1. Morphology Morphological analysis
Linguistics 200
Spring 2003

3. Ann Landers: linguistic issues
What are the rules for forming words in English? e.g.
which words can be suffixed with –est?
which words can be prefixed with re-?
Variation among native speakers

4. Morphological competence
What native speakers know about well-formed words
Possible vs. impossible words
Prevent Los Angelization Now (PLAN)
“Kinko’s, the new way to office”
Properties of words
appropriate context for use (part of speech)
meanings; e.g. unfoldable 
‘not foldable’ or ‘capable of being unfolded’

5. Defining ‘word’ Problems with white space definition Syntactic tests
Inconsistency in languages with writing systems
footnote
road rage
time-depth
Languages without writing systems
Syntactic tests
Answer to questions:
what is that an example of? road rage
Phonological tests

6. Morphemes (signs)
Smallest form (sound, sign) associated with a particular meaning
spoken languages, ‘morpheme’
[flAwr] 
[liv-z] 
sign languages, ‘sign’ 

7. Examples of morphemes kind 1 morpheme: kind under 1 morpheme: under
unkind
2 morphemes: kind, un-
redden
2 morphemes: red, -en
Los Angelization
3 morphemes: Los Angeles, -ize, -ation

8. Morpheme  syllable # morphemes # syllables cat 1 cats (cat, -s) 2
carton
smarten (smart, -en)
sycamore 3
hamamelidanthemum 7

9. Free vs. bound morphemes
free: can stand alone as separate words certain, able, carton, finch, pinch, sycamore
bound: cannot stand alone as separate words /n/- negative (unkind); reverse (unfold) /In/- negative -/Ayz/ ‘to cause to become’ -/z/ plural
bound morphemes represented with hyphen

10. Affix vs. root morphemes
Roots
can be bound or free
major (referential) component of word meaning 
phonology: typically have longer, more complex shapes than affixes
stadium, sycamore, hamamelidanthemum 
most words contain a root morpheme

11. Affix types Prefixes--added to the left of a root: /n/- (un) negative
Suffixes---added to the right of a root: -/ayz/ ‘to cause to become’, -/z/ plural
Infixes---added within a root
Not all words contain affixes
Words may contain more than one affix

12. Some common morphological processes
Affixation
root – suffix
prefix – root
r- infix -oot
Compounding

13. Sahaptin verbs AnAwišAAš 'I'm hungry' AnAwišAAm 'you're hungry'
Identify all morphemes. Long vowels are transcribed here [AA] (instead of [A:]).
AnAwišAAš
'I'm hungry'
AnAwišAAm
'you're hungry'
iAnAwišA
'he/she is hungry'
AnAwišAtAš
'we are hungry'
AnAwišApAm
'you (folks) are hungry'
pAAnAwišA
'they're hungry'
pAyúwišAAm
‘you’re sick, hurt’
pAyúwišAAš
‘I’m sick, hurt’
pApAyúwišA
‘they’re sick, hurt’

14. Morphological analysis
AnAwišA
‘is/are/am hungry’
pAyúwišA
‘am/are sick’
-Aš
‘I’
-Am
‘you’
i-
‘he/she’
-tAš
‘we’
-pAm
‘you folks’
pA-
‘they’

15. More Sahaptin verbs ipnúšA ‘he/she is sleeping’ ipnúnA
[] = voiceless uvular fricative
ipnúšA
‘he/she is sleeping’
ipnúnA
‘he/she usually sleeps’
ipnútA
‘he/she will sleep’
ipnúnA
‘he/she slept’
pnúnAAm
‘you slept’
pnut’AwAAs
‘bed’
pnuA
‘sleeper, one who sleeps’
pnunA
‘insomniac’
wAšAnA
‘wild horse’
túpAn pAwAšAšA?
‘what are they riding on?’
wAšAt’AwAAs
‘saddle’

16. Revised morphological analysis
AnAwi
‘be hungry’
-Aš
‘I’
pAyúwi
‘be sick’
-Am
‘you’
wAšA
‘ride’
i-
‘he/she’
pnu
‘sleep’
-tAš
‘we’
-pAm
‘you folks’
-ša
present
pA-
‘they’
-nA
‘usually’
-tA
future
-t’AwAAs
instrument
-nA
past
-A
agent
-nA
negative agent

17. Compounding [root] [root] noun verb adjective ground crew gift wrap
noun
verb
adjective
ground crew
gift wrap
skin-deep
thinktank
stirfry ?
high school
dry-clean
red-hot

18. Compounds in Sahaptin k'tt pšwA ‘shale’ k’tt ‘solid, hard’
pšwA ‘rock’
k'AAnk pcš
‘gate’
k’AAnk ‘barricading’
pcš ‘door’
Xtin siil
‘flannel’
Xtiin ‘diaper cloth’
siil ‘fabric’
pAp tmnA
‘palm of hand’
pAp ‘hand, arm’
tmnA ‘heart’

19. Allomorphs of a morpheme
A morpheme may have more than one phonological shape. English plural suffix:
-[z]
-[s]
-[z]
[fIncz]
[kæts]
[dAgz]
[prsz]
[sAks]
[šuz]
[z]
[dfEndnts]
[loyrz]

20. Allomorphs Distribution of allomorphs of English plural suffix:
sibilant___
voiceless___
voiced___
-[z]
-[s]
-[z]
English sibilants = [s z š ž c ]

21. Underlying representation
The forms of the English plural suffix are predictable from context.
The plural suffix has a basic representation: -/z/
Phonology
/z/  [s] / voiceless___ (assimilation)
Ø  [] / sibilant ___ sibilant (epenthesis)

22. Allomorphs
Phonological rules can also convert one phoneme into another (morphophonemics)
/z/  [s] / voiceless___

23. Sahaptin perfect suffix
imperfective
perfect
iAyíkšA
‘he/she is sitting’
iAyíkš
‘he/she has sat’
iwnpšA
‘he/she is receiving’
iwnpš
‘he/she has received’
iq’AAwšA
‘he/she is burping’
iq’AAwš
‘he/she has burped’
iwAAšA
‘he/she is rejecting’
iwAAyA
‘he/she has rejected’
ipnúšA
‘he/she is sleeping’
ipnúwA
‘he/she has slept’
ipXwíšA
‘he/she is thinking’
ipXwíyA
‘he/she has thought’

24. Allomorphs of perfect suffix
context
k___
p___
w___
A___
i___
u___
allomorph
-[š]
-[yA]
-[wA]

25. Underlying representation of perfect suffix
/A/  [š] /š/  [A]
phonological rules typically perform add or change *one* aspect of pronunciation

26. Underlying representations of perfect suffix
-/š/ is added to consonant final roots
-/ya/ is added to vowel final roots
/y/  [w] / u ___ (assimilation)

27. Summary of morphology (so far)
New terminology: morpheme, root, affix, bound, free
Morphological processes: affixation, compounding
Morphological analysis
Allomorphs of morphemes