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Next: The Level Ordering Hypothesis Up: 9 Derivation: forms Previous: Stems and affixes

ID compositionality and QLP operations

Derivational forms are compositionally constructed out of stems and affixes. It is helpful, however, to distinguish between the Immediate Dominance, ID, aspect of composition of stems and derivational categores at a more general level, on the one hand, and the temporal relations of Quasi-Linear Precedence which realise these constructs, i.e. make them pronounceable.

The QLP relations (which may also be expressed as operations) involved in realising derivational structures are:

  1. Affixation
    1. Prefixation: dis+arrange
    2. Suffixation: arrange+ment
    3. Circumfixation: German Ge+bind+e
  2. Superfixation (rhythm):
    t'orment - torm'ent, pr'otest - prot'est
    t'elephone - tel'ephony - teleph'onic - telephon'itis
  3. Zero derivation (no QLP operation): run - run
  4. Morphophonemic alternation: electric - electricity


Dafydd Gibbon
Wed Jun 19 23:14:45 MET DST 1996