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Language units

The main unit of the lexical system of a language resulting from the association of a group of sounds with a meaning is a word. This unit is used in grammatical functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest language unit which can stand alone as a complete utterance.

A word, however, can be divided into smaller sense units - morphemes. The morpheme is the smallest meaningful language unit. The morpheme consists of a class of variants, allomorphs, which are either phonologically or morphologically conditioned, e.g. please, pleasant, pleasure.

Morphemes are divided into two large groups: lexical morphemes and grammatical (functional) morphemes. Both lexical and grammatical morphemes can be free and bound. Free lexical morphemes are roots of words which express the lexical meaning of the word, they coincide with the stem of simple words. Free grammatical morphemes are function words: articles, conjunctions and prepositions (the, with, and).

Bound lexical morphemes are affixes: prefixes (dis-), suffixes (-ish) and also blocked (unique) root morphemes (e.g. Fri-day, cran-berry). Bound grammatical morphemes are inflexions (endings), e.g. -s for the Plural of nouns, -ed for the Past Indefinite of regular verbs, -ing for the Present Participle, -er for the Comparative degree of adjectives.

In the second half of the twentieth century the English wordbuilding system was enriched by creating so called splinters which scientists include in the affixation stock of the Modern English wordbuilding system. Splinters are the result of clipping the end or the beginning of a word and producing a number of new words on the analogy with the primary word-group. For example, there are many words formed with the help of the splinter mini- (apocopy produced by clipping the word «miniature»), such as «miniplane», «minijet», «minicycle», «minicar», «miniradio» and many others. All of these words denote obects of smaller than normal dimensions.

On the analogy with «mini-» there appeared the splinter «maxi»- (apocopy produced by clipping the word «maximum»), such words as «maxi-series», «maxi-sculpture», «maxi-taxi» and many others appeared in the language.

When European economic community was organized quite a number of neologisms with the splinter Euro- (apocopy produced by clipping the word «European») were coined, such as: «Euratom» «Eurocard», «Euromarket», «Europlug», «Eurotunnel» and many others. These splinters are treated sometimes as prefixes in Modern English.

There are also splinters which are formed by means of apheresis, that is clipping the beginning of a word. The origin of such splinters can be variable, e.g. the splinter «burger» appeared in English as the result of clipping the German borrowing «Hamburger» where the morphological structure was the stem «Hamburg» and the suffix -er. However in English the beginning of the word «Hamburger» was associated with the English word «ham», and the end of the word «burger» got the meaning «a bun cut into two parts». On the analogy with the word «hamburger» quite a number of new words were coined, such as: «baconburger», «beefburger», «cheeseburger», «fishburger» etc.

The splinter «cade» developed by clipping the beginning of the word «cavalcade» which is of Latin origin. In Latin the verb with the meaning «to ride a horse» is «cabalicare» and by means of the inflexion -ata the corresponding Participle is formed. So the element «cade» is a combination of the final letter of the stem and the inflexion. The splinter «cade» serves to form nouns with the meaning «connected with the procession of vehicles denoted by the first component», e.g. «aircade» - «a group of airplanes accompanying the plane of a VIP», «autocade» - «a group of automobiles escorting the automobile of a VIP», «musicade» - «an orchestra participating in a procession».

In the seventieths of the twentieth century there was a political scandal in the hotel «Watergate» where the Democratic Party of the USA had its pre-election headquarters. Republicans managed to install bugs there and when they were discovered there was a scandal and the ruling American government had to resign. The name «Watergate» acquired the meaning «a political scandal», «corruption». On the analogy with this word quite a number of other words were formed by using the splinter «gate» (apheresis of the word «Watergate»), such as: «Irangate»,»Westlandgate»,»shuttlegate»,»milliongate» etc. The splinter «gate» is added mainly to Proper names: names of people with whom the scandal is connected or a geographical name denoting the place where the scandal occurred.

The splinter «mobile» was formed by clipping the beginning of the word «automobile» and is used to denote special types of automobiles, such as: «artmobile», «bookmobile», «snowmobile», «tourmobile» etc.

The splinter «napper» was formed by clipping the beginning of the word «kidnapper» and is used to denote different types of crimesters, such as: «busnapper», «babynapper», «dognapper» etc. From such nouns the corresponding verbs are formed by means of backformation, e.g. «to busnap», «to babynap», «to dognap».

The splinter «omat» was formed by clipping the beginning of the word «automat» (a cafe in which meals are provided in slot-machines). The meaning «self-service» is used in such words as «laundromat», «cashomat» etc.

Another splinter «eteria» with the meaning «self-service» was formed by clipping the beginning of the word «cafeteria». By means of the splinter «eteria» the following words were formed: «groceteria», «booketeria», «booteteria» and many others.

The splinter «quake» is used to form new words with the meaning of «shaking», «agitation». This splinter was formed by clipping the beginning of the word «earthquake». Ther following words were formed with the help of this splinter: «Marsquake», «Moonquake», «youthquake» etc.

The splinter «rama(ama)» is a clipping of the word «panorama» of Greek origin where «pan» means «all» and «horama» means «view». In Modern English the meaning «view» was lost and the splinter «rama» is used in advertisements to denote objects of supreme quality, e.g. «autorama» means «exhibition-sale of expensive cars», «trouserama» means «sale of trousers of supreme quality» etc.

The splinter «scape» is a clipping of the word «landscape» and it is used to form words denoting different types of landscapes, such as: «moonscape», «streetscape», «townscape», «seascape» etc.

Another case of splinters is «tel» which is the result of clipping the beginning of the word «hotel». It serves to form words denoting different types of hotels, such as: «motel» (motor-car hotel), «boatel» (boat hotel), «floatel» (a hotel on water, floating), «airtel» (airport hotel) etc.

The splinter «theque» is the result of clipping the beginning of the word «apotheque» of Greek origin which means in Greek «a store house». In Russian words: «библиотека», «картотека», «фильмотека» the element «тека» corresponding to the English «theque» preserves the meaning of storing something which is expressed by the first component of the word. In English the splinter «theque» is used to denote a place for dancing, such as: «discotheque», «jazzotheque».

The splinter «thon» is the result of clipping the beginning of the word «marathon». «Marathon» primarily was the name of a battle-field in Greece, forty miles from Athens, where there was a battle between the Greek and the Persian. When the Greek won a victory a Greek runner was sent to Athens to tell people about the victory. Later on the word «Marathon» was used to denote long-distance competitions in running. The splinter «thon(athon)» denotes «something continuing for a long time», «competition in endurance» e.g. «dancathon», «telethon», «speakathon», «readathon», «walkathon», «moviethon», «swimathon», «talkathon», «swearthon» etc.

Splinters can be the result of clipping adjectives or substantivized adjectives. The splinter «aholic» (holic) was formed by clipping the beginning of the word «alcoholic» of Arabian origin where «al» denoted «the», «koh’l» - «powder for staining lids». The splinter «(a)holic» means «infatuated by the object expressed by the stem of the word», e.g. «bookaholic», «computerholic», «coffeeholic», «cheesaholic», «workaholic» and many others.

The splinter «genic» formed by clipping the beginning of the word «photogenic» denotes the notion «suitable for something denoted by the stem», e.g. «allergenic», «cardiogenic», «mediagenic», «telegenic» etc.

As far as verbs are concerned it is not typical of them to be clipped that is why there is only one splinter to be used for forming new verbs in this way. It is the splinter «cast» formed by clipping the beginning of the verb «broadcast». This splinter was used to form the verbs «telecast» and «abroadcast».

Splinters can be called pseudomorphemes because they are neither roots nor affixes, they are more or less artificial. In English there are words which consist of two splinters, e.g. «telethon», therefore it is more logical to call words with splinters in their structure «compound-shortened words consisting of two clippings of words».

Splinters have only one function in English: they serve to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech, whereas prefixes and suffixes can also change the part-of-speech meaning, e.g. the prefix «en-» and its allomorph «em» can form verbs from noun and adjective stems («embody», «enable», «endanger»), «be-» can form verbs from noun and adjective stems («becloud», «benumb»), «post-» and «pre-» can form adjectives from noun stems («pre-election campaign», «post-war events»). The main function of suffixes is to form one part of speech from another part of speech, e.g. «-er», «-ing», «-ment» form nouns from verbal stems («teacher», «dancing», «movement»), «-ness», «-ity» are used to form nouns from adjective stems («clannishnes», «marginality»).

According to the nature and the number of morphemes constituting a word there are different structural types of words in English: simple, derived, compound, compound-derived.

Simple words consist of one root morpheme and an inflexion (in many cases the inflexion is zero), e.g. «seldom», «chairs», «longer», «asked».

Derived words consist of one root morpheme, one or several affixes and an inlexion, e.g. «deristricted», «unemployed».

Compound words consist of two or more root morphemes and an inflexion, e.g. «baby-moons», «wait-and-see (policy)».

Compound-derived words consist of two or more root morphemes, one or more affixes and an inflexion, e.g. «middle-of-the-roaders», «job-hopper».

When speaking about the structure of words stems also should be mentioned. The stem is the part of the word which remains unchanged throughout the paradigm of the word, e.g. the stem «hop» can be found in the words: «hop», «hops», «hopped», «hopping». The stem «hippie» can be found in the words: «hippie», «hippies», «hippie’s», «hippies’». The stem «job-hop» can be found in the words: «job-hop», «job-hops», «job-hopped», «job-hopping».

So stems, the same as words, can be simple, derived, compound and compound-derived. Stems have not only the lexical meaning but also grammatical (part-of-speech) meaning, they can be noun stems («girl» in the adjective «girlish»), adjective stems («girlish» in the noun «girlishness»), verb stems («expell» in the noun «expellee») etc. They differ from words by the absence of inflexions in their structure, they can be used only in the structure of words.

Sometimes it is rather difficult to distinguish between simple and derived words, especially in the cases of phonetic borrowings from other languages and of native words with blocked (unique) root morphemes, e.g. «perestroika», «cranberry», «absence» etc.

As far as words with splinters are concerned it is difficult to distinguish between derived words and compound-shortened words. If a splinter is treated as an affix (or a semi-affix) the word can be called derived, e.g.-, «telescreen», «maxi-taxi», «shuttlegate», «cheeseburger». But if the splinter is treated as a lexical shortening of one of the stems, the word can be called compound-shortened word formed from a word combination where one of the components was shortened, e.g. «busnapper» was formed from «bus kidnapper», «minijet» from «miniature jet».

In the English language of the second half of the twentieth century there developed so called block compounds, that is compound words which have a uniting stress but a split spelling, such as «chat show», «pinguin suit» etc. Such compound words can be easily mixed up with word-groups of the type «stone wall», so called nominative binomials. Such linguistic units serve to denote a notion which is more specific than the notion expressed by the second component and consists of two nouns, the first of which is an attribute to the second one. If we compare a nominative binomial with a compound noun with the structure N+N we shall see that a nominative binomial has no unity of stress. The change of the order of its components will change its lexical meaning, e.g. «vid kid» is «a kid who is a video fan» while «kid vid» means «a video-film for kids» or else «lamp oil» means «oil for lamps» and «oil lamp» means «a lamp which uses oil for burning».

Among language units we can also point out word combinations of different structural types of idiomatic and non-idiomatic character, such as «the first fiddle», «old salt» and «round table», «high road». There are also sentences which are studied by grammarians.

Thus, we can draw the conclusion that in Modern English the following language units can be mentioned: morphemes, splinters, words, nominative binomials, non-idiomatic and idiomatic word-combinations, sentences.