Morphology, Part 1 September 24, 2012

For Starters The “Turing Test” Conceived by the English mathematician/philosopher Alan Turing ( ). Turing developed much of the theoretical groundwork for modern-day computing machines. He also worked on cracking enemy codes during World War II. The Turing Test: don’t ask whether or not a machine can “think”; ask whether or not it can fool someone into thinking it’s human in a natural language conversation. Check out ELIZA:

The Last Quick Write!

Another Explanation Pronoun Types: SubjectiveObjectiveReflexive SheHerHerself HeHimHimself etc. If the subject and object of a sentence both refer to the same person/thing, the object pronoun must be reflexive. Ex: I like myself. Compare: She sees herself (in the mirror). vs. She sees her (in the mirror).

Another Explanation The main verb in each sentence determines the subject of the verb “like”: For “appear”, the subject of “like” is the subject of the main clause. Jen appeared to Mary to like herself. Jen appeared to Mary to like her. For “appeal”, the subject of “like” is the object of the main clause. Jen appealed to Mary to like herself. Jen appealed to Mary to like her.

Half of the Story First: a Simpsons-based Quick Write Second: remember what we learned last time… Human beings can be creative with language because: We know the rules for putting sounds and words together to form sentences. Patterns (Sentence = Noun + Verb) Patterns of Patterns (Recursive sentences) These rules = the grammar of the language we know. Q: What else do we need to know to be a competent speaker of a language?

The Rest of the Story We need to know what units can be put together by the rules of grammar. Including: the units of a sentence color, green, idea, sleep, furious, brown, dog, odor, bark, angry, large, lizard... These units = the lexicon of the language we know From Ancient Greek: lexikon “dictionary” lexis = “word” Remember: language is discrete.

Knowledge of Language Grammar RULES 1) Sentence = Noun + Verb etc. Lexicon UNITS 1)ragamuffin (N) 2)rotund (Adj) 3)rutabaga (N) etc.

What’s in the Lexicon? Generally speaking, the lexicon contains: all the words in the language you know the building blocks of grammatical sentences Note, however: not only do lexical items differ from language to language: (tree, Baum, arbre) …but one person’s lexicon might be different from another’s It also happens to be a bit tricky to define exactly what a “word” is…

Words, words, words Here’s a working definition--words are the smallest free form elements of language: They do not have to occur in a fixed position with respect to their neighbors. Example words: birdcycletalkhappy birdsrecycletalkedhappiness Example “non-words”: “-s”“re-”“-ed”“-ness” The “non-words” cannot stand on their own-- They have to be attached to something else.

Morphemes Words consist of one or more morphemes. Morphemes = the smallest meaningful unit of speech = a string of sound(s) that carries some information about meaning or function. An example (non-word) morpheme: [-s] = plural marker Note the pattern: birdbirds dogdogs catcats cowcows...etc.

Plural Formation Plural nouns in English are formed by rule: Singular noun + [-s]  Plural noun So: plural nouns contain two morphemes: the singular noun (e.g., “bird”) the plural marker (e.g., “s”) The rule for putting them together is a word-formation rule. Q: Are “bird” and “birds” two different words? Do we need two different entries for them in the lexicon?

Language Model, version 2.0 Grammar RULES Lexicon MORPHEMES [bird] [-s] Word-formation rules Singular N+ /-s/  Plural N

Morpheme Types Free morpheme: a morpheme that can stand on its own birdtoast cyclehappy Bound morpheme: a morpheme that must attach to another morpheme -s-er re--ness Another distinction: simple words contain only one morpheme complex words contain more than one morpheme

Simple and Complex simple complex

Language Model, version 3.0 Grammar RULES Lexicon MORPHEMES [-s][bird] [re-] [cycle] BoundFree Word-formation rules Singular N+ /-s/  Plural N

Roots and Affixes Bound morphemes are also known as affixes Affixes attach to roots in word-formation rules Ex. 1: “birds” root = [bird] + affix = [-s] Ex. 2: “recycle” affix = [re-] + root = [cycle] Affixes which precede the root are known as prefixes Affixes which follow the root are known as suffixes

Infixes When affixes are inserted into the middle of a root, they are known as infixes. Bontoc (Phillippines): fikas“strong”fumikas“to be strong” kilad“red”kumilad“to be red” fusul“enemy”fumusul“to be an enemy” Can this sort of thing happen in English? Abso-freakin’-lutely! (but it’s not particularly common)

Circumfixes In some languages, there are even circumfixes. Circumfixes attach both before and after the root. Chokma (Oklahoma) chokma“he is good”ikchokmo“he isn’t good” lakna“it is yellow”iklakno“it isn’t yellow” palli“it is hot”ikpallo“it isn’t hot” German lieb-“love” (root)geliebt“loved” frag-“ask” (root)gefragt“asked”

Hand in Hand Note: affixes are always bound morphemes. In English, roots tend to be free morphemes. However, this is not always the case-- For instance: blueberry, blackberry… but: cranberry, huckleberry, raspberry. What do [cran-], [huckle-] and [rasp-] mean? Bound roots in English are called cranberry morphemes (technical term)

Cranberry Morphemes Cranberry morphemes are bound root morphemes. They have no independent meaning. They also have no parts of speech Some deceiving examples: perceive, receive, deceive -ceive? infer, refer, defer -fer? commit, permit, submit -mit? Also: the liberation of cran?

Conjugation In many languages verbs are conjugated by adding affixes specifying person and number to a bound root form. Italian: parlare “to speak” SingularPlural 1stIo parlo “I speak”Noi parliamo“We speak” 2ndTu parli “You speak”Voi parlate “Y’all speak” 3rdLui parla “He speaks”Loro parlano “They speak” Lei parla “She speaks” Note: the root form /parl-/ never appears on its own, without an ending.

Bases (or Stems) Once an affix has attached to a root morpheme, it forms a base… to which other affixes may attach. Example: boy (root) + -ish (suffix) = boyish Round two: boyish (base) + -ness (suffix) = boyishness Another example: black (root) + -en = blacken Round two: blacken (base) + -ed = blackened In some linguistic circles, bases are called stems.

Lexical Categories Important: we know that word-building takes place in stages because specific affixes are particular about what kinds of words they can attach to. A quick and dirty review of lexical categories (parts of speech): 1.Nouns semantically = people, places, things dog, cat, bike, person, planet, ball, etc. 2.Verbs semantically = actions, sensations, states run, kick, scratch, scream, bite, walk, be, have, etc.

Lexical Categories, reviewed 3. Adjectives semantically = properties or qualities happy, sad, angry, funny, clear, fuzzy, ugly, etc. 4. Prepositions semantically = spatial relationships (pre + position) to, for, of, with, out, in, above, below, etc. 5. Adverbs semantically = properties or qualities of verbs and adjectives often, seldom, rarely, purely, frequently, etc. We’ll talk about these again when we get to syntax…

Quiz Time Which affixes are being attached in the following sets of words? Which lexical categories do those affixes attach to? Which lexical categories are formed by adding the affix? 1.uncertain, unhappy, untrue 2.exactly, profoundly, deeply 3.moralize, vandalize, sermonize 4.deconstruct, decode, derail