April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 intro 2 ling/ssn/ Introduction to Linguistics Week 7

April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 intro 2 ling/ssn/ Morphology Morphemes, Conditioning & Words

3 April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Review Language is a CODE for thoughts. Language is a CODE for thoughts. speaker listener thoughts sound meaning encode decode

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 A flea and a fly in a flue Were imprisoned, so what could they do? Said the flea: ‘Let us fly’. Said the fly: ‘Let us flee’. So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Word Classes Content Words Content Words → noun, verbs, adjectives, adverbs → “open class” vocabulary Function Words Function Words → pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliaries, etc → “closed class” vocabulary MY DAUGHTER WENT TO THE CINEMA.

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Word Relation & Morpheme Words can be related to other words, e.g. happy – unhappy. Words can be related to other words, e.g. happy – unhappy. → fundamental elements: morpheme → fundamental elements: morpheme → rules of combination: Word Formation Rules → rules of combination: Word Formation Rules Morpheme: the smallest unit that carries information about meaning or function Morpheme: the smallest unit that carries information about meaning or function

MORPHEMES 1. be identifiable from one word to another 1. be identifiable from one word to another and and 2. contribute in some way to the meaning of the whole word. 2. contribute in some way to the meaning of the whole word. e.g. attack, stack, tackle and taxi intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 MORPHEME MONOMORPHEMIC MONOMORPHEMIC Simple words single morpheme e.g : train track POLYMORPHEMIC POLYMORPHEMIC Complex wordsmore than one morpheme e.g :builderbuild + er (‘to construct’)(Functions as a Noun maker, means ‘one who builds’)

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 How many morphemes are there in each of the following words? happy happy happier happier unhappy unhappy unhappier unhappier unhappiness unhappiness unhappier happy unhappy-er un-

cranberry morpheme E.g. morphemes cran-, huckle- and gorm- in cranberry, huckleberry and gormless morphemes cran-, huckle- and gorm- in cranberry, huckleberry and gormless Berry in strawberry, blackberry and blueberry Berry in strawberry, blackberry and blueberry intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Recognition of Morphemes The dinosaur sniffed arrogantly and plodded forwards. The dinosaur sniffed arrogantly and plodded forwards. The dinosaur grunted loudly and edged backwards. The dinosaur grunted loudly and edged backwards.

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Bound & Free Morphemes doors door s free morpheme bound morpheme Can be a word by itself Must be attached to another element

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 What does –s mean? There are two doors in the room. There are two doors in the room. There are no red doors. There are no red doors. I have zero dollars. I have zero dollars. It’s negative one degrees outside. It’s negative one degrees outside. The current is 0.4 amperes. The current is 0.4 amperes. not one

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Inflectional & Derivational Morphemes Inflectional morpheme Inflectional morpheme → provides further information about an existing lexical item e.g : carcars e.g : carcars jumpjumped jumpjumped Derivational morpheme Derivational morpheme → creates an entirely new word cloudscloudy

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Affixes morphemes added to free forms to make other free forms morphemes added to free forms to make other free forms four kinds of affixes: four kinds of affixes: 1. prefixes → unable 2. suffixes → refusal 3. infixes → in-bloody-credible 4. circumfixes → enlighten Derivational Morpheme....

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Study the words below adjectiveverb darkdarken blackblacken redredden whitewhitenverbnoun singsinger dancedancer writewriter computecomputer What word formation rules can we make?

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Zero Morphemes Consider the following words: The relationship between yellow (adj) - yellow (v) is exactly the same as white – whiten → zero morpheme adjectiveverb yellowyellow brownbrown clearclear combComb

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Allomorphs Phonological conditioning Phonological conditioning → its form is dependent on the adjacent phonemes Lexical conditioning Lexical conditioning → its form seems to be a purely accidental one, linked to a particular vocabulary item The variant forms of morpheme e.g: a, an Cats, dogs, horses, oxen, sheep, geese

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Compounds the combination of two free forms the combination of two free forms In English, the HEAD of a compound is usually the right-hand member In English, the HEAD of a compound is usually the right-hand member The HEAD supplies the category and basic meaning for the whole compounds The HEAD supplies the category and basic meaning for the whole compounds Compounds can be used with affixation to produce larger words Compounds can be used with affixation to produce larger words e.g. blackbird, sleepwalker, bookcase, happy hour, etc

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, blackberry - blueberry - strawberry - cranberry - huckleberry BOUND ROOTS What about the following words:

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Homophonous Morphemes & Reduplication Homophonous Morphemes two morphemes having the same pronunciation (form) with different meanings two morphemes having the same pronunciation (form) with different meanings e.g. un-tie-able Reduplication the copying of a part of a word the copying of a part of a word e.g. the language of the people of Madura in English? in English?

intro 2 ling/ssn/ April 19, 2015April 19, 2015April 19, 2015 Other Ways of Forming Words Blends Blends → smoke + fog = smog motor + hotel = motel Onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia bang, buzz bang, buzz Words from names Words from names →jumbo, sandwich Truncation (Clipped words) Truncation (Clipped words) →gym(nasium), (tele)phone Acronyms Acronyms → AIDS