June 2004

1. What does arbitrary mean in reference to a lexeme? - LEXEME is an abstract unit of vocabulary
arbitrarily (i.e. conventionally) chosen to stand for the whole of the paradigm (lexical or
inflectional). It appears in a dictionary in its citation form as the entry word, e.g. SEEM stands for
seem, seems, seeming, seemed; go, goes, going, went, gone all realize the lexeme GO etc. The
term lexeme also embraces items which are composite, i.e. which consist of more than one
word-form, e.g. multiword verbs (such as to live up to), phrasal verbs (such as let down) and
idioms (such as leave somebody in the cold). Lexemes are the basic contrastive units of
vocabulary.
2. In the following examples say whether we are dealing with transparent or opaque lexemes:
beautiful opaque, brewery- transparent, plentiful-opaque, kitten-opaque?
3. All part-of-speech classes can be input material to the process of conversion. Illustrate. - shave
in he needs a shave (verb> noun), dear in don't dear me (adjective> verb), soldier in he soldiered
his way through the crowd (noun> verb), floor in she floored her grandmother by asking her that
(noun> verb).
April 2004
1. How many orthographic words are there in the following example: Theres no doubt that the
motor-car often brings out a mans worst qualities. 13
2. Opaque or transparent? warlike o, strawberry-o, bakery-t, duplicated-t, hotter-t?, bitter-o
3. What is exponence in morphology? Illustrate. - Exponence is a term for realization. It can be
case that single morphological property is realized by several morphs (/s/, /z/, /iz/ for plural) or
that a number of different morphological properties are realized in a single morph (present
tense, third person, singular). The morphs are therefore the exponents of the properties.
4. Words: meet, v. and fly, v. have different grammatical valency. Demonstrate. meet + DO
(meet the deadline), meet+adverb (meet soon) fly+preposition+O
5. What is hyponymy? Illustrate. - Some call hyponymy inclusion, which refers to class
membership, e.g. rose, pansy, violet, bluebell, carnation, primrose, daisy, lily, lavender, tulip,
lilac, poppy, daffodil, dandelion, forget-me-not are included in flower, oak, willow, walnut, plane,
ash, poplar, palm, fir, beech, I elder, pine, birch, chestnut, elm are included in trees; . sparrow,
lark, eagle, peacock, crow, hawk, stork, robin, nightingale, owl, swallow, woodpecker, parrot are
all included in birds.
September 2003
1. Say if the following words are simple or complex. State the number of morphemes of which
the words consist. career-related complex, 3; resource-rich complex, 3; self-possession
complex, 3; musicianship complex, 3
2. What is a superfix? Illustrate. - Superfix or suprafix refers to suprasegmental internal
modification of a base (export and export).
June 2003, January 2004, April 2003, October 2002, October 2003, June 2002, April 2002, September
2002, October 2002, June 2001
1. Complex or simple? Morphemes? tenth-complex, 2; wealth simple, 1; untreatable complex,
3;
2. What is the minimal number of members that constitute a paradigm? 2
3. Apply substitution test to show that the idioms are semantically simplex: a wet blanket, slow
coach, scratch your head, kick the bucket
4. Complex or simple? Morphemes? killer-whale, honeymooner, sophisticated
5. Check if the meaning relation of hyponymy holds between the members of the following pairs
of words: woman-grown up no; gateau-cake yes, clatter-noise yes, basket-container yes
6. There are nouns with dual gender. Illustrate. - artist, cook, criminal, doctor, enemy, fool,
foreigner, friend, guest, inhabitant, librarian, musician, neighbour, novelist, parent, person,
professor, servant, speaker, student, teacher, writer
7. What is alternative term for paradigmatic axis of language structure? selectional, for lexical
its combinatory
8. Name 2 British publishing houses which are famous for publishing dictionaries.
9. Give 6 examples of back-derived verbs in English. sight-see, head-hunt, mind-read, baby-sit,
house-break, housekeep, tape-record, sky-dive, stage-manage, proof-read
10. What is a calque? Give 2 examples. - CALQUE is a name for a translation loan. It is a word or
expression which is a result of literal translation from another language. The input parts are
English but the word-formation pattern of another language is followed, e.g. chain-smoker is a
literal translation of the German word Kettenraucher (but notice that chain-drinker is formed by
analogy and is not a loan); (it) goes without saying is a literal translation of the French expression
cela va sans dire.
11. What is complementary distribution? Give examples. - COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION refers
to the situation when two morphs never occur in the same position in certain contexts, e.g. the
negative prefix im- occurs before bases starting with the sounds /p/ or /b/, e.g. improbable,
impartial, impatient, impenetrable, imbalance and the prefix ir- precedes the bases starting
with /r/, e.g. irregular, irreplaceable, irreproachable, irresistible, irresolute. A vice versa situation
is not possible, e.g. . irpossible, . imregular. These two morphs divide the contexts between
them, they are contextually conditioned. and we say that they are in complementary distribution
(the occurrence of one morph excludes the occurrence of the other in the same position).
12. Name 2 books on English morphology written by English authors.
13. Name 2 books on English morphology written by Yugoslav authors.