Extra-grammatical morphology is a hitherto neglected area of research, highly marginalised because of its irregularity and unpredictability. Yet many neologisms in English are formed by means of extra-grammatical mechanisms, such as abbreviation, blending and reduplication, which therefore deserve both greater attention and more systematic study. This book analyses such phenomena.

Based on corpus data, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of a morphological phenomenon in Modern English, Combining Forms (CFs).

Table of contents

Morphology in English is a text which provides an in-depth analysis of the branch of linguistics which studies the formation of composite words and the form-meaning relationships between their subparts. It takes a cognitive viewpoint and provides full coverage of the essential topics of prefixation, suffixation and compounding. It covers categorization, configuration and conceptualization and enables readers to recognize the complexity of the English lexical system. It demonstrates the pivotal role which morphemes play in the expansion of a languages lexical store. The book combines two aspects of language: word formation and semantic distinctions regarding usage, enabling readers to understand the formation of composite words and their use in natural language. The book features: clear layout accessible style explicit definitions vivid illustrations actual data examples exercises further reading appendices companion website with full answer set

This work presents a collection of some 130 contributions covering a wide range of topics of interest to historical, theoretical and applied linguistics alike. A major theme is the development of English which is examined on several levels in the light of recent linguistic theory in various papers. The geographical dimension is also treated extensively with papers on controversial aspects of a variety of studies, as are topical linguistic matters from a more general perspective.

The experience of having taught English language and morphology – syntax in particular – for more than seven years convinced the author that students of linguistics and translation mostly need a solid grounding in the course of morphology and syntax. Once they have a basic understanding of these two important areas, they have little trouble mastering English language as a whole. Hence, both morphology and syntax are important parts of linguistic knowledge and constitute a component of student's mental grammar. Of Course, the more courses are required of students within their discipline, the more they can benefit from the fields inside their major. Such factors often help students develop a positive attitude towards linguistics to be sensitized to the morphological and syntactic system of the language while being exposed to both morphology and syntax, and especially in an unfamiliar area. Obviously, an introductory book such as this has several limitations. First, there are entire subbranches of morphology and syntax that are not included. In terms of content, this book delimits both its scope and audience by shedding new light on a subject the problems and obscurities of which look inexhaustible. Therefore, a book of this kind is an attempt to, on the one hand, to make morphology and syntax – which usually appear to be incredible complicated at first glance – easier and, on the other hand, keep the standard high so that even postgraduate students can benefit from it; because the author strongly believes that students learn best by “doing” exercises, and, to this end,he has added dozens of practice exercises. In general, these require more research or analysis beyond what can be accomplished within a single classroom period. These exploratory exercises can also form the basis for short papers. Therefore, the book can be of immense help not only to students of linguistics and translation, but also to professors of linguistics and translation and research supervisors as well as advisors around the globe and in the Arab world in particular.