Morpho-Lexical Alternation in Noun Formation

Morpho-Lexical Alternation in Noun Formation proposes a novel analysis of the structure of complex nouns in English, placing the focus on noun pairs that share single roots but end in different suffixes, such as dispersal/dispersion, emergence/emergency, citizenship/citizenry, tipper/tipster, etc. To achieve this mission, the author combines two aspects of language: derivation and usage. With regard to derivation, the book serves to acquaint the readers with the ways in which nouns are formed by means of suffixes. Based on tenets of Cognitive Semantics, the book describes the nominal suffixes as (i) exhibiting multiple senses, (ii) displaying distinct uses, and (iii) reflecting discrete conceptualisations. With reference to usage, the book serves to familiarise readers with the ways in which the noun pairs are actually used. Based on axioms of Usage-based Linguistics, the book depicts the noun pairs as (i) occurring in disparate contexts and (ii) accompanying distinguishable collocations.

Morpho-Lexical Alternation in Noun Formation: integrates theoretical and empirical methods in language analysis, reveals the peculiarities of the suffixes by grouping them into sets, discloses the differences between noun pairs by using collocations, bases the analysis on actual data taken from the BNC and the Web, employs an accessible style and clear artwork to fulfil its objectives.

About the Author:
Zeki Hamawand is a specialist in Cognitive Linguistics at University of Hamburg, Germany