Introduction to Morphology

Prof. Julia NeeComparative Linguistics

Spring 2014, LaSalle University

Words, Words, Words

• Chapter 5 of “The Language Instinct”• Please read Chapter 5

What is morphology?

• Study of morphemes• Morphemes = smallest meaningful unit of

language• Ex: teachers = teach-er-s– Teach = verb (action of teaching)– -er = derivational morpheme (one who does the

action X)– -s = inflectional morpheme (‘plural’)

Derivational vs. Inflectional

• Derivational morphemes change the part of speech of the word– -er (teach-er, bake-er, sing-er, etc.)– -ness (good-ness, bright-ness, happy-ness, etc.)

• Inflectional morphemes add grammatical meaning but do not change the part of speech of the word– -ing (walk-ing, sing-ing, dance-ing, etc.)– -s (dog-s, bike-s, sock-s, etc.)

Derivational or inflectional?• From Kivunjo: Näïkí´mlyíïá

– N-: Marker indicating that the word is the focus of that point in the conversation

– -ä-: A subject agreement marker– -ï-: Present tense– -kí-: Object agreement marker (tells what is being eaten)– -m-: Benefactive marker (indicates for whose benefit the action is

taking place)– -lyí-: “to eat” (verb)– -ï-: applicative marker, indicating that there’s one additional player– -á: indicative mood

• “He is eating it for her.”

Derivational or inflectional?

• Learnable– Learn: verb– X-able: quality indicating ability to do X

• Unmicrowaveability– Un-X: not X– Microwave: noun– X-able: quality indicating ability to do X– X-ity: noun indicating the quality of X

Structure of Words

• Morphemes can be added in a structured way

• N Nstem Ninflection• “A noun can consist of a noun stem followed by a

noun inflection.”

N

Nstem Ninflection

Dog -s

Structure of Words

• Why is it important to have the concept of Noun = Nounstem + inflection?

• We can apply the rule of inflection to all nouns!

• Don’t need to memorize 1 cat, 2 cats and 1 dog, 2 dogs, etc.

• Memorize 1 nounstem, 2 nounstem + inflection (-s)

Compound Nouns

• Two nstems can be combined to form a new word: Book Report

• Nstem Nstem Nstem• “A noun stem can consist of a noun stem

followed by another noun stem.”• In a compound noun, the first noun is NOT an

adjective:– This report is interesting.– *This report is book.

Derivational Affixes

• New stems can be formed by adding derivational affixes

• Astem Stem Astemaffix• -able: adjective stem affix, means “capable of

being X’d”, attach me to a verb stemAstem

Vstem Astemaffix

Crunch -able

Derivational Affixes

• We can figure out the meaning of the word based on the affix:– Crunch-ability means capable of being crunched– Wug-ability means capable of being “wugged”

• Words with morphemes have a “head,” which is the main element in the word– In English, the “head” is the rightmost morpheme– Describes the essence of the word

Deriving Words

• Words can only be derived in certain ways• Smallest part of a word (not a morpheme) =

root• Certain morphemes can only attach to a root,

like –ism– Darwin-ism– *Darwins-ism

Irregularity

• Why do some words not take their predicted irregular forms?– Fly out to center field > flied out– Maple Leaf > Maple Leafs– Walkman > Walkmans

• …especially when others do?– Snowman > snowmen– Blow him away > blew him away

Irregularity

• When larger words are created out of smaller words, the new word gets its properties from the head

• Compounded words get their meaning from their head:– A snowman is a type of ‘man’ gets its properties

from ‘man’– ‘man’ has an irregular plural ‘men’, so snowman

has the same irregular plural form

Irregularity

• But what about compounded words that don’t have a head?– A Walkman isn’t a type of ‘man’– It doesn’t inherit the irregularity of ‘man’ > ‘men’

Allomorphs

• Allomorphs = phonological shapes that a morpheme can have

• Ex: /t/, /d/, and /ɪd/ for the “ed” form of English verbs

• Usually phonologically, lexically, or grammatically conditioned

Allomorphs

• Phonologically conditioned:– [-ed] > t / [-voice]_– [-ed] > d / [+voice]_– [-ed] > ɪd / (t,d)_

• Lexically conditioned:– Cat > cats– Mouse > mice– Ox > oxen

Allomorphs

• Grammatically conditioned– La mesa blanca– El sillón blanco– Los tapetes blancos

Loss of Allomorphs

• Results from:– Sound change– Analogical change

• Sound change makes two allomorphs sound the same

• Analogical change words take on the patters of similar words– Ex: strive : strove : striven > strive : strived : strived,

like arrive : arrived : arrived

Boundary Changes

• Boundary loss = the boundary separating two morphemes disappears so that the two morphemes are seen as one– English ‘a’ meaning ‘on’ as in abroad, alive, aloud,

around, aware, away• Boundary shift = the boundary moves– A nuncle > an uncle– An ewte > a newt

Boundary Changes

• New boundary creation = insert boundaries where there weren’t any before– Usually related to ‘folk etymology’– Ex: hamburger

• Hamburg-er• Ham-burger cheese-burger, fishburger, burger

• Change in type of boundary = independent words can become a clitic or an affix, or vice versa– Ex: ex-girlfriend, ex-husband ‘ex’

“One Form, One Meaning”

• Also known as “Humboldt’s Universal” or “Principle of Isomorphism”

• Tendency that languages change to maximize the one-to-one relationship between form and meaning

• If you have two morphemes that sound the same (-s of plural and ‘s of possessive), the language will differentiate them if possible

• If you have multiple allomorphs of a morpheme, they’ll become one allomorph

What is a word?

• Multiple definitions– “Linguistic object that, even if build out of parts by the

rules of morphology, behaves as the indivisible, smallest unit with respect to the rules of syntax.” (pg. 142)• The monster eats mice. What does the monster eat? Mice!• The monster is a mice-eater. What is the monster an –

eater? *Mice!– “String of linguistic stuff that is arbitrarily associated

with a particular meaning.” (Listeme)