LIN1300 What is language? Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay 1

Monday, October 1st Last class Today Phonology Bibliographic research 2 Monday, October 1st Last class Phonology Bibliographic research Today Yoruba exercise Morphology http://post.queensu.ca/~lessardg/Cours/215/chap4.html

Exercise – Yoruba: Answers 3 Exercise – Yoruba: Answers Data a) [ʃi] c) [eso] e) [ʃe] g) [si] b) [se] d) [ɑʃɑ] f) [oʃu] h) [ɑso] Can you find minimal pairs? If yes, give an example. Yes E.g. [ʃi] ~ [si] [ʃe] ~ [se]

Exercise – Yoruba: Answers 4 Exercise – Yoruba: Answers Data a) [ʃi] c) [eso] e) [ʃe] g) [si] b) [se] d) [ɑʃɑ] f) [oʃu] h) [ɑso] Are the 2 sounds in free variation? Why (not)? No, they are not in free variation because if you change [ʃ] for [s] as in [ʃi] for [si] you get 2 different words with 2 different meanings

Exercise – Yoruba: Answers 5 Exercise – Yoruba: Answers Data a) [ʃi] c) [eso] e) [ʃe] g) [si] b) [se] d) [ɑʃɑ] f) [oʃu] h) [ɑso] Are the 2 sounds in complementary distribution? Why (not)? No Because they appear in the same environment. E.g. Both [ʃ] and [s] appear word initially and they both appear before the same vowels.

Exercise – Yoruba: Answers 6 Exercise – Yoruba: Answers Data a) [ʃi] c) [eso] e) [ʃe] g) [si] b) [se] d) [ɑʃɑ] f) [oʃu] h) [ɑso] Based on the answers you provided, are [ s ] and [ ʃ ] 2 different phonemes or are they allophones of the same phoneme? Why? Different phonemes Because we can find minimal pairs so substituting one sound for the other changes the meaning of the word.

Representation of the sounds 7 Representation of the sounds Which representation (a or b) reflects the structure of the phonological system in Yoruba for [ s ] and [ ʃ ]? (a) / s / / ʃ / (b) [ s ] [ ʃ ] / s / [ s ] [ ʃ ]

Representation of the sounds 8 Representation of the sounds Which representation (a or b) reflects the structure of the phonological system in Yoruba for [ s ] and [ ʃ ]? (a) / s / / ʃ / (b) [ s ] [ ʃ ] Different phonemes / s / [ s ] [ ʃ ]

Morphology Languages combine “elements” to form meaning E.g. English I will love you Swahili ni- ta- ku- penda French je -erai aim t’ (je t’aimerai) The concept of ‘word’ differs cross-linguistically 9

Morphology “The analysis of the structure of words.” Morpheme 10 Morphology “The analysis of the structure of words.” Morpheme “Minimal unit of grammatical function” (Yule, 67) building blocs used to form meaning Words, sentences

Minimal grammatical unit 11 Morphemes vs words Morpheme Word Minimal grammatical unit Lexical unit Cannot be broken down in further May contain only one morpheme Monomorphemic word May contain several morphemes Morphologically complex word Table Water The s (as in tables) ed (as in walked) - ing (as in sleeping) Sleep Walk+ed Sleep+ing Table+s May contain only 1 morpheme Monomorphemic word May contain several morphemes morphologically complex word

Identifying morphemes 12 Identifying morphemes Is a word monomorphemic or morphologically complex? Questions to ask: Can the word be broken down any further into smaller meaning and grammatical functions? Are some parts of the word found in other contexts with a similar form and meaning?

Identifying morphemes 13 Identifying morphemes E.g. “singer” Meanings Sing to utter a series of words or sounds in musical tones -er someone who... Forms found in other contexts e.g. sing, singer, singing e.g. dancer, writer, teacher

Identifying morphemes 14 Identifying morphemes E.g. “quickly” Meanings quick with speed -ly manner, way of being Forms found in other contexts quick, quicker, quickest slowly, plainly, openly

Identifying morphemes 15 Identifying morphemes Is it really a morpheme? The same string of letters can be a morpheme in one word and not in another Identify the word in each column that is NOT morphologically complex (1) (2) Redo darker Rewrite slower Regret later Repay flower ≠ gret again ≠ more flow

Types of morphemes Bound Free Must be bound to another morpheme 16 Types of morphemes Bound Free Must be bound to another morpheme Can stand on its own “affix” - prefix (before): reread - suffix (after): singer “lexeme” noun, verbs, adjectives, etc. Closed class - Small number - New ones rarely added Open class Large number New ones often added E.g. -ly, -ness, -er, re-, un- E.g. flower, door, sun

Types of morphemes Root vs. stem Care + less + ness E.g. Stem Root free bound (Yule, p.68) 17

Bound and free morphemes 18 Bound and free morphemes Identify the morphemes Say what kind? (bound or free/stem) Walked Impatient fastest rereading Free/root stem bound walk -ed patient im- fast -est read reread re-, -ing (reading)

Free morphemes Content words Grammatical words Lexical Functional Content words Grammatical words verbs, nouns, adjectives Conjunctions, articles, prepositions, pronouns E.g. car, pretty, write, cold E.g. And, because, in, the Open class Large number New ones often added Closed class - Small number - New ones rarely added 19

Bound morphemes Derivational morphemes Inflectional morphemes Creates new words Inflectional morphemes Adds grammatical information to the same word 20

Derivational morphemes Creates new words May involves a change of word class: E.g. adjective → noun soft – softness; noun → adjective taste – tasteless; love – lovely verb → noun pay – payment; teach - teacher No change E.g. legal – illegal; do – undo; wife – ex-wife; etc. Prefix Re-, pre-, ex-, co-, un-, etc. Suffix -ly, -ness, -ful, -ment, -less, -ish, er, etc. 21

Inflectional morphemes Adds grammatical information to a word Does not change the category 8 inflectional morphemes in English Plural books; churches; Possessive John’s Present participle playing 3rd person singular she plays Past played Past participle (have) taken, (have) played Comparative faster Superlative fastest 22

Derivational vs. inflectional 23 Derivational vs. inflectional Are the underlined morphemes derivational or inflectional morphemes? Hint does it create a new word (deriv.) or does it add grammatical information (inflect.) Julie’s teacher tallest prepay basically inflectional derivational Inflectional

Combining morphemes Words containing a derivational and an inflectional morpheme Derivational before inflectional E.g. Root? Stem? teach + er + s Teach teacher 24

Summary (Yule, p.70) 25

Special cases E.g. It is sometimes difficult to identify morphemes 26 Special cases It is sometimes difficult to identify morphemes E.g. Plurals nouns Tooth → teeth Man → men Mouse → mice Fish → fish Verbs in the past tense Swim → swam Put → put

Next class... Syntax To do for next class Read Yule Ch.7-8 (up to p.103) Practice exercise – morphology See virtual campus 27