The Grammar of Words

Geert Booij’s popular textbook examines how words are formed, compounded, and inflected in different languages. It shows how, when, and why to use methods of morphological analysis and explains how morphology relates to syntax, phonology, and semantics. The author considers the universal characteristics of morphology and how these are reflected in the workings of mind. The revised edition has been revised and updated throughout; it has a full glossary and a new chapter on the field’s most notorious problem: the status of the word.

‘The Grammar of Words by Geert Booij covers a broad range of topics from structural questions to psycholinguistic issues and problems of language change. This introduction to morphology is thorough and accessible and, like other works by this renowned author, especially strong at showing the significance of empirical facts for theoretical reasoning.’ Ingo Plag, University of Siegen

Review

carefully edited…a well-balanced overview of the major issues in morphology while serving at the same time both a pedagogical and a descriptive purpose in a field in which textbooks have for a long time been rare. (AnaDÿaz-Negrillo and Salvador Valera Hernandez, English Language and Linguistics)

This is a solid work, which nevertheless moves along at a brisk pace and points at many further issues that could be fruitfully studied in follow-up work…we can thoroughly recommend this work. (The Year’s Work in English Studies)

Synopsis

Geert Booij’s popular textbook examines how words are formed, compounded, and inflected in different languages. It shows how, when, and why to use methods of morphological analysis and explains how morphology relates to syntax, phonology, and semantics. The author considers the universal characteristics of morphology and how these are reflected in the workings of mind. The revised edition has been revised and updated throughout; it has a full glossary and a new chapter on the field’s most notorious problem: the status of the word. ‘The Grammar of Words by Geert Booij covers a broad range of topics from structural questions to psycholinguistic issues and problems of language change. This introduction to morphology is thorough and accessible and, like other works by this renowned author, especially strong at showing the significance of empirical facts for theoretical reasoning.’ Ingo Plag, University of Siegen ‘A book that is fully comprehensive in its coverage as well as exemplary in its clarity, written by one of the major scholars of contemporary lexical theory.’ Sergio Scalise, University of Bologna 

About the Author

Geert Booij is Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Leiden. He was previously Professor of General Linguistics and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Free University of Amsterdam. His books include The Phonology of Dutch (1995); (with Ariane van Santen) Morfologie: De Woordstructuur van het Nederlands. (Amsterdam University Press, 1995, second edn 1998); (with Ch. Lehmann and J. Mugdan) Morphology: An International Handbook of Inflection and Word Formation. 2 volumes (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2000-2); and The Morphology of Dutch (2002)