Unit 3.

English/Spanish Morphological contrastive analysis 1

1. Basic concepts Nonfinite forms:

(I) MORPHEME: Any minimal form (word or part of a word) with its own meaning, Infinitives:
function and combinatory potential. (i) Form:
a) English: bare verb stem, without suffixes.
(ii) INFLECTIONAL MORPHEME: Morpheme that conveys grammatical information b) Spanish: suffix -r after the theme vowels -a, -e, -i.
such as person, number, tense, case or adjectival degree.
(ii) Functions:
(III) DERIVATIONAL MORPHEME: Morpheme that derives a new word from another a) Nominal:
one. (1) She wants me to go out with her.
(2) Preferimos quedarnos en casa.
(iv) ALLOMORPH: The different phonetic or lexical realizations of a morpheme.
b) Form that follows another verb:
(3) Debe ir, suele cantar, puede comer
2. Inflectional Morphology. (4) Should come, must study, used to go

2.1. Verbs: Gerunds:

(i) Form:
a) English: from 1 to eight forms: a) English: ending in suffix -ing.
1 form: must 4 forms: walk, walks, walked, walking b) Spanish: ending in suffix -endo.
2 forms: can, could 5 forms: sing, sings, sang, sung,
singing (ii) Functions:
3 forms: put, puts, putting 8 forms: be, am, is, are, was were, a) Adverbial:
been, being (5a) Salió sollozando.
1 inflectional morpheme: Stem + Tense (+Person + Number) (5b) She left sobbing.
(6a) Rompiendo la ventana, logró entrar.
b) Spanish: up to 48 simple inflectional forms: (6b) Breaking the window, he managed to get in.
6 inflectional morphemes: stem + Theme (-ar, -er, -ir) + Mood + Tense (7a) Los sábados nos divertíamos jugando al tenis.
+ Aspect + Person + Number (7b) On Saturdays we enjoyed ourselves playing tennis.

Finite forms b) In English, also a nominal function:

(8) Sobbing isn’t the answer.
(9) Before breaking the window, try my key.
Indicative Present Past (imper) Past (indef) Future Conditional In Spanish this function corresponds to an infinitive construction:
Spanish Doy Dabas Di Daré Daría (10) Llorar no es la solución.
English Give Gave ----------- ----------- ----------- (11) Antes de romper la ventana, prueba con mi llave.

Past participle:
Subjunctive Present Past (imper) Future (i) Form:
Spanish De Diera/Diese Diere a) English: ending in suffix -ed (-en).
English ----------- ---------- -------- b) Spanish: ending in suffix -(i/a)do. Some irregular forms: abierto, cubierto,
dicho, escrito, frito, hecho, impreso, muerto, puesto, visto.
(ii) Functions: Infinitive Gerund Present Past
a) Adjectival (usually with a past and passive meaning): Participle Participle
(12) Las empobrecidas clases bajas se sentían excluidas de la
English Nominal Adverbial/ Adjectival Adjectival
sociedad.
Function Nominal
(13) He felt neglected at home.
Spanish Nominal Adverbial ------- Adjectival
● Spanish participles with no past/ passive meaning:
(i) independent adjectives homphonous with verbal participles: aburrido
(`boring’), atrevido (‘bold’), exagerado (‘prone to exaggerating’). English Bare form -ing -ing -en
(ii) those from verbs denoting body position: sentado, tumbado, Form
arrodillado
Spanish Stem+-ar, -er, -ir -ndo ------- -do
(14a) Está sentado en el sofá.
(14b) He is sitting on the sofa.
(15a) Están arrodillados para rezar.
(15b) They are kneeling to pray. Gerund and Participal constructions similar in form in English and
Spanish:

Present participle: (i) Absolute constructions: a gerund or participle presents background

(i) English: information for the main clause and is set off from it. Its subject is normally
a) Form: ending in suffix -ing. expressed only if it is different from that of the main clause, (20a-20b):
(16) A murdered man vs. a murdering man
(17) A fallen tree vs. a falling tree (20a) Estando en huelga los obreros, los jefes intentaron sustituirlos.
(20b) (With) The workers being on strike, the bosses tried to replace
b) Adjectival function which corresponds to a relative (adjectival) clause in them.
Spanish: (20c) With the workers (being) on strike, the factory was closed.
(18a) The sobbing man left.
(18b) El hombre que sollozaba se fue. (21a) Solucionado el problema, los obreros continuaron trabajando.
(19a) The women breaking the window are desperate. (21b) Having solved the problem, the workers went on working.
(19b) Las mujeres que están rompiendo la ventana están (21c) With the problem solved, the workers went on working.
desesperadas.
(ii) Perfective constructions
(ii) Spanish: -nte form (amante, influyente, creciente, flotante, importante, (22a) Lo ha bebido. (22b) He has drunk it.
preocupante). Problems:
a) Lacking in most verbs: *trabajante, *lloviente, *cogiente, *comiente, (iii) Progressive constructions
*limpiante. (23a) Lo está bebiendo. (23b) He is drinking it.
b) NOUNS: estudiante, dirigente, sirviente
ADJECTIVES: doliente, sangrante, desesperante (iv) Passive constructions
PREPOSITIONS: durante, mediante (24a) Fue visto en el partido. (24b) He was seen in the match
 (26b) Se puede encontrar hierro en muchos países.
2.2. Nouns:
(ii) To count them, counters have to be used:
Number ans the count/mass distinction: (27) a glass of water / un vaso de agua
(28) two cubic feet of air / dos centímetros cúbicos de aire
Singular number (ø): unmarked form. (29) three bars of soap / tres pastillas de jabón
Plural number: marked form. (30) a piece of paper/meat/bread - un trozo de papel/carne/pan
(31) a spoonful of sugar - una cucharada de azúcar.
Regular plural allomorphs: (32) a bottle of wine/beer - una botella de vino/cerveza
(i) SPANISH: -es: color/colores (consonant) (33) a cup of tea/coffee - una taza de té/café
-s: taza/tazas (vowel)
(ii) ENGLISH: [-Iz]: horse/horses (sibilant) Gender:
[-s]: hat/hats (voiceless consonat)
[-z]: dog/dogs (vowel or voiced consonant) (i) Salient to biological sex: boy/niño, girl/niña, etc.

Irregular pluralization patterns: (ii) Sexless entities:

a) in Spanish: masculine (el coche) or feminine (la mesa).
1) ZERO PLURAL: b) in English: "it", neither masculine nor feminine. Exceptions:
a) Unpredictable in English: sheep vs. heaps, deer vs. steers. (34) My new car has a powerful engine. She is very beautiful too.
b) Predicatble in Spanish: (35) Mary’s baby is very quiet; it only eats and sleeps.
(i) nouns ending in unstressed vowel + s: el/los lunes, el/los
análisis, el/los atlas, la/las caries, el/los paraguas. Gender formation patterns in Spanish:
(ii) nouns ending in vowel + t: el/los déficit, el/los superávit
1) Ortographic hints:
2) IRREGULAR GERMANIC NOUNS IN ENGLISH: man/men, foot/feet, child/children
(I) Spanish masculine nouns: those ending in
3) LATIN OR GREEK NOUS IN ENGLISH: antenna/antennae, curriculum/curricula, -n: (no -ción, and sión): patrón, jamón
stimulus/stimuli -o: brazo, beso
-r: pastor, televisor,
4) RECENT BORROWINGS FROM ENGLISH AND FRENCH IN SPANISH: club/clubs, -s (except for –tis and -sis): autobús, adiós
zigzag/zigzags, gánster/gánsters -e: pie, café
-l: pedal, caracol
(ii) Spanish feminine nouns: those ending in
Always plural nouns (or Pluralia Tamtum): scissors/tijeras, tongs/tenazas. -a: carta, sábana
Contrasts: pliers - un alicate/dos alicates, trousers - un pantalón/dos pantalones -d: verdad, amistad
-ción, -sión: separación, diversion
-sis, -tis: tesis, gastritis.
Mass nouns (silver/ plata, wine/ vino, water/agua, heat/calor, freedom/libertad,
physics/física): not pluralized because they refer to entities that do not have 2) Semantic hints:
physical boundaries which, as such, cannot be counted. (i) Spanish masculine nouns: names of rivers (el Amazonas, el
Támesis), of ships (el Titanic, el Nautilus), of trees (el abeto, el
(i) In English some nouns can be both count and mass: naranjo), of days of the week (el lunes, el domingo)

(25a) He is pressing his trousers with that iron. 3) Morphological paterns in the male/female distinction:
(25b) Está planchando los pantalones con esa plancha.
(26a) Iron can be found in many countries.
 (i) Different roots: el padre/la madre, el hombre/la mujer, monk/nun, (41) Él es muy trabajador.
husband/wife Ellos son muy trabajadores
Ella es muy trabajadora.
(ii) Common roots with idiosyncratic derivational suffixes: el actor/la Ellas son muy trabajadoras.
actriz, el héroe/la heroína, actor/actress, hero/heroine
b) Adjectives with two forms: those not included in the previous group:
(iii) Same word with gender assigned according to the referent’s sex: (42) El coche es azul.
el/la pianista, el/la homicida, a male/female teacher, a male/female La bici es azul.
neighbour Los cocheas son azules.
Las bicis son azules.
(iv) Same root with masculine or feminine endings: el abuelo/la abuela,
el hijo/la hija, el señor/la señora, el profesor/la profesora Comparative constructions:

(v) Transvestite el: el agua, el álgebra, el aula, el acta, el hacha, el 1) Equality: as/so...as in English:
hambre, el arma, el alma. But: la agria agua, la a, la hache.
(43) He speaks as well as he writes.
(44) I have as much work as you.
Case:
In Spanish, tan... como for adjectives and adverbs and tanto/-a/-os/-as... como
(i) Only in English: unmarked case (Peter) vs. marked/possessive or genitive for nouns:
case (Peter's book). (45) Habla tan bien como escribe.
(46) Tengo tanto trabajo como tú.
(ii) In Spanish the NP that indicates the thing possessed is followed by a PP
headd by de: el libro de Pedro. 2) Inequality: más/menos... que vs. more/less-fewer...than:
(47a) She reads more than she used to read.
(48a) Good health is more important than money.
2.3. Adjectives: (49a) He drinks less water than me.
(48b) Lee más que antes.
(i) uninflected in English for gender and number, but inflected for comparison: (49b) La salud es más importante que el dinero.
(36) The boy is tall. (37) The boy is taller than the girl. (50b) Él bebe menos que yo.
The boys are tall. (38) Peter is the tallest boy in his team.
The girl is tall. De is used instead of que before numbers or words that imply quantity in
The girls are tall affirmative statements:
(51a) Necesito más de diez dólares.
(ii) Inflected for number and gender in Spanish: distintinction between (51b) I need more than ten dollars.
adjectives with four or two different forms: (52a) Pasamos allí menos de dos horas.
(52b) We spent less than two hours there.
a) Adjectives with four forms: masculine ends in -o, (39), or those
referring to nationality, ethnicity, religious affiliation, etc, ending in a In negative statements, de or que can be used, but their meaning is completely
consonant, (40). Also some others ending in -ón, -or, -ote and -án, (41): different: no more than and only, but, respectively:
(53a) No necesito más de diez dólares.
(39) El techo es alto. (40) Él es andaluz. (53b) I don’t need more than ten dollars.
Los techos son altos. Ella es andaluza. (54a) No necesito más que diez dólares.
La verja es alta. Ellos son andaluces. (54b) I don’t need but ten dollars.
Las verjas son altas. Elas son andaluzas. .
3) Intensity and proportionality comparatives: 2) In English, there are three classes: subject pronouns,(60), object pronouns,
(61-62), and reflexive pronouns, (63):
(i) Intensity comparatives: in English it is formed by repeating the
comparative, and in Spanish it is marked with the adverbial cada vez: (60) She will come tomorrow.
(55a) He is getting richer and richer. (61) They gave it to me.
(55b) Cada vez se hace más rico. (62) Mary thanked me for my present.
(63) Peter shaves himself four times a week.
(ii) Proportionality comparatives: two structurally identical halves which in
English contain the + comparative and in Spanish the combinations Personal pronouns:
cuanto más/menos ... tanto más/menos:
(56a) The older I get, the less I work. 1) PERSON:
(56b) Cuanto más viejo me hago, menos trabajo. (i) Exceptional cases:
●Usted/ustedes are second person but require a third person verbal form:
4. Superlatives: the highest/lowest degree of a quality in the comparison of (64) Usted irá con este grupo. (cf. él irá)
objects of the same kind. (65) Ustedes vendrán conmigo. (cf. ellos vendrán)

(i) In Spanish: article/possessive + (noun) + adjective in inequality form: ●You: personal and impersonal reference:
(57a) Elena es su hija más linda. (66) You/one have/has to study to pass the course.

(ii) In English: article/possessive + adjective (-est) or most/least adjective + 2) GENDER:

(noun): (i) Dummy it:
(57b) Helen is her prettiest girl. (67a) It’s obvious it will rain.
(67b) Está claro que va a llover.
(iii) Absolute superlative: a very high degree or the possible highest degree 5
of a quality or manner of an action without having a frame of reference (ii) Referential it (general concept, situation):
for a comparison. In Spanish, the suffix ísimo/-a/-os/-as is added and in (68a) He snores a lot. Does it bother you?
English, the adjective at issue is premodified by an adverbial: (68b) Ronca mucho. ¿Te molesta (ello)?
(69a) Yes, I’ll complain about it.
(58a) Un chico amabilísimo. (69b) Sí, me quejaré (de ello)
(58b) An extremely kind fellow. (70a) He was snoring; I heard it.
(59a) Unas novelas larguísimas. (70b) Estaba roncando, Lo oí.
(59b) Some terribly long novels.
(iii) Referential it (inanimate entitiy):

2.4. Pronouns. (71a) I need my pencil. Where is it? Have you seen it? Are you writing
with it?
1) Distinction in Spanish: disjunctive pronouns (subject and prepositional object (71b) Necesito mi lápiz. ¿Dónde está? ¿Lo has visto? ¿Escribes con
pronouns), (60-61), and conjunctive pronouns (direct object, indirect object and él?
reflexive pronouns), (62-63):

(60) Ellos no vendrán con nosotros. (iv) Spanish pronominal forms unmarked for gender: nos,os, usted, yo, and
(61) Nosotros lo hicimos sin ti. tú.
(62) Lo celebraremos en verano.
(63) Dinos la verdad. 3) CASE:
(64) Ella se ducha antes de acostarse.
(i) Different values of the Spanish indirect object:
a) Recipient or beneficiary of the verbal action: SUFFIXES ENGLISH SPANISH
(72) Pedro ya le ha dado la noticia. -ility/-ilidad possibility posibilidad
b) Possessor of the entity denoted by the direct object. (‘possessive dative’): -ence/-encia violence violencia
(73) Me han manchado la chaqueta. -ism/-ismo idealism idealismo
c) Someone affected by the action (‘dativo ético’ or ‘dative of interest’): -ize/-izar organize organizar
(74) A mi marido me lo mataron en la guerra.
d) Directional dative:
(75) Se me acercó muy lentamente. Diminutives and augmentatives:

(i) English (fewer and less productive than in Spanish):

3. Derivational Morphology.
a) -ie, -y (affective meaning): horsie, daddy, Bobbie, Micky
3.1. Affixation. b) -ette (usually positive connotations): towelette, kitchenette
c) -et: circlet, cabinet
Changes of lexical category: d) -let: piglet, booklet, leaflet, flowerlet
e) -ling (small size and despective meaning, with the exception of
(I) ADJECTIVE → NOUN: alt-ura, alt-eza, alt-itud, posibil-idad, good-ness, similar- darling): duckling, weakling, foundling, kindling
ity, wid-th, likeli-hood
The last three groups of diminutive derivational suffixes have a secondary
(II) VERB → NOUN: observa-ción, empuj-ón, escrit-or, canta-nte, muda-nza meaning of specialization: piglet, booklet, circlet, cabinet.
observa-tion, bore-dom, paint-er, paint-ing, disifect-ant
(ii) Spanish (many more than in English, so their meaning is typically conveyed
(III) NOUN → ADJECTIVE: nacion-al, lluvi-oso, republic-ano, art-ístico, esperanz- through adjectival premodification)
ado, nation-al, ruin-ous, care-ful, fool-ish, republic-an
a) -ito: caballito, gatito, mesita
(IV) VERB → ADJECTIVE: resbala-dizo, divert-ido, llor-ón, trabaja-dor, conveni- b) -illo: perrillo, librillo, florecilla
ente, expect-ant, amus-ing, tire-d, deriva-tive c) -ico: perrico, librico, florecica
d) -ón/-ona: casona, mujerona
(V) NOUN OR ADJECTIVE → VERB: civil-izar, traicion-ar, humed-ecer, a-clar-ar e) -ote: perrote
civil-ize, hard-en, simpl-ify f) -azo: perrazo, tortazo

(VI) ADJECTIVE → ADVERB: rápida-mente, rapid-ly ● Secondary meanings of diminutives:

a) Affection: Me gusta la sopa calentita.
b) Subjectivity: Estamos los dos solitos.
Some affixes shared by both languages ¡Qué bien, ya estamos en casita!
c) Pejorative: ¡Vaya nochecita!, ¡Vaya tiempecito!
PREFIXES ENGLISH SPANISH d) Euphemistic: La niña es más bien feílla.
sub- subacuatic subacuático Una limosnita, por favor.
ante- antecedent antecedente
dis-/des- discover descubrir ● Secondary meanings of augmentatives:
post- postpone postponer a) Pejorative: Es una mujerzuela/mujerona
b) Small size: islote, camarote
c) Violent action: escobazo, puñetazo, botellazo
d) Intensifier: ¡Ese hombre es un buenazo!
¡Vaya cochazo que tiene!
3.2. Compounding: 9. VERB + PARTICLE → NOUN: make-up, set-up, hangover, turn-out

Spanish compounding patterns: 10. PARTICLE + VERB → NOUN/VERB: outbreak, upset, income, outcome

1. NOUN + NOUN → NOUN: lengua madre, fecha límite, factor precio 11. PARTICLE + NOUN → ADVERB/NOUN/ADJECTIVE: uphill, indoor, outlaw,
downtown
2. NOUN + ADJECTIVE → NOUN: hierbabuena, cubalibre

3. NOUN (usually ending in –i) + ADJECTIVE → ADJECTIVE: boquiabierto,

barbiespeso, pelirrojo 3.3. Other word-formation patterns:

4. ADJECTIVE + ADJECTIVE → ADJECTIVE: sordomudo, verdinegro Acronyms:

OTAN, NATO, sida, aids, IBM, RAM
5. ADJECTIVE + NOUN → NOUN: extremaunción, mediodía, buen partido
Clipping:
6. VERB + PLURAL NOUN → NOUN: cuentagotas, tocadiscos, lavaplatos, paraguas disco, photo, flu, pram
disco, foto, moto, bici
7. NOUN + ADVERB → ADVERB: patas arriba, cuesta arriba, río abajo
Blending:
8. ADVERB + VERB → VERB: menospreciar, malvivir smist (smoke + mist), bruch (breakfast + lunch), telex (teleprinter + exchange)
mecatrónica (mecánica + electrónica), motel (motor + hotel)
9. NOUN + VERB → VERB: rabiatar, pelechar

10. VERB + VERB → NOUN: duermevela

English compounding patterns:

1. ADJECTIVE + NOUN → NOUN: fathead, paleface, loudmouth

2. ADJECTIVE + NOUN (ending in –ed) → ADJECTIVE: redfaced, long-lived,

thickheaded

3. NOUN + ADJECTIVE → ADJECTIVE: taxfree, dustproof, carsick, diamond-hard

4. VERB + NOUN → NOUN: pickpocket, drawbridge

5. NOUN + VERB (in –ing) → NOUN/ADJECTIVE: airconditioning, story-telling, meat-

eating

6. VERB (in –ing) + NOUN → NOUN: Washing machine, swimming pool, chewing
gun

7. NOUN + NOUN (in –er) → NOUN: gate-crasher, babysitter, songwriter

8. NOUN + NOUN → NOUN: headache, coffeepot, applesauce, birth control