Excercises

1. Add a prefix to each of the following bound roots to form existing English words:

-cognito, -peccable, -promptu, -plussed, -nomer

2. Draw the relevant morpheme-based rule and word-based schema for the words: speechless, penniless, reckless. Does the modeling of the last word differ from that of the former words? (Consult Plag 2002: 231-243)

3. What do the following combining forms mean? Make at least one word with each of them and consult a dictionary to define their meanings precisely. Mind that some combining forms are homonymous.

haplo-, oro-, pedo-, rhino-, -algia, -cide, -cracy, -gnostic, -latry, -nasty

4. Classify the compounds e-book, speedometer, back-formation, tradesman, pepper-and-salt, blue-eyed, wastepaper-basket, underestimate, chit-chat, motion-sick according to:

1. the means of joining the stems together (by juxtaposition or with a linking element);

2. the structure of the immediate constituents (into simple / derived / compound / clipped stems);

3. the word class of the constituents (patterns like Aj + N, etc.)

4. the syntactic relationship between the constituents (into syntactic (either coordinate or subordinate) and non-syntactic).

5. Discuss the directionality of conversion in the following pairs of words, using the criteria of frequency (based on the BYU-BNC lemmatized word searches) and semantic complexity (consult a dictionary!) as diagnostics. Identify the type of semantic relation within each converted pair.

Noun	frequency	verb	frequency
a cry	2221	to cry	5535
a hammer	1128	to hammer	749
a benefit	15304	to benefit	4038
a cheat	206	to cheat	779
a find	578	to find	88107
a father	23675	to father	84

6. Match the definitions on the right with the corresponding words on the left. Single out their original components. Name the means of word formation involved.

1	televangelist	a.	a facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters
2	netiquette	b.	the term used to collectively refer to two universities in England, often with implications of perceived superior social status
3	emoticon	c.	irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of users
4	chunnel	d.	an evangelical preacher who appears regularly on television to promote beliefs and appeal for funds
5	blog	e.	a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks
6	spam	f.	people who have no mind or free will of their own and go with the flow
7	webinar	g.	a person employed by charity organisations to solicit passers-by for donations
8	Oxbridge	h.	an underground rail tunnel that runs below the English Channel and connects Great Britain and France
9	chugger	i.	the term used to describe a specific type of online conference
10	sheeple	j.	a web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer

7. Out of the following words, select those, which illustrate clipping, back-formation, abbreviation (acronyms and initialisms) as well as aphetic forms.

henge, hedge, luminaire, luminesce, laser, radar, ‘burbs, ‘tude, couth, spa, sail, ceil, deli, taxi, pin, PIN, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), US (United States).

8. Identify the means involved in the formation of the following words and give their meanings:

greed, laser, brunch, Anglo-Saxon, IMF, ibid., sandpaper (n, v), G7, gold – gild, T-shirt, purr, shield (n, v), honour – honours, specs, contest (n, v), damage – damages, spam, do-it-yourself job, half-baked, southerner, dry (a, v), to break down – a break-down

9. Many trade names are novel English forms coined by marketers.

a) Look at the following list of product names and make hypotheses about the morphemes that motivate these names. What word-formation processes were employed?

Kleenex (facial tissues)

Trident (chewing gum)

Nabisco (baked goods)

Sunkist (fruit-flavored soft drinks)

Ziploc (plastic storage bags)

b) Imagine you are about to launch a new product. Think of what it could be and what trade name you would coin for it. Explain your choice.

10. Analyze word-formation processes that the lexicon in the following text has undergone.

Find examples of derivation, compounding, conversion, shortening, etc. and specify their types.

How many sandwiches get to go by their initials?

When tomatoes come into season, there’s hardly a better way to celebrate the bounty than with a juicy bacon, lettuce, and tomato.

Food guru John Mariani says the BLT is the no. 2 favorite sandwich in the US (after ham), and it’s no. 1 in the UK.

Bread can be toasted or un, bacon crispy or limp. Lettuce? Iceberg or other, but iceberg is preferred for imparting a crunch and no interfering flavor. As for mayo, either good quality or just forget about it.

The provenance of the BLT isn’t clear, but a remarkably similar club sandwich showed up in the 1903 Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book. Even if the sodium level gives the health-minded pause, the BLT tastes like summer -- and who can resist that? (After Dana Joseph, for CNN Travel)