Morphology and Syntax

Morphology and Syntax Morphology 6 Trương Văn Ánh Trường Đại học Sài Gòn 2 WORD CLASSES FORM CLASSES (LEXICAL WORDS) 1 Nouns As for meaning, nouns are traditionally known to be names of persons, place[.]

Morphology 6

Trương Văn Ánh

Trường Đại học Sài Gòn

WORD CLASSES

FORM CLASSES (LEXICAL WORDS)

1 Nouns

As for meaning, nouns are traditionally known to be names of persons, places, things, and ideas Among their formal characteristics, English nouns may

typically be made:

 definite in meaning by the, as in the book, the guy,

the answer;

 possessive by suffixing –’s, as in boy’s, man’s;

 negative by prefixing non-: non-believer, nonsense

2 Verbs

Verbs are traditionally said to express action, being, and states of being Among their formal

characteristics, English verbs may typically be made:  past in meaning by suffixing –(e)d, as in work 

worked

 into agents by suffixing –er, as in do  doer, walk  walker

 negative by prefixing dis-, as in agree  disagree,

appear  disappear

3 Adjectives

In terms of meaning, adjectives are said to modify

nouns Among the formal characteristics, English

adjectives may typically be:

 in comparisons by –er or more: tall  taller,

beautiful  more beautiful

 modified by intensifiers very, too: very tall, too tall  made negative by un-: unhappy

4 Adverbs

The adverbs have four suffixes: the derivational

suffixes –ly, -wise, -ward, and –s- and one free form

like.

1 Source adjective Derived adverb

fortunate fortunately

2 Source noun Derived adverb

student studentwise

3 Source noun Derived adverb

north northward

4 Source noun Derived adverb

night nights

5 Source noun Derived adverb

student studentlike

6 Source adjective Derived adverb

casual casual-like

5 Uninflected words (Functional words)

Words that do not belong to one of the four form-classes – noun, verb, adjective, or adverb are known

as uninflected words, UW’s Uninflected words take

no inflectional endings as listed below

1 Words that are traditionally called nouns:

pathos, advice, tennis, evidence, botany

2 Words that are traditionally called adverbs:

often, seldom, also, never, perhaps

3 Words that are traditionally called adjectives:

antic, menial, only, tired

4 Verbs: can, will, shall, etc

5 Most of the words in the structure-classes: (Preposition, conjunction, pronoun, interjection)

the, must, quite, from, and, since, which, all

Good luck!