Module 5 Flashcards
Morphology
-The study of the structure of words
Word
-The smallets unit of speech that can be uttered by itself and mean someting
~Or the smallest combination of hand shape/ orientation/ movement/ location that means something in signed language
-Swahili: nitakupenda
~1 word
*ni- (I) ta- (will) ku- (you) penda (love)
-English
~4 words
* I will love you
Morphemes
-The minimal unit of meaning in language
~A morpheme is a sound or combination of sounds that has a consistent meaning
*Morphemes are often smaller than a word
*But a single morpheme can also b a word
*Morphemes can consist of one sound, or multiple sounds
**Not all sounds are morphemes
-In English
~”dogs” + dog (animal) + s (plural marker)
~”dog” means something, “s” means something
~cannot be broken down further
~one word, two morphemes
*One of the morphemes can stand alone as a word (dog)
*One cannot (s)
-Can be free or bound
Neologism
-A word that is new to a language
Etymology
-The study of the origin and history of a word
~There are many different ways a word can originate and change throughout a language’s history
*Language is shaped by the needs of its users
-But, there is a lot of regulatity on how speakers create new words
Ways new words are formed
- Borrowing
- Compounding
- Clipping
- Backformation
- Coinage
- Derivation
- Calpue (Loan translation)
- Blending
- Hypocorisms
- Conversion
- Acronyms
Borrowing
-Involves taking a word from one language, and using it in a different language ~In English *Dope (Dutch) *Jewel (French) *Glitzy (Yiddish) *Lilac (Persian) *Piano (Italian) *Pretzel (German) *Ski (Norwegian) *Sofa (Aribic) *Tattoo (Tahitian) *Tycoon (Japanese) *Yogurt (Turkish) *Zebra (Bantu)
Calque (Loan translations)
-Involves a special type of borrowing, where a direct translation of the elements of a word is incorporated into the borrowing language (also known as loan-translations)
~In Spanish
*Rascacielo- Comes from English word “sktscraper”
**rascca (scrape) + cielo (sky)
*“perros calientes” - direct translation of English
**“hotdogs”
-Practice
~footobooru (Japanese) = football (English)
~trening (Hungarian)
= Training (English)
~luna de miel (Spanish “moon of honey”) = Honeymoon (English) Calque
~Jardin d’enfant (French “garden of children”) = kindergarten (German “children’s garden”) Calque
Compounding
-When two words are combined into one new word
~In English
*Bookcase (book + case), textbook (text + book), handsaw (hand +saw)
~In Hmong (spoken in Southeast Asia
*Hwjkais- “kettle” (hwj (pot) + kais (spout))
*Hnabrauntawv- “schoolbag” (hnad (bag) + rau (put) + ntawv (paper))
-When we compound words in English, the compound word usuaally takes on the part of speech of the SECOND word in the compound
~black (ADJ) + board (N) = blackboard (N)
~home (N) + sick (ADJ) = homesick (ADJ)
~grand (ADJ) + mother (N)
= grandmother (N)
Blending
-When we take the beginning of one word, and add it to the end of another word ~In English *Smoke + fog =Smog *Breakfast + lunch = Brunch *Spanish + English = Spanglish
Clipping
-A type of word formation which occurs when a word is shortened ~In English *Gasoline = Gas *Gymnasium = Gym *Influenza = Flu
Hypocorisms
-A type of word reduction, where a multisyllable word is reduced to one syllable, and then [i] is added to the end
~Primarily found in certain varieties of English
~In English (particularly British and Australian English)
*Television = telly
*Australian = Aussie
*Handkerchief = hanky
*Stomach = tummy
Conversion
-A change in the function of a word (for example, from noun to verb), without and reduction
~In English
*bottle (N) = bottle (V)
*To hire (V) = hire (N), as in new hires
*Down (ADJ) = down (V), as in “down a few beers”
*Doctor (N) “a doctor” = to doctor (V) “to doctor a person = doctor (V) “alter or change a document”
Coinage
-Invention of totally new words
~This is the process involved when brand names become associated with a product more generally
*In English
**kleenex, vaseline, google
~Words based on the name of a person or a place are called eponyms
*Teddy Roosevelt = teddy bear
*Earl of Sandwich = sandwich
Acronyms
-A type of coinage, new words formed from the initial letters of other words
~Can consist of saying each letter separately, as in CD, ATM
~Or can be pronounced as a new, single words, as in NASA, PIN, laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), or scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
Derivation
-Adding a small, meaningful unit (morphemes) to existing words
~These small units usually do not exist as words on their own, and are called affixes
*Prefixes are added to the beginning of words
**Unlucky, misunderstood, rewrite
*Suffixes are added to the end of words
**Quickly, happiness, alcoholism
*Infixes are added to the middle of words
**Absofreakinlutely, awholenother
-Infixes are rare in English (usually emotionally charged statements)
-More common in some of the other languages of the world:
~Khum, a Laotian language
*toh - to chisel = trnoh - a chisel
*see - to drill = srnee - a drill
*hiip - to eat with a spoon = hrniip - a spoon
*hoom - to tie = hrnoom - a thing with which to tie
*if the word kap manes “to grasp with tongs”, how would you say ‘“tongs”?
**krnap
-Another, more rare type of affix is the circumfix
~In Indonesian
*besar (big) = knbesaran (bigness)
*indah (beautiful) = keindahan (beauty)
*sehat (healthy = kesehatan (health)
Backformation
-Is a reduction process where a word of one type (often a noun) is reduced to form a word of another type (often a verb)
~Typically involves removing a morpheme (or a part of the word that is perceived as a morpheme)
~Different from clipping and conversion as the word is reduced and the function changes
~In English
*Television = televis
*Conversation = conersate
*Babysitter = babysit
Multiple processes
-Often more than one of these processes are involved in the creation of a word
~”I’m going to the deli”: borrowed from delicatessen (German) = clipped to “deli”
*“I like deli meat”: converted form Noun to an adjective
*“I’d like a decaf” : clipped from decaffeinated = Converted from an ADJ to a N
Free morphemes
-That can stand by themselves as single words
~In English
*Cat, New, tour, lemon
-Can be called lexical or functional
Bound Morphemes
-That cannot normally stand alone, but have to be attached to other morphemes
~In English
*rewritten, establishment, papers
-Bound morphemes are also called affixes
-Attach to a root (Steam or base) morpheme, or to other bound morphemes
~undressed = un (prefix) + dress (root) + ed (suffix)
~carelessness = care (root) + less (suffix) + ness (suffix)
- In English, roots are usually free morphemes, but no always
~deNOUNCE, anNOUNCE, reNOUNCE
-Can be derivational or inflectional
Lexical morphemes
- are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs which “carry the content” of the things we say
~In English
*boy, woman, mansion, lion, happy, short, green, phony, closed, hear, dream, build, etc.
-Languages can add new lexical morphemes easily
~They are an open class of words
Functional morphemes
- Are conjunctions, prepositions, articles, and pronouns (‘grammar’ words that express relations between other words)
~In English
*and, but, where, because, for, below, on, it, them, etc.
-Languages do not add new functional morphemes easily
~They are closed class of words
Derivational morphemes
- are used to create new words with new meanings, or change words into a different grammatical category
~In English
*good + ness = goodness
*un + happy = unhappy
Inflectional morphemes
- Indicate the grammatical features of words (gender, number, person, tense, aspect, mood)
~An inflectional morpheme never changes the grammatical category of a word
~It adds grammatical meaning to the word, but doesn’t change its central ‘root’ meaning
*In English
** walrus + es = walruses
**cook + ed = cooked
**cold + er = colder
