1. Linguistic Anthropology
Putting Things Together

2. Overview From Morphology The analysis of words
and how they are structured
To Syntax
The analysis of phrases and sentences

3. Morphology Words vs. morphemes
Morphemes as smallest units of meaning in a language
respect+ful; dis+respect+ful
room+mate; stir+fry
fire+fight+er
Manhattan

4. Morphological Analysis
Describing morphemes…
Analyzing their arrangements…

5. Describing Morphemes: Bases
Form foundations of words
Establish basic meanings
English: fish; talk
Shinzwani: -lo- (fish); -lagu- (talk)
Czech: piv- (beer)

6. STEMS (derived from roots)
Kinds of Bases
Roots
STEMS (derived from roots)
Serve as underlying foundation
Can’t be broken down any further
English: fish
Shinzwani: -lo- (fish)
By means of affixes
English: fish+ing = fishing; talk+er = talker
Shinzwani: lo+a = -loa (fishing)
Can have additional affixes attached
English: talker+s = talkers
Shinzwani: ni+ku+loa = nikuloa (I am fishing).

7. Creating a Language: Bases Some of the base forms you may wish to create
9-12 things
visible body parts, movable items, parts of the room
4-6 actions
sit, stand, give, touch, open, close, lift, put down
2-6 persons
you, me, I, we, he/she/it, you/y’all, we two, we three
6-8 descriptors
size, color, number
2-5 indicators/places
the, a, this, that, that-over- there, in, at, on, under
Anything else of interest (consider your cultural focus)
Remember to use only sounds in your charts.

8. Describing Morphemes: Affixes
Attach to bases
Add grammatical information
English: -er; -ing
= fisher, fishing, talker, talking
Shinzwani: hu- (to) ; niku- (I am)
= huloa (to fish), hulagua (to talk)
= nikuloa (I am fishing), nikulagua (I am talking)
Czech: -o; -a; -Ø
= pivo (beer), piva ((2, 3, 4) beers), piv ((5+) beers).

9. Kinds of Affixes Prefixes Suffixes Infixes Circumfixes Reduplication
im+possible
un+likely
Suffixes
walk+ing
Infixes
fan+bloody+tastic
Circumfixes
m+loz+i (fisherman)
Reduplication
mpole+mpole (very slow)
Interweaving
k+i+t+aa+b (book)
Portmanteau
blog

10. What Affixes DO Derivation Inflection
Changing one kind of word into another
verbs into nouns: read -- reader; -lo- -- mlozi
adjectives into verbs: modern -- modernize
Inflection
Showing relationships among words in a group
tenses: hunted -- hunting
comparisons: big -- bigger -- biggest
persons: I fish -- she fishes
number: cat -- cats; mpaha – zimpaha (cat/cats)

11. Creating a Language: Affixes
To go with your base forms, please create:
an affix to derive one kind of word from another
e.g., things from actions, or actions from things
an affix to inflect one kind of word
For example:
gender: male, female, neuter...
number: single, plural, dual, triple, inclusive, exclusive…
shape: flat, thin, round, square, oblong, 3-D, floppy...
time: now, soon, never, always, yesterday, today, tomorrow…
validity: witnessed, heard about, heard from reliable source…
comparison: strong, stronger, strongest...
Remember to only use sounds in your charts!

12. Analyzing Arrangement: Free and Bound Morphemes
Free morphemes are like bases
Can stand alone
e.g., words: speak; respect; Manhattan
Bound morphemes are like affixes
Must be attached to other morphemes
e.g., affixes: -er; -ing; dis-; -ful
speak-er; speak-ing; dis-respect-ful
But note: roots can also be BOUND MORPHEMES
e.g., Shinzwani -lo- ‘fish’, Czech piv- ‘beer’
Hierarchy among affixes
English: derive first, then inflect…
help+er+s (not help+s+er)

13. Syntax How words combine into phrases & sentences
Note fuzzy boundary between morphology and syntax
Shinzwani: ni+tso+hu+venza
‘I+will+you+like’
All one word
English: I will like you
Four different words

14. Finding and testing substitution frames
Analyzing Syntax
Finding and testing substitution frames
Also called ‘slots and fillers’
The cat in the hat
The cat in the basket
The cat in the tree
M+paha i+send+a mji+ni – the cat is going to town
M+wana a+send+a mji+ni – the child is going to town
Gari li+send+a mji+ni – the car is going to town
M+tu m+zuri m+moja u+le – that one good person
Ki+kapu ki+zuri ki+moja ki+le – that one good basket
Gari zuri moja li+le – that one good car

15. Labeling Substitution Frames
Let the language be your guide
Be prepared for different categories
Grammatical gender
Czech: masculine, feminine, neuter
Shinzwani: human, animal, body part, useful, abstract
Case
Czech: subject, object, possession, location
The effect of obligatory categories
Grammatical categories that must be expressed

16. Creating a Language: Syntax
Decide on word order for your language
SOV, SVO?; adjective + noun? noun + adjective?
Create a simple declarative sentence type
Develop a way to ‘transform’ the sentence:
Create negative AND interrogative expressions
Create at least one tense (past, future, evidential)
Insert a word
Or add an affix
Or change the order of words
DO NOT just change intonation