An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure (2nd edition)

by Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy

What exactly are words? Are they the things that get listed in dictionaries, or are they the basic units of sentence structure? Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy explores the implications of these different approaches to words in English. He explains the various ways in which words are related to one another, and shows how the history of the English language has affected word structure.

Topics include: words, sentences and dictionaries; a word and its parts (roots and affixes); a word and its forms (inflection); a word and its relatives (derivation); compound words; word structure; productivity; and the historical sources of English word formation.

Requiring no prior linguistic training, this textbook is suitable for undergraduate students of English - literature or language - and provides a sound basis for further linguistic study.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language, Reference, Academic, Textbooks

168 pages, Hardcover

First published November 20, 2001

Reviews

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the morphology of the English language. It focuses on features of English, avoiding the controversial points. It also uses as little jargon as possible.

[p · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book doesn't argue inductively and it's killing me

[Morten · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mexican university where I used to teach wanted me to follow an inappropriate syllabus and use grossly outdated textbooks for an introductory course on English morphology. So I went online and found this gem on Amazon and designed my own course around it. I think it went pretty well, and my students seemed to think so, too. Of course, I let the main campus believe I was following their joke of a plan to the letter. After I resigned, the professor that took over from me went with the course I created and appropriated my materials, including my exams.

At only 160 pages, the entire book could be covered in the allotted 16 weeks, and the readings and exercises didn't overburden the students, though the latter was the least of my concerns. Even though they all spoke English as a second language, they had no problem understanding the concepts - even the more intricate ones. Carstairs-McCarthy cuts to the chase, and his style of writing lacks the soporific impenetrability of typical classroom tomes.

My only qualm was that there is only one version of the book, and it includes the answers to the exercises, so I had to give the students copies of all of the pages save the answers, which put me in violation of several international laws, I'm sure. Then, because the campus is about a mile from the US border and many of the students have USPS post office boxes, at least one student ordered a bona fide copy, and thereby gained access to all of the answers. Any talk of honor was moot because that bunch were some plagiarizing fools, and the university did little to discourage it.

[Antariksa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very accessible book for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the workings of English words and phrases. The excellent thing about this book is that it does not seek to simplify and present a dumbed-down version of morphology. Instead, the readers are persuaded to navigate through the complex world of morphology by following through the explanations. It's not the kind of book that you could just skim, but the one that should be read like a story book. As a consequence, it tends to get mightily repetitive.

[pəˈteɪtəʊ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Has this book been revised before being published? There are mistakes a child wouldn't make.
Why is there to + v.ing in places where it should be to + inf.?
And why is there the same words written two times after each other like (that that)?
And if I can't answer the exercise by myself after reading the chapter then there's no point of such a book.
My professor is way better than that...

[Stamen Parushev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to English Morphology.

[Sonia Bithi]

i think so,its very important for me.

[Mohamed Zayed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book!

[Ahmed Hendawy]

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