Morphology

Question 1

Morphology

Answer 1

Study of the internal structure of words and the rules that govern it.

Question 2

morpheme

Answer 2

The smallest meaningful unit

Question 3

Morphology: Types of words

Answer 3

Monomorphemic (=simplex) words

Polymorphemic (=complex) words

Question 4

Morphology: Types of morphemes

Answer 4

Autonomy
Function/Meaning
Position
+special cases

Question 5

Morphology: Autonomy

Answer 5

Free/Bound morphemes: Can either stand by themselves or can only occur with another morpheme.

Question 6

Morphology: Function/Meaning

Answer 6

Lexical morphemes: content words (if free); establish a relationship between word and world; nouns, verbs, adjectives,…; open class; new items can be found quite easily and new lexemes can be created quite easily.
Grammatical morphemes: function words (if free); establish a relationship between parts of the sentence; prepositions, conjunctions, articles, pronouns, closed class, spontaneous neologisms are impossible.

Question 7

Morphology: Position

Answer 7

Affixes (opposite of lexeme):
Prefix = before the base
Suffix= after the base

Question 8

Morphology: Inflection

Answer 8

If grammatical information and categories are expressed by affixes, this is called inflection (only a limited number of grammatical relations are expressed by inflection).
Never changes word class,
Stable form-meaning relationship,
Suffixes (only has suffixes) attach to all possible bases

Question 9

Morphology: Derivation

Answer 9

Bound morphemes can be either grammatical/inflectional or lexical/derivational:
If new lexemes are created by adding an affix to a lexical base, this is called derivation.
Can change word class,
Variable form-meaning relationship,
Affixes (both) attach to a subset of all possible bases

Question 10

Derivation and Inflection in 1 word?

Answer 10

Of course it is possible to find derivation and inflection in one word, f.e. speak-er-s

Question 11

Morphology: Unique morphemes

Answer 11

Type of bound morpheme that may have made sense in the past or has possibly never made sense, but still helps to distinguish words by having meaning if attach to a certain morpheme, f.e. cran-berry

Question 12

Morphology: Allomorphy

Answer 12

Morphs that have been classified as a representative of a morpheme.
Conditioning:
phonologically conditioned = shape of allomorph depends on neighbouring sounds
morphologically conditioned = shape of allomorph depends on the neighbouring morpheme
lexically conditioned = the shape of the allomorph depends on the word as a whole

Question 13

morph

Answer 13

Minimal meaningful and/or functionally relevant unit of an utterance.

Question 14

allomorph

Answer 14

Morphs that have been classified as a representative of a morpheme

Question 15

Allomorphy: The regular plural -s

Answer 15

Phonologically conditioned:
[s] = C [-voice] ___ # f.e. cat-s
[z] = C [+voice] ___ # OR V____# f.e. mail-s, bee-s
[iz] = C [sibilant] ___ # (sibilant = [s],[z],[ʃ],[ʒ]) f.e. faxes, horses, bushes,…

Question 16

Allomorphy: The indefinate article

Answer 16

Phonologically conditioned:
[ə] = before C, f.e. a cat
[ən] = before V, f.e. an elephant
[ei] = if stressed, f.e. a cat, a bread

Question 17

Allomorphy: Bases that change their shape when affixes follow.

Answer 17

Morphologically conditioned:
agile -> agility (pronounce the i)
demon -> demonic (pronounce the o)
exclaim -> exclamation (ai to a)
able -> ability
...

Question 18

Allomorphy: English irregular plurals

Answer 18

lexically conditioned:
sheep (Sg) -> sheep (Pl)
ox -> oxen
child -> children
tooth -> teeth
mouse -> mice
...

Question 19

Allomorphy: other irregular forms

Answer 19

lexically conditioned:
good-better-best
bad-worse-worst
go-went-gone
is-are-was
...

Question 20

Morphology: Word formation basics: What can we do to add new words to a language? (4)

Answer 20

Invent from scratch (root coinage, creation)

Borrow from another language (language contact)

Give new meaning to an already existing word (semantic change)

Create a new word form from already existing elements (word formation)

Question 21

Productive/less productive word formation processes?

Answer 21

Productive = Compounding, affixation (=derivation)

Less productive = Conversion, shortenings (clippings, abbreviations, blending, backformation)

Question 22

Morphology: Compounding

Answer 22

Combining several already existing words to make a new word.

compound = modifier + head

Question 23

Compounding: Stress

Answer 23

Usually stressed on left hand member

Question 24

Compounding: Types of compounds

Answer 24

nominal compound: noun + nominal/ + verbal/ + adjectival/ + preposition

verbal compound: verb + nominal/ + verbal/ + adjectival/ + preposition

adjectival compound: adjective + nominal/ + adjectival

Question 25

Compounding: Complexity & Constituency

Answer 25

compound = modifier + head
=>right hand element contributes the main element of meaning, f.e. “plant-house” = type of house; “house-plant” = type of plant

Question 26

Compounding: Inflection

Answer 26

Inflection is added to the right hand member, f.e. house-plants (NOT houses-plant), windmills (NOT windsmill)

Question 27

Compounding: Left hand member contributes?

Answer 27

Left hand member is stressed.

Question 28

Compounding: Right hand member contributes?

Answer 28

Right hand member contributes main meaning, determines word-class, carries inflection.

Question 29

Morphology: Affixation

Answer 29

New words are created by adding an affix, this may change word class (=derivation).

Question 30

Affixation: Types

Answer 30

Prefixes = added in front of original lexeme, f.e. unfold => prefix + base (prefixes rarely change word class)

Suffixes = added in front of original lexeme, f.e. notify => base + suffix (suffixes often change word-class of the derivative, create derivatives of a certain word class, attach to bases of a certain word-class)

Question 31

In English, prefixes may inform you about…

Answer 31

quantity ()