Morphology Flashcards
Explain morpheme.
Morpheme is the minimal unit of meaning; can be either words or endings.
Explain allomorph.
Allomorph is the form representing the morpheme; plural nouns can have endings like cats, or nothing like sheep or a vowel change like mice – these are all allomorphs of the plural morpheme. A morpheme can come in different morphs depending on what it attaches to. I.e. English past tense morpheme is realised in several ways:
looked, took, brought, was, put
These are referred to as allomorphs of the past tense morpheme. Each verb only has one past tense form. The allomorphs of the English past tense morpheme are in complementary distribution, meaning that they occur in different contexts. Past tense morpheme is a set of morphs that have the same grammatical function.
Explain lexeme/lexical item.
Dictionary items; words or compounds or idioms.
Explain bound morpheme/affix.
Morphemes that have to appear attached to something else, i.e. endings.
Explain stem.
A stem is what an affix attaches to; can be complex; treat is stem for treatment, treatment is stem for treatments.
Explain root.
A root is what an affix is attached to - but has to be simple; treat is a root of treatment.
Explain prefix.
A prefix is An affix that comes before the stem/root; un-sure Suffix – an affix that comes after the stem/root; cat-s Infix – an affix that comes in the middle of the stem/root; fan-fucking-tastic.
Explain content word.
A content word is a free morpheme that give the core lexical meaning of a sentence; nouns, verbs, adjectives (maybe adverbs), and some prepositions.
What is a function word.
A function word is a word that contributes to the syntax, rather than the meaning of the sentence, hence, it carries grammatical meaning such as; determiners, some prepositions, connectives, and auxiliary verbs. Example: the, over, and, a, and, the, etc.
Explain derivational affix.
A derivational affix is a bound morpheme that change lexeme; radically changing meaning like un-happy or change word-class like treat-ment.
Explain inflectional affix.
Inflectional affix is a bound morpheme that change grammatical function; finite or non-finite tense, plural, comparative, and superlative.
Explain back-formation.
Explain reinterpretation.
Reinterpretation is when a form is reinterpreted with a different meaning; pease reinterpreted as plural of pea.
Explain semantic shift.
A semantic shift is when the meaning of a word is changed: Sound symbolism – words are created based on sounds; choo-choo for train
Borrowing – words are taken completely into one language from another; smorgasbord.
Explain clipping.
Clipping is when the form of a word is reduced: example, Information becomes info.
Acronym – clipping of a phrase that leaves something that is pronounced as a word; AIDS.
