In this chapter some of the problems facing the scholar of word-formation are considered, including the nature of the word, the boundaries of word-formation, the question of productivity and problems with determining the nature of evidence for it, whether word-formation is defined by rules, some proposed constraints on word-formation and whether word-formation is part of morphology.

Canonical form is no longer discussed much, but has implications for the distinction between inflection and derivation, for helping us recognize a morphologically complex word and for helping us define a prototypical word in English.

Chapter 9 returns to computer science concepts from Chapter 1 and prepares students for subsequent chapters with detailed instructions for loading and saving data. A crucial component is an understanding of paths, which determine where information is stored on a computer and how to access it when needed. MATLAB has many methods for working with paths, many of which work predictably by default, and each is discussed in turn with its costs and benefits, with emphasis on the easiest way to work with multiple files: storing them all in the same place. Equipped with knowledge of data structures from Chapters 2, 4 and 8, this chapter discusses how to load and save each type of data, both in the native MATLAB data format and in formats other programs use or produce.

Chapter 2 introduces students to the basic building blocks of MATLAB data: arrays. Types of arrays are disambiguated based on their structure into scalars, which are individual values students are familiar with from mathematics, and vectors and matrices, which are often new to students. These concepts are introduced as arrangements of numbers: larger arrays are built from smaller arrays via concatenation, and can be subsetted into smaller arrays via indexing. Importantly, no linear algebra is taught or required in this section, as most behavioral science students do not come in with this knowledge, nor do most applications require it. Instead, the emphasis is on arithmetic operations students will be using most often.

Chapter 11 teaches students how to make graphs in MATLAB. Specifically, students learn to make line graphs, scatterplots, bar graphs, and histograms, four basic and essential visualizations for anyone interested in presenting data. New data types are needed, building on knowledge from Chapter 2 and Chapter 8 to reinforce understanding, and new aspects of the MATLAB interface for graphs are introduced in detail. MATLAB has many ways to customize graphs, each of which is reviewed in turn, along with its strengths and weaknesses. To help students make the most of MATLAB graphics infrastructure, its hierarchical structure is explained in detail, allowing students to modify any graphics feature, using any other graphics feature as a starting point. Critically, this chapter elaborates on how to use MATLAB documentation to identify and specify the graphics features they want to modify, while providing many examples of such modification using different syntax.

A word like tenderfoot has two possible plural forms: tenderfoots and tenderfeet. Why is a regular plural allowed in this word, and what factors license such unexpected regularity? Various factors are considered here, one of which has previously been ignored, and the fact that usage is divided and apparently unpredictable is discussed.

The use of the term ‘head’ in morphology is inherited from syntax, where it has long been used rather differently. When we try to apply the notion in morphology, we find many problems in attempting to find a coherent way of applying it, despite the fact that the right-hand head rule is often thought to give clear answers in English and other Germanic languages.

The general idea that newly coined words should not be synonymous with already established words, through a well-established principle called ‘blocking’, does not always accord with the data. Some instances of systematic competition, for example, seem to allow for synonymous coinages.

Five examples which appear to show morphophonemic alternations are considered, but none of them is straightforward. In some cases, the application of the apparently morphophonemic rule is not regular, in others the alternations turn out to be orthographic rather than phonological.

Some instances of word-formation are subject to orthographic constraints as well as more obviously linguistic ones. Various types are illustrated. This overlooked aspect of word-formation plays an important role.

Chapter 10 expands on the discussion of functions from Chapter 3, teaching students how to write their own functions. MATLAB has many types of functions and methods for accessing and storing functions, and each is discussed in turn, starting from the simplest and concluding with compositions of multiple functions. Knowing how to ensure MATLAB uses user-defined functions is essential, and knowledge of loading and saving data from Chapter 9 is reiterated and expanded upon to ensure MATLAB can use the functions students write. Returning again to Chapter 3, this chapter teaches students how to incorporate the flexibility of MATLAB function syntax into their own code.

The distinction between coercion and conversion is not always clear, and it is suggested here that this is because both are types of metonymy and it is not always clear when there is a shift from one word-class to another and when there is not.

Chapter 7 builds on students’ understanding of arrays and numeric and logical data types from Chapters 2 and 4, demonstrating how to use what they already know to manipulate text in MATLAB. Text in MATLAB comes in two forms: character arrays, in which text is stored in individual letters, numbers, symbols, and spaces; and strings, in which each element of text can store any number of those characters. Differences in the utility of these structures for different tasks are discussed, as is their interchangeability when providing inputs to other MATLAB functions. Once text is introduced, students learn to interface with MATLAB via input/output features, both in the console and in pop-up windows. Lastly, because MATLAB code is also text, students learn to run text as MATLAB code, as well as potential issues with doing so and workarounds to avoid those issues.

Syntactic phrases can be used as the base in word-formation, and can be used attributively in a construction which is usually taken to be a compound. While the syntactic phrases are often familiar or citations, neither is necessary. The syntax appears to be subject to some restrictions, which suggest that word-formation is involved rather than pure syntax.