Bound roots

• Ludique : “relatif au jeu”– Volcanique : “relatif aux volcans et à leurs

activités”– Atomique : “qui a rapport aux atomes”– Catastrophique : “qui a les caractères d’une

catastrophe”– Sphérique : “en forme de sphère”

• *Lud(e) vs. volcan, atome, catastrophe, sphère

Bound roots : -lud-

• Ludique• Ludisme : “activité ludique”• Ludoéducatif : “qui vise à éduquer par

l’intermédiaire d’un jeu”• Ludothèque : “centre de prêt de jouets et

de jeux”• Interlude : “petit intermède dans un

programme dramatique, cinématographique, etc.”

Bound roots

• Sous-chef

• Sous-homme

• Sous-fifre

Bound roots

• Sous-chef – “Celui qui vient immédiatement après le chef

dans certaines hiérarchies”

• Sous-homme– “Homme inférieur, privé de sa dignité

d’homme”

Bound roots

• Sous-fifre– “Subalterne, tout petit employé”

• Fifre– “1. Petite flûte traversière en bois au song

aigu. 2. Joueur de fifre”

• Origine de sous-fifre : “fifre pop. “homme maladroit”

Huckles and Ceives

• Blueberry• Blackberry• Gooseberry• Strawberry• Elderberry• Cranberry• Huckleberry

• Lukewarm

• Myrtille• Mûre• Groseille à maquereau• Fraise• Baie de sureau• Airelle• Myrtille

• Tiède

Bound roots

• cran-

• huckle-

• (straw-)

• (elder-)

• (goose-)

• luke-

Bound roots

• -phon-• phonetic• phonetics• phonetician• phonic• phonology• phonologist• Phonological

• telephone• phone• telephonic• phoneme• phonemic• allophone• euphonious• symphony

Bound roots

• receive• conceive• perceive• deceive• *ceive

• reception• conception• perception• deception• *ception

Bound roots

• remit• permit• commit• *mit

• remission• permission• commission• mission

Bound roots

• recevoir• concevoir• percevoir

• *cevoir

• Je reçois, réception• Je conçois, conception• Je perçois, perception

• *cois, ception

Bound roots

• The meaning of the lexeme is related to the meaning of (at least) one of the morphemes it contains.– Associated with a clear meaning but does not

appear in isolation: -lud-, -phon-, …– Not associated with a clear meaning

combines with morphemes that have a clear meaning: cran-, huckle-, luke-, …

– Associated with a clear meaning but that meaning is irrelevant: straw-, elder-, -fifre

Bound roots

• The meaning of the lexeme is not clearly related to any of its parts

• But : – the root has regular formal properties: -ceive,

-mit, …– it combines with identifiable affixes

Morphemes and the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign

• Blackberry

Morphemes and the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign

• Blueberry

Morphemes and the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign

• Elderberry

Naming and lexemes

• People need to name things, ideas, properties, actions, etc.

• Morphological principles of language allow one to build lexemes for naming things

Naming and lexemes

• Morphologically constructed meaning– blackberry = “a type of

berry that is black”

• Lexeme meaning– blackberry = “a certain

type of berry called mûre in French”

Lexeme meaning and phrase meaning

• A ‘blackberry (compound)

• A black ‘berry (phrase)

Naming and lexemes

• Porte-N: morphologically constructed meaning: “person or thing that carries N”– Porte-drapeau : “Celui qui porte le drapeau

d’un régiment”– Porte-glaive : “Celui qui porte un glaive”– Porte-cigares : “Etui à cigares”– Portemanteau : “Patère, ensemble de patères

pour suspendre des manteaux ; vx. Officier qui portait le manteau d’un grand personnage”

Morphemes and the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign

• fifre– “1. Petite flûte traversière en bois au song

aigu. 2. Joueur de fifre. 3. pop. et arch. “homme maladroit.”

• sous-fifre = sous + fifre3

• fifre3 disappears• sous-fifre remains• Conclusion: the arbitrary link between

meaning and form is at lexeme level.

Morphemes and the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign

• uncouth: “If you describe a person as uncouth, you mean that they are bad-mannered, and that their behaviour is unpleasant and unacceptable”

• *couth

• ungainly: “awkward, clumsy”

• *gainly

Compounds

• Stem + stem– Blackberry [blackAdj + berryN] N

– Gooseberry [gooseN + berryN] N

– Dishwasher [dishN + [washV + erV→N]N ]N

– Porte-manteau [porteV + manteauN]N

– Porte-cigarette

[porteV + [cigareN + etteN→N]N ]N

Hyperonyms and hyponyms

Animal

Mammal Bird Reptile

Primate Rodent

MouseGorillaMan

Endocentric compounds

• A blackberry is a kind of berry– The compound is a hyperonym of one of the

stems

That stem is the semantic head– The category of the compound (N) is the

same as the category of that stem

That stem is the syntactic head– The head is one of the stems:

The compound: is endocentric

More endocentric compounds

• greenhouseN = greenAdj + houseN

– (kind of house)

• catfishN = catN + fishN

– (kind of fish)

• pushcartN = pushV + cartN– (kind of cart)

• lemon yellowAdj = lemonN + yellowAdj

– (kind of yellow) [also NN, name of the colour]