Zeki Hamawand - Morphology in English: Word Formation in Cognitive Grammar

Morphology in English

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Morphology
in English

Word Formation in
Cognitive Grammar

Zeki Hamawand

To the memory of my parents

Contents

Acknowledgements

Writing a textbook on morphology, particularly within the discipline of Cognitive Linguistics is a daring enterprise. It is fraught with difficulties and rife with pitfalls. In the course of preparing the textbook, a number of people have contributed directly or indirectly to its evolution. First, I owe a special debt of gratitude to Ronald Langacker for checking the linguistic content. His acute observations helped make the argument sound. Second, I record my indebtedness to Struan Robertson for proofreading the manuscript. His pertinent suggestions contributed to textual clarity. Third, I am grateful to Pavel Stekauer for devoting his time to reading an earlier draft of the work, giving perspicacious remarks and invaluable feedback. Fourth, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Gurdeep Mattu, the Linguistics Editor at Continuum, for his guidance in bringing the project to fruition, and the remaining staff for their diligence in producing and distributing the textbook. Finally, I will be grateful if readers provide suggestions for improving future editions of the textbook. Responsibility for errors is, of course, entirely my own.

Zeki Hamawand

Preface

Morphology in English: Word Formation in Cognitive Grammar is a textbook which provides an in-depth analysis of English morphology. Theoretically, the framework is rooted in Langacker (1987, 1991). Practically, it is based on Hamawand (2007, 2008, 2009). Morphology is a branch of linguistics which studies the form-meaning relationships between the subparts of composite words in the lexicon. It aims to show how the subparts are integrated and how the resulting formations are interpreted. A composite word consists of two or more subparts, one of which imposes its profile on the entire structure. The description of a composite word involves two aspects. One is substance, which consists of two facades: form or the phonological representation, and meaning or the semantic content. The form serves to express meaning. The other is use, the purpose for or way in which a composite word is employed. The use of a composite word is determined by the way the language user construes a situation, which differs relative to the demands of discourse. The substance of a composite word is activated as a response to language use.

The lexicon is a network of morphological units which the language user associates in conformity with cognitive principles. Morphological units display three linguistic characteristics. One characteristic pertains to linguistic multiplicity, whereby a particular morpheme has a series of interrelated senses which gather around a prototype. The senses are organized in terms of distance from the prototype, based on the degree of similarity. Another characteristic revolves around linguistic relationship, whereby different morphemes cluster in domains defined by two types of relation: one is of similarity vis--vis the overall concept of the domain they form; the other is of difference with respect to the specific functions they perform within the domain. A further characteristic relates to linguistic alternation, whereby two, or more, rival morphemes attach to the same root and derive new forms. The resulting forms, namely the alternatives, differ with respect to the construal imposed on them. Each alternative represents a different construal, and thus has a meaning that is uniquely its own.

Goals

To come to grips with morphology, the textbook links theory with practice. It has, therefore, two goals: theoretical and practical. The theoretical goal is to acquaint students with the three theories of word meaning, highlighting its impact on form. In the light of category theory, morphemes are argued to have multiple meanings, which gather around prototypical examples, and so display minimal differences in meaning. By virtue of domain theory, morphemes expressing the same concept are argued to form domains, in which they represent discrete facets, and so have different roles to play in the language. With reference to construal theory, two or more morphemes attached to the same root are argued to be distinguishable in meaning, and so the word pairs they form are distinctive in use. The practical goal is to provide students with a comprehensive description of the two essential areas of vocabulary building: derivation and compounding. It aims to develop their skills in analysing morphological expressions, familiarize them with the mechanisms used in forming composite words, and inform them of the techniques employed to account for their interpretation.

Contents

The textbook starts with a chapter entitled Fundamentals, which serves to introduce the major terms involved in the field of morphology. The rest of the textbook is divided into four parts. Part I sheds light on the theoretical aspect of the discussion. It offers a synthesis of the leading tenets of the cognitive framework. It consists of three chapters. addresses the cognitive operations. Parts IIIV pertain to the practical aspect of the discussion. Part II deals with prefixation. Part III copes with suffixation. Part IV grapples with compounding. Each part includes chapters on categorization, configuration and construal. Each chapter begins with an overview, where the subject matter, the objective and the procedure are stated. The overview aims to help the student to understand the content before delving into explanations. Each chapter is divided into sections. Each section closes with an exercise. The exercises are meant to reinforce the material presented or introduce new material for investigation. There are appendices at the end of the textbook, which are designed to give additional information about other important areas of morphology.

Audiences

To achieve its mission, the textbook uses an approachable style and embellishes the presentation with cursory sketches. It uses actual data, offers numerous examples and gives vivid explanations. As a textbook, it targets two classes of audience. Primarily, it targets undergraduate and graduate students taking degree courses in linguistics. It provides them with a thorough discussion of the pivotal issues involved in the study of linguistic morphology. It informs them more fully about such productive processes in word formation in English as derivation and compounding. Secondarily, it targets students at English departments. It helps them to expand their vocabulary and understand the conditions under which lexical choices are made. As a guidebook, it targets two classes of audience. First, it targets linguists. Of central significance for them are the cognitive tools employed to account for morphological data. Second, it targets scholars from neighbouring disciplines. Of special interest for them is the description of an area in language study from a new perspective.