morphology - uzh... · 4. productivity what is productivity? a morphological pattern or rule is...

Morphology

Class 8

Inflection

FS 2015

Rik van Gijn

Learn about

√ Criteria to distinguish inflection from derivation

√ Types of inflection

√ Another typological parameter: locus of marking

Goal of this class

Contexts I: Inflection


Derivation

Ideal picture

Inflection

Provides new

lexemes

Provides forms

of lexemes

Lexicon Syntax


Derivation

More realistic picture?

Inflection

Provides new

lexemes

Provides forms

of lexemes

Lexicon Syntax


Lexeme Phonological word Grammatical word

Types of words

Lexical integrity Domain

phonological and prosodic rules

Distinction derivation and

inflection


Criteria for the distinction between derivation and inflection

1. Nature of meaning

2. Change of category

3. Regularity of meaning

4. Productivity

5. Position in the template

6. Obligatoriness

7. Relevance to syntax




Inflectional feature values

Derivational meanings

-

+

Semantic content




Inflectional features and their values

Haspelmath & Sims 2010




Inflectional features and their values


Honorifics

Comparative

Voice

Polarity

Dependent verb forms




Derivational meanings


Diverse group.

Some meanings are common cross-linguistically (e.g. agent noun,

quality noun) but some are highly specific.

Big Nambas

dui ‘man’ dui-et ‘sacred man’

navanel ‘road’ navanel-et ‘sacred road’

French

pomme ‘apple’ pomm-ier ‘apple tree’

poire ‘pear’ poir-ier ‘pear tree’




The criterion of meaning is a useful starting point, but as a decisive

criterion, it has at least the following problems

1. It is rather difficult to decide on a cut-off point of semantic content

in an objective way

2. For some languages it makes sense to call, say, voice morphology

derivational; for other languages it may be more useful to call voice

morphology inflectional see also number




One characteristic that one often encounters in derivational affixes, is that they

change the lexical class category of the base they attach to. Inflectional affixes

do not do this.




Some common derivational meanings





However, derivation does not necessarily lead to other lexical classes.





But: What is a category?

Bauer:

If we define category at the coarse level of noun, verb, adjective, then the

criterion isolates some derivational affixes but fails to distinguish between the

other derivational affixes and inflectional ones. If we work with an extremely

delicate notion of category, it is not clear that the criterion will work at all.




The interpretation of inflectional markers is regular, that of derivational markers

often is not




- Derivational markers with regular meaning, especially very productive ones,

like -er and -able


often is not




- How do we determine meaning?


often is not

Bauer (96):

beaver-ette

flannel-ette

maison-ette

kitchen-ette

suffrag-ette

usher-ette






often is not

Bauer (96):

beaver-ette

flannel-ette

maison-ette

kitchen-ette

suffrag-ette

usher-ette

Three meanings i. small (as in kitchenette, maisonette),

ii. female (as in suffragette, usherette) and

iii. mock material (as in beaverette, flannelette).






often is not

Bauer (96):

beaver-ette

flannel-ette

maison-ette

kitchen-ette

suffrag-ette

usher-ette

Three meanings i. small (as in kitchenette, maisonette),

ii. female (as in suffragette, usherette) and

iii. mock material (as in beaverette, flannelette).

One meaning Diminutive = 'small in size' but can, in our society, imply one of two things:

i. delicacy (as with women) or

ii. inferior quality (as with the materials and - possibly - with the women).



4. Productivity

What is productivity?

Inflection is productive, derivation is semi-productive



4. Productivity

What is productivity? (Lieber 2009)

-ness attaches to adjectives, and creates nouns.

For a base meaning ‘X’, the derived noun means

‘the state of being X’.

modern modernity

pure purity

-th attaches to adjectives, and creates nouns. For

a base meaning ‘X’, the derived noun means ‘the

state of being X’.

-ity attaches to adjectives, and creates nouns. For

a base meaning ‘X’, the derived noun means ‘the

state of being X’.

warm warmth

true truth

happy happiness

dark darkness


Exercise 1

lovely

cool

crude

evil

googleable

rustic

musty

inconsequential

feline

toxic

bovine

How would you form a noun from these adjectives

meaning ‘the state of being X’ (where X refers to

the quality expressed in the adjective) choosing

between one of the suffixes -th, -ness, and -ity.

Did you use one of the three far more or far less

often than the other(s)? Can you come up with an

explanation as to why that is?

(Source: Lieber 2009)



4. Productivity


A morphological pattern or rule is productive if it can be applied to

new bases to create new words

- Productivity is a relative notion

- Productivity is a synchronic notion

- Productivity ≠ Frequency

- Productivity ≠ Analyzability



4. Productivity


A morphological pattern or rule is productive if it can be applied to

new bases to create new words

- Productivity is a relative notion

- Productivity is a synchronic notion

- Productivity ≠ Frequency

- Productivity ≠ Analyzability

Comparative % of first citations of -dom per Century (Lieber 2009)



4. Productivity

Lieber 2009: 61

Factors contributing to productivity

segmentability

compositionality

restrictions on base

- categorial

- other

the (cultural-historical)

needs of a society

Semantic restrictions e.g. * Bäum-in is nonsensical



4. Productivity

Phonological restrictions

Examples of restrictions

Etymological restrictions




4. Productivity

- Some derivational affixes (like -able) are very productive

- Some inflectional affixes are not fully productive (e.g. deponent verbs -

see for instance modal verbs in English which do not take -s or -ing)

- But base definition is generally simpler (i.e. in terms of categorial

restrictions) for inflection than for derivation




4. Productivity

- Some derivational affixes (like -able) are very productive

- Some inflectional affixes are not fully productive (e.g. deponent verbs -

see for instance modal verbs in English which do not take -s or -ing)

- But base definition is generally simpler (i.e. in terms of categorial

restrictions) for inflection than for derivation


The definition of the base is more likely to be just

categorial for inflection than for derivation; derivation

is more likely to require further specification.



5. Position in template

1. Statistical tendency not criterial (one needs an apriori decision about

what is derivational and inflectional)

2. Counterexamples:

interest·ed·ly

exaggerate·d·ly

report·ed·ly

accord ·ing·ly

lov·ing·ness

bound ·ed ·ness

for·giv·ing·ness

startl-ing·ness

derivation is closer to the root than inflection

Bauer 2003



6. Monomorphemic replacability

Derivational constructions can be replaced by monomorphemic forms inflected

forms can’t

Patriot-ism is good for a nation

Oil is good for a nation

Lee always arrives at noon

*Lee always come at noon

Bauer 2003




Relates to obligatoriness

Inflectional features are obligatorily expressed on all applicable word-forms.

Derivational meanings are not obligatorily expressed


forms can’t




- Fails in inflectional languages

- Optionality of inflection (e.g. optional case marking)


forms can’t




Inflection is relevant to syntax, derivation is not.

Government: the situation where a word (typically a verb or adposition)

requires another word to have a particular inflectional value.

Agreement






Agreement: Some systematic covariation between a semantic or formal

property of one element and a formal property of another. Steele (1978: 610).

the system works

controller target

feature: number

value: singular

domain

Corbett 2008:5





Agreement: Some systematic covariation between a semantic or formal

property of one element and a formal property of another. Steele (1978:610).





What about tense, aspect, mood, etc.?

Consecutio temporum (predetermination)

I want to buy a car

He said that he wanted to buy a car


Exercise 2

3. One might ask whether the English deadjectival adverb-forming pattern (nice >>

nicely) is inflectional or derivational. Apply the criteria discussed in class (repeated

below) and try to form an opinion on this question.

Source: Haspelmath & Sims 2010




4. Productivity

5. Position in the template

6. Obligatoriness



Inflection versus derivation: two opposed views and a compromise

The distinction between inflection and derivation is sharp

The distinction between inflection and derivation is gradient





Proponents of a dichotomy approach to the distinction between derivation and

inflection usually emphasize relevance to syntax as the all-important criterion,

and often also obligatoriness and generalized application.

These scholars are usually proponents of the split-morphology view, in which

derivation and compounding takes place in the lexicon, and inflection only after

syntax.

Derivation & compounding Syntax Inflection




Gradience proponents say that, like with so many linguistic phenomena there

is a prototypical or canonical notion of both derivation and inflection, and

accept that they fade into each other in the middle.

Grammatical meaning + + + + + - -

Does not change lexical category + + + + - - -

Regular meaning + + - + - - -

Productive + + + + + + -

Outmost template position + + + - - - -

Obligatory + - + + + + -

Relevant to syntax + + + - - - -


inflection derivation





Inherent versus contextual inflection

Inherent inflection: inflection that is relevant to the syntax, but which conveys

some independent information as well (e.g. tense, aspect, number on nouns,

some peripheral case markers)

Contextual inflection: required by the syntactic context (government and

agreement)


Another typological parameter for contextual inflection

Locus of marking

Syntactic head

- Contains the crucial semantic information: it determines the meaning

and class of the entire constituent

-Has the same distribution as the entire constituent

-Can normally not be left out

-Selects dependents



Locus of marking

Head Dependent

adposition object NP

verb arguments

Possessed NP Possessor NP

Noun Adjective

The question to answer for Locus of Marking is: if there is any

morphological marking (contextual inflection) indicating the relation

between head and dependent (case, agreement), where does it appear?



Locus of marking: where does contextual information appear?

head-marking: on the head dependent-marking: on the

dependent

double marking: on both

no marking: there is no

contextual inflection for the

relation on head or

dependent


Exercise 3

Indicate for the relation between verb and subject (and between verb and

object if relevant) what the locus of marking pattern is

Tzutujil (Guatemala)

nuuyon x-ø-in-b’an ja jaay

I.alone TENSE-3SG-1SG-make the house

‘I alone built the house.’

Eastern Pomo (California)

bu:ráqal-là: mí:p-al ša:k’-a

bear-SUBJ 3s-OBJ kill-INDIC

‘A bear killed him.’


Yup’ik (Alaska)

qikmigh-ma negh-aa kayu-ø

dog-ERG.1S eat-IND3S-3S fish-ABS

‘My dog ate the fish.’

Eastern Kayah (Thailand, Burma)

?a chu ?a thwi

3S stab 3S hond

‘He stabbed his (own) dog.’

Exercise 3

Indicate for the relation between verb and subject (and between verb and

object if relevant) what the locus of marking pattern is

Learn about

√ Criteria to distinguish inflection from derivation

√ Types of inflection

√ Another typological parameter: locus of marking

Recapitulation


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