Morph Flashcards
Morphology and phonolgy interaction
The interaction can be seen in three various form of plural -s:
- /s/ in cats (after voiceless)
- /z/ in dogs (after voiced/vowels)
- /iz/ in houses (after sibilants)
Various instances of allomorphy
In the case of morpheme “T” that can be realised in 2 ways:
- as /t/ in illustrate /ˈɪləstreɪt/
- as /ʃ/ in illustration /ɪləˈstreɪʃən/
Various instances of morphoneme
Morphonemes
realizations of a morpheme, that are clearly related to each other and differ in at least one phoneme.
Morphology and lexicology interaction/Mental lexicon
Some morphological processes result in a formation of new words, that are stored in our lexicon. We can deduce what the word means, based on our lang. knowledge.
Mental Lexicon-information regarding a words, its pronunciation, meaning, syntactic characteristics, stored in our brain.
Morphology and Syntax interaction
The most obvious is the interaction in inflectional forms of the verb:
-work vs works-Depending on the syntactic context
-3rd person sing: works
-Plural-They work
Morphosyntactic property
They identify the grammatical characteristics that verb poseeses ie. Person, tense, gender etc.
What is sign?
Something that represents something else. Has form and meaning.
Charles. S Peirce’s model
The founder of the modern theory of signs. 3 component model:
The representamen-form of the sign
The interpretant-sense made for the sign
The object-sth to which sign refers
-Interaction–>semiosis
Types of signs by Peirce
Icons-they are based on resemblance of the form with the designated object. (picture of a book)
Images-represent a direct similarity between the signifier and the signified such as paintings, photographs,
Diagrams-represent analogy between the relations between the signifier and the signified, often based on conventions
Metaphors-iconic metasigns because their similarity is based on similarity with other properties, for instance, when calling someone a spider in his web.
Indexes-points to the object (smoke–>fire) or indirectly point to spatial and temporal relations of the utterance. (here, there, yesterday)
Symbols-based on convetions, unlike icons they do not have resemblance with the objects and do not have direct relationship with object like indexes.
Classification of Signs by Peirce
Types-abstract and unique
Tokens-concrete particulars
Ferdinand de Saussure’s model
-He understood language as a system of signs
-Model of the linguistic sign consist of concept and Acoustic image
Concept (signifie)-general idea, mental representation of sth
Acoustic image (signifiant)-abstract, mental representation of a sound
-Concept–>signified (signifie)–> Interpretant
-Sound image-signifier (signifiant) –> close to Peirce’s representamen
Ling. sign characterized by two principles (de Saussure)
Arbitrariness-is an idea that, there is no casual relation between the concept and acoustic image. Their relation is arbitrary. Use is controversial (based on general agreement in the speech community)
Linearity-sound image consists of a sequence of elements produced one after the other. It is not possible to pronounce all sounds in b-u-k- at the same time. This also means that two linguistic signs cannot be realized at the same time.
Linearity
sound image consists of a sequence of elements produced one after the other. It is not possible to pronounce all sounds in b-u-k- at the same time. This also means that two linguistic signs cannot be realized at the same time
Arbitrariness
is an idea that, there is no casual relation between the concept and acoustic image. Their relation is arbitrary. Use is controversial (based on general agreement in the speech community)
Semiotic triangle (Ogned and Richards)
It shows relation between:
The thought, which represents the meaning
The symbol, represents utterance or written form of a word
The referent-Represents a real picture of a word
Denotation-Symbol–>referent
Designation-Referent –> thought
Signification- Thought–>symbol
Horecky’s model
-Distinction between ideal ling. sign and communicative ling. signs
-Ideal ling. sign cannot carry a signal, this is why CS is needed with signified represented by ideal sound.
-Phonological, onomatological, onomasiological levels–>Signifier, combination of these
-Semantic level–> signified
Lexeme
lingistic sign and an abstract entity, also a dictionary word
Word forms
Concrete realizations of a single lexeme
Ortographic words
-word forms in a written text
Phonological words
word forms in spoken text
Paradigm
set of all inflected forms representing lexeme
Suppletion
is an unrelated form in the same parading, it has different root (go–>went)
Syntactic atom
Word defined from a syntactic perspective Di scullion and williams
Synt. item that is understood as compact and indivisible whole.
Listeme
A listeme is any unit whose meaning is not derivable by rule from the meanings of its parts, thus any meaningful unit which has to be memorized and stored in the lexicon
Approaches to morpheme
De Saussure
-A word or part of a word which constitutes an irreducible minimal sign
Bloomfield
-Linguistic sing with no partial phonetic-semantcic resemblance to any other form, ultimate constituent
Hockett
-Minimal meaningful element. Abstract unit, it’s written and spoken form is called morph. Several variants of one morphere are called allomorphs. Allomorphs-in complementary distributin–>only one is used in any particular context.
Mathesius
-The smallest part of a word that has a meaning.
-Morpheme is a bilateral unit-has form (formeme) and meaning (sememe)
de Courtenay
-that part of a word which is endowed with psychological autonomy and is for
the very same reason not further divisible.
Cumulative exponence
one form realises more than one meaning (sings; -s repsresents third person, singluar number, present tense, called Portmantau morph)
Portmantau morph
-a single morph represents several grammatical functions
Extended exponence
Several formal elements combine to express a single meaning.
-a full verb plus the present participle ending plus a corresponding form of be
She is drinking coffee
Syncretism
two identical word-forms can differ in grammatical functions they fulfil and they occupy different slots in the corresponding paradigm (smized; -ed might indicate past tense or past participle)
Apophony
- a change in the quality of a vowel sound to indicate grammatical change.
o Ablaut – vowel change (e.x sing-sang, drink-drank)
o Umlaut – change of word (e.x mouse-mice)
Zero morpheme
a morpheme that has a meaning bud zero form
Morph
Realization of the morpheme at the level of speech.
Morphemics
Is concerned with types of morphemes and the ways how morphemes can combine. It also investigates grammatical categories expressed by morphemes, word classes and morphemes that are used to form words.
Primary/First articulation of language
Units at the level of the system are signs, consisting of a form and meaning.
Secondary articulation
Sound units result from this articulation, they are not signs, bc sign is a combination of a form and a meaning and a phoneme is only a form.
American structuralism
It was deemed essential for them that the linguistic analysis was completed for one level of language structure before moving to the next one.
European structuralism
The Prague School views language as a structured system. The language system is a hierarchically organized set of subsystems. The subsystems are related to each other. The study of language is divided into linguistic disciplines on the basis of the main units of individual language planes or levels.
Generative grammar/Chomsky
For Chomsky, a central idea is that knowing a language means being able to produce and understand a large number of utterances that a person may never have heard or said before. Grammar includes the knowledge of the grammar rules of the language that people have in their minds. Such rules will make it possible to identify that saying this girl is correct, but *this girls is not.
-Central component is syntax, it includes rules for generating expressions.
Type/Token
Type-abstract, descriptive objects
Token-concrete particulars
For example, in the sentence “the bicycle is becoming more popular” the word bicycle represents the abstract concept of bicycles, and is thus a type, whereas in the sentence “the bicycle is in the garage”, it represents a particular object, and is therefore a token.
Organon
an instrument of thought or knowledge used by language users.
Buhler’s three types of sign on the basis of their function
-A symptom is associated with an expression as it is dependent on the sender
-A symbol is linked with a referent of the extra-linguistic reality.
-A signal is related to a receiver who controls the sign.
Empty morpheme
formative or a linking element that does not represent any meaningful unit. Czech-o-slovakia
Item and Arrangement model
-in IA it is important to identify morphemes (minmal meaningful elements of language)
-main aim: to specify a list or inventory of morphemes in a given language and their possible ways of distribution
(2) spiralizer ‘a kitchen device used for spiralizing
-can be divided into 3 items: spiral+iz(e)+er
-spiral–>free form (can stand on it’s own)
-Verbal and nominal suffixes-ize and -er are bound forms (incapable of standing on their own)
-The free form and the two bound forms are minimal meaningful elements (morphemes-they constitute the items in IA model)
-these morphemes (free/bound) have independent entries in the lexicon and each lexical entry carries three types on info: phonological, structural and semantic
(3) a. /ˈspaɪə.rəl.aɪ.zər/
b. [[[N]suffix]V suffix]N
c. ‘a kitchen device used for spiralizing (= cutting food into long, curling pieces)
Allomorph
several variants of one morphere.
Agglutinative lang
morphemes link or glue together without changing their forms (Turkish, hungarian)
Vowel harmony
The rule is that if a stem contains back vowels, it selects a suffix with a back vowel; if a stem contains only front vowels only a front vowel suffix can be attached.
Item and Process
-In IP, only free morphemes have separate entries in the lexicon.
-Morphological rules are understood as operations or processes that act on free morphemes.
-Bound morphemes are then parts of rules.
-Only spiral has an independent entry; -ize is a “make verb” process with output spiralize, -er is a “make intstrument noun”
-advantage is that bound morphemes do not necessaruly need to be specified because they apply together with a rule.
Word and PAradigm model
-Presented by MAtthews
-useful for describing languages with extensive inflectional paradigms such as Slovak, Russian, Spanish or Greek. Inflectional paradigms are central in WP.
-The main aim of morphological description is to explain patterns identified in different paradigms
-The word-form is seen as an unanalysable unit, not as a sequence of morphemes.
inflectional endings/suffixes
express grammatical information about the corresponding case
Derivation or derivational morphology
produces new words (lexemes).
smuggle → smuggler (V → N)
inflectional morphology
Produces word forms of a corresponding lexeme
Inflection vs Derivation
Inflection has a relational function. Derivation has a semiotic function.
Inflection is obligatory in a syntactic construction. Derivation is optional.
Inflection cannot be replaced by simple words. Derivation can be replaced by simple words.
Inflection is usually more semantically and formally transparent. Derivation is usually less semantically and formally transparent.
Inflection is typically more productive. Productivity in derivation is restricted.
Inflection typically does not change word class. Derivation often changes word class.
Inflection cannot be reapplied. Derivation can reapply.
Inflection is typically expressed at the periphery of words. Derivation is expressed closer to the root.
Inflection is typically organized in paradigms.
The paradigmatic organization of derivational morphology is much weaker.
Obligatoriness
required by syntax is a crucial component of the criterion in (7). Similar to (5), we can illustrate it with another example from Slovak. In the sentence Pracuje v reštaurácii. ‘He works in a restaurantLOCATIVE’, the locative case is obligatory. It is determined by the syntactic environment, i.e. by the preposition v ‘in’.
Inflection/morphosyntactic property
the modification of the form of a word to express its different grammatical relations
-inflection provides us with morphosyntactic information (ex. plural -s)
-value plural is then called morphosyntactic property
Contextual vs Inherent inflection (Booij)
Contextual
– krátk-a sukň-a – the noun sukňa is determined by feminine adjective krátka.
-Depends on syntactic context
Can be assigned by:
-Agreement/Concord – novinárka (fem) ho prerušila (fem), subject and verb agree on gender, number, case.
-Government – mával vlajkou (inst) svojej druhej (gen) vlasti (gen) – one word dictates a particular form in which another word must appear.
o Inherent – sukň-a – the fact that sukňa is feminine is given, not determined by context.
-Does not depend on syntactic context
Number
-an inflectional category basically distinguishing reference to one individual from reference to more than one
-singular, denoting a single entity
-plural, denoting more than one entity.
-dual number, which refers to exactly two entities
-trial number referring to precisely three entities
Gender
-Distinguishes classes of nouns pronouns, usually masculine, feminine, and neuter
-Chlapec (m), učiteľka (f), dievča (n). nôž (m), tabuľa (f)
-Grammatial gender – in many cases is not determined by the real or attributed sex of the referent (kniha “book” – feminine, buch “book” – neuter). Some languages have only two grammatical genders (Spanish, French, Portuguese).
-Referential/natural gender – in English where gender is close to biological sex (daughter, son, parent, dog, table).
-In English we use pronouns to refer to male, female and inanimate objects or non-personal objects (animal) – he, she, it
Case
-Used to identify the syntactic relationship between words in sentence. In many languages (Slovak), case is shown by inflectional affixes and determiners (Mama (nom sg) mojej priateľky (gen sg)mi dala (dat sg) novú knihu o Taliansku(loc sg).).
-Standard Slovak distinguishes 6 cases
English language has two-case system:
o Common case
-Morphologically unmarked (father, girl)
-The relation expressed by prepositions (with my father, to the father) and word order (His daughter saw him. He saw his daughter.).
o Genitive case/possessive case
-It has a marker (father’s book, girl’s bag)
-Clitic
* Grammatical element that occurs independently
* ‘s (he’s been here – stands for full word has)
o Enclitic
Type of clitic that follows its host or base
o Proclitics
Type of clitic that is placed before their host or base
Tense
-Morphological category frequently marked on the verb.
-It connects the verb’s time of action to the time of speaking or another time point.
-Time – universal and non-linguistic concept divided into past, present, and future.
-Tense – corresponding morphological category expressing the concept of time on verbs.
-Present and past are marked morphologically (-s, -ed), future doesn’t have inflection to mark the tense (only separate form will)
-Future is expressed analytically or periphrastically (the latter belongs to syntax)
-Non past-future expressedd by present tense (The train leaves at..)
Person
-Morphological category which makes a distinction between the speaker, the hearer, and other participants.
Some languages make a distinction in first person plural:
Exclusive
-First person plural – “me and other excluding you”
Inclusive
First person plural – “me and other including you”
-In English, person is not expressed on the verb (exception third person singular present tense -s).
Aspect
-Morphological category usually marked on verbs.
-Aspect gives us information how an event unfolds.
o Perfective aspect
-Action which was completed
ex. I have saved 10 000 €.
o Imperfective aspect
-Action which is still in progress
ex. I have been saving for three years.
-In English aspect is expressed by auxiliaries (have), in Slovak by prefixes (napísal).
Voice
Voice is linked to the role of the subject as either agent or patient. In many languages it gives two different ways, active and passive, of understanding of the action of the verb as in.
(13) a. John gave a book to her.
b. A book was given to her (by John).
Mood
Mood shows a speaker’s attitude and commitment to what is said. Languages frequently distinguish three moods, declarative mood to make statements, interrogative mood to ask questions, and imperative mood to give orders or commands. In English, interrogative is not recognized as a separate mood and questions are formed syntactically by the use of auxiliaries. Some examples are presented in (14).
Irregular inflection
o Ablaut - internal stem changes
Drank, sang
o Umlaut
Mice, feet, women
Affiation
process of adding an affix to a base
Suffix
o Follows the base to which it attaches.
o Teacher, učiteľ
Prefix
o Precedes the base to which it attaches.
o Overweight, unhappy, displace, nadváha, odbaliť, nešťastný
Word formation syntagma
complex form consisting of two constituents
o Determinans
-Modifier
-er
o Determinatum
-The head
Teach
Expansion
Prefixation+compunding is treated as expansion according to Marchand
oOnly complex units with free morphemes functioning as determinatum are expansions. Both must belong to the same word class (tolerant vs. intolerant – both adjectives)
oIntolerant (tolerant – free morpheme, -in bound morpheme)
Marchand-how does he treat suffixation?
As derivation
Transposition
-Is any combination with a bound morpheme functioning as determinatum.
er in teacher
Teacher: teach – determinans (modifier). Transposed into less usual position.
Seller: sell – determinans; -er determinatum
-This phenomenon contrasts with expansion
Infix
-Infixes divide their bases (ch – omn – es, -omn- is the infix, ches – learn, chomnes – knowledge)
-Also seen in insertion of expletives (fan-fucking-tasting, abso-bloody-lutely)
Circumfix
-Consists of two parts which surround the base (ge-been-te, ge and te is circumfix),
-Circumfix is a discontinuous morpheme
Transfix
-Involves both discontinuous affix and discontinuous base
Postfix
o Derivational affix that follows inflectional affix
o Often seen in Slavic languages (ktor-ý-koľvek – “anyone”, z-menši-ť)
Suprafix
-Label used for certain types of internal modification where a morphological change is linked to a change in the suprasegmental structure of the base.
Compounding
-The most productive word formation process.
-A compound is a word composed of at least two constituents (home office, veľk-o-obchod-ník)
NEOCLASSICAL COMPOUNDS
-Constituents are originally from Ancient Greek and Latin.
-Dactyloscopy – dactyl(o) “finger”, -scop(y) “scientific exam”)
-Such constituents are bound bases often called combining forms
-Combining forms are distinct from affixes because you can attach one with another: neurobiochemistry
Recursive compounding
-Nominal compound with two constituents can be compounded with another
-Handbook – morphology handbook – Slavic morphology handbook etc
- Important term in compounding is head
o It is the constituent that determines word class of the compound
o Solar panel – panel is head
o Most English compounds are right-headed.
o French for instance is left-headed (centre-ville)
Distinction between phrase and compund
o Phonological criteria
-Stress
*In English, compounds are usually stressed on the first constituent (‘greenhouse), phrases are stressed on their last constituent (green ‘house).
o Morphosyntactic criteria
Inseparability of a compound
*Test whether we can insert another modifying word between two constituents
*High school
o As a compound, it refers to a type of school
o As a phrase, it describes the building.
*However, if we add modifier, it can only be a phrase (high modern school)
Fixed order of elements
*In compounds we cannot change the position of the constituents
*There are exceptions as in singer-songwriter, however, such compound is called copulative compound – the reversal doesn’t affect the meaning.
*Compounds are expected to be inflected as in textbook – textbooks – morphological textbooks
o Semantic criteria
-The meaning of compounds is unpredictable (greenhouse). This is, however, valid in some cases (bus driver, ballet dancer, purpose-designed).
Classification of compunds
A) Primary/root compounds
* Garden party, home office, door-bell
* Often have several interpretations
B) Secondary/synthetic/verbal compounds
* Property holder, computer-assisted, humour-loving
* Have a verbal element (hold, assist, love)
* The meaning is easily predictable
Another classification:
A) Endocentric compounds
* Tea-pot, beach house, primary school
* Each compound denotes a hyponym of the head/determinatum element (tea-pot is a kind of pot etc.)
B) Exocentric compounds
* Redskin, lazybones, pickpocket
* Their head is unexpressed, zero head/determinatum
Bloomfield’s classification:
Dvandva (Copulative)-have semantically equal constituents. actor-manager
Bahuvrihi (exocentric)-they denote a person or a thing that can be characterized by a feature expressed by the compound e.g. hunchback, paleface
Tatpurusha (determinative)-are attributive (greenhouse, icy cold) or subordinative (bus driver, hand washing)
Conversion
a word which belongs to one word class (part of speech) shifts to another word class without adding an affix.
lunchN → lunchV
-The zero morpheme changes the syntactic category and adds a meaning component
backformation
-process of forming new words not by adding, but by deleting an element that actually is or appears to be an affix.
Edit from editor
Reanalysis/folk etymology
oProcess of reanalysing historical words that were conceived e.x as simple (burglar) to complex burgle + -er
Blending
-Blends or portmanteau words result from the combining of parts of two words into a single one
-The parts of the two words are not necessarily morphemes
Shortening/Clipping/Acronym/Initialism
Shortening of complex words includes the processes of clipping and acronymization
A clipping is a shortened word that does not semantically differ from its longer version, e.g. lab from laboratory, info from information, flu from influenza. Clippings are often used in less formal contexts. An acronym is formed from the initial letters
An acronym is formed from the initial letters of the words in a name and is pronounced as a word, e.g. NATO
Initialisms are also composed from the first letters of the words in a name, but they are pronounced as a series of letters, e.g. CIA ‘Central Intelligence Agency’
variable R condition
oWater-mill – a mill powered by water/a mill located near water
oExplains that the relation between the two constituents of a compound depends on the semantics (meaning) of the constituents.
What is Level ordering?
-Level-ordering, sometimes also called stratal ordering, is the idea of ordering morphological rules into a hierarchy of levels or strata
-Aims to explain how affixes are ordered in complex words.
Affixing language
a language which expresses grammatical relationships primarily through the use of affixes
Agglutinative language
a lang. in which the words typically contain a linear sequence of formatives (roots and affixes)
Analytic language
a type of language in which words are invariable, and syntactic relationships are shown by word order
Inflectional language
a type of language where words display grammatical relationships morphologically, using a system of prefixes, suffixes or infixes
Isolating language
a type of language in which words are typically invariable, and syntactic relationships are primarily shown by word order.
Polysynthetic language
a type of lang. which uses long, morphologically complex word forms
synthetic language
-a type of language in which words typically contain more than one morpheme, opposed to an analytuc language
symbolic languages
express grammatical and word-formation meanings by internal vowel modification
index of synthesis
based on the calculation of the ratio of morphemes to words in a language.
The index of fusion
makes a distinction within the group of synthetic languages between agglutinative and fusional languages. The index of fusion measures how easy it is to segment morphemes in a language or how many grammatical categories are expressed by one morpheme.
