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Lecture #7 English Morphology © 2014 MARY RIGGS 1
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See next slide. © 2014 MARY RIGGS 2 Language Structure and Use Overview
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© 2014 MARY RIGGS 3 Theories Psycholinguistics LANGUAGE Variation Sociolinguistics Structure (Forms)Functions Change (Historical Linguistics) Discourse Analysis (Discourse Level) Pragmatics Nonverbal Communication Verbal Communication Linguistic Analysis (Sentence Level) Semantics (meaning) Syntax (sentence structure) Morphology (word formation) Phonology (sound system) Communicative Competence
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English Morphology A Basic Classification of Morphemes © 2014 MARY RIGGS 4 Bound Function Words Suffixes Prefixes Derivational Affixes Morphemes Content Words Free Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Conjunctions (and/or) Articles (the, a) Demonstratives (this, that) Prepositions (to, from) Comparatives (more, less) Inflectional e.g. walked (past tense) e.g. reapply e.g. singer
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Most information comes from the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (content words). Omitting function words does not impair communication significantly: Home Friday. Bringing new girlfriend. Vegetarian. Cat allergy. Fluffy kennel? © 2014 MARY RIGGS 5 Content Words
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Words can be added through: Borrowings: defenestration, kayak, hoosegow Compounding: database, sigalert Brand names: Jell-O, Frisbee, Xerox New meanings: archive, gay, re-boot Acronyms: radarradio detection and ranging laser l ight a mplification by s imulated e mission of radiation © 2014 MARY RIGGS 6 Content Words = Open Class
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Words are added through invention: Whats the word for the confusion everyone in the vicinity experiences when a cell phone rings and no one knows if it is his/hers or not? conphonesion, phonundrum, ringchronicity, ringmarole, ringxiety, fauxcellarm, pandephonium (cf. Atlantic Monthly, Word Fugitives) New words are often lost as technology or culture changes: punched cards, pied type © 2014 MARY RIGGS 7 Coinages
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Word formation based on meanings Morpheme = the smallest unit of meaning Free morphemes = those which stand alone (e.g. desk, elephant, cloud, etc.) Bound morphemes = all categories of affix: Prefix Infix Suffix © 2014 MARY RIGGS 8 Morphology
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Prefixes: un-, re-, ad-, ex-, de-, etc. Most are derived from Latin and Greek and all have a specific meaning. Suffixes: -tion, -hood, -ness, etc. Some are derivational (-tion, -ness) and some are inflectional (-s, -es). All indicate function rather than specific meanings; derivational precedes inflectional. © 2014 MARY RIGGS 9 Bound Morphemes
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Examples of Infixes Woman (OE wīfman) Man Child Goose Mouse Foot Women Men Children Geese Mice Feet © 2014 MARY RIGGS 10
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Un self ish ly=4unselfishly Pre scrip tion s=4prescriptions Changeable=____ Immigration=____ Asymmetrically=____ Indefinable=____ © 2014 MARY RIGGS 11 How Many Morphemes?
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Relatively fixed Mostly analytic Change in word order = change in meaning: The woman hit the man with an umbrella. The man hit the woman with an umbrella. *An umbrella hit the man with a woman. © 2014 MARY RIGGS 12 English Word Order
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Change in order of words forces the use of passive, rather than active voice: The player left her glove in the dugout. The glove was left in the dugout by the player. © 2014 MARY RIGGS 13 Word Order
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End of Lecture #7 © 2014 MARY RIGGS 14
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