Lecture 5 Morphology

The Analysis of Word Structure

Morphology

Words like read, language, tall, on, etc. must be learned and stored as separate items in the lexicon. However, countless other words can be constructed and comprehended by the application of some general rules. Therefore, part of the linguistic competence is the ability to construct and interpret words. This system of categories and rules involved in word formation and interpretation is called morphology.

Word definition

Words are meaningful linguistic units that can combine to form larger structures (phrases, clauses, or sentences). A ward is associated with a particular meaning.. It is a unit of expression that is intuitively recognizable by native speakers.

Word identification

Words are the physically definable units one encounters in a stretch of writing or speech. Words are most stable of all linguistic units, in respect of their internal structure. Words are uninterruptible.

Word = free form

A word is the smallest free form found in language. A free form is an element that: i can occur in isolation bird vs. -s and/or
ii whose position with respect to neighbouring elements isnt entirely fixed. Birds avoid cats. (before a verb) Cats chase birds. (after a verb) The birds (before a noun) The young birds (before something else)

Morpheme
Concepts that are expressed by a word (free form) in one language may not necessarily have the same status in other languages: Arabic English /-/ my mother So, we need a simpler alternative.

Morpheme

Words have an internal structure consisting of smaller units organized with respect to each other. The most important component of word structure is the morpheme. It is the smallest unit of language that carries information about meaning or function: builder = build + -er construct one who does houses = house + -s dwelling more than one

Morphemes Free and Bound

A free morpheme can be a word by itself; it can stand alone. A bound morpheme must be attached to another element; it cannot stand alone. free bound car -s smile -ed tall -er care -ful

Allomorphs

Morphemes do not always have an invariant form. The variant forms of a morpheme are called its allomorphs. indefiniteness: a/an past tense: d, t, d plural: z, s, z

Word Structure

Complex words consist of a root and one or more affixes. The root morpheme: i contributes the most to the words meaning, ii belongs to a lexical category. An affix: i does not belong to a lexical category, ii is always a bound morpheme.

Word Structure
N V

Aff

Adj

Aff

teach

er

modern

ize

Word Structure
A base is the form to which an affix is added. It can be the root: black en Or, it can be a larger unit: blacken ed

Word Structure
V
Base for -ed

V Adj black Aff en Aff ed

Root and base

for -en

Structure Modification Affixation

Affixation is the most common morphological process.
prefixing:

inter-marry
kind-ness
Aff (present) /\ katab \ | / Root

suffixing:
infixing:

Structure Modification Internal change

Internal change is a process that substitutes one nonmorphemic segment for another: sing sang foot feet These cannot be considered as examples on infixing: i English does not have a root *sng (meaning produce words in a musical tone). ii English does not have a morpheme i meaning present or a morpheme a meaning past in the sing/sang case.

Structure Modification Suppletion

Suppletion is a morphological process whereby a root morpheme is replaced by a phonologically unrelated form in order to indicate a grammatical contrast.

Basic form
I be good

Suppletive form
me were well

Structure Modification Stress placement

A base can undergo a change in the placement of stress to reflect a change in its category. Verb Noun presnt prsent subjct sbject contst cntest

Structure Modification Compounding

It is a common morphological process which involves the combination of lexical categories to create larger words. The elements making up the compound are free forms..

Noun + Noun
campsite bookcase

Adjective + Noun
bluebird greenhouse

Compounding
In English, the rightmost morpheme determines the category of the entire compound. This morpheme is called the head.

N Adj
green

V N
house

Adj V
feed

N
spoon

N
nation

Adj
wide

Derivation

Through the addition of an affix, derivation forms a word with a meaning and/or category distinct form that of its base.

base

derived word

i ii

sell seller teach teacher category change: verb noun meaning change: X someone who does X

Complex Derivations
Since derivation can apply more than once, it is possible to create multiple levels of word structure.

Verb
act

+
+

-ive
-ive

=
=

Adj.
active

Adj.
active

+
+

-ate
-ate

=
=

Verb
activate

Verb
activate

+
+

-ion
-ion

=
=

Noun
activation

[N [V [Adj [V act] ive] ate] ion]

N
V Adj V act Aff ive Aff ate Aff ion

un-happy-ness ?
(a) N
Adj Aff
un

(b) N
N

Adj Aff
happy ness

Aff
un

Adj
happy

Aff
ness

un-happy-ness ?

The prefix un- combines freely with adjectives, but not with nouns: unhealthy / unhealthy health + y *un + health un +healthy *unhealth + y

Therefore, analysis (a) is more plausible than analysis (b).

Constraints on Derivation
Derivation does not apply freely to the members of a given category: i -ant combines with Latinate bases: Latinate Native defendant *fightant servant *teachant
ii -en combines with monosyllabic obstruent-final base adjectives: whiten *abstracten (disyllabic) quicken *bluen (non-obstruent-final)

Class 1 derivational affixes

Class 1 affixes normally trigger changes in segments of the base. They usually also affect the assignment of stress. part-ial final consonant of the base changes from /t/ to // prodct-ive stress shifts to second syllable (cf. prduct) public-ity final consonant of the base changes from /k/ to /s/, and stress shifts to second syllable (pblic vs. publcity)

Class 2 derivational affixes

In contrast, class 2 affixes tend to be phonologically neutral, having no effect on the segmental makeup of the base or the stress assignment. prompt-ness no change triggered hair-less no change triggered hope-ful no change triggered self-ish no change triggered

Inflection

Inflection is the modification of a words form. Inflectional affixes signal grammatical relationships but do not change the grammatical class. The base to which an inflectional affix is added is the stem. The stem includes the root and all derivational affixes.

English Inflectional Affixes

{-s pl} {-s 3rd sg} {-ing vb} {-ed pt} {-ed pp} {-er cp} {-est sp} noun plural present third person singular present participle past tense past participle comparative superlative

Inflection vs. Derivation

Inflection and derivation are both marked by affixation. So, the distinction between the two processes can be subtle. It is not always clear which function a particular affix has. Three criteria help distinguish between inflectional and derivational affixes.

Category Change
The output of inflection: [N [N book ] s ] [V [V work ] ed ]

There is no change in either the category of the base or the type of meaning it denotes. (another form of the word)

The output of derivation: [N [V govern ] ment ] [N [N king ] dom ]

There is a change in the category of the base and/or the type of meaning it denotes. (another word)

Order
The derivational affix must be closer to the root than the inflectional affix. This means that the former combines with the base before the latter. N N
N N neighbour Aff Aff N *neighbour N Aff s Aff hood

hood s

Productivity
The distribution of inflectional affixes is considerably freer than that of the derivational affixes. -ize vs. plural -s modern-ize (cf. *new-ize) legalize (cf. *lawful-ize) However, the suffix -s can combine with almost any noun that allows a plural form.

Summing up

Morphology is concerned with the structure and formation of words in human language. Words consist of smaller formative elements called morphemes. These elements can be classified in a number of ways (free vs. bound, root vs. affix). Operations that can combine and modify morphemes include affixation, internal change, suppletion, and compounding. The two basic types of word formation in English are derivation and inflection.

Syntax
Syntactic Data and Syntactic Rules Constituent Order, Case Marking, and Thematic Roles Phrases and Constituent Structure