Unit Unit 66

Morphology

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It is a branch of linguistics which is concerned with

the relation between meaning and form, within words and between words, word formation and structure of words.

MorphemeMorpheme

the smallest linguistic unit which has a meaning or grammatical function

open + ed tour + ist + s im + prison + ment

treemoney

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MorphemeMorphemeA morpheme has two elements:1.Form (written/spoken)2.Meaning

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(morph)

form

‘meaning’

/bi:/

bee

‘animal’

morpheme morpheme bee

Morpheme vs. Word vs. SyllableMorpheme vs. Word vs. Syllable

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Morpheme vs. WordMorpheme vs. Word

Morpheme is a smaller unit than a word.

papers (1 word, 2 morphemes: paper-s)

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Morpheme vs. SyllableMorpheme vs. Syllable

Syllables are sound combinations and are not necessarily meaningful.

paper (1 morpheme)/peɪ.pə/ (2 syllables)

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Convergence of categoriesConvergence of categories

cat, dog, key

(one word, one morpheme, one syllable)

word: catmorpheme: catsyllable: cat

(all three categories converge on the same form, i.e. cat)

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Free vs. Bound MorphemesFree vs. Bound Morphemes

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Free morphemesFree morphemes

They can stand by themselves as single words.

Potential to stand alone:I opened the window.Give me the documents, please.People are waiting outside.Chomsky and his colleagues

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Bound morphemesBound morphemesThey cannot normally stand alone, but are

typically attached to another form (i.e. Another free morpheme).

(They are not words.)

(affixes, contracted forms)

re- (return) -ist (typist) -ed (tested) -s (begins) ‘ll (I’ll)

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StemStem

When free morphemes are used with bound morphemes, the basic word forms are known as stems.

system + atic (suffix) systematic(free) (bound) (stem)

dis (prefix) + regard disregard(free) (bound) (stem)

LexicalLexical vs. vs. Functional MorphemesFunctional Morphemes

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Lexical Morphemes (i.e.Content Words)

Nouns (ordinary): white, man, house

Adjectives: sad, sincere Verbs : open, break, drawAdverbs (of manner): fast,

correctly

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they carry the content of the messages we conveythey carry the content of the messages we convey

(they have meaning)

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Mr. Penn has two, a one and a one. Today he the one but it in the on his to. When he was on his after his, he a on the next and it, it was his. It to Mr. Count. (content words deleted)

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large numberlarge number

How many content words are there in English?How many content words are there in English?

Dictionary: Dictionary: essentially a list of content wordsessentially a list of content words

114,000114,000 basic content words (Webster’s) basic content words (Webster’s)(450,000 entries including derivati(450,000 entries including derivativves & es &

compounds)compounds)

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open-ended open-ended

(an unlimited number of new words can be added)

Some recent additions:

blogveganpodcastspamwac (adj)botox

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Articles: the, a, an Auxiliary verbs: can, must, amPronouns: he, she, herConjunctions: but, and, orPrepositions: from, at, onetc.

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Functional Morphemes Functional Morphemes (i.e.(i.e.Function WordsFunction Words))

They have grammatical function rather than meaning.

(we define the meanings of content words, but describe the use of function words, i.e. what they do in a sentence)

but indicates contrastor introduces an alternativethe indicates definiteness (the book is a definite

book.)this is used to show things that are near.that is used to show things that are not near.in indicates location (place)he is used for a male subject

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relate words in sentences

Mr. Penn umbrellas, brown black. Took black left bus way work. Putting coat day’s work, saw dark blue umbrella hanging hook took thinking. Actually belonged Mr. Count. (function words deleted)

Relations between events (verbs) and entities (nouns) are missing.

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small numbersmall number

overall and in each category

Overall: 320 function words in English

Articles: 3 words

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closed class

(fixed number, changes very slow)

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List of Function Words in English

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DERİVATONAL MORPHEMES Derivational affixes change major

grammatical category (v, n, adj, adv): friend (adj) friendly (adj) pay (v) payment (n) cloud (n) cloudy (adj) quiet (adj) quietly (adv)

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b) They change meaning substantially:

king (n) kingdom (n) (person vs. place)

behave (v)misbehave (v) (opposite) (all prefixes are derivational: Prefixes do not

change grammatical category, they change meaning)

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They are not always regularN) +(-hood)= Nbrother +hood *friend+hoodneighbour+hood *daughter+hoodknight+hood *candle+hood

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A derivational morpheme is attached before an inflectional morpheme does.

neighbour- hood-s | | DA IA

*neighbour-s-hood

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INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMESInflectional Suffixes (regular inflection)

They aren’t used to generate new words, but provide further information about the grammatical function of an existing word.

(Inflection by affixes is not a word-formation process.)

bookbooks (not a different word)

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a. They do not change the grammatical category:

work (v) worked (v)

small (adj) smaller (adj)

John (n) John’s (n )

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b. They do not change the word’s existing meaning but give additional information about it:

passenger (n) passengers (n / plural) sing (v) sings (v / pr.tense 3rd pers. sing. subj)

c.They are very regular (few exceptions): -s (plural affix): (almost) all nouns

except a few irregular nouns like feet, children, teeth

-ed (past tense affix): all regular verbs

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d. They are only suffixes in English /

8 inflectional affixes. -s (plural morpheme) chairs -s (3rd per.sing.present) runs -ing (progressive) running -ed (past tense) waited -ed (past participle) had waited -er (comparative) taller -est (superlative) tallest -’s, -s’ (possessive) Mary’s, The Jones’

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AllomorphsAllomorphs

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AllomorphsAllomorphs

phonological forms of a morpheme

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Plurality Morpheme Plurality Morpheme

Orthographic variants: -s (books) -es (buses)

Allomorphs (phonological variants): /s/ cats

/z/ dogs/ız/ houses

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Distribution of the allomorphs of the plurality morpheme

(Rule)

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cats /t/ books /k/ cups /p/ roofs /f/

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/s//s/ after most voiceless

phonemes

/z//z/ after voiced phonemes

(voiced consonants + vowels)

lambs /m/ dogs /g/ bees /i:/

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/ız//ız/

horses /s/ cheeses /z/

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the prefix the prefix in-in-

In English, the negative prefix in has several allomorphs:

Orthographic variants: in- (inaccurate)im- (impolite)il- (illogical)ir- (irreverent)

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Thank You!

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