Transcript From the phoneme to the morpheme

From the phoneme to the morpheme

Phonology to morphology
Contrastive analysis in morphological
constructions in English and Spanish
COURSE: INGL 4235
PROF. ANÍBAL MUÑOZ CLAUDIO
TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS
3:00-4:20 P.M. ROOM: LCS 101
www1.uprh.edu/animun
PREVIEW

Preview

Definitions
 Inflectional Paradigms
 Derivational Paradigms
 Intonation Patterns
 Position or Word Order
 Form Class Words
(Lexicon –meaning)
Nouns –Class I, Pronouns, Verbs
–Class II, Adjectives –Class III,
Adverbs –Class IV

Function Words
(determiners, conjunctions,
others)

Compound nouns
 Anglicism, calques,
borrowings, and
language evolution
 Semantic equivalents
 Connotations
 idiomatic expressions
 Morphemes of gender
and number in nouns,
pronouns,verbs,
articles, adjectives, and
adverbs
 Lexical units vs.
function words
 Affixation –suffixes and
prefixes
Definitions

Phoneme- any of a small set of basic units
of sound, different for each language, by
which utterances are represented.
eg. /t/, /d/, /k/, /a/, /æ/
 Morpheme –any of the minimal
grammatical units of a language that cannot
be divided into smaller grammatical parts
(smallest unit of meaning or lexical unit)
eg. a, at, be, s, ness, ly, ic,
Paradigms

Paradigms
The devices used by structuralists for establishing word classes in
English include consideration of ways in which certain types of
words can be grouped into sets, called paradigms, on the basis
of the inflectional and derivational affixes (prefixes and suffixes)
that they will take.
1.
Inflectional paradigms
They are sets of forms. Each set is made up of a base form
(singular), plus whatever morphemic changes –either the addition
of suffixes or sound changes or both –may be used to adapt the
base form to certain functions without changing the lexical
meaning.(1999, Herndon)
For example, the inflectional paradigm for the class form
(NOUNS) is made up as follows.
Nouns – inflectional paradigms
Base
(singular)
Base Form +
plural
Base Form +
possessive
teacher
teachers
teacher’s teachers’
student
students
Base Form +
Possessive
plural
The teacher’s
book
The teachers’
book
student’s
students’
Spanish inflectional contrast
Base
(singular)
Base Form +
plural
Base Form +
possessive
Base Form +
Possessive
plural
teacher’s
maestro
maestra
maestros
maestras
teacher’s book
El libro
del maestro
de la maestra
teachers’
teachers’ book
El libro de los
maestros
El libro de las
maestras
Derivational Paradigms

Derivational paradigms are made up of
sets of endings that may be attached to
bases that may shift their lexical
meaning or part of speech or both.
Some examples of noun-marking
derivational suffixes are –hood, -ship, ness, and –ment. Words having these
endings are recognized, even in isolation,
as nouns. (1999, Herndon)
Spanish derivational paradigms
LEXICAL UNITS
Derivational paradigms
NOUNS
friend
Noun: amigo
amistad, amigable, amistoso, etc.
friendship
Adjective: oscuro
neighbor
oscuridad, oscurecer, etc.
ADJECTIVES
neighborhood
dark (adj.)
darkness (N)
VERBS
establish (V)
Establishment (N)
Verb: establecer
Establecimiento, estable, etc.
Content (Form) words
(carry lexical/ meaning)
1. Nouns –Class I Words
Inflectional paradigm –generally speaking, nouns are forms that will
accept inflections. (slide # 5)
2. Derivational paradigms –many forms may be recognized as nouns
on the basis of various noun-marking derivational suffixes added
either to bound bases or to other words –often words belonging to
other classes. There are literally dozens of these endings. For
example, -er, -or, and –ment adapt verbs to use as nouns;
Examples: verbs
+ derivational suffix = noun
work
+ er = worker
play
+ er = player
stimulate + or = stimulator
govern + ment = government
3. Intonation Pattern – differences of stress may distinguish nouns
from verbs (slide # 7). Heavier stress on the first syllable almost
always signals a noun; heavier stress on the second signals a verb.
noun -súspect / verb -suspéct
1.
Position and word order
Nouns fill certain characteristic positions in relation to
other parts of speech. The most obvious is that just before
the verb.
Examples: The _____ is here. These _____ are beautiful!
5. Function Words –In English, noun determiners
immediately precede nouns or precede them with certain
words in between. Some noun determiners never appear
except when followed by a noun and invariably signal its
coming. These are the articles the, a, and an and the
possessive pronouns my, your, our, and their. Other
pronouns are quite frequently used as determiners, but
have other functions as well. These are the
demonstratives this, that, these, and those and the other
possessive pronouns, his, her, and its.
Pronouns

When considered a separate class, pronouns are Class II
words, but most school texts consider them a subcategory
of nouns.
 In contrast to nouns, pronouns constitute a closed class –
no new pronouns have been added to English for
hundreds of years. If anything, the class has become
smaller instead, as few speakers now make use of the
forms thee, thou, thy, and thine.
 Personal pronouns fall into an inflectional paradigm that is
similar to, but not exactly like, that for nouns. Forms show
both number and the possessive case, but they also show
gender and the nominative and objective cases.
Example: he / his / him (see enclosures)
 Pronouns, in most cases are identifiable by the ability of
each to substitute for a type of noun or noun phrase.
(1999, Herndon)
 2. Verbs Class II Words
a. Inflectional Paradigm –English verbs commonly have five forms ,
the base form and four inflected forms. These inflections are the present 3rd
person singular, the past, the present participle, and the past participle
form. (see example below)
The present 3rd singular is similar in many ways to the noun inflections
 The past tense, or preterit, is commonly formed with the –ed ending,
but there are several irregular allomorphs.
 The present progressive is formed by an –ing suffix.
 The past participle makes use of –ed and –en endings or internal vowel
changes. In a class by itself in many ways is the verb be, which has
eight inflected forms (be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been)

base
eat
3rd sing.
eats
past
ate
present prog.
past part.
eating
eaten
Verbs (cont.)
b. Derivational Paradigm
Some verbs are marked by
suffixes such as the –ate
ending added to bound
bases and nouns, the –ize
added to bound bases,
nouns, and adjectives, and
the –fy added to bound
bases, nouns, and
adjectives, and the prefix –
en added to nouns and
some other verbs.
Examples: summarize,
beautify, locate, etc.
c. Intonation Pattern See
contrasts with nouns marked by
intonation
d. Position or Word
Order
Some positions mark verbs.
Verbs commonly occupy
the first position in
requests, a position
between two nouns or
pronouns, or between
noun and adjective or
adverb. Here’s a simple
set of test frames for
verbs.
1.
2.
3.
The child may___ something.
The children ___ friendly.
___ you ____ me that?
e. Function Words – function
words that work with verbs are
the various forms of have and
be and the modals can, may,
should, will, and others. (1999,
Herndon)
Adjectives
a.
Inflectional Paradigms
True adjectives commonly
show comparative and
superlative degrees by adding
–er and –est inflections.
Derived adjectives make use
of the function words more
and most for this purpose.
b. (Cont.) Adjectives are derived
from other words by adding
such endings as –y, ic, and –
ous to nouns and bound bases;
-ful and –less to nouns; -able,ent, and –ive to verbs and
bound bases.
greed
greedy
2. class
classic
3. danger dangerous
4. need
needful
5. home
homeless
6. manage manageable
7. differ
different
8. persuade persuasive
1.
b.
Derivational Paradigms
True adjectives fit into
derivational patterns with
nouns formed by adding the
suffix –ness to true adjectives
and adverbs formed by adding
the suffix –ly to the same
adjectives. (1999, Herndon)
happy-happiness-happily
Adverbs
a.
b.
Inflectional Paradigm
In a few cases adverbs admit
the comparative and
superlative degree endings
(er, est), usually they use more
and most. Some adverbs have
a base form that also serves
as an adjective (fast, hard). In
this case the class will depend
upon other structural devices.
(1999, Herndon)
Derivational Paradigm –the
most common adverbmarking suffix is the –ly
added to adjectives
(common + ly), (soft+ ly),
(bare + ly). .
There are other
combinations.
c.
d.
Intonation Patterns
The intonation patterns of
larger structures often show
adverbs patterning closely with
verbs, in contrast to adjectives
which usually pattern with
nouns.
Word Order
Most adverbs in English are
extremely mobile. Various
types may fill any of several
positions or positional
combinations, but almost all
can fill the position following a
noun-verb-complement
sequence like the following.
The boy ate his cookies
_____.
(1999, Herndon)
Function Words
(do not carry lexicon)


Some words in English
may not make use of the
determiners
structural paradigms. They
have no inflectional or
Auxiliary
subordinators
derivational endings.
verbs
They perform a function in the
system –outside of the
grammatical relationships they
Function
signify, they have little or no
meaning.
words
qualifiers
conjunctions
 The categories of function
words are often called closed
classes because new forms are
rarely, if ever, added to them.
 Function words represent only a
prepositions
few hundred of the more than
interrogatives
half a million words in English.
(1999, Herndon)
Function Words

Determiners – The workings of the determiner class of function
words is described in some detail under the form class with which
they appear, the nouns or class I words. The most commonly used
members are the, a, an, and some.

Auxiliary Verbs – Forms of the auxiliaries have and be work with
various inflected forms of verbs. Modals are usually considered a
subcategory because their operation is somewhat different from
that of have and be. Other auxiliaries are forms of get and do.

Qualifiers – They work with both adjectives and adverbs. Some of
the most frequently used are more, most, very, quite, rather, and
somewhat.

Prepositions – They introduce modifying or qualifying phrases set
apart by intonation pattern and the presence of the preposition
form. They indicate the relation of words with other words. (eg.
location, direction, time, etc.)
Function Words



Conjunctions – They always work as
coordinators of linguistics forms or syntactic units
having equal value. The two most frequently
used are and and but.
Subordinators – they connect dependent
clauses and include words such as because,
after, although, unless, and so on, as well as the
relative pronouns who, whose, which, and that.
Interrogatives – they operate in the formation of
questions and include words such as when,
where, why, how and so on, as well as the
interrogative pronouns who, which, and what
Other considerations when contrasting
English and Spanish morphology

Compound nouns
English takes many compound nouns (two words) in contrast to
Spanish.
mochila o bulto – book bag
bombero – firefighter
baño –bathroom
sala –living room
cuaderno-workbook
abuelo(s) –grandfather
Anglicism, borrowings, and language
evolution
Anglicism – a word, idiom, or
characteristic feature of the English
language occurring or borrowed by
another language.
 eg. Parking, hanguear, badtrip,
