Method of immediate constituents

Derivational level of analysis aims at finding out the derivative types of ws, the interrelations between them and at finding out how different types of derivatives are constructed. Derivational analysis enables one to understand how new ws appear in the L.

The derivational level of analysis; it aims at establishing correlations between different types of words, the structural and semantic patterns words are built on, the study also enables one to understand how new words appear in the language.

Using the der analysis we can determine the degree of derivation (shows the number of derivational steps).

Ex. unforgettably

1. Badj+y>Adv

2. pref+Badj>Adj

3. Bv+able>Adj

[de (nation(al)iz]ation – four-step derivation

The constituents of the derivative structure are functional units, i.e. units whose function is to indicate relationship between different classes of words or differently-behaving words of the same class and to signal the formation of new words. It follows that derivational functions are proper to different linguistic units which thus serve as ICs of a derivative. It must be also noted that the difference between classes of words is signalled by both the derivative structure of the word, or to be more exact by the stem it shapes, and by the set of paradigmatic inflections that this structure presupposes. For example, the nominal class of words to which derivatives like historian, teacher, lobbyist are referred is signalled by both the derivative structure, i.e. the unity of their ICs history+-ian, teach+ + -er lobby + -ist shaping the stems of these words — and the nominal set of paradigmatic inflections which these stems precondition, i.e. histori-an(O), historian (s), historian('s), historian (s’). The class of words like enrich, enlarge is likewise signalled by their derivative structure (en- + +rich, en-+large) and the verbal set of paradigmatic inflexions. Hence the paradigmatic systems of different classes of words have, among their functions, the function of distinguishing the formal make-up of word classes. It follows that the paradigmatic system of inflections in cases of meaningful absence of the 1С which determines the class membership of the motivated stem functions as the sole indication of its derived nature.

The analysis of derivative relations aims at establishing a correlation between different types and the structural patterns words are built on. The basic unit at the derivational level is the stem.

The stem is defined as that part of the word which remains unchanged throughout its paradigm, thus the stem which appears in the paradigm (to) ask (), asks, asked, asking is ask-; the stem of the word singer (), singer's, singers, singers' is singer-. It is the stem of the word that takes the inflections which shape the word grammatically as one or another part of speech.

The structure of stems should be described in terms of IC's analysis, which at this level aims at establishing the patterns of typical derivative relations within the stem and the derivative correlation between stems of different types.

There are three types of stems: simple, derived and compound.

Simple stems are semantically non-motivated and do not constitute a pattern on analogy with which new stems may be modeled. Simple stems are generally monomorphic and phonetically identical with the root morpheme. The derivational structure of stems does not always coincide with the result of morphemic analysis. Comparison proves that not all morphemes relevant at the morphemic level are relevant at the derivational level of analysis. It follows that bound morphemes and all types of pseudo- morphemes are irrelevant to the derivational structure of stems as they do not meet requirements of double opposition and derivative interrelations. So the stem of such words as retain, receive, horrible, pocket, motion, etc. should be regarded as simple, non- motivated stems.

Derived stems are built on stems of various structures though which they are motivated, i.e. derived stems are understood on the basis of the derivative relations between their IC's and the correlated stems. The derived stems are mostly polymorphic in which case the segmentation results only in one IC that is itself a stem, the other IC being necessarily a derivational affix.

Derived stems are not necessarily polymorphic.

Compound stems are made up of two IC's, both of which are themselves stems, for example match-box, driving-suit, pen-holder, etc. It is built by joining of two stems, one of which is simple, the other derived.

The derivational types of words are classified according to the structure of their stems into simple, derived and compound words.

Derived words are those composed of one root- morpheme and one or more derivational morpheme.

Compound words contain at least two root- morphemes, the number of derivational morphemes being insignificant.

Derivational compound is a word formed by a simultaneous process of composition and derivational.

Compound words proper are formed by joining together stems of word already available in the language.

5) The main units of derivational analysis. Derivational patterns.

The basic elementary units of the derivative structure of words are: derivational bases, derivational affixes and derivational patterns

1. derivational base - functional unit is defined as the constituent to which a rule of word-formation is applied.

It is the part of the word which establishes connection with the lexical unit that motivates the derivative and determines its individual lexical meaning describing the difference between words in one and the same derivative set.

Ex. example the individual lexical meaning of words like singer, rebuilder, whitewasher, etc. which all denote active doers of action, is signalled by the lexical meaning of the derivational bases sing-, rebuild-, whitewash- which establish connection with the motivating source verb.

Structurally derivational bases fall into three classes:

1. bases that coincide with morphological stems of different degrees of complexity.

Ex. duti ful, dutiful ly; day-dream, to day-dream, daydream er

Bases built on stems of different degree of complexity make the largest ‘and commonest group of components of derivatives of various classes.

Ex. un - button, girl - ish; girlish -ness, colour - blind - ness, ex - filmstar

Bases of this class are functionally and semantically distinct from all kinds of stems. Functionally, the morphological stem is the part of the word which is the starting point for its forms, it is part which semantically presents a unity of lexical and functional meanings thus predicting the entire grammatical paradigm. The stem remains unchanged throughout all word-forms.

A derivational base unlike a stem does not predict the part of speech of the derivative, it only outlines a possible range and nature of the second IC and it is only the unity of both that determines the lexical-grammatical class of the derivative. A derivational base is the starting-point for different words and its derivational potential outlines the type and scope of existing words and new creations.

Ex. the nominal base, hand- gives rise to nouns, e.g. hand-rail, hand-bag, shorthand, handful, to adjectives, e.g. handy, or verbs, e.g. to hand. Similarly the base rich- may be one of the ICs of the noun richness, the adjective gold-rich, or the verb to enrich.

Semantically the stem stands for the whole semantic structure of the word, it represents all its lexical meanings. A base, semantically, is also different in that it represents, as a rule, only one meaning of the source word or its stem.

Ex. The derivatives glassful and glassy, e.g., though connected with the stem of the same source word are built on different derivational bases,, as glassful is the result of the application of the word-formation rule to the meaning of the source word ‘drinking vessel or its contents’, whereas glassy — to the meaning ‘hard, transparent, easily-broken substance’.

Stems that serve as this class of bases may themselves be different morphemically and derivationally thus forming derivational bases of different degrees of complexity which affects the range and scope of their collocability and their derivational capacity. Derivationally the stems may be:

1) simple, which consist of only one, semantically nonmotivated constituent. The most characteristic feature of simple stems in Modern English is the phonetic and graphic identity with the root-morpheme and the word-form that habitually represents the word as a whole.

Simple stems may be both monomorphic units and morphemic sequences made up of bound and pseudo-morphemes, hence morphemically segmentable stems in such words as pocket, motion, retain, horrible, etc. should be regarded as derivationally simple.

2) derived stems are semantically and structurally motivated, and are the results of the application of word-formation rules; it follows that they are as a rule binary, i.e. made up of two ICs, and polymorphic.

Ex. the derived stem of the word girlish is understood on the basis of derivative relations between girl and girlish; the derived stem of a greater complexity girlishness is based on the derivative relations between girlish and girlishness. This is also seen in to weekend, to daydream which are derived from the nouns week-end and day-dream and are motivated by the derivative relations between the noun and the verb.

Derived stems, however, are not necessarily polymorphic.

It especially concerns derivatives with a zero IC, i.e. meaningful absence of the derivational means in which case the distinction between the stem of the source word and the motivated stem of the derivative is signalled by the difference in paradigmatic sets of inflections which they take.

Ex. the stem of the verb (to) parrot, though it consists of one overt constituent and is a one-morpheme word, should be considered derived as it is felt by a native speaker as structurally and semantically dependent on the simple stem of the noun parrot and because it conveys a regular relationship between these two classes of words — verbs and nouns. The same is true of the stems in such words as (to) winter, a cut, a drive.

3) compound stems are always binary and semantically motivated, but unlike the derived stems both ICs of compound stems are stems themselves. The derivative structure and morphemic composition of each IC may be of different degree of complexity.

Ex. the compound stem of the noun match-box consists of two simple stems, the stem of the noun letter-writer — of one simple and one derived stem, and the stem aircraft-carrier — of a compound and derived stem.

The structural complexity of the derivational bases built on derived and compound stems is a heavy constraint imposed on the collocability and semantic freedom of these bases and consequently on their derivative potential. Compare, for example, the derivational capacity of the simple stem girl, which can give rise to girly, girlish, girlless, girl-friend, and the limited capacity of girlish which gives only girlishness and girlishly.

2. bases that coincide with word-form.

Ex. paper- bound, un smiling, un known

Word-forms functioning as parts of the word lose all syntactic properties they possess in independent use. This class of bases is confined to verbal word-forms — the present and the past participles — which regularly function as ICs of non-simple adjectives, adverbs and nouns. The collocability of this class of derivational bases is confined to just a few derivational affixes such as the prefix un-, the suffix -ly, in.

Ex. unnamed, unknown, unwrapped, etc., smilingly, knowingly, etc.

The derivational bases in question may be also collocated with other bases which coincide only with nominal and adjectival stems, e.g. mockingbird, dancing-girl, ice-bound, time-consuming, ocean-going, easy-going

3. bases that coincide with word-grоups of different degrees of stability.

Ex. second-rate ness, flat-waist ed, a three-corned room

Free word-groups make up the greater part of this class of bases. Like word-forms, word-groups serving as derivational bases lose their morphological and syntactic properties proper to them as self-contained lexical units. Bases of this class also allow of a rather limited range of collocability, they are most active with derivational affixes in the class of adjectives and nouns.

Ex. blue-eyed, long-fingered, old-worldish, dogooder, second-rateness

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