Conlang/Intermediate/Grammar/Derivation
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Derivational morphology is about how more complex words are derived from simpler ones. Where inflectional morphology typically involves specific categories which words of a particular part of speech inflect for in a particular language, derivational morphology tends to be more miscellaneous, less easy to categorize, and less regular and predictable. However, we can describe some general tendencies.
First, we can distinguish compounding from affixing as means of deriving new words from roots. Compounding means putting two stand-alone root words together, as in English words like:
- "roommate" (noun + noun)
- "bluebird" (adjective + noun)
- "babysit" (noun + verb)
Note that in all these compound words, the second word determines the general kind of thing the compound refers to, and the first word makes it more specific. A roommate is a kind of mate, not a kind of room; a bluebird is a kind of bird, not a shade of the color blue; to babysit is to take care of (sit with) a baby (or other child), not to baby a sit (if that means anything). Because of this we say that compound words in English follow a modifier-head order: the modifier morpheme comes first, and then the head morpheme. Some other languages have head-modifier order.
Affixing means adding prefixes and/or suffixes (or in some languages, infixes that embed inside a root word) to change the meaning of a root in a more or less predictable way. Examples from English include:
- -er, -or: doer, worker, contractor, enabler
- un-: unable, unworthy, undo
- pre-: prefix, prepay, preauthorize
A special borderline case of compounding or affixing involves adpositions (prepositions or postpositions). English, Greek and Esperanto all make extensive use of prepositional compounds.
- English: overalls, in-crowd (nouns), upscale, with-it (adjectives), outdo, downsize (verbs)
- Esperanto: surtuto ("over-all": cloak; noun), eniri ("in-go", to enter; verb)
In some languages these means of deriving new words are more productive than in others. Languages like German and Esperanto give the individual speaker great freedom to coin new compounds and affixed words as needed, while languages like French are more restrictive, usually tending to use phrases for things German might coin a new compound for. English is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. This may be partly a matter of culture as well as linguistic structure.
[edit] See also
- List of derivation methods at the Conlang Wikia
