3.5   Morpheme and Word-formation

    We know that words can be analyzed into morphemes, which are the minimal meaningful units in the composition of words. In word-formation, however, morphemes are conventionally labeled root, stem, base and affix.

 

     1. Affix

    Affixes are forms that are attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or function. All affixes are bound morphemes because none of them can stand as words in their own right. According to the functions of affixes, we can divide them into inflectional affixes like -s, -ed and -ing, and derivational affixes like pre-, ex-, de-, -less, -dom and -ic. Derivational and inflectional affixes are identical with derivational and inflectional morphemes. In view of their distribution in the formation of words, affixes can fall into prefix and suffix. Prefixes are all derivational, i.e. they are used to form new words whereas suffixes embrace(包括) both derivational suffixes and inflectional suffixes. Accordingly, the above-mentioned affixes can be further grouped into prefixes: pre-, ex- and de-_y and suffixes: -less, -dom, -zc, -5, -ed and -ing.

 

    2. Root, Stem, Base

    Before we begin our actual discussion of word-building processes, there are some basic concepts that need clarifying(澄清). The processes of derivation and compounding involve different word-forming elements: affixes and root or stem or base. Indeed, some people use root or stem undiscriminatingly (不加区别地) on all occasions. But these three terms are not the same, and they denote to a greater or lesser degree different concepts despite the semantic overlapping between them.

    A root is the basic form of a word which cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity (Crystal 1985). As mentioned earlier, the root, whether free or bound, generally carries the main component of meaning in a word. In the word internationalists, removing inter- , -at, -ist, -s leaves the root nation. If we further divide nation as * na/tion or * at /ion, though -tion and -ion coincide with the noun suffix, the other part is meaningless and the original lexical identity is totally lost. Therefore, nation defies(使不能；使落空) further analysis. In terms of derivational and inflectional morphology, a 'root is that part of a word form that remains when all inflectional and derivational affixes have been removed' (Bauer 1983). Take internationalists again. After the removal of the inflectional affix -s and the derivational affixes -ist, -al and inter-, nation is what is left and thus is the root.

    A stem may consist of a single root morpheme as in iron or of two root morphemes as in a compound like handcuff. It can be a root morpheme plus one or more affixational morphemes as in mouthful, understatement. To make things more clearly, we say that the stem is used only when we deal with inflectional affixes. As Bauer defines, a stem is 'that part of the word-form which remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed' (ibid). In other words, any form to which an inflectional affix is attached is a stem. Consider the word internationalists again. Nation is a root as well as a stem as the plural -s can be added to it; national is not a root as it can be further divided, but a stem because an inflectional affix -s can be added to it when used as a noun; similarly, international is not a root but a stem for the same reason. This is also true of internationalist, which is a stem.

    A base is used in this book as an all-purpose term, referring to a form to which affixes of any kind (both derivational and inflectional) can be added. It can be a root or a stem. In the case of internationalists, nation is a base, national is a base, so are international and internationalist.

nation                     (root, stem, base)

national                  (stem, base)

international           (stem, base)

internationalist       (stem, base)

Internationalists

      It should be noted that such an example gives the impression that a stem is just as good as a base. This is not true. In many cases, a form of word can neither be a root nor a stem, but only a base. This often happens when we deal with derivational affixes exclusively, for example impracticality(不切实际；无用；不现实). Removing the derivational affix -ity leaves only the base form impractical, and by further removing im- we have the base form practical left and by still further analysis, only practice remains.

impracticality

impractical         (base)

practical            (base)

practice             (root, stem, base)

Therefore, in the chapters to follow, we shall employ only the term base to refer to any basic word-building element.