1 The main units of derivational analysis

1 The main units of derivational analysis
It is important alongside morphological analysis of a word to carry out its derivational (word-formation) analysis in order to determine the type and arrangement of immediate constituents there i.e., to establish a word’s derivative (derivational) structure. Restoring a derivative structure in a word helps to answer the question how new words are formed, or derived.
The basic elements of a derivative structure of a word are immediate constituents –

• 
  A derivational base (DB)
  

• 
  A derivational affix (DA)
  

• 
  A derivational pattern (DP) of their arrangement.
  

 A derivational base is the word constituent to which a rule of word-formation is applied.
Structurally, DBs fall into 3 classes:

1. 
   bases that coincide with morphological stems of different degrees of complexity. A DB which is the starting point for new words may coincide with a simple morphological stem as the DB father- used for creation of the verb to father coincides with a simple morphological stem father- which is a starting point for such noun forms as fathers, father’s. A DB may coincide with a derived morphological stem as computer- in computer-ize or even compound morphological stem as week-end- in the word weekender. This class of DBs is the biggest¹.
   
2. 
   bases that coincide with word forms as the base known- in un-known or dancing- in a dancing-girl;
   
3. 
   bases that coincide with word groups of different degrees of stability as the DB narrow mind- in narrow-minded or blue eye(s)- in blue-eye-d, or second rate- in second-rateness.
   

The important peculiarity of a DB in contrast to a morphological stem is that it is monosemantic. Rules of word-formation are applied to a DB representing only one meaning of a polysemantic stem. For example, the DB bed in the compound word a flower-bed has only one meaning: “a flat or level surface as in a plot of ground prepared for pants” while the word bed is highly polysemantic.
 Another component of a derivative structure is a DA which is added to a DB.
DAs (prefixes and suffixes) are highly selective to the etymological, phonological, structural-semantic properties of DBs. The suffix –ance/-ence, for example, never occurs after s or z (disturb-ance, but: organiz-ation). The prefix in- has limitations, too (insecure, inconvenience but non-conformist, disobedience). Or, even though the combining abilities of the adjectival suffix –ish are vast they are not unlimited: it is possible to say boyish, bookish, monkeyish, sevenish, but not, for example, enemish. The conditions under which affixes of a certain type may be attached to a certain DB and the limits of possible use of affixes are still not clear and being actively investigated.²
 A DP – is a regular meaningful arrangement of immediate components, which can be expressed by a formula denoting their part of speech, lexical-semantic class and individual semantics. For example:
Pref + adj → Adj (adj + n) + -ed →Adj
Or being written in a more abstract way not taking into account the final results:
Pref + adj (adj + n) + suf
Or vice versa, taking into account the final results and with individualization of some of the immediate constituents,
Like in:
Re- + v → V or pref + read → V.
Like DA DP may be productive and nonproductive.
For example, a number of patterns of different productivity are used to lexicalize concepts denoting a doer of an action:
V + -er → N is a highly productive DP (teach → teacher, build → builder, sing → singer);
n + -ist → N is quite a productive pattern (piano → pianist, art →artist ), but
n + -ian → N (Christ → Christian ; politics/policy → politian ; comedy → comedian) is active though not a productive pattern because a limited number of words are derived according to it.
Principles of Derivational analysis. Stems. Types of Stems.
The morphemic analysis of words only defines the constituent morphemes, 
determining their types and their meaning but does not reveal the hierarchy of the 
morphemes comprising the word. Words are no mere sum totals of morpheme, the 
latter reveal a definite, sometimes very complex interrelation. Morphemes are 

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arranged according to certain rules, the arrangement differing in various types of 

words and particular groups within the same types. The pattern of morpheme 
arrangement underlies the classification of words into different types and enables 
one to understand how new words appear in the language. These relations within 
the word and the interrelations between different types and classes of words are 
known as derivational or word- formation relations. 
The analysis of derivative or derivational relations aims at establishing a 
correlation between different types and the structural patterns words are built on. 
The basic unit at the derivational level is the stem. 
The stem is defined as that part of the word which remains unchanged 
throughout its paradigm, thus the stem which appears in the paradigm (to) ask,