MORPHOLOGY
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ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS SEMINAR
• Study questions 3
• Reading: Yule, Chapter 6 (Morphology),
p. 67–74
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WHAT IS A ‘WORD’? (Q1)
read /rEd/ (past) – red
seal – seal
put off
kick the bucket
greenhouse
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PHONEMES AND MORPHEMES (Q2)
Phoneme:
Smallest unit (mental representation) of language that can
differentiate meaning.
Morpheme:
Smallest unit (mental representation) of language that has
meaning.
– made of one or more phonemes (a principle of double
articulation)
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DISCUSS:
• is s a phoneme?
• is a phoneme?
• Are these questions asked properly?
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PHONEMES AND MORPHEMES
S
CZECH: ENGLISH:
/seď/-/zeď/, /sem/-/zem/ /s/-/z/
• constitutes a minimal pair • constitutes a minimal
[sxoda], [zhoda] pair
• has allophones [ls], [bz]
s úsměvem • has allophones
• has meaning (preposition) he cooks, many books
• has meaning (3rd
person singular, plural)
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PHONEMES AND MORPHEMES
CZECH: ENGLISH:
[baNka], [haNka] /sN /-/sn/
• is an allophone of • constitutes a minimal
phoneme /n/ pair → phoneme
• morpheme? • morpheme?
no no
Phonemes and morphemes are language-specific,
each language has its own inventory.
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LEXICAL AND GRAMMATICAL MORPHEMES
(Q3)
Then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed
that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves.
• why “open” and “closed” word classes?
• open = lexical: new items can be added to a
language
• closed = grammatical: functional words, new items
almost never added
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TYPES OF MORPHEMES
unbelievable
• free or bound?
− believe
• bound morphemes = affixes attached to a stem
(root)
− affix – before, or after a stem?
o prefix, suffix
o infix
un + believe + able
PREFIX STEM SUFFIX
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TYPES OF MORPHEMES
o infix
Tell him I've gone to Singabloodypore!
Prince William’s former nanny has spoken of
her joy at the engagement between the Prince
and Kate Middleton, describing their union as
fan-flaming-tastic.
• an affix inserted into a stem
• intensifies meaning (namely in slang, colloquial language)
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TYPES OF AFFIXES
(Q4)
misspells mis│spell│s
unhappier un│happi│er
shortened short│en│ed
previewer pre│view│er
heartlessness heart│less│ness
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• absofreakinglutely abso│freak│ing│lute│ly
• conceives conceive│s
• obtelefonovávat ob│telefon│ov│áv│at
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TYPES OF AFFIXES
derivational
• change meaning: lead → mislead (opposite meaning)
• change part of speech: short (Adjective) → shorten (Verb)
inflectional
• change grammatical category:
(he) misspells – 3rd person singular of a verb
cupboards – plural of a noun
unhappier – grading, comparative of an adjective
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TYPES OF MORPHEMES (Q4 - 5)
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ENGLISH PAST TENSE (Q6)
- three phonetic forms of -ed morpheme (past tense)
[d], [t], [d]
-ed
• How do we know which one to use?
• Let’s consider phonology – could it affect morphology?
• play[d], buzz[d]: -ed follows voiced (consonant or vowel)
• kick[t], jump[t]: -ed follows voiceless (consonant)
• want[d], need[d]: -ed follows /d/ or /t/, i.e. alveolar stops
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ENGLISH PAST TENSE (Q6)
• 1 morpheme (1 mental representation) of the meaning ‘past
tense’ in English -ed
• This morpheme has 3 variants according to the context in
which it occurs: [d], [t], [d]
• allomorphs are in complementary distribution
What does it mean?
* kiss[d], *buzz[t], *want[d]
each allomorph in its place
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ALLOMORPHS
Can you find three allomorphs of the English plural?
-s
[s], [z], [z]
trip[s], point[s]
• [s] after voiceless consonants
road[z], nation[z], pillar[z], ray[z]
• [z] after voiced consonants and vowels
paus[z], sourc[z], bush[z], cottag[z]
• [z] after fricatives and affricates
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ALLOMORPHS
What about:
plural
knife – knives *mans, *lousen, mouse→*mees, . . .
man – men
child – children
tooth – teeth
louse – lice
brother – brethren
sheep – sheep complementary distribution
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EXTRA: What does unlockable mean?
• Let’s start with
unusable
reusable
They have the same structure:
prefix + root + suffix
But the 3 parts weren’t put together all at once.
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unusable
adj
adj
un use able
Stages:
1. use (v) + able = usable (adj)
thinkable, doable, reliable, …
2. un ‘not’ + usable (adj) = unusable
unhappy, unwise, unfriendly, …
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reusable
adj
verb
re use able
Stages:
1. re + use (v) = reuse (v)
refill, reopen, reproduce, … *rehappy, *refriendly
2. reuse (v) + able = reusable (adj)
thinkable, doable, reliable, …
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unusable reusable
unlockable unlockable
= can’t be locked = can be opened with a
key
un1- ‘not’ + adj un2- ‘reverse’ + verb
unhappy, unwise unzip, untie, undo
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One form un- can have more meanings.
• Consider -en:
INFLECTIONAL DERIVATIONAL
children, oxen wooden, golden
• plural • noun → adjective
broken (← break) lenghten, widen
taken (← take)
• past participle • adjective → verb
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PROGRESS TEST 1
Topics:
o language levels and related disciplines
o phonetics and phonology
o morphology
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ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT SEMINAR:
• prepare - Study questions 4
• read: Language Files, 5.7: Morphological
Types of Languages and Crystal, 50.
Families of Languages
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