Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 757modification [Lat. modificare ‘to measurecorrectly’]1 In word formation, semantic differentiation of the base morpheme through wordformationmorphemes, especially through prefixes. In this process, the original wordclass (in contrast to transposition) can remain the same: fix vs prefix, cover vs discover;dog vs doggy. Other types of modification involve shifts in stress (e.g. refuse vs refúse),suppletivism (go >went), mutation.Referencesword formation2 complementation and modificationmodifier (also determiner)Linguistic expression which more closely specifies or determines the meaning of anotherexpression ( head) semantically and syntactically: long book, where book is the headand long is the modifier describing the book. Syntactically, the constituent made up of amodifier and its head are of the same form class as the head ( endocentricconstruction). In English, nouns are typically modified by adjectives (long book) orprepositional phrases (the book on the table), and verbs by adverbs (read quickly). Amodifier can be either prespecifying or postspecifying, depending on whether it precedesor follows the head. While Bloomfield (1933) uses the term modifier only for attributiveconstructions, Trubetzkoy (1939) uses it for the relationship between verb and object, andBartsch and Vennemann (1980) use it for the relationship between subject and predicateverb. The terminology for the two elements involved is diverse: ‘head/center’ vs‘attribute’ (Bloomfield), ‘head center’ vs ‘modifier’ (Fries), ‘determine’ vs ‘determinant’(Trubetzkoy), ‘operator vs operand’ (Bartsch and Vennemann), and ‘head’ vs ‘modifier’(Lyons). (also complementation and modification)ReferencesBartsch, R. and T.Vennemann. 1982. Grundzüge der Sprachtheorie. Tübingen.Bloomfield, L. 1933. Language. New York.Fries, C.C. 1927. The structure of English: an introduction to the construction of English sentences.(5th edn New York, 1964.)Lyons, J. 1968. Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge.