1 LIN 1310B Introduction to Linguistics Prof: Nikolay Slavkov TA: Qinghua Tang CLASS 4, Jan 15, 2007

2 Today Announcements and Reminders: - start reading chapter 4 (Morphology). - DGDs are mandatory as of this week (see participation mark on syllabus). Today’s Lecture: -Review from last time -Morphology.

3 Review from last time Written vs. Spoken language Synchrony vs. Diachrony Metalinguistic Awareness vs. Linguistic Competence Universal Grammar

4 Word Segmentation Exercise hewasamanofidiomsandidiosyncrasiesdeeply intelligentandasoothsayerhehadprescient knowledgeofinternetalthougheducatedin literaturemarshallmcluhanwasknownasapop philosopherbecausehistheoriesappliedto miniskirtsandthetwist.

5 Word Segmentation Exercise He was a man of idioms and idiosyncrasies, deeply intelligent and a soothsayer. He had prescient knowledge of the Internet. Although educated in literature, Marshall McLuhan was known as a pop philosopher because his theories applied to mini-skirts and the twist.

6 Morphology: the study of words and word formation Native speakers can easily segment a stream of speech into words. But what is a word? And how do we know what is a word and what is a non-word? Definition: smallest free form found in language.

7 Examples cat is a word as it can stand alone (i.e. free form) cats is also a word as it is a free form the plural ending -s is not a word as it cannot stand alone or occur in isolation; it must be attached to something (note the notation -s).

8 Free forms A free form is a form that can occur in isolation. Note that certain words are more likely to occur in isolation than others: catare/is/am readto/at beautifula/the The items from the orange column seem to be more likely to occur together with other items. However, they are still free forms, (i.e. words) because their positioning with respect to neighbouring words is not entirely fixed: E.g. They are very nice people. Are they very nice people?

9 Morphemes Morphemes are the building blocks of words. They are the smallest meaningful units of language. They carry information of meaning or function.

10 Simple vs. Complex (Mono- vs. Polymorphemic) Words Simple (monomorphemic) words consist of a single morpheme, while complex (polymorphemic) words contain more than one morpheme. Table 4.1, p. 99 of text

11 Free vs. Bound Morphemes A morpheme that can stand alone (i.e. be a word by itself) is called a free morpheme e.g. cat, blue, walk, fast, to, at, the, is, etc. A morpheme that cannot stand alone (i.e. be a word by itself) is called a bound morpheme e.g. -s, -ed, -ive, etc.

12 Free vs. Bound Morphemes Cross-linguistically A free morpheme in English could be a bound morpheme in another language: Table 4.2, p. 100 of text.

13 Free vs. Bound Morphemes Cross-linguistically Conversely, a bound morpheme in English could be a free morpheme in another language: Example (6), p. 100 of text (Thai).

14 Allomorphs A morpheme can have more than one form. The different forms/variants of a morpheme are called allomorphs. E.g. an vs. a an apple a dog an orangea cat a lemonan ape  based on phonological facts a alternates with an an M.A. or a M.A.? a US dollar or an US dollar?

15 More English Allomorphs cats dogs judges Does the plural -s sound the same in these words? cats /s/ dogs /z/ judges /əz/ => Based on phonological factors the appropriate allomorph /s/ /z/ or /əz/ is chosen

16 More examples of allomorphic variation permit + ive include + ive electric + ity impress + ion

17 NB! Allomorphic variation vs. spelling changes Do not let spelling confuse you! Spelling changes do not necessarily mean allomorphic variation. You should think of the sounds not of spelling! E.g. create + ive = creative (final e in the spelling of create is dropped but there is no change in pronunciation). => there is NO allomorphic variation here.

18 NB! Allomorphic variation vs. spelling changes Sometimes the spelling remains the same, but the sound or sounds change: E.g. electric electricity sound: /k//s/ => Since there is a change in the sound, there is allomorphic variation.

19 Morphemes: Roots vs. Affixes Root: carries the major component of the meaning of the word. Affixes: add some (aspect of) meaning or function. e.g. teach + er = teacher root affix book + s = books root affix

20 Roots Roots typically belong to a lexical category (e.g. a noun, a verb, an adjective, a preposition) e.g. tree, teach, near, red, etc.

21 Lexical Categories Preliminary definition Noun: concrete or abstract ‘things’ - e.g. book, happiness, beauty Verb: actions -e.g. talk, think, consider Adjectives: properties -e.g. red, angry, modest Prepositions: spatial relations -e.g. at, in, to, near, etc.

22 Affixes Unlike roots, affixes do not belong to a lexical category, and are always bound morphemes, e.g. -s, -ize, -ive, -able, etc. Affixes can be prefixes, suffixes, infixes, or circumfixes.

23 Types of Affixes Prefix: predate, undo, reread, etc. Suffix: walked, playing, books, happiness Infix: a type of affix that occurs inside another morpheme (table 4.4, p. 102 of text). Note that in boy-ish-ness -ish is not an infix. It would be an infix if it occurred inside another morpheme, e.g. *boishyness

24 table 4.4, p. 102 of text

25 The Arabic infixing system Example (9), p 103 of text

26 Types of Affixes Circumfix: a type of affix that occurs on both sides of another morpheme. E.g. Certain German past tense forms: GERgespieltENG played pastpast

27 Word Trees Fig. 4.1, 4.2, p. 101 of text

28 Word Trees

29 Roots vs. Bases The base is the form to which an affix is added. The root and the base can be the same. But the base can be larger than the root. E.g. black (root=base) blacken (base) + -ed (affix)  black is both a root and a base  blacken is not a root because it already has an affix added to it. However, it is the base to which -ed attaches.

30 Word Trees blackened activation unhealthy unhappiness