Introduction to Cognitive Psychology - Department of Psychological ...

Professor Greg Francis 8/14/12CompoundingEnglish also allows new words to be createdout of other words and combinations can be combinedtoothtoothbrushbrushunmicrowaveabilityRulesSo what are the rules?One looks to be easy to pluralize a noun, add -sNNstem Ninflection NstemNNinflectionbootyliciousPurdue Universitydog -swug -sPurdue UniversityRulesMore detail on rulesThe creation of compound nouns also followsa simple ruleNstemNstemNstem NstemConsider a rule that creates an adjective out ofa verbOr a noun out of a verbAstemNstemNstemtoothNstembrushdogbiteBy the way, ignore what grammarschool might have taught you, theseare not adjective-noun phrasesVstemcrunchAstemaffix-ableVstemcrunchNstemaffix-erPurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityRootSome morphemes canonly be attached to certaintypes of words a root is a word that cannotbe split into smaller parts some morphemes attachonly to rootsNstemNstemNstemaffix thus, Darwinianisms is aword, but Darwinismians is-ismnotNroot Nrootaffix» -ian must attach to a rootDarwin -ianPurdue UniversityNNinflection-sLexiconTo keep track of what can attach to what,there must be a mental dictionary ofmorphemes -able -er ...» adjective stem affiix; means capable ofbeing Xd;attach me to a verb stem» noun stem affix; means one who Xs;attach me to a verb stemPurdue UniversityPSY 200: Intro. to Cognitive Psychology 3