Contrastive Morphology

2. Derivational Affixes

= changes in which a word stem is expanded or modified in order to indicate

a syntactic change.

2. Derivational Affixese.g. weak (adj.)

weakness (n.)weaknesses (n. plural)globe (n.)global (adj.)globalize (v.)globalization (n.) danger (n.)dangerous (adj.)dangerously (adv.) observe (verb)observer (n.)observant (adj.)

English is rich in derivational affixes, that is word stems are expanded or modified.

2.1 English “strong verbs”

• Strong and weak are common characteristics of European languages.

• Strong verbs are irregular morphological forms e.g. speak – spoke - spoken

• Weak verbs are verbs which conforms to a set of rules e.g. talk- talked

The division of verbs makes it difficult for many Thai students because…

1.) difficult to know from the form of the verb itself whether it is strong or weak.

2.) Irregular (strong) verbs are commonly found so they are introduced in fundamental English classes.

3.) Some derivational patterns that occur in strong verbs are unproductive. They are phonetically similar but different derivational forms.

e.g. sing sang sung / ring rang rung but notfling *flang *flung and never bring *brang *brung

• Can you think of any irregular verbs in English that confuse Thai students?

Ans: bend-bent spend-spent lend-lent

Thai students may have over-generalization for mend - *ment blend-*blent

“False derivations” of word forms that are similar to in sound but come from different stems e.g. found, find, rend, rent

Are there any derivational verb forms in Thai?

NO, that’s why this becomes the area of difficulty for Thais to learn.

2.2 Changes in part of speech

• English and Thai share similar features in transforming of adj. into adv. through the additional of suffix –ly e.g. slow-slowly quiet-quietly successful-successfully

• The same derivational change in Thai is done through the prefix

e.g. /goodwell slowslowly

• สุ�ภาพ อย่างสุ�ภาพ• ดี�ใจ อย่างดี�ใจ• ดี�ง อย่างดี�งSometimes, can be deleted.• เขาพ�ดีอย่างดี�งมาก• เขาพ�ดีดี�งมาก• เขาพ�ดีอย่างดี�ใจ *เขาพ�ดีดี�ใจ

Error analysis

*He spoke very loud.

*He drive careless.

The fact that can be deleted make it possible that Thais don’t add –ly to the stems.

• Adj noun English weak – weakness

happy – happiness equal – equality warm - warmth

Thai /+ verb e.g. /happiness

Restrictions and inconsistencies

1. Adj that never occur as predicate. Adj do not seem to be able to function as true adv if the –ly suffix is added:

The principal witness was late.

*the witness was principal.

He is principally involved with industry.

*He spoke principally to everyone.

The sole survivor is still sick.

*The survivor is sole.

Restrictions and inconsistencies

2. Some words ending with –ly are not adv at all but adj e.g. manly, friendly, comely, homely, unlikely…)

3. Irregular forms that neither completely regular or irregular:

able – ability

ample -*ampility

doctor – doctoral

actor – *actoral

Some similarities of derivational processes in changes in part in speech

• The Thai prefix is roughly equaling to the gerund form of verbs e.g.

running

speaking

• The Thai prefix is roughly equaling to the English suffix ‘-ness’ e.g.

goodness

happiness

2.3 Changes in Meaning

• There are words which has the same word stem but have different meanings:

He is an observer of the games.

A wise coach insists on the observance of training rules.

The observation of habits of bird has brought to light some very curious facts.

A healthful diet makes him healthy.

The tasty food was laid out in a tasteful arrangement.

• childish childlike

• fruitful fruity

• confusing confusion

• change changingBecause Thai has no derivational processes like

this, it is difficult for Thais to understand there is a significant difference in these forms.

2.4 Changes in both meaning and part of speech.

• A happy girl lives happily with her parents in a peaceful town where peace can be found everywhere.

• She hopes everything will turn out ok and hopefully that her mom will understand what she did.

Again, Thai has no derivational processes like this, this makes it difficult for Thai to understand word formation in English.

2.5 Changes in meaning through prefixes

Prefix = an affix which is placed before the stem/root to modify or change its meaning. English prefixes are derived from Greek and Latin whereas Thai prefixes are derived from Pali and Sanskrit.

English prefixes

Ab- normal abnormal

Mal- function malfunction

Un- happy unhappy

Inter- national international

Sub- way subway

Re- turn return

Co author co-author

Thai prefixes

• Actually, Thai is an isolation language, consisting of a single morpheme. But there are some prefixes which are derived from Pali and Sanskrit.

สุ� (โสุ สุ�ว เสุาว) สุ�ภาพ โสุภาค สุ�วคนธ์�ทุ� (ทุร ทุ�ร) ทุ�ศี�ล ทุรพ�ษ ทุ�รชน

ทุ�จร�ตอ�ป อ�ปราช อ�ปนาย่ก อ�ปาทุานปฏิ� ปฎิ�ทุ�น ปฎิ�ร�ป

Some difficulty for Thais

• There are some irregularities of derivational English prefixes that cause confusion for Thais e.g.

unimportant disconnect malnutrition indirect impolite misunderstand

2.6 Changes in in gender (Gender inflection)

• The changing of suffixes to indicate whether the noun is masculine or feminine. There are not many of this process in Thai.

English Gender Inflection

actor actress

waiter waitress

prince princess

mastermistress

hero heroine

Thai (Pali + Sanskrit) Gender Inflection

เทุวะ เทุว�โจร โจร�

ก�มาร ก�มาร�ก�นนร ก�นร�

อ�บาสุก อ�บาสุ�กา

There are some words in both Thai and English that can indicate gender in themselves by not having gender inflection.

father mother พอ แมuncle aunt ล�ง ป)าhusband wife สุาม� ภรรย่าboy girl เดี*กชาย่

เดี*กหญิ�ง

Finish vs. Complete

When you marry the right woman, you are complete and when you marry the wrong woman you are finished! When your wife caches you with another woman, you are completely finished and when your wife likes shopping so much, you are finished completely!