Functional or part-of-speech meaning of morphemes

Lexical meaning of morphemes

Types of morpheme-meaning

Pragmatic meaning

The term “pragmatics” stems from the Greek word prágma “deed, action”. It studies functioning of linguistic signs in speech. Pragmatic meaning as a component of lexical meaning is the attitude of speakers, fixed the language practice, to the linguistic sign they use in speech and its corresponding influence on the interlocutors. Pragmatic meaning depends upon certain sociolinguistic parameters of interaction-communication.

The morpheme is the smallest two-facet language unit possessing both a sound-form and meaning. One of the semantic features of some morphemes which distinguishes them from words is that they do not possess grammatical meaning. If we compare the word child and the morpheme child- occurred in the words childhood and childish we cannot find in this morpheme the grammatical meaning of case and number observed in the word child. So morphemes are regarded as devoid of grammatical meaning.

Many English words consist of a single root-morpheme. So when we say that most morphemes possess lexical meaning we imply mainly the root-morphemes in such words. It may be easily observed that the lexical meaning of the word child and the lexical meaning of the root morpheme child- in the words childhood and childish is almost the same.

Lexical meaning of affixal morphemes is of a more generalized character. For example, the suffix –er carries the meaning of ‘the agent of the action’.

Just as in words lexical meaning in morphemes may also be analyzed into denotational and connotational components. The connotational component of meaning may be found not only in root-morphemes but also in affixational morphemes. Comparing the derivational morphemes with the same denotational meaning we see that they may differ in connotation only.

For example, the morphemes -ly, -like, -ish have the denotational meaning of similarity in the words womanly, womanlike, womanish. However, the connotational component in these words differs and ranges from the positive evaluation in -ly (womanly) to the derogatory in -ish (womanish).

Stylistic reference may also be found in morphemes. For example, the stylistic value of such derivational morphemes as –oid (spheroid, –itude (exactitude)) and –iroo (buddiroo) may be clearly perceived as, respectively, scientific, bookish and colloquial or even slangy.

Root-morphemes do not possess part-of-speech meaning. In derivational morphemes the lexical and part-of-speech meanings may be so blended as to be almost inseparable. For example, in the derivational morpheme –er (reader) the lexical meaning of the ‘agent’ is as just clearly perceived as its part-of-speech meaning of the ‘noun’.

In some cases, however, either lexical or functional meaning may prevail.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-06