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Introduction to Linguistics II Ling 2-121C, group b

Eleni Miltsakaki

AUTH

Spring 2006

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Course outline

• Morphology– Content words and function words– Bound and free morphemes– Word formation processes

• Syntax• Semantics• Pragmatics• Historical Linguistics

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What is morphology?

• The study of the structure of words

– Words are part of our linguistic knowledge

– Words are part of our mental grammars

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Basic questions for morphology

• What are words and how are they formed?• How are complex words formed from simpler parts?• What are the basic building blocks in the formation of

complex words?• How is the meaning of the complex word related to the meaning of its parts?

• How are individual words of a language related to other words of the language?

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What do we know when we know a ‘word’?

• Phonological info: How it is pronounced

• Morphological info: Its internal structure

• Syntactic info: Part of speech• Semantic info: What it means• Pragmatic info: How we use it

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What is a word?

• Video-show• An arbitrary pairing of sound and meaning–E.g. house, casa, maison etc

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Content and function words

• Content words– They denote concepts– They are open class– They are nouns, adjectives, adverbs

• Function words– They have a grammatical function– They are closed class– They are conjunctions, prepositions, articles,

demonstratives, pronouns

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Simple and complex words

• Simple words– Minimal unit

– Cannot be further analyzed

– E.g. tree

• Complex words– Made of more than one part

– E.g. trees

We need a name for the parts which combine to make complex words

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Morphemes

• Morphemes are the building blocks of complex words– ‘Trees’: base morpheme + plural morpheme

• Types of morphemes– Free: independent words– Bound: affixes

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Types of affixes

• Prefixes: They are attached to the beginning of another morpheme

– E.g. rewrite, rethink

• Suffixes: They are attached to the end of another morpheme– E.g. modernize, centralize

• Infixes: They are attached within another morpheme (less common but certain languages do have infixes)

– E.g. kayu = wood -in- = product of a completed action

kinayu = gathered wood

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How are new words created?

• Word formation rules (derivations)• Coining• Compounding• Blending• Acronyms• Clippings• Backformation• Conversion

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Derivational morphology

• Bound morphemes added to a root morpheme to form a new word with new meaning are called derivational morphemes.

• E.g. -ify, -cation pure purify purification | | to make pure the process of making pure “pouzy” pouzify pouzification

• The form that results from the addition of a derivational morpheme is called derived word

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The hierarchical structure of words

• Morphemes are added in a fixed order according to the morphological rules of a language

• E.g. system systematic unsystematic

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Tree diagrams

• The hierarchical organization of words can be represented in a tree diagram

Adjective

Un Adjective

Noun atic system

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Adverb

Adjective ly

Adjective al

un Adjective

Noun atic

system

*unsystem

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More about trees

• Tree diagrams are the linguist’s hypothesis of how speakers represent the internal structure of words

• Take a look at ambiguous cases such as unlockable

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Adjective

un Adjective

Verb able

lock

Adjective

Verb able

un verb

lock

Not able to be locked Able to be unlocked

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• If words were only strings of morphemes without any internal organization, we could not explain the ambiguity of words like ‘unlockable’

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Inflectional morphology

• Inflectional morphology indicates grammatical aspects of a word– Plurality (boy – boys)– Tense (walk – walked)– Person (walk – walks)

• In English all inflectional morphemes are suffixes

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How many morphemes?

1. Retroactive2. Befriended3. Televise4. Margin5. Psychology6. Unpalatable7. Deactivation8. Airsickness9. Grandmother10. Morphemic

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Can you “tree” the ambiguity?

A: Have you finished your ten-page book report, Norman?

B: I haven’t even started it.A: But it’s due tomorrow! I started mine a month

ago! Why did you wait until last minute??B: Perhaps I have more confidence in my

intellectual abilities that you have in yours! Besides, how long could it possibly take to read a ten-page book?

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Coining

• Speakers invent (coin) new words to describe previously non-existent objects

• E.g., xerox, fax, nylon, vaseline etc

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Compounding

• When two or more words are combined to form a new word

• E.g., bittersweet, homework, spoonfeed, sleepwalk etc.

• In English the rightmost of a compound is the head of the compound– Noun+verb=verb, e.g., spoonfeed

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Meaning of compounds

• The meaning of compounds is not always the sum of its parts

• E.g. a blackboard maybe green or white• Also

– A boathouse is a house for boats but a cathouse is not a house for cats (slang for whorehouse)

– A jumping bean is a bean that jumps, a falling star is a star that falls but a looking glass is not a glass that looks

– Peanut oil and olive oil but baby oil?

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Pronunciation of compounds

• In a compound the first word is usually stressed:

• Compare: REDcoat (slang for British soldier) with red COAT

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Blending

• The combination of two separate forms to produce a single new term– Smoke + fog = smog– Breakfast + lunch = brunch– Motor + hotel = motel

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Acronyms

• Acronyms are words derived from the initials of several words– NASA, from National Aeronautics and Space Agency– UNESCO, from United Nations Educational, Scientific,

and Cultural Organization– Radar, from radio detecting and ranging– Laser, from light amplification by stimulated emission of

radiation– Scuba, from self-contained underwater breathing

apparatus– RAM, random access memory

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Backformation

• A new word may enter the language because of an incorrect morphological analysis– beggar beg– editor edit– Enthusiasm enthuse

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Abbreviation

• Abbreviations of longer words may be lexicalized– Fax facsimile– Telly television– Gym gymnasium

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Eponyms

• Eponyms are words derived from proper names – Sandwich: named for the fourth Earl of

Sandwich who put his food between two slices of bread so that he could eat while he gambled

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Clipping

• Clipping occurs when a word of more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form– Fan fanatic– Plane airplane– Pro professional– Lab laboratory– Gas gasoline

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Conversion

• Conversion is a change in the function of a word– Verbs nouns (guess, must, spy, etc.)– Adjectives verbs (dirty, empty, total, etc.)– Particles verbs (up, down)

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