Transcript Introduction to Linguistics - Yogyakarta State University

Introduction to Linguistics
Week 7
July 17, 2015
intro 2 ling/ssn/2007
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Morphology
Morphemes, Conditioning &
Words
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intro 2 ling/ssn/2007
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Review

Language is a CODE for thoughts.
sound
decode
meaning
speaker
encode
listener
thoughts
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intro 2 ling/ssn/2007
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A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they
do?
Said the flea: ‘Let us fly’.
Said the fly: ‘Let us flee’.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
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Word Classes

Content Words
→ noun, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
→ “open class” vocabulary
Function Words
→ pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliaries, etc
→ “closed class” vocabulary
MY DAUGHTER WENT TO THE CINEMA.

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Word Relation & Morpheme

Words can be related to other words, e.g.
happy – unhappy.
→ fundamental elements: morpheme
→ rules of combination: Word Formation
Rules

Morpheme: the smallest unit that carries
information about meaning or function
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MORPHEMES
1. be identifiable from one word to
another
 and
 2. contribute in some way to the meaning
of the whole word.
e.g. attack, stack, tackle and taxi

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MORPHEME

MONOMORPHEMIC
Simple words
e.g :
train
single morpheme
track

POLYMORPHEMIC
Complex words
e.g :
July 17, 2015
(‘to construct’)
builder
more than one morpheme
build + er
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(Functions as a Noun maker, means ‘one who builds’)
How many morphemes are there in
each of the following words?
happy
 happier
 unhappy
 unhappier
 unhappiness
unhappier

unhappy
unJuly 17, 2015
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-er
happy
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cranberry morpheme
E.g.
 morphemes cran-, huckle- and gorm- in
cranberry, huckleberry and gormless
 Berry in strawberry, blackberry and
blueberry
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Recognition of Morphemes

The dinosaur sniffed arrogantly and
plodded forwards.

The dinosaur grunted loudly and edged
backwards.
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Bound & Free Morphemes
door
free morpheme
Can be a word by itself
doors
s
bound morpheme
Must be attached to another element
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What does –s mean?
There are two doors in the room.
 There are no red doors.
 I have zero dollars.
 It’s negative one degrees outside.
 The current is 0.4 amperes.

not one
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Inflectional & Derivational
Morphemes
clouds

cloudy
Inflectional morpheme
→ provides further information about an existing lexical
item
e.g : car
cars
jump
jumped

Derivational morpheme
→ creates an entirely new word
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Derivational Morpheme . . . .
Affixes

morphemes added to free forms to make
other free forms

four kinds of affixes:
1. prefixes
→ unable
2. suffixes
→ refusal
3. infixes
→ in-bloody-credible
4. circumfixes
→ enlighten
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Study the words below
adjective
verb
verb
noun
dark
darken
sing
singer
black
blacken
dance
dancer
red
redden
write
writer
white
whiten
July 17, 2015
compute computer
What word formation rules can we make?
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Zero Morphemes
Consider the following
words:
adjective
verb
yellow
yellow
brown
brown
clear
clear
comb
Comb
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The relationship
between yellow (adj)
- yellow (v) is exactly
the same as white –
whiten
→ zero morpheme
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Allomorphs
The variant forms of morpheme
e.g: a, an
Cats, dogs, horses, oxen, sheep, geese
Phonological conditioning
→ its form is dependent on the adjacent
phonemes
 Lexical conditioning
→ its form seems to be a purely accidental
one, linked to a particular vocabulary item

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Compounds
the combination of two free forms
 In English, the HEAD of a compound is usually
the right-hand member
 The HEAD supplies the category and basic
meaning for the whole compounds
 Compounds can be used with affixation to
produce larger words

e.g. blackbird, sleepwalker, bookcase, happy hour, etc
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What about the following words:
- blackberry
- blueberry
- strawberry
- cranberry
- huckleberry
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BOUND ROOTS
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Homophonous Morphemes &
Reduplication
Homophonous Morphemes
 two morphemes having the same pronunciation
(form) with different meanings
e.g. un-tie-able
Reduplication
 the copying of a part of a word
e.g. the language of the people of Madura
in English?
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Other Ways of Forming Words


Blends
→ smoke + fog = smog
motor + hotel = motel
Onomatopoeia
bang, buzz
Words from names
→ jumbo, sandwich
 Truncation (Clipped words)
→ gym(nasium), (tele)phone
 Acronyms
→ AIDS
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
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