MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HA NOI OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI HOA ENGLISH SUFFIXES AND THEIR PRODUCTIVENESS IN WORD FORMATION (HẬU TỐ TIẾNG ANH VÀ TÍNH SẢN SINH CỦA CHÚNG TRONG CẤU TẠO TỪ) M.A.THESIS Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Huong Ha Noi, 2016 DECLARATION I hereby declare that no part of the enclosed Master Thesis has been copied or reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Hanoi, 15th June 2016 Approved by Candidate Nguyễn Thị Hoa i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My study has been only completed successfully with the assistance and guidance supports and assistance from a variety of people Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Huong for her valuable suggestions, academic guidance on my study She has spent her valuable time on the correction of my paper Under her guidance, I have made much progress, and this composition is mainly the result of her useful advice and help Next, I am also grateful to all my teachers at the Post-graduate Faculty, Hanoi Open University for giving me the best environment to fulfill my thesis Furthermore, my thanks also go to my friends with their idea, material, and enthusiasm Last but by no mean least, I wish to acknowledge the support and invaluable help of my family while the work was in progress Definitely, I will not able to anything without their help Hanoi, June 2016 Nguyễn Thị Hoa ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.2.1 Aims of the study 1.2.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Method of the study 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Literature review 2.2 Theoretical background 2.2.1 The English word structure 2.2.1.1 The word : General problems for definition 2.2.1.2 The morpheme 10 2.2.1.3 Types of words and morphemes 12 2.2.2 The English word formation 14 2.2.2.1 Definition 14 2.2.2.2 Productivity 14 2.2.2.3 Way of word – formation 15 2.3 English suffixes 26 2.3.1 Definition 26 2.3.2.Main features of the English suffixes 28 2.3.2.1.Class- changing suffixes 28 iii 2.3.2.2 Class- maintaining suffixes 29 2.3.2.3 Stress of suffixes 32 2.3.3 The classification of English suffixes 33 2.3.3.1 The classification of English suffixes according to their origins 36 2.3.3.2 The classification of English suffixes according to their functions 39 2.3.3.3 The classification of English suffixes according to Hulban 41 2.4 Nominal suffixes 41 2.4.1 Verbal suffixes 45 2.4.2 Adjectival suffixes 46 2.4.3 Adverbial suffixes 48 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 50 3.1 Research questions 50 3.2 Research Design 50 3.3 Instruments 55 3.4 Processing and analysis data 55 CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION 57 4.1 Finding 57 4.1.1 The productive suffixes in English 57 4.1.2 Some problems and solutions for the suffixes 60 4.2 Implication for teaching 67 4.2.1 The target population 67 4.2.1.1 English language proficiency level 67 4.2.1.2 Motivation and attitude 67 4.2.1.3 Language needs 68 4.2.2 The acquisition of English productive suffixes 70 iv 4.2.3 Teaching strategies 71 4.2.3.1 Presenting 71 4.2.3.2 Practice 72 4.2.3.3 Expansion of vocabulary 73 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 74 REFERENCES 75 v CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale As we know, there has been a demand for the learning of English all over the world It is frequently used in nearly every field from communication, economics, and technology to sports, games and so forth English is also widely used in literature This is the reason why English is a now compulsory subject in most schools and tertiary institutions However, both English teaching and learning still leave something to be desired When learning English, Vietnamese students cope with a number of such as grammar, sounds, vocabulary, etc Words, therefore, play a very important role Wallace points out: “Not being able to finds the words you need to express yourself is the most frustrating experience in speaking another language” As a matter of fact, it is the experience of most language teachers that the single, biggest component of a language is vocabulary No matter how well students learn grammar, no matter how well the sounds of languages are mastered, without words, communication totally How to use English, and yet, students still have not got a good grasp of the system of words and good methods in learning it words correctly and effectively seem to be one of the most difficult and complicated matter for English Learners suffixes are extremely common in English but they cause so many problems for students: how to add them to words, how to pronounce words when there is suffixation and so forth This is the reason why I choose this topic and carry out a thorough scrutiny in English suffixes and their productiveness 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.2.1 Aims of the study This study aims at clarifying english suffixes and their productiveness in word formation 1.2.2 Objectives of the study - Systematizing, clarifying and carrying out a thorough scrutiny into productive suffixes - Discovering the Vietnamese learners’ mistakes, finding out solutions and helping students get a deeper understanding of English suffixes in general and English suffixes in particular 1.3 Research questions 1) What is the role of suffixes in English word formation? 2) What are the types of English suffixes? 3) Which suffixes are productive ? 4) What problems are caused by suffixes in English for Vietnamese learners? 1.4 Scope of the study The thesis refers briefly to the English and words as well as ways of forming words.The work consists of two parts In the first part of this thesis I am going to provide the theoretical preliminaries First, the productivity of suffixes will be discussed in general Then I will deal with the category of gender Next, I will introduce suffixes –ette and –ess I will mention etymology of these suffixes and words that contain them Furthermore, this part contains some information about the main sources used: Oxford English Dictionary online (OED) and British National Corpus (BNC) In the practical part, I will present data of my work: the list of selected words with feminine suffixes –ette and – ess which I downloaded from the corpus and their etymology found in the OED I will mention when the word was first used in English and if it exists in Vietnamese I will add examples of quotations that I have found in the BNC More over, the thesis goes into the productiveness of English suffixes which are most often used and most easily used by native speakers and especially foreign students The goal of this thesis is to prove whether selected suffixes are still productive in English or not and the thesis points out some mistakes Vietnamese learners usually make 1.5 Method of the study Linguistics has many ways and methods to research into certain matters There are synchronic approach and diachronic approach In this thesis, I follow the diachronic approach dealing mainly with the matters of the present day suffixes The thesis goes into the matters related to word formation in English in general and English suffixes in particular There is a careful discussion as well I look into almost all the aspects of English suffixes and the problems for teaching as well as learning I collect materials from books, newspaper, internet and use descriptive and analysis methods to make them clearer By means of employing this combined approach, the researcher obtains the advantages of both quantitative and qualitative methods to overcome their limitations 1.6 Design of the study My thesis, system of delivered materials for a more systematic study will concentrate on the following: - Part is the production which presents rationale, aims, objectives, research questions, scope, methods, design of the study - Part is divided into chapters: • Chapter introduces a brief review of suffixes presence in the English word formation • Chapter is methodology which describes the processes or procedures I have done the study • Chapter covers finding and discussions about the main focus, their productiveness in English word formation and Vietnamese student’s problems in using English suffixes • Chapter refers to implication and strategies for successful instructions of the English suffixes and their productiveness - Part is the conclusion, which sum up the issues recorded and makes some suggestions for further study For examples: homeable =.> homeless Hopefulness => hopeless Moreover, suffixes can cause learners to make mistakes in using them because of special funtions.In general, suffixes not change part of speech when added to the base In addition, VietNamese learners can find it is difficult to learn suffixes can cause some problems when it comes to spelling them correctly Spelling rules can sometimes be a little confusing so I've included this thesis to help those who sometimes have difficulty knowing how to add a suffix Suffixes change words but the way in which they are added often cause spelling problems for those learning English I'll admit it, even native English speakers find the spelling rules for suffixes a little challenging sometimes We'll start with the suffix spelling rules Most of the time the spelling of the word and the suffixes simply stay exactly the same However, there are some rules below that should prove beneficial for learning suffixes RULE: - When a word ends with a consonant and the suffix begins with aconsonant, just add the suffix with no spelling changes entertainment = entertain + ment advertisement = advertise + ment regretful = regret + ful RULE: - For most words ending in a single consonant you need to double the last letter when you add suffixes This is especially true for one syllable words! run + ing = running fun + y = funny • Advertise 62 • Beginner • Begins • Beneficial • Benefit • Bookmark RULE: - When the one syllable word ends with more than one consonant, the last letter is NOT doubled start + ing = starting ring + ing = ringing RULE: - For words with more than one syllable and end with the letter "L" you must double the "L" when adding suffixes reveal + ing = revealling cancel + ed = cancelled RULE:5 - Words that are stressed on the last syllable and end with a single consonant, you need to double the last letter refer + ing = referring begin + er = beginner RULE:6 - Words that are NOT stressed on the last syllable, you NOT need to double the last letter benefit + ed = benefited offer + ing = offering RULE: - The"Y" to "I" and the silent "E" Words ending in a consonant plus "Y" = the "Y" is changed to "I" when adding the suffix When adding the suffix 'ing' to a word ending in "Y" = you keep the "Y." lonely + ness = loneliness 63 happy + ness = happiness copy + ing = copying Silent "E" words end with a consonant and an "E." Words like love, like, and hope you drop the "E" when you add the suffix pimple + y = pimply simple + y = simply In order to make these problem clear I have a very careful discussion of questions for my students 1.Is “ less- ness” distinguish a suffix ? Why? 2.What are difficulties in using suffixes you think? 3.Which suffixes are confusing ? ( easily misunderstood? ) 4.Do you think “ hopeless” and “hopeness” are easily misunderstood? 5.Can you translate “ He drives very carelessly”? Although the above mentioned problems may not be the problems of all learners,my aim is to focus on the most common difficulties In the next part, I will try to present some suggested solutions to overcome those difficulties 4.1.2.1 Solutions From the questinaire I can draw out a conclusion that most of the suffixes in English.They find it impossible to add them easily to other words.They can not have a feeling for language that is why they dare not add suffixes confidently In general most learning of English we likely to use the suffixes words they already know : beautiful, wonderful,international, national Only very excellent students can add suffixes correctly They can see them in books and magazines.The satistics show that at least 80 % not understand them 64 A good solution to solve the problems is learning and using English suffixes is that we have to systermatize almost all those suffixes We should make consolidation tables scientifically for common suffixes and confusing ones such as “ less, ness” and so forth.Moreover there must be suitable exercises for students to and scientific and systematic lessions on suffixes and as well as suffixes and so on It is also advisable to have seminars on these problems and short talks or dicussions for each suffixes when they appear often in a lesson or text Obviously, without words we can not express our ideas effectively However , the ability to memorize thousands of words doen not mean having a good mastery of the English language.The most important thing is that we must know how to use the word correctively Therefore, We have to study not only the words in context and the way to use them correctly and in various kind of situations and style The facing the learners problems in studying productive suffixes have been discussed in the previous part Here I would like to present some suggested solutions Learners may have different ways to enlarge their vocabulary including using dictionaries, learning from their teachers , friends or guessing, ete.However, in this paper , I would like to focus on the solutions that learners can apply to overcome the difficulties by themselves In many cases, dictionaries can be of great help to learners.The importance of using a dictionary in learning suffixes words is expressed by Oxfort English.When you are in doubt about whether the final letter of the suffixes is dropped, how the suffix is spelled or whether the words is hyphenated, look it up in your dictionary to be certain” 65 In addition, memorizing the complex distribution of the words is very necessary because it is a very good way to avoid mistakes when using them.Take an example of the suffixes “ al” we know that the suffixes “al” and “ble” in some cases such as : Sophistical – sophisticable Habitual – habitable However, those words like the above mentioned are not numerous Thus, learners can memorize them without much difficulty Therefore, a good dictionary is extremely helpful for learners when studying suffixed words to enrich their vocabulary However, relying totally on a dictionary is not good for the learners since it will lead to the habit of being lazy at thinking and reduce the ability to predict the meaning of the word In certain contexts, the meaning of the words can be guessed and translated in a move appropriate way than using their meanings in dictionaries Thus, when the words are predictable, a dictionary is just some kinds of helps In conclusion, there are no perfect way to overcome all the problems Productive suffixes can only be learned with the efforts of learners From my point of view, using dictionary and trying to predict are two advisable ways in enriching learners’ vocabulary I have pointed out problems facing learners as wellsome suggested solutions to overcome them In the last chapter, implications teaching productive suffixes are presented 66 4.2 Implication for teaching 4.2.1 The target population 4.2.1.1 English language proficiency level Nowadays, English has become an important subject taught in many schools (even in some primary schools in big cities, pupils are required to learn English) Primary and secondary pupils however are not the target population for teaching English productive suffixes because at this level, new words are often learnt by heart Only at the end of high school and in Universities( when learners have the ability to over generalize things), It is encouraged to teach those productive suffixes Therefore, in general, it could be said that on entering high schools, students’ knowledge of English is only at initial proficiency level At this level, their vocabulary in limited so, endings of words are often omitted confused or distorted and most of their utterances are isolated words or short phrases.Besides, their pronunciation and way of expressions are deeply influenced by the mother tongue 4.2.1.2 Motivation and attitude In general, students, who specialize in natural science fields not consider foreign language an important subject Due to this attitude, they not concentrate on learning foreign languages However, From the time of the “ open- door- policy”, people attitude of learning a foreign language, especially English , has changed” 67 Nowadays, people from young to old rush up to English teaching centers with the hope to master English skill which can latter enable them to get a good job in joint venture companies Thus, learners have changed their old idea obout foreign languages since they are aware of its importance English is now a primary and important subject, hence, they develop a high motivation.This is a very good factor for the learning of English as motivation always plays an important part in language learning as well as with other subjects To summarize, a high motivation and positive attitude towards foreign languages will help learner to study successfully 4.2.1.3 Language needs The target population of this study is all learners specializing in English and their needs are almost the same and can be summarized according to Ingram Wylie (1982) on the basic of “ Australian second language proficiency ratings” A Speaking Learners are expected to be able to speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements They are handled with ome confidence, but not with facility needed for different social stituations related to current family event, work and biographical information They can usually use elementary constructions with case but not have thorough control of the vocabulary and grammar in long and complicated structures 68 Besides, cohension and discourse are to be secured in short and simple utterances, their accent nd intontion, though may be faulty, and are required to be intelligible In general, earners need to be able to talk about everyday ctivities and matters to set up noml relationship with native speakers B Listening Wyle says: “ the requirement for this skill is that they are able to understand in routine social situations and limited work situation” Learners can get gist of almost all the conversations regarding everyday matters, of course, from time to time they are likely to misinterpret some utterances or want them to be repeated or explained particularly when specialized registered items are extensively used They should be able to see beyond surface meaning to understand the subtle implications concering culture They must cope with the lower range of the normal native speaker’s talking rates but, of course, cannot understand native speakers talking to each other, especially on the radio or TV C Writing Concerning this skill, students are also expected to be able to satisfy social demand and limited work requirements As dealt with above, they are not able to cope with the common written form that are engaged in special skills, they can write simple or perhaps rather long sentences and manage to write in different ways 69 D Reading Ingram Wile (1982:18) says: “ the students need an ability to read simple proses, in a form equivalent to typescript or printing on subjects within a familiar context” Therefore, learners are required to be good at reading siple structured literary or other texts that not assume ability to handle complicated patterns of discourse or specialist register 4.2.2 The acquisition of English productive suffixes According to Politer (1970) “ The problem of English productive suffixes and English vocabulary learning , in general, is invariably the possibility of some kinds of confusion” Three paper-and-pencil measures were administered to students in fourth, sixth, and eighth grades to assess different aspects of their knowledge of English derivational suffixes Children appear to develop a rudimentary knowledge of derivational morphology—the ability to recognize a familiar stem in a derivative—before fourth grade Knowledge of the syntactic properties of derivational suffixes appears to increase through eighth grade Knowledge of the distributional properties of suffixes also increases, with sixth-grade students showing an increase in overgeneralization errors parallel to that found for inflectional suffixes in much younger children The research reported herein was supported by the National Institute of Education under Contract NIE-400-81-0030 and by the U.S Office of Educational Research and Improvement under Cooperative Agreement OEG 0087-C1001 to the Center for the Study of Reading 70 4.2.3 Teaching strategies 4.2.3.1 Presenting Before presenting new lexical items, it is helpful for teacher to remember the following: • Whenever possible, techers should present the new words in spoken from first, and only when your students can pronounce them well introduce the written form Otherwise, they may pronounce English words incorrectly and it is very difficult to get rid of this habit • Teachers should try to present new words in meaningful contexts, never separately in a bilingual word list • Revision is vital Thus, new words must be put into practice till learners can use them appropriately These are some guidance for teachers in teaching new words with productive suffixes And now for the ways to present • Showing meaning of a new lexical item In general, there are four main ways to show the meaning They are: - Using visual aids (objects, pictures, drawing, charts, maps, diagrams, actions, performance) - Using situation ( real situation, created situation) - Using verbal means (definition, language context, synonyms and antonyms, translation, detailed description or examples) - Combining different techniques at the same time (all the above mentioned) In short, depending on the feature of the lexical item to be taught – concrete or abstract, its grammatical function noun, verb, adjective, 71 etc, and the learners’ level, teacher can choose or develop suitable subways from these techniques to show its meaning • Showing forms of new lexical items: In fact, when showing a new lexical item orally, the teacher has already presened its pronunciation The following will suggest an order of some technique in which its spelling is introduced - Draw a picture on the board to show what the word mean - Say one or two sentences in which the word appears - Get the class to repeat the word then whole sentence in chorus two or three times - Write the word or the sentence if necessary on the board - Ask learners to translate it into Vietnamese - Give more examples to show and consolidate how word is used - Ask questions using the words force out their full answers with the words - Ask learners to copy the word in their note books Thus, by following these steps, teachers can present a new item effectively 4.2.3.2 Practice Learners will able to use lexical item appropriately if they are given enough practice in different context The practice is often done in three stages: Stage 1: Controlled practice 72 This stage is aimed at helping learners be able to reproduce the forms and consolidate the use of the recent – presented word It can be done in form of activities such as: Matching, Odd – man – out, Grouping, Arrangement, Blank – filling, Substitution Stage 2: Guided practice This is aimed at giving learners chances to use the new word in less controlled context At the end of this stage, they can use it appropriately in speaking and writing There are a lot of activities for this stage, such as: Replacement, longer – gap – filling/ paragraph; Re expression/ paraphrase; sentence making; story; text; new retelling or summarizing; translation; guided description Stage : Free practice In this stage, learners are free use the new words to express their ideas in communication They can table; interview; discuss; exchange opinion with each other in pairs or group This is final stage of teaching a new word 4.2.3.3 Expansion of vocabulary When learners come across a new word, they are likely to be interested in learning other related word, this is a natural opportunity for vocabulary expansion In teaching vocabulary, the teachers should help them to expand their vocabulary whenever it is possible There are some possible ways for doing this such as presenting related words: Topic words : antonyms/ synonyms: affixes: word – games and compounding 73 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION A brief summary of the thesis and main conclusions There is a number of types morphemes as well as words in English The suffixes play an important role in the classification of morphemes If is also significant in classifying words There is a variety of suffixes from productive to nonproductive ones The most productive are “ment, ship, al “ and so on However it is not often easy to add suffixes freely to words because there is restriction and also because we are not native speakers of English Apart from that some are used by British people some are not For instance The British say “ impractical” but Australians say “unpractical” For teacher it is important to relate their research to their teaching In their study the winter deals with a number of problem faced by student concerning English suffixes their productiveness and put forth some teaching implications Suggestions for further study Due to the requirements of the M.A research, I am not an exhaustive list and study of all English suffixes Thus, for further study, the following aspects will be taken into consideration: - The meaning of common suffixes - The usage of common suffixes - The productive suffixes - The non- productive suffixes In conclusion, this study is a great effort concerning vocabulary but mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable Thus, all comments and criticism from the teachers are welcome to better it 74 REFERENCES English materials 1.Antrushina GB And other , 1895, English Lexicology Moscow Higher Publishing House 2.Arnold I.V, 1986, The English word 3.Azar, B.S (1983) “ Understanding and using English grammar” New Jerey: pentice- Hall 4.Collin Cobuild (2005) , Collins Cobuild Active English Grammar” Heinle and heinle Publishers 5.Ginzburg R S 1966 A course in Moderm English Lexicology Moscow Higher school Publishing House Gesddes and Grossets (1994), “ New English dictionary and Thesaurus”, Geddes and Grossets Ltd 7.Fourth Course (1986) , “ Health Grammar and Composition”, D.C Health and company I S P Nation (1990), “ Teaching and learning vocabulary “, New busy house John Eastwood (1994) “ Oxford guide of English Grammar” – Oxford University Press 10.Peter Roach (1998) “ English phonetics and phonology” Cambridge University Press 11 L G Alexnder (1994) “ right and wrong word”, Longman 12.Laurie Bauer (1983) “ English word formation” Cambridge textbook in linguistics Vietnamese material 75 13.Ban, Diệp Quang and Thung, Hoàng Văn (1991) “Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt” Nhà xuất giáo dục 14 Cẩn, Nguyễn Tài (1975), “Ngữ pháp tiếng viêt” NXB THCN 15 Giáp, Nguyễn Thiện (1996), “Từ nhận diện tiếng việt” 16 Phụng, Bùi (1993) “Từ điển Việt Anh” Nhà xuất giáo dục Sources from Internet 17 http://www.occurapid.com/journal 18 http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/journal 19 http://www.capital.state.tx.ú/resources/glossary/flo.html 20 http://www.uaknow.edu/library/instruction/glossary.html 21 http://resources/creating-threadprefixes-containing-images.1648/ 76 ... listeners These different definitions, can lead us to the conclusion that they are bound to be strongly dependent upon the line of approach, the aim the scholar has in view For a comprehensive