lect. 4a wordstructur 2-2

8/6/2019 Lect. 4a Wordstructur 2-2

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lect-4a-wordstructur-2-2 1/31

Word StructurePart 1



Th e Structure of Words:Morp h ology

Fundamental concepts in h ow words arecomposed out of smaller partsTh e nature of t h ese partsTh e nature of t h e rules t h at combine t h ese

parts into larger unitsWh at it mig h t mean to be a word



T oday

I. Morp h emesII. T ypes of Morp h emesIII. Putting Morp h emes toget h er into larger

structures ± Words wit h internal structure ± Interesting properties of compounds



I. Morp h emes

Remember t h at in p h onology t h e basicdistinctive units of sound are ph onemes

In morp h ology, t h e basic unit is t h emor ph eme

Basic definition: A morp h eme is a minimalunit of sound and meaning

(th is can be modified in various ways; seebelow)



Some Examples

Many words can be divided into smaller parts,wh ere t h e parts also occur in ot h er words:

dogs walking blackens player- h ater

dog-s walk-ing black-en-s play-er h

at-er

C ompare: cat-s; runn-ing; dark-en-s; eat-er

(note: in some cases t h ere are spelling c h angeswh en we add morp h emes; ignore t h is)



Parts, cont.

Th e smaller parts occur consistently wit h many words:

± -s : forms t h e plural consistently ± -i ng : forms a noun from a verb

± -en : forms a verb meaning µbecome ADJ¶ from anadjective ADJ

± -er : forms an agent iv e nom i nal from a verb, aperson or t h ing w h o does t h at activity



C onsistent Sound/Meaning

Notice t h at t h is is not t h e only way we candivide up words into smaller parts; consider ± T ank, plank, flank, drank, rank , etc.

In th ese words, we could easily identify acomponent -ank However, t h is is not a morp h eme

± Th ere is no consistent meaning wit h th is -ank ± Th e ³leftover´ pieces t -, pl -, fl -, dr -, r - are not

morp h emes eit h er



C onnections between S ound andMean i ng

Remember t h at a phoneme sometimes h asmore t h an one sound form, w h ile being t h esame abstract unit: /p/ wit h [pº] and [p h ]A related t h ing h appens wit h morp h emes aswell

In order to see t h is, we h ave to look at slig h tlymore complex cases



Morp h emes and A llomor ph s

We will say in some cases t h at a morp h eme h asmore t h an one allomor phTh is h appens w h en t h e same meaning unit like [past]for past tense or [pl] for plural h as more t h an onesound form ± P ast: one feature [past]

kick / kick-edleave / lef-thit / hit-Ø

Th e last example s h ows a case in w h ich th eph onological form of t h e morp h eme past is z ero , i.e.it is not pronounced



A llomorp h y, cont.

In th e case of p h onology, we said t h at t h e differentall ophones of a p h oneme are part of t h e sameph oneme, but are found in particular contextsTh e same is true of t h e different all omorphs of a

morp h emeWh ich allomorp h of a morp h eme is found depends onits context; in t h is case, w h at it is attac h ed to: ± Ex ample: consider [pl] for Englis h plural. It normally h as t h e

pronunciation ±s (i.e. /z/), but

moose / moose- Ø

ox / ox-en

box/*box-en/box-es

So, t h e special allomorp h s depend on t h e noun



A n A dditional Point: R egular andIrregular

In th e examples above, t h e different allomorp h s h avea distinct status. One of t h em is regular . ± Th is is t h e d ef ault form t h at appears w h en speakers are

using e.g. new words (one b lork , two b lorks ) ± For ot h er allomorp h s, speakers simply h ave to memorize t h e

fact t h at t h e allomorp h is w h at it is ± Ex ample: It cannot be predicted from ot h er facts t h at t h e

plural of ox is ox -en ± D emonstration: Th e regular plural is /z/; consider one b ox ,

twob

ox -es .D efault cases like t h e /z/ plural are called regular . A llomorp h s t h at h ave to be memorized are calledi rregular.Irregular allomorp h s b lock regular allomorp h s from

occurring ( ox -en , not * ox -es or *ox -en -s ).



T wo types

Th ere are in fact two types of allomorp h s.Th ink back to p h onology« ± Th e P lural morp h eme in Englis h h as different

sound-forms : dog -s/cat -s/c hurc h -es

Th ese are predictable, based on t h eph onological context

± In t he case of P ast Tense allomor phy , i t i s not pred i cta b le from t he ph onolog y w h i c h aff i x a pp ears

� We can find verbs wit h th e same (or similar)sound form, but wit h different allomorp h s:b reak/ b roke , not stake/*stoke

� If you t h ink about t h is case for a w h ile, t h oug h ,you will notice some patterns; more on t h is later



II. Morp h eme T ypes

We ¶ll now set out some furt h er distinctionsamong morp h eme types

Our working definition of mor ph eme wasµminimal unit of sound and meaning ¶

A furth er division among morp h emes involveswh et h er t hey ca n o ccu r on t heir own or

no t: ± No: -s in dog-s ; -ed in kick-ed ; cran- in cran-berry

± Yes: dog , kick , berry



Some D efinitions

Bound Morphemes: Th ose t h at cannotappear on t h eir own

Free Morphemes: Th ose t h at can appear on

th

eir ownIn a comple x word: ± Th e root or stem is t h e basic or core morp h eme

± Th e t h ings added to t h is are t h e aff i xes

± Ex ample: in dark -en th e root or stem is dark ,wh ile t h e affix± in t h is case a suff i x ± is -en



Furt h er points

In some cases, works will use root and stemin slig h tly different ways

A ffixes are divided into pref i xes and suff i xesdepending on w h et h er t h ey occur before or after t h e t h ing t h ey attac h to. Inf i xes -- middleof a word (e.g. fan -f* i ng -tast i c )

For t h e most part, prefixes and suffixes arealways bound, except for isolated instances



C ontent and Funct i on Words

A not h er distinction:C ontent Morphemes: morp h emes t h at h ave areferential function t h at is independent of grammatical structure; e.g. dog , k i ck , etc. ± S omet i mes t hese are called ³o pen -class´ b ecause s peakers

can add to t h i s class at w i ll

Function morphemes: morp h emes t h at are bits of syntactic structure± e.g. prepositions, or morp h emesth at express grammatical notions like [past] for pasttense. ± S omet i mes called ³closed -class´ b ecause s peakers cannot

add to t h i s class



C ross- C lassification

Th e bound/free and content/functiondistinctions are not t h e same. Some

examples: C ontent Function

Bound cran - -ed

Free dog t he



A side: Non- A ffixal Morp h ology

In th e cases above, we h ave seen many affixesassociated wit h some morp h ological function

In ot h er cases, t h ere are additional c h anges; e.g.,ch anges to t h e stem vowel:

± sing/sang

± goose/geese

Examples of t h is type are not obviously aff i xal , asth ere is no (overt) added piece ( pref i x or suff i x ).

Rat h er, t h e p h onology of t h e stem/root h as c h anged



Some examples

Stem c h anging:P resent P ast P articiple

sing sang sung

begin began begun

sit sat sat

come came come



A not h er pattern

Wh ile in many cases t h e stem c h ange doesnot co-occur wit h an affix, in some cases itdoes:

Ex amples:

break broke brok -en

tell tol-d tol-d

freeze froze froz-en



U se of stem c h anging patterns

In some languages, stem-c h anging is muc h more important t h an it is in e.g. Englis h

In S em i t i c languages, extensive use is madeof different tem plat i c patterns , th at is, abstractpatterns of consonants and vowels: ± A rabic noun plurals:

kitaab µbook¶; kutub µbooks ¶

nafs µsoul¶; nufus µsouls¶



III. Internal structure of words

Words h ave an internal structure t h at requiresanalysis into constituents (muc h like syntacticstructure does)

For example: ± U nusable contains t h ree pieces: un-, use, -able

Question: If we are t h inking about t h eprocedures for building words, is t h e order

± derive use -a b le , t h en add un -; or ± derive un -use , t h en add - a b le



Word Structure

Possibilities:Structure 1 Structure 2

un use able un use able



Word Structure, C ont.

C onsider: ± With ±a b le , we create adjectives meaning

µcapable of being V-ed ¶, from verbs V

� Break/break-able; kick/kick-able ± Th ere is no verb un -use ± Th is is an argument t h at Structure 1 is correct:

[un [use able]]

±Th

is analysis fits well with

wh

at th

e word meansas well: not capable of being used. Structure twowould mean some t h ing like µcapable of not beingused ¶



nlocka b le , cont.

Th e second structure is one in w h ich ± a b leapplies to t h e verb unlock Th is verb is itself created from un - and lock

Th e meaning goes wit h th is: µcapable of beingunlocked ¶

In structure 1, t h ere is no verb unlock

So t h e meaning is µnot capable of beinglocked ¶



Some General Points

Th e system for analyzing words applies inmany cases t h at are created on t h e flyC omplex words and t h eir meanings are notsimply stored; rat h er, t h e parts are assembledto create complex meaningsA not h er example of t h e same principleapplies in t h e process of com pound i ng



Introduction to C ompounding

A compound is a complex word t h at is formed out of a combination of stems (as opposed to stem + affix)Th ese function in a certain sense as µone word ¶, andh ave distinctive p h onological patterns

Ex amples:olive oil

s h op talk

s h oe polis h

truck driver

Note t h at t h e different elements in t h ese compoundsrelate to eac h oth er in different ways...



Internal structure

Like wit h oth er complex words, t h e internalstructure of compounds is crucialTh ere are cases of ambiguities like t h at wit h unlocka b leEx ample: obscure document s h redder

1) Person w h o s h reds obscure documents

[[obscure document] s h redder]2) Obscure person w h o s h reds documents

[obscure [document s h redder]]



C ompounding, cont.A n interesting property of compounds is t h at alt h oug h th ey are µwords ¶,th ey form a productive system, wit h out limits (as far as grammar isconcerned, not memory).

Note also t h at compounds h ave special accentual (stress) properties:

judge

trial judgemurder trial judge

murder trial judge reporter

murder trial judge reporter killer

murder trial judge reporter killer catc h er murder trial judge reporter killer catc h er biograp h er

murder trial judge reporter killer catc h er biograp h er pencil set

«

lect. 4a wordstructur 2-2

Documents