Comparative Analysis of Word Building in Prose and Poetry on the basis of E.A. Poe's works
Дипломная работа - Иностранные языки
Другие дипломы по предмету Иностранные языки
they have so fused with the base of the word as to lose their independence completely. It is only by special etymological analysis that they may be singled out, e. g. -d in dead, seed, -le, -l,-el in bundle, sail, hovel; -ock in hillock; -lock in padlock; -t in flight, gift, height. It is quite clear that dead suffixes are irrelevant to present-day English word building; they belong in its diachronic study.affixes may be easily singled out from a word, e. g. the noun- forming suffixes -ness, -dom, -hood, -age, -ance, as in darkness, freedom, childhood, marriage, assistance, etc. or the adjective-forming suffixes -en, -ous, -ive, -ful, -y as in wooden, poisonous, active, hopeful, stony, etc. [15,32], not all living derivational affixes of Modern English possess the ability to coin new words. Some of them may be employed to coin new words on the spur of the moment; others cannot, so that they are different from the point of view of their productivity. Accordingly they fall into two basic classes - productive and non-productive word-building affixes.has been pointed out that linguists disagree as to what is meant by the productivity of derivational affixes. Following the first approach all living affixes should be considered productive in varying degrees from highly productive (e. g. -er, -ish,-less etc.) to non-productive (e. g. -ard, -cy, -ive etc.)., it becomes important to describe the constraints imposed on and the factors favoring the productivity of affixational patterns and individual affixes. The degree of productivity of affixational patterns very much depends on the structural, lexico-grammatical and semantic nature of bases and the meaning of the affix. For instance, the analysis of the bases from which the suffix -ize can derive verbs reveals that it is most productive with noun-stems, adjective-stems also favor ifs productivity, whereas verb-stems and adverb-stems do not, e. g. criticize(critic),organize (organ), itemize (item), mobilize (mobile), localize(local), etc. [2,51]of the semantic structure of a verb in -ize with that of the base it is built on shows that the number of meanings of the stem usually exceeds that of the verb and that its basic meaning favors the productivity of the suffix -ize to a greater degree than its marginal meanings, e. g. to characterize - character, to moralize - moral, to dramatize - drama, etc.treatment of certain affixes as non-productive naturally also depends on the concept of productivity. The current definition of non-productive derivational affixes as those which cannot hg used in Modern English for the coining of new words is rather vague and maybe interpreted in different ways. Following the definition the term non-productive refers only to the affixes un-likely to be used for the formation of new words, e.g. -ous", -th, fore-and some others (famous, depth, foresee).one accepts the other concept of productivity mentioned above, then non-productive affixes must be defined as those that cannot be used for the formation of occasional words and, consequently, such affixes as-dom,-ship,-ful,-en,-ify,-ate and many others are to be regarded as non-productive. The theory of relative productivity of derivational affixes is also corroborated by some other observations made on English word-formation.instance, different productive affixes are found in different periods of the history of the language. It is extremely significant, for example, that out of the seven verb-forming suffixes of the Old English period only one has survived up to the present time with a very low degree of productivity, namely the suffix -en (e. g. to soften, to darken, to whiten). [6,39], there are cases when a derivational affix being nonproductive in the non-specialized section of the vocabulary is used to coin scientific or technical terms. This is the case, for instance, with the suffix -ance which has been used to form some terms in Electrical Engineering, e.g. capacitance, impedance, reactance. The same is true of the suffix -ity which has been used to form terms in physics, and chemistry such as alkalinity, luminosity, emissivity and some others. [10,67]) Prefixationmorphemes affixed before the stem are called prefixes. Prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the stem, but in so doing them seldom affect its basic lexico-grammatical component. Therefore, both the simple word and its prefixed derivative mostly belong to the same part of speech. The prefix mis-, for instance, when added to verbs, conveys the meaning wrongly, badly, unfavorably; it does not suggest any other part of speech but the verb. Compare the following oppositions: behave - misbehave, calculate - miscalculate, inform - misinform, lead - mislead, pronounce - mispronounce. The above oppositions are strictly proportional semantically, i.e. the same relationship between elements holds throughout the series. There may be other cases where the semantic relationship is slightly different but the general lexico-grammatical meaning remains, (cf. giving - misgiving, take - mistake and trust - mistrust.) [16, 65]is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they are used: prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g. un-(unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met in the language as words, e.g. over-(overhead).main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another (bebutton, interfamily, postcollege etc). [8,124]can be classified according to different principles:
. Semantic classification:semantic effect of a prefix may be termed adverbial because it modifies the idea suggested by the stem for manner, time, place, degree and so on. A few examples will prove the point. It has been already shown that the prefix mis-is equivalent to the adverbs wrongly and badly, therefore by expressing evaluation it modifies the corresponding verbs for manner.1 The prefixes pre- and post- refer to time and order, e. g. historic - pre-historic, pay - prepay, view -preview. The last word means to view a film or a play before it is submitted to the general public. Compare also: graduate: postgraduate (about the course of study carried on after graduation), Impressionism: Post-impressionism. The latter is so called because it came after Impressionism as a reaction against it. The prefixes in-, a-, ab-, super-, sub-, trans-modify the stem for place, e. g. income, abduct to carry away, subway, transatlantic. Several prefixes serve to modify the meaning of the stem for degree and size. [15,137] the examples are out-, over-and under-.) Prefixes of negative meaning, such as: in-(invaluable), non-(nonformals), un-(unfree) etc,group of negative prefixes is so numerous that some scholars even find it convenient to classify prefixes into negative and non-negative ones. The negative ones are: de-, dis-,in-im-, il-, ir-. Part of this group has been also more accurately classified as prefixes giving negative, reverse or opposite meaning. [6, 165]general idea of negation is expressed by dis- it may mean not, and be simply negative or the reverse of, asunder, away, apart and then it is called reversative. Cf. agree - disagree (not to agree) appear - disappear (disappear is the reverse of appear), appoint - disappoint (to undo the appointment and thus frustrate the expectation), disgorge (eject as from the throat), dishouse (throw out, evict).) Prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de-(decolonize) re-(revegetation), dis-(disconnect)) Prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as: inter-(interplanetary), hyper-(hypertension), ex-(ex-student), pre-(pre-election), over-(over drugging) etc.
. Origin of prefixes:the point of view of etymology, affixes are subdivided into two main classes: the native affixes and the borrowed affixes. By native affixes, we shall mean those that existed in English in the Old English period or were formed from Old English words. The latter category needs some explanation. The changes a morpheme undergoes in the course of language history may be of very different kinds. A bound form, for instance, may be developed from a free one. This is precisely the case with such English suffixes as -dom, -hood, -lock, -ful, -less, -like, -ship, The suffix-hood that we see in childhood, boyhood is derived from Old English had state. The OE -dom was also a suffix denoting state. The process may be summarized as follows: first -dom formed the second element of compound words, and then it became a suffix and lastly was so fused with the stem as to become a dead suffix in wedlock. The nouns freedom, wisdom, etc. were originally compound words. The most important native suffixes are: -d, -dom, -ed, -en, -fold, -ful, -hood, -ing, -ish, -less, -let, -like, -lock, -ly, -ness, -oc, -red, -ship, -some,-teen, -th, -ward, -wise,-y. [9, 77]) Native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under-etc.) Romanic, such as: in-, de-,ex-, re-etc.) Greek, such as: sym-, hyper-etc.we analyze such words as: adverb, accompany where we can find the root of the word (verb, company) we may treat ad-,ac-as prefixes though they were never used as prefixes to form new words in English and were borrowed from Romanic languages together with words. In such cases we can treat them as derived words. But some scientists treat them as simple words. Another group of words with a disputable structure are such as: contain, retain, detain and conceive, receive, deceive where we can see that re-, de-