Derivative types of words. Degree of derivation

Derivationally all the words in a language are subdivided into simple (non derived) words (or simplexes), and derived (or complexes, orderivatives).The majority of the word-stock in any language is made up of derived words.

The most common source lexeme for a derived word in English is nouns (child (n)– childhood (n) – childless (adj). Adjectives and verbs are quite active in deriving new words, too (green (adj)—greenish (adj) – greenness (n); write (v) – write off (v)—writer (n). The least likely sources for a derived word are adverbs and the lexemes of minor word classes like articles and pronouns.

In English there are three major types of word-formation: zero derivation, or conversion, affixation and composition, or compounding. There are also some minor types of word-formation: back-formation, shortening, blending, extension of proper names, and some others.

Derivatives may be qualified according to the latest type of word-formation process and the total number of derivational acts that were necessary for their formation. The number of derivational processes acts that took place in a word forms its degree of derivation.

The monomorphic words read, dead, table, and even polymorphic words of conditional and defective types of segmentability like deceive or hamlet are simplexes.They arenon-derivedfrom the point of view of modern English because their derivational processes have either been deleted, forgotten and are no longer perceived, or their derivation has never taken place in English. The number and character of borrowed words with similar segments is not grounds for perceiving them as derived.

The nouns reader (v+-er→N) and reading (v+-ing→N) as well as the adjective readable (v+-able→Adj) are complexes: they may be qualified as suffixational derivatives of the first degree of derivation (v+suf). The verb reread is a prefixational derivative of the first degree of derivation (prf+v).

The noun reading-lamp ‘a lamp to give light for reading by’ is a compound of the second degree of derivation. There are two derivational processes — suffixation and composition, the last being composition — and it can be seen in the derivational pattern of the word: (v+-ing)+n→N. Care should be taken of the word reading which is marked in dictionaries as a noun and that means that a word-formation process took place here. In contrast, a dancing-girl is a derivative of the first degree because dancing is only a form of the word to dance, not a separate word, and it is not registered in the dictionary as a special entry.

The adjective unpredictable, according to its derivational pattern un-+(v+-able)→Adj, is a prefixational derivative of the second degree. Though the number of affixes in un-+pre-+-dict-+able is greater than in the word (read-+ing)+lamp discussed above, on the derivational level of analysis these words may be regarded to be equal in degrees of derivation because the derivational base predict is a simplex in modern English.

The noun aircraft-carrier isa compound derivative of the third degree,the last derivational process being composition, and the previous two derivational processes being composition and suffixation: (n+n)+(v+-er)→N.

The noun denationalization {de- +[(n+-al)+-ize]}+-tion→N appeared as the result of four acts of derivational processes and may be qualified as asuffixational derivative of the fourth degree of derivation. Since the prefix de- may also be attached to the noun with the suffix –tion, this word may also be qualified as a prefixational derivative of the fourth degree of derivation de+{[(n+-al)+-ize]}+-tion→N (cf.: its even more complicated morphemic structure including six bound morphemes: de-, nat-, -ion, -al, -ize and -tion).

Theoretically any derived word may become a basis for a new derivative. But in practice there are many restrictions on further derivation. For example, some affixes, like -ness, ‑ship, -ity close the derivational process: they do not allow other affixes to be added to the derivational bases. Furthermore, with each act of derivation the word loses its derivational potential. As the result of these restrictions and some other restrictions, the most common derivatives in English are derivatives of the first and second degree.

12. Affixation