Question

Help, please.

I'm supposed to "explain why the non-standard form is odd to many speakers" of the following words: "explorationists" and "hopefuller". But, i don't really know what they mean.

Answer 1

I had to look them up myself:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/explorationist

And no valid result for hopefuller.

Answer 2

do you happen to know if "odd" has a specific meaning in linguistics or are they using in the common definition of the word?

Answer 3

anyways, thanks for your response!

Answer 4

I think it is the normal meaning of odd, which is not a singular meaning but a small range.

Answer 5

Perhaps they are intended to be random portmanteau words, but they managed to hit one that has a real meaning.

Answer 6

Okay, thank you.

Would you also happen to know if each of these sets are allomorphs or homophonous morphemes?
1. "enrage, encup, empower, embody"
2. "bearish, yellowish, childish, longish, boyish, dryish, youngish, devilish"

Answer 7

@e.mccormick

Answer 8

Homophonous morphemes
Homophones : morphemes that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings.
Examples : bear , bare ; plain , plane ; cite , sight , site .

Allomorph
Different form of morphemes that have the same meaning
e.g. ir_, il_, im_, in_ = not

Another example I saw for allomorphs was the use of plurals. The s in hats, dogs, and boxes is spelled as s in each, however, it is pronounced as s, soft z, and a stressed z.

So if you look at em- en-, which does that follow?

In the ishes, I don't see either of these. The -ish is pronounced and spelled the same throughout.

Answer 9

i figure that the first 'en- em-' set are allomorphs. But yeah, for the second i don't really know. Thanks, again.

Answer 10

Well, -ish does have several meanings.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-ish
The problem is it has the same spelling. That means it cant be a homophonous morpheme because the spelling it the same. Also, it is not an allomorph because the meaning changes.