STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH

[ENGLISH MAJOR 3]

BILL RUSSELL A. CECOGO

Instructor
 MODULE 1

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND

PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE

Unit 1 Historical Antecedents to Modern English

Unit 2 Language and Structure

Unit 3 The Structure of the Sound System of English

Unit 4 Syllable Structure in English

Unit 5 Non-Segmental Features of English

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 UNIT 1
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS TO MODERN
ENGLISH
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Every language has a history. The history of the English language is long and
complicated. We shall make do with just a notion selecting only the important
milestones. For a fuller discussion of the history of the English Language read A
History of the English Language by Baugh and Cable 1978. The account of the
history of English given in this chapter is adapted from this source.
The history of English begins around 600 A.D. Before then is pre-history. Our
linguistic ancestors were savages wandering through the forests of Northern
Europe. Their language was a part of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European
family. The English ancestors spoke a dialect of Low German.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Say who the English ancestors were and where they came from;
 Identify the features of Old English, Middle English and Modern English;
 Bring out any differences between Modern English and Middle or Old
English; and
 Identify the main events that are responsible for the changes

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Angles, Saxons and Jutes

From the beginning of the Christian era, at the time of the Roman Empire
about 400 A.D., the speakers of what was to become ‘English Language’ were
scattered along the northern coast of Europe. Their language was a dialect of Low
German. Specifically, they spoke many dialects since they were different tribes.
Some of the tribes migrated to England and the names of these tribes were Angles,
Saxons and Jutes who for convenience were referred to as Anglo-Saxons. The first
contacts of the Anglo Saxons with civilization were some occasional contacts with
merchants and traders from the Roman Empire on whose borders they lived. This
period of brief contacts started the first of the many borrowings from Latin. Words

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like kettle, wine, cheese, butter, cheap, plum, gem, bishop, church were borrowed
into English.
In the 4th century, the Roman power began to fall on evil days following
attacks from the Goths in the Mediterranean countries. The Anglo-Saxons began to
attack Britain which had been ruled by the Romans since 43 AD. The Roman
influence did not however, extend to other parts of the British Isles. In Scotland,
Wales and Ireland for instance, the Celts, the original inhabitants of the British
Isles including England remained free and wild and made incessant attacks
against the Romans in England. The Roman power, even in England, was not
strong enough to make Latin the national language as was the case in Gaul and
Spain. The people continued to speak Celtic with Latin only as an official language.
The 4th century saw more and more troubles for the Romans in Britain. The
wild tribes of Scotland and Wales grew more restive; the Anglo-Saxons began to
attack the eastern coast; there were growing tensions away to fight in other places.
In 410 A.D. the last Roman ruler in England left and took the last of the legions
with him. The Celts were now in possession of Britain but defenceless against the
imminent Anglo-Saxon attack.
According to the eighth century historian, Bede, the Jutes came in 449 to
England in response to an appeal by the Celtic King Vortigen who wanted help
against the Picts. They (the Jutes) later fought with Vortigen and settled
permanently in Kent. Later, the Angles established themselves in Eastern England
and the Saxons in the West and South. Fighting went on for as long as one
hundred years before the Celts in England were all killed, reduced to slavery or
driven into Wales. By 550 A.D. the Anglo Saxons were firmly established and
English was now the language of England.

3.2 Old English

The history of English actually starts about 600 A.D. when the Anglo-Saxons
were converted to Christianity and learnt the Latin alphabet. The conversion was a
great advance for the Anglo-Saxons not only spiritually but also because it
established again for them contact with the Roman civilization.
The history of the English Language is often divided into Old English (from the
earliest records about the 7th century to about 1100; Middle English from1100 to
1450 or 1500. Modern English is divided into Early Modern, 1500 – 1700 and late
Modern, 1700 to the present.
England was divided into several kingdoms which were more or less
autonomous. One of the kingdoms, Northumber, the area between the Humber
River and the Scottish border became more advanced, and developed a respectable
civilisation. But in the eighth century the Northumbrian power declined and the
centre of influence shifted first south to Mercia, the kingdom of the Midlands and a
century later to Wessex, the country of the West Saxons. The most famous king of
the West Saxons, Alfred the Great who was not only a military man but also a
champion of learning founded and supported schools and caused many books to
be translated from Latin to English in the West Saxon dialect.
In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Norsemen came from Denmark and the
Scandinavian Peninsula to attack England. Alfred the Great rebuffed their sporadic
attacks on England for some years until the year 866 when the Norsemen landed
on the east coast of England. In 877 the struggle ended with a treaty by which a

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line was drawn from the North-West of England to the South-East. The Norse were
to rule the Eastern side and the Western side was to be governed by England.
The effect of this on the English language was a considerable influx of Norse
into the English Language. Norse at that time was not so different from English as
to make the two languages mutually unintelligible. There was however a
considerable degree of word borrowing. Examples of Norse words in the English
language are: sky, give, law, egg, outlaw, leg, ugly, scant, sly, crawl, scowl, take,
thrust. It is supposed also that the Norsemen influenced the sound structure and
the grammar of English but this is difficult to demonstrate in detail.

A Specimen of Old English

A favourite illustration of a sample of old English is often the Lord’s Prayer

probably because it needs no translation. One of the versions is given here.

Faeder ure bu de eart on heofonum si pin nama gebalcod. Tohe

gume pin rice. Gewurde pin villa on cordan swa swa on
heofonum, Urne ge daeghwamlican hlaf syle us to daeg. An
forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfap urum gyltendum. And
ne glel pu us on costnunge ac alys us of ytele. Sodlice.

Besides the differences in grammar and orthography between the specimen of

Old English shown above and Modern English, there are observable differences in
vocabulary. For one, Old English was more highly inflected than Modern English.
Most of the Old English words are native English words in the sense that they have
not been borrowed from other languages but have been a part of English ever since
English was a part of the Indo-European languages. Old English however had
some borrowed words. We have seen above some of the ones that came from Norse.
A large number too was borrowed while the Anglo-Saxons were still on the
continent. These include cheese, butter, bishop, and kettle. A large number came
into English after the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity. These include:
angel, candle, priest, martyr, purple, school, spend, oyster etc. But the majority of
old English words were native English.

3.3 Middle English

Between 1000 and 1200 AD important changes took place in the structure of
English so that Old English became Middle English. The single event which led to
this was the Norman Conquest. The Normans came from Scandinavia in the early
years of the tenth Century, established themselves in the north of France and
established a powerful kingdom. In 1060 AD, under the leadership of Duke
William, they crossed the English Channel and installed themselves the rulers of
England. For many hundred years after this event, England was ruled by kings
whose mother tongue was French. French did not however become the national
language in England because unlike the earlier Anglo-Saxon invasion, the Norman
Conquest was not a national migration. Although a large number of Normans came
to England, they came as rulers. Consequently, French became the language of
polite society, the nobility, the language of literature and education but it did not

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replace English as the language of the people. English was therefore spoken as a
vernacular.
However, English, though it survived as a vernacular and the national
language, was deeply affected and therefore changed after the Norman Conquest.
Because it was a language of the common people it became simplified; the case
system of nouns and adjectives became simplified. People came to rely more on
word order and prepositions than on inflectional endings. The change was also
aided by changes in sound. Today English is less inflected than German, another
member of the Germanic group of Indo-European languages, perhaps because
Germany did not experience a Norman Conquest.
The effects of the Norman Conquest are more pronounced in vocabulary.
Although after about a hundred years French ceased to be the language of many
people in England, it continued to be a second language. Till today, it is a second
language in England and regarded as the epitome of elegance and sophistication. It
was a sign of good breeding in England to spice one’s conversation with French
words and French ideas. In fact, it was considered that one was au courant. The
last expression shows that this practice is still with us as one often hears
expressions like a la mode, bourgeois and proletariat.
Thus, all sorts of French words came into English. There were words that have
to do with government: parliament, majesty, treaty, tax, alliance; words about the
church: parson, sermon, baptism, incense, crucifix, religion; words for food: beef,
mutton, bacon, jelly, peach, lemon, cream, biscuit. There were also colour words:
blue, scarlet, vermilion; household words: chair, curtain, lamp, towel, blanket,
parlour, play words: dance, chess, music, leisure, conversation; logic, grammar,
noun, surgeon, anatomy, stomach. There were also ordinary words of all kinds like
nice, second, very, age, bucket, gentle, final, fault, flower, cry, count, sure, move
surprise, plain.
All these and many more words poured into the English Language between
1100 and 1500. This did not however turn English into French. English remained
English in sound structure and grammar although the grammar also felt some
influence of the contact. Also, the very heart of the vocabulary remained English as
most of the high frequency words: pronouns, preposition, conjunctions and the
auxiliaries as well as many ordinary nouns, verbs and adjectives were not replaced
by the borrowings. Thus, Middle English was still a Germanic language but it
differed from old English in some ways: the sound system and the grammar
changed; speakers relied less on inflectional devices and more on word order and
structure to express their meaning.

A Specimen of Middle English

It appears that Middle English is simpler to us than Old English because it

is closer to Modern English. It is however doubtful if is not a case of exchanging
one set of complexities for others. The following passage is taken from Chaucer’s
General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales written in the fourteenth century:

There was also a nonne, a Prioresse,

That of hir smyling was ful symple and coy,
Hir gretteste oath was but by Seinte Loy,

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 And she was cleped Madam Eglentyne,
Fullwell she song the service dyvyne,
Entuned in hir nose ful semely,
And Frenshe she spak ful faire and fetishly
After the scole of Straford-atte-Bowe,
For Frenshe of Parys was to hir unknowne.

3.4 Early Modern English

The English of Shakespeare’s time is different from the time of Chaucer shown
above because of a couple of changes that English underwent between 1400 and
1600 AD. One change was the elimination of a vowel sound in some unstressed
positions at the end of words so that words like wine, stone, name and dance
which were pronounced as two syllables in Chaucer’s time were pronounced as
one in Shakespeare’s time. This change is one of the causes of the discrepancy
between the spelling and the pronunciation of Modern English words because it
affected a lot of words other than those, which end with vowel sounds.
The following words: laughed, seemed and stored which were pronounced as
two syllables in Middle English also became monosyllabic.
The Great Vowel Shift was the other big event, which made Middle English
different from Modern English. This involved the shifting of half a dozen vowels
and diphthongs in stressed syllables as can be seen from the examples below:

Middle English Modern English

name / a: / name / e /
wine / i: / wine / a :/
he / e / he /e: /
mouse / u: / mouse / au:/
moon /ə / moon / u: /

This change affected all the words which contained these sounds but the
Middle English spelling was retained thus creating another source of discrepancy
between spelling and pronunciation of Modern English words.
These two changes which constitute the main differences between Middle
and Modern English can also be said to account for the differences between
English and other Germanic languages like French, Italian and Spanish where no
vowel shift occurred. The last development which can be said to be responsible for
standardizing the spelling of English, and unifying the various dialects of English
is the invention of the printing press in 1475 by William Caxton. Books and
reading materials were produced and the printed word became the standard.

3.5 Modern English

In England the dialect of the East Midland became accepted as the literary
standard. This does not mean that there were no other dialects. In the plays
and novels of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there are often country
gentlemen that speak their local dialects. But the English of the upper class
and the upper middle class tended to adopt a uniform standard which was

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nurtured in the public schools. The public-school English has been identified
as a variant of the South Eastern English and it became the language of the
upper-class whatever part of effect and became the agency for the transmission
of a non-localized form of English as the prestigious form.
By 1770 movement between groups became accelerated what with the
invention of the steamship, the railway, the motorcar and the aeroplane. Man
became more mobile and this extended his linguistic exposure. Other
developments like the telephone, the radio, the sound film and the television all
helped to standardize and spread Modern English.
The effect of all the above listed developments on the vocabulary was
unprecedented. New objects, new ways of seeing the world, new things to do
and new thoughts brought new words into the language so that nowadays there
are words like psychedelic, spacelas, floppy discs, computerese, esperanto etc.
Many native forms combined prefixes and suffixes which have come into the
language to form new forms. Technical terms from scientific developments have
also entered the language. Loan words have also entered the language and with
the spread of English to other parts of the world Modern English is full of
borrowings from other languages. As was the case with Norse, French and Latin
borrowings the process of borrowing and the words borrowed throw some light
on the nature of the relationship between England and these countries. Also, in
the last two hundred years, loan words do not seem to have the cultural
meaning they had. For example, the following words borrowed from French do
not have exactly the same cultural meaning and usage they had: guillotine,
regime, and epaulette.
It is interesting to note that English has resisted Celtic loan words despite
the fact that they live close to the Celtic communities and have intermarried
throughout the period when English has been spoken in Britain. Yet the spread
of English to other parts of the world has produced other varieties of English
some of which are spoken as mother tongues.

4.0 SUMMARY

You have learnt from this unit that:

 The linguistic ancestors of English were the Angles, Saxons and Jutes and
they were savages who migrated from northern Europe and settled in
England about 400 A.D.
 The history of English actually started about 600 AD when the Anglo
Saxons, having killed and driven out the original inhabitants of England, the
Celts, and settled in England became converted to Christianity.
 Old English as seen in the Lord’s Prayer differs from Modern English both in
grammar, orthography and vocabulary.
 Between 1000 and 1200 A.D., the Norman Conquest brought the French
language to England.
 English was used as the vernacular while French was the official language;
consequently, English became simplified - the sound system and the

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 grammar changed; speakers relied less on inflectional devices and more on
word order and structure to express their meaning.
 The elimination of the vowel sounds in unstressed positions so that words
like wine and name which were pronounced as two syllables [wi-ne] and [na-
me] were pronounced as one syllable, helped to make Early Modern English
different from Middle English.
 Between 1400 AD and 1600 AD the Great Vowel Shift occurred, which also
helped to change Middle English. This involved the change of the quality of
vowels in many two syllable words so that words like wine and name which
were pronounced as two syllables [wi-ne] and [na-me], were now pronounced
as one syllable (e.g., wine [wa n] and name [ne m]) but the spellings were
retained.
 The invention of printing by William Caxton in 1475 standardised English
spelling and with the production of books and reading materials the printed
word became the standard.
 In England, the dialect of the East Midlands became the literary standard
used by the upper and middle class and taught in schools although other
dialects existed.

5.0 QUESTIONS:

1. Who were the Anglo-Saxons? Where did they come from? How did they come
to settle in England?

2. What two events have been responsible for the differences between Middle
English and Modern English?

3. What contributions did the Norman Conquest and the Great Vowel Shift
make to the development of the English Language?

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 UNIT 2
LANGUAGE AND STRUCTURE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Language is one of the most useful and most brilliant of human inventions.
By means of language, people who live together are able to interact and express
their thoughts and feelings to one another.
Language is first perceived as a string of noises organised into a meaningful
pattern for the purpose of communication. It can as well be seen as graphic
symbols also organised into meaningful patterns. The particular patterns of noises
or graphic symbols are meaningful particularly to people of the speech community
where the language is used. These patterns can however be learnt by people
outside the speech community.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

 Describe the nature of language;

 Identify the levels of structure of language;
 List he levels of structure of all units of English grammar; and
 Give a brief description of the units of structure of English grammar.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Nature of Language

There have been several explanations of language. One which is given above is
that language is the means by which people from the same and related
communities interact and express their thoughts and feelings to one another. This
is one way of explaining the term language. There are other ways of explaining this
phenomenon. A classic explication is that of Sapir (1921, p. 18) which explains
language as ‘a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,
emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols.
Another famous definition of language was given by Hall in his Essay on Language,
where language is defined as ‘the institution whereby humans communicate and
interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary
symbols’ (Hall, 1968, pp. 158).
An examination of these explanations reveals that language is primarily spoken
(i.e oral - auditory). Writing is a recent development. There are many languages
that exist only in the spoken form. Another aspect of language evident in the
explications above is that language has structure and is normally organized into
patterns – phonic (for spoken language) and graphic (for written language). The
specific characteristics of language may be summarized thus:

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 … it is difficult to give a comprehensive definition of
language. Any attempt that captures its essential
characteristics: namely that it is a system made up of
phonic or graphic symbols which are arbitrarily
chosen or agreed upon by convention and are usually
learned and used by a speech community for the
purpose of communication can serve as a reasonable
explication (Eka and Udofot 1996:5)

A necessary implication of the use of language for the purpose of

communication is that information expressed by language has to be meaningful to
the hearer otherwise communication or interaction does not take place. This idea
is stressed by Gimson’s (1980: 4-5) description of language as:

…a system of conventional signals used for

communication by a whole community. This pattern of
conventions covers a system of significant sound
units, the inflection and arrangement of words and the
association of meaning with words.

All the explanations of language given above agree on certain issues. First,
that language is arbitrary and conventional in the sense that there is often no link
between a word and what it means. There exists some form of unwritten agreement
or convention about the way language is used. This is like saying that flat-topped
wooden or iron furniture with four supports is called a table not because of any
reason other than that the English people by agreement and later by convention
call it that. Secondly, that language is non instinctive. This means that it is a
learned behaviour. Next, that language is human and is used by a group of people
(a speech community) whose ancestors agreed on how certain symbols were to be
used. Also, that although there are animal signs and computer language, for
example, it is the speech of human beings that is elaborate and systematic enough
to be studied. This shows that language is a peculiarly human behaviour. If
conventional symbols have to be associated with meaning, it follows that the words
we use in language and the sentences we make by putting words together have to
mean something. This underscores the need for words and sentences to have
structure. Knowledge of the elements or parts and patterns of words and sentences
equips you with the means of forming them in the acceptable manner using the
acceptable patterns of a given language. This course is designed to arm you with
the acceptable means of forming words and sentences in English, using the
appropriate structures.

3.2 The Structural Approach

The Structural Approach to the study of language can be traced to Bloomfield

of the American school of Linguistics who in his book Language published in 1933
laid the foundation which was continued by Fries in his book The Structure of
English published in 1952. Fries analysed living English speech using a sentence

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grammar approach instead of the word grammar approach of traditional grammar.
Later grammars of English followed this approach until a different approach
became available with the publication of Chomsky’s Syntactic Structures in 1957
and later Aspects of the Theory of Syntax in 1965.
The structural approach to the study of grammar came as a reaction to
traditional grammar which divided all the words in the language into parts of
speech according to the functions they perform, and prescribed rather than
described their behaviour based on the rules of Latin grammar, paying very little
attention to the forms of words and sounds of the language. In other words,
traditional grammar looked at the functions of words and not at their structure.
The term structure is generally used to analyse all the units of grammar except
the smallest unit - the morpheme. In English we have sentence structure, clause
structure, group structure and word structure (Eka, 1994, p.24). The sentence is
made up of one or more clauses; the clause is made up of one or more groups; the
group is made up of one or more words and every word consists of one or more
morphemes.
The sentence:

She was dancing gracefully because the music was

melodious.

can be broken down into two clauses:

1a. She was dancing gracefully (main clause)

1b. because the music was melodious (subordinate clause)

Each clause: 1a and 1b is made up of groups such as:

1c she, gracefully (pronoun/ adverbial group)

1d was dancing (verbal group)
1e because (prepositional group)
1f the music (nominal group)
1g was (verbal group)
1h melodious (adjectival group)

Each group consists of words. Some of the words such as dancing and
gracefully have more than one morpheme. Dancing is made up of {dance} and the
progressive marker {ing} while gracefully also contains two morphemes: {grace} and
the derivational morphemes {-ful} and {-ly}.
The structural approach to the study of Language also spread to Europe. It
was the French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure who started people thinking along
the lines of modern linguistics in Europe when he drew the distinction between
diachronic and synchronic study of language. A diachronic study studies the
historical development of language while a synchronic describes language as it is
used at a particular point in time. His lectures, published posthumously by his
students in a course in General Linguistics (Cours de linguistique généralé) inspired
other linguists in Europe namely: Henry Sweet whose ideas were elaborated upon
by J. R. Firth of the London School of Linguistics.

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 From the London School of Linguistics also came Halliday who suggested a
model of grammar often referred to as Neo-Firthian or Systemic Grammar. His
model has structure as the surface grammar and meaning as the deep grammar.
Within the model, morphology studies the structure of words while syntax studies
the structure of sentences which are built up of words, yet they are ‘not separated
as levels but accounted for within the units of the grammatical rank scale’ (Eka,
1994, p.24).The model discusses four fundamental categories of grammar one of
which is structure and the others are unit, class and system.
The Unit category identifies levels: the morpheme, the word, the group, the
clause and the sentence which are hierarchically related in the sense that the
upper unit is made up of one or more items of the lower unit next to it (as for
instance the word which is made up of one or more morphemes etc.) The
morpheme occupies the lowest rank while the sentence occupies the highest rank.
Structure is used to analyse all the units except the morpheme. The elements of
the clause in English are: Subject(S), Predicator (P), Complement (C), Adjunct (A).
All clause structures combine some or all of the elements. The nominal group
structure is Modifier (m), Head (h), and Qualifier (q). A modifier is any structure
before the head while a qualifier refers to any structure after the head as in the
following example:

The/ new/ students/ of the University of Santo Tomas

m m h q

Class refers to a set of items with similar characteristics. Items of the same
class belong to the same unit since they usually have the same structural
possibilities. One can therefore refer to classes of verbs, nouns, adjectives etc. and
also to their behaviour as a group. For example, verbs act as predicators while the
nouns often operate as head of the nominal group in the structure of a clause.
Every class also has sub-classes as for instance in the cases of nouns being
countable and uncountable (count and non-count nouns), proper and abstract
while verbs can be transitive, intransitive or linking.
System refers to a set of features from which only one has to be selected as
for instance the system of number which allows for choice between singular and
plural; the system of voice of verbs where a choice is made between active and
passive and the system of polarity where the choice is between positive and
negative.
An attempt is made in this course to describe the structure of the English
Language in terms of the sound structure, the sentence structure, the group
structure as well as the word and meaning structure. The emphasis is to show the
constituents; that is what each of these is made up of: the sound system, the
sentence, clause, group and the word.

4.0 SUMMARY
In this unit you have learnt the following:
 Language is a purely human behaviour and that is made up of sounds and
symbols.
 Language is a learned behaviour; it is conventional and arbitrary

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  Language is mainly for communication among a speech community
 Language is a system and has four main levels of structure: phonological,
syntactic, lexical and semantic
 The structural approach to the analysis of language is traceable to
Bloomfield of the American School of Linguistics.
 The approach spread to Europe and was developed into the Systemic
Model By the linguists of the London School of Linguistics mainly J.R
Firth and M.A.K. Halliday
 The Structural Approach analyses language at four categories: unit,
class, structure and system.
 Structure is used to analyse all the units of grammar except the
morpheme.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. Distinguish between diachronic and synchronic study of language.

2. Explain the term structure and its use.

3. From the definitions of language given above, make a list of the

characteristics of language.

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 UNIT 3
THE STRUCTURE OF THE SOUND SYSTEM
OF ENGLISH
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Speech sounds are vibrations in the atmosphere. They are produced by the
organs of the body associated with speech. The study of the physical features of
speech sounds is called Phonetics while the study of the sounds of a particular
language in combination is referred to as the Phonology of that language. In this
course you will learn about the Segmental and Non segmental phonemes of
English and how they function in patterns in the language.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Distinguish between phonetics and phonology;

 Identify the broad groups of speech sounds and the sounds of English;
 List the segmental phonemes of English;
 Describe the phonetic properties of English sounds and non-segmental
phonemes and how the sounds are combined into patterns in speech.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Sound Production

When we speak, we make a string of noises which is perceived as a continuous

flow of sound. This continuous flow is meaningful to anyone who understands the
language. Every speech sound is produced as a result of exhaled air from the lungs
passing through the passage between the vocal cords known as the glottis through
the pharynx and out through the mouth or nose. This exhaled air is called the
pulmonic airstream. When the air from the lungs gets to the larynx (the Adam’s
Apple) and the space between the vocal cords (the glottis) is closed a lot of pressure
builds up and forces the glottis to open and close very rapidly. This results in the
vibration known as voice. Any sound produced with the glottis in this state is
referred to as voiced. Examples of voiced sounds are /b, d, g, e, u: /. English
vowels are produced with the glottis in this state and they are all voiced. If the
pulmonic airstream (air from the lungs) gets to the larynx and the glottis is open,
the air passes on to the pharynx without any vibration. Sounds that are produced
with the glottis open are said to be voiceless. Examples of voiceless sounds are /p,
s, t, k/.

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 When the air leaves the larynx, it gets to the pharynx and mouth. If the back
part of the roof of mouth called the soft palate or velum is lowered, the passage to
the mouth is blocked and the air escapes through the nose. These types of sounds
are called nasal sounds. Examples of nasal sounds in English are /m, n, /. If the
soft palate is raised when the air from the larynx gets to the pharynx, the air
passes through the mouth and the sounds produced with the soft palate raised are
called oral sounds. All English sounds except the nasals i.e., /m, n, / are oral
e.g. /p, k, s, r/.

3.2 The Sounds of English

The sounds of all human language are classified as either vowels or

consonants. They are called vowels if there is no audible obstruction to the air as it
passes from the lungs to the outside through the mouth or the nose. Examples of
vowel sounds in English are /a: / as in father; /i: / as in people and /e/ as in bed.
Consonant sounds on the other hand are sounds which are produced with some
form of obstruction of air along the speech tract by one or more organs of speech.
The numbers of vowels and consonants vary from language to language.
In English, there are twenty vowel sounds and twenty-four consonant sounds.
These sounds do not necessarily correspond with the letters of the alphabet.
Though there are phonetic languages like Ibibio, Igbo or Yoruba where sounds and
letters correspond so that a word is pronounced the way it is written, English is a
classic example of a language which is not necessarily spoken the way it is written.
In the following words the sounds and letters do not correspond:

/f/ (sounds and letters) (letters and sounds)

physics father /a:/
effect man /æ/
cough ago /a /
philosophy name /e /

3.3 Consonants

Consonants are described using three criteria: (i) whether they are voiced or
voiceless; (ii) organ of production; (iii) manner of production.

3.4 Organs of Production

The organs used to produce speech sounds are also very important because
sounds, especially consonant sounds, are classified according to the organs used
to produce them.
Considering the organs used to produce the sounds the following groups of
consonants can be identified:

i. Bilabial: These are sounds produced using the two lips. English has four
bilabial consonants. These are /p. b, m, w/.

15
 ii. Labio-dental: These are sounds produced with the lower lip and the upper
teeth. There are only two labio-dental consonants in English. These are /f/
and /v/.
iii. Dental: These are sounds produced with the tip of the tongue coming
between the two rows of teeth. English has two dental sounds. These
are /ɵ / and / ð /.

iv. Alveolar: These are sounds produced with the tip of the tongue touching
the upper teeth. English has many alveolar sounds namely /t, d, n, l, r, s,
z/.

v. Palato-alveolar: These are sounds produced with the tip of the tongue
touching the upper teeth ridge and middle of the tongue simultaneously
raised towards the hard palate. Palato-Alveolar sounds in English include /
td/

vi. Palatal: These are sounds produced with the front of the tongue touching
the hard palate. English has only one such sound which is /j/.

vii. Velar: These are sounds produced with the back of the tongue touching the
soft palate (the velum). There are three velar sounds in English. These
are /k, g, ŋ/.

viii. Glottal: Glottal sounds are produced in the glottis, that is, the space
between the vocal cords. English has only one glottal sound which is /h/.

3.5 Manner of Production

Consonant sounds are also classified according to the way the organs of
speech behave during their production. Six groups are often distinguished.
According to Eka and Udofot (1996: 71-72) the twenty-four consonants of English
can be classified as follows:

(i) Plosives or Stops are those sounds produced through the coming together
of the organs of production to block the air passage coming from the lungs
followed by a sudden release of the sounds through a sudden parting of the
organs. English plosive sounds are /p, b, t, d, k, g/

(ii) Fricatives: These are consonant sounds produced by the narrowing of the
space between the organs of production due to the movement of the organs
towards each other. The sounds produced filter through the narrowed space
with a hissing sound. English has nine fricative sounds which are / f, v, ʃ,
ð, s, z, h, ɵ /.

(iii) Affricates: Affricates are produced like plosives with the coming together of
the organs of production to obstruct the air from the lungs followed by a
gradual release of the sound. English has two affricates which are / t /
and / d /.

16
 (iv) Nasals: These are sounds produced with the soft palate lowered and the
sound released through the nose. English nasals are three in number.
These are /m, n, ŋ/.
(v) Liquids: These are sounds produced with the tongue raised and air
escaping through the sides of the tongue. English has two liquids: the
lateral liquid /l/ produced with the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar
ridge (teeth ridge) and air escaping through the two sides of the tongue and
the rolled liquid /r/ which is produced with the tip of the tongue repeatedly
touching the teeth ridge.

(vi) Semi-vowels (approximants): These are sounds produced with the organs
of production coming together but not completely as in the case of the other
consonants. They are described as gliding consonants because they are
“distinguished by the absence of friction and a quick smooth glide to the sound
that follows” (Udofot and Eshiett 1996: 13). English has two semi vowels. These
are /j/ and /w/.

3.6 Description of Consonants

Any consonant sound can be described using three criteria namely: voice or
voicelessness, organ of production and manner of production.
The twenty-four English consonant sounds can be described as follows:
/p/ Voiceless bilabial plosive as in pat, reap, leper
/b/ Voiced, bilabial plosive as in bed, labour, babe
/t/ Voiceless alveolar plosive as in table, cat, rat
/d/ Voiced alveolar plosive as in dance, lad, ladder
/k/ Voiceless velar plosive as in king, market, cook
/g/ Voiced velar plosive as in gold, big, bigger
/f/ Voiceless labio – dental fricative as in fish, infant, leaf
/v/ Voiced labio-dental fricative as in very, alveolar, leave
/ɵ/ Voiceless dental fricative as in thin, bath
/ ð / Voiced dental fricative as in though, other, bathe
/s/ Voiceless alveolar fricative as in city, sister, rice
/z/ Voiced alveolar fricative as in zebra, business, prize
/ʃ / Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative as in shoe, mission, push
/ʒ / Voiced palato-alveolar fricative as in vision, garage
/h/ Voiceless glottal fricative as in house, inhale
/ t / Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate as in church, teacher, catch
/ dʒ / Voiced palato-alveolar affricate as in joke, enjoy, judge
/m/* Bilabial nasal as in moon, lamp, calm
/n/* Alveolar nasal as in navy, nanny, none
/ ŋ/* Velar nasal as in bank, longing
/l/* Alveolar liquid (lateral) as in look, valley, pull
/r/* Alveolar liquid (rolled) as in wrong, marry, mirror
/w/* Bilabial semivowel as in woman, reward
/j/* Palatal semivowel as in yellow, student/stju---/

*Note that all nasals, liquids and semi-vowels are voiced.

17
3.7 Vowels

English has twenty vowels. Twelve of them are single sounds or

monophthongs. Monophthongs are also referred to as pure vowels. Eight of the
English vowels are double sounds or diphthongs. Vowels are produced without any
audible obstruction of the speech tract by the organs of production. They are
characterised by vocal cord vibration or voice. The tongue and the lips are the most
important organs of production of vowels. Vowels are therefore described according
to the part of the tongue used in its production and the height to which the tongue
is raised towards the hard palate. The other criterion of description is the posture
of the lips. In vowel production, the lips can be rounded or spread or neutral.

3.8 Description of Vowels

A vowel can be described as

(i) Front: If produced using the front of the tongue e.g., /i: /
(ii) Back: If produced using the back of the tongue e.g., /a: /
(iii) Central: If produced using the middle of the tongue e.g., / ə/

Considering the height to which the tongue is raised towards (but not touching the
roof of the mouth), a vowel can be described as:

(i) Close: If the tongue is raised very high towards the palate e.g., /i: /
(ii) Open: If the tongue is lowered and lying flat in the mouth e.g., /a: /
(iii) Half-Open or Half-Close: If the tongue lies halfway between the two
extremes.

When considering the posture of the lips a vowel can be described as

(i) Rounded: if the vowel is produced with rounded lips e.g., /u: /
(ii) Unrounded: if the vowel is produced with spread or neutral lip posture
e.g., /e/ and /a/

It is important to know the part of the tongue and the tongue height as well as
the lip posture of a particular vowel in order to be able to produce the vowel
properly.

3.9 English Monophthongs

English monophthongs are conventionally numbered 1 – 12 as follows:

1. /i: / as in leap, people, seed
2. /ɪ / as in lip, sit, village
3. /e / as in fed, friend, bed
4. /æ/ as in fan, anniversary
5. /a: / as in father, heart, arm
6. /ɑ / as in hot, watt, wander

18
 7. /o: / as in wash, cord, war
8. /ᴜ/ as in could, cook, pull
9. /u: / as in two, stool, through
10. / ɚ/ as in much, love, blood
11. /3: / as in girl, early, bird
12. / ‫ כ‬/ as in again, water, director

3.10 English Diphthongs

1. /aɪ / as in fight, rhyme, eye

2. /au/ as in house, now, couch
3. /eə/ as in late, tail, day
4. /oᴜ/ as in so, home, know
5. /‫כ‬ɪ/ as in oil, joy, destroy
6. /ɪə/ as in here, ear, atmosphere
7. /3ə / as in air, tear, affair
8. /ᴜə/ as in poor, tour, sure

3.11 English Triphthongs

English also has triphthongs but these occur in careful and slow
pronunciations. A triphthong can be described as a combination of three vowel
sounds pronounced together one after the other. For example a careful
pronunciation of the vowel in the word ‘tower’ begins with the sound /a/and a
quick smooth movement to the vowel /u/ and ends with the vowel / / ; thus / a
u /. In English, there are five triphthongs. These are:

1. /aɪə / as in fire, tyre

2. /auə / as in tower, flower
3. /e3ə/ as in layer, player
4. / auə/ as in sower, lower
5. / æə / as in loyal, royal

As already noted, it is only the slow and careful English speaker whose
speech can feature these complex vowels. In rapid or normal speech triphthongs
are often reduced to long vowels and diphthongs with the middle vowel heard
slightly or not at all.

4.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following main points have been made:
 Speech sounds are vibrations produced by the human organs of speech;
 The study of speech sounds and their properties is called phonetics while the
study of the sounds of a particular language is known as phonology
 Speech sounds are produced when exhaled air passes through the various
speech organs and are modified by them on their journey outside through
the mouth and sometimes the nose.

19
  All human speech sounds can be classified into two broad groups: vowels
and consonants
 Vowels are produced without obstruction to the air in the vocal tract while
consonants are produced with obstruction at some point of the vocal tract
 English has 44 sounds: 20 vowels and 24 consonants.
 Consonants are described according to organ of production, manner of
production and whether they are voiced or voiceless
 Vowels are described according to the part of the tongue used in its
production i.e. whether front, central or back; the height to which the tongue
is raised towards the roof of the mouth; that is whether raised high up or
pressed down low and the posture of the lips during production i.e., whether
rounded or neutral or spread.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. Describe how human speech sounds are produced.

2. Differentiate between vowels and consonants.

3. How many vowels and consonants are there in the English Language?

20
 UNIT 4
THE SYLLABLE STRUCTURE IN ENGLISH
1.0 INTRODUCTION
When you speak you produce a string of noises which is perceived as a
continuous flow of sound. This continuous flow is meaningful to anyone who
understands. For instance, the English word pen is made up of three sound
segments; /p, e, n/. If the middle sound is replaced with other sounds e.g., /e, ɪ, æ
/ we can have words like pain, pin and pan. Human speech can be broken down
into units called sounds. Each unit of sound is a segment. When segments are put
together, they form words and utterances.
A sound segment which causes a change in meaning when replaced by
another segment is said to be significant, contrastive or distinctive. Such a speech
sound may be referred to as a phoneme. Hyman (1975, p. 59) defines the phoneme
as ‘a minimal unit of sound capable of distinguishing words of different meanings.
For instance, the following English words: beat, bat and bet are made up of three
sounds: beat /bi:t/, bat /bæt/, bet / bet/ but they are different words because of
the difference in the middle sound. Similarly, in the word’s road / r ud / and
load / l ud / the difference in meaning of the two words lies in the difference
between the two initial sounds /r/ and /l/. The sounds /i, æ, e, r, l, / are
therefore phonemes in English.
The phoneme is also the smallest unit of speech in all languages. In French
for instance, the difference between the two words: fille (girl) and ville (town) lies in
the replacement of / f/ with /v/. Similarly, in Hiligaynon, the two words hisa
(envy) and hita (thigh) are different in meaning because of the difference in the
middle sound. A way to determine whether a particular sound is a phoneme or not
is to substitute that sound for another in two words which have the same spelling
like the words load and road. The words which are identical in this way are
referred to as minimal pairs. Thus, the words road and load; coat and goat; tin and
sin; are minimal pairs.
Each language in the world has its own number of phonemes and uses them
differently from other languages. But within the same language, a particular
speech sound (phoneme can be realized differently due to, among other factors, its
position in a word or utterance. Experience shows that it is not possible for the
same sound to be pronounced in the same way many times even by the same
person. In the following words: peak, speak, and reap the pronunciations of the
sound /p/ are not the same. In peak, the /p/ is pronounced with a puff of air
(aspirated); in speak the /p/ is unaspirated while in reap the final /p/ is not
released. The different phonetic realizations of a phoneme are referred to as

21
allophones. In the above examples the phoneme /p/ has three different
realizations or allophones: the initial or aspirated /p/, the medial or
unaspirated /p/ and the final or unreleased /p/. To an English speaker, the
phoneme he hears is /p/. The difference in quality is due to the position where the
sound occurs in the word. When sounds combine to form syllable, words and
sentences, it is the phonemes that take part in such combinations.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to
 Explain the terms phonemes and allophones;
 Illustrate how speech sounds combine to form syllables and words;
 Define the syllable; and
 Describe the structure of the syllable in English.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Nature of the Syllable

The syllable has been explained as the smallest unit of language which can be
pronounced with one breath. It is made up of a vowel with or without one or more
consonant sounds. When we looked at the sounds of English, it was shown that it
was possible to say whether a particular sound was a vowel or consonant on
phonetic grounds; that is, in relation to whether the passage of air from the lungs
to the outside was obstructed or not; or phonologically in terms of their different
distributions and descriptions. Similarly, a syllable may be defined phonetically or
phonologically. Phonetically, a syllable may be defined (in relation to how it is
produced or how it sounds) as consisting of a centre which has little or no
obstruction to the air flow and therefore sounds louder than the end of the syllable
where there are greater obstruction to the airflow and consequently less loud
sounds. The centre of the syllable is called the nucleus the beginning is called the
onset while the end is called the coda.
What might be called a minimum syllable would be a single vowel in isolation as
for example in the words are /a:ɪ /; or /ɪ:‫כ‬/ and which are preceded and followed
by silence. Some syllables have onset; that is the nucleus is not preceded by
silence but by a consonant sound as in so /s‫כ‬u/ and tea /ti:/. Some syllables have
no onset but a coda as in arm /a:m/; ought /‫כ‬:t/ and more /mo:/.Some syllables
have the onset, nucleus and coda as in sat /sæt/, run /rən/ and fan /fæn/.
The main problem about this phonetic description of the syllable is deciding
where to divide the syllable. Syllable boundary has been an issue where there is no
agreement. An example is the word extra /ekstrə/ where the following suggestions
have been given: e+kstrə, ek+strə, eks+trə, ekst+rə and ekstrə +. Normally the
second or third option is the usual choice but it is not possible to say which one is
correct. Looking at the syllable from the phonological point of view proves more
useful. This involves looking at the possible ways the English phonemes combine.
It is useful to begin with trying to understand what the constructions are in the
initial position of English syllables. Usually, we find that the syllable can begin
with a vowel or with one or two or three consonants. No syllable begins with more

22
than three consonants. Similarly, we can look at how a syllable end. Usually, it
can end with a vowel or one or two or three (and in rare cases) four consonants. No
syllable ends with more than four consonants.
Let us recapitulate. A syllable can be described as a unit of speech made up of a
vowel with or without one or more consonant sounds. Sounds combine to form
syllables. For instance, in English the word, /g ut/, three sounds:/g/, /u/ and /t/
combine to form a syllable, goat, which is also a word. This is a monosyllabic word.
Syllables also combine to form words. Some are disyllabic (two syllables);
trisyllabic (three syllables) and polysyllabic (four or more syllables). Note that every
syllable must contain a vowel sound. There are syllables which are made up of just
one vowel sound but a consonant sound alone cannot make a syllable. In cases
where a syllable has no vowel sound to function as a nucleus some special
consonants, because of their sonorous nature, can function as the nucleus of a
syllable. They are called syllabic consonants. The common syllabic consonants of
English are /l/ and /n/ which are sonorous like vowel sounds as in the following:
mutton / mᴜtn/. In other words, the second syllable of this word has no vowel
nucleus. The letter ‘o’ is omitted in pronunciation.

3.2 The Structure of the English Syllable

As already mentioned, the syllable has a structure; it is made up of the onset

(or beginning), the nucleus (or middle) and the coda (or end). The consonants
occupy the onset and coda parts while the nucleus is occupied by vowels and
syllabic consonants. The nucleus is the obligatory part of the syllable, thus there
are as many syllables as there are vowels in an utterance. The onset and the coda
are optional parts. Four possibilities of syllabic structure may occur in a language.
One may have ONC (onset, nucleus, coda); NC (nucleus, coda); ON (onset, nucleus)
and N (nucleus). All four possibilities occur in English. A syllable that has a coda is
called a closed syllable whereas one that lacks it is called an open syllable.
Apart from the above structure which is done in terms of the phonetic analysis
of the syllable, the structure of an English syllable can be described phonologically
in terms of the distribution of vowels and consonants. Thus, a syllable may be
made up of a vowel alone e.g oh /‫כ‬u/. This may be represented thus V. We may
also have a consonant and a vowel as in tea /ti:/. The structure here is CV where
“C” stands for consonant and “V” for vowel.
Taking the consonants at the initial positions first, we may have one consonant
initially as in fee /fi: /. We can also have two consonants in initial position. These
are of two main kinds: first “s” followed by one of /p, t, k, f, n, l, w, j / as in speak,
stay, sky, sphere, small, snail, sleep, swear, suit. Second, we can have one of /p, t,
k, b, d, g, f, v, m, n/ followed by one of /l, r, w, j/. Thus, we may have: play, try,
cry, bread, dress, music, new, among others. Finally, we can have three
consonants initially. Here we have /s/ followed by /p, t, k/ followed by one of / r,
j, l, w/which may be explained as vowel-like sounds. Examples of words with three
initial consonants are: spring, string, screw, spurious, stupid, skewer, split,
squash. Of these, the sequence /spj/ is not very common.
In the final positions we may have one consonant finally as in, face bed, tape.
We may also have two consonants finally as in cats, sweets and hens. Three
consonants may also occur in the final position in words like: facts, bounds,

23
plunged. Lastly, in the final positions we can have more than three consonants
mainly because /s/ or /z/ has to be added to most nouns to form plurals; and /t/
or /d/ to form past time as in prompts /prəmpts/ and asked /æskt/.
The above information on the structure of the syllable in English may be
summarized thus;
1 2 3
Are 0 V O
Car C V O
At 0 V C
Cat C V C
Star CC V O
Start CC V C
Stray CCC V O
Stretched CCC V CC
Strengths CCC V CCC
Prompts CC V CCCC

We therefore have (C) (C) (C) V (C) (C) (C) (C) C0-3 V C0-4 showing the vowel as the
compulsory element.

4.0 SUMMARY
The following are the main points raised in this unit:
 Human speech can be broken down into units called sounds which can be
put together to form syllables, words and utterances.
 When sounds combine to form syllables and words it is the phonemes that
take part in such combinations
 A phoneme is the smallest sound segment that is significant and can cause
a change in meaning if replaced by another sound.
 Variations of a phoneme are called allophones; allophones do not cause a
change in meaning if replaced by another allophone
 A syllable consists of the onset, nucleus and coda if explained phonetically
 Phonologically, an English syllable is made up of vowels and consonants.
 A maximum of three consonants can occur in initial position in the syllable
in English while a maximum of four consonants can occur at the final
position.
 Every syllable contains a nucleus which occupies the centre of the syllable;
where there is no vowel, a syllabic consonant function like the nucleus of the
syllable.
 The structure of the syllable in English can be represented with the formula:
C0-3 V C0-4.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. What is a phoneme?

24
2. What do you understand by the term syllable?

3. Explain the terms, onset, nucleus and coda and how they combine to form
the syllable in English.

25
 UNIT 5
NON-SEGMENTAL FEATURES OF ENGLISH
1.0 INTRODUCTION
English phonology, like the phonology of any language, is made up of both
segmental and non-segmental phonemes. English non segmental include
accentuation, rhythm and intonation. These, like segmental, affect shades of
meaning and at times cause a breakdown of understanding when not properly
used.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
By the time you complete this unit you should be able to:
 Describe the components of accentuation and how they operate in English;
 Identify the components of rhythm and explain how they operate in English.
 Describe English intonation tunes and how they function in English.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Accentuation

Accentuation comprises stress, duration and prominence. Simply put,

‘stress is the prominence or emphasis given to certain syllables in words when they
are uttered’ (Udofot & Eshiett 1993: 34). Syllables given such prominence or
emphasis are said to be stressed or accented. Duration, on the other hand, is the
timing utilized in the articulation of a syllable as a result of the nature of the vowel
length and syllable structure. For instance, long vowels appear longer in open
syllables and shorter in closed syllables. The vowel sounds in the three words: fee,
and feel are the same but because of the nature of the syllable the vowel /i: /
sounds longer in fee than in feel because fee has an open syllable structure while
feel has a closed syllable structure.
In pronouncing words, some syllables are given more attention and said with
more force. These are called stressed or accented syllables. The sign [‘] is
conventionally used to show such syllables. The sign is placed immediately before
the syllables e.g., 'nation, e'leven, 'family, re'lation. Any English word of more than
one syllable has at least one stress. In English, the stress pattern is fixed and
should be learnt with the word.

3.2 Word Stress

26
 In speech, words of one syllable e.g., ‘come’ are normally stressed when
spoken in isolation. When they appear in a sentence, they may or may not be
stressed. Words of two syllables have one primary stress which may occur at either
the first or second syllable as for example in:

'blackboard a'way
'teacher im'prove
'English be'long
'easy suc'cess
'very re'move

Note that in the examples above, the words in the first column have their
primary stress on the first syllable. In the second column the words have their
primary stress on the second syllable. There are no hard and fast rules as to where
stress occurs in words. The stress disposition of a word is learnt with the word.
There are, however, some English words of two syllables with the primary stress on
both syllables. Here are some examples:

'out'side 'down'stairs
' in'doors 'four'teen

Some English words of two syllables have stress on the first syllable when
they are nouns or adjectives and on the second syllable when they function as
verbs as in the following examples:

'present pre'sent
'record re'cord
'progress pro'gress
'convert con'vert
'suspect sus'pect
'protest pro'test
'increase in'crease
'conduct con'duct
'insult in'sult
'reject re'ject

You need to take note of the fact that not every word of two syllables behaves
in this way. Only a couple of them exhibit this pattern of stress shift. Some
speakers of English over-generalize this rule and extend it to words like address,
mistake which are pronounced with the stress on the second syllable for both
nouns and verbs. Since stress in English cannot be shifted at will it is important to
learn the stress pattern of a new word each time a new word is encountered.
In words of more than two syllables (polysyllabic words) only one primary
stress is given. Some polysyllabic words can have one or more secondary stress in
addition. It is important to note that prefixes and suffixes are hardly ever stressed.
Your dictionary should help you to determine where the stress should occur.
Examine the following:

'calculate al'ready edu'cation

27
 'hospital em'barrass elec'tricity
'photogragh in'evitable eco'nomic
'injury de'termine advan'tageous
'absolute con'gratulate indivi'duality

Note that the secondary stress is marked with a stroke below the syllable on
which it occurs.

3.3 Sentence Stress

When words are in company not all categories of words are stressed. The
types of words often stressed in a sentence are the content words: nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs and the demonstratives and negative markers. Pronouns,
articles, auxiliary verbs, prepositions and conjunctions are not normally stressed
except for emphasis. In the following examples only the categories of words
specified above are given prominence:

She 'got him 'out of it.

I 'want a 'pen 'not a 'pencil.
Do you 'like ‘rice?

Note that in the first example the verb and the adverb are stressed. In the
second example, the verb, the nouns and the negative marker only are stressed
while in the last sentence the main verb and the noun are stressed. The other
structural words in the sentence are not stressed.

3.4 Contrastive Stress

It has already been stated in the above section that only certain categories of
words are given prominence in a sentence. It is however possible to stress any
word (including those that normally should not be stressed) if a meaning is
intended or when the speaker wants to call attention to a particular word. In this
case the word that is stressed becomes the focus of attention. Examine the
following:

'Julia is my daughter (Not Janet).

Julia is 'my daughter (Not yours).
Julia is my ‘daughter (Not a friend).

John lives in a 'white house (Not a blue one)

'John lives in a white house (Not Henry)
John 'lives in a white house (Not just staying there)

Note that only one word is given prominence in the above sentence because
of the intended meaning of the speaker.

3.5 Rhythm

28
 Stress and duration produce rhythm in English. According to Abercrombie
(1967, p.6) the rhythm of language is produced by the manner in which stressed
and unstressed syllables succeed each other. Languages can have stress-timed or
syllable-timed rhythm. Languages with stress-timed rhythm are those whose
utterances can be divided into feet which are isochronous (i.e., of equal length).
The stressed syllables together with any number of unstressed syllables between
the stressed ones form a rhythm group. English and German are examples of
languages with stress-timed rhythm. The utterances of a syllable timed language,
on the other hand, can be segmented into parts but the unit of segmentation is the
syllable which can be stressed or unstressed. It is therefore the number of
syllables that determine the duration of an utterance in a syllable timed language.
Ibibio, Yoruba and French are examples of languages with a syllable timed rhythm.
In the following illustration:

I 'want a 'pen (English – stress timed).

‘A ‘yin ‘e ‘ka ‘m ‘mi (Ibibio – syllable timed).

In the first (English) utterance, there are two feet each with a stressed
syllable. It takes the same time to say I want as it takes to say a pen. In the second
utterance (Ibibio) all the syllables are stressed and it takes the same time to say
each one of them. The syllables are thus of equal length just as the feet in a stress
timed language are of equal duration. That is the main difference between a stress
timed and a syllable timed rhythm.
Rhythm in English is created by the tendency of stressed syllables to occur
at roughly equal intervals of time. A stressed syllable together with any unstressed
syllables that follow it, form a rhythm unit. In the utterance / ‘b ut ɔv ð əm 'left
'3:li/ (both of them left early) each rhythm unit is pronounced with the same
amount of time. Also, the stressed syllables take longer to say than the unstressed
ones. Examine also the following utterance:

He 'works / in a 'shop/ in the 'market/ with his 'wife.

To achieve a proper rhythm, about the same time has to be spent in saying all the
rhythm units. This implies hurrying over the unstressed syllables and spending
more time in saying the stressed ones. Note that the stressed syllables are
signalled to the hearer by means of pitch prominence. An utterance containing
many content words – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs have more accentuation
than one having more structural words – pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions. It
is the alternation between the prominence given to stressed syllables and lack of
prominence of the stressed syllables which leads to hurrying over unaccented
syllables that gives English its rhythm.
Also stressed syllables tend to have the same intervals of time between them
even though the number of unstressed syllables may be different. If there are
several unstressed syllables, the rhythm will be fast. If there are no unstressed
syllables, the rhythm is slow because the stressed syllables are often spoken more
slowly. Compare the rhythm of the following utterances:

I. The 'boy/ 'jumped.

The 'lion/ es'caped.

29
 The 'buffaloes/ 'stampeded.

II. I 'read /the 'book

He 'looked/ at the 'newspaper
I 'took/ 'out the/ 'dictionary

III. The 'man/ 'drove a/ 'car.

The 'headmaster/ was 'riding/ a 'bicycle.
The 'schoolchildren/ were 'listening/ to the 'radio.

3.6 Intonation

In natural languages, utterances are spoken with changes in the voice level
or pitch. This tendency of the voice to rise and fall is called tone when it relates to
a word and intonation when it relates to sentences or utterances of sentence
status. A language that uses pitch on words is called a tone language while a
language with pitch variation on sentences is called an intonational language.
These variations in pitch are usually significant. Variations in tone result in
changes in the meaning of words while variations in intonation results in changes
in the shades of meaning of the sentences concerned. Similarly, in English, the
expression ‘thank you’ if said with a falling tune shows gratitude but if said with a
rising tune shows a casual acknowledgement of something not very important or
someone whose duty it was to do a job for which he was thanked. If used in the
wrong situation it could show impoliteness or ingratitude (O’Connor, 1977:108).

Intonation Tunes

Intonation describes variations of pitch - the way the voice rises and falls
when we speak (cf Udofot and Eshiett: 1996: 44). English Language has its own
melody which results from these characteristic rises and falls at appropriate
places. If this melody is lacking, the utterance sounds monotonous. Most
Philippine dialects are tonal. That means that the voice rises and falls on words
(not sentences or words of sentence status).
When English is spoken with tones of Filipino dialects it sounds funny to the
native speaker. Also, much attitudinal meaning conveyed by intonation in English
is lost. Apart from this, intonation has grammatical meaning too in English. A
certain tune is used to speak a statement and another one used to speak a
question and a request. Thus, if one uses the tune used for a statement to speak a
request he may sound rude. According to O’Connor (1977: 108) the expression
‘Thank you’ spoken with a falling tune suggests genuine gratitude but when
spoken with a rising tune only shows politeness or a routine. If one were to receive
a favour and use the rising tune, one would be considered rude.
English has two basic tunes: Tune One, which is the falling tune and Tune
Two, which is the rising tune. Tune One starts on a high note and falls on the last
primary stressed syllable. It is used for statements (without implication)
commands, questions which begin with question words and exclamations as in the
following:

1. My brother bought a new car. (statement)

30
 2. Sit down. (command)
3. What is your name? (Wh-question)
4. What a pretty girl you are! (Exclamation)

The rising tune is used for Yes/No questions, lists, mixed clauses and additional
remarks, pitch contrast, keywords as in the following examples:

5. Will you go to church next Sunday?

6. She sweeps the floor, dusts the chairs cleans the louvers and washes
clothes on Saturday.
7. When he gets his salary, he goes to his village to see his family
8. “Can I come in please” she asked politely.
9. My car is grey, not blue
10.You gave him your consent, didn’t you?

Note also that the falling tune starts on a high note and falls at the last stressed
syllable and continues to fall while the rising tune starts on a low note and rises at
the last stressed syllable and continues to rise.

4.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following points have been made:
 Every English word of more than one syllable carries a primary stress on one
of the syllables.
 Stress is the emphasis on a syllable which makes the syllable prominent and
louder than the other syllables in the word or utterance.
 Content words are often stressed in a sentence while structural words are
often not stressed except for emphasis.
 Rhythm is produced by the manner in which the stressed and unstressed
syllables succeed each other.
 Rhythm in English is created by the tendency of stressed syllables to occur
at roughly equal intervals of time.
 A stressed syllable together with any unstressed syllables that follow it form
a rhythm unit.
 The stressed syllables take longer to say than the unstressed ones.
 To achieve a proper rhythm, about the same time has to be spent in saying
all the rhythm units. This implies hurrying over the unstressed syllables.
 Intonation refers to the rise and fall of the voice during speech.
 English has two basic intonation tunes: Tune One which is the falling tune
and Tune Two which is the rising tune.
 Tune One - the falling tune starts on a high note and falls on the last
primary stressed syllable and is used for statements (without implication)
commands, questions which begin with question words and exclamations.
 Tune Two - the rising tune is used for Yes / No questions, lists, mixed
clauses, additional remarks and for pitch contrast.
 The falling tune starts on a high note and falls at the last stressed syllable
and continues to fall while the rising tune starts on a low note and rises at
the last stressed syllable and continues to rise.

31
5.0 QUESTION(S)
1. Discuss and illustrate any two non-segmental features and how they
function in English.

32
 MODULE 2

SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

Unit 1 Word Classes

Unit 2 Open class Items

Unit 3 Closed class Items

Unit 4 Sentence Structure

Unit 5 Types of Sentence: Structural and Functional

Unit 6 Clauses in Sentence Structure

Unit 7 Group Structure

33
 UNIT 1
WORD CLASSES / OPEN CLASS ITEMS
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Class refers to a set of items with similar characteristics. Items of the same
class belong to the same unit since they usually have the same structural
possibilities. One can therefore refer to classes of verbs, nouns, adjectives etc. and
also to their behaviour as a group. For example, verbs act as predicators while the
nouns often operate as head of the nominal group in the structure of a clause.
Every class also has sub-classes as for instance in the cases of nouns being
countable and uncountable (count and non-count nouns), proper and abstract
while verbs can be transitive, intransitive or linking. According to Ndimele (1993,
p. 25)

In defining word classes, three major criteria are taken into

account. They are the form of the word, the meaning of the
word and most importantly the function the word performs
in a larger construction.

In this unit the categorization of English words into classes and subclasses is done
to prepare you for studying their behaviour in larger constructions later.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
 List the word classes in English;
 Identify the characteristics of the different classes;
 Describe the functions of the classes of words;
 Identify words when used in different word classes.
 Explain the features of nouns
 Describe the functions of nouns

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Word Classes

Words are grouped into two broad classes; namely content words which
constitute the open class elements, and structural words which make the
closed class elements. These two can be contrasted thus:

a) Open Class Items

34
 Open class items are so named because new items or creations are easily added
to them by inflection or derivation. They are defined in the dictionary as lexical
items with identifiable meaning. They occur in a succession in a given structure.
Open Class consists of:

- Nouns: name a person, place, thing, state, action or quality e.g. Akpan,
Lagos, pen, laughter
- Verbs: act as predicators; express action, state of being e.g., think, be, run,
feel
- Adjective: describe, modify, limit the noun, pronoun or another adjective e.g.,
strong man, few hours, limited quantity
- Adverbs: modify a verb, adjective or another adverb e.g. think quickly,
unusually ugly, very slowly

b) Closed Class Items

Closed class items are also referred to as closed system items.

- They are fixed in number in a given language and do not admit new
members as you find in the open class items
- They are defined in terms of structural characteristics
- They are mutually exclusive in the sense that two of them of the same kind
cannot function together. For example, you cannot say: The book is in under
the table as you can do with closed system items as in: He is a tall dark
man.

Closed Class consists of

- Pronouns: substitute or take the place of nouns: e.g., he, she, it, they, ours,
himself
- Prepositions, show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some
other word
e.g., Jump over the fence
Place it on the table
Stand beside the table.
- Conjunctions: Join two words or two groups of words e.g., Esther and
James, small but mighty
- Interjections: show emotion or strong feeling e.g., alas, hurrah, oh!

In addition to the eight-word classes above the following are often added to the
closed system items:
- Articles: used with nouns to show whether the thing or person is a particular
one or just anyone e.g., the book, a pen, an orange.
- Demonstratives: Used to show the person or thing referred to e.g., this, that,
those.

Each word class exhibits a set of features or characteristics by which it can be

easily recognized. These different notions include number (singular / plural), voice
(active / passive), degree (positive, comparative and superlative), gender (masculine
/ feminine), person (first, second and third), case (nominative, possessive and

35
objective), order of occurrence, connection (subordinating and coordinating), tense
(past and non-past).
Open classes, like closed classes, are structures that are used to realize
sentence elements. Together, they form what is generally referred to as parts of
speech. They are also referred to in English as form classes or word classes. Some
writers use the term open class items. The terms refer to the same thing.
Traditionally, there are eight-word classes known as parts of speech: nouns,
pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, interjections, prepositions and conjunctions.
But a word cannot be said to belong to a particular part of speech unless it is used
in a context. This is because one word may perform different functions. For
instance, in the following passage, the word round is used in five different senses:

As I round the building, I think about the fact

that our round world spins round on its axis, at
the same time making a circle round the sun
that result in the round of the seasons.

The word round in the above sentence functions first as a verb, next as an
adjective, then as adverb in the next two occurrences and finally as a noun.

3.2 Features and Function of Word Classes

Nouns

One of the most important functions of language is to give names to persons,

things, places, groups, qualities, ideas, and concepts that we come across daily.
Nouns perform this function in different dimensions. We have John, Mongol, goat,
stone, Lagos, America, goodness, progress, civilization, democracy, Olympics, etc.
The different types of nouns can be discussed in pairs:

Proper versus Common Nouns

A proper noun names particular person (Amy, John), places (La Paz,
California), days of the week (Monday, Tuesday), months of the year (January,
February), institution (National Open University, World Bank), geographical
features (River Niger, Sierra Madre), and languages (English, French, Cebuano). All
proper nouns begin with capital letters when they are written.
Common Nouns on the other hand name persons or things that share class
features or essential general characteristics. These include dog, stone, table, boy,
teacher, farmer, etc.
Common nouns can form a unit or a class that needs to be referred to as a
complete whole. They refer to a group of people, things etc. This class is called
Collective Nouns. Examples are: a crowd of people, a fleet of ships, a battalion of
soldiers, a bevy of ladies, a troupe of dancers, a crew of sailors, a congregation of
worshippers, a team of players, a host of angels, a clutch of eggs.

Abstract Versus Concrete Nouns

36
 Abstract Nouns name qualities, states, actions, conditions, emotions which
can neither be touched nor seen. Concrete Nouns name objects and substances
that exist in the physical world of things.

Abstract Concrete
faith lock
joy table
goodness stone
confidence bottle
truth key
favour book
sweetness fan

Count versus Non-Count Nouns

Count or Countable nouns refer to items that are separable into identifiable
or numerable units while Non-Count or Uncountable nouns are mass nouns which
cannot be expressed in terms of singular and plural. Quirk and Greenbaum (1980,
p.60) state that there is a considerable degree of overlap between count and non-
count words as seen in difficulty/difficulties, experience/experiences, talk/talks,
etc. This overlap is explainable in terms of particularization in the count usage and
generalization in the non-count usage.
As a guide, count nouns take the articles ‘a’ and ‘an’ in their singular forms
and are generally classified into singular and plural forms. Examples of count and
non-count nouns:

Count Non-Count

(Singular Plural) --
box boxes oil
boy boys water
ox oxen air
child children sand
passer-by passers-by livestock
datum data light
city cities luggage
man men imagery
table tables equipment
house houses accommodation

Features of Nouns

Nouns are generally identified in terms of their morphological structures,

number, gender and case or position in the sentence. We shall now look at these
briefly.

a) Number

37
 Nouns express number (singular and plural). Singular nouns are usually
converted or changed to plural forms by the following rules:
i) Addition of ‘s’ to the singular:
pen - pens girl - girls
boy - boys house - houses
chair - chairs book - books
thing – things clock - clocks
train - trains table - tables
ii) Addition of ‘es’ to forms that end with ‘s’, ‘z’, ‘ch’, ‘sh’ and x
box - boxes mattress - mattresses
church - churches branch - branches
fox - foxes buzz - buzzes
iii) Replacement of ‘-y’ with ‘-ies’
city - cities baby - babies
party - parties lady - ladies
iv) Substitution of ‘-f’ and ‘-fe’ with ‘-ves’
loaf - loaves wife - wives
knife - knives leaf - leaves
v) Change of medial vowels
man - men mouse - mice
foot - feet louse – lice
vi) Addition of ‘-en’ and ‘-ren’
child - children
ox – oxen
vii) Addition of ‘-es’ to nouns that end in ‘o’
hero - heroes
potato - potatoes
viii) Change of ‘-um’ to ‘-a’
datum - data memorandum - memoranda
stratum - strata agendum - agenda
curriculum - curricula
ix) Retention of original singular form
sheep - sheep
deer - deer
swine - swine
x) Change of internal ‘i’ to ‘e’
thesis - theses analysis - analyses
basis - bases crisis - crises
xi) Change of one component of the compound words
on-looker - on-lookers step-daughter - step-daughters
passer-by - passers-by maid-servant - maid-servants
by-law - by-laws going-on - goings-on
xii) Changes in all components of the compound words
man-servant - men-servants
woman-journalist - women-journalists
lord-justice - lords-justices

b) Gender

38
 Nouns occur in different groupings according to sex. Four genders are often
identified in English namely Masculine, Feminine, Common and Neuter.
Masculine denotes male, while feminine denotes female.

Man - woman uncle - aunt

stallion - mare wizard - witch
fox - vixen widower - widow
hero - heroine bull - cow
nephew - niece cock - hen
bachelor - spinster peacock - peahen
monk - nun son - daughter

Common gender refers to nouns that denote both male and female. They
include reader, teacher, pilot, officer, cook, writer, thinker, dancer, scholar, singer,
buyer, baby.
Neuter gender refers to lifeless things or things that are not capable of
reproduction. Examples: paper, chalk, stone, table, book, house, sun, moon,
death, earth, love, sleep. Some of these items can be poetically expressed in either
the feminine or masculine depending on how strongly the user feels about them or
the prevalent convention in the area.

c) Case

This refers to the grammatical slots that nouns can fill in expressions.
They include:
Nominative Case (subject)
e.g., Tom is here
Accusative Case (object or complement)
e.g., This is Tom
Give me the book.
Possessive Case (ownership or possession) e.g., Rita’s dress, Armand’s car.

Problems related to Nouns

There are some inherent problems related to the use of nouns in English. We
shall highlight some of them and proffer solutions.

i) Exceptions to the rules of pluralization (non-pluralization).

They are some nouns that only function in mass interpretation. They do not
take determiners that indicate number except another unit of expression is
applied.

Examples:
Information - some information
Advice - a piece of advice
equipment - some equipment
stationery - items of stationery
staff - a member of staff

39
 furniture - pieces of furniture
soap - tablets of soap

ii) Summation Pluralization

Occurs in nouns which denote entities comprising parts which sometimes are
equal or disproportionate. Those that come in pairs are usually expressed thus: a
pair of trousers, a pair of scissors, a pair of pliers, a pair of spectacles.
Other nouns which go with ‘s’ include annals, surroundings, remains,
credentials, earnings, means, dregs, thanks, senses, measles, siblings, metrics,
economics, statistics, antics, damages (in law), etc.

iii) Problem Plurals:

There are some idiomatic patterns that defy the grammatical rules relating to
nouns. Their plural forms are not expressed with the addition of ‘-s’ but by the use
of the definite article or determiner ‘the’. These should be noted:

The poor are not recognized.

The young shall grow.
The dumb need some help.
The aged are kept in welfare homes
The elite are to blame.

iv) Choice of articles also constitutes a problem in English.

Articles are classified into definite (the) and indefinite (a and an). They provide
different information about the nouns they modify. The general principles are as
follows:
a) Use ‘a; with countable nouns that begin with a consonant: a book, a goat, a
table, a knife, a man, a woman, etc.
b) Use ‘an’ with count-nouns that begin with a vowel: an egg, an hour, an axe,
an angel, an afterthought.
c) Use the definite article with items that indicate previous knowledge of the
person, or entity e.g.
(i) The man on the street is good.
(ii) The book on the shelf is mine.
d) Use the definite article also to refer to a specific person, thing, event or group
e.g. The University of Iloilo, the man whose daughter won the scholarship,
The National Association of Women Academics.

v) Changes in usage also affect patterning of nouns.

Some usages are treated as archaic and are being replaced by some dynamic
alternatives that are adjudged right by convention. Examples are:

40
 Data (now used in the singular form)
agenda (now used in the singular form)
stadiums / stadia (used interchangeably)
medium / media (used interchangeably)
forum/ fora (used interchangeably)

4.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following points have been made:

 The words of a language are often categorized into classes known as form
classes or parts of speech.
 Traditionally, words in English are often categorized into eight classes:
nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and
interjections.
 Some classifications include articles and demonstratives among the word
classes.
 Words are grouped into two broad classes namely content words which
constitute the open class elements and structural words which make the
closed class elements.
 Open class items are nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives, they admit new
members into the group; they are defined as lexical items in a dictionary and
can occur in succession.
 Closed class items are fixed in number; they do not admit new members;
they are mutually exclusive.
 The noun in English is a member of the Open class; it occurs as singular or
plural; masculine, feminine or neuter gender and in the subjective, objective
or possessive case.
 Nouns also perform certain functions in the sentence: they function as
subjects, objects, complements, object of prepositions and as appositives.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. State the characteristics of nouns.

2. In your own sentences, illustrate the functions of nouns.

41
 UNIT 2
OPEN CLASS ITEMS (Part 2)
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The verb is a very important word class in any language. It is the word which
says what is happening in the sentence. It can express the action performed by the
subject (e.g., eat, say), the state that the subject is in (is, are be,) and possession
(e.g., has, have). It can stand alone and still form a sentence that makes sense as
in ‘Sing’. It can also combine with the subject alone as in They Sing and Birds fly.
Verbs are best understood in terms of formations and forms, tense and aspect,
voice and mood.
Whereas verbs are predicators or words which express action, adverbs and
adjectives are modifiers. Adverbs modify verbs and other adverbs while adjectives
modify nouns and other adjectives.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Describe features of verbs, adverbs and adjectives;

 Explain functions of verbs, adverbs and adjectives;
 Identify verbs, adverbs and adjectives when used in a sentence.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Features and Functions of Verbs

i) Formation of Verbs
By the morphological rule of derivation through affixation, verbs as members of
the open class system can be created from other words with the following
morphemes –ize, -ate, -ish, -fy, en-, em-, dis-.

E.g.
-ize: moral - moralize, real - realize
-ate: vaccine- vaccinate, terminal- terminate
- ish: brand- brandish, embellishment- embellish
- fy: electricity- electrify, magnitude- magnify
- en: danger- endanger, courage- encourage
em -: power- empower, body- embody

42
 dis-: grace-disgrace, guise- disguise

ii) Main Verbs and the Auxiliaries

Whenever a verb functions alone, it can be said to be the main Verb. On the
other hand, the auxiliary verb is a helping verb which indicates tense or mood of
the main verb. The main verb is always a finite verb and it belongs to the open
class.
Examples of the main verb are:

- Bernie sings well.

- Tara dances gracefully.

The auxiliary verbs comprise the primary auxiliary verbs (do, have, and be)
and the modal auxiliary verbs (can/could, shall/should, may/might, must, ought
to, used to, need, dare).
The auxiliary verbs belong to the closed class since they are fixed in number
and also are not subject to any form of derivation or inflection. They are however
used informally in contracted forms:

It is - it’s could not - couldn’t

I am - I’m ought not - oughtn’t
I will - I’ll need not - needn’t
will not - won’t is not - isn’t
shall not - shan’t are not - aren’t
would not - wouldn’t am not - ain’t

The auxiliary verb also has the following functions:

1. It is used in Yes-No questions e.g.
- Will you come tomorrow?
- Can you see him?
2. It is used in negative constructions.
- She does not misbehave.
- They were not speaking at the meeting.
3. It is used to avoid unnecessary repetition
- You spoke to him, did you?
- You haven’t seen him, have you?
4. It is used for emphasis or determination
- She does behave well.
- You must read today.

iii) Tense
One of the most important functions of the verb is the expression of tense or time
reference. Tense is the correspondence between the form of the verb and our concept of
time. Tense indicates the time of occurrence or completion of an action. Since time is

43
expressed in terms of ‘before the moment of speaking’ (past), the moment of speaking
(present) and after the moment of speaking (future); and considering that there are two
forms of words to express this time as, for instance, eat and ate, talk and talked, some
linguists identify only two tenses in English: past and non-past. According to Eka (1994:
97) two types of tenses are often identified from the viewpoint of English morphology (i.e.,
changes that occur in the shapes of English words). From the viewpoint of time reference
three types are usually recognized -present, past and future. Examine the following:

PRESENT PAST FUTURE

I write I wrote I shall write
Simple He writes He wrote He shall write
They write They wrote They shall write

I am writing I was writing I shall be writing

Continuous He is writing He was writing He will be writing
They are writing They were writing They will be writing
I am writing I have written I shall be writing
He has been writing He had been writing He will have been writing
They have been writing They had been writing They will have been
writing

I have written I had written I shall have written

Perfective He has written He had written He will have written
They have written They had written They will have written

iv) Finite and Non-finite Forms

The finite forms of the verb exist in the simple present tense form and the past
form. These are the verb forms that can occur as verb forms in clauses and
sentences; can show tense distinction; can take subjects and indicate the subject -
verb agreement e.g.

- They enjoy themselves daily.

- They enjoyed themselves yesterday.
- He enjoys himself daily.

The non-finite verb does not have the subject concord notion because it neither
indicates number nor person. Three types of the non-finite verb can be isolated.
These are: the infinitive which primarily begins with ‘to’ e.g., to sing, to laugh, to
work; the participle and the gerund.
Examples of non-finite forms in sentences are:

A - He likes to sing.
B - They like singing
C - This is a deserted house

Recall that finite forms of verbs are the forms that show tense distinction. This
means that they occur in one tense or the other. They are also the forms that

44
occur as verb elements in sentences, take subjects and agree with the subjects in
person and number. The non-finite forms on the other hand do not show tense
distinction neither do they take subjects nor show agreement.
Examine the verb forms in the following pair of sentences

- She hopes to travel next week (finite verb, has a subject which is she
and occurs in the present tense)
- Hoping to travel next week (Verb in the present participle, non-finite
form which cannot take a subject.

Note that any attempt to introduce a subject in the second sentence will
produce a sentence like:

She hoping to travel next week*

This is an unacceptable sentence.

Non-finite forms have other uses. In the examples A-C above they function as
other parts of speech. In Example A, to sing is a noun phrase gerund also
functioning as a direct object of the verb “likes” while the past participle form
deserted functions as an adjective modifying the noun “house” in Example C.

v) Active and Passive Voice

When a verb is in the active voice, the subject is the actor of the verb. The
subject performs the action of the verb directly. E.g.

- Okon kicked the ball.

- The congregation praised God.
- The girl killed the rat.

For some reasons, the position of the subject and the object or complement in
the sentence may be reversed with the emphasis removed from the one who
performs the action to the action itself with the object taking the place of the
subject and appearing to be the doer of the action (i.e., passive voice). E.g.

- The ball was kicked by Okon (Okon still the performer)

- God was praised by (someone/people who performed the action)

The passive voice is used when the speaker or writer wants to direct more
attention to the action performed than on who performed the action as in

- In March, the land is cultivated

- In April, yams are planted

The passive is therefore a useful aspect of literary or expository style. When the
active voice is used in everyday speech or writing, the description or narration is
more lively and real.

45
vi) Transitive and Intransitive Verb

Transitive verbs require objects or complements to make full meaning in a

sentence. Consider the following verbs, buy, kill, sing, give. They cannot convey
full meaning unless there are completer elements added to them:

- They buy clothes monthly.

- Hunters kill animals for sale.
- Choristers sing songs of praise.
- We give alms to the poor.

Intransitive verbs denote actions that stop with the doer or subject. There is no
need for a receiver of the action. e.g.

- Men laugh.
- Children sleep often.
- The bell rang.

Some verbs may be transitive and intransitive. E.g.

- Jesus saves.
- Jesus saves souls.
- The bell rang loudly
- The prefect rang the bell.

A fuller discussion of transitive and intransitive verbs is made in Unit 4, Section 5.

vii) Singular and Plural Forms

Verbs change forms according to the singular or plural forms of the subject
(subject-verb concord or agreement). Only finite verbs respond to singular and
plural subjects e.g.
The boy goes to school (singular subject).
The boys go to school (plural subject).

It should be noted that whereas the ‘noun’ boy takes ‘s’ to agree with the
singular form the plural form, the verb ‘goes’ sheds ‘es’ to agree with the plural
subject.

viii) Participles and Gerunds

Participles are verb forms which combine with other verbs to indicate tense and
adjectival functions. Participles are used with the auxiliaries have, has or had to
form the perfect tense as in the following:

- I have given her the book.

46
 - He has gone to Batangas.

Gerunds are verbal nouns. They are the present participle forms of verbs. They
always end in ‘-ing’ e.g.

- I like reading.
- Dancing is my hobby.
- This is a standing committee.

ix) Regular and Irregular Forms

The classification of verbs into regular and irregular forms is based on past
tense and the constituent participle. The regular verbs are also called weak verbs
while the irregular ones are called strong verbs.
The regular verb forms the past tense and past participle by the addition of the
morphemes ‘ed’ or ‘d’ to the present tense form. E.g.

call called
walk walked
bake baked.

The irregular verb does not take ‘d’ or ‘ed’ in forming the past tense or past
participle. One way this is done is the change in the vowel. E.g.

sing sang sung

drive drove driven
break broke broken
wind wound wound
forget forgot forgotten
lend lent lent
begin began begun

Some irregular verbs take completely new words in the formation of the past
e.g.
go went gone
do did done
bid bade bidden
lie lay lain
be was been

Other irregular verbs do not change their forms when functioning in the past;
that is, the present and the past forms are the same e.g.

put put put

let let let
burst burst burst
cut cut cut

x) Stative and Dynamic Forms

47
 Dynamic verbs show action, event or process (Eka, 1996, p. 123). These verbs
take the progressive aspect which indicates that an action is continuing through
time e.g.

- He is eating, drinking and talking.

- They are watching the film.

Stative verbs do not pattern with the –ing progressive marker. They only
indicate the state of affairs of the entity without showing any continuity. E.g.

- He is resembling his father. (wrong)

- He resembles his father (right)
- They are hating him (wrong)
- They hate him (right)
- I am feeling cold (wrong)
- I feel cold (right)

Other stative verbs are: possess, understand, belong, smell, seem, hear, wish,
taste, agree, flash, faint, collapse, die, contain, have.

3.2 Features and Functions of Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, just as adjectives modify
nouns and nominals. Adverbs answer the questions: Where? When? How? and
Why? They indicate place, time, manner and degree.
The fact that adverbs modify adjectives and other adverbs sometimes sound
difficult to learners of English, who are made to believe that adverbs only specify
the mode of action of verbs. The difficulty is strengthened by the obvious reality
that adverbs always cluster around verbs. In these examples, the issues are better
appreciated:

- Bassey dances well.

- Inyang dances extremely well.
- Archibong is really tall.

In the first example, the adverb of manner “well” modifies the verb ‘dances’.
In the second illustration, ‘extremely’, an adverb of degree modifies “well” while in
the third example, the adjective ‘tall” is modified by the adverb “really”. There are
many other potential formations like these in English.

i) Formation of Adverbs
These affixes are used in forming adverbs
- ly: exactly, quietly, extremely
- wise: clockwise, moneywise
-ward: forward, backward
a -: away, aside, afloat, afield

48
Many adverbs do not have any affixes and should be distinguished from adjectives.
Though they may look alike on the surface, syntactically, they perform different
functions e.g., fast, near

- He runs fast
- His wedding day is drawing near.

ii) Degrees of Adverbs

Adverbs are compared in degrees: positive degree, comparative degree and

superlative degree. Examine the following:

Positive Comparative Superlative

soon sooner soonest
fast faster fastest
far farther farthest
aloud more aloud most aloud

iii) The Position of Adverbs

Adverbs can occur in a sentence initially, medially and finally. According to

Ndimele (1993: 117), one quality of adverbials of manner is that they can be
shifted from one position to another without affecting the grammaticality of the
sentence. This can be illustrated thus:

- Certainly, I know him.

- I certainly know him.
- I know him certainly.

Eka, (1996:149) also observes that even though all the above positions (of the
adverb) are known to occur in English utterances it would appear that the one that
seems particularly true to the nature of adverbs is the medial position.

iv) Classes of Adverbs

Adverbs are classified according to functions.

(a) Interrogative Adverbs are often used at the beginning of a sentence to

ask a question e.g.
- When did you return?
- How do I put the items together?
- Where did you keep my book?
(b) Adverbs of Degree answer the question: ‘to what extent’? They mostly
modify adjectives and other adverbs, rarely verbs.

49
 - The man is too slow.
- He walks very fast.
- She reads till late.
(c) Adverbs of Place indicate the location of actions. Some of these adverbs
resemble nouns by nature but their functions are essentially adverbial. They
are sometimes called nouns used as adverbs. Examples:
- I am coming home.
- He is going there.

(d) Adverbs of Time denote the interval of occurrence of actions.

E.g.
- We trekked all day.
- Let us meet tomorrow.

3.3 Features and Functions of Adjectives

Things, persons, entities need to be distinguished, differentiated, limited,

specified or described so as to aid our understanding. We ask the questions: What
kind? Which one? How many? For example, we can say a tall man, this orange or
four goats. The words that precede the nouns and also modify or amplify their
meaning are called adjectives.
Generally, adjectives state the attributes or characteristics of nominals
(nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases). Adjectives as modifiers make language
lively as they help us to give precise pictures of what we are referring to.

i) Formation of Adjectives
Adjectives take the following affixes

- ish: boyish, childish, mannish

- ous: virtuous, riotous, dangerous
- ary: salutary, rotatary, consolatary
-an: Elizabethan, Spartan
- ful: hopeful, thankful, faithful
- y: healthy, filthy
-some: loathsome, troublesome,
- less: faithless, motionless, stainless
- ory: sensory, provisory
- able: punishable, workable, movable
- ive: interactive, elective, inventive
- esque: picturesque, grotesque
- ate: affectionate, temperate, desperate
- al: national, natural, international
- ic: ironic, economic, electronic
- like: childlike, manlike
- ly: likely, stately, scholarly
- ible: sensible, accessible

50
 - able: movable, readable

ii) Attributive and Predicative Adjectives

Syntactically, adjectives can occur before the nominal they describe or modify.
E.g.

- The beautiful girl is here.

- The clean clothes were ironed.

Some adjectives occur in the predicate part of the sentence following a linking
verb to describe a nominal in the subject part of the sentence. These are
predicative adjectives e.g.

- The woman is beautiful

- The boy is courageous.

According to Ndimele (1993: 102-103), some adjectives can function both

attributively and predicatively e.g.

- The hungry man is here.

- This man is hungry.
- The genuine reason is offered.
- The reason is genuine.

iii) Regular and Irregular Adjectives (Comparisons)

Things and persons that may attract the same adjective or modifier are not
necessarily always the same. They may differ in their degree of quality. Adjectives
exhibit the positive level where no comparison is made as well as the comparative
and superlative degrees of description. The comparative degree is used when two
entities are involved while the superlative degree is applied when more than two
entities are compared.

E.g.
- Tito is tall.
- Toto is taller than Tito.
- Tata is the tallest of them.

As a guide, many monosyllabic adjectives (adjectives with one sound units)

take the ‘er’ and ‘est’ morphemes to form the comparative and superlative forms.
These are called Regular or Variable Adjectives.

Examples:

Positive Comparative Superlative

large larger largest
tall taller tallest
short shorter shortest
quick quicker quickest.

51
 Some disyllabic and almost all adjectives of three or more syllables are
compared by the use of ‘more’ or ‘most’. Degrees of inferiority may be indicated by
the use of ‘less’ and ‘least’. These are called invariables Examine the following:

handsome more handsome most handsome

useful more useful most useful
dangerous more dangerous most dangerous

A group of adjectives described as irregular adjectives also occur. They include:

good better best

little less least
bad worse worst

Some adjectives cannot be logically compared since the qualities they denote
operate in the highest possible level or in absoluteness; their meaning indicates
totality e.g., perfect, empty, mortal, blind, wrong, childless, motherless, supreme,
omnipotent, fatal, hopeless. One cannot say for instance that Sarah is more
childless than Esther or that the pot is emptier than the basin.

iv) Domains of Adjectives

These include:

1. Colour : red, blue, yellowish, forest green, sky-blue

2. Shape : oval, triangular, spherical, awkward, round
3. Age : new, old, young, aged, archaic, weary
4. Height : tall, short, high, low, sky-high
5. Weight : light, heavy, in units (kilograms)
6. Interrogation: which book? whose hand?
7. Number : first, second, one, three
8. Demonstration : this, that, these, those
9. Composition : sandy, wooden, earthen, watery

v) Nouns Used as Adjectives

Some nouns in their original or possessive forms can express syntactic
adjectival functions e.g., Christmas party, John’s book, College students, summer
clothes, etc.

vi) Order of Adjectives

Adjectives can occur in a stretch indicating (a) quality, (b) temperature, (c) size,
(d) shape (e), colour (f) participials, (g) nationality, (h) nominal adjective and the
headword. This order a-h is only necessary if all the items are present otherwise
only those which occur are indicated in constructions as in:

- A very beautiful rich tall black Nigerian woman

52
 - A rich intelligent bare-footed Asian traveller

Eka (1994: 137) suggests that the order of occurrence of adjectives can easily
be determined through a consideration of aspects which strike the observer
immediately, followed by those which are comparatively less easy to notice. This
position is acceptable from the semantic perspective where meaning is uppermost
in the mind of the user.

4.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following points have been made:

 The verb is the predicator element in the sentence; it expresses the action
performed or the state of the subject.
 Verbs can be derived through affixation; they can occur as main or auxiliary,
finite or non-finite, transitive or intransitive forms.
 Verbs also exhibit features like tense, aspect and voice.
 Some verb forms (participles and gerunds) perform the functions of other
parts of speech.
 Verbs are classified as regular if they form the past tense with the addition of
-d or –ed morpheme or irregular if they change a sound or the whole form of
the word; as dynamic if they occur in the progressive form or stative if they
do not.
 Adverbs modify verbs, other adverbs or adjectives; they can be derived from
other words by the addition of the morphemes –ly, -ward, -wise.
 Adverbs occur initially, finally or medially in clauses/ sentences.
 Adverbs are compared in degree: positive, comparative and superlative.
 Adverbs are classified according to functions; thus, we can have adverbs of
time, adverb of place, degree etc.
 Adjectives precede nouns and also modify or amplify their meaning.
 Like adverbs, adjectives can be derived from other words, and they can also
be compared.
 Adjectives can occur in a stretch indicating (a) quality, (b) temperature, (c)
size, (d) shape (e), colour (f) participials, (g) nationality, (h) nominal adjective
before the headword.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
Give the word class and the functions of the underlined words in the
following passage.

A few years past, an errant lunatic was knocked down by an

unknown motorist. He was spotted half- dead after a
torrential rain that had lasted a whole day. The discovery
was instantly reported to the police. When the police came, it

53
 was not to help the injured man who was still groaning from
his pains, but to arrest suspects and put them in a waiting
van.

UNIT 3
CLOSED CLASS ITEMS
1.0 INTRODUCTION
So far, we have discussed the elements in the open class namely: nouns,
verbs, adjectives and adverbs. We shall now consider the items in the closed class
namely: prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, and interjections. Generally, these
elements have a fixed form in English, they are neither inflectionally nor
derivationally changeable.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
 Define the features of prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and
interjections;
 Identify prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and interjections in sentences.
 Use them in sentences.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Features and Functions of Preposition

The root of this word ‘position’ strongly indicates the meaning and primary
function of the preposition. It is used to indicate the positional relationship
between words in a construction.
Prepositions are ‘hooks’ for making modifiers of nouns and pronouns. A
preposition is always accompanied by its object or complement (a noun or a
pronoun) which it ‘hooks’ to some other parts of a sentence.
Examine these sentences:

- They live in a bungalow near the village.

- They live in a bungalow in the village.
- They live in a bungalow beyond the village.

54
 The underlined words connect the nouns ‘bungalow’ and ‘village’ to other
parts of the sentence and also express different relationships between them. The
sentences are essentially the same in all other respects except in the difference in
meaning attributable to the different prepositions in use. Therefore, as against the
common consideration that prepositions merely link words in a sentence, they
actually in addition influence the meaning of the sentence.

i) Simple and Complex Prepositions

Though most prepositions are simple, consisting of single words, there are other
prepositions which are complex, consisting of many words. Simple prepositions
include the following:

above before for since

about behind into toward
across below inside
through
after beneath into under
against between near up
among by of with
around down off within

ii) Prepositional Idioms

The complex prepositions are also called phrasal verbs, prepositional idioms or
prepositional patterns because they are collocative and most times a change in the
preposition completely alters the meaning of the construction.

e.g.
- Round off - to end
- Round on - to attack verbally
- Round about - encircle
- Round up - put together

Complex prepositions occur in:

a) Preposition + Nominal + Preposition e.g., in the company of, by means of,

in comparison with, in addition to, in place of, in love with.
b) Adverbial (Adverb) + Preposition e.g. along with, instead of, apart from.
c) Verb, Adjective, Conjunction + Preposition e.g., but for, owing to, far
from, due to.

Quirk and Greenbaum (1979:145) notes generally that:

55
 i) the monosyllabic simple prepositions are normally unstressed in
constructions while the polysyllabic prepositions, both simple and
complex, are normally stressed. In complex prepositions, the stress
falls on the word preceding the final preposition. Such words are
adverbs or nouns.
ii) the preposition + nominal + preposition constitutes by far the most
numerous categories, the noun in some complex prepositions being
preceded by a definite or indefinite article.

iii) Postponed Prepositions

These are patterns which tend to defy the notion that prepositions come before
their objects. E.g.

- What a problem he got into?

- He is a difficult person to talk to or compliment.

In some wh-constructions, exclamations, passive forms and infinitive

patterns, prepositions may come after the object/complement.
Some scholars, especially traditional grammarians tend to oppose
constructions that end with prepositions like those ones, but this argument is
unnecessary since prepositions, like adverbs, can occur at different positions in
a construction. Of course, the principles of formal and informal usages may
come in handy here.

iv) Functions of Prepositions

Prepositions indicate:

i) relationship in space
- The cat is near the ball.
- This is home away from home.

ii) location
- The house is beside the hill.
- The knife is in the kitchen.
iii) direction
- He walked along the street.
- The water is flowing downward.
iv) duration of a motion
- The programme is on.
- I will sleep at dawn.
v) sequence
- A comes before B.
- Call gentlemen after ladies.

56
 vi) position (support or opposition)
- I will stand by you.
- I am against him.
vii) purpose or intention
- This money is for food.
- Everyone needs someone to lean on.

v) Special Usages of Prepositions

1. We travel by sea, land or air.

2. a. I will see you at 8 o’clock (point of time)
b. I will see you at night.
c. I will see you on June 12 (specific day)
d. I will see you in December (not specific)
e. The meeting will commence at 2‘Oclock (Exactly)
f. The meeting will commence by 2’Oclock (at or before)
3. I have known him for two years (length of time)
4. Divide this orange between Simon and Ella (two)
Divide this orange among Simon, Ella and Tonyo (three)
5. Stay beside me (near)
Besides, I need him (also, in addition to your plan)
6. We met on the train, bus, boat or plane.
7. I will see you with regard to the journey.
8. I agree with you on the plan.
I agree to for traveling tomorrow.
9. Let’s see about 3.00 p.m. (approximately)

3.2 Features and Functions of Pronouns

Pronouns belong to the closed class or system of words because like the
prepositions, they are fixed in number. The major function of the pronoun is to
substitute nominals (nouns and noun phrases) in order to avoid monotonous
repetition such as this:

- Anya told Ryan’s guest that Ryan was away and that Ryan would
return soon.

This is better written as:

- Anya told Ryan’s guest that he was away and that he would return
soon.

57
 Note that the pronoun can only substitute or replace a noun that has
already been mentioned in a construction. This noun is called an antecedent of
the pronoun.

Examine the following:

The girls are happy; they are dancing.

Many students do not read; they play around.

i) Types of Pronouns

a) Personal Pronouns have persons, number, gender and case which

constitute the grammatical categories of pronouns. In terms of persons, there
are the first, second and third persons which occur in singular and plural
forms, function as subjects and objects distinctively and indicate possession
in different forms. This table illustrates the grammatical categories of
pronouns:
Subject Object
Possessive form
1st person (singular) I me mine
1st person (plural) we us ours
2ndperson (sing/plu.) you you yours
3rd person singular he, she, it him, her, it his, hers, its
3rd person plural they them theirs

Of these, the most troublesome is the second person which is the same in
the singular and plural forms as well as the subject and object cases. It does
not also show gender. This should be particularly noted.

b) Relative Pronouns feature in (relative or adjectival clauses). They include

who, what, which, whom, whose, that, whoever, whichever. Relative
pronouns show contrasts. Usually, ‘who’ and ‘whom’ refer to persons while
‘which’, ‘what’ and that refer to things.

c) Interrogative Pronouns are used in asking questions in the subjective,

objective or genitive cases. E.g.

who are you?

which is this?
whose is that?

58
 d) Reflexive Pronouns refer to self or selves. They exist in compound forms
and occur in first, second and third persons with appropriate number as
follows:

Person Singular Plural

1st person myself ourselves
2nd person yourself yourselves
3rd person himself themselves.
herself
itself

Reflexive pronouns sometimes perform emphatic function. E.g.

- He himself knows the truth

- I myself cannot imagine that.

e) Indefinite Pronouns refer to persons / things in general. They do not

really specify a person or a thing. They include: each, both, all, everyone,
everything, anybody, somebody, someone, somewhere, anything, any,
nothing, nobody, nowhere, none, little, few, one, etc.

f) Reciprocal Pronouns express relationship between two or more persons

or entities. They are

each other - (for two) one another - (for more than two)

e.g. - Ina and Steff love each other

- Ina, Steff and Selphy love one another.

g) Demonstrative Pronouns point at entities. They should not be mistaken

for adjectives:

- This/that is mine. (pronoun, singular)

- This/that book is mine. (adjective qualifying book)
- These/those are mine. (pronoun, plural)
- These/those books are mine. (adjective qualifying books)

3.3 Features and Functions of Interjections

This constitutes the smallest group of words in any language. Quirk and
Greenbaum (1979:18) provide some examples in English. These are oh! ah! ugh!
phew!
Interjections usually take exclamatory marks and they merely serve to
express emotions such as fear, surprise, admiration, joy and anger. Common
examples are: How wonderful! Look at! Watch out! Alas!
They can also be found in some thoughtful expressions and expressions of
wish or regrets.

E.g. Good morning!

59
 Fare well!
Hello! Hi!
Goodbye!
Had I known!
Long live our country!

3.4 Features and Functions of Conjunctions

Conjunctions specifically connect or join grammatical patterns (words,

groups, clauses and sentences). Three types of conjunctions are operational within
the closed class. These are subordinators, coordinators and the correlatives.

a) Subordinators join elements of unequal weight. This means that one

pattern which is joined to the other is subordinate to it. They include:
after, if, since, that, though, until, till, yet, while, etc.
b) Coordinators join elements of equal rank. There are three in English,
namely: and, but, or.

- Grace sings and dances well

- Ara sings well but dances awkwardly.
- Buy the dress or keep back the money.

c) Correlatives occur in pairs. They usually have intervening words or

phrases between them. They include: either … or, neither nor, only … but
also, both … and, etc.

i) Functions of Conjunctions
The multiplicity of the functions of conjunctions can easily lead to confusion
between them and prepositions or adverbs. The principle is to find out the function
of each word before attributing it to any part of speech.
Davidson (1959: 573) indicates the following groups of subordinating
conjunctions according to their functions:
- Cause : because, in as much as, since;
- Purpose : that, so that, in order that, lest;
- Comparison : than, as, as if, as well as;
- Condition : if, unless, whether, in case;
- Result : that, so that;
- Time : after, before, since, when, while;
- Concession : although, though;
- Place : where;
- Manner : how, as though;
- Degree : as far as, as much as;

4.0 SUMMARY
The main points raised in this unit are:

60
  Prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and interjections being members of
the closed class are fixed in number; they cannot change by inflection or
derivation.
 Prepositions indicate various relationships between constructions; they
are simple, complex, prepositional idioms and postponed prepositions.
 Pronouns substitute nouns and nominals to avoid repetition.
 The types of pronouns include: personal, interrogative, demonstrative,
reflexive, reciprocal and indefinite pronouns.
 Interjections constitute the smallest class of words in any language.
 The main function of interjections is to express emotion.
 Conjunctions join grammatical units.
 Three main types of conjunctions often identified are: subordinators,
coordinators and relatives.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. What are the main functions of pronouns?

2. What is the main function of interjections?

3. Discuss the different types and functions of prepositions.

61
 UNIT 4
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The sentence is often used to refer to a group of words of different word
classes or parts of speech which are put together in such a way that they make “a
complete sense”. A period is conventionally used to end a sentence. The following
groups of words are not sentences:

1. the students of the National Open University

2. visit the study centre
3. nearest to their place of residence

The above groups of words are not sentences because they do not express a
complete thought. The first group tells us what the writer is talking about but the
writer did not complete the sentence by saying what the students did. The second
group of words tells us that some persons visit the study centre but the person is
not mentioned. The third group of words says very little. It does not say who was or
what happened nearest to their place of residence. Nos. 1-3 are therefore not
sentences because some important parts are missing.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
By the time you complete this unit you should be able to:

 Identify the important parts of a sentence

 Describe the elements of a sentence
 Present acceptable and possible sentence patterns in English
 Distinguish between the structural and functional types of sentences.
 Construct complete sentences in English

62
3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Parts of a Sentence

In order to make a complete sense, a sentence must have a subject, that is,
the person or thing about whom the writer/speaker is talking; and a predicate
which is what the writer/speaker has to say about the subject.
These are two important terms used to describe the essential parts of a
sentence. The subject is the word or group of words that tells us what or whom the
speaker or writer is talking about. The predicate makes a statement about the
subject. It usually tells what the subject is doing, or what is happening to the
subject.

In the following sentences the subjects are italicized and the predicates are
not.

4. My sister lives at Abuja.

5. The bag contains a lot of money.
6. The staff of the English Department are very dedicated workers.
7. The bell rang repeatedly.
8. Birds fly.

Note that the predicate can be one or more words. The verb together with
other words that follow it form the predicate. In No.8 Sentence the predicate is
made up of only the verb ‘fly’. When the subject is more than one word, there is
often a particular word about which something is said. That word is the simple
subject. It is usually a noun or a pronoun.
Also, in the predicate (when it is more than one word) there is often a word
that serves as a key to the predicate. That word is usually a verb which states the
action performed or the state or condition of the subject.
If the verb consists of more than one word, it is called a verb phrase. The
verb by itself is called the simple predicate. In the following examples, the subject
is underlined while the simple predicate is italicised.

9. The Nigerian president attended a conference in Accra.

10. The woman had many disappointments.
11. My father has bought a new house.
12. The house collapsed.

3.2 Compound Subject and Predicate

A sentence may have two or more simple subjects and two or more simple
predicates. In the following sentences, two simple subjects, “Gil” and “Ely” are
joined by a co-ordinating conjunction. In the next sentence, two simple predicates
‘went’ and ‘helped’ are also joined. They are therefore compound predicates.

13. Gil and Ely are brothers.

63
 14. Ana went home and helped her mother.

Some sentences have both compound subjects and predicates as in the

following:

15. My brother and sister washed the clothes and ironed them.
16. The students and their teachers went to the auditorium and listened
to the inaugural lecture.

3.3 Sentence Fragments

Any group of words that lacks any of the two essential parts of a sentence is
a sentence fragment or a fragmentary sentence. A fragment is a piece of something.
It is therefore incomplete. When either the subject or a predicate or both are
missing, the groups of words do not express a complete thought and is therefore
not a sentence. In the following groups of words some are sentences and others are
fragments.

17. Hoping to see you again. (Fragment)

18. The registrar interviewed the candidate. (Sentence)
19. Received your message this morning. (Fragment)
20. With kind personal regards. (Fragment)

Note: The use of fragmentary or incomplete sentences is an unsatisfactory

way of expressing one’s ideas. It must be avoided.

3.4 Sentence Elements

Every sentence must have a basic structure in order to express a complete

thought. This basic structure may consist of a subject (noun or pronoun) and a
predicate (verb or verb phrase) (Semmelmeyer and Bolander 1984: 85) as in the
following sentence:

Birds fly.

Many sentences require a third part or an additional work or group of words

in order to express a complete thought. This additional part is needed to complete
the idea expressed by the verb. See the following group of words:

The teacher flogged

It contains a subject and a verb but another word or group of words is

needed to give more information as regards whom or what the teacher flogged
thus:

The teacher flogged the pupil.

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 This is a complete sentence. The noun phrase “the pupil” completes the
predicate. For this reason, it is called a complement.
A complement completes the meaning expressed by a verb. So every
sentence has the basic structure containing a subject and a verb (S.V.) or a
subject, a verb and a complement (S.V.C.). The type of complement required by a
particular verb depends on the type of verb, that is, the class of verb used.

3.5 Complementation

Complementation is tied up with classes of verbs. This is because verbs are

classified depending on the type of complements, they take as transitive,
intransitive or linking verbs.

Complements of Transitive Verbs

Verbs which express action that passes from the performer to the person or
thing affected take direct object complements as in the following examples:

The mechanic repaired the car.

She sang a song.
He refused my invitation.
I saw Grace.

In each of the above sentences, the italicised words are affected by the action
of the verb. They are the direct objects. This is to say that the verbs in the above
sentences are transitive verbs and they take direct objects as a complement.
There are verbs which take two objects: the direct object and the indirect
object. The indirect object tells to whom or for whom the action is performed. The
indirect object is often used after certain verbs: get, give, lend, offer, read, tell, buy,
send, show, make, pay etc. In the sentences below, the indirect objects are
italicised.

The teacher read his pupils a story.

She made me a fine dress.
My father gave his driver a Christmas bonus.

Complements of Intransitive Verbs

Verbs that do not express actions that pass from the doer to the receiver are
intransitive verbs. This means that intransitive verbs do not take direct objects
because even though they express action the effect of the action is not felt by
someone or something. In the following example the intransitive verbs take no
objects.

Alice is singing.

In the above example nobody is suffering the effect of the singing. If the
sentence were

65
 Alice is singing a song.

then the action of singing would affect the song so to say. Similarly, in the
sentence;

She dances gracefully;

there is no direct object and the action does not pass from the doer to the receiver.
The verb ‘is singing’ and ‘dances’ are therefore intransitive.
Intransitive verbs take adverbial complements where necessary.

Alice is singing melodiously. (Adverb of manner)

She arrived before nightfall (Adverbial of time)

Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively. It is necessary

to watch out for when there is a direct object in which case the verb will be
transitive and intransitive when the complement is an adverbial. Study the
following:

The time-keeper rang the bell.

The bell rang repeatedly.
We met the visitors.
We met last week.

Complements of Linking Verbs

Linking Verbs do not express action. They express conditions and states.
They have very little meaning of their own but express various ideas in relation to
the subject. Their main purpose is to link the subject with some word in the
predicate that gives the sentence a meaning. It is for this reason that they are
referred to as linking verbs.
A linking verb is always followed by a subject complement. A subject
complement is simply a noun, pronoun or adjective which refers to the same
person or thing as the subject. A linking verb therefore links the subject to the
noun or adjective often referred to as predicate noun or adjective or pronoun. Some
common linking verbs are: be, feel, look, smell, appear, keep, stay, remain turn,
sound, prove.
In the following sentences, the predicate noun, adjective or pronoun is not
direct objects but subject complements.

My sister is intelligent. (Predicate adjective).

She became a medical doctor (Predicate noun).
This is she. (Predicate pronoun).

A linking verb cannot make a complete predicate. It always requires a

subject complement. That means that My Sister is * or she became* or This is*

*
Note: The starred options are incorrect usages

66
cannot stand on their own as ‘she cried’ can. They require something to complete
the predicate; and as earlier stated linking verbs take subject complements.

3.6 Sentence Patterns

Depending on the type of verb, the complement of a verb can be an object,

adverbial, a subject complement or a group of words functioning as any of the
above. There are therefore five basic sentence elements in the traditional
classification. Note that these five basic elements are classified as four elements in
some models. In the Systemic Grammar Model for instance, four basic
grammatical units SPCA are identified. We have identified the three types of
complements depending on the classes of verb here, which in addition to the
subject and the verb (predicator) add up to our five elements.

Subject - S

Verb - V

Object: Direct Object - 0d

Indirect Object - 01
Adverbial - A

Complement:

Subject Complement - Cs

Object Complement - C0

Of the five sentence elements: S V O A C, the subject and verb are constant;
they are always present while the object, adverbials or complements are variable.
Their presence depends on the pattern of sentence and the type of verb.
Also, the elements

1. Ocan be direct Od, or Indirect Oi

2. C can be Cs or Co that is subject or object complement
3. A can be adverbial of time, place, manner, condition, reason etc.

Using the five elements SVOAC the following sentence structures or patterns
are possible:

V - Sing
SV - She is singing.
Birds fly.
The aeroplane has landed.

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 SVA - She is singing beautifully.
Funke dances gracefully.
Femi came immediately.
SVC - My brother is a doctor.
He is very successful.
He has become a commissioner for Health.
SVO - I ate the meat.
The students played basketball.
My father paid my fees.
SVOO - They gave their friends presents.
She lent me her book.
My father bought my mother a new pair of shoes.
SVOC - His father named him his heir.
I made her my successor.
The company nominated my brother the managing
director.
SVAC - She was formerly a beauty queen.
I will remain forever grateful
SVOCA - They elected him chairman each year.
SVOA - My father put the money in the bank.
She hid her handbag somewhere.
The students spent their public holiday at the beach.

Thus, there can be the following sentence patterns.

One Element - V
Two Elements - SV
Three Elements - SVO
- SVC
- SVA
Four Elements - SVOO
- SVAC
- SVOC
- SVOA
Five Elements - SVOCA

NOTE: It should be noted that a sentence may be a word as shown above. In

this case either the subject or predicate is implied. With transitive
verbs the following types of sentence patterns are possible:

SVO - I drank the beer

SVOO - She gave me the beer
SVOA - He poured the beer into my glass;

On the other hand, the following patterns are possible with intransitive
verbs:

SV - You are joking

SVC - You are humorous

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 SVA - Your friend is in the car

With linking verbs only, the following patterns are possible:

SVC - She is beautiful.

SVAC - She was formerly a beauty queen.

It is important to note that any of the sentence elements can be a word, a

phrase or a clause as the following sentences show:

SVO - Ekaette ate yams (words)

SVA - The pen was seen in the bag (SVA= phrases).
SVA - The biro pen was seen where it was kept (A= Clause).

4.0 SUMMARY
The following are the important points made in this unit:

 A sentence is a group of words of different word classes which are put

together in such a way that it expresses complete thought.
 A complete sentence must have a subject and a predicate which can be
simple or complex.
 A group of words which lacks any of the essential parts is called a
fragment.
 A complement completes the meaning expressed by the verb. The nature
of the verb determines the type of complement. Transitive verbs take
direct and/or indirect objects; intransitive verbs take adverbial
complements when necessary while linking verbs take subject
complements.
 There are five basic sentence elements in the traditional classification;
these are: Subject(S), Verb (V), Object (O), Adverbial (A) and Complement
(C) often represented as SVOAC.
 Of the five elements, the verb is the compulsory element while the other
elements are optional.
 Sentences can be formed using the five elements as follows: V, SV, SVO,
SVA, SVOO, SVAC, and SVOAC

5.0 QUESTIONS:
Which of the following groups of words are complete sentences and which
are fragments?

1. The sound of the car.

2. The sound of the car alerted us

69
 3. A desirable habit.

4. Singing in the hall.

5. The dress you gave me.

6. Under the table.

UNIT 5
SENTENCE TYPES
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Sentences can be classified according to the internal structure of the
sentence, that is, the way they are made up. This classification depends largely on
the number and kinds of clauses which the sentence contains (Semmel Meyer and
Bolander, 1984: 199). Every sentence has at least one independent clause which
carries the idea of the sentence. Some have more than one.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:

 Identify the different types of English sentences; and

 Construct the different types of sentences.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Simple and Compound Sentences

A sentence that contains one independent clause is called a simple

sentence. For example, the following sentence has only one subject and one
predicate and is therefore a simple sentence.

Edison joined the army last year.

70
 A simple sentence can also have a compound subject or predicate as in the
following examples:

Eve and Anne became fashion models (Compound subject)

They sang and danced at the concert. (Compound predicate)
Rose and Anna sang and danced at the concert.
(Compound subject compound predicate)

A compound subject does not suggest that there are two subjects but rather
that one subject is made up of two nouns or pronouns. Similarly, a compound
predicate does not mean two predicates but one predicate which is made up of two
or more verbs or verb phrases.
A compound sentence, on the other hand, is made up of two or more
independent clauses joined by a co-ordinating conjunction to form one sentence.
In the following sentence each of the clauses joined by ‘and’ can stand by itself:

Peter joined the army and his friend went to a university.

When not joined by a conjunction, two independent clauses can be linked

together by a semi-colon. A comma can also be used with a conjunction to link a
compound sentence but not a comma alone.
Examine the following:

The author wrote many stories for children, and he also wrote a
number of poems.
I went to the bank; I later rushed back for my lectures (semicolon).

3.2 Complex and Compound Complex Sentences

Another type of sentence is the complex sentence. This is made up of one

independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses. A dependent or
subordinate clause depends for its meaning on the main clause. It cannot stand by
itself. A subordinate clause is usually introduced by a subordinate conjunction or
a relative pronoun. These connecting words make it clear that the clause depends
on another part of the sentence for its meaning. Examine the following complex
sentences:
I shall be at home when you come.
She wore the blouse and the perfume which her son gave her for
Christmas.
If it rains, I shall stay at home.

Note that the italicised sections of the above sentences are dependent on the
main/independent clauses which are not italicised. They cannot stand on their
own. In the first sentence the dependent clause is introduced by the subordinate
conjunction ‘when’, while in the second sentence it is introduced by the relative
pronoun ‘which’. In the third sentence, the dependent clause is introduced by the
subordinate conjunction ‘if’.
Meanwhile, the following sentence which is also a complete sentence
contains more than one subordinate clause.

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 When he spoke to me, I refused to answer him because he was very impolite.

The italicised sections are subordinate clauses introduced by the

subordinate conjunctions ‘when’ and ‘because’. Occasionally some sentences are
constructed which have two or more independent clauses and two or more
subordinate clauses. They are the Compound Complex Sentences. The next
examples illustrate this sentence structure.

As soon as it starts raining, farmers begin to plant and they

always hope that the rains will come regularly.
Before he gained admission into a university, his mother was
always worried and she never stopped planning what he would
do when he finished his university education.

3.3 Multiple Sentences

A fifth structural sub type of sentence - the multiple sentences is often

identified. A multiple sentence has at least three main clauses and no subordinate
clause. The following are examples multiple sentences:

I came, I saw, I conquered.

Mary cooked breakfast; Augusta washed the dishes and Tom swept the
compound.
My mother was excited at the news; she sang and danced and cried
simultaneously.

The first two sentences are made up of three sentences each, while the third
one has four verbs (excited, sang, danced, cried) and therefore has four sentences
with the last three sharing the same subject (she).
Whereas commas are used to separate the first example because they are
very short and are made up of only SV structure, a semicolon is used to separate
the first part in the other two examples while the coordinating conjunction and is
used to join the others. According to Eka (1994: 45) ‘these variations are largely
stylistic but they can also be seen as attempts to avoid monotony’. Multiple
sentences are often long and involved. Students are expected to recognize them
when they are used but are advised to avoid them or use them with care.

3.4 Declarative and Interrogative Sentences

A sentence that makes a statement is called a declarative sentence. A

declarative sentence ends with a full stop. The normal order is for the subject to
appear at the beginning. However, for variety or emphasis, the subject may appear
at other places in the sentence. Here are some examples of declarative sentences.

a) The athletes ran down the street.

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 b) Down the street, the athletes ran.
c) My sister is a teacher.

A sentence that asks a question is called an interrogative sentence. The

interrogative sentence is generally written in an inverted order; sometimes it starts
with a verb and sometimes it begins with an adverb:

d) Did you bring your camera?

e) Where did you buy your watch?

To determine the subject and predicate, the interrogative sentence should be

placed in a normal order. The interrogative sentence ends with a question mark.
For example, Sentences (d) and (e) can be can be rewritten in the normal order as
follows:

You did bring the camera or You brought your camera.

You did buy your watch where? or you bought your watch where?

3.5 Imperative and Exclamatory Sentences

A sentence that gives a command or makes a request is called an

imperative sentence. It usually ends with a full stop and sometimes with an
exclamation mark. The subject of an imperative sentence is seldom expressed. If
the subject is not expressed it is the word, ‘you’. Sometimes an imperative
sentence begins with a noun that indicates the name of the person to whom the
command or request is given:

Go out of the class (Command)

Jesse, (please) give me your pen (Request)

Eka (1994: 47-48) identifies four types of imperative:

(a) Mild Imperative

These are commands which have been rendered mild by the addition of
‘please’ to show politeness as in the following examples:

Please sit down.

Give me your pen, please.

The above examples are different from polite requests which involve
changing the structure of the imperatives to questions or statements e.g.

Will you sit down, please?

I wonder whether you would mind giving me your pen.

(b) Forceful Imperatives

73
 Forceful imperatives are sharp and tend to suggest that the speaker is
irritated. In the written form, forceful imperatives end with the exclamation mark
instead of the period used to end mild imperatives.
The following exemplify this subtype:

Go out before I shut the door!

Remove your shoes from the rug!

Some forceful imperatives can be coated with pleasantness with the addition
of do and let as in:

Do bring the car before noon

Let us meet today at 4.00pm prompt

(c) Negative Imperatives

Negative imperatives emphasize what should not be done. They usually

begin with the word ‘Don’t’. See the following examples:

Don’t enter the room without knocking

Don’t cross the field

(d) Single Word Imperatives

Single word imperatives are usually verbs which always have the implied
subject ‘You’. Examine the following

(You) Shut the door

(You) Stand up

The sentence that expresses strong feeling is called an exclamatory

sentence. It is often written in an inverted order. To determine the subject and
predicate, the sentence should be transposed, that is, written in the normal order.
Exclamatory sentences usually end with exclamation marks.

What a mess this is! (Inverted Order)

This is what a mess! (Normal Order) *Not in common use.
Alas, she is dead!

Sometimes, the word ‘there’ is used as an expletive to introduce a sentence.

When ‘there’ is used in this way, it is NOT an adverb. It is used merely to fill up the
place occupied by the subject. The subject appears later in the sentence. Examine
the following:

74
 There are many books in my library.
Many books are (there) in my library.

4.0 SUMMARY
The following main points have been made in this unit:

 Sentences can be classified according to their structure and uses.

 According to structure five main types of sentences can be identified;
these are simple, compound, complex, compound complex and
multiple sentences.
 According to function, four main types of sentences can also be
identified: the declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory.
 The word ‘there’ often used to start a sentence is not an adverb but
merely used to fill up the space occupied by the subject.
 a simple sentence has one main clause and no subordinate clause
 a compound sentence has two main clauses and no subordinate
clause.
 a complex sentence has one main clause and at least one subordinate
clause, while a compound complex sentence has two main clauses and
at least one subordinate clause.
 A multiple sentence has at least three main clauses and no
subordinate clause.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. Separate the following sentences into dependent and independent clauses;

a. As soon as it starts raining, farmers begin to plant and they always hope
that the rains will come regularly.

b. Before he gained admission into a university, his mother was always

worried and she never stopped planning what he would do when he
finished his university education.

75
 2. Discuss the various uses of sentences in communication.

UNIT 6
CLAUSES IN SENTENCE STRUCTURE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Clauses are groups of words which can modify other structures. They
contain finite verbs and they also have subjects and predicates. They can function
like nouns, adjectives, adverbs and sentence elements. A clause is named
according to its function. In the following examples clauses and their functions are
identified.

The bag which you gave me is very lovely.

(Adjectival Clause), modifying the noun ‘bag’
They hurried home because it started raining.
(Adverbial clause of reason)

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Identify clauses and their structure;

 Identify the different types of clauses;
 Analyse sentences into constituent clauses.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Clause Types

A clause, as already explained, is a group of words which has a subject and

a predicate. When the group can stand by itself and express a complete thought it

76
is called an independent or main clause. On the other hand, when the group of
words has a subject and a predicate but cannot stand on its own it is called a
dependent or subordinate or bound clause.
An independent clause is a simple sentence when it stands alone. For
instance, the following sentence is made up of two independent clauses joined by
‘and’:

The referee blew the whistle and the football match began.

Each clause can be written as a sentence and it will express a complete

thought as in the examples below:

a. The referee blew the whistle.

b. The football match began.

Subordinate Clauses

Three types of subordinate clauses are often identified in English. These are
Adjectival Clauses, Adverbial Clauses and Noun Clauses. Each of these clauses
can be used as a part of speech and it performs the functions of an adjective, an
adverb or a noun as the case may be. Note that phrases can also perform the
functions of nouns, adverbs and adjectives. In the following examples, the
italicised groups of words function as parts of speech and are named after the
word class or part of speech whose function they perform.

The man whose daughter won the essay competition is my uncle.

(Adjectival clause modifying the noun man)
I believe that the girl is honest.
(Noun clause – subject complement)
Before the doctor arrived, the man had died.
(Adverbial clause (of time) modifying the verb ‘had died’)

Adjectival Clauses

An adjectival clause is a subordinate clause that functions as an adjective.

That means that it is used to describe a noun or pronoun. An adjectival clause is
usually introduced by a relative pronoun. A relative pronoun is a pronoun that
joins an adjectival clause to some word in the independent or main clause. The
word to which it joins the clause is the ‘antecedent’ of the relative clause. The
pronouns often used in this way are who, whom, which and that. Who and whom
are often used to refer to people while which refers to things. The pronoun “that” is
however sometimes used to refer to both people and things although it should refer
to things. The following sentences contain relative clauses introduced by relative
pronouns.

a) Chika has brought the fruits that you ordered.

(Adjectival clause introduced by that).

77
 b) I like the food which my mother gave me.
(Adjectival clause introduced by which)

c) Children who talk early are usually intelligent.

(Adjectival clause introduced by who)

d) This is the man whom you spoke to me about.

(Adjectival clause introduced by whom)

In the first example, the subordinate clause is italicised. It is an adjectival

clause which modifies the noun fruits. This clause is introduced by the relative
pronoun that. The antecedent of the relative pronoun “that” is fruits.
In formal constructions, whom is used after prepositions.

a. To whom did you give the book?

b. The man to whom I gave the book is in the car.

Sometimes an adjectival clause is introduced by the word whose the

possessive form of the pronoun who. In such cases, whose modifies the noun
which follows it. When used in this way in an adjectival clause, whose is referred
to as a relative adjective. The word relative suggests that whose refers to its
antecedent in the main clause. In the following example the word whose is a
relative adjective modifying the noun woman in the main clause.

This is the woman whose baby was stolen.

The relative adjective also connects the subordinate clause to woman.

Adjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by the relative adverbs, where,

and why as in the following examples:

I found the house where my sister lives.

(Adjectival clause modifying ‘house’)
The test was fixed at a time when we were all free.
(Adjectival Clause modifying the noun, ‘time’).
He gave the reason why he resigned his appointment.
(Adjectival clause modifying the noun, ‘reason’).

Note that adverbs modify verbs and other adverbs. The difference between a
relative adverb and a simple adverb is that the relative adverb is found in an
adjective clause and it refers to its antecedent in the main clause.

Adverbial Clauses

An adverbial clause is a group of words with a subject and a predicate

which functions as an adverb. Adverbs tell how, when, where, to what extent, for
what reason etc. an action is performed. An adverbial clause answers the same
questions and also expresses several other ideas which the simple adverb does not

78
express. An adverbial clause is usually introduced by a subordinate conjunction.
The connecting word is called a subordinate conjunction because the idea
expressed by the clause is subordinate to the main idea in the sentence. The
subordinate clause also shows the relation between the subordinate clause and
the word in the main clause which the subordinate clause modifies.
Adverbial clauses express a number of different ideas. The following are ten
of the important ideas, often, expressed by adverbial clauses: time, manner, place,
degree, purpose, result, condition, comparison, concession, and reason. The
following subordinate conjunctions are commonly used in adverbial clauses of
various types:

(a) Time: after, before, when, whenever, until, since, while, as soon
as: Before the doctor arrived, the patient had died.
(b) Place: where, wherever;
I parked the car where it could be seen by the security men.
(c) Manner: as, as if, as though:
The girl cried as if her heart would break.
(d) Degree: that, as … as, not so … as, than;
Irma is not as beautiful as her sister (is beautiful).

(e) Comparison: as, than, so … as, as … as

The bus arrived earlier than it usually does.
(f) Purpose: that, so that, in order that.
Etim worked very hard so that he might meet the deadline.

(g) Condition: If, provided, provided that, unless;

I shall go home early if I finish my assignment.

(h) Result: that, so that

The food was so delicious that I asked for another plate.

(i) Concession: although, though, even if

Although she was ill, she travelled to Abuja last week.

(j) Reason: as, because, since;

The students bought the school journal because they were compelled
to do so.

The adverbial clause is often preceded by the main clause. Sometimes, an

adverbial clause is placed at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis. When that
happens, it is usually separated from the main clause with a comma.

Noun Clauses
Unlike adjectival and adverbial clauses, noun clauses are not modifiers.
They perform the same function as nouns. Like nouns, the noun clause performs
any of the following functions:

i) Subject of the Sentence

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 A noun clause like a noun often functions as the subject of a sentence as in
the following examples.

What the Chairman proposed was not feasible (Noun Clause – subject)

Where we could rest for the night was our problem (Noun Clause – subject)

That you are my sister is not debatable. (Noun Clause – subject)

Notice that the noun clauses in the above sentences are introduced by what,
where, how and that. These same words also introduce adjectival or adverbial
clauses. The way to determine that the clause one is dealing with is a noun clause
is to ensure that it performs the functions of a noun.

ii)Direct Object of the Sentence

A noun clause frequently serves as the direct object of the verb. A noun
clause used as the object completes the verb and, in most cases, answers the
question what? asked after the verb, as in the following examples:

I believe (what) that you will be promoted.

(Noun Clause – Direct object).
We knew (what) what to do in an emergency.
(Noun phrase – Direct object).

iii) Predicate Noun/Subject Complement

After a linking verb, a noun clause may be used as a predicate noun or

subject complement NOT as an object as in the following:

The rumour was that he had died.

(Noun Clause – means the same as rumour)
. This is what you vowed to do.
(Noun Clause – means the same as this)

iv) Object of a preposition

A noun clause is sometimes used as the object of a preposition as in the

following examples:

Give the message to whoever is available.

(Noun clause; object of the preposition ‘to’)
I did not agree with what the doctor said.
(Object of the preposition ‘with’)

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v) An Appositive

A noun clause is also often used in apposition with another noun, that is, it
is placed near another noun to explain or identify it in some way. We often speak
of a person and then add something to explain who he is or identify him in some
way:

Mike, who is our driver, is very careful.

We called on Dr. Bella Black, the one who is a feminist critic.
Manila, which is the Capital of the Philippines, is located in the North.

A noun clause is often used in apposition to a word or group of words. It

usually explains an idea, fact, belief, report, rumour etc. Noun Clauses in
apposition are not set off by commas as in the following examples.

The rumour that she had an accident spread rapidly.

(Noun Clause in apposition with ‘rumour’).
The fact that she passed her examination made her parents proud of
her.

(Noun Clause, in apposition with (‘fact’).

Additionally, an appositive noun clause with that differs from a relative

clause because that is not an element in the clause structure (subject, object etc)
as it must be in a relative clause (Quirk and Greenbaum 1980: 383).

Noun Clauses and the introductory ‘it’

Sometimes a sentence begins with an introductory word (for instance ‘it’). It

should be noted that in such sentences, the introductory word is not the real
subject of the sentence. The real subject usually appears later. In such sentences,
the real subject is usually a noun clause as in the following examples:

It is evident that you are not the owner

(Noun clause – subject)

The sentence can be rewritten as follows:

That you are not the owner is evident.

In such a sentence as the above, the word ‘it’ simply fills the place normally
occupied by the subject. It is an expletive. Sentences that begin with an expletive
or ‘filling in’ word are usually easy to recognise because they follow the same
pattern.

It is important that you leave at once

(Expletive) (Noun clause – subject)
(It) That you go home at once is important.
(transposed order)

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Words that introduce Noun Clauses

A noun clause is often introduced by a subordinate conjunction. The

following conjunctions are the ones normally used to introduce noun clauses: that,
whether and sometimes whether … or. The main function of the subordinate
conjunction is to join the noun clause to the main clause as in the following
examples:

I wonder whether he will recognise me.

Orion knew that he would be punished.

Other words often used to introduce noun clauses include the relative
pronouns; who, what, whatever, whoever as well as the adverbs how, when, why
and where.

4.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, the following points have been made:

 A clause is a group of words with a subject and a predicate which can

modify other structures and also function as a part of speech.
 When a clause can stand by itself, it is called a main or independent
clause.
 When a clause depends on another part of the sentence, it is called a
dependent or subordinate clause.
 Three types of subordinate clauses are often identified: the adjectival, the
adverbial and the noun clause.
 The adjectival clause functions as an adjective: it modifies a noun.
 The adverbial clause functions as an adverb: it modifies a verb or another
adverb.
 An adverbial clause gives information as to the place, time manner,
reason etc. that the action expressed by the verb occurred.
 The noun clause performs the functions of a noun such as serving as the
subject, object, subject complement, object of a preposition and an
appositive.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
Identify the italicized clauses as well as their functions in the sentences
below:

(i) The candidates who are successful in the examination will be admitted.

(ii) Nobody could understand why the results were late.

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 (iii) Whoever wants to succeed must work hard.

UNIT 7
ELEMENTS OF GROUP STRUCTURE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
A group refers to a set of more than one word. It can function as any part of
speech or sentence element. The group is also called a phrase. For example, the
verb ‘dance’ is a single word verb but the groups “is dancing, has danced, would
have danced” are verb phrases. Similarly, there are noun phrases, prepositional
phrases, adjectival phrases when more than one word is involved. But except for a
verb phrase, any group of words that has no subject and no finite (main) verb is
called a phrase.
Phrases are called by the classes of words to which they belong. They are
also called by the word class to which the most important word in the phrase
belongs as shown in the following examples.

(a) The good woman – noun phrase

(b) beautiful and healthy – adjectival phrase
(c) On the table – prepositional phrase
(d) Last week – adverbial phrase
(e) has been called – verb phrase.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to

 Identify phrases and their structure;

 Identify the different types of phrases;

83
  Analyse sentences into constituent phrases; and
 Describe the structure of the nominal, verbal, adverbial and adjectival
groups

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Kinds of Phrases

Prepositional Phrase

A prepositional phrase consists of the preposition and its object. Sometimes

a noun which serves as the object of the preposition has modifiers but the
important words are the preposition and the object. Study the following examples:

1. She strolled round the building.

(Preposition) (Object)
2. The girl in the black lace is a law student.
(Preposition) (Object)

In sentence No.1 for instance the preposition is round, the object is the
building while the prepositional phrase is round the building.
A prepositional phrase usually functions as an adjective or an adverb. Since
adjectives and adverbs modify, the prepositional phrase is also a modifier.

Adjectival Phrase

An adjectival phrase is a prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or

pronoun. It often functions as an adjective. The following examples contain
adjectival phrases.

3. The man at the gate opened the door for me.

4. They took the road near the market.

In No. 3, the prepositional phrase at the gate modifies the noun gate while
the prepositional phrase near the market modifies the noun road in No.4. An
adjectival phrase, also called adjective phrase, may follow the noun it describes or
it may be used as a predicate adjective after a linking verb as in the following
examples:

5. She wore a wrapper with blue beads.

6. The injured girl was in a coma.
7. He drove in a cream-colored car.
8. The woman was in a terrible rage.

Notice that in the above examples the prepositional phrases in Nos.5 and 7
follow linking verbs and therefore function as predicate adjectives while the ones in
Nos. 4 and 6 follow the nouns which they describe.

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Adverbial Phrases:

An adverbial phrase is also a prepositional phrase which performs the

functions of an adverb: modifying a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Like the
adverb, the adverbial phrase answers the questions when? where, how? and to
what extent? Adverbial phrases express additional ideas about the verb such as
time, place, manner and degree as in the following examples:

9. I shall come in the evening (time).

10. The children played in the field (place).

11. Write your name in capital letters (manner)

12. He withdrew from school because of financial problems

(reason).

In No. 9, the adverbial phrase modifies the verb shall come. It gives
information about the time that I will come. In No. 10, the adverbial phrase
modifies the verb played saying where the children played while the adverbial
phrases in Nos11 and 12 modify the verbs write and withdraw respectively. In No.
11, the adverbial phrase gives information about how or in what manner the name
is to be written and in No. 12, the adverbial phrase gives the reason why he
withdrew from school.
Adverbial phrases which modify adjectives and adverbs are not always so
easy to identify. As a guide, the adverbial phrase that modifies an adjective often
follows that adjective as in the following examples.

The woman looked frightened of the man.

She was therefore ready at any time.

Note also that a preposition is not always a single word as in the following.

I packed the car in front of our house.

The professor resigned on account of his political appointment.

Noun Phrase

The noun Phrase contains a noun a modifier and sometimes a qualifier.

These together constitute the nominal group. At other times, a noun phrase
contains nouns joined by a conjunction. The following are examples of noun
phrases:

Esther and Naomi;

The students of the Department of English;
My elder sister and her friends;

From the three examples above it can be seen that some noun phrases have
modifiers while some do not have modifiers. The noun phrase can serve as a

85
substitute for a noun and perform the functions often performed by nouns (See
Module 2: Unit 6).

3.2 Group Structure

The Nominal Group

The nominal group has a minimum of one and a maximum of three

elements: modifier, head and qualifier usually represented by the letters m h q
alternatively referred to as premodifier, head, and postmodifier. The head is
usually the noun in the group. The head may have a modifier alone as in; that
woman, the tree, a table, some water. It may have a head and a qualifier: women of
our church, trees in the garden. It may have all three as in the following (m h q):

The women of our church;

m h q

The trees in the garden;

m h q

A table in the centre of the room

m h q

Of the three elements, the head is the compulsory one. The modifier and the
qualifier are optional elements. This information can be summarized as follows: (m)
h (q). Each nominal group has a structure. In a nominal group there may be many
modifiers and qualifiers but usually, there is one head which may be single or
compound.

The m Element

We can have a zero-modifier element in a construction that begins with the

head e.g

Women of our church.

Where there are modifier elements, we can have a maximum of eleven

modifier elements though in real life it is never necessary to use more than three or
four
e.g.

The tall beautiful young woman

m m m m h
beautiful young woman
m m h
young woman
m h

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 Note that the reduction of the number of pre-head modifiers does not create
structural or meaning problems because each modifier modifies the head.
How is this example different from the others? Note that in the last example
all the elements together modify the head whereas in the previous examples each
of the elements individually modifies the head. A structure in which all the
elements together modify the head is called a univariate structure as opposed to a
multivariate structure where each element modifies the h element. The difference
is that in a univariate structure each entry of the m element describes the one in
front of it.

Patterning of m Element DOEN

There can be many elements within the m element. These include:

- Deictic elements which locate the speaker in space and time e.g this,
that, those;
- Ordinals e.g. One, two, second, fourth etc.
- Epithet which indicates attributes e.g., young, old, beautiful,
- Nominals e.g. cane, wooden etc.

Usually, the deitic elements come first followed by ordinals, epithets and
nominals as in the following (DOEN):

m m m m h
My first fine leather bag
Deictic ordinal epithet nominal noun

Occasionally we can have up to two determiners within the deitic system and
as many as five adjectives and two nominals in addition to the usual possibilities
within the m element as in the following example:

All the first three beautiful long woven African cane chairs.
m m m m m m m m m h

The h Element

The h element is usually a noun. It must be present before we can claim to

have a nominal group. The h element also determines the nature of the qualifier in
terms of concord and meaning as in the following:

The beds are

John talked
*The book talked (unacceptable except ‘book’ is used in a special way)

We can have single and compound elements e.g.

Townsville,
The city of Townsville

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 In the above example, Townsville and city form a compound because they
are coreferential i.e., they function as appositives.
Other compound elements include:

Bread and butter

Rice and stew

It is important to note that compound h elements take singular verbs like

single h elements.

The q Element

The q element usually comes after the h element. The term qualifier is said
to have emanated from scale and category grammar (Eka, 1994, p 94). The q
element can be a single word (often an adjective, a pronoun or an adverb for
example:

Someone special (adjective)

h q
Helen herself (reflexive pronoun)
h q
The house across the road (adverb)
(m) h q

The q element can sometimes be a phrase or a group as in the following:

The girl in the blue dress (is my niece).

m h q
A house to live in (is what I need).
m h q

Sometimes qualifiers co-occur to function as double or multiple qualifiers as

in:

Thomas/ my eldest brother/ the livewire of the family (came home).

h q
All/ the/houses/ that my father built/ which we never lived in (were rented as
government offices).
m m h q q

Constructions in which many qualifiers co-occur are said to be recursive:

showing repetitions of patterns (sometimes in a layered manner) as in the above
examples. At other times they are said to co-occur in a linear manner as in the
example below:

Simon, driver, businessman, politician etc. (is very clever)

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Structure of the Verbal Group
The verbal group is the predicator element in a clause whether it operates in
a dependent or independent clause. The primary structure of the verbal group
consists of one or more than one possible element: the auxiliary often represented
as x and the head often represented as h.
The size of the verbal group depends on the nature of the utterance. There
may be only one auxiliary verb, in which case it will serve as the head which is
normally a compulsory element, as for instance, in the following:

He may

Which may be interpreted to mean ‘he may come/ do it / go’ etc. At other
times, there may be just be main verb. e.g.

He /plays /football

In this case the main verb serves as the head.

Two factors determine the structure of the verbal group – the size of the
verbal group and the nature of the composition. Thus, the verbal group in English
may be simple, compound, complex and compound complex. A simple verbal
group has just one item usually the head the main verb (h)

She wrote the letter (h)

Note that the single item may also be an auxiliary as in:

I can
I could

A complex verbal group has the structure (x h i.e., auxiliary + head) e.g

She has taken the examination.

There can be an extension of the verbal group through the increase of the
number of x elements as in the following:

She must have taken the examination.

She might have been helped by her sister.

A compound verbal group has two or more heads joined or not by a

conjunction or not as in

I came, saw and conquered

The child was frightened, screamed, ran to safety.

A compound complex verbal group has a minimum of an auxiliary and two

heads as in the following:

The lecturer should teach and examine.

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 x h h
The actor had appeared, disappeared and reappeared.
x h h h

Structure of the Adverbial Group

The structure of the adverbial group may be summarized as follows:

i. It can consist of only the head as in

Jane danced gracefully (head)

ii. It can be made of an intensifier and head as for example in

Her brother runs very fast (intensifier plus head)

iii. It can comprise of a head and an intensifier as in:

She writes legibly enough (head + intensifier)

iv. It can consist of an intensifier, a head and an intensifier as in

He did very well indeed (intensifier + head + intensifier).

v. Sometimes there can be multiple intensifiers as in the following:

The dancers performed very beautifully indeed

(intensifier + intensifier + head + intensifier)

vi. At times there can be a head within the structure as in

She should come as soon as possible (head-underlined within the

structure)

He spoke more brilliantly than I expected (head underlined within the

structure)

Structure of the Adjectival Group

The structure of the adjectival group can be summarized as follows:

i. The adjectival group can consist of an intensifier and a head as in:

Very good, quite satisfactory (Intensifier + Head)

ii. It can also be made up of a head and an intensifier as in:

good enough, happy indeed (Head + Intensifier)

iii. Sometimes there may be more than one intensifier as in

very good indeed, certainly good enough (intensifier + head + intensifier)

iv. The adjectival group can also have a determiner and a head as in:
an amiable (person); the best (solution) (Determiner +Head).

v. Sometimes there can be a head and a qualifier as in:

difficult to understand, easy to get on with (Head +qualifier)

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 vi. When adjectives occur in a row all the adjectives precede the noun head
as in the following:

a very beautiful young woman

a fashionable old looking green Senegalese gown

Usually, the adjectives follow the following order: Determiner/other

adjectives/size/age/participle/colour/place of origin/material/head as shown
below:

det other size Age participle colour Adj. of origin place material Head
a very long old looking blue Senegalese Silk boubou

4.0 SUMMARY
The following points have been made in this unit

 Groups are also referred to as phrases.

 A group or phrase refers to a set of more than one word which can
function as a part of speech or word class.
 Phrases are called by the classes of words to which they belong.
 They are also called by the word class to which the most important word
in the phrase belongs.
 Adjectival, Adverbial and Noun Phrases perform the functions of
adjectives, adverbs and noun respectively.
 Most adjectival and adverbial phrases are prepositional phrases.
 Groups also have structures: the nominal group usually has the following
elements: m h q; the elements of the verbal group are: x h; the adjectival
and adverbial group has the elements intensifier + head.
 The elements in each case can come before or after the head and
sometimes both before and after.
 When many adjectives occur in a row, they all come before the head.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. What is common between a prepositional phrase and an adverbial or
adjectival phrase?

91
 2. What are the functions of nouns which the noun phrase can also
perform?

3. What do the following elements of the nominal and verbal groups

stand for: m h q; x h

MODULE 3

MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE

Unit 1 Basic Units of Word Structure

Unit 2 The Nature of the Morpheme

Unit 3 Affixation

Unit 4 Inflection and Derivation

Unit 5 Other Word Formation Processes

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 UNIT 1
BASIC CONCEPTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The study of the internal structure of words and the rules governing the
formation of words in a language is the preoccupation of the branch of language
study referred to as morphology. Although interest in the study of words, their
meaning, structure and function has been a part of grammar from the classical to
the medieval times, the study of word structure did not become a distinct level of
grammatical analysis until the nineteenth century.
Early studies of word structure were more diachronic in nature, having more
to do with the origins and evolution of languages from a study of word formation
patterns of different languages. For instance, in the nineteenth century Franz Bopp
produced evidence based on the comparison of sound systems and word formation
patterns of Sanskrit, Latin, Persian and Germanic languages to prove that these
languages evolved from the same ancestor. This supported a claim earlier made by
William Jones in 1786 (cf Katamba 1993:1). Also, between 1819 and 1837, Jacob
Grimm published his Deutsche Grammatik tracing the common ancestry of the
Germanic and other Indo- European languages through comparing their word
formation patterns and sound systems.
Morphology in this century is synchronic in approach. This means that it
focuses on studying the word structure of a language at some stage of its life
rather than how the words of the language have changed in form and meaning

93
over a period of time. In spite of the general acknowledgement in linguistic circles
of the place of the study of words and its structure, the discipline of morphology
has not received the attention given to other branches of language like phonology,
phonetics and grammar. It was the works of the American structuralists which
brought the study of morphology to the limelight. Nida’s 1949 course book titled
Morphology streamlined the structuralist theory and practice and laid the criteria
for the descriptive study of words.
Traditional grammar looked at the word as the basic unit of grammatical
analysis but the structuralists show that words can be analysed in terms of the
morpheme which is the smallest unit of speech that has semantic and
grammatical meanings. While traditional grammar treated word structure as part
of sentence structure under grammar, the structuralists’ approach saw
morphology as a distinct branch of language study preoccupied with ‘the study of
morphemes and their arrangements in forming words’ (Nida 1949:1).

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to

 Explain and give examples of morphemes and allomorphs.

 Identify the different allomorphic variations
 Analyse words into constituent morpheme

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Morphemes and Allomorphs

The analysis of words into morphemes starts with the identification of

morphs. ‘A morph is a physical form representing some morpheme in a language’
(Katamba 1993:24). It is a distinctive recurrent sound segment or a sequence of
sound segments. In the following sentences:

a. I ate the food.

b. You ate the food.
c. She eats the food.
d. I eat the food.
e. We eat the food.
f. You eat the food.

the morphs are:

a. /a / e. / t/
b. /i:t/ f. /fu:d/
c. /wi:/ g. /ju:/
d. /s/ h /e t/

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 In the examples above each morph represents a separate morpheme.
This is however not always the case. Sometimes, the same morpheme is
represented by different morphs. For example, the plural morpheme {s} in English
as in ‘books’/buks/ can be represented as {z} as in boys/b‫כ‬ɪz/. The past tense of
regular verbs in English which is spelled ‘-ed’ is pronounced /t/, /d/, or / d/
depending on the last sound of the verb to which it is attached - its phonological
environment.

The Morpheme

The morpheme has been explained as the smallest unit of speech that is
meaningful (Udofot, 1999: 4). In other words, it is the smallest meaningful unit of
grammatical analysis. A word such as ‘pen’ is a single morpheme while ‘pens’ is
made up of two morphemes: the normal meaning of ‘pen’ and the signal which
indicates number. This information is obtained from the /z/ ending in /penz/. The
plural morpheme has other variants namely: {s, z} and the zero plural
morphemes /ʃ/ as in ‘sheep’. The term morpheme is sometimes identical with the
term ‘word’ as for example in the words ‘boy’, ‘cat’, and ‘church’ being morphemes
and also words. When however, these words take the additional {s, z, z}, they cease
to be single morphemes because they can be further broken down into parts (in
this case the semantic element of the word and the signal for more than one). At
other times, the term morpheme is seen as the next in rank to the word in the
ranking of grammatical units: sentence, clause, phrase, word, morpheme (cf.
Tomori 1977:16-17). In other words, a word is said to be a morpheme when it
cannot be further broken down into parts without destroying the meaning
Meaning is therefore very important in the study of morphology since
morphemes are meaningful units. In the following examples: ‘paints, painting,
painted’ the words can be broken down into {pe nt} + {s}; {pe nt} + {ɪŋ}; {pe nt} + {d}.
The word ‘paint’ has meaning in English while the /s/ indicates the present tense
marker, /ɪŋ/ the progressive marker and / d / is the past participle marker.

The Allomorph

If different morphs represent the same morpheme, they are referred to as

allomorphs of that morpheme. Thus, /t/, /d/ and / d/ are allomorphs of the past
tense morpheme in English. The past tense morpheme is realized as

(a) / d/ if the verb ends in /d/ or /t/ as for instance in:

mend /mend/; mended /mend d/ want /wənt/; wanted /wənt d/.

(b) /d/ if the verb ends in a voiced sound except /d/ as in:
clean /kli: n/ cleaned / kli: nd/
beg /beg/ begged / begd/.

(c) /t/ after verbs ending in any voiceless consonant other than /t/ as in:
park /pa:k/ parked / pa:kt /
miss /mi s/ missed / mist /.

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 The relationship between morphemes and allomorphs can be
diagrammatically represented as shown below using the past tense morpheme in
English:

/ d/ /d/ /t/

It can be said that / d/, /d/ and /t/ can be grouped together as allomorphs
of the past tense morpheme. The notion of distribution is central to the
identification of morphemes in any language. By distribution we mean the context
in which a particular linguistic element occurs. A set of morphs are classified as
allomorphs of the same morpheme if

(i) they represent the same meaning or serve the same grammatical
function;
(ii) they occur in the same contexts.

When the above criteria are satisfied, the morphs are said to be in
complementary distribution. Thus, the three morphs / d, d, t / which are
realizations of the regular past tense morpheme are in complementary distribution
because each morph only occurs in the context described above and are therefore
allomorphs of the same morpheme. Similarly, the negative morpheme which
means not can be realized as / n /, / m / and / ŋ/ as in the following examples:

inactive /i nækt v /
indecent / indi:snt /
impenitent / im pen tɪ nint /
impossible / impɔsɪbl /
incomplete /ɪŋ kɔmpli:t /
incorrigible / ɪŋk ridbl /

It can be noted that the nasal consonant in the various allomorphs of the
morpheme {in} is pronounced the way it is depending on the nature of the sound
that follows it:
a. / im / is used before labial consonants like /p, b, m / as in
‘impossible’;
b. /ɪŋ / is used before velar consonants like / k / and / g / as in
‘incorrigible’;
c. / in/ is used elsewhere as for example before alveolar
consonants like / t, d, s, z, n / as in ‘indecent’;

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The three allomorphs / m, ŋ, n / of the morpheme {in} are therefore in
complementary distribution in that the use of one in one slot excludes the other.

Allomorphic Variations

An allomorph as already explained is a member of a family of a morpheme –

a variant of a morpheme depending on the environment where it occurs. The plural
morpheme {s} for example changes its nature depending on the phonological
environment where it occurs. The addition of the {s} morpheme to a word obtains
not only in the formation of plurals in English but also in the formation of
possessives as, for instance, in goat, goat’s, John, John’s as well as in changes in
verb patterns as a result of changes in person as in I dance, she dances. The three
sets of {s} morphemes are generally referred to with the umbrella term the Z
Morpheme. When the Z Morpheme relates to plural formation, it is called Z1
Morpheme; when it is concerned with the formation of possessives, it is referred to
as Z2 Morpheme; when it has to do with changes in verb forms, it is referred to as
Z3 or Concord Morpheme. The different kinds of Z Morpheme therefore are:

Z1 Plural
Z2 Possessive
Z3 Changes in verb forms

i.Z1 or Plural Morpheme

In English, the Z1 Morpheme has four allomorphs: /s/, /z/, / z/ and /ʒ/.
The allomorph /s/ occurs with words ending in voiceless sounds except /s/, /ks/
and / t / as in the following examples:

cats /kæts/
books /buks/
cups /cəps/

The /z/ allomorph occurs with words ending in voiced sounds including all
vowels and voiced consonants as in the following examples:

mangoes / mæng uz/

boys / bɔɪz/
bags /bægz/

The allomorph / z / is selected by words which end in alveolar or

alveopalatal sibilants (that is consonants with sharp hissing sounds

fishes /fɪʃɛ z/
bushes /bᴜʃɛz/
churches / tʒə: tʒɛz/

The zero allomorph /ʒ / occurs with words which normally do not have
plurals reflected in their morphological shapes as for instance in ‘sheep’ and ‘deer’.

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 ii. The Z2 or Possessive Morpheme

This morpheme is similar in distribution to the Z1 Morpheme. The only

difference is in the orthographic convention. The possessives have the apostrophe
in specific places in words whereas plurals are not written with apostrophes. The
distribution of the Z2 morpheme is as follows:

a. /s/ occurs with words ending in voiceless sounds except the sibilant
consonants as in Jack’s / dʒæks/.
b. /z/ occurs after voiced sounds other than sibilants as in Jane’s /dʒe
nz/.
c. / ɪz/ occurs after the sibilants as in nurse’s /n3:sɪz/.
d. /ʒ / occurs with words which end with the sibilants which may be
plurals or words that naturally end with the letter ‘s’ as in
Jones’ /dʒɔ ns/ and students /stju:dɪnts/

The possessive morpheme, unlike the plural morpheme, does not occur
frequently because in real life people own things so the possessive morpheme
tends to go more regularly with proper names. Also, the possessive is often
replaced with of + noun phrase constructions as in: the custom of the country
instead of the country’s customs. This type of construction is often preferable to
possessives in some clumsy sounding cases as in the following:

a. The eve of St. Agnes instead of St. Agnes’ Eve;

b. The history of Nigeria instead of Nigeria’s history;
c. The Vice President of the University of Iloilo instead of University of
Iloilo’s Vice President.

iii. The Z3 or Concord Morpheme

This is the morpheme that shows changes in verb patterns occasioned by
changes in person or number, as for instance, in:

I go, she goes.

Like the other Z morphemes, it is phonologically conditioned as follows:

a. /s/ after voiceless consonants except sibilants as in walks /wɔks/.

b. /z/ after voiced sounds other than sibilants as in goes /g z/.
c. / z/after sibilant sounds as in washes /w z/.

The Z3 morpheme is also often referred to as the third person singular

present tense morpheme.

The D or Past Time Morpheme

The allomorphs /t, d, d/ are phonologically conditioned. In addition to the
allomorphs /t/, /d/ and / ɪd/ there is a / / allomorph which occurs where there is
no change in the morphological shape of the verb, as for instance, in the verbs ‘hit’

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and ‘put’ which have the same morphological shapes for both present and the
past.
The phonological conditioning noted in the behaviour of the ZI, Z2, and Z3
morphemes is not peculiar to these morphemes. We have noted this behaviour
with the D morpheme too and earlier in the various allomorphs of the morpheme {-
in} The allomorphic variations so far discussed can be summarized as follows:

1. For the Z Morpheme

a. /s/ becomes [s] in voiceless environments except sibilants.
b. /s/ becomes [z] in voiced environments except sibilants.
c. /s/ becomes [ɪz] after sibilants.
2. For the D morpheme
a. /d/ becomes [t] in voiceless environments except after /t/
b. /d/ becomes [d] in voiced environments except after /d/
c. /d/ becomes [ ɪd] after /t/ and /d/
3. For any sibilant suffix in English the different phonetic
representations are as follows;
a. /s/ after voiceless consonants other than the sibilants.
b. /z/ after vowels and voiced consonants like / b, n, d /.
c. / ɪz/ after the alveolar and alveo-palatal sibilants:/ s, z, ʃ, ʒ, t , d /.

4.0 SUMMARY
The following points have been made in this unit

 Traditional grammar saw the word as the basic unit of grammatical

analysis but the structuralists saw the morpheme as the smallest unit of
grammatical analysis.
 A morph is the physical representation of a morpheme in a language.
 A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of grammatical analysis.
 An allomorph is a variant of a morpheme which occurs in a specific
environment.
 Allomorphs of a morpheme occur in complementary distribution
 The Z morphemes and the D Morphemes have at least three allomorphs.
 The Z1 or plural morpheme has four allomorphs - /s/, /z/, / ɪ z/
and /ʒ /.
 The Z2 or possessive morpheme also has the following allomorphs:
/s/, /z/, / ɪz/ and / ʒ/.
 The Z3 or Concord morpheme has the following allomorphs: /s/, /z/, /ɪ
z/.
 The D or past time morpheme has the following allomorphs: /t/, /d/
and /ɪd/ there is a // allomorph which occurs where the past and
present tense forms are the same.
 All allomorphs are phonologically conditioned.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. Explain the terms morphology and morpheme

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 2. Discuss the usefulness of morpheme in word formation.

3. What is an allomorph?

UNIT 2
THE NATURE OF THE MORPHEME
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The morpheme is sometimes confused with the syllable but it is different.
Syllables are made up of sounds which are grouped together for pronunciation
purposes. For instance, the word ‘star’ is made up of the sounds /s/, /t/ and /a: /
which add up to /sta: /. The division of words into the component sound
(phonemes) makes it possible for languages to be written using letters. Words can
also be broken down into syllables. Some words are composed of one syllable as
the word ‘pens’ /penz/. Others are made up of two or more syllables as the words
‘today’/t de /, ‘saliva’ /sæ-la -v /, ‘embarrass’ / m-bæ-r s/ and ‘companion’ /k m-
pæn n/.
While the syllable is the unit of pronunciation, being the smallest stretch of
sound that can be uttered with one breath (Abercrombie, 1975, p. 350), the
morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning and of grammatical analysis. For
instance, the words ‘today’ and ‘embarrass’ are made up of two and three syllables
respectively but they are composed of only one morpheme each. On the other
hand, the word ‘pens’ is a monosyllabic word (made up of one syllable) but has two
morphemes namely: the morpheme {pen} and the plural morpheme {s}. Therefore,
when we divide words into morphemes, we isolate groups of sounds that have
semantic and grammatical meanings, the fact that they do not constitute syllables
notwithstanding.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

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 At the end of this unit, you should be able to
 Differentiate between morphemes and syllables
 Differentiate between bound and free morphemes
 Differentiate between roots, stems and bases
 Identify some Greek and Latin root and how to use them in word
formation.

3.0 3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Types of Morphemes

Free and Bound Morphemes

Morphemes are free when they can stand on their own and constitute
independent words as the following words: “black, board, tea, pot, sweet, heart”.
Single words as the ones listed above are the smallest free morphemes which are
capable of independent existence. When joined together to form compound words
like “blackboard, teapot, sweetheart”, each of the two morpheme words still retain
meanings of their own which add up to the meaning of the words of which they are
part.
In contrast, bound morphemes are those morphemes which are not capable
of independent existence. They occur usually with some other word-building
element attached to them. Examples of bound morphemes are given below:

(a) -ceive as in receive, perceive

(b) -mit as in permit, commit
(c) -intro as introspect, introduce
Some words are made up of two bound morphemes as is the case in
‘introduce’ while many other words are made up of free and bound morphemes
as in the words ‘pillows’ and ‘cleaner’. The bound morphemes also often occur
as prefixes and suffixes but never in isolation as words.

Roots, Stems, and Bases

Some morphemes are the core of words while some are additions and
appendages (cf Tomori 1977:32). The morpheme which carries the core meaning is
referred to as the root of the word. In the word ‘faithfulness’ for instance, the core
of the word or root morpheme is faith. Similarly, in the word ‘naturalisation’ the
root morpheme is nature. The root of the word is that part that is always present.
The stem of the word is that part to which the last morpheme is added. It is
thus the part in existence before any inflectional affixes (those additions required
by the grammar of a language such as indicators of number in nouns, tense in
verbs etc.). In the words ‘cats’ and ‘learners’, the {s} morpheme is added to the root
‘cat’ while the agentive morpheme {er} is added to the root ‘learner’ to mean one
who learns. In ‘learners’ the root is learn while learner is the stem to which the
inflectional morpheme {s} is added to give the additional meaning of ‘more - than -
one’. A base on the other hand is a unit to which any affix can be added. The affix
may be inflectional (selected for grammatical reasons) or derivational in which case
it alters the meaning or grammatical category of the base.

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 A root to which no affix has been added like ‘girl’ can be a base since it can
take an inflectional affix like {-s} to form the plural ‘girls’ or a derivational like {–ish}
to turn the noun into an adjective ‘girlish’. In effect, all roots are bases but roots
are stems when they take inflectional suffixes. Thus, although all roots are bases,
not all roots are stems. In the word ‘faithfulness’, faith is the root of the whole
word; it is also the stem of ‘faiths’ and the base of ‘faithful’ while faithful becomes
the base for ‘faithfulness’. This explanation of roots, stems and bases is contrary to
Tomori’s (1977:32) analysis which equates stems with bases rather than with
roots. Katamba (1993:45) however sees all roots as bases but stems as bases only
in the context of inflectional morphology. This is the sense in which we use roots,
bases and stems although we are also aware of Eka’s (1994) use of root and base
in the sense in which Tomori uses root and stem while Francis (1967) employs the
terms root, stem and base as largely synonymous. All the usages referred to above
tend to overlap in the sense in which root is used. The slight differences in the
senses of base and stem appear idiosyncratic.
Knowledge of the root of words can be used to explain the origin and core
meaning of words from Latin or Greek.

4.0 SUMMARY
The following points have been raised in this unit:

 The syllable is the unit of pronunciation while the morpheme is the

smallest unit of meaning and of grammatical analysis.
 Free morphemes can stand by themselves as words but bound
morphemes are incapable of independent existence.
 The morpheme which carries the core meaning of a word is the root.
 The stem of the word is that part to which the last morpheme is added.
 A base on the other hand is a unit to which any affix can be added.
 Although all roots are bases, not all roots are stems.
 Knowledge of the root of words can be used to explain the origin and core
meaning of words from Latin or Greek.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
Some common Latin and Greek roots are given below. Find the missing
explanation.

Latin Root Words Meaning

ann- (year) annual yearly
-enn perennial through the years
centennial _______________

carn- (flesh) carnivorous _______________

incarnation presence in the flesh

culp- (guilt) culpable guilty

exculpate to be free

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 culprit _______________

doc- (teach) doctor one who teaches

docile easily taught
doctrine _______________

–gress (march) progress a marching toward

congress a coming together
regressive _______________

–laps (fall) relapse fall back (into habit)

elapse to glide away (as time)
collapse _______________

loqu-– talk eloquent talking well

colloquial chatty
ventriloquist _______________

magn – great magnify _______________

magnitude size
magnificent _______________

-metre -measure chronometer measures time

barometre measures pressure
thermometer _______________

–pos put compose put together

impose put up
depose _______________

Greek Root Words Meaning

bibl – (book) bibliography list of books

bible sacred books
` bibliophile _______________

path – (feel) sympathy feeling for or with

pathology study of diseases
psychopath _______________

phil – (friend) philosopher friend of wisdom

philantrophist friend of man
anglophile _______________

pyre – (fire) pyre pile for burning the dead

pyrothenics fireworks
pyromaniac _______________

thermo – (heat) thermometer measures heat

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 thermostat _______________

UNIT 3
AFFIXATION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
New words can be formed in many languages by the addition of morphemes
to bases. Such morphemes can be added before or after the base. The
morphological process in which morphemes are added to existing words to form
new words is called affixation. The morphemes so added are called affixes. An
affix is not capable of independent existence except as an attachment to another
morpheme such as a root, stem or base. Affixes are therefore bound morphemes.
For example, no English word is made up of an affix like ‘–al, -er, -ed’ or ‘im’.
Similarly, affixes cannot be joined together in a recognizable structural bond to
form words as the following examples show: *im –al, *al – ed, *im –ed.
There are two types of affixes which generally operate in English: prefixes
which are added before the bases to form new words and suffixes usually added
after the base. A word like ‘unreasonableness’, for instance, is made up of the root
morpheme {reason} after which the prefix ‘un –’ and the suffixes ‘–able’ and ‘ness’
have been added. Prefixation and suffixation are the major forms of affixation and
therefore major morphological processes in English.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Identify common affixes in English;

 Describe prefixation and how it operates in English;
 Describe suffixation and how it operates in English; and

104
  Explain the meaning of some Greek and Latin affixes and how to use
them in word formation.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Prefixation

As already explained, a prefix is a morpheme that is attached at the

beginning of a root. Many English words derived from Latin and Greek consist of a
familiar root and a prefix. The prefix is usually a syllable or two. The Latin prefix
sub– means ‘below’ or ‘under’. When added to ‘soil’ for instance, it modifies the
meaning of the root. ‘Subsoil’ is therefore a layer of soil that is below the surface
soil. If the prefix mal– is added to ‘treat’ it becomes ‘maltreat’ which means ‘treat
badly’. Occasionally the prefix alters the word class of the base as in the following
example:

en + danger (noun) becomes endanger (verb).

Many prefixes in English are from Latin or Greek.

The common ones are:

Prefix Meaning Prefixed Words

un} unkind, unfortunate
in} not inclement, insanitary
im} impossible, imperfect
anti against antidote, anti-aircraft
ante before antenatal
intra between intravenous
inter among =international
mis} mismanage
mal} badly maltreat
non not non-fat, non-native
re again revise, rearrange
tele distance telephone, telegram
co together co-operation, co-announcer
trans across transfer, transfusion
pre before prefix, prehistoric
per through pervade, percolator
neo new neo-colonialism, neologism
bene good benefactor, benediction
bi two bilateral, bicycle
mono one monotheism, monotransitive

3.2 Suffixation

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 Suffixation is a morphological process involving the addition of a morpheme
to a root or base. Many English words derived from Greek or Latin are made up of
familiar roots and common suffixes. Like prefixes, suffixes, can be made up of one
or more syllables attached at the end of a word to modify its meaning. Suffixes are
of two types namely inflectional and derivational suffixes which reflect two major
word formation processes: inflection and derivation. Knowledge of Greek and Latin
suffixes help to explain words we encounter and use every day though many of
them are common in technical or scientific fields. Science students for instance
encounter many words which end in –derm meaning ‘skin’ or ‘tissue’ and –meter
which means ‘measure’.

3.3 Multiple Affixations

It is also possible in English to form complex words by the addition of several

affixes (derivational morphemes) to roots and bases. For example, if we take the
root ‘friend’ we can create a word by adding {-ly} to form ‘friendly’. To the base
‘friendly’ can be added the derivational prefix -un and the suffix – ness to form the
complex word unfriendliness. This process of forming complex words such as
unfriendliness by the addition of several affixes is the process of multiple
affixations. The process takes place in a number of steps so that the word formed
by one step by affixation becomes the base for the next step as can be seen in the
following examples:

nature natural unnatural naturalization

4.0 SUMMARY
The following main points have been raised in this unit:
 The morphological process in which morphemes are added to existing
words to form new words is called affixation
 Prefixation and suffixation are the major forms of affixation and therefore
major morphological processes in English.
 A prefix is a morpheme that is attached at the beginning of a root.
 Suffixation is a morphological process involving the addition of a
morpheme at the end of a root or base.
 The process of forming complex words by the addition of several affixes is
called multiple affixations.
 Knowledge of Greek and Latin suffixes help to explain words we
encounter and use everyday

5.0 QUESTIONS:
Some common Greek and Latin suffixes are given below. Supply the missing
words:

1. -cide killing insecticide kills insects;

A homicide squad investigates killings
of people.

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 Killing oneself is _____________________
2. - cracy rule In a _________________ the people rule.
In a theocracy priests’ rule.
An autocracy is the government by one
person.
3. -ennial yearly A centennial is a one hundredth anniversary.
A ______________ plant lasts through the
years.
4. -fy make A magnifying glass makes things larger.
An _________________ makes sounds
stronger.
5. - logue speech A monologue is a speech addressed to oneself.
In a __________ two people speak to each
other.
A prologue is a short speech introducing a
play.

UNIT 4
INFLECTION AND DERIVATION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Affixes can be divided into two categories depending on their functions in
word formation. These are derivational morphemes and inflectional morphemes.
This division recognizes two major processes of word building: inflection and
derivation. Inflectional and derivational morphemes behave differently in word
formation.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Describe inflectional morphemes and their behaviour in word formation

in English;
 Describe derivational morphemes and how they operate in English; and
 Explain the differences between inflection and derivation as word
formation processes in English

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Inflectional Morphemes

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 Inflectional morphemes always come at the end of words in English. They
are therefore suffixes. By the rules of word formation in English no other
morpheme can be added after an inflectional morpheme. It is also not possible to
have more than one inflectional morpheme at a time. In the word ‘contemplations’
for instance, the root of the word is {contemplate}. The derivational morpheme is {-
ation} while the inflectional morpheme is /z/ which is spelt‘s’ and it comes at the
end of the word. No other morpheme can be added to ‘contemplations’ after the
addition of the inflectional morpheme {s}. In the following examples none of the
words can further be inflected for plural, possession, comparison or concord:

Word Inflectional suffix Inflected Word

Girl -s girls
John -s John’s
Go -es goes
Take -en taken
Old -er older

An inflectional morpheme does not alter the word class of the root to which it
is added. Inflectional morphemes only modify the form of the word to enable it fit
into a particular grammatical category. For instance, the {s} morpheme of nouns as
in ‘tables’ merely carries the information regarding the number of tables in
question. The word itself remains a noun. It is for that reason that Katamba
(1993:51) describes inflectional morphemes as those which ‘do not change
referential or cognitive meaning’. The frequently used inflectional suffixes (English
has no inflectional prefix] are shown below:

Suffix Stem Function Example

-s Noun plural cats
-s Noun possessive Mary’s
-s Verb 3rd person singular sings
present tense
-ed Verb : past tense danced
-ing Verb : present progressive dancing
-er Adjective : comparative degree bigger
-est Adjective : superlative degree biggest

3.2 Derivational Morphemes

Derivational morphemes form new words by:

(i) changing the meaning of the base to which they are added as for instance
in the examples clean/unclean which are both adjectives; one has a
meaning which is opposite to the other.
(ii) changing the grammatical class of the base as for instance the addition of
–ly to ‘slow’ forms another word ‘slowly’ therefore changing the word ‘slow’
from an adjective to an adverb. In English, it is, as a rule, possible to
form adverbs by adding the suffix –ly to an adjectival base.

Examine the following :

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 1. quick (adjective) - quickly (adverb)
2. beautiful (adjective) - beautifully (adverb)
3. break (verb) - breakage (noun)
4. joy (noun) - joyful (adjective) - joyfully (adverb)
5. beauty (noun) - beautify (verb)
6. electric (noun) - electrify (verb)
7. fat (noun) - fatten (verb)
8. slave (noun) - enslave (verb)
9. father - fatherly (adverb)
10. nation (noun) - national (adjective)

Sometimes a derivational suffix is added to an already derived base as in:

natural naturalise naturalization

power powerless powerlessness
beauty beautiful beautifully

As can be seen in the two groups of examples above, a derivational affix can
cause a major grammatical change from one word class to another as in
slave/enslave, power/powerless where a noun becomes a verb in the first case and
an adjective in the second. At times the addition of a derivational affix may cause
just a minor change as when the base changes to a minor subclass within the
same word class as in pig/piglet: both are nouns but one is the diminutive form of
the other. This brings us to the addition of some suffixes (bound morphemes)
which carry emotive undertones as for instance:

- nette - kitchenette - smallness

- ish - girlish - bad qualities of
- like - womanlike - good qualities of
- let - piglet - small of
- ling - duckling - small of
- ock - bullock - small of

The following tables show common derivational prefixes and suffixes, the
types of bases to which they can be attached and the words that can be formed
together with the word classes of the derived words:

Suffix Word Class Meaning Word Class Examples

of Base of Derived
Word
- ment verb result or product of noun govern -
doing the action of the government
verb
- ness adjective quality, state or abstract happy–
condition noun happiness
- ity adjective state or condition abstract depraved–
noun depravity

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- ship noun state or condition abstract friend–
noun friendship
- hood noun status abstract mother–
noun motherhood
- ly adjective manner adverb graceful–
gracefully
- al verb pertaining to or act of abstract refuse– refusal
noun
- al noun pertaining to/of adjective medicine–
medicinal
- er verb the kind who does noun read- reader
- or what the verb sail- sailor
- ar indicates lie- liar
agent
- ful noun indicates having adjective beauty–
beautiful

4.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following important points have been made:

 Inflection and derivation are two major word building processes in

English.
 Inflectional morphemes always come at the end of words in English. They
are therefore suffixes.
 No other morpheme can be added to a word after an inflectional
morpheme.
 An inflectional morpheme does not alter the word class of the root but
only modifies it to enable it fit into a particular grammatical category.
 A derivational affix can change the word class and the meaning of the
base to which it is added.

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. Distinguish between inflexion and derivation.

110
 2. What modifications does an inflectional morpheme make to the base to which it
is added?

UNIT 5
OTHER WORD FORMATION PROCESSES

1.0 INTRODUCTION
In recent years, linguists have extended the domains of morphology to
include not only an analysis of the structure of existing words but also rules that
guide the creation of new words. In the last three units, we noted an open-ended
tendency of English words in the sense that there appears to be no upper limit to
the number of affixes or the length of forms that may function as bases for the
formation of new words. We shall observe in this unit a tendency of existing words
to combine to form compounds. It is this productive nature of morphology that this
unit will examine.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Explain what a compound word is and how compounds are formed

 List other minor word formation processes in English.
 Explain and illustrate these processes.
 Create new words in English following English morphological rules.

111
  Analyse compound and newly formed words into their constituent
morphemes.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Compounding

Apart from the derivation of new words by the addition of affixes many
English words can be formed from two or more bases. This is the process of
compounding and the resulting words are called compounds. In other words, a
compound word contains at least two morphemes which can stand on their own as
words. In the following example, words are formed from roots and bases.

a. flash + light flashlight

Verb Noun Noun
b. play + mate playmate
Verb Noun Noun
c. kind + heart + -ed kindhearted
Adjective Noun Adjective
d. wind + break + -er wind breaker
Noun Verb Noun

Note
Compounding is a very important way of creating new words in English.
According to Quirk and Greenbaum (1975:444) ‘there is no one formal criterion
that can be used for a general definition of compounds in English’ but some
observations about them can be made. For instance, the elements that make up
English compounds have some syntactic relations. Quirk and Greenbaum
(1975:444) analyses the compounds ‘playboy’ and ‘call-girl’ as follows:

playboy - the boy plays i.e., subject + verb

call girl - someone calls the girls i.e., verb +object

Thus, although the two compound words ‘playboy’ and ‘call-girl’ ‘are
superficially similar yet the relations of their elements are different.’

3.2 Creativity

Creativity has sometimes been used in the same sense as productivity to

refer to the capability of human language users to produce an infinite number of
words and utterances using the word formation rules of languages which are
themselves finite. In morphology, creativity can be rule-governed when the
formation of new words follows the rules and principles learnt and internalized by
the user of the language as, for instance, when abstract nouns are formed from
verbs in English by the addition of the suffix –ion/ition as in ‘addition’ and
‘information’.
Creativity can also be rule-bending when users bend the rules and at times
do violence to the everyday meaning of words in an attempt to create new words.

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Creativity of this kind does not follow dutifully the word formation rules of the
language. It is this kind of creativity that allows writers to coin new words to
express their peculiar situations and communicate in a more memorable way, at
times idiomatically. Many compound words and neologisms are formed in this way.
Our preoccupation so far has been with rule-governed word formation. In
this unit, we treat as creativity any word formation process that is rule-bending on
the one hand or resulting from the contact of English with another language. We
will also treat the minor word formation processes in English: clipping, blending
and acronyming as creative rather than productive processes because there are
inherent in them some elements of rule-bending which are not consistent in all the
cases but require for different words different treatments as we will see later.

3.3 Neologisms

These are words that are coined to express some new phenomena or the
attitude of the speaker or writer. A typical example is snail-mail referring to the
postal service as opposed to the modern electronic mail. Extension of meaning
could be said to be a characteristic feature of neologisms. In the case of snail-mail
above, the characteristic slow speed of the snail is extended to the speed of postal
services.
Neologisms constitute a very fertile way of expanding the vocabulary. Many
neologisms, also often referred to as, nonce words however take time to catch on
but are usually understood in the environment where they were first coined. For
example, the word “Eraption”, which came to be understood as term for English so
bad it’s become a joke, came from the nickname of former Philippine president
Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who was known for his kind of English that has become
the butt of too many jokes.
Many neologisms are compounds which are semantically opaque. In present-
day English the words walk-man and tallboy are ready examples. A tallboy is not a
kind of boy but a piece of furniture, while a walk-man is not a kind of man but a
type of stereo equipment.

3.4 Clipping

In informal style, English words are formed by the deletion of one or more
syllables from a word. This process, referred to as clipping can occur at the
beginning as in the example phone created from telephone. It also occurs and more
commonly so at the end as in the case of photo created by the deletion of – graph
from photograph. At other times clipping occurs at both ends. This process is
somehow rare but is attested in a word like flu created from influenza where the
initial syllable - in and the final ones –enza are deleted to create the word flu.
Other clipped words include Mum and Dad, from Mummy and Daddy; lab from
laboratory, pub from public house, exam from examination, cable from cablegram,
bus from omnibus and zoo from zoological garden.

3.5 Blending

Blending involves clipping of a special kind. Letters, not syllables, of words

are extracted and used to from new words. Blends are also informal and have only

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short life spans. Some of them have however, been fully assimilated as in the
following examples:

Breakfast + Lunch = brunch

Motor + Hotel = motel
Smoke + Fog = smog
Transfer + Resistor = transistor

An examination of the examples above shows that the selection of elements

to form blends tends to be idiosyncratic as it does not appear to follow set down
rules as regards the number of segments or letters selected from the input words.
Perhaps the selection obeys (apparently unconsciously) the phonotactic rules of
English because the example smog for instance could not have been *smfog since
the sequence / sf / and / smf / are not acceptable clusters in English. Similarly,
brunch could not have been *brlunch.

3.6 Acronymy

Acronymy is the process of creating new words from the initial letters of
existing words. Sometimes acronyms are created from parts of words larger than
letters. This is quite a productive process as new acronyms are freely and daily
produced particularly for the names of organizations.
Acronyms can be pronounced as sequences of letters as in P.B.A. for
Philippine Basketball Association, C.O.D. for Cash on Delivery and U.N. for the
United Nations, and the letters represent full words. Sometimes the letters of an
acronym represent elements of a compound or are just parts of a word as in T.V,
or Tee vee for television and GHQ for General Headquarters.
Some acronyms are pronounced as words such as radar for radio detecting
and ranging, UNICEF for United Nations Children’s Fund; VAT for Value Added
Tax, UNESCO for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
and FIFA for Federation of International Football Association.

4.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following important points have been made:

 A compound word contains at least two morphemes which can stand on

their own as words
 Creativity refers to the capability of human language users to produce an
infinite number of words and utterances using the word formation rules
of languages.
 Neologisms are words that are coined to express some new phenomena or
the attitude of the speaker or writer e.g. money laundering
 English words can be formed by the deletion of one or more syllables from
a word. This process, referred to as clipping can occur at the beginning or
end of a word and sometimes at both ends as in flu from influenza and
photo from photograph.

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  Blending involves the extraction of letters, not syllables, of words which
are used to form new words as in motel from motor and hotel
 Acronymy is the process of creating new words from the initial letters of
existing words as in UNICEF or RADAR

5.0 QUESTIONS:
1. What are neologisms?

2. Explain the terms clipping, blending and acronymy. Which of them do

you consider the most creative in English word formation and why?

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