by Don L. F. Nilsen And Alleen Pace Nilsen MORPHOLOGY by Don L. F. Nilsen And Alleen Pace Nilsen

CONTENT WORDS VS. FUNCTION WORDS You may have been told that there are eight Parts of Speech in English. You may have been told that their names are: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Pronouns, Articles, Auxiliary Verbs and Expletives.

What your teachers told you is not a lie, but it is very much an oversimplification. These Part-of-Speech Categories need to be divided into two very different types of Parts of Speech. The Content Words carry real-world meaning. The Function words carry only grammatical meaning.

The Content Words are Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs. The Function Words are Articles, Auxiliary Verbs and Expletives. The Pronouns belong to neither of these categories. Pronouns can stand in the place of Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositional Phrases, or even Sentences.

Since Content Words carry real-world meaning: Content words can be stressed. Content words cannot be easily figured out if they are deleted. Content words can be inflected. Content words more readily enter into compounds. Content words are an open set; new ones enter our language daily.

Pronouns meet some of these criteria but not others Pronouns meet some of these criteria but not others. They carry some real-world meaning, but not as much as the words they replace. They can sometimes be stressed. They can be figured out if deleted. They can be inflected. They don’t enter into compounding. They are a closed set.

CATEGORIES VS. FUNCTIONS “Noun” is a category. “Subject” is a function. A Noun or a Pronoun can function as a Subject, a Subject Complement, a Direct Object, an Indirect Object, an Object Complement or an Object of a Preposition. Pronouns functioning as S or SC are in subject form; those functioning as DO, IO, OC, or OP are in object form.

A Verb functions as a Predicate. An Adjective or an Adverb functions as a Modifier. An Adjective answers “which,” “what kind of,” or “how many” and modifies a Noun. An Adverb answers “how,” “when,” “where” or “how much” and modifies a Verb, an Adjective, an Adverb or a Sentence.

Function Words have only grammatical meaning. Prepositions relate Nouns to other Nouns (fourth of July). Conjunctions relate Sentences to other Sentences. Articles mark Nouns. Auxiliaries mark Verbs. Expletives mark the place of the Subject so that the Subject can be postponed.

OLD AND NEW INFORMATION The Subject of a sentence gives Old Information. It provides the “subject” for the people to talk about. The Predicate of a sentence gives New Information. It provides new and insightful information about the Subject.

Subject and Predicate are important not only to Linguists, but also to Rhetoricians, Psychologists, Logicians, etc., but different names are used in different fields: Subject vs. Predicate Topic vs. Comment Old Information vs. New Information Theme vs. Rheme Presupposition vs. Assertion

Contrast the following Bound vs. Free Morphemes Stem vs. Affix Prefix vs. Suffix vs. Infix Derivational vs. Inflectional Content vs. Functional Morphemes

Analyze the following word Antidisestablishmentarianism STEM: stable or establish Suffixes: -ment, -arian, -ism Prefixes: dis-, anti-

NOUNS PLURAL: cats, dogs, horses, deer, data, mice, alumni POSSESSIVE: dog’s, its PLURAL POSSESSIVE: dogs’ NOTE: English used to have four cases: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative

VERBS THIRD PERSON SINGULAR PRESENT INDICATIVE: goes PAST TENSE: buzzed, walked, heated, sang PAST PARTICIPLE: driven, hit, liked PRESENT PARTICIPLE: driving NOTE: English used to have two more forms: driveth, drivest

SUPPLETIVE VERBS A suppletive form is one which comes from two different paradigms. These must be high-frequency words, or they will become regularized through common use. “Go-went” is a suppletive verb, as is “is-be.” “Go” comes from the “go” paradigm, while “went” comes from the “wend” paradigm.

ADJECTIVES COMPARATIVE: higher, more beautiful, more friendly SUPERLATIVE: highest, most beautiful, most friendly NOTE: Old English Adjectives used to have four cases (Nom, Gen, Dat, Acc), agreed with nouns, and came after nouns

ADVERBS COMPARATIVE: faster, more imaginatively SUPERLATIVE: fastest, most imaginatively Adverbs usually end in –ly, however there are FLAT ADVERBS: fast, first AND –LY ADJECTIVES: friendly

PERSONAL PRONOUNS Sing Nom Obj Pos Substantive Reflexive 1st I me my mine myself 2nd you you your yours yourself 3rd he him his his himself she her her hers herself it it its its itself Plural 1st we us our ours ourselves 2nd you you your yours yourselves 3rd they them their theirs themselves

RELATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS RELATIVE: INTERROGATIVE when when where where why why how how which which what what that

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS singular: plural: close: this these far: that those

Contrast these sentences When did she arrive? (Int Pro) I know when she arrived. (Rel Pro) This is the pen that you borrowed. (Rel Pro) Please give me that pen. (Dem Pro) I know that you wanted to do well. (SC)

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS (GO WITH A SINGULAR VERB) THING: PLACE: TIME: BODY ANY anything anywhere ever anybody NO nothing nowhere never nobody SOME- something somewhere sometimes somebody EVERY- everything everywhere always everybody

ARCHAIC FORMS: SHAKESPEARE & THE BIBLE NOMINATIVE: POSSESSIVE: ACCUSATIVE: SINGULARS: thou (Nom), thy, thine (Gen), thee (Acc) PLURALS: you, ye DUALS: wit, uncer, unc, git, incer, inc (NOTE: No longer in Modern English

MORPHOLOGICAL HUMOR

UGLIFICATION “I never heard of ‘Uglification,’ Alice ventured to say. ‘What is it?’ The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. “never heard of uglifying!” it exclaimed. “You know what to beautify is, I suppose?’ ‘Yes,’ said Alice doubtfully: ‘it means—to make—anything-prettier.’ ‘Well, then,’ the Gryphon went on, ‘if you don’t know what to uglify is, you are a simpleton.’” (Carroll, Lewis Alice in Wonderland 128-129)

The term “uglification” is part of a longer quote in which Alice is being told about the education system in Wonderland. Students in Wonderland study “Reeling, Writhing, Uglification and Derision.” They call their teacher “Tortoise” because he “taught us.” Lessons get shorter each day. That’s why they’re called “lessens.” In Wonderland, “Latin and Greek” becomes “Laughing and Grief,” and “drawing, sketching and painting in oils” becomes “Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.” (Carroll, Lewis Alice in Wonderland 128-129)

CLICK AND CLACK THE TAPPET BROTHERS On National Public Radio’s “Cartalk,” Click and Clack are playing with Morphology in their list of credits: Copyeditor: Adeline Moore Accounts Payable: Ineeda Czech Pollution Control: Maury Missions Purchasing: Lois Bidder Statistician: Marge Innovera Russian Chauffeur: Picov Andropov Legal Firm: Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe.

BILINGUAL MORPHOLOGICAL WORD PLAY “Un petit d’un petit S’étonne aux Halles” This makes no sense in French, but it makes perfect sense in English: “Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall”

NEW DEFINITIONS Artery: The study of painting Bacteria: The back door of a cafeteria Barium: What doctors do when patients die.

WATERGATE The Watergate Hotel is where the break-in of the National Democratic headquarters occurred. Today’s dictionaries give more room to the metonymous meaning of Watergate than to the literal meaning of “a gate controlling the flow of water.” “Gate” has now become a suffix meaning “scandal” as in Irangate, Contragate, Iraqgate, Pearlygate, Rubbergate, Murphygate, Gennifergate, Nannygate, Monicagate, ad infinitum. WATERGATE-GATE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfze1k4jsp8

Concluding Statements: