Morphology Flashcards
Morpheme
Most basic unit of linguistics that holds meaning (ex. unbuttoned has 3 morphemes)
Prefixes
Morphemes at the beginning of the word (ex. anti-, re-, un-)
Suffixes
Morphemes at the end of a word (ex. -ing, -able, -s)
Infixes
Morphemes in the middle of the word (ex. -fucking- (abso-fucking-lutely)
Inflectional
Adds more grammatical information to the word without changing meaning (number, case ,etc.)
Derivational
Alters the meaning of a word (ex. wrap vs unwrap)
Can be done through other methods, not just suffix, infix, prefix (Ex. cringe (verb) vs. cringe (adjective))
Free Morpheme
A morpheme that can stand alone (ex. cat)
Bound Morpheme
A morpheme that cannot stand alone and needs to “bound” to another to have a proper meaning (ex. CATS: cat - free, s - bound)
Possessor
Morpheme that indicates the possession of something
Root
The core of the world, dictates the meaning of the word
(Ex. happiness - happy)
Affix
The bound morphemes that attach to the root
(Ex. happiness - ness)
Base (Stem)
The part of the word that affixes are added to
(Ex. Happiness - happi)
Concatenative
The morpheme are added beside the root word
(Ex. un-writt-en)
Non-Concatenative
The morphemes are added within the root word
(Ex. (Arabic root word for written - ktb turns into “unwritten” - kutib (imbedding u and i))
Cautionary Note
Sometimes words with prefix, suffix, or infix don’t have root words
(Ex. submit, receive - these are all 1 morpheme)
Noun
Entities - places, things, people, etc.
Verb
Actions, doing something
Adjective
Qualities/characteristics of nouns, descriptive words
Adverb
qualities/characteristics that describe verbs
Apposition
Express spatial/temporal relations
(Ex. on, at , when, for, by, over, under, while, during)
Class 1 Derivational Class
Triggers phonemic change
(Ex. the second c in critic changed from a [k] to a [s] in criticize)
Class 2 Derivational Class
Phonologically neutral, there is no effect on the phonemic makeup of the word or its stress placement
(Ex. fear - fearless)
Compounding
Combining free morphemes (full words) to create a new word
(Ex. binge+watch = bingewatch, hand+watch = handwatch)
- Stress is usually on the first word
- Tense and plural morphemes can only be added to the second word.
(Ex. dropped kick is wrong but drop kicked is right)
- Its category (verb, noun, adjective) determined by the right most word in the compound
(Ex. watch determines compound - noun and verb in this specific case)
Endocentric Compound
The meaning of the compound comes from the actual words, its obvious what it means
(Ex. blue-bird, drop-kick)
Exocentric Compound
meaning refers to something external, its not obvious from the words what the compound us referring to.
(Ex. sabre-tooth, redneck)
Inflection: Affixation
Things infection marks
1. Tense
- Number - Marked by SG for singular, PL for plural
- Person - first, second, third (marked by actual numbers)
- Aspect - perfect, progressive
- Mood - indicative, subjunctive
Progressive
In the process of happening
(Ex. -ing)
Marked by PROG
Past Participle
In the past and is done now
(Ex. eaten, studied)
Comparative
Comparing things
(Ex. smallER one)
Superlative
The most
(Ex. smallEST one)
Inflection: Internal Change
An internal change that doesn’t change meaning
(Ex. come - came, foot - feet)
Inflection: Suppletion
When a word is changed entirely but still has the same meaning
(Ex. go - went, see - saw)
Inflection: Case Markings
Subject is nominative and is marked by -NOM
Object is accusative and is marked by -ACC
Reduplication
Repeating part of the base
(Ex. Indonesian: orang means man singular vs. orang orang means man plural)
Tone
Different tones can differentiate infection
(Ex. wó - like past tense, wò kill future tense)
Cliticization
I am turns into i’m
they are turns into they’re
Conversion/Zero Derivation
ship (water vehicles) ship (to send)
friend (noun) friend (verb)
Clipping
Hamburger becomes burger
Application becomes app
Blending
Romance and bro become bromance
Jeans and leggings become jeggings
Backformation
Vapour - vape
Editor - edit
Acronym
North Atlantic Treaty Organization - NATO
You only live once - YOLO
You don’t pronounce the letters you pronounce it as a word
Initialisms
United States of America - USA
Do it yourself - DIY
You pronounce each individual letter
Onomatopoeia/ideophones
sounds as words
Coinage
words created from scratch
(Ex. Kleenes, Jacuzzi)
Allomorph
The different forms a morpheme can take
(Ex. -s, -es, -ies or in, im, il, ir)
Dative Case
Indirect Object
Marked by DAT
Ablative Case
Movement away from something or separation
Marked by ABL
Vocative Case
Indicates location or place
Marked by VOC
Instrumental Case
Marks the instrument or the means by which an action is carried out
Marked by INS
Locative Case
Indicates the location of something
Marked by LOC
