Morphology Flashcards
Morphology
Study of the internal structure of words and the rules that govern it.
morpheme
The smallest meaningful unit
Morphology: Types of words
Monomorphemic (=simplex) words
Polymorphemic (=complex) words
Morphology: Types of morphemes
Autonomy
Function/Meaning
Position
+special cases
Morphology: Autonomy
Free/Bound morphemes: Can either stand by themselves or can only occur with another morpheme.
Morphology: Function/Meaning
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.
Morphology: Position
Affixes (opposite of lexeme):
Prefix = before the base
Suffix= after the base
Morphology: Inflection
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
Morphology: Derivation
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
Derivation and Inflection in 1 word?
Of course it is possible to find derivation and inflection in one word, f.e. speak-er-s
Morphology: Unique morphemes
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
Morphology: Allomorphy
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
morph
Minimal meaningful and/or functionally relevant unit of an utterance.
allomorph
Morphs that have been classified as a representative of a morpheme
Allomorphy: The regular plural -s
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,…
Allomorphy: The indefinate article
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
Allomorphy: Bases that change their shape when affixes follow.
Morphologically conditioned: agile -> agility (pronounce the i) demon -> demonic (pronounce the o) exclaim -> exclamation (ai to a) able -> ability ...
Allomorphy: English irregular plurals
lexically conditioned: sheep (Sg) -> sheep (Pl) ox -> oxen child -> children tooth -> teeth mouse -> mice ...
Allomorphy: other irregular forms
lexically conditioned: good-better-best bad-worse-worst go-went-gone is-are-was ...
Morphology: Word formation basics: What can we do to add new words to a language? (4)
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)
Productive/less productive word formation processes?
Productive = Compounding, affixation (=derivation)
Less productive = Conversion, shortenings (clippings, abbreviations, blending, backformation)
Morphology: Compounding
Combining several already existing words to make a new word.
compound = modifier + head
Compounding: Stress
Usually stressed on left hand member
Compounding: Types of compounds
nominal compound: noun + nominal/ + verbal/ + adjectival/ + preposition
verbal compound: verb + nominal/ + verbal/ + adjectival/ + preposition
adjectival compound: adjective + nominal/ + adjectival
Compounding: Complexity & Constituency
compound = modifier + head
=>right hand element contributes the main element of meaning, f.e. “plant-house” = type of house; “house-plant” = type of plant
Compounding: Inflection
Inflection is added to the right hand member, f.e. house-plants (NOT houses-plant), windmills (NOT windsmill)
Compounding: Left hand member contributes?
Left hand member is stressed.
Compounding: Right hand member contributes?
Right hand member contributes main meaning, determines word-class, carries inflection.
Morphology: Affixation
New words are created by adding an affix, this may change word class (=derivation).
Affixation: Types
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)
In English, prefixes may inform you about…
quantity ()
