Chapter 7 - English Morphology Flashcards
What is morphology?
The study of meaningful parts of words.
- Many words have just one morpheme ( like “tree” or “rhinoceros”); they can’t be divided into smaller meaningful parts
- “trees” has two morphemes: tree + s ** (s** indicates the plural)
- Words are not physical things; they’re psychological units, not physical units.
Break “replacements” into morphemes.
Which ones can stand alone?
- re (to do again)
- place (root)
- ment(here it changes the verb to a noun)
- s (plural)
Only “place” can stand alone.
Don’t confuse morphemes with syllables… morphemes are about meaning!
What are free morphemes and bound morphemes?
- Describe them and give examples.
Free morphemes: can stand alone as words by themselves (Example: “tree”)
Bound morphemes: units that must be attached or bound to a free morpheme (Example: “s”)
* in English these are either prefixes or suffixes (Affix is the general term for either prefixes or suffixes)
* Some langues do have infixes (bound morphemes in the middle of a word)
Talk about affixes. What are inflectional and derivational affixes?
Affixes are bound morphemes. In English there are two types of affixes: prefixes or suffixes
Inflectional morphemes: English has 8. They are all suffixes. They do NOT change the general meaning of the word. They do NOT change the part of speech.
For nouns:
* the plural (-s) trees
* possessive (‘s) cat’s
For verbs:
* -ed (walked)
* -ing (walking)
* -en (eaten)
* -s (eats)
For adjectives:
* -er (taller)
* -est (tallest)
Derivational affixes: DO change the meaning of the whole word. Can be suffixes or prefixes. They MAY change the part of speech (example: “work” vs “worker) but they don’t have to (example: “tie” vs “untie”)
* Interesting note: in English, prefixes don’t change the part of speech
* derivational prefixes are very easy to define (redo or dislike)
* suffixes (like injection or quickly) are harder to define, but they DO change the part of speech (injection: from verb to noun; quickly: from adjective to adverb)
Talk about these useful words related to morphemes:
* simple words
* complex words
* compound words
* compound-complex words
Give examples.
- simple words: words with just one morpheme (tree, rhinoceros)
- complex words: words with 1 free morpheme and 1 or more bound (unbeaten, standing, trees)
- compound words: 2 free morphemes (bookshelf, teacup)
- compound-complex words: 2 free morphemes and one or more bound (teacups)
Note a word like ate. It would be considered a complex word because it is analyzed as eat+ ed.
“English is not a highly inflected language.” What does this mean?
- English has 8 inflectional suffixes, no inflectional prefixes
- Languages like Latin, Polish and Finnish has more so are considered “highly inflected languages”
(Spanish & French are not highly inflected languages, but they’re more inflected than English… I’m assuming that’s because of all the different verb tenses and people, and also masculine and feminine endings and agreements?)
Does scientific evidence support the idea that the study of grammar improves reading and writing skills?
Nope. But schools still follow the Latin tradion and teach and test grammar.
(Although it might make it easier to learn a second language… in the sense of “learn” vs “acquire.”)
What are the parts of speech?
Which are content words, and which are function words?
CONTENT WORDS (“open-class words”)
* Noun: person, pleace or thing; can take a plural or possesive form.
* Verb: an action or a state of being; can take -ing, -ed, -s, -en forms
* Adjectives: describe nouns; can add -er and -est
FUNCTION WORDS (“closed-class words”)
* Determiners and quantifiers: precede nouns (the, a, an, this, my, one)
* Pronouns: replace nouns or noun phrases (they, she, I who, yourself)
* Auxiliaries: precede other verbs (might, could, will, has)
* Prepositions: introduce phrases that often show place and time (in, on, at, from, over)
* Particles: look like prepositions but they’re actually part of a verb such as “turn on” the light or “look over” a contract.
* Intensifiers: like ‘very’ and ‘somewhat’ make an overall expression stronger or weaker. Some linguists call these adverbs (rather, very, so)
Birds eat worms.
(In this sentence, what part of speech is the word “birds”?)
It is a noun (that’s the part of speech). It can take a plural. It can be possesive.
It is also the subject .
What are the two modes (or “levels” or “types”) of description? What are the categories of each?
CLAUSE LEVEL (SVOCA)
* Subject
* Verb
* Object (direct and indirect)
* Complement
* Adverbial
PHRASAL LEVEL (the “parts of speech” side)
* Noun phrase
* Verb phrase
* Adjective phrase
* Adverb phrase
* Prepositional phrase
I / play / basketball / every morning.
These “chunks” answer questions around the verb.
* Who plays? (I play)
* Plays what? (play basketball)
* When (every morning)
Every sentence can be divided into these chunks. And it’s the same, whether it’s the clause level or the phrase level; they match up. So every “chunk” has one label from each category (SVOCA and “part of speech)
If one of your students speaks a language that is synthetic, agglutinative, or polysynthetic, will they need more or less support than other students as they learn English?
They will need more support.
What does it mean to coin a new word? What are some examples?
Usually people coin words to label new inventions or products (not to rename existing objects).
Lots of new words that have entered English are related to computers.
Some assign new meanings to existing words (Examples: mouse, desktop)
Others are totally new words (Examples: ambimoustrous, depediate)
What are compound words?
- It can mean putting two free morphemes together (teacup, bookshelf)
- Sometimes the words are set up like this: merry-go-round, brother-in-law.
- The book even gives “grocery store” and “sports car” as examples.
Compounds can be easily confused with noun phrases consisting of an adjective and a noun. Example: high and chair refer to a child’s seat or a seat that is tall.
What does clipping mean (in the context of how new words enter languages)?
This happens when a word is shortened.
Examples:
* mathematics –> math
* gasoline –> gas
* economics –> econ
* taxicab –> taxi OR cab
What is backformation? Give some examples.
A process for adding new words to a language where you take a noun and create an associated verb.
For example:
* peddler –> peddle
* beggar –> beg
* table –> table (a motion)
* head –> head (a commitee)
The verbs were created AFTER the noun.
(The reverse of this is called derivation, and is more common. Example: teach–>teacher)
Sometimes **two-syllable **words are pronounced differently depending on whether they’re being used as a NOUN or a VERB:
* CONvict, conVICT
* PERmit, perMIT
* SUBject, subJECT
