Morphology An Introduction to the Structure of Words

Morphology An Introduction to the Structure of Words Lori Levin and Christian Monson Grammars and Lexicons Fall Term, 2004

Goals • Introduction to morphology, the structure of words – look at one interesting morphological phenomenon—allomorphy • To help you read linguistic texts – What meanings can pieces of words have

What is a Word? • There are no spaces in spoken language Hewenttotownonhishorse Hew entt otow non hi shor se He went to town on his horse

What is a word? Welsh without spaces between words. Examples from Sadler (1988) Welsh Syntax • Canithsiôn John will sing. • Canithmair Mary will sing. • Gweloddsiônddamwain John saw the accident. • Gweloddsiônyllyfr John saw the book. • Darllenoddsiônyllyfr John read the book.

What is a word? a) Jánosénekel John sings b) Máriaénekel Mary sings c) Máriafut Mary runs Hungarian examples from Christian Monson.

Example of Words (Hungarian) a) Jánosénekel John sings b) Máriaénekel Mary sings c) Máriafut Mary runs

What is a Word? • Possible Criteria – Recurring units of form and meaning – The smallest things you can say in isolation – Pauses are not possible inside a word • There are many exceptions to these rules – Linguists always qualify what they mean by a word • In this class words will be separated by spaces. – Even if the orthography of the language does not use spaces

Morphemes • Smallest unit of form and meaning – Here too there are exceptions • Affixes – Prefix, suffix, infix • Other changes – Changes in vowels or consonants, reduplication of part of the word, etc.

Example of Morphemes (Hungarian again) keresek keresel keres I seek you seek he/she/it seeks hiszek hiszel hisz I believe you believe he/she/it believes

Example of Morphemes (Hungarian again) keresek keresel keresØ I seek you seek he/she/it seeks hiszek hiszel hiszØ I believe you believe he/she/it believes

Allomorphs • Same meaning • Different form • Complementary distribution

Allomorphy Example: English Plural bags, crabs, accidents, names, lollipops, brushes, churches, maps, toes, faces, beds, books, prizes, flies, giraffes, deaths, judges, garages…

Allomorphy Example: English Plural bags, crabs, accidents, names, lollipops, brushes, churches, maps, toes, faces, beds, books, prizes, flies, giraffes, deaths, judges, garages… s accidents books lollipops z beds bags crabs әz faces prizes churches maps giraffes deaths names toes flies brushes judges garages ә = reduced vowel

English Plural Cont. • Identify the allomorph environments • Generalize if possible – may require phonology—not covered in this class.

English Plural Cont. • Identify the allomorph environments • Generalize if possible – may require phonology—not covered in this class. Allomorph Environment s ? z ? әz ?

English Plural Cont. • Identify the allomorph environments • Generalize if possible – may require phonology—not covered in this class. Allomorph s z әz Word-Final t, k, p, f, d, g, b, m, v, l, s, z, ch, Phoneme th(voiceless) r, and vowels sh, dj, ž

English Plural Cont. • Identify the allomorph environments • Generalize if possible – may require phonology—not covered in this class. Allomorph s z әz Word-Final t, k, p, f, d, g, b, m, v, l, s, z, ch, Phoneme th(voiceless) r, and vowels sh, dj, ž Generalize ? ? ?

English Plural Cont. • Identify the allomorph environments • Generalize if possible – may require phonology—not covered in this class. Allomorph s z әz Word-Final t, k, p, f, d, g, b, m, v, l, s, z, ch, Phoneme th(voiceless) r, and vowels sh, dj, ž Generalize voiceless non-sibilant consonants voiced non-sibilant sounds sibilants

Morphemes and Allomorphs • English plural morpheme • Call it S • This is something abstract that has different sounds in different contexts • Allomorphs of the English plural morpheme – s – z – әz

An analogy from chemistry • Is H 20 a solid, liquid, or gas? • It depends on the conditions: temperature, pressure, etc. • Is the English plural morpheme pronounced with an s, a z, or a ә? • It depends on the preceding sound.

Allomorph Environments • Each allomorph has a separate environment • Environments are complementary – Wrong: s occurs after consonants – Because: z and әz also occur after consonants • Environments are complete – Wrong: z occurs after vowels – Because: z also occurs after voiced non-sibilants • No unused environments – Wrong (usually): The plural of words ending in the phoneme p do not exist

Complementary Distribution

Complementary Distribution All Sounds (consonants + vowels)

Complementary Distribution Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …) All Sounds (consonants + vowels)

Complementary Distribution Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dj, …) Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …) All Sounds (consonants + vowels)

Complementary Distribution Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dj, …) Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …) All Sounds (consonants + vowels) Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)

Complementary Distribution Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dg, …) Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …) All Sounds (consonants + vowels) *z Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)

Complementary Distribution Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dg, …) Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …) All Sounds (consonants + vowels) *z s Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)

Complementary Distribution Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dg, …) Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …) All Sounds (consonants + vowels) *z s z Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg hoz-ok vár-ok szűn-ök hisz-ek bring-1 sg. Pres wait-1 sg. Pres cease-1 sg. Pres believe-1 sg. Pres keres-ek tud-ok isz-ok kér-ek seek-1 sg. Pres know-1 sg. Pres drink-1 sg. Pres ask-1 sg. Pres mos-ok vesz-ek ad-ok hív-ok wash-1 sg. Pres buy-1 sg. Pres give-1 sg. Pres call-1 sg. Pres köt-ök üt-ök főz-ök tart-ok tie-1 sg. Pres hit-1 sg. Pres cook-1 sg. Pres hold-1 sg. Pres

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg ok ek ök ad-ok isz-ok vesz-ek köt-ök give-1 sg. Pres drink-1 sg. Pres buy-1 sg. Pres tie-1 sg. Pres tart-ok hív-ok keres-ek főz-ök hold-1 sg. Pres call-1 sg. Pres seek-1 sg. Pres cook-1 sg. Pres vár-ok hoz-ok kér-ek üt-ök wait-1 sg. Pres bring-1 sg. Pres ask-1 sg. Pres hit-1 sg. Pres tud-ok mos-ok hisz-ek szűn-ök know-1 sg. Pres wash-1 sg. Pres believe-1 sg. Pres cease-1 sg. Pres

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg Allomorph Environment ok ? ek ? ök ?

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg Allomorph ok ek Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i) ök ö, ő, ü, ű

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg Allomorph ok ek Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i) Generalized ? ? ök ö, ő, ü, ű ?

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg Allomorph ok ek ök Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i) ö, ő, ü, ű Generalized back front-rounded

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg Allomorph ok ek ök Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i) ö, ő, ü, ű Generalized back front-rounded All Vowels

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg Allomorph ok ek ök Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i) ö, ő, ü, ű Generalized back front-rounded All Vowels Front Vowels

Allomorphy Example: Hungarian Present Tense 1 sg Allomorph ok ek ök Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i) ö, ő, ü, ű Generalized back front-rounded All Vowels Front Rounded Vowels

Stem Allomorphy can affect the stem as well as the affixes: • Wolf/wolves • Knife/knives • Life/lives • Leaf/leaves

Meanings of morphemes • Inflectional morphemes: – Have something to do with grammar • Agreement, tense, etc. – Generally do not change the part of speech or the meaning of the stem. • Derivational morphemes: – May change part of speech or meaning. • Happy (adj) happiness (noun) • Construct (verb) construction (noun) • Child (noun) childhood (different noun)

Inflection of Verbs • • • Tense Aspect Mood Voice Causative Agreement

Three line example format Most of the linguistic examples you see in this class will be in a three-line format. Please use this format in your homework. Juan corría. Juan run-3 SG. IMP “Juan was running. ” Los niños corrían. the. PL child-PL run-3. PL. IMP “The children were running. ”

Three line example format Sentence in the original language. Los niños corrían. The. PL child-PL run-3. PL. IMP “The children were running. ” Interlinear gloss. Fluent translation or explanation of the meaning.

Rules for glossing •

Rules for glossing • Each meaning is identified separately: – the, child, run – plural, 3 rd person, imperfective • A dash means that there is a morpheme boundary. – niño + s = niños – The morpheme boundary may appear in the original language and the gloss, or just in the gloss. • A dot means that two or more meanings are carried by one morpheme: – ían carries three meanings • Third person subject • Plural subject • Imperfective mood • The main meaning of the word is in regular font. • The meanings of other morphemes are in small caps. • Meanings of morphemes are usually abbreviated. – The author might include a list of abbreviations. – The author might expect the abbreviations to be obvious.

Agreement

Features • Nouns

Features • Nouns – number • singular, dual, plural – case • nominative, accusative, dative, … – gender/class • male, female, neuter • animate, inanimate, man-made object, shape, …

Features • Verbs

Features • Verbs – Person • first, second, third person far removed, … – Number – Tense • present, past, future, remote past, . . . – Aspect • perfective, imperfective, habitual, repetitive, … – Mood • indicative, conditional, subjunctive (doubt or possibility), …

Other Parts of Speech • Adjectives • Adverbs • Determiners and Specifiers

Other Parts of Speech • Adjectives – Degree • positive, comparative, superlative, etc. – Number, Gender, Case • Adverbs – Degree, … • Determiners and Specifiers – Case – Who knows! • This is what Linguists try to elicit and categorize