chapter 4 class notes

8/12/2019 Chapter 4 Class Notes

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CH 4 ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY, 98-127

Morphology

Morphology refers to the study of words and word formation (the combination of

morphemes)Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of languag e (cf. phonemes, which haveno meaning); a morpheme may be a word (cat) or a part of a word (cat- s)

Morphemes may have variant allomorphs (different phonetic forms or realizations)appearing in predictable and systematic in variation depending on the linguisticenvironment ; e.g., past participle, past tense, plural

PAST PARTICIPLE= -ed, usually

Morphemes can be open or closed, bound or free

But First: Three Types of Language

Agglutinative : in which many morphemes join together in a long word effectively the equivalentof an EN sentence; e.g. Uzbek kelolmaganlardanmisiz ? Are you one of those whocouldn t come?

Synthetic : in which grammatical function is conveyed mostly by inflectional endings; Latin andOE are synthetic; e.g., Omnia vincit amor Love conquers all (things)

Analytic : in which grammatical function is conveyed mostly by word orderand function words like prepositions; Mn EN is analytic (see e.g. on p.100); e.g., Bob kissed the dog

The open classes of morpheme can admit new members ; the form of such morphemescan change, and they are frequently used to form new words; these include N, V, ADV, ADJ

(aka content words); examples?

The closed classes of morpheme do not readily admit new members ; the form of suchmorphemes rarely changes , though their meaning might change over time; these include CONJ,PRON, AUX, DET, PREP (aka function/grammar words); examples?

EN contains more open than closed morphemes , but the most common EN words are closed

Morphemes: Free vs. Bound


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Both the open and closed classes of morpheme can contain free andbound morphemes

Free morpheme : one morpheme that can f unction by itself as a word and thusbelong to a lexical category ; it can also sometimes join with other morphemes to make longer

words; e.g., dog, dog + house

Bound morpheme : one morpheme that cannot function by itself as a wordand so must attach to a free morpheme (think: affixes ) and thus can tbelong to a lexical category ; is either inflectional or derivational ; e.g., -ed,walk + -ed

Mor phemes : Inflectional vs. Derivational

Inflectional morphemes indicate grammatical function when added to a word but don t changeword meaning or part of speech; in EN they are usually suffixes added to open class

morphemes; there are only 8 (memorize list on p. 105 ); e.g., -s, -ed

Derivational morphemes often help form words of a new lexical category (POS) or words witha significantly different meaning; in EN they can be prefixes or suffixes ; e.g., -ment, un-

Affixation : EN words often involve the process of affixation, the addition to a base orroot of an affix, whether word initially (prefix), medially

(infix), or finally (suffix)

Morphology Trees

Words are constructed hierarchically (root (1st) then derivational morphemesthen (2nd) inflectional morpheme (3rd) ), and that hierarchical structure can be

represented visually in a morphology tree

*In determining what order morphemes attach in, determine the POS theindividual morphemes can attach to (and do derivational

before inflectional)Go through example on p. 109!

Further examples: inconceivable, tree-huggers, deemphasize ,

Morphological Processes


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EN users invent new words all the time , for various reasons (to fill lexical gaps, use nonce words) ADJECTIVES THAT ARE USED OCCASIONALLY

They do so using systematic morphological (or word-formation) processes that can create

an infinite number of words

NB: word formation in EN often involves more than onemorphological process; e.g. re- chillaxing

Examples of Morphological Processes

1.Combining : putting morphemes together ; by far the most productive process in EN

a. Compounding : combining free morphemes together ; is productive andhistorical ; e.g., goofball

b. Affixing : combining bound morphemes to a word , at beginning (prefix), middle(infix), or end (suffix), e.g., reflex or greasy

2.Shortening : shortening existing words

a. Alphabetism /Initialism : pronouncing the initials of a phrase as a sequenceof letters NOT as a word ; usu. saves syllables; e.g., MIT

b. Acronymy : pronouncing the initials of a phrase as a word NOT assequence of letters ; e.g., NAFTA

c. Clipping : losing a word element or morpheme , usually at a

Morphemic boundary ; e.g., advertisement or doctor

d. Backformation : removing an affix , usually suffix , to make a word that neverexisted ; isn t very common; e.g., gruntled

3.Blending/Portmanteau : joining two or more words , at least one of whichmust be clipped (contra compounding); e.g, brunch

4.Shifting/Conversion : using an existing word as a different partof speech , without changing its form; e.g., chair or pepper


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5. Reanalysis : (mis )understanding morphemes in terms of their sound or etymology andmaking new words or morphemes accordingly ; e.g., fishburger

6. Reduplication : repeating or duplicating a morpheme , sometimes with change; muchmore common in other languages); e.g.,

lookie lookie

pee pee

pitter patter

7. Borrowing/loanword : taking a word from another language , with or withoutmodification; historically was very common, less so now; e.g., igloo taco

Borrowing

In addition to the word-formation processes above , EN has added toits lexicon by borrowing words from other languages , with or without changing (sometimes Englishing ) the word being borrowed, e.g. cafes

Sometimes borrowed words compete with native EN synonyms or near-synonyms, at timeseven driving out the EN word; e.g. sheep- mutton, cow-beef

Latin and French have contributed many words to EN at various points in our language shistory; e.g., Latin camp, port, angel; French avant-garde, c est la vie, caf au lait

Slang

Slang : an informal word or expression that has not gained complete acceptability and is used bya particular group ( Linguistics for Everyone 535); agree?

EN demonstrates its creativity through slang; but slang still follows typical ENmorphological processes

Slang can be Empathic , a form of rebellion or transgression, esp. by the young or dispossessed

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