Jaimee Jones
ELANG 324
Prof. C. Hallen
2 December 2009

Book Review: Morphological Usage in Villette

Introduction

In her book Villette, Charlotte Bronte presents an English narrator who relocates in a French town and combines her own culture with that of her surroundings. The setting and plot of the novel provides a substantial collection of French vocabulary influences in English and word construction. Bronte especially focuses on morphemes like prefixes and suffixes when constructing new words, enriching English through small means. By examining the history of the English language, the role Villette plays in sustaining and advancing the English language is undeniable.

Prefixes

Some new words penned by Bronte in Villette are actually old words that have just been inflected with prefixes common in her time period. By following the rules of construction from as early as Old English, Bronte produces words that make sense and are credible.
The first prefix is un-. There are three words introduced that follow the conventions of Old and Middle English in unique ways. The un- in unstabled, a new word meaning not put into a stable, is added to an adjectival past participle, a usage dating back to Old English and continuing on through Middle English. Resulting from such growing favor, un- at the beginning of a past participle is now the commonest use of the prefix. Another similar example that follows the same rules is the new word unformalized, basically meaning not made formal. However, unformalized has a feature that does not appear in the English language until the 16th and 17th centuries: prepositions start getting added on as suffixes to past participles negated with un-. In Bronte’s usage, unformalized appears with the preposition by. “He listened so kindly, so teachably; unformalized by scruples” (282). These multi-word adjectives have become permanent and present in general use. The last new word with the un- prefix is unbaized, an adjective formed from the noun baize, which is thick furniture lining. Although this form appears rarely in Old English (e.g. unðewintred), adjectives from substantives belong mostly to the Early Modern English period. The un- usually means “not provided or furnished with” when added to these adjectives. Bronte exemplifies how easy and common it is to form new words by simply adding un- to the front of past participles or adjectives for negation, adding to this limitless class of words.
The second prefix Bronte uses to form new words is re- at the beginning of verbs. Considering the English and French influence present in Villette, the etymology of re- seems to play a proper role in Bronte’s choice of new word construction. Although re- is common in all the Romance languages, the immediate source of the prefix is French. Words inflected with the prefix re- usually meaning “again” are some of the earliest adopted into English from the Romance languages. The first word Bronte introduces in this category is remingle, meaning to mingle again. The other new word is recasket, meaning to enclose again in a casket. Re- as a prefix became increasingly popular in the early 17th century and subsequent years, leading to many new words. French influences English even in new word formation by implementing basic rules of construction. Bronte demonstrates this growth by adding a couple words of her own.
The third prefix in- or ir- negates words of Latin or Romanic origin and is sometimes interchangeable with the Old English un-. In the 16th and 17th centuries, in- was preferred to un- even with non-Latin and non-Romanic words. However, the preference has now shifted to keep in- with only Latin words. Since Bronte writes Villette in 1853, she uses the latter rule when forming new words with in- or ir- (ir- being used when the root word begins with r). Inexpectant, inadventurous, and irrealizable are the three new words produced by this rule. Expectant is of French and Latin origin, adventurous is of French origin, and realizable is of Italian origin. What is interesting is that none of these new words still exist in Present Day English. In fact, inadventurous has become unadventurous and irrealizable has become unrealizable. By evaluating this change, English is starting to narrow its negation scope to the Old English prefix un- even more as time passes. Still, Bronte provides accurately interpreted constructions with the prefixes in- and ir-.
The final and etymologically rich prefix used in Bronte’s word formation is be-. The new word be-inked is a participial adjective meaning smeared or stained over with ink. The prefix usually means “covered or furnished with” in an ostentatious or overdone way. Dating back to Old English, be- is the weak or unstressed form of the preposition and adverb by or bi in Old English. In Middle English, the unstressed be- was written either as bi- or by-, but the Old English construction was restored later, making be- the permanent prefix for the unstressed. Bronte’s use of the prefix in the new word is unstressed, showing proper implementation of this rule. The formations using be- as a prefix in this way are limitless like the use of un-. Bronte will definitely not be alone in inventing new words with these constructions.

Suffixes

A little less common is Bronte’s use of suffixes in forming new words. However, without exception, Bronte continues the traditions of Romanic languages and Old English in her suffix derivations in order to make her mark in the history of the English language.
The first suffix -ess denotes female persons or animals through sexist language borrowed from Latin and Romanic languages and seen in Old but mostly Middle English from these borrowings. French -esse and Latin -issa change to -ess in Middle English with words like countess and mistress. This form took the place of the Old English -estre or -ster seen in spinster. The suffix -ster became masculine. Instead of songster as feminine, English now has songstress. However, because of sexist language and the move toward gender-neutral language, English is now dropping the suffix -ess and any inflection indicating gender. The entertaining aspect of her new word spanieless is that Bronte parenthetically writes that she is aware of her coining of the word. She is consciously taking rules from French and Latin and applying it to form a word for a female spaniel.
The second suffix Bronte uses in her word construction is -less, meaning “devoid of” or” free from,” in blindless (window). The Old English léas was used as an adjectival suffix most frequently after nouns like wíflléas (without a wife). It could also be used as a separate adjective, but that form did not last through Middle English. In Present Day English, -less remains a suffix and, again, can be attached to countless nouns to form an adjective. By the 19th century, -less had already attained its modern spelling, and Bronte takes advantage of this common suffix in its modern sense to express a concept in the least amount of words ( as opposed to a window without blinds) to be concise.
The third suffix -ry (shortened from -ery) is adopted from French and appears in Middle English. The suffix -ry is used after d, t, l, n, or sh and when the stress of the word is on the first syllable. When added to a word, the suffix brings a general collective sense to that word. In Middle English, -erie was used in forming nouns. This form was adopted from French and used with words of French origin in its earliest examples. Bronte’s example of this suffix is garlandry, or a collection of garland. Because the word ends with d and is stressed on the first syllable, Bronte correctly uses the shortened -ry. Also, the word garland comes from garlande or gerlande in Old French, further crediting Bronte’s formation.
The last suffixed used in new word formation in Villette is -y. The sense of this suffix is “having qualities of” or “full of.” The Old English form of -y is -ið or -iht as seen in dústið (dusty) and sandiht (sandy). There were many adjectives of this formation in Old English that exist even today in Present Day English. From Middle English up until the 17th century, derivatives with the suffix -y kept increasing. By the 19th century, derivatives with -y became more colloquial and were used to describe characteristics of a person or a thing. These descriptions tended to be for the purpose of ridicule of disfavor. This trend continues into Present Day English. Bronte introduces the word coloury with this suffix. The definition of coloury is characterized by or abounding in colour, used to describe a female character in the novel in a negative way. Bronte fits the standard of 19th-century usage of -y for colloquial description of a person. In this case, the commonality of -y unfortunately led to its colloquialness. However, it presents yet another vast class of word derivatives.

Conclusion

There is a clear pattern in Bronte’s use of morphological inflections to create new words. Many times the prefixes and suffixes have such loose standards that the derivations are inexhaustible. Because English allows such flexibility, Bronte is able to provide a number of new words that are comprehensible and accurate, even if they no longer exist in Present Day English. Through the addition of simple prefixes and suffixes, Bronte shows how malleable language is. Although the English and French have a long history of conflict, the richness and fusion of their languages have produced a diverse and unbounded English language.

Works Cited

Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855. Villette. New York: New York : Derby & Jackson, 1859. Print.

Oxford English Dictionary. Ed. Oxford University Press. Oxford, England: Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, 2002. Print.