4.8. Word-building patterns & their meaning

W-building / derivational pattern – a structural & semantic formula more / less regularly reproduced. It reveals the morphological motivation of the W, the grammatical part-of-speech meaning, helps to refer the W to a LG class. The components of the lexical meaning are mostly supplied by the stem.

Every type of W-building (affixation, composition, conversion, compositional derivation, shortening), every part of speech have a characteristic set of patterns.

The grouping, description & study of patterns is based on the principle of explanatory transformations:

unaccented a – without an accent / stress undo v – to reverse the effect of doing

unbolt v – to remove the bolt of, to unlock unfailing a – not failing, constant

unconcern n – lack of concern

The negative prefix un- may be used in the following patterns:

1	un	+ an adjective stem + Participle I stem + Participle II stem	‘not’, ‘without’, ‘the opposite of’	uncertain, unfair, unbelievable, unconscious, unbalanced, unknown, unborn, unbecoming
2	un	+ a verbal stem	‘to reverse the action as the effect of...’	unbend, unbind, unpack, unwrap
3	un	+ a verbal stem derived from a noun stem	‘to release from’	unhook, unpack, unlock, unearth
4	un	+ a noun stem	‘the lack of the quality denoted’	unpeople ‘people lacking the semblance of humanity’, unperson ‘a public figure who has lost his influence’

Patterns are often polysemantic, the affixes homonymous. Out-+ V = Vt, ‘to do something faster, better, longer than somebody / something’ (outdo, out-grow, out-live, outnumber, outplay). But outbreak / outburst are Ns.

The more productive an affix is the more probable the existence of some semantic variation: -ee + V-stems = Ns ‘one who is V-ed’ (addressee, divorcee, employee, evacuee, examinee) often paralleling agent Ns in –er (employer, examiner). Sometimes it is added to intransitive Vs = ‘One who V-s’ / ‘One who has V-ed’ (escapee, retiree).

Homonymy of affixes → Ws that look like antonyms are synonyms: inflammable (горючий), flammable (легковоспламеняющийся). There are 2 prefixes in-: a negative prefix; a prefix indicating an inward motion, an intensive action, a causative function.

4.9. Boundary cases between derivation, inflection & composition

Derivation ≈ composition. There are roots in English which have developed great valency in the position of the 2^nd element of a W & a very general meaning similar to that of an affix. These are semi-affixes (semantically, functionally, structurally, statistically they behave more like affixes than roots). Their meaning is as general. They determine the LG class the W belongs to: sailor :: seaman, -/ is a suffix, functionally similar, -man is a semi-affix.

Morphemes expressing relationships in space & time (after-, in-, off-, on-, out-, over-, under-, with-) may occur as free forms & have valency sometimes superior to that of the affixes. Their function, meaning, position, frequency = those of prefixes. They modify the respective stems for time, place / manner exactly as prefixes do. Prefixes are bound forms, these forms are free. → Different treatment in different dictionaries: Chambers’s Dictionary – aftergrowth a derivation with the prefix after-; afternoon, afterglow, afterthought are compound Ns. Webster’s Dictionary does not consider after- as a prefix. COD: on – preposition, Adv; a prefix on-: oncoming, onflow, onlooker. Chambers’s Dictionary: oncome is a compound.

Derivation ≈ inflection: the Adv-forming -ly, following adj-stems; the N-forming -ing, -ness, -er; -ed added to a combination of 2 stems (faint-hearted). Almost unlimited valency, almost complete fusion of lexical & LG meaning ≈ inflectional formatives. The derivation is regular, meaning & function of the derivatives obvious → such derivatives are often considered not worth an entry in the dictionary as self-evident. High valency in the formation of compound derivatives corresponding to free phrases: every day :: everydayness.