The type of word segmentability

Due
to the morphemic structure of the word all English words fall into
two large classes. They are so-called segmentable
words,
i.e. those ones allowing of segmentation into morphemes, e.g.
agreement,
information, fearless, quickly, door-handle, etc.,
and non-segmentable
words,
i.e. those ones not allowing of such segmentation, e.g. house,
girl, woman, husband, etc.

The
degree of morphemic segmentability is not the same for different
words.
Three
types of morphemic segmentability of words are distinguished:
complete,
conditional and
defective.
Complete
segmentability
is characteristic of a great many words the morphemic structure of
which is transparent enough, as their individual morphemes clearly
stand out within the word lending themselves easily to isolation.
There are, however, numerous words in the English vocabulary the
morphemic structure of which is not so transparent and easy to
establish.
Conditional
morphemic segmentability
characterises words whose segmentation into the constituent
morphemes is doubtful for semantic reasons. In words like retain,
contain, detain or
receive,
deceive, conceive, perceive the
sound-clusters [ri-], [di-], [кэn-]
seem,
on the one hand, to be singled out quite easily due to their
recurrence in a number of words, on the other hand, they undoubtedly
have nothing in common with the phonetically identical morphemes
re-,
de- as
found in words like rewrite,
re-organise, de-organise, decode.
Defective
morphemic segmentability
is the property of words whose component morphemes seldom or never
recur in other words. One of the component morphemes is a unique
morpheme. A unique morpheme is isolated and understood as meaningful
because the constituent morphemes display a more or less clear
denotational meaning. There is no doubt that in the nouns streamlet,
ringlet, leaflet, etc.
the morpheme -let
has
the denotational meaning of diminutiveness and is combined with the
morphemes stream-,
ring-, leaf-, etc.
each having a clear denotational meaning. The oppositions that the
different types of morphemic segmentability are involved in hardly
require any comments with the exception of complete and conditional
segmentability versus defective segmentability.

2.Analyze the Lexical layers of the English Vocabulary.

With
regard to the sphere of usage all the words fall into two groups:

1.
Neutral words, which can be used in any sphere of communication,
e.g., to go, to make, to do, thing;

2.
Words with a limited sphere of communication, which can be used in
learned or poetic texts, or in formal conversation. They are called
stylistically coloured words. Stylistically coloured words are
subdivided into two groups: formal (official) and informal
(colloquial).

Formal
vocabulary consists of terms, learned official vocabulary, poetic
and archaic words. Informal vocabulary is made up of familiar
colloquial words, slang, dialectisms, and vulgarisms. The boundaries
between these layers are not clear cut. Words can travel from one
layer into another, e.g., many terms have become part of neutral
vocabulary, such as radio, television, football. And otherwise, many
slang words became part of neutral vocabulary, e.g., donkey, to
tackle, teenager.

Besides
between neutral and stylistically coloured layer there may be words
and expressions equally important for these layers, they occupy an
intermediate position between them, e.g., fastidious, to fascinate.
They are characterized as common literary and can be used either in
colloquial conversation or in literary conversational style. Between
neutral and informal vocabulary there is also a group of common
colloquial vocabulary which stands between them. The criterion of
the reference of the word to this or that layer is not absolutely
reliable, but it is the only criterion existing now. A word may
belong to the neutral layer if it sounds neutral in any kind of
communication. In all other cases, it produces an unintentional
comical effect, especially when placed in another layer or when it
jars upon the ear in a different style. In this case it belongs to a
stylistically coloured layer.

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