Phonology + Morphology

Question 1

What is the difference between phonetics vs phonology?

Answer 1

phonetics studies actual articulation of sounds/signs + physical properties

phonology studies behaviour of sounds, the mental organization of speech

Question 2

phoneme

Answer 2

• smallest unit of sounds that distinguishes meaning between words
• in contrastive distribution
  i.e. can appear in the same contexts

Question 3

how can we determine if sounds are allophones of a single phoneme?

Answer 3

• no minimal pairs
• in complementary distribution
  (i.e. in different environments)
• phonetically similar

Question 4

what do the brackets / / and [ ] mean?

Answer 4

/ / brackets indicate contrastive distribution (phoneme)

[ ] brackets indicate allophone or unknown status

Question 5

natural class

Answer 5

a group of similar sounds that pattern together

Question 6

segmental vs suprasegmental phonemes

Answer 6

segmental: vowels, consonants
suprasegmental: word stress, tone

Question 7

Elements of a syllable

Answer 7

Onset
- one or more consonants

Rhyme
- a vowel (nucleus) and any following consonants (coda)

Question 8

phonotactics

Answer 8

how we can combine phonemes together to build words

Question 9

Sapir-whorf hypothesis

Answer 9

structure of our language shapes the way we think and perceive the world

2 diff versions:
strong = linguistic determinism
weak = linguistic relativity

Question 10

Linguistic relativity

Answer 10

language conditions thought

languages are different, knowing one doesn’t let us predict how another may categorize the world

Question 11

cultural emphasis

Answer 11

language reflects culture of its speakers

Question 12

Are there expressive differences between languages?

Answer 12

No differences in what can be expressed, but in grammaticalization (which conceptual categories are encoded in grammar)

languages don’t differ in what they CAN express, but in what they MUST express

Question 13

inflectional affixes

Answer 13

• no change in lexical category
• predictable
• available to all members of a lexical category (except irregular stuff)
• attaches outside
• only suffixes

ex/ tense, plurality

Question 14

derivational affixes

Answer 14

• changes lexical category
• create new words (compounding)
• not predictable
• attaches close to root
• prefix or suffix

Question 15

morphology

Answer 15

study of internal structure of words, how they’re formed

Question 16

coinage

Answer 16

invent a completely new term
ex/ google

Question 17

eponym

Answer 17

use someone’s name
ex/ Morse code

Question 18

acronym

Answer 18

combine first letters of existing words
ex/ ASAP

Question 19

borrowing

Answer 19

take word from another language
ex/ sushi

Question 20

calque

Answer 20

literal translation from another language
ex/ flea market

Question 21

compounding

Answer 21

join two existing words together
ex/ blackboard, dog food
(note stress pattern, spelling doesn’t matter)

RHR: head of a word that determines properties of the compound is on rightmost side

Question 22

blending

Answer 22

combine parts of two words
ex/ snowpocalypse

Question 23

clipping

Answer 23

shorten existing word without changing the meaning
ex/ examination -> exam

Question 24

hypocorism

Answer 24

clipping + “ie” or “y” ending
ex/ tourney

Question 25

conversion

Answer 25

change the word’s lexical category
ex/
- to be schooled (noun -> verb)
- funnest (noun -> adj)
- up the volume (preposition -> verb)

Question 26

derivation

Answer 26

add affix to an existing word, usually changing the lexical category
ex/ instable

Question 27

backformation

Answer 27

subtract affix from existing word in a way that changes the meaning
ex/ enthuse

Question 28

lexical category

Answer 28

a part of speech or word class
ex/ noun, verb

Question 29

morpheme

Answer 29

smallest meaningful unit of language

1. must have meaning on its own
2. must be minimal

Question 30

free vs bound morphemes

Answer 30

free
- can stand alone
- most roots

bound
- cannot stand alone
- ALL affixes

Question 31

types of affixes

Answer 31

prefix, infix (none in eng), suffix

Question 32

in hopefulness, ful is what kind of affix?

Answer 32

suffix, it is inserted after the root “hope”

Question 33

what kind of morpheme are all affixes?

Answer 33

bound

Question 34

allomorphy

Answer 34

morpheme appears in different shapes (allomorphs) depending on envo

ex/ allomorphs of -s

Regular:
[s] like pets
[z] like pods
[ez] likę churches

Irregular:
oxen is the en
geese change in root
women change in root
sheep no change

Question 35

suppletion

Answer 35

radical form of irregular allomorphy where the whole root is replaced

ex/
- good / better / best
- go / went
- conjugation of the verb to be (is, are, am)

Question 36

True or false: an affix always changes lexical category in the same way

Answer 36

true

Question 37

what type of affix is closer to the root?

Answer 37

derivational is closer to root than inflectional

Question 38

in English compounds, the ___-most morpheme determines the compound’s lexical category

Answer 38

right