Exam Two- Semantics (Definitions)

Question 1

Semantics

Answer 1

the study of meaning in words, phrases, sentences, and idioms

Question 2

Deixis

Answer 2

a word that points to the time, place, or situation

o This, that, these, those

Question 3

Performative Verb

Answer 3

explicitly conveys the kind of speech act being preformed

o promise, invite, apologize, forbid

Question 4

Pragmatics

Answer 4

concerned with the use of language in social contexts and the ways in which people produce and comprehend meanings through language

Question 5

Morphology

Answer 5

the study of a basic form of words and meaningful units in a language

Question 6

Morpheme

Answer 6

a minimal meaningful unit of language
o it may be a word by itself (-bird, pen, zebra)
o or part of a word (-ly, -ing, -er, -s, -es, post-, non-)

Question 7

Allomorph

Answer 7

an acceptable variation of a minimal meaningful unit of language
o the one who does (player, actor)
o more than one (catS, dogS, peaches)

Question 8

Suppletive Morph

Answer 8

a member from one ‘word family” taken into another word family for regular usage
o the “family” of the verb “to go”
o to go, go, goes, went, going, gone

Question 9

Isolating Language

Answer 9

such as Mandarin, Chinese tend to treat words as monosyllabic forms

Question 10

Agglutinating Language

Answer 10

allow many morphemes to gather in and around a base aka a long word like in Turkish

Question 11

Inflecting Language

Answer 11

add parts to base forms to mark plurality of nouns, tense of verbs
o power – powerFUL, powerED, EMpowerED

Question 12

Free Morpheme

Answer 12

is meaningful by itself
o stands alone within a phrase or sentence
o tree, road, ill, blue

Question 13

Bound Morpheme

Answer 13

must be attached to another

o treeS, illNESS, blueING, rovER,

Question 14

Function Morpheme

Answer 14

includes conjunctions and prepositions and suffixes such as –ed. –ing, -ly, which consistently mark specific grammatical info
o conjuction: -and, but, or, although, both, either, or
o preposition: of, by, for, since, after, before, in, on, off

Question 15

Content Morpheme

Answer 15

the word consists of 2 morphemes
o cougar
o in cougars, the –s would be function morpheme

Question 16

Inflectional Morpheme

Answer 16

when a morpheme is added to an existing form. If it changes information without changing that form’s word class
o	singular form of tortoise and add –S to make it plural = a noun
o	adds the idea of plural, but doesn’t change the grammar category of the word

Question 17

Derivational Morpheme

Answer 17

changes the meaning and/or word class of the form to which it is added
o the suffix –ize makes verbs out of other word forms
o the adjective REAL plus the –IZE ending, becomes a verb
o the adj. ‘natal’ pertains to birth can be linked with ‘pre’ to form a related adj. ‘prenatal’ meaning ‘before birth’
• word class doesn’t change but the meaning does

Question 18

Compounding

Answer 18

the process of combining two words (free morphemes) to create a new word
o matchbox, lighthouse, millstone, overalls, hardware, microwave

Question 19

Reduplication

Answer 19

a word that contains 2 identical or very similar parts. Forming a compound word by repeating all or part of it
o pee-pee, poo-poo, fiddle faddle, Joan -> Jo-Jo

Question 20

Affixation

Answer 20

the process of forming a new word by the addition of a morpheme to an already existing word
o unfriended, walking, walked, preauthorized, vegetarian

Question 21

Prefix

Answer 21

attaches to the front of an existing form

o UNkind, DISgusting, IMpossible

Question 22

•Suffix

Answer 22

attaches to the end of an existing form

o thoughtLESS, thumb-suckING, worm-LIKE, egoTISTICAL, miserLY

Question 23

Infix

Answer 23

inserted inside an existing form

o “-UM” adds the meaning “becoming” to an idea already expressed in a base term

Question 24

Circumfix

Answer 24

attaches morphemes to both the front and the back of an existing word
o geliebt = loved, beloved
o finden = to find

Question 25

Abbreviation

Answer 25

a shortened form of a word or phrase

o January -> Jan

Question 26

Clipping

Answer 26

a word formed by dropping one or more syllable from a polysyllabic word
o Doctor – doc, bother – bro, cellular phone - cell

Question 27

Blending

Answer 27

a word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of 2 or more other words or word parts
o Labrador & poodle - labradoodle

Question 28

SV

Answer 28

SUBJECT VERB

Question 29

SVC(adj)

Answer 29

SUBJECT VERB COMPLEMENT (ADJECTIVE)

Question 30

SVC(n)

Answer 30

SUBJECT VERB COMPLEMENT (NOUN)

Question 31

SVO

Answer 31

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT

Question 32

SVOC(adj)

Answer 32

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT COMPLEMENT (ADJECTIVE)

Question 33

SVOC(n)

Answer 33

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT COMPLEMENT (NOUN)

Question 34

SVIO

Answer 34

SUBJECT VERB INDIRECT? OBJECT