Midterm 2 Flashcards
Arguments
Grammatical dependents required by a verb.
Ex: “Hit” requires two arguments-
1) The hitter (Subject)
2) Person or thing being hit (Object)
X’ Theory
1) All phrases have a three-level structure (X,X’, and XP).
2) All phrases contain a head, X.
3) If there is a complement, it is attached at the intermediate X’ level, as a sister of the head.
4) If there is a specifier, it is attached at the XP level.
Lexicon
A speaker’s mental dictionary:
- Information about the syntactic properties
- Meaning
- Phonological representation of a language’s words
Specifier
A word that helps to make more precise the meaning of the head of the phrase.
Ex: [the] book
- Occurs immediately beneath XP
Morpheme
The smallest unit of language that carries information about meaning or function.
Ex: “Books” contains two morphemes = [Book] + [s]
Allomorphs
Variants of a morpheme.
Ex: [-s], [-z],and [ęz] are allomorphs of the English plural morpheme.
Affixation
The process that attaches an affix to a base.
Affixes- A bound morpheme that modifies the meaning and/or syntactic (sub)category of the stem in some way.
Ex: [un]read[able]
Derivation
Results in a new lexical item.
1) In morphology, a word-formation process by which a new word is built from a stem—usually through the addition of an affix—that changes the word class and/or basic meaning of the word.
(2) The set of steps or rule applications that results in the formation of a sentence in syntax or of a phonetic representation from an underlying form in phonology.
Inflection
Adds information to a lexical item that already exists.
The modification of a word’s form to indicate the grammatical subclass to which it belongs.
Ex: The [-s] in books marks the plural subclass.
Endocentric Compound
A compound word in which one member identifies the general class to which the meaning of the entire word belongs.
Ex: “Dog food” is a type of food in English.
Exocentric Compound
A compound whose meaning does not follow from the meaning of its parts.
Ex: “Redneck”, since its referent is not a type of neck.
Inversion
A transformation that moves the element in the I position to the position in front of the subject, formulated as: Move to I to C.
Wh-movement
A transformation that moves a wh phrase to the beginning of the sentence, formulated as: Move a wh phrase to the specifier position under CP.
Coordination
The process of grouping together two or more categories of the same type with the help of a conjunction.
Ex: Mary and the white horse.
Syntax
The system of rules and categories the underlies sentence formation in human language.
Universal Grammar (UG)
The system of categories, operations, and principles shared by all human languages and considered to be innate.
Thematic Role
The part played by a particular entity in an event.
Ex: Agent, theme, source, goal location.
Modifiers
An optional element that describes a property of a head.
Ex: “Blue” in “that blue car” or “that Gloria likes” in “the car that Gloria likes”.
Agent
The thematic role of the doer of an action.
Ex: “Marilyn” in “Marilyn fed the dolphin”.
Conversion
A word-formation process that assigns an already existing word to a new syntactic category (also called zero derivation).
Ex: Nurse (V) to nurse (N)
Clipping
A word-formation process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables.
Ex: “prof” from “professor”
Blend
A word that is created from parts of two already existing items.
Ex: “Brunch” from “breakfast” and “lunch”.
Backformation
A word-formation process that creates a new word by removing a real or supposed affix from another word in the language.
Ex: “Edit” came from “editor” through the removal of [-or].
Acronyms
A word that is formed by taking the initial letter of (some or all) of the words in a phrase or title and pronouncing them as a word.
Ex: “NATO” for North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Eponyms
Words created from names.
Ex: “Quixotic” from “Don Quixote”.
Theme
The thematic role of the entity directly affected by the action o the verb.
2. Also, theme can refer to a description
Ex: “The ball” in “Tom caught the ball”.
Goal
The thematic role that describes the end point for a movement.
Ex: “Mary” in “Terry gave the skis to Mary.”
Reduplication
A morphological process that repeats all or part of the base of which it is attached.
Ex: “anak” = ‘child’, “anak anak” = ‘children’
“iji” = ‘well’, “iji iji” = ‘very well’
Source
The thematic role that describes the starting point for a movement.
Ex: “Maine” in “The senator sent the lobster from Maine to Nebraska”.
Complements
A syntactic constituent that provides information about entities and locations implied by the meaning of the head.
Location
The thematic role that specifies the place where an action occurs.
Ex: “The SkyDome” in “The athletes practiced in the SkyDome”.
Possessor
The entity possessing some other entity.
Ex: I really like {Mary’s} hair.
Internal Change
A process that substitutes on nonmorphemic segment for another to mark a grammatical contrast.
Ex: “Sing”, “sang”, “sung”.
Experiencer
The entity experiencing a psychological state.
Ex: The sound frightened {the child}.
Stimulus
The entity triggering a reaction or state.
Ex: {The song} made her sad.
Beneficiary
The entity benefiting from the action.
Ex: She bought that book for {me} to read.
Suppletion
A morphological process that marks a grammatical contrast by replacing a morpheme with an entirely different morpheme.
Ex: Be/was
Surface Structure
The structure that results from the application of whatever transformations are appropriate for the sentence in question (also called S-structure).
Instrument
The object or entity by which an action is achieved.
Ex: You can open the can with {this can opener}.
Causer
The entity that brings about the actions of another entity.
Ex: Jane’s {boyfriend} made her cry this week.
Force
An inanimate that causes an event.
Ex: {The wind} knocked over the lamp.
Comitative
The entity accompanying another entity.
Ex: I went to the movie with my {boyfriend}.
Direction
A goal, but not necessarily reached.
Ex: We rode off towards {the sunset}.
Path
The route along which the action occurs.
Ex: The group ran along {the beach}.
Temporal
Expressions of time or duration.
Ex: She arrived in {the morning}.
Purpose
The reason that an action is performed.
Ex: We studied hard for {that grade}.
Metathesis
A process that reorders a sequence of segments.
Ex: In child language, pronouncing “spaghetti” as [pęskεri].
Deletion
A process that removes a segment from certain phonetic contexts.
Ex: The pronunciation of “fifths” as [fIfs].
Epenthesis
A process that inserts a segment into a particular environment.
Ex: The insertion of a schwa in the pronunciation of “athlete” as [æθęlit].
Palatalization
The effect that front vowels and the palatal guide [j] typically have on velar, alveolar, and dental stops, making their place of articulation more palatal.
Ex: The first sound of [ke]ep is palatalized.
Substitution
Replacement of one segment with another similar-sounding segment.
Ex: [x] > [f] lau{gh} [x] -> lau{gh} [f]
{th}in [θ] -> {th}in [fIn]
Split
Phonological changes in which two allophones become separate phonemes due to the loss of the conditioning environment.
Ex: /n/ -> [n] ,[η]
Merger
A change in a phonological system in which two or more phonemes collapse into one, thereby reducing the number of phonemes in that language.
Ex: /θ/ + /f/ = /f/
/õ/ + /v/ = /v/
Shift
A change in a phonological system in which a series of phonemes is systematically modified so that their organization with respect to each other is altered.
Ex: [lu:d] -> [u:] > [aw] -> /lawd/ (loud)
[ti:d] -> [i:] > [aj] -> /tajd/ (tide)
Cognates
Words of different languages that have descended from a common source, as shown by systematic phonetic correspondences.
Ex: “Father” (English) - “Vater” (German)
Assimilation
The influence of one segment on another, resulting in a sound becoming more like a nearby sound in terms of one or more of its phonetic characteristics.
Ex: In English, vowels become nasal if followed by a nasal consonant.
What rules help us to identify the subject in a sentence?
1) Likely to precede D.O. in SOV, SVO, or VSO word order.
2) If only one NP is able to affect the form of a verb, the NP is generally the subject.
3) If only one NP can be dropped, that NP is the subject.
4) The subject can be the antecedent for a D.O. but not the other way around.
Ex: “Max loves himself.” vs. *“Himself loves Max.”
5) In certain verb-type combinations, the subject will be treated in a specific way.
What four principles do X’ schemas capture?
1) All phrases have 3 levels (X, X’, Xp).
2) All phrases contain a head.
3) If there is a complement, it is attached to the X’ level.
4) If there is a specifier, it is attached at the the XP level.
What is the difference between derivation and inflection?
Derivaion: Results in new lexical item.
Inflection: Adds information to a lexical item that already exists.
What are the three tests to determine if a group of words is a phrase?
- Substitution: Can the set of words be replaced by a different, single word?
Ex: “Peanut butter & Jelly Sandwich” -> “it” - Movement: Can the set of words be moved in the sentence?
Ex: “They stopped [PP at the corner]” -> “[PP At the corner], they stopped.” - Coordination: Can the set of words be joined to a similar set of words with a conjunction?
Ex: “She ate {the orange} and {the apple}.”
What types of sentences are affected by ‘inversion’ and what happens when inversion applies?
Yes-No Questions
-Movement of an auxiliary from the “I” position to “C”.
Briefly, how does the comparative method work?
Searches for systematic phonetic correspondences between lexical items across languages.
1) Gather up lists of words from languages that you suspect to be related that link to the same basic referents.
2) Establish which of those words are cognates.
3) List every sound correspondence and the items in which it can be seen.
4) Identify the protoform for each lexical item.
5) Generate a list of changes that have taken place from the protolanguage to now for each language that you have examined.
What is Labov’s theory of sound change spread?
That children learn language from their caregivers and notice what is innovative about their mothers’ speech.
- Girls especially
Kleenex
Eponym
Hound Dog
Compounding
Google (N) -> Google (V)
Conversion
Go went
Suppletion
Fade Faded
Affixation
Goose Geese
Internal Change
Grammatical Relation
(S, D.O, In.O., Obl.)
Sabi -> Savi
Frication
Lalu -> Ralu
Dissimilation (very uncommon)
dζazi -> jazi
Deaffrication
sanzu -> sandzu
Epenthesis
rilau -> ręlau
Vowel Reduction
“it”
Pronoun
Lexical Diffusion
Linguistic change that first manifests itself in a few words and then gradually spreads through the vocabulary of the language.
Overextension
A developmental phenomenon in which the meaning of a child’s word overlaps with that of the equivalent adult word but also extends beyond it.
Ex: “dog” is used to refer to other animals as well as dogs
Underextension
A developmental phenomenon in which a child uses a lexical item to denote only a subset of the items that it denotes in adult speech.
Ex: “car” used to refer to only moving cars
Motherese
The type of speech that is typically addressed to young children (also called caregiver speech).
Comparative Reconstruction
The reconstruction of properties of a parent language through comparison of its descendant languages.
Borrowing
A source of language change that involves adopting aspects of one language into another; can include adding new words to a language.
Ex: “Fengshui” added to English from Chinese
Pejoration
A semantic change in which the meaning of a word becomes more negative or unfavorable.
Ex: The meaning of “wench” used to be ‘girl’.
Phoneme
Distinctive sounds in a language that contrast with other sounds in that language.
Ex: The sounds [I] and [i] as in “rich” and “reach” contrast with each other as separate phonemes in English but not in Spanish.
Syllable
A unit of linguistic structure that consists of a syllabic element and any segments that are associated with it.
Stop
Sounds made with a complete and momentary closure of airflow through the vocal tract.
Ex: [p], [t], [k]
Nasal
A manner feature that characterizes any sound made with the velum lowered.
Fricative
Consonants produced with a continuous airflow through the mouth, accompanied by a continuous audible noise.
Ex: [f], [ł]
Glide
Sounds that are produced with an articulation like that of a vowel, but move quickly to another articulation.
Ex: [j], [w]
Monophthong
A vowel with a single perceived sound???
Diphthong
Vowels that show a noticeable change in quality within a single syllable.
Ex: The vowel sounds in “h[ou]se” and “r[i]de”
Coda (Co)
The elements that follow the nucleus in the same syllable.
Ex: [rf] in “surf”
Minimal Pair
Two forms with distinct meanings that differ by only one segment found in the same position in each form.
Ex: [łIp] and [łip]
Features
The smallest unit of analysis of phonological structure, combinations of which make up segments.
[nasal], [continuant]
Coronal
A place feature that characterizes sounds made with the tongue tip or blade raised.
Ex: [t, d, s, θ]
Onset
The portion of a syllable that precedes the nucleus.
Ex: /spl/in “spleen”
Protolanguage
The reconstructed language that is presumed to be the common source for two or more related languages.
Ex: Proto-Indo-European
Free Variation
The free alternation of allophones and/or phonemes in a given environment.
Ex: sto[p?], sto[p]; /ε/conomics, /i/conomics.
Rhyme (R)
The nucleus and the coda of a syllable.
Ex: [uts] in the word “boots”
Phonotactics
The set of constraints on how sequences of segments pattern.
Labial
A place feature that characterizes sounds articulated with one or both lips.
Continuant
A manner feature that characterizes sounds made with free or nearly free airflow through the oral cavity: vowels, fricatives, glides, and liquids.
Consonant
Sounds that are produced with a narrow or complete closure in the vocal tract.
Voicing
1) A kind of assimilation in which a sound becomes voiced because of a nearby voiced sound. 2) A historical process of consonant weakening in which voiceless stops or fricatives become voiced.
Intonation
Pitch movement in spoken utterances that is not related to differences in word meaning.
Allophones
Variants of a phoneme, usually in complementary distribution and phonetically similar.
Ex: Voiced and voiceless l in English
Dissimilation
A process whereby one segment becomes less like another segment in its environment.
Ex: “anma” ‘soul’ in a form of Latin became “alma” in Spanish