Rival morphemic parses in a 9th-grade workshop
In a 9th-grade morphemics workshop, four cards show words and rival parses: переписчик - пере-пис-чик vs перепис-чик; подснежник - под-снеж-ник vs подснеж-ник; пришкольный - при-школь-н-ый vs пришколь-н-ый; безошибочный - без-ошибоч-н-ый vs безошибоч-н-ый. Each group must use two tests: (a) find a simpler related word that contains the proposed root; (b) check whether the proposed prefix or suffix forms a regular pattern with other words. The teacher adds a constraint: a parse is rejected if it leaves a «root» that never occurs without the supposed prefix or suffix. Groups have 12 minutes and must write a word-formation chain for each word.
1. Resolve all four parses using the tests, and give a word-formation chain for each word.
Read the worked answer
- переписчик: correct is пере-пис-чик. Related words писать, переписать show the root -пис-; пере- is a regular prefix and -чик is a regular agent suffix. Chain: писать → переписать → переписчик.
- подснежник: correct is под-снеж-ник. Related word снег shows the root -снеж-; под- and -ник are regular affixes. Chain: снег → подснежник.
- пришкольный: correct is при-школь-н-ый. Related word школа shows the root -школь-; при- and -н- are regular. Chain: школа → пришкольный.
- безошибочный: correct is без-ошибоч-н-ый. Related words ошибка, ошибочный show the root -ошибоч-; без- is a regular prefix and -н- a regular suffix. Chain: ошибка → ошибочный → безошибочный.
In each case the rival parse treats a prefix+root or root+suffix combination as a single root, which fails the related-word test.
2. Which proposed morpheme is a «false» morpheme, and what test exposes it? Use one example.
Read the worked answer
The «false» element is the supposed root that never occurs without the attached affix: перепис-, подснеж-, пришколь-, безошибоч-. The test is the related-word test: remove the doubtful affix and look for a simpler word containing the remaining root.
For example, перепис- cannot be a root because the simpler word писать contains -пис-, and пере- occurs in many verbs as a regular prefix: переписать, переделать, перечитать. Therefore переписчик is пере-пис-чик, not перепис-чик. The same logic exposes подснеж- (снег), пришколь- (школа) and безошибоч- (ошибка).