Means of form-building. Synthetic and analytical forms.

Form-building morpheme is always a member of opposition [s (pl) – 0 (sg)]. The definition of morpheme is hard to produce. Bloomfield: defined morpheme as a minimum miningful unit. But this definition is defective as ir doesn’t specify the kind of meaning we are discussing. Greasen: morpheme is a minimal unit in the plain of expression which relates to some unit in the plain of content. But morphemes in Eng are mostly lexical. In moderm grammar the following definition has become popular:

A form-building morpheme is an element of the word which signals the presence of grammatical meaning attached to the word by the presence of this morpheme. The morpheme has a relational grammatical meaning. Form-building morpheme is always a member of opposition [s (pl) – 0 (sg)]. A morpheme has an exponent of a grammatical category.

A word form may be equivalent to a word (see, saw) or it may take up more than a word (has been doing). A word form is an isolated unit of grammar, since it carries some grammar information. The lexical meaning becomes irrelevant when we want to define its status.

!!! в аналитических формах и вспомогательные и главные части имеют грамматическое значение.

I. Suffixation.

The number of inflectional suffixes in modern English is very small. They are as follows:

1)-s (s/z/iz) – 1. plural forms of countable nouns – boys. 2.the genitive case in animate nouns – girl’s. 3.the absolute form of possessive pronouns – ours, hers. 4.the 3d person Sg Pr tense the Ind Mood – says

2)-ed(t/d/ed) – 1.the past indefiniteof the regular verbs in the Ind Mood – cried. 2.Past Participle of regular verbs

3)-ing - 1.continuous aspect 2.gerund

4)-er , - est - the comparative and the superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs.

5)-en-1.plural form: ox-oxen. 2.Past Participle of irregular verbs - taken

6)-ren - child – children

7)-ne - absolute form of the pronoun my – mine

8)-m - the objective case of personal pronouns he and they – him and them

Suffixes 1-5 - are productive ( frequently used). The rest – non-productive (confined to 1 or 2 Ws). Inflectional suffixes in modern E are characterized:

1) The number of form-building suffixes in Eng is small, but the frequency of the use is high.

2) Their application is broad.

3) There are characterrised by homonymy.

4) Many Eng word forms are characterized by the absence of inflectional suffixes. However this fact is considered significant by many grammarians. There is a special term – zero-morph. Barkhudarov analysed the use of suffixes when he built up the Pl f and he compared the presence of the suffix to the absence of the suffix in the Sg f. In the Sg f there is no special suffix, but the Mg of oneness is nevertheless expressed in the W. Thus he calls the meaningful absence of the M – a zero morpheme. There’s an opposite opinion as well. Many modern grammarians consider the absence of morphemes a universal phenomenon in modern E that’s why it isn’t necessary to single out a special zero morpheme.

II.Morpho-phonetic (other scientists– morphophonemic) alteration - a foot – feet; take – took.

It is a meaningful change of vowels or consonants within a morpheme. This alteration takes place within the root of a W. This means is non-productive. It’s called so because it’s used to express a certain gr-l Mg of a W.

III.Suppletion. It’s the extreme case of morpho-phonemic alteration. It completely changes the phonetic form of the root. Non-productive and is limited to a few words: to be – was; to go – went; good – better; bad – worse; I – me; we – us; she - her.

Synthetic forms(affixation, suppletion, morphophonetic alteration).

Analytical forms.