What is a complex word in english

In English grammar and morphology, a complex word is a word made up of two or more morphemes. Contrast with monomorphemic word.

A complex word may consist of (1) a base (or root) and one or more affixes (for example, quicker), or (2) more than one root in a compound (for example, blackbird).

Examples and Observations

«[W]e say that bookishness is a complex word, whose immediate components are bookish and -ness, which we can express in shorthand by spelling the word with dashes between each morph: book-ish-ness. The process of dividing a word into morphs is called parsing.» (Keith M. Denning et al., English Vocabulary Elements. Oxford University Press, 2007)

Transparency and Opaqueness

«A morphologically complex word is semantically transparent if its meaning is obvious from its parts: hence ‘unhappiness’ is semantically transparent, being made up in a predictable fashion from ‘un,’ ‘happy,’ and ‘ness.’ A word like ‘department,’ even though it contains recognizable morphemes, is not semantically transparent. The meaning of ‘depart’ in ‘department’ is not obviously related to the ‘depart’ in ‘departure.’ It is semantically opaque.» (Trevor A. Harley, The Psychology of Language: From Data to Theory. Taylor & Francis, 2001)

Blender

«Let us consider the complex word blender. What can we say about its morphology? One aspect we can mention is that it consists of two morphemes, blend and er. Besides, we can say that blend is the root, since it is not further analysable, and at the same time the base to which the suffix -er is attached. To conclude, if we carry out morphological analysis, we usually show what morphemes a word consists of and describe these morphemes in terms of their type.» (Ingo Plag et al, Introduction to English Linguistics. Walter de Gruyer, 2007)

The Hypothesis of Lexical Integrity

«The lexicon . . . is not just a set of words, but also comprises word combinations. For example, English (like most Germanic languages) has many verb-particle combinations, also called phrasal verbs of the type to look up which clearly consist of two words which are even separable:

(20a) The student looked up the information
(20b) The student looked the information up

The verb look up cannot be one word since its two parts can be separated, as in sentence (20b). A basic assumption in morphology is the hypothesis of Lexical Integrity: the constituents of a complex word cannot be operated upon by syntactic rules. Put differently: words behave as atoms with respect to syntactic rules, which cannot look inside the word and see its internal morphological structure. Hence, the movement of up to the end of the sentence in (20b) can only be accounted for if look up is a combination of two words. That is, phrasal verbs such as lookup are certainly lexical units, but not words. Words are just a subset of the lexical units of a language. Another way of putting this is to say that look up is a listeme but not a lexeme of English (DiSciullo and Williams, 1987).

«Other examples of lexical multi-word units are adjective-noun combinations such as red tape, big toe, atomic bomb, and industrial output. Such phrases are established terms for referring to certain kinds of entities, and hence they must be listed in the lexicon.» (Geert E. Booij, The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2012)

Updated June 22, 2019. In English grammar and morphology, a complex word is a word made up of two or more morphemes. Contrast with monomorphemic word. A complex word may consist of (1) a base (or root) and one or more affixes (for example, quicker), or (2) more than one root in a compound (for example, blackbird).

Is ice cream a compound word?

However, ice cream is a compound noun because ice is not an adjective describing cream. The two words work together to create a single noun. If the compound noun is hyphenated or composed of two separate words, remember to add s only to the word that is plural.

What are the 3 types of compound words?

Compound words can be written in three ways: as open compounds (spelled as two words, e.g., ice cream), closed compounds (joined to form a single word, e.g., doorknob), or hyphenated compounds (two words joined by a hyphen, e.g., long-term). Sometimes, more than two words can form a compound (e.g., mother-in-law).

Is it icecream or ice cream?

It’s “an ice cream”, spelt as separate words – “icecream” is not a word. The correct indefinite article is “an”, since “ice” starts with a vowel sound. Some people will hyphenate “ice cream” if it is used adjectivally: “ice-cream sundae”. The most accepted form however, would be “ice cream sundae”. You may like this Are you allowed to make Nintendo fan games?

What does ice cream mean sexually?

There’s a sex position called “The Ice Cream” and it’s driving couples wild thanks to it being extremely intimate – raspberry sauce and chocolate flakes optional. According to the Sex Positions website, to get into the position, the man sits down on his legs, and then woman sits back on him as if he is a chair.

Can we use an with ice cream?

Use ‘an’ before words beginning with vowel sound. The word ‘ice’ begins with a vowel sound. An ice-cream is grammatically correct as the words starting with vowels (a, e, i, o, u) are followed by “an” and the words starting with consonants are followed by “a”.

Do we say ice creams?

If you are using ice cream to refer to the individual portions, rather than the material, then they are countable things. Perhaps there are regional variations, but on the west coast of the US, ice creams would be the typical usage.

Is Apple a vowel?

The short vowel sound for A can be found in words like apple, attitude, cat, actually, and can. Elephant begins with the short vowel sound of E. E’s short vowel sound sounds a bit like eh, and features in words like elephant, exciting, excellent, and end.

Do we eat or drink ice cream?

Ice cream is typically eaten. If you melted the ice cream, you could probably drink it. Similar foods get differing treatment and the pattern usually comes down utensils: You drink through a straw (slurpies, shakes) You may like this Where do I find my friend code on Wii U?

Is open a long or short vowel?

It’s the same for the other vowels. Say these words aloud. Listen to the first sound carefully….Short Vowels:

Listen to the first sound of each word.	Select long or short:
open	long short
under	long short
apple	long short
every	long short

Is ice a long or short vowel?

The short vowels can represented by a curved symbol above the vowel: ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ. The long vowels can be represented by a horizontal line above the vowel: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū. Here are some examples of short vowel words: at, egg, it, ox, up. Here are some examples of long vowel words: ate, each, ice, oak, use.

Is cake Short A or long a?

Long Vowels. The long vowel sound is the same as the name of the vowel itself. Follow these rules: Long A sound is AY as in cake.

What are long a vowel words?

Long vowel sound words are words that have vowels that say their name….Long Vowel Words

• Long a – baby, cake, rain, day, they, weigh.
• Long e – me, eve, hear, meet, piece, candy.
• Long i – silent, bike, light, my.
• Long o – go, home, toe, boat, snow.
• Long u – music, mule, pew, feud.

What is the short vowel symbol called?

breve

How do you teach long vowels?

13 Awesome Ways To Teach Long Vowel Sounds

1. Say three words with a long vowel sound. (
2. Ask: What vowel sound do you hear?
3. Write each of the words you said on the board—lake, pail, hay.
4. Underline the long A digraph—lake, pail, hay.
5. Explain that there are different ways to spell the long A sound.
6. Ask if students can think of other words with the long A sound.

What is the compound word of life?

Compound nouns are created by joining two or more words together to form a new word or nominal phrase. Life, therefore, is the primary word, while the adjective wild is the modifier. Combined, they create a new word for undomesticated forms of life, which is the essence of a compound noun definition.

What is the verb of life?

What is the verb for life? live. (intransitive) To be alive; to have life. (intransitive) To have permanent residence somewhere, to inhabit, to reside.

What is General Life?

Life in general is what we make it be, what is in our hearts becomes what is in our minds and our minds creates life. Things come into perspective and life comes into being. As this happens we forget one very important trait of life; that life can be anything you make it be.

What is another word for new life?

What is another word for new life?

revitalization	renewal
revival	regeneration
rejuvenation	resurrection
rebirth	resurgence
restoration	resuscitation

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr4pnRyT0QYua1iqLcZ5Lfw

In English grammar and morphology, a complex word is a word made up of two or more morphemes. … A complex word may consist of (1) a base (or root) and one or more affixes (for example, quicker), or (2) more than one root in a compound (for example, blackbird).

What is the meaning of complete and complex?

As adjectives the difference between complex and complete is that complex is made up of multiple parts; composite; not simple while complete is with all parts included; with nothing missing; full.

What is the meaning of these two words miner and minor?

A miner is a person who works in a mine, whereas minor means something smaller, lesser.

Are offend and offer similar?

As verbs the difference between offend and offer is that offend is (transitive) to hurt the feelings of; to displease; to make angry; to insult while offer is (lb) to present (something) to god as a gesture of worship, or for a sacrifice.

What type of word is offended?

verb (used with object) to irritate, annoy, or anger; cause resentful displeasure in: Even the hint of prejudice offends me. to affect (the sense, taste, etc.) disagreeably. to violate or transgress (a criminal, religious, or moral law).

Is it offend or Affend?

(transitive) To hurt the feelings of; to displease; to make angry; to insult. … (transitive) To physically harm, pain. (transitive) To annoy, cause discomfort or resent. (intransitive) To sin, transgress divine law or moral rules.

What is to offend someone?

English Language Learners Definition of offend : to cause (a person or group) to feel hurt, angry, or upset by something said or done. : to be unpleasant to (someone or something) formal : to do wrong : to be against what people believe is acceptable or proper.

Is being offended a choice?

Having hurt feelings or being offended is a choice. Allowing another person to hurt your feelings or allowing someone to offend you is nothing short of self-imposed mental cruelty.

Why do people get offended?

What actually motivates this ubiquitous phenomenon? The taking of offence – or feeling offended – often involves an experience of negative emotions caused by a word or an action which is in conflict with what we expect and believe to be the right, appropriate, moral and acceptable behaviour.

What do you call a person who is easily offended?

Irritable, testy, touchy, irascible are adjectives meaning easily upset, offended, or angered. Irritable means easily annoyed or bothered, and it implies cross and snappish behavior: an irritable clerk, rude and hostile; Impatient and irritable, he was constantly complaining.

How do I stop being offended by others?

If you often find yourself in the position of being easily offended, here are seven ways that can help you counter those feelings.

1. Understand your feelings. …
2. Understand why someone is being offensive. …
3. Recognise constructive criticism. …
4. Recognise the effects of intoxicants. …
5. Learn to meditate. …
6. Expand your cultural horizons.

What is the spirit of offense?

What is a spirit of offense? A spirit of offense is feeling resentful because of an actual or perceived insult. Sometimes it is an actual insult and other times it is an unintended slight that we misinterpret. Regardless of intent or not, we still have to deal with the issue of our hurt feelings.

What do you do when you offend someone?

What can you do if you offend someone?

1. Don’t respond emotionally in return. …
2. Although tempting to some, do not ignore the offended person. …
3. Consider your words. …
4. Use reflective communication. …
5. If the you or other person is not calm, you may need to give it a little time. …
6. Apologize if needed, but don’t overdo it.

Why does my boyfriend get offended so easily?

Well, it could be one of these things: He may be the kind of person who naturally gets easily offended. He may be very good at misunderstanding people around him, including you. He’s taking you for granted and expects you to be perfect and know everything about him, even if he doesn’t know everything about you.

Is anger a sign of love?

When someone or something compromises your passions, anger may be a natural response. “Anger is the result of love. It is energy for defense of something you love when it is threatened.”

Why is everything my fault in my relationship?

Life is stressful in many ways: work, relationships, family, health, and financial to name but a few. If your partner has been experiencing a lot of stress recently, or they simply get stressed easily, they may look for a way to express their anxiety and frustration. That expression could take the form of blame.

How do guys feel when their girlfriend is mad?

Men are often uncomfortable with any expression of strong feelings. When their wives/partners are angry, it raises the emotional temperature in the relationship, which makes men feel uncomfortable. Men often feel responsible for their wives/partners well-being.

Do girls like guys that get mad?

According to research by psychologist Shiri Cohen at Massachusetts General Hospital, women like it best when men share their anger and frustration: “The women tend to want to engage around conflict,” she told Shots. “They’re deriving more satisfaction when they see that their partner is upset.”

Why do guys find it cute when a girl gets mad?

It’s cute because some men feel that a woman being angry and trying to show aggression “like a man” is laughable; whether that be in a chauvinistic or respectful manner. And yes, it is done to annoy.

What is a toxic girlfriend?

“Toxic relationships are ones in which one party demands sex when their partner isn’t interested, and equally toxic is to withhold sex or to be in a sexless relationship—unless that’s an arrangement that’s what you both consensually want,” says Fleming.

COMPLEX WORDS
1. Definition:
A word made up of two or more morphemes. Contrast with simple word.
Complex words is all the word which consist of one freemorph and one or more boundmorph.
The complex word is the root word with either another stand alone word or with the attachment of a prefix or suffix.
For example : lock + able = lockable
or un + lock = unlock
Comlpex word may consist of (1) a base (or root) and one or more affixes (for example, quicker), or (2) more than one root in a compound (for example, blackbird).
«A morphologically complex word is semantically transparent if its meaning is obvious from its parts: hence ‘unhappiness’ is semantically transparent, being made up in a predictable fashion from ‘un,’ ‘happy,’ and ‘ness.’ A word like ‘department,’ even though it contains recognizable morphemes, is not semantically transparent. The meaning of ‘depart’ in ‘department’ is not obviously related to the ‘depart’ in ‘departure.’ It is semantically opaque.»
(Trevor A. Harley, The Psychology of Language: From Data to Theory. Taylor & Francis, 2001)
«Let us consider the complex word blender. What can we say about its morphology? One aspect we can mention is that it consists of two morphemes, blend and er. Besides, we can say that blend is the root, since it is not further analysable, and at the same time the base to which the suffix -er is attached. To conclude, if we carry out morphological analysis, we usually show what morphemes a word consists of and describe these morphemes in terms of their type.»
(Ingo Plag et al, Introduction to English Linguistics. Walter de Gruyer, 2007)
COMPLEX WORD is a word consisting of a base and one or more derivational elements: unlikely (un-, like, -ly); vitality (vit-, -al, -ity). In origin and structural type, there are four kinds of complex word in English: (1) Vernacular. Formed on ‘native’ principles, but including some long-established words of Latin, GREEK, and French background: darkness, womanhood, beefy, priestly. Such words may have equivalents in the GERMANIC LANGUAGES : English unmanly, German unmännlich. (2) Romance. Formed on Latinate principles. Many such words are structurally (though not phonologically) identical or similar in English and the Romance languages: English impossible, discrimination; French impossible, discrimination; SPANISH impossible, discriminación. (3) Greek. Formed on principles adapted from classical Greek through NEO-LATIN. Many such words are structurally similar in English and Greek: English dogmatic, magnetism, Greek dogmatikós, magnetismós. (4) Hybrid. A mix of the above: uncreative mixes vernacular un- with Latin cre- and -ative; ethically mixes Greek eth- and -ic with Latin -al and vernacular -ly. See COMBINING FORM, COMPOUND-COMPLEX WORD, DERIVATIONAL, PREFIX, SUFFIX, WORD-FORMATION.
Words in English presents a comprehensive account of present-day word formation in English. Starting with a discussion of some basic issues, including the definition of ‘word’, motivation, lexicalization, productivity, the relevance of historical information and the usefulness of dictionaries and other data-bases, the book then moves on to describe in detail a variety of prefixing, suffixing and compounding patterns — all illustrated with copious up-to-date examples. Other topics that are explored in-depth include diminutives, backformation and other effects of reanalysis, Latin and Greek based formations and sound symbolism.
Years spent editing articles written by attorneys (whose writing is purposefully vague) and physicians (whose writing is full of specialized language) have taught me the value of using simple words in place of complex ones.
The use of unfamiliar or complex terms interferes with comprehension and slows readers down. Readers may even skip terms they don’t understand, hoping to find their meaning in the rest of the sentence.
Readers are not impressed by the use of complex words; they’re frustrated by them. Take “use” and “utilize.” According to the Oxford Dictionaries, the word “use” means, “take, hold, or deploy (something) as a means of accomplishing a purpose or achieving a result.” While “utilize” means to “make practical and effective use of.” And though there is a distinction between the two words, there is rarely an occasion to use “utilize” instead of “use.”
2. A list complex terms
Here is a list of some other complex terms and their simpler alternatives.

Advantageous — helpful
Ameliorate — improve
Cognizant — aware
Commence — begin, start
Commensurate — equal
Consolidate — combine
Deleterious — harmful
Disseminate — issue, send
Endeavor — try
Erroneous — wrong
Expeditious — fast
Facilitate — ease, help
Inception — start
Implement — carry out
Leverage — use
Optimize — perfect
Prescribed — required
Proficiencies — skills
Promulgate — issue or publish
Proximity — near
Regarding — about
Remuneration — reward, payment
Subsequently — after or later
Although I try to use simpler words in my own writing, doing so is not always possible. Sometimes I need a complex word to communicate a more precise meaning. Other times, complex words cannot be avoided due to the subject matter. As a general rule, I use simpler words as the basis of my writing and save the more complex words for when they’re absolutely necessary—or if I’m trying to impress another editor.
The study reported here examined the manner in which children represent morphologically complex words in the lexicon. Children in grades 1 to 5 completed a fragment completion task to assess the priming effects of morphologically related words. Both inflected and derived words (e.g. needs and needy, respectively) were more effective primes than control words (e.g. needle) that share similar orthography and phonology with the target word (e.g. need). These effects were consistent across the developmental period studied. Further, equivalent priming effects from the inflected and derived forms suggest that these word types are represented similarly in the developing lexicon.
PMID: 18416867
[PubMed — indexed for MEDLINE]

Italian speakers tend to stress the second component of German morphologically complex words such as compounds and prefix verbs even if the first component is lexically stressed. To improve their prosodic phrasing an automatic pronunciation teaching method was developed based on auditory feedback of prosodically corrected utterances in the learners’ own voices. Basically, the method copies contours of F0, local speech rate, and intensity from reference utterances of a German native speaker to the learners’ speech signals. It also adds emphasis to the stress position in order to help the learners better recognise the correct pronunciation and identify their errors.
This study explored whether the length of a complex word modifies the role of morphological structure in lexical processing: Does morphological structure play a similar role in short complex words that typically elicit one eye fixation (e.g., eyelid) as it does in long complex words that typically elicit two or more eye fixations (e.g., watercourse)? Two eye movement experiments with short vs. long Finnish compound words in context were conducted to find an answer to this question. In Experiment 1, a first-constituent frequency manipulation revealed solid effects for long compounds in early and late processing measures, but no effects for short compounds. In contrast, in Experiment 2, a whole-word frequency manipulation elicited solid effects for short compounds in early and late processing measures, but mainly late effects for long compounds. A race model, incorporating a headstart for the decomposition route, in case whole-word information of complex words cannot be extracted in a single fixation can explain the pattern of results.
Keywords: Morphological processing; Eye movements; Word length; Finnish; Compound words
3. Parts of complex words
Complex/ˈkɒmpleks/
▶adjective
• 1 consisting of many different and connected parts.
• 2 not easy to understand; complicated.
• 3 Mathematics (of a number) containing both a real and an imaginary part.
▶noun
• 1 an interlinked system; a network.
■ a group of similar buildings or facilities on the same site.
• 2 Psychoanalysis a related group of repressed or partly repressed emotionally significant ideas which lead to abnormal mental states or behaviour.
■ informal a feeling of disproportionate anxiety about something.
• 3 Chemistry an ion or molecule in which one or more groups are linked to a metal atom by coordinate bonds.
▶verb Chemistry make (an atom or compound) form a complex with another.
– DERIVATIVES
complexation noun (Chemistry),
complexity noun (pl. complexities),
complexly adverb.
– ORIGIN C17 (as n.): from L. complexus, from complectere ‘embrace, comprise’, later assoc. with complexus ‘plaited’; the adjective is partly via Fr. complexe.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press.

On Simple Theories of a Complex World
by Willard Van Orman Quine
Written in 1960 for J. H. Woodger’s seventieth birthday. In company with other such papers, it appeared in «Synthese» (Volume 15, 1963), and afterward in J. R. Gegg and F. T. C. Harris, eds., «Form and Strategy in Science» (Dodrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1964). Subsequently reprinted in Quine’s own «The Ways of Paradox» (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1966).]
It is not to be wondered that theory makers seek simplicity. When two theories are equally defensible on other counts, certainly the simpler of the two is to be preferred on the score of both beauty and convenience. But what is remarkable is that the simpler of the two theories is generally regarded not only as the more desirable but also as the more probable. If two theories conform equally to past observations, the simpler of the two is seen as standing the better chance of confirmation in future observations. Such is the maxim of the simplicity of nature. It seems to be implicitly assumed in every extrapolation and interpolation, every drawing of a smooth curve through plotted points. And the maxim of the uniformity of nature is of a piece with it, uniformity being a species of simplicity.
Simplicity is not easy to define. But it may be expected, whatever it is, to be relative to the texture of a conceptual scheme. If the basic concepts of one conceptual scheme are derivative concepts of another, and vice versa, presumably one of two hypothesis could count as simpler for the one scheme and the other for the other. This being so, how can simplicity carry any peculiar presumption of objective truth? Such is the implausibility of the maxim of the simplicity of nature.
Corresponding remarks apply directly to the maxim of the uniformity of nature, according to which, vaguely speaking, things similar in some respects tend to prove similar in others. For again similarity, whatever it is, would seem to be relative to the structure of one’s conceptual scheme or quality space. Any two things, after all, are shared as members by as many classes as any other two things; degrees of similarity depend on which of those classes we weight as the more basic or natural.
Knowledge of morphologically complex words such as derived nominals and derived adjectives is a late linguistic attainment. Given the importance of these words for academic success, instructional programs are needed to ensure that children and adolescents are able to learn their meanings using appropriate strategies.
John Stonham introduces new data from the morphology of the Nuuchahnulth language of Vancouver Island, Canada. It is the first such study of any language within the Wakashan family and will prove an important tool for researchers in Native American languages and to theoretical linguists interested in the numerous complex morphological phenomena encountered in this language family. Notorious for its extremely complex morphological structure, Nuuchahnulth provides instances of a number of important theoretical issues which have arisen recently in morphological theory. These include (i) the nature and extent of incorporation, and specifically a wide range of types of incorporation-like properties; (ii) reduplication, including affix-triggered reduplication and the challenge which double reduplications in Nuuchahnulth pose for constraint-based approaches such as Optimality Theory; (iii) templatic morphological structures, utilized in a number of areas of Nuuchahnulth grammar and involving a number of patterns; and (iv) the issue of the status of the word itself, a long-standing debate in the linguistic literature.

4. Diagram of complex words:

Complex words

Affix word compound word

Stem word + an affix Made of two or more words
E.g. ice-cream, armchair
Prefix+stem Stem+suffix
Un+pleasant Good + ness
Unpleasant Goodness

This study examined to what extent advanced and beginning readers, including dyslexic readers of Dutch, make use of morphological access units in the reading of polymorphemic words. Therefore, experiments were carried out in which the role of singular root form frequency in reading plural word forms was investigated in a lexical decision task with both adults and children. Twenty-three adult readers, 37 8-year-old children from Grade 3, 43 11-year-old children from Grade 6, and 33 11-year-old dyslexic readers were presented with a lexical decision task in which we contrasted plural word forms with a high versus low frequency of the singular root form. For the adults, it was found that the accuracy and speed of lexical decision is determined by the surface frequency of the plural word form. The frequency of the constituent root form played a role as well, but in the low-frequency plural words only. Furthermore, a strong developmental effect regarding the accuracy and speed of reading plural word forms was found. An effect of plural word form frequency on word identification was evidenced in all groups.
The singular root form frequency also had an impact of the reading of the plural word forms. In the normal reading and dyslexic children, plurals with a high-frequency singular root form were read more accurately and faster than plurals with a low singular root frequency. It can be concluded that constituent morphemes have an impact on the reading of polymorphemic words. The results can be explained in the light of a word experience model leaving room for morphological constituency to play a role in the lexical access of complex words as a function of reading skill and experience and word and morpheme frequency.
from Applied Psycholinguistics

CONCLUSION

A word made up of two or more morphemes. Contrast with simple word.
Complex words is all the word which consist of one freemorph and one or more boundmorph.

The complex word is the root word with either another stand alone word or with the attachment of a prefix or suffix.
For example : lock + able = lockable
COMPLEX WORD is a word consisting of a base and one or more derivational elements: unlikely (un-, like, -ly); vitality (vit-, -al, -ity).

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Definition ……………………………………………………………………………… 1
2.A list complex terms ………………………………………………………………. 3
3.Parts of complex words ………………………………………………………….. 5
3.1. On simple Theories of a complex words …………………………….. 7
4. Diagram of complex words …………………………………………………….. 9
5. Conculsion …………………………………………………………………………… 12

created: sunny’s group

1.      COMPLEX WORDS

The words that were described were called “simple”, word;  “simple”  in this context means, “not composed of more than one grammatical unit “ , so that, for example, the word ‘care’ is simple while ‘careful’ and ‘careless’  are complex; ‘carefully’ and ‘carelessness’ are also complex, and composed of three grammatical units each.

Complex word are of two major types: words made from a basic steam word with the addition of an affix, and compound words, which are made of two independent English words (i.e. ‘ice-cream’, armchair’,) Affix words.

Affixes are of two sorts in English.

v  Prefixes

Which come before the stem (e.g. Prefix ‘un-’+stem ‘pleasant’, = ‘unpleasant’)                    

v  Suffixes

Which come after the stem (e.g. stem ‘good’ + suffix ‘-ness’ = ‘goodness’)

Affixes will have one of three possible effects on word stress:

The affix itself receivers the primary stress (e.g. ‘semi + circle’, ‘s3:k!’= semicircle, ‘semIs3:k!’).

The word is stressed just as if the affix was not there (e.g. ‘pleasant’ ‘Pleznt, unpleasant’, ‘^n’Pleznt)

The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is  shifted to a different syllable (e.g. ‘magnet’ mǽgnat, ‘magnetic’, mǽg’netik”.

2.      SUFFIXES

A suffix is a letter pattern that is fixed to the end of a word.

We will consentrate on those which are common and productive. That is applied to a considerable number of stems and could be applied to more to make English word. The suffixes are referred to in their spelling form.

Ø  Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves

The primary stress is on the first syllable of the suffix. If the stem consists of more than on syllable there will be a secondary stress on one of the syllables of the stem.

Ex : ‘Japan’     ʤә’pӕn

The primary syllable is on the last syllable, but we add stress-carrying suffix ‘-ese’ the primary stress is on the suffix and the secondary stress is placed not on the second syllable but on the first.

Ex : ‘Japanese’ , ʤӕpә’ni:z

            ‘-ain’                : ‘ entertain’ ,entә’teɪn

            ‘-ee’                 : ‘ refugee’ ,refjʊ’ʤi:

            ‘ –ese’              : ‘ portuguese’ ,pᴐ:ʧә’gi:z

Ø  Suffixes that do not affect stress placement

‘-able’              : ‘comfort’  ‘kʌmfәt ; ‘comfortable’  ‘kʌmfɪәbl

‘-age’               : ‘anchor’  ‘ӕɳkә ; ‘anchorage’ ‘ӕɳkrɪʤ

‘-en’                 : ‘wide’  ‘waɪd’ ; ‘wide’ ‘waɪdn

‘-ful’                : ‘wonder’ ‘wʌndә ; ‘wonderful’  ‘wʌndәfl

‘-ing’                : ‘amaze’  ә’meɪz ; ‘amazing’ ә’meɪzɪɳ

‘-ish’                : ‘devil’  ‘devl ; ‘devilish’ ‘devlɪʃ

This is the rule for adjectives, verbs with stems of stems of more than one syllable always have the stress on the syllable immediately preceding ‘ ish’

Ex :      ‘replenish’       ri’pleniʃ

            ‘demolish’       dɪ’molɪʃ

Ø  Suffixes that influence stress in stem

The primary stress on the last syllable of the stem.

      ‘-ial’                 : ‘proverb’  ‘prɒvɜ:b  ; ‘proverbial’  prә’vɜ:biәl

      ‘-ion’               : ‘perfect’   ‘pɜ:fɪkt ; ‘perfection’  pә’fekʃn

      ‘-ious’              : ‘injure’  ‘ɪnʤә ; ‘injurious’  ɪn’ʤʊәriәs

      ‘-ty’                 : ‘tranquil’  ‘trӕɳkwɪl ; ‘tranquillity’  trӕɳ’kwɪlɪti

The suffixes ‘-ance’, ‘-ant’ and ‘-ary’

If the final syllable of the stem contains a long vowel or diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant, that syllable receives the stress.

‘-ance’                   : ‘importance’  ɪm’pᴐ:tns

‘-ant’                      : ‘consonant’   ‘kɑnsnәnt

‘-ary’                     : ‘military’  ‘mɪlɪtri

Here is a list of commonly used suffixes. Knowing these suffixes will help you to:

(1) work out the meaning of words

• -able / -ible when added to a verb, mean ‘can be done’; e.g. correctable, edible, unmistakable
• -ise / -ize are used to make verbs from nouns, and mean to change something or to go through a process; e.g. accessorise, apologise, initialise, synchronise
• -ology implies the study of a subject; e.g. biology, sociology, psychology
• -ness is used to make nouns from adjectives, and means to be something; e.g. airsickness, assertiveness, blindness, cleanliness

• -ment (nouns) e.g. development, environment
• -ity (nouns) e.g. responsibility, prosperity, stability, stupidity
• -hood (abstract nouns) e.g. childhood, manhood
• -ship (abstract nouns) e.g. hardship
• -ive (adjectives) e.g. creative, alternative, comprehensive, qualitative
• -less (adjectives) e.g. careless, brainless, clueless, endless
• -al (adjectives and nouns) e.g. comical, cultural, historical, sexual, anal
• -ify (verbs) e.g. amplify, beautify, clarify, dehumidify, intensify

3.      PREFIXES

Stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those for words without prefixes. That is because the effect of prefixes on stress do not have the comparative regularity, independence and predictability of suffixes, and there is no prefix of one or two syllables that always carries primary stress.

4.      COMPOUND WORDS

Its main characteristic is that it can be analyzed into two (some can be more) English words. As woth the many of the distinctions being made in connection with stress, there are areas of uncertainty. For example; ‘photograph’ may be divided into two words, yet we usually do not regard it as compound, but as an affix words.

Some ways in writing compound words;

1. Written as one word, e.g. armchair, sunflower
2. Separated by hyphen, e.g. gear-change, fruit-cake
3. Separated by a space, e.g. desk lamp, battery charger

The third way causes confusion among the foreign learners because there is no clear dividing line between two-word compounds and pairs of words that simply happen to occur together quite frequently.

A few rules are given although there are not completely reliable. They are as the following;

1.      Words which do not receive primary stress normally have secondary stress. Normally, two-word compounds (two nouns) has the stress on the first element;

Typewriter – ‘taɪpraɪtә                       Suitcase – ‘sju:tkeɪs

Car-ferry – ‘ka:feri                              tea-cup – ‘ti:kΛp

Sunrise – ‘sΛnraɪz                             

2.      Compounds with an adjectival first element and the –ed morpheme at the end receive stress instead on the second element.

(Given in spelling only)

Bad-‘tempered

Half-‘timbered

Heavy-‘handed

3.      Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form also tend to have final stress:

(Given in spelling only)

Three-‘wheeler

Second-‘class

Five-‘finger

4.      Compounds functioning as adverb are usually final-stressed;

(Given in spelling only)

Head-‘first

North-‘East

Down ‘stream

5.       Compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first element take stress;

(Given in spelling only)

Down-‘grade

Back-‘pedal

Ill-‘treat

5.      VARIABLE STRESS

Stress pattern is not always fixed and unchanging in English word. Stress position may vary for one of two  reason:either as a result of the stress on the other words occurring next to the word in question , or because not all speakers of RP agree on the placement of stress in some words. The main effect is that the stress on a final –stressed compound tends to move to the preceding syllable if the following word begins with a strongly stressed syllable.

EX:

 bad –’tempered     but      a ‘bad- tempered ’teacher

half-’timbered        but       a ‘half-timbered  ‘teacher

heavy-’handed       but       a ’heavy-handed ‘sentence

The second is not a serious problem, but one that foreign learners should be aware of.  A  well-known example is ‘controversy’, which is pronounced by some speakers as  ‘kantrәv3:si           ’  and by others as kәn’travәsi; it would be quite wrong to say that one version was correct and one incorrect. Other example of different possibilities are ‘ice-cream’, ‘kilometer’ (‘kIlәmi:tә or kI’lamI).

WORD-CLASS PAIRS

There are several dozen pairs of two-syllable words with identical spelling which differ from each other in stress placement, apparently according two word class (noun, verb or adjective). When a pair of prefix-plus-stem word exists ,both them of which are spelt identically, one of which is a verb and the other is the either a noun or an adjective, the stress will be placed on the second syllable of the noun or adjective.

EXAMPLE :

• ‘export ’  ‘ekspƆ:t (N), Ik’spƆ:t (V)
• ‘import’ ‘‘ImpƆ:t (N), Im’pƆ:t (V)
• ‘present’ ‘preznt (N,A), prI’zent (V)
• ‘protest’ ‘prә⋃test (N), prә’test (V)

• ‘subject’  ‘sΛbd3Ikt (N), sәb’d3ekt (V)