morphology 5.1, 5.3 (ex. p 154 #0, 1) homework: 5.2 (due 3/19)
TRANSCRIPT
Morphology
• Up to this point we have studied the sounds of English and how they interact in systematic ways
• The next step:
Strings of language sounds form units of meaning
Morphology
• *Morpheme — the smallest unit of meaning in a language– i.e., it cannot be subdivided into smaller units
of meaning
Stem
• *Base / stem — the meaning unit that affixes attach to
This is the core of the word, which has the lexical meaning that is added to in some way by an affix
Affixes
• Suffixes — attach to the end of stems or words
try(-ing)
examin(-ation)
navig(-ate)
rect(-ify)
Affixes
• Infixes – attach in the middle of a word
• Karl (-the mailman-) Malone, etc.
fan(-f…-)tastic
a(-whole-)nother thing
Morphology
• Through the systematic interaction of morphemes, the units of meaning of a language are formed
• Part of what we know when we know a language is how morphemes interact
Morphology
Adjectives / Adverbs
• (-er) ‘more’ slower
• (-est) ‘most’ slowest
Can we make a descriptive rule for this variation?
Morphology
• *Allomorph: Variants of morphemes
That is, variations in the form of the morpheme, with each form having the same meaning
Allomorphs
• Plural (-s) morpheme
/z/ /əz/ /s/
beds sashes hats
• Question: Which is basic plural in English?
Allomorphs
*RULE:
• after voiced sounds, /z/
• after sibilants, /əz/
• after other voiceless sounds /s/
[sound familiar?]
More Allomorphs
• Past tense (–ed):
/d/ feared, burned, cried
/t/ wished, kissed [for some, burnt, learnt]
/əd/ heated, mended
More Allomorphs
RULE:
after voiced sounds, /d/
after voiceless sounds, /t/
after alveolar stops, /ed/
Allomorphs
• We can see that many allomorphs in English are phonologically conditioned —
Their form is determined by neighboring sounds
• Cf. Spanish: amigos
(in Spanish, no such conditioning)
Allomorphs
Other allomorphs in English:
• pres. part. (-ing) [ən], [iŋ] ‘playing’
free variation (only stylistic variation)
Allomorphs
• Unlike• Inactive• Impossible• Illogical• Irreversible
• What rule produced these allomorphs?
Morphology
• Lexical categories:
I. Content words: have lexical meaning
II. Grammar words: provide primarily grammatical information
Lexical categories
• I. *Content words (form class words)
Content (form class) words change form to fit into the grammar —
pitch (V.) → pitcher (n.)
Content words (form class words)
2. Have lexical meaning —
that is, they mean something —
table, floor, eat
(Nouns, Verbs, Ajs., Avs.)
Content words (form class words)
3. Open category: New ones can come into the language at any time —
CDRom; mouse; blog; google; mcjob
Lexical categories
• II. *Grammatical (function class) words
1. Smallest part of vocabulary —
only a small fraction of words
Grammatical (function class) words
2. Primarily grammatical meaning —
and, but, on, under, who, etc.
These not so much mean things as signify grammatical relationships
Grammatical (function class) words
3. Closed class — unchanging grammatical structure words
No new ones
Morphology
• Content (Form Class) words in English may take inflectional morphemes or derivational morphemes
*Inflectional morphemes
1. Contain grammatical information
2. Do not change word class
3. Suffixes only
Inflectional morphemes
Inflectional morphemes of English:
N — pl. (-s) two shoes
– p possessive (-s) a dog’s breakfast
Inflectional morphemes
V — 3 person sing. –s She eats at noon.
–pres. participle –ing are eating
–past tense (-ed) earned $20
–past participle (–en) has eaten
[includes (-ed), vowel change]
Derivational morphemes
• *Derivational morphemes of English
participate in deriving new words
1. Change word meaning —
(im-) port
(un-) do
Derivational morphemes
2. Can change word class
• (-er) driv-er, can open-er noun making
• (-ation) inform-ation noun making
• (-ize) real-ize verb making
• (-al) individu-al adjective making
• (-ious) delic-ious adj. making
Morphology
*Word Formation —
• Note sequence in which morphemes are attached to stems and words:
Smell-y
Tie → un-tie → un-tie-d
form → re-form → re-form-ation
Veri-fy → veri-fi-able → un-veri-fi-able
Word formation
Native speakers of a language know which combinations are possible and which are actual
?saltish crackers
?sugary cookies
?three-years-old girl
Inflection vs. Suppletion
Contrast Spanish and English verb patterns:
• Spanish ser conjugation
Yo soy nosotros somos
Tu eres (vosotros sois) ustedes son
El es ellos son
Suppletion
• The English be verb paradigm:– I am we are– You are you are– He / she / it is they are
demonstrates suppletion —
separate items used to produce forms in a grammatical pattern