A WORDS AND ITS STRUCTURE changes the meaning unhelp 7.1 Meaning and structure As explained in chapter 2, words may have predictable meaning according to their %n- is not restricted to ad'ectives. %n- also components and how the structure of complex pefixed remain verbs and ad'ective. word forms. 8erbs %n) tie untie Words Words are listed as lexical item have meaning %n ) fasten unfasten that is entirely different from one might %n ) dasp undasp expect. *ouns %n ) ease unease This chapter will elaborate about how ---- and %n)rest unrest about circumtances under which meaning and structure appear to diverge. %n- is not the head of these words. The head In some words, structure is straightforward. of these words is the base to which un- is or example, !"#$%# &derived from the attached and which is the righthand element. noun base help by means of the ad'ective+imilia +imiliarr argume arguments nts apply apply to re- 6 rearra rearrange nge,, forming suffix -ful(. repaint, and re-educate. &verbs(. It is also right!elp ) ful headed. &*( &Ad'. orming +uffix( The The only only pref prefix ixes es that that are are une9 une9ui uiov ovoc ocall ally y !elpful is actual form of !elpful and -fulheads are those that change wordclass, such as help is ill form. The distinction of the both de- in delouse &deriving verbs from noun( and form will be discussed in section .2. en- in enfeeb enfeeble le and enslave enslave &derivin &deriving g noun In section . and ./ we will discuss about from ad'ective( affixed words and compounds that have more It is not numerous left-headed derived words than two components, such as unhelpfulness and left-headed compunds. and car insurance premium. 7.! M"re e#a$"rate %"rd f"r&s' &u#ti(#e affixati"n The last section, section .0 will discuss about :any :any derived derived word contai contain n more more than than one compund word that has two interpretation li1e affix fix. "xam "xampl ples es are are unhel nhelp pfuln fulnes esss and rench rench history history teache teacherr &ren &rench ch teache teacherr of helplessness. history and teacher of reach !istory( It is entirely flat when they each consist of 7.2 Affixes as eads mere merely ly a strin string g of affi affixe xess plus plus a root root,, no 3hap 3hapte terr 0 show showed ed how how suff suffix ixes es heavi eavily ly portions of the string being grouped together outnumber outnumber prefixes prefixes and in 3hapter 3hapter 4 we saw as a substring or smaller constituent within the that most compunds are headed, with the head word. on the right &right-headed(. +uperficially these The The cons conse9 e9ue uenc ncee of that that analy analysis sis is that that it two facts are unconnected would complicate considerably what needs to 5reenhouse &n( means house for plants. The be said about behaviour of suffixess -ful dan head of the word is house &n( determines the -less. !owever, if the nouns unhelpfulness and compounds syntactic status &as noun(. helplessness are flat structured, we mus also Teacher &n( means someone who teachs. The allow -ful dan -less to appear in such a string, head of the word is -er &n(. -er is the derived because &for example( the imaginary nouns word word teache teacher6 r6 it determ determine iness that that teache teacherr is sadlessness sadlessness and meanlessnin meanlessningness, gness, though though someone who 7s. they contain -less are nevertheless not words, In helpful, the affix -ful is what determines and &one feels( could never be words. The flat-structure flat-structure approach misses a crucial crucial that the whole word is an ad'ective, and so counts as it head. observ observati ation6 on6 %nhelpf %nhelpfuln ulness ess with suffi suffix x -ful -ful In -ful-help violates "nglish expectation not only by virtue of the fact that it containts the ad'ective helpful. #i1ewise helplessness with 'ust because the affix is on the wrong side, but -les -lesss by virt virtue ue of the the fact fact that that it cont contain aints ts also because the rightmost element is not the helpless. head. -ful and -less need to have special provision We may expect that prefixed words should be when when they they appe appear ar insid insidee of comp comple lex x word word as rare in "nglish as left-headed compounds rahter than as their rightmost element. &such as attorney general( %nhelpfulness and !elplessness can be seen as Alth Althou ough gh pref prefix ix fewe fewerr than than suff suffix ix,, pref prefix ix built up from the root help6 include some that are very common occurance, a. +ucces +uccessiv sivee $roc $rocess esses es of Affix Affixati ation on such as un- ¬( and re- &again(. ;( help * ) -ful helpful * The The rela relattion ionship ship betw betwee een n help elpful ful and and un- ) helpful unhelpful * unhelpful6 ) -ness helpful !elp ) ful &suffix -ful changes noun !elp into ad'ectiuvnehelpful unhelpful %n ) h el elpful &p & prefix un u n- do d oesnt ch c hange ad a d'ectiveunhelpfulness he h elpful, i t *'u 'ust
2( help * ) -less helplessA helpless ) -ness helplessness * b. Tree
N
A
The single branch connecting 8 to * in help. It is conversion with no affix. Another tree diagram incorporating adverbial &Adv( node and also ilustrating noth affixial and non-affixial head, each italicied element being the head of the constituent dominated by the node immediately above it.
A
Adv
N
V
A
V
V /(
un
help
N
ful
ness
A
V
V A N V *-A-8 are help nodes to indicate the less ness wordclass of the string. c. #abbeled =rac1eting >>un->>helpv? *-ful?A?A-ness? * >>>help8? * - less?A-ness? * "very node has no more than two branches sprouting downwards. This reflect the fact that, in "nglish, derivational processes operate by adding no more than one affix to a base. In some languages, where material may be added simultaneously at both ends, constructing what is sometimes called circumfix. 3ircumfix in "nglish may be a plaussible candidate is the en-...-en combination that forms enliven and embolden from live and bold, but also en- and -en each appears on its own two@ enfeeble and redden. An alternative analysis as a combination of prefix and suffix seems preferable.
un
assert
N ive
ly
de +ome complexre words contain elementsclass about ify which one may reasonably argue whether they are complex or not. In reflection is clearly divisible into a base reflect and a suffix-ion. Then its confusing, is it reflect consist of one or two morpheme. Any complex word form consisting of free root and affixes turns out to be readily analysable in the simple fashion illustarted here, with binary brancing and with either the affix as a head. Another salient point is that more than one node in a tree diagram may carry the same wordclass labe. It has considerable implications for the sie of the class of all apossible words in "nglish. Any candidate for longest sentence status can be lengthened by embedding it in a context such as +haron says that BBB. 5iven that we can find noun inside nouns, verbs inside verbs, and so on, it is hardly surprising that the vocabulary of english, or of any individual spea1er, is not a closed, finite list.
