Transcript Document

MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES
All languages possess the same set of grammatical categories (about 25) such as
number (singular, dual, or plural), gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), tense
(past, present, or future), aspect (perfect, or imperfect), etc.
When you begin learning a new language, you do not have to learn a new set of
grammatical categories since all languages have the same categories; you only have
to learn how these categories are expressed in the new language. It is probably the
case that children learning their first language have a similar advantage--they are
born with these categories built into their cognitive system.
MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES
Grammatical categories are composed of sets of morphological features.
Gender features:
[Feminine]
[Animate]
Feminine
Animate
MasculineFeminine
+
+
+
Neuter
-
The morphological features are also universal, providing a range of possible feature
combinations that languages can make use of. Of course, all languages do not use
the same features and combinations of features. For example, English and French
do not distinguish the dual number, and so the feature [dual] is absent from the
grammars of these languages.
THE NOTION OF PARADIGM
A paradigm is the set of the morphological realizations of the contrastive features of a given
terminal node of the morpho-syntax.
Consider three features X, Z, Y, of a given terminal node of the morpho-syntax in a language L.
We have the following combinations:
|
+X
+Z
+Y
|
+X
-Z
+Y
|
-X
+Z
+Y
|
-X
-Z
+Y
|
+X
+Z
-Y
|
+X
-Z
-Y
|
-X
+Z
-Y
|
-X
-Z
-Y
|
-X
+Z
-Y

|
-X
-Z
-Y

Assume that each terminal node has a different exponent (where n≠n+1):
|
+X
+Z
+Y

|
+X
-Z
+Y

|
-X
+Z
+Y

|
-X
-Z
+Y

|
+X
+Z
-Y

Thus, ( is the paradigm formed by the features {X, Y, Z}
|
+X
-Z
-Y

DIFFERENT MORPHOLOGICAL TYPES OF LANGUAGES (preliminaries)
Agglutinative languages
vs.
Fusional languages
AGGLUTINATIVE LANGUAGES
In a agglutinative language, for each single morphological category, there is a
vocabulary item.
(15)
Turkish
ev-ler-den
house-plural-ablative
from the houses
(16)
Finnish
kirja + t + ssa + ni
--> kirjo+i+ssa+ni
N +PL+Locative+Possessive 1sg.
‘in my books’
FUSIONAL LANGUAGES
Strings of several morphological categories are commonly represented by single
vocabulary item.
(17)
Latin:
dom-is
house-[plural+ablative]
(18)
Latin I-II declensions:
Singular
N.
port-a
ami@c-us
A.
port-am amic-um
G.
D.
Ab.
port-ae
port-a@
port-a@
‘door’
amic-i@
amic-o@
amic-o@
‘friend’
Plural
port-ae
port-a@s
amic-i@
amic-o@s
port-a@rum
amic-o@rum
port-i@s amic-is
port-i@s amic-I@s
•
See Appendix III on Portmanteaux morphology and feature cumulation.
NOMINAL GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
NUMBER:
Singular, Dual, Plural
Nouns in some languages reflect the number of objects to which they refer. English
distinguishes only two numbers, singular and plural. The former is used to indicate singular
objects or referents that can be neither singular nor plural (mass nouns like contemplation).
Plural sometimes refers to singular objects, too, e.g. glasses, so the category is clearly
grammatical and not semantic.
Some languages, Arabic or Old Church Slavonic, for example, also distinguish objects
occurring in pairs by assigning dual number to the noun and a few languages distinguish a
paucal, used for referring to a few objects without specifying number
.
(1)
Yupik Nouns
Singular
Dual
Plural
tafsi 'belt'
tafsi-k 'belts'
tafsi-t 'belts’
tuma 'trail'
tum´-k 'trails’
tum´-t 'trails’
yuk 'person' yug-´k ‘people'
yug-´t 'people’
(2)
[Plural]
[Dual]
Singular
-
Dual
+
+
Plural
+
-
GENDER
Some languages discriminate two types of gender. There is natural gender, which relates to the
gender of the referent and distinguishes nouns referring to males from those referring to
females. There is also grammatical gender, which has nothing to do with natural gender, but is
only a system of noun classes . The Indo-European languages generally combine the two, i.e.
do not distinguish one from the other so that in French, for example, la table 'the table' reflects
feminine gender (purely grammatical) as does la femme 'the woman' (combined natural and
grammatical).
The most common genders are Masculine and Feminine but some languages have Neuter as
well.
NOUN CLASS
Noun class is often closely linked to grammatical gender; in Indo-European languages, the two
generally overlap. Noun class is an arbitrary set of categories and all nouns must belong to one
of them. There is no semantic meaning attached to them, although there is a tendency for nouns
with similar meanings or of the same gender to belong to the same class, e.g. all feminine nouns
tend to belong to the same class, often the names of trees or cities will mostly belong to the
same class. In Chinese and some African languages, noun class can be based on the physical
shape of the referent. While there are always exceptions to these tendencies, there is no
exception to the rule that all nouns must belong to some noun class.
( 3)
Swahili noun classes and prefixes
Singular noun class
example
Corresponding plural class example
1. m- ‘person’
m-toto “child” 2. wa- ‘people’
3. m- ‘tree’
m-ti “tree”
4. mi- ‘trees’
5. ji- ‘big/round’
j-oka “giant snake”
6. ma- ‘big/round things, liquids’
7. ki- ‘(small) thing’
ki-kapu “basket”
8. vi- ‘(small) things’
9. N- ‘name’
10. N- ‘names’ (of people, insects)
11. u- ‘abstract/mass nouns’ u-pepo “wind”
12. ku- ‘activity’
ku-soma “reading”
13. pa- ‘place’
mahali po-moja “one place”
14. ku- ‘location’ (towards)
15. mu- ‘location’ (inside)
wa-toto “children”
mi-ti “trees”
vi-ti “stools”
AGREEMENT
Languages often have an agreement system whereby adjectives
modifying gendered nouns must have an ending which reflects the
gender and number of the noun they modify. Verbs also often reflect the
gender of their subject nouns and, sometimes, their object nouns as
well.
Italian
( 4)
molt-e ragazz-e bell-e sono venut-e ieri
many girls beautiful have come yesterday
molt-i ragazz-i bell-i sono venut-i ieri
many boys beautiful have come yesterday
Noun classes and Agreement in Swahili
(5)
a.
Agreement with modifiers:
wa-toto w-a-ngu
2-child 2-POSS-1sg
'my children'
ki-kapu ki-kubwa ki-moja ki-lianguka
7-basket 7-large 7-one 7-fell
“One large basket fell down.”
b.
Agreement with subject:
m-tu a-li-kuja
m-shale u-li-anguka
1-person 1-past-come
3-nail 3-past-fall
‘A person came.’
‘A nail fell.’
c.
Agreement with object:
ni-li-m-tafuta
I-past-1-seek
‘I looked for him/her.’
d.
Agreement with subject and object:
Yu-le m-tu m-moja m-refu a-li-ye-ki-soma b-le ki-tabu ki-refu
1-that 1-person 1-one 1-tall 1-past-who-7-read 7-that 7-book 7-long
“That tall person who read that long book.”
Wa-toto wa-na-ki-soma ki-tabu (SVO)
2-child 2-Pres-7-read 7-book
or
Ki-tabu wa-na-ki-soma wa-toto (OVS)
7-book 2-Pres-7-read 2-child
“The children are reading the book.”
DEFINITENESS: Definite, Indefinite
Most languages also have a way of distinguishing definite and indefinite objects. A
definite object is one that the speaker expects the listener to already know about
either from previous discussion or from experience. If you don't expect the listener
to know what you are talking about, you would say, for example, I bought an
armadillo today. If the listener can see the armadillo or if you have already
mentioned it to the listener, you would normally say I bought the armadillo today.
(6)
Two Ways of Indicating Definiteness
French
une femme 'a woman'
la femme 'the woman'
un cachet 'a seal, stamp'
le cachet 'the seal, stamp'
Bulgarian
Jena 'a woman'
tSovek 'a man'
selo 'a village'
Jena-ta 'the woman'
tSovek-´t 'the man'
selo-to 'the village'
Features of Person
(7)
[Speaker]
[Participant to
speech act]
First person
I
+
Second Person
You
-
Third Person
he/she
-
+
+
-
(8)
Palaung (Burma).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
ar
E
O
yar
yE
mi
par
pE
Un
gar
gE
'you and I
'we (three or more, including addressee)’
'I’
'we two (not including addressee)
'we (three or more, not including addressee)’
'you (singular)’
'you two’
'you(three or more)’
'he or she’
'they two’
'they (three o rmore)'
(9)
Segmentation:
O
mi
I
you
Ø-ar
Ø-e
(10)
y-ar
Un
he/she
p-ar
y-E
g-ar
p-E
Dual
g-E
Plural
Ø+
+
y+
-
p+
g-
+
+
+
-
Featural analysis:
[Speaker]
[Addressee]
[Participant to
speech act]
POSSESSION: 1st, 2nd, 3rd; Singular & Plural
The category of possession indicates that the referent possesses the noun marked
with this category. The functions of this category are the same as those of verbal
person, i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd person singular and plural. English marks possession
with possessive pronouns: my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, etc. Other
languages, such as Turkish, use inflectional affixes and 'conjugate' their nouns.
(11)
Turkish Possessive Paradigm
Singular
baba-m 'my father'
baba-n 'your father'
baba-sI 'his/her father'
Plural
baba-m-Iz 'our father'
baba-n-Iz
'your(pl) father'
baba-lar-I 'their father'
CASE PARADIGM (DECLENSION)
Languages require a means of marking certain grammatical relations in
sentences: that of the Subject to the verb, the Direct Object to the verb, the
Indirect Object to the verb, the Means to the verb. Languages possess a
limited number of adverbal relations which could be indicated by but are in
fact always represented by grammatical means: cases, adpositions, or both.
These adverbal relations include Locative, Origin, Goal (all of which may be
spatial) and several others. Turkish uses a set of basic Cases.
(12)
The Turkish Nominal Declension
Case
'horse' 'my horse''horses' 'my horses'
Nominative (Subject)at-e
at-Im
at-lar
at-lar-Im
Genitive ('of')
at-In
at-Im-In at-lar-In at-lar-Im-In
Accusative (D. O.) at-I
at-Im-I
at-lar-I
at-lar-Im-I
Dative ('to /for')
at-a
at-Im-a at-lar-a at-lar-Im-a
Locative ('in/at')
at-da
at-Im-da at-lar-da at-lar-Im-da
Ablative ('from')
at-dan
at-Im-dan at-lar-dan at-lar-Im-dan
(13)
Russian Nominal Declension
Case
'book'
'books'
Nominative (Subject)
knig-a
knig-y
Genitive ('of')
knig-y
knig-e*
Accusative (D. 0.)
knig-u
knig-y
Dative ('to /for')
knig-e
knig-am
Locative ('in/at')
knig-e
knig-ax
Instrumental (by/with)
knig-oj
knig-ami
'table'
stol-e*
stol-a
stol-e*
stol-u
stol-e
stol-om
'tables'
stol-y
stol-ov
stol-y
stol-am
stol-ax
stol-ami
TURKISH CASE FUNCTIONS
(14)
a.
Nominative Case Subject/Accusative Case Object
Halil-e
kitab-i
oku-du
Halil-Nom book-Obj read-Past
'Halil read the book’
b.
Genitive Case Possession
Halil-in
evi
simdi
Halil-Gen house
now
’Halil's house is now Mehmed's’
c.
Dative Case Indirect Object
Adam-a
yemek
verd-im
man-to
meat
gave-I
‘I gave meat to the man’
d.
Dative Case Goal
Halil
ev-e
gel-di
Halil
house-to
come-Past
'Halil came home'
Mehmed-in
Mehmed-Gen
e.
Ablative Case Source (The from-Case)
kitab-I
Halil-den
ald-Im
Book-Obj Halil-from got-I
'I got the book from Halil’
f.
Ablative Case Origin (The from-Case)
Mehmet
Istanbul-dan
gel-di
Mehmet
Istanbul-from
come-Past
'Mehmet came from Istanbul’
g.
Locative Case Location (The at-Case)
Halil
ev-de
kal-dI
Halil
home-Loc remain-Past
'Halil stayed at home’
h.
’
Instrumental Case (Russian) (The by/with Case)
MaSa
napisala
pis'mo
karandaS-om
Masha
wrote
letter
pencil-Inst
Masha wrote the letter with a pencil'
VERBS
TRANSITIVITY: Transitive, Intransitive
Verbs may either accept a direct object or not. Those that do are transitive;
those that do not are intransitive. Some verbs can belong to either category
depending on the context, as with the English verb "to eat."
(19)
ENGLISH John ate the fish
John ate
TENSE:
Distant Past, Past, Present, Future, Distant Future Tense indicates the time
relative to the speech act when an action or state took place. Languages are
limited to five tenses: distant past (past pluperfect), past, future, distant past,
and distant future (future perfect). English has all five.
(20)
English Tenses
Future
I will eat, I'm gonna eat, I eat
Future Perfective
I will have eaten
Present
I eat, am eating
Past
I ate, have eaten
Past Perfective
I had eaten
(21)
Sanskrit. (The forms illustrated here are all third person singular indicative active)
'cross'
'move'
'forsake'
'hold’
(22)
Verb stems:
present
tarati
carati
tyajati
dharati
imperfect
atarat
acarat
atyajat
adharat
future
tarisyati
carisyati
tyajisyatia
dharisyatia
conditional
atarisyat
acarisyat
tyajisyat
dharisyat
‘cross,'
'move,'
'forsake,'
'hold.'
tarcartyajdhar-
Third person singular present suffix -ati
The imperfect is characterized by a prefix, a-, and a distinct third person singular suffix, -at.
The future is characterized by the suffix -isy- and the personal suffix that is the same as in the
present tense.
The conditional combines aspects of both the imperfect and the future: it has the prefix a-, which
is found with past tenses, along with the personal suffix -at, also found with past tenses, and,
between the stem and the personal suffix, the conditional has the future morpheme -isy.
(23)
[past]
[future]
past
+
-
present
-
future
+
conditional
+
+
ASPECT: Perfective, Imperfective
Some languages distinguish between whether an action or state is completed or
not rather than between whether it occurred in the past. (Most languages
distinguish both tense and aspect to varying degrees.)
The Russian Aspect System
(24)
Imperfective
Perfective
MaSa pisala pis'ma
MaSa na-pisala pis'ma
i. 'Masha was writing letters
''Masha wrote the letters'
ii. 'Masha wrote letters several times'
MaSa piSet pis'ma
MaSa na-piSet pis'ma
i. 'Masha is writing letters'
'Masha will write the letters'
ii. 'Mash writes letters'
Latin has six combinations of tense and aspect, of which representative forms are given in (51).
(25)
am-o
'I love'
(present)
am-av-i
'I have loved'
Perfect)``
am-a-ba-m
'I loved'
(imperfect)
am-av-era-m
'I had loved'
(pluperfect)
am-a-b-o
'I will love'
(future)
am-av-er-o
'I will have loved'
(future perfect)
In feature terms:
(26)
-past
-future
[-perfect]
[+perfect]
present
perfect
+past
-future
imperfect
pluperfect
-past
+future
future
future perfect
VOICE:
Active, Passive Most languages have a means of shifting the semantic
emphasis from the subject to the object. If the subject is focussed, the verb is
placed in the active voice; if the object is focussed, the verb is placed in the
passive voice.
(27)
Voice in Western IE Languages
LANGUAGE:
Active Voice
Passive Voice
ENGLISH
John eats the fish
The fish is eaten by John
FRENCH
Jean mange le poissonLe poisson est mange’ de Jean
GERMAN
Hans isst den Fisch
Der Fisch ist von Hans gegessen
MOOD: Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive
Verbs may also vary as to mood or modality. The three major modalities are indicative,
which mere indicates that something occurs, imperative, which demands that something
occurs, and subjunctive, which suggests that something might occur, usually also implying
that it doesn't occur.
(28) The Moods of English
Indicative
John eats
Imperative
Eat!
Subjunctive
I would eat, Were I to eat
FEATURES OF MOOD
Classical Greek mood system (Jensen (1990):
(29)
[potential]
[wish]
indicative subjunctive optative
+
+
+
imperative
+
CONJUGATION CLASS
Verbs often belong to arbitrary lexical classes like the nouns; the verbal version is called
conjugation class. There is no semanic reason why a verb belongs to one class or
another; they just do. Latin (French, Italian, Spanish) verbs all must bear a conjugation class
marker.
(30)
The Latin Conjugations
I. Conjugation
amo
'I love'
amamus
'we love'
amas
'you love'
amatis
'yuse love'
amat
's/he loves' amant
'they love'
II. Conjugation
moneo
'I advise'
monemus 'we advise'
mones
'you advise'
monetis
'yuns advise'
monet
's/he advises'
monent
'they advise
'we cover'
III. Conjugation
tego
'I cover'
tegimus
tegis
'you cover' tegitis
'yall cover'
tegit
's/he covers'
tegunt
'they cover
•
See Appendix IV on morphological markedness