The Study of Words: An Introduction

201 Pages·2023·11.904 MB·English

by  Lewis Gebhardt

The Study of Words
The Study of Words introduces the study of word structure, also known
as morphology, without assuming any prior knowledge of linguistics.
Introducing concepts in an accessible way, Gebhardt illustrates how to
understand and produce both existing and new words. This book:
• Provides an overview of words, word components and the rules
by which components can and cannot be assembled into words;
• Introduces the area of morphology with a data-driven approach,
exposing readers to sets of words in a variety of languages and
prompting them to identify their components and seek patterns;
• Features exercises and questions throughout to provoke thought
and point readers to unresolved morphological issues.
Aimed at students at undergraduate level with no background in lin-
guistics, The Study of Words is essential reading for those studying
morphology for the first time as part of linguistics, language and gen-
eral education courses.
Lewis Gebhardt is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Northeastern
Illinois University, Chicago, USA. As well as teaching morphology
for the past decade, his main research interests are syntax, morphology
and semantics.
Routledge Guides to Linguistics
Series Editor: Betty J. Birner is a Professor of Linguistics and
Cognitive Science in the Department of English at Northern Illinois
University.
Routledge Guides to Linguistics are a set of concise and accessible guide-
books which provide an overview of the fundamental principles of a sub-
ject area in a jargon-free and undaunting format. Designed for students
of Linguistics who are approaching a particular topic for the first time, or
students who are considering studying linguistics and are eager to find out
more about it, these books will both introduce the essentials of a subject
and provide an ideal springboard for further study.
This series is published in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of
America. Founded in 1924 to advance the scientific study of language, the
LSA plays a critical role in supporting and disseminating linguistic schol-
arship both to professional linguists and to the general public.
Titles in this series:
Language in African American Communities
Sonja Lanehart
The Study of Words
An Introduction
Lewis Gebhardt
More information about this series can be found at https://www .routledge
.com /Routledge -Guides -to -Linguistics /book -series /RGL
The Study of Words
An Introduction
Lewis Gebhardt
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Lewis Gebhardt
The right of Lewis Gebhardt to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gebhardt, Lewis, author.
Title: The study of words: an introduction/Lewis Gebhardt.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. |
Series: Routledge guides to linguistics | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022044226 (print) | LCCN 2022044227 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367466435 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367466411 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003030188 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Grammar, Comparative and general–Morphology.
Classification: LCC P241.G43 2023 (print) | LCC P241 (ebook) |
DDC 415/.9–dc23/eng/20221004
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022044226
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022044227
ISBN: 978-0-367-46643-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-46641-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-03018-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003030188
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
This book is dedicated to my Master’s morphology
students, to most of whose questions I can best answer,
“That would make a great thesis topic!”

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations x
Glossary of Terms xii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Preliminaries 1
1.2 Words and Grammar and What We Know about
Them 5
1.3 Knowledge of Language 10
1.4 Spelling Conventions and the International Phonetic
Alphabet 15
1.5 Presentation of Language Data 19
1.6 Summary 22
1.7 Exercises 23
1.8 Arguable Answers to Exercises 23
2 The Lexicon 28
2.1 Preliminaries 28
2.2 Morphemes and the Lexicon 29
2.3 Kinds of Morphemes 39
2.4 Summary 55
2.5 Exercises 56
2.6 Arguable Answers to Exercises 56
viii Contents
3 What They Are and Where They Come From 58
3.1 Preliminaries 58
3.2 What’s a Word? 58
3.3 So, How Many Words? 61
3.4 The Source of the Lexicon 65
3.5 What’s in the Lexicon 70
3.6 Summary 78
3.7 Exercises 79
3.8 Arguable Answers to Exercises 80
4 Inflectional Morphology 81
4.1 Preliminaries 81
4.2 Formation of Wordforms 82
4.3 Noun Inflections 83
4.4 Verb Inflections 99
4.5 Some Crosslinguistic Generalizations in Inflectional
Morphology 110
4.6 Summary 111
4.7 Exercises 112
4.8 Arguable Answers 113
5 Derivation 118
5.1 Preliminaries 118
5.2 Creating Lexemes with Affixes: Case Study with
-ness 119
5.3 Derivational Affixes 121
5.4 Compounds 133
5.5 Incorporation 140
5.6 Putting Together Derivation and Inflection 142
5.7 Derivation v. Inflection 145
5.8 Clitics 147
5.9 Summary 149
5.10 Exercises 149
5.11 Arguable Answers to Exercises 151
6 Final Comments 155
Bibliography 159
Index 168
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Shahrzad Mahootian, Judy Kaplan-Weinger and Fred
Anderson for their vital input on the text. Also, thanks to the Routledge
editors and their very generous patience, especially to Betty Birner for
her support and comments.