Word-formation in English

published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Plag, Ingo. Word-formation in English / Ingo Plag. p. cm. – (Cambridge textbooks in linguistics) Includes bibliographical references (p.) and indexes. Contents Preface page xi Abbreviations and notational conventions xiii Introduction 1 1 Basic concepts 4 1.1 What is a word? 4 1.2 Studying word-formation 9 1.3 Inflection and derivation 14 1.4 Summary 17 Further reading 18 Exercises 18 2 Studying complex words 20 2.1 Identifying morphemes 20 2.1.1 The morpheme as the minimal linguistic sign 20 2.1.2 Problems with the morpheme: the mapping of form and meaning 22 2.2 Allomorphy 27 2.3 Establishing word-formation rules 30 2.4 Multiple affixation 38 2.5 Summary 41 Further reading 41 Exercises 41