Introduction to Linguistics Unit Four Morphology, Part One Dr. Judith Yoel

Morphology: Introduction morph – to change - ology – the scientific study of…. Morphology – _____________________________________ Morphemes – the smallest unit of meaning (It can be a stem, prefix, suffix, etc.) allomorphs – a unit of meaning with the same meaning, but that has a different form Example: vision, station

Words can be divided up into parts Each word has parts and these parts of certain types. Example: leadership lead – free morpheme -er – bound morpheme, derivational, -ship – bound morpheme, derivational

Words can be divided up into parts (cont.) Each part is also a part of speech and has specific functions. Example: leadership lead – N / V -er – agentive ending, changes V→N -ship – changes N→ abstract N

Accounting for the parts of words Words can be divided up into 'chunks'. These chunks are not random. They are the building blocks of the language. They are made up derivational morphemes and inflectional morphemes, bound morphemes and free ones. The first stage is to identify the parts of the word and to indicate how these parts are affixed (prefix or suffix) – thus, the dashes that are attached to words are obligatory. Next, one has to determine the type of morpheme.

Homework There are a limited number of inflectional morphemes in English. Go home and look up and make a list of all the inflectional morphemes in English. You will need this to differentiate between inflectional and derivational morphemes. What is the main difference between inflectional and derivational morphemes?

Free and Bound Morphemes Free morphemes – They stand as words on their own and can not be broken down into smaller parts Examples: green, a, the Bound morphemes – They can not stand as words on their own. They are attached to free morphemes. Bound morphemes are lexical, in that they often make new words. Examples pre – prehistory, prerequisite, re – rewind, replay

Derivational Morphemes Derivational morphemes - change the meaning of the word (i.e., invited, uninvited) or the part of speech (i.e., comic, comical), or both. They often create new words. There is no finite list of all the possible derivational morphemes in the language. When looking at words to be broken down, you have to base this on your knowledge of the English language.

Inflectional Morphemes To be completed for HW Complete this list and provide examples for each. Nouns Adjectives Verbs

Useful Terminology The following definitions are useful: affix- a morpheme that comes at the beginning (prefix) or the ending (suffix) of a base morpheme. Some languages have infixes as well (i.e., Turkish); English does not. An affix usually is a morpheme that cannot stand alone, as in –ship, or -ful, etc. (A few exceptions are able, like and less). prefix- an affix that attaches to the stem of a word – before the stem, as in unavailable; likewise the un- in unhappy is a prefix.

Useful Terminology (cont.) suffix- an affix that attaches to the stem of a word – after the stem, as in waste and wasted, where the –[e]d is a stem. Note that the square brackets indicate that that this letter appears in the orthography. stem- a morpheme that gives a word its meaning. This is not the same as a root in Hebrew, although the general idea is similar. The base morpheme dog gives the word dogs its meaning.

Morphology: Practice Make up a chart, with 3 columns: 1) lexical item (where you divide it into parts), 2) type of morpheme (free, bound, derivational, inflectional) and 3) function, including part of speech. Be specific regarding changes i.e., from… to …) Complete the following chart, with the following words: exclaimed / itself / human / houseboat / plumber / unlikable / priceless / enjoy

Homework Go to the George Yule book, The Study of Language and read the chapter about Morphology. You are responsible for this material. The material from this chapter will appear on the midterm exam. (We will cover the section on word formation within morphology in the second semester).