive relations: the first element is in apposition to the second one:
e.g. a peasant girl “the girl is a peasant”, a pine tree «the tree is a
pine».Compound nouns can also be formed from phrasal verbs. This type is very
common in contemporary English. Examples are: “sit-in”, “dropout “, “phone-in”,
“breakdown”, “walk-on “, “walkout”, “setback “, and “take-off”. [11,113]
. Adjective compounds: Adjective
compounds are also subclassified according to the syntactic relation of the
compounding elements:) Subject and verb: Examples are “thunder-strick” (houses)
«thunder struck the houses»; weather-beaten (rocks) «weather beat the rocks»;
suntanned (skin) «sun tanned the skin». This type is highly productive.) Verb
and object: The verb is in the form of present participle, e.g. “fault-finding
«to find fault»; peaceloving «to love peace»; record-breaking «to break
records». It is a productive type.) Verb and adverbial: e.g. ocean-going “to go
across oceans”; hardworking «to work hard» everlasting «to last forever»;
well-behaved «to behave well”; new-laid (eggs) «x has laid (the eggs)
recently».) Noun and adjective: e.g. taxfree “free from tax”; seasick “sick due
to sailing on the sea”; watertight “tight against water”; ocean green “as
greenas the ocean”; crystal-clear «as clean as a crystal”; knee-deep “so deep
as to reach the knees». [5,120]) Coordinating relationship: e.g. bittersweet
“sweet but bitter”; Anglo-French relation “relation between Great Britain and
France”compounds also are formed from:) Phrasal verb: This endlessly
talked-about topic bored me. (cf. “this topic has been talked about
endlessly”.)) Adverbial phrases: They kept a round-the -clock (all the time)
watch on the house. (cf. “They watched the house round the clock”.)) From
proverbs and idiomatic expressions: “My grandfather displayed a
never-to-be-too-old-to-learn spirit” (from the proverb “One is never too old to
learn.”)) From an attributive clause: a jet-propelled plan (“a plane that is
propelled by jet”). [11,114]
. Verb compounds: Verb compounds
fall into main groups according to their method of formation:) Those formed by
back-formation: Back-formation is a “reversal” of derivation, for instance,
house-keep is formed by deleting “-ing” and “-er” from housekeeping and
housekeeper, which entered the language much earlier.) Those formed by
conversion. In this case, the verb compounds are converted from noun compounds;
e.g.” to blue-pencil”, “to honeymoon”, “to machine-gun”, “to nickname”, “to
outline”,” to snowball”, etc. [5,100]
. According to their structure
compounds are subdivided into:) Compound words proper which consist of two
stems, e.g. “to job-hunt”, “train-sick”, “go-go”, “tip-top”) Derivational
compounds, where besides the stems we have affixes, e.g. “ear-minded”,
“hydro-skimmer”,) Compound words consisting of three or more stems, e.g.
“cornflower- blue”, “eggshell-thin”, “singer-songwriter”,) compound-shortened
words, e.g. “boatel”, “tourmobile”, “VJ-day”, “motocross”, I”ntervision”,”
Eurodollar”, “Camford”. [3,98]can make a conclusion that a compound word is
made up of two or more words that together express a single idea. There are
three types of compounds. An open compound consists of two or more words
written separately, such as salad dressing, Boston terrier, or April Fools’
Day. A hyphenated compound has words connected by a hyphen, such as “age-old”,
“mother-in-law”, ‘force-feed”. A solid compound consists of two words that are
written as one word, such as keyboard or typewriter. In addition, a compound
may be classified as permanent or temporary. A permanent compound is fixed by
common usage and can usually be found in the dictionary, whereas a temporary
compound consists of two or more words joined by a hyphen as needed, usually to
modify another word or to avoid ambiguity. [2, 87]general, permanent compounds
begin as temporary compounds that become used so frequently they become
established as permanent compounds. Likewise many solid compounds begin as
separate words, evolve into hyphenated compounds, and later become solid
compounds. Although the dictionary is the first place to look when you are
trying to determine the status of a particular compound, reference works do not
always agree on the current evolutionary form of a compound, nor do they
include temporary compounds. The following general rules apply to forming
compounds. Keep in mind that words that are made up of a word root plus a
prefix or a suffix are not normally considered compounds, strictly speaking.
[5, 78]
. According to the relations between
the components, compound words are subdivided into:) Subordinate compounds
where one of the components is the semantic and the structural centre and the
second component is subordinate; these subordinate relations can be
different:comparative relations, e.g. “honey-sweet”, “eggshell-thin”, with
limiting relations, e.g. “breast-high”, “knee-deep”, with emphatic relations,
e.g. “dog-cheap”, with objective relations, e.g. “gold-rich”, with cause
relations, e.g. “love-sick”, with space relations, e.g. “top-heavy”, with time
relations, e.g. “spring-fresh”, with subjective relations, e.g. “foot-sore”
etc) Coordinative compounds where both components are semantically independent.
Here belong such compounds when one person (object) has two functions, e.g.
“secretary-stenographer”, “woman-doctor”, “Oxbridge” etc. Such compounds are
called additive. This group includes also compounds formed by means of
reduplication, e.g. “fifty-fifty”, ‘no-no”, and also compounds formed with the
help of rhythmic stems (reduplication combined with sound interchange) e.g.
“criss-cross”, “walkie-talkie”. [6, 76]
. According to the order of the
components compounds are divided into compounds with direct order, e.g.
kill-joy, and compounds with indirect order, e.g. nuclear-free,
rope-ripe.suggested subdivision into three groups is based on the degree of
semantic cohesion of the constituent parts, the third group representing the
extreme case of cohesion where the constituent meanings blend to produce an
entirely new meaning. [1,103]following joke rather vividly shows what happens
if an idiomatic compound is misunderstood as non-idiomatic.
“Patient: They tell me, doctor, you
are a perfect lady-killer.: Oh, no, no! I assure you, my dear madam, I make no
distinction between the sexes.”this joke, while the woman patient means to
compliment the doctor on his being a handsome and irresistible man, he takes or
pretends to take the word lady-killer literally, as a sum of the direct
meanings of its constituents. [2, 123]this chapter, we have looked at numerous
affixational processes in English. We investigated some general characteristics
of English affixation; we saw that suffixation and prefixation are very common and
extremely restricted phenomenon in English word-formation. In the next chapter,
we will have a closer look at the characteristics of some non-affixational
processes by which new words can be derived.In this chapter we have looked at a
number of word-formation processes that do not involve affixes as their primary
or only means of deriving words from other words or morphemes. We have seen
that English has a rich inventory of such non-affixational processes, including
conversion, and abbreviation. Each of these mechanisms was investigated in some
detail and it turned out that, in spite of the initial impression of
irregularity, a whole range of systematic structural restrictions can be
determined. As with affixation, these restrictions can refer to the semantic,
syntactic, and phonological properties of the words involved and are highly
regular in nature.
affixation
conversion abbreviation composition poe
Chapter Two. Analysis of the
Examples on the Basis of E. Poe’s Prose and Poetry
The practical part of our works
deals with the major processes of word building in E. Poe’s works. Giving the
examples of their using in Poe’s prose and poetry we want to face with the
problem that neither a traditional morphological nor a syntactic interpretation
sufficiently explains the unique function of word-formation. From a linguistic
perspective, this work offers a reasonable insight into the English language as
regards word formation. Language is a living instrument, so it evolves with its
users and adjusts to the times; accordingly, some words fall out of use because
speakers no longer have need for them, whereas some new words arise in response
to different motivations: pragmatic, communicative and connotative. Both the
birth and the death of words are illustrated in the prose and poetry.has never
lost its native powers of making new words by derivation, of building up words
of native stocks and parts. Though these powers were atrophied by centuries of
foreign domination in cultural matters during the French supremacy and to a
less extent by the almost overwhelming importance of Latin at the Renaissance,
they never ceased to be; and its huge expansion in the later centuries, these
powers have been to some extent called into use. [16, 34]supplement our review
of word-formation processes, of which compounding has been given primary
attention, one has to present some instances of words derived by means of
affixation and coined by the process of compounding, such a way of producing
new words is extremely productive in English.derivation with composition, the
analysis shows that while a different conceptual process is involved,
composition also includes large areas where it fades into prefixation and
suffixation. Finally, derivation is contrasted with conversion which generally
requiring a larger degree of contextual support than derivation, and this is
regarded as the major reason for the continuing productivity of derivational
word-formation in English.article shows how language resorts to the productive
use of already existing devices to cater for both new and ever-present needs.
Therefore derivation, compounding, conversion are used to name new realities,
to speed up communication, to gain in conciseness, to awaken positive
associations, to build individual and collective identities, and above all, to
maintain a desirable status quo. [18, 67]
2.1 Derivation by means of
Affixation
Affixation is a phenomenon giving
two ways of word building: suffixation and prefixation. Comparing both
linguists have come to the conclusion that suffixation is a more fruitful way
of forming new derivatives than prefixation, though it is also widely used in
forming new words, that is the new parts of speech.
a) Nominal suffixessuffixes are
often employed to derive abstract nouns from verbs, adjectives and nouns. Such
abstract nouns can denote actions, results of actions, or other related
concepts, but also properties, qualities and the like.examples from E.A. Poe’s
poetry
"As in that fleeting, shadowy,
misty strifesemblance with reality, which brings" [19, 67]
Semblance
(n) It is formed by adding the suffix "-ance", and stands for the
word "resemblance". It is attached mostly to verbs, “-ance “creates
action nouns such as absorbance, riddance, retardance. The suffix is closely
related to “-cy/-ce” which attaches productively to adjectives ending in the
suffix “-ant/-ent”. Thus, a derivative like dependency could be analyzed as
having two suffixes (dependency) or only one (dependency).
This some visitor entreating entrance
at my chamber door-late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber
door" [19,144]
Entrance
(n)-derived from the verb to enter with the suffix "-ance" We can
find “-ance” nominals only if there are corresponding “-ant“adjectives.
Defendant of
the palace- reared its head.the monarch Thought's dominion" [19, 56]
Defendant (n)
the word derived from the verb "to defend" by adding of suffix
"-ant". This suffix forms count nouns referring to persons or to
substances involved in biological, chemical, or physical processes (attractant,
dispersant, etchant, suppressant). Most bases are verbs of Latinate origin.
It was many and many a year ago,a kingdom
by the sea [19, 67]
(n)-derived by adding suffix
"-dom" to the noun "king" The native suffix “-dom»is
semantically closely related to «-hood” and “- ship» which express similar
concepts.
It was night in the boredom
of Octobermy most immemorial year" [19, 77]
Boredom (n)
the suffix “-dom” attaches to nouns to form nominals which can be paraphrased
as “state of being something” as in “apedom”, “clerkdom”, “slumdom”,
“yuppiedom”.
That the play is the tragedy,
"Man,"its hero the Conqueror Worm" [19, 23]
Conqueror (n)
formed from the verb "conquer" by adding of the suffix"-or"
its orthographic variant of the suffix "-er". The orthographic
variant “-or” occurs mainly with Latinate bases ending in /s/ or /t/, such as
conductor, oscillator, compressor. The suffix “-or” is frequently used in the
poem “Conqueror Worm”
In the clamor and the clangor of
the bellsgone to their eternal rest" [19, 89]
Clangor (n)
the verb “to clang" is added by the suffix "-or'
With a desperate desire,a resolute endeavor
[19, 90]
(n) it is the native origin word
and stands for "the try".
Thy messenger hath knowndreamed for
thy Infinity” [19, 22]
Messenger (n)
the word "message" is added by the suffix"-er" The suffix
“-er “can be seen as closely related to suffix“-ee” as its derivatives
frequently signify entities that are active or volitional participants in an
event.
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,the
ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir" [19, 99]
Auber
(n) the suffix “-er “is used to create person nouns indicating place of origin
or residence (e.g. Londoner, New Yorker, Highlander, New Englander)like
thoughts that are the souls of thought,, far wilder, far sealer visions
[19,109]
(n) derived from the word "to
seal". Suffix “-er “is often described as a deverbal suffix, but there are
numerous forms (not only inhabitant names) that are derived on the basis of
nouns (e.g whaler, noser, souther).
Enchantress fills
my soul with Beauty (which is Hope),are far up in Heaven- the stars I kneel to”
[19, 62]
Enchantress (n)-The
word prince is added be the suffix "-ess". This suffix derives a
comparatively small number of mostly established nouns referring exclusively to
female humans and animals (stewardess, lioness, tigress, and waitress).
Then- in my childhood, in the
dawna most stormy life- was drawn. [19, 50]
Childhood
(n) It is built from the suffix "-hood" and the word "child”
Similar in meaning to the suffixes” -dom, hood «derivatives express concepts
such as ‘state’ (as in adulthood, farmerhood).and ‘collectivity’ (as in
beggarhood, Christianhood, companionhood).
The heritage of a kingly
mind,a proud spirit which hath striven [19, 71]
(n) the suffix”-age” derives nouns
that express an activity (or its result) as in coverage, leakage, spillage, and
nouns denoting a collective entity or quantity, as in acreage, voltage,
yardage.
Adorn yon world afar, afar- The wandering
star. [19, 95]
Wandering (adj.)
derived from the verb "to wander" by adding the suffix
"-ing". Derivatives with this deverbal suffix denote processes
(begging, running, sleeping) or results (building, wrapping, stuffing). The
suffix is somewhat peculiar among derivational suffixes in that it is primarily
used as a verbal inflectional suffix forming present participles.
In a mad expostulation with
the deaf and frantic fire [19,121]
Expostulation (n)
the word consist of the verb "expostulate" which stands for “to
convince" and suffix "-ion”. Derivatives in “-ion” denote events or
results of processes. As such, verbal bases are by far the most frequent, but
there is also a comparatively large number of forms where the suffix “-ation”
is directly attached to nouns without any intervening verb in the suffix“-ate”.
The suffix has Latin origin.
What a world of merriment their
melody foretells! [19, 119]
Merriment (n)
derived from the adjective "merry" by adding the suffix
"-ment". This suffix derives action nouns denoting processes or
results from (mainly) verbs.
And much of Madness, and more
of Sin,Horror the soul of the plot [19,120]
(n) formed by the suffix "-ness"
which is the most productive suffix of English. The suffix “-ness “is much less
restrictive than its close semantic relative“- ity”. But in E. Poe's poetry
there are only a few example of using this suffix.examples from E.A. Poe’s
prose
Indeed, some remote connection
between this passage in the English moralist and a portion of the
character of Ligeia [20, 65]
Passage (n)
is derived by the suffix “-age”. This suffix derives nouns that express an
activity (or its result) as in coverage, leakage. Base words may be verbal or
nominal and are often monosyllabic.
Ah, word of no meaning! Behind whose
vast latitude of mere sound we entrench our ignorance of so much of the spiritual
[20, 46]
(n) is formed by the suffix “-al”.
A number of verbs take “-al” to form abstract nouns denoting an action or the
result of an action. “The teeth glancing back, with a brilliancy almost
startling.” [21, 78]
Brilliancy
(n) the word consists of the base and the suffix “-cy”. The suffixes “-cy/-ce”
which attaches productively to adjectives ending in the suffix “-ant/-ent”.
Thus, a derivative like dependency could be analyzed as having two suffixes
(depend “-ent” “-cy”) or only one (depend “-ency”)
It was faultless -- how cold indeed
that pickpocketee when applied to a majesty so divine! [21, 35]
Pickpocketee
(n) is derived by the means of the suffix “-ee”. The meaning of this suffix can
be rather clearly discerned. It derives nouns denoting sentient entities that
are involved in an event as non-volitional participants.
I forget myself, were in no manner
acted upon by the ideal, nor was any tincture of the mysticism which I
read to be discovered.” [20,199]
Mysticism
(n) the word is formed by means of the suffix”-ism”. Forming abstract nouns
from other nouns and adjectives, derivatives belonging to this category denote
the related concepts state, condition, attitude, and system of beliefs or
theory, as in” blondism, Parkinsonism, conservatism, revisionism, Marxism“.
She seemed also conscious of a
cause, to me unknown, for the gradual alienation of my regard. [19, 68]
Alienation
(n) is made with the suffix “-ion”. This Latinate suffix has three allomorphs:
when attached to a verb in “-ify”, the verbal suffix and “-ion” surface
together as “-ification” (personification).
I think, truly defines to consist in
the saneness of rational being [21,132]
(n) is derived by the suffix
“-ness”. Quality noun forming “-ness” is perhaps the most productive suffix of
English. With regard to potential base words, “-ness “is much less restrictive
than its close semantic relative -“-ity”.) Verbal suffixesare four suffixes
which derive verbs from other categories (mostly adjectives and nouns), -ate,
-en, -ify and -ize, and all of them occur in E.Poe’s prose and poetry.examples
from E.A. Poe’s poetry
Astarte's bediamonded crescentwith
its duplicate horn [19,151]
Duplicate (v)
formed by the suffix "-ate" Forms ending in this suffix represent a
rather heterogeneous group. There is a class of derivatives with chemical
substances as bases, which systematically exhibit so- called ornative and
resultative meanings.bloom the thunder-blasted treethe blacken eagle
soar! [19, 90]
Blacken
(v)is made by merging of the adjective "black” and the suffix
"-en" The Germanic suffix “-en “attaches to monosyllables that end in
a plosive, fricative or affricate.
And the silken sad uncertain
rustling of each purple curtainme- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt
before [19,160]
Silken
(v) is formed form the noun "silk" and the suffix "-en".
Most bases are adjectives (e.g. blacken, broaden, quicken, ripen), but a few
nouns can also be found (e.g. strengthen, lengthen)
My tantalize spiritblandly
reposes [19, 74]
(v) this word has roots in Latin
mythology and formed by adding of the suffix "-ize". Both” -ize” and
“-ify “are polysemantic suffixes, which can express a whole range of related
concepts such as locative, ornative, and causative/factitive, resultative,
inchoative, performative, similative.examples from E.A. Poe’s prose
In studies of a nature more than all
else adapted to deaden impressions of the outward world [20, 170]
(v) is derived from the word “dead”
by means of the suffix “-en’. The Germanic suffix “-en” attaches to
monosyllables that end in a plosive, fricative or affricate. Most bases are adjectives
(e.g. blacken, broaden, quicken, ripen) and nouns can also be found (e.g.
strengthen, lengthen).all we want just now, you know, uncle, is that you would indicate
the time precisely [21, 65]
(v) this example of the suffixation
has the suffix “-ate” and can be paraphrased as “provide with something”, as
“fluorinate”, or ‘make into something’, as in “methanate”.
All I accomplished was the
demolition of the crystal which humidifies the dial of the clock upon
the mantel-piece [19, 33]
(v) made by the suffix “-ify”. Both
“-ize “and “-ify” are polysemous suffixes, which can express a whole range of
related concepts such as locative, ornative, and causative/factitive,
resultative, inchoative, performative, simulative.) Adjectival suffixesadjectival
suffixes of English can be subdivided into two major groups. A large proportion
of derived adjectives are relational adjectives, whose role is simply to relate
the noun the adjective qualifies to the base word of the derived
adjective.following are the examples from E.A. Poe’s poetry
A dark unfathomed tideinterminable
pride [19, 30]
(adj.) the verb "to
intermine" is combined with the suffix "-able". The suffix
chiefly combines with transitive and intransitive verbal bases, as in
deferrable and perishable, respectively, as well as with nouns, as in
“serviceable, fashionable”.
, opaque, immortal- all by
dintthe dear names that he concealed within't. [19, 71]
Immortal
(adj.) is produced by the suffix the "-al”. This relational suffix
attaches almost exclusively to Latinate bases (accidental, colonial, cultural,
federal, institutional, and modal).
Gazing, entranced, adown the gorgeous
vista,thrilling as I see, upon the right [19, 51]
(adj.) is derived from the noun
“gorge" by adding he suffix "-ous". This suffix derives
adjectives from nouns and bound roots, the vast majority being of Latinate
origin (curious, barbarous, famous, synonymous, and tremendous).
O God! Can I not save?from the pitiless
wave [19, 21]
(adj.) this word is combined by
adding the suffix "-less' to the adjective "pity". Semantically,
“-less “can be seen as antonymic to “-ful”, with the meaning being
paraphrasable
Up many and many a marvellous
shrinewreathed friezes intertwine?blend the turrets and shadows thereall seem pendulous
in air" [19,100]
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic
death-on the upturned faces of these roses [19,104]
Ecstatic (adj.)
is form by adding the suffix "-ic" to the base “-ecstate". Being
another relational suffix “-ic “also attaches to foreign bases (nouns and bound
roots). Quite a number of “-ic” derivatives have variant forms in “-ical
“(electric - electrical, economic - economomical, historic - historical, magic
- magical etc.).
How many scenes of what departed blissmany
thoughts of what entombed hopes. [19, 109]
Departed
(adj.) derived by the adding of the suffix “-ed” to the verb "to depart”.
This suffix derives adjectives with the general meaning as in broad-minded,
pig-headed, and wooded.
Entombed
(adj.) the suffix "-ed" is added to the verb "to entomb”. The
majority of derivatives are based on compounds or phrases (empty-headed,
pig-headed, air-minded, and fair-minded).following are the examples from E. A.
Poe’s prose
Through a species of unutterable horror
and awe, for which the language of mortality has no sufficiently energetic
expression” [20, 143]
Unutterable
(adj.) consist of the base “utter”, prefix “un-” and the suffix “-able”. The
suffix chiefly combines with transitive and intransitive verbal bases, as
deferrable and perishable, respectively, as well as with nouns, as in
serviceable, fashionable.
I derived, from many existences in
the material world, a sentiment such as I felt always aroused within me
by her large and luminous orbs.” [19,209]
Material (adj.)
derived by the means of the suffix “-al”. This relational suffix attaches
almost exclusively to Latinate bases (accidental, colonial, cultural, federal,
institutional, and modal).it rather a caprice of my own -- a wildly romantic
offering on the shrine of the most passionate devotion? [21,165]
Romantic (adj.)
is built be the suffix “-ic”. Being another relational suffix, “-ic” also
attaches to foreign bases (nouns and bound roots). Quite a number of “-ic
“derivatives have variant forms in “-ical” (electric - electrical, economic -
economomical, historic - historical, magic - magical etc.).
The most beautiful became the
most hideous. [21,172]
Beautiful
(adj.) constructed with the suffix “- ful”. The adjectival suffix “-ful” has
the general meaning “having something, being characterized by something” and is
typically attached to abstract nouns, as beautiful, insightful, purposeful,
tactful.
His complexion was absolutely bloodless.
[20,249]
Bloodless (adj.)
derived by the means of the suffix “-less”. Semantically, “-less” can be seen
as antonymic to -“-ful”, with the meaning being paraphrasable as “without
something”: expressionless, hopeless, speechless, and thankless.
Yet I believe that I met her first
and most frequently in some large, old, decaying city near the Rhine.
[20, 72]
Decaying (adj.)
the suffix “-ing” is added to the word “to decay”. This verbal inflectional
suffix primarily forms present participles, which can in general also be used
as adjectives in attributive positions.
His imagination was singularly vigorous
and creative; and no doubt it derived additional force from the habitual
use of morphine. [19,290]
Vigorous (adj.)
combined by the adding of the suffix “-ous”. This suffix derives adjectives
from nouns and bound roots, the vast majority being of Latinate origin
(curious, barbarous, famous, synonymous, and tremendous).
Creative (adj.)
this suffix forms adjectives mostly from Latinate verbs and bound roots that
end in “t” or “s”: connective, explosive, fricative, offensive, passive,
preventive, and primitive, receptive, speculative. Some nominal bases are also
attested, as in instinctive, massive.can conclude according the examples, which
are given above that the main function of suffixes in E.A. Poe’s prose, and
poetry is to form one part of speech from another; the secondary function is to
change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. Suffixation is the most
productive type of affixation in E.A. Poe’s literally works and throughout the
history of English literature. It consists in adding a suffix to the stem of a
definite part of speech. E. Poe used the process of affixation to coin a new
word by adding a suffix or several suffixes to some root morpheme.role of the
suffixation in E. Poe’s works is very important and therefore it is necessary
to consider certain features of this process dominating in E. A. Poe’s prose
and poetry. From the scope of the part-of- speech classification
“Noun-suffixes” and “Adjective-suffixes” prevail in comparing with the other
types of this classification. According to the lexico-grammatical character of
suffixes, “de-nominal” and “de-adjectival” suffixes are the most frequently
used ones. Also a wide spread have the Latin and Greek suffixes due to
specificity of E. Poe’s works.
2.1.2 Prefixation
In contrast to compounding,
affixation links so-called prefixes and suffixes, which are not independent, to
words of all types. The type of affix determines the effect the affixation will
have on the word. Here, we discuss supportive and opposing prefixes. They are
used to express support for or disapproval of whatever is expressed by the word
they are attached to.prefixes of English can be classified semantically into
the following groups. First, there is a large group that quantify over their
base words meaningexamples from E.A. Poe’s poetry
Flapping from out their transparent
wingsWoe [19,198]
Transparent (adj.)
the prefix "trans-"designating direction and location (“super-“,
“sub”-, “hyper-“, “hypo-“, “mid-“, “trans-“, “ultra-»and “retro-“). However,
many direction and location prefixes have quantificational senses as well,
exploiting the conventional metaphorization of “over” as “more” and “under-” as
“-iess”.
Can struggle to its destined
eminence,-distant spheres, from time to time [19,14]
(adj.) derived by the prefix
“di-" which denotes twice or two’ (“bi-“, bilateral, bifurcation and “di-“,
disyllabic, intransitive)
Lest an evil step be taken,-the dead
who is omnipotent [19,42]
(a) is derived by the prefix
“omni-“which denotes “all” (“omni-“omniscient, omnipresent, omnirange).
For the same end as
before-Videlicet, a tent-I think extravagant
[19,58]
Extravagant
(a) is made by the prefix "extra-". It could be included here, with
the meaning of 'outside', and one needs to imagine an appropriate situation,
for example, extracurricular., there are numerous locative prefixes. Locative
prefixes determine the place, or relative place, or (relative) direction, of
action or objects. Also, abstract nouns and processes or relations are
determined in terms of locality.examples from E. A. Poe’s poetry
And I have other reasons for so
doingmy innate love of contradiction [19, 68]
(n) Prefix
"contra-"Another prefix that overlaps in meaning with against or in
opposition to is “counter-“, which can be prefixed to nouns and verbs.
While the star that oversprinklesthe
heavens seem to twinkle [19, 66]
(v) the verb "to
sprinkle" is added by the prefix "over-" is one of the most
productive English prefixes.
Wreathed in myrtle, my sword I'll
concealthose arch-enemies devoted and brave [19, 94]
(n) the noun "enemy" is
combined with the prefix "arch-”. “Arch-“has meaning 'principle', attaches
to nouns referring to people occupying an important social or psychological
role.examples of Locative prefixes in E. Poe’s prose.
…and then I entered the antechamber.
[20, 127]
Antechamber (n)
is derived by the adding of the prefix "ante-",which denotes “before”
and added to nouns.circumnavigated this area again and again. [21, 28]
Circumnavigate (v)
is completed by the prefix “circum-” which means “around” and mostly added to
verbs, nouns.
I could smelt the extrasensory
of this performance in the air. [19, 171]
Extrasensory
(adj.) is based on the prefix “extra-”which stands for “outside, beyond” and
added to: adjectives, nouns.
The beast cut her forefinger
and disfigured her face. [21, 40]
Forefinger
(n) is made by adding the prefix “fore-“to the noun “finger”. This prefix means
“in front, front part of”.Prefixesthird group consists of prefixes expressing
negation: “de-“, “dis-”, “in-“, “non-“, “un-” etc.examples from E.A. Poe’s
poetry
the jewels of antichrist’s
throne,of Hell! And with a pain [19, 105]
Antichrist
(n) it is completed by of the prefix “anti-" to the base. This
polysemantic prefix can express two different, but related notions in the words
like anti-war, anti-abortion, anti-capitalistic, anti-scientific, and
anti-freeze.
Vast forms that move fantasticallya discordant
melody [19,121]
(adj) the prefix “dis-” is closely
related semantically to «un-and «de-“, the prefix “dis-»forms reversative verbs
from foreign verbal bases «disassemble, disassociate, discharge, disconnect,
disproof, disqualify.”
Disconsolate
linger- grief that hangs her head,follies that full long have Red [19,154]
(v) the verb "consolate"
is mixed with the "prefix" dis-” Apart from deriving reversative
verbs, this suffix uniquely offers the possibility to negate the base verb in
much the same way as clausal negation does: “disagree, not agree, disobey, not
obey, dislike, not like”.
Yet heavier far than your Petrarchan
stuff-downy nonsense that the faintest puff [19,125]
(n) the word "sense” is added
by the prefix "non-" Nouns prefixed with “non-“can either mean
“absence of something” or “not having the character of something”
(non-delivery, non-member, non-profit, non-stop).
While the angels, all pallid and
wan,, unveil, affirms [19.141]
Unveil (v)
the verb "to veil" is added o the prefix" un-" which can
attach to verbs and sometimes nouns.
I see them still- two sweetly
scintillant, unextinguished by the sun [19, 38]
(v) is derived by the adding of the
prefix "un". The prefix is also used to negate simple and derived
adjectives: uncomplicated, unhappy, unsuccessful, and unreadable.examples from
E.A. Poe’s prose
The asymmetrical architecture
of this palace frightened me. [20, 59]
Asymmetrical
(adj.) is derived by the means of the prefix “a-“which stands for “not, lacking
in, not affected by” and added to adjectives, nouns.
I felt disgust being in front
of this statue. [20, 62]
Disgust (n)
is derived by the prefix “dis -“which denotes “not, absolute opposite of what
is meant by the second element” and added to abstract nouns, verbs.
This unexpected blizzard was
crashing all around. [20,231]
Unexpected (adj.)
is derived by the means of the prefix “un-“which has meaning “not, the opposite
of” and before words of French origin transformed in “in-“, “il-“(before “l”),
“im-” (before “p”), “ir-” (before “r”). These are the most commonly used
prefixes of negation.can conclude according the examples of suffixation and
prefixation which are given above that the process of affixation is the most
productive in E.A. Poe’s prose and poetry. Affixation consists in adding
derivational affixes (i.e., prefixes and suffixes) to roots and stems to form
new words. Affixation is a very common and productive process of word building
in E.A. Poe’s prose and poetry. Affixation is divided into suffixation and
prefixation, they both are presented above in examples according the context of
our investigation.. Poe used Prefixation to form the words by means of adding a
prefix to the stem. In his works, it is mostly characteristic for forming
verbs. If we analyze the examples according the Semantic classification of
prefixes-»Prefixes of negative meaning” are frequently used (“de-“,
“dis”-,“in-»“im-“,” il-“, “ir-“) “Prefixes denoting repetition or reversal
actions “and “Prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations” rarely occur in
E. Poe’s prose and poetry and have small number in comparison with the other
types of Prefixation. From the point of view of etymology the using of the
borrowed affixes (Romanic, such as: “in-“, “de-“,”ex-“, “re-“and Greek, such as
“sym-“, “hyper-“) play an important role in E. Poe’s literally works.analyzed
the total amount of the cases (from E. Poe’s prose and poetry) in which the
processes of affixation take place, we can draw a conclusion that the role of
the suffixation in his works is dominative.
2.2 Conversion
Conversion is the derivational
process whereby an item changes its word class without the addition of an
affix. [2,78 ] Thus, when the noun “sign” shifts to the verb “sign(ed)” without
any change in the word form we can say this is a case of conversion. However,
it does not mean that this process takes place in all the cases of homophones
[6, 67]. Sometimes, the connection has to do with coincidences or old
etymological ties that have been lost. For example, “mind” and “matter” are
cases of this grammatical sameness without connection by conversion-the verbs
have nothing to do today with their respective noun forms in terms of semantics.is
particularly common in English because the basic form of nouns and verbs is
identical in many cases. It is usually impossible in languages with grammatical
genders, declensions or conjugations. [11, 56]status of conversion is a bit
unclear. It must be undoubtedly placed within the phenomena of word-formation;
nevertheless, there are some doubts about whether it must be considered a
branch of derivation or a separate process by itself (with the same status as
derivation or compounding). [16,176]this undetermined position in grammar, some
scholars assert that conversion will become even more active in the future
because it is a very easy way to create new words in English. [11,156 ] There
is no way to know the number of conversions appearing every day in the spoken
language, although we know this number must be high. As it is a quite recent
phenomenon, the written evidence is not a fully reliable source. We will have
to wait a little longer to understand its whole impact, which will surely
increase in importance in the next decades.) Noun - verb conversion. Today the
largest number of words formed by conversion is constituted by verbs from
nouns.examples from E.A. Poe’s poetry
My sorrow; I could not awakenheart to
joy at the same tone” [19, 96]
Joy (n)
- to joy (v) the noun is converted into the verb and it denotes the act
of being asleep or the process of triumph.
For the moon never beams
without bringing me dreamsthe beautiful [19.185]
Beam (n)
- to beam (v) the word is turned into verb and took the meaning “to
appear through something”.
the startled ear of nightthey scream
out their affright! [19, 74]
Scream
(n) - to scream (v) the noun is conversed into the verb and denotes the
action in which someone is involved in the process of making the noise.
Streams up the turrets
silently-up the pinnacles far and free [19.134]
Stream (n)
- to stream (v); Gleam (n) - to gleam (v) the noun are
converted into the verbs and they turned the natural phenomenon into the
actions.
(n) - to hammer (v) in this
case of conversion the word express the action done with the noun as
instrument. It can be exemplified with “hammer” (to hit a nail by means of a
hammer).
visions of the dark nighthave dreamed
of joy departed[19.259]
Dream (n)
- to dream (v) the noun is converted into the verb and it denotes the
act of being asleep or the process of dreaming.
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,a
black throne reigns upright [19, 74]
(n) - to reign (v) this
abstract noun is turned into verb denoting the process of being enthroned.
Ah, let us mourn! - For never
morrowdawn upon him desolate? [19,215]
Mourn
(n) - to mourn (v) the noun is conversed into the verb and denotes the
action in which someone is involved in the process of grieves.the queen of the
angels
To shield me
from harm [19,215]
Shield
(n) - to shield (v) the word is turned into verb and took the meaning
“to protect from something”.
The examples from E.A. Poe’s
proseNegros canned apples. [19,134]
Can
(n) - to can (v) it stands for “to put in/on something” the nouns are
usually locative nouns denoting a place, a container or a specified location
and can be paraphrased as “The workers put apples in cans.”
They sheltered the orphans.
[21.248]
Shelter
(n) - to shelter (v) “To give something, to provide something” It can be
paraphrased as “They gave shelter to the orphans”.
William weeded the garden
[20.143]
Weed (n)
- to weed (v) “To deprive of something or to remove the object denoted
by the noun from something” It can be paraphrased as” He cut off weeds in the
garden”.
She mothered the orphan
[20, 24]
Mother
(n) - to mother (v) “To be / act as something with respect to …” It can
be paraphrased as “She looked after the orphan like a mother”.
Will you please mail the
parcel? [18.247]
Mail (n)
- to mail (v) “To send / go by something” It can be paraphrased as” Will
you please send the parcel by mail?” [19,143]summered in Qingdao.
[21.202]
Summer
(n) - to summer (v) “To spend the period of time denoted by something”
(We spent summer in Qingdao.)) Verb- noun conversion
Conversion from verb to noun is also
quite common. Nouns converted from verbs are not as numerous as verbs converted
from nouns, because the English speaking people are inclined to employ
derivation by means of deverbal suffixes (as in arrangement from arrange,
ratification from ratify and the numerous noun-formations in “-ing “) or to
employ a ready-made synonym from borrowed words (as to climb, ascent; to
scatter, dissemination)examples from E.A. Poe’s poetry
The curtain, a funeral pall,down
with the rush of a storm [19.215]
rush
(v) - rush (n) the meaning of the verb is shifted and instead of action
it denotes the numinalizated name of this process
The tremble of a living
wirethose unusual strings [19.217]
To tremble
(v) - tremble (n) in this case of conversion the word expresses the
effect done with the noun as biological process.
A walkway for the queenliest dead
that ever died so young-dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died
so young. [19, 97]
To dirge
(v) - dirge (n) the verb denoting the act of church ceremony is shifted
to the noun reflected its matter.I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to
borrowmy books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore- [19, 96]
surcease
(v) - surcease (n) the verb is conversed to show the matter of the
action.examples from E.A. Poe’s poetry
A few days ago in Baltimore, Ms.
Burns was in her apartment in the middle of a high- rise in the middle
of everywhere in place. [21, 213]
To rise
(v) - rise (n) this verb can also be nominalised, like in “turn” (where
to turn)
This election had been the
most emotionally draining experience of my life. [21, 234]
To experience
(v) - experience (n) the noun coming from verbs can express state of
mind or state of sensation
More than half of the incidents were
involved loss of consciousness or a heart attack. [20, 151]
To attack (v)
- attack (n) the noun coming from the verb can express state of mind or
state of sensation.
“Noah will be living proof that one
animal is able to carry, and give birth to, a healthy animal that is the clone
of a completely different species.” [19, 217]
To clone
(v) - clone (n) In this case the noun refers to the subject of the
original verb.) Adjective - noun conversion- noun conversion is
classified into two groups: partial conversion and complete conversion. Partial
conversion: Some adjective are used as nouns when preceded by the definite
article such as the poor, the wounded; yet these converted nouns take on only
some of the feature of the noun; i.e. they do not take plural and genitive
inflections, nor can they be preceded by determiners like a, this, my, etc.
early (n. - adv.).examples from E.A. Poe’s poetry
A void within the filmy
Heavenwaves have now a redder glow [19, 31]
Void (adj.)
- void (n)
I feel it more than half a crime,Nature
sleeps and stars are mute [19, 54]
(adj.) - mute (n)
From their high thrones in the
Heavenlight like hope to mortals given [19, 55]
(adj.) - mortal (n)
But their red orbs, without
beam,thy weariness shall seem [19, 108]
(adj.) - orb (n)examples from
E.A. Poe’s prose
From one direction comes the rich
smell of frying bread, from another the aroma of boiled pork dumplings and from
yet another fermented or "smelly" bean curd, a Chinese favorite.
[20, 65]
Favorite (adj.)
- favorite (n) - is the case of nominalization which occurs when
the noun is elided and the adjective is widely used as a synonym of an existing
set pattern.
We have to assume the worst.
[21, 45]
The worst
(adj.) - worst (n) this adjective can still be changed to the comparative
and superlative form (adjective nature).
We've got some older fans now, but
the more the merrier-everyone's welcome! [19, 178]
More (adj.)
- more (n) - these adjective and noun cannot have any inflections if
their number or case is changed, they will produce ungrammatical
sentences.process of Conversion is mostly peculiar to E.A. Poe’s poetry because
of the necessity to state a poetical thought in a limited number of syllables.
Due to Conversion one can contain the sense of a whole phrase into a single
word. In the most of the cases to distinguish the type of Conversion which was
used is obviously impossible because of the basic form of nouns and verbs are
identical in many cases. Conversion from verb to noun is the most typical
aspect of this word formational process in the case of E. Poe’s prose and
poetry. The others are not frequently occur in his literally works due to the
period when they were created (Conversion is more peculiar to the Modern
Literature.)
2.3 Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a short way of
writing a word or a phrase that could also be written out in full.
Abbreviations are very rarely used in formal writing of E. Poe. Almost the only
ones which are frequently used are the abbreviations for certain common titles,
when these are used with someone's name: “Mr Willis, Dr Livingstone, Mrs
Thatcher, Ms Harmon, St Joan. «(Note that the two items Mrs and Ms are
conventionally treated as abbreviations, even though they can be written in no
other way.) When writing about a French or Spanish person, you may use the
abbreviations for the French and Spanish equivalents of the English titles: M.
Mitterrand, Sr. González.
(These are the usual French and Spanish abbreviations for “Monsieur” and” Señor”
[], equivalent to English “Mister”.)
Other titles
are sometimes abbreviated in the same way: “Prof. Chomsky”, “Sgt. Yorke”, and
“Mgr. Lindemann” []. However, it is usually much better to write these titles
out in full when you are using them in a sentence: “Professor Chomsky”, “Sergeant
Yorke”, and “Monsignor Lindemann”. The abbreviated forms are best confined to
places like footnotes
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