Announcements
• About *: The * indicates that a form is not grammatical.
– e.g. On slide 20, *trucks driver indicates that trucks driver is not
the plural form of truck driver.
• Some HW feedback
– HWs are due at the beginning of class.
– When using strings of IPA symbols:
• abstract representations (phonemes or go between slashes: / /
• actual pronunciations go between square brackets: [ ]
– bundles of features are written in square brackets
– categories such as C and V can be written alone
• Reminder: Extra Credit Lecture next Friday
Dr. Elissa Newport
How children shape languages: Language acquisition and
language emergence
Feb 20th, 3:00 pm
Hodson #110
Refreshments at 2.30pm
“Ask” and “Ax”
• extra credit example
• ask-ax clip
– “Archaic” pronunciation: [æsk]
– New pronunciation [æks]
– This is an example of what phonological
process?
“Ask” and “Ax”
• extra credit example
• ask-ax clip
– “Archaic” pronunciation: [æsk]
– New pronunciation [æks]
– This is an example of what phonological
process?
– Metathesis: the /s/ and /k/ in /æsk/ have switch
position to be pronounced as [æks]
– (also a fictional example of language change)
Morphology 2
Lecture 6
more on word building
Review of Monday
• Words have internal structure
– composed of morphemes
– morphemes are the smallest meaning
carrying units
• Words belong to grammatical categories
• Morphemes can be
– Free or Bound
– Content or Function
– Derivational or Inflectional
Review of Monday
• Given a morpheme,
• Can it stand alone as a word?
Y Æ Free (e.g. bubble, apple)
N Æ Bound (e.g. -er, -s)
• Does it have the principle meaning of the word it is in?
Y Æ Stem (e.g. happy in unhappiness)
N Æ Affix (e.g.pre- in preview)
• Does it create a new word by changing the meaning or
part of speech or both?
YÆ Derivational Affix (e.g. re- in rewind)
N Æ Inflectional Affix (e.g. -est in brightest)
• How much meaning does it carry?
more Æ Content Morpheme (e.g. un- in untrue)
N, V, Adj, Adv + others
less Æ Function Morpheme (e.g. -ed in aided; note –s in books)
inflectional affixes + others
Derivational
Changes part of speech or meaning of
a word
judge+ment: V+mentÆ N
un-tie: reverse the effect of tying
Typically indicate a relationship in
meaning within a word.
(Not required by syntax)
un+kind relates un and kind
No particular relation to other words
As a class, relatively less productive
*unsad, *unbrave
*fiercity, *kindity
Typically occur before inflectional
(king+dom)+s, *(king+s)+dom
Inflectional
Does not change part of speech or
meaning of a word
big, bigg+er, bigg+est
Typically indicate a relationship
between words
(Are required by syntax)
eat+s: the -s tells us the subject is 3rd
person, singular
Very productive
-’s (possessive) and -s (plural) occur with
almost all nouns
Occur at the very end of the word
(ration+al+ize+ation)+s
May be prefixes or suffixes (in English) Are suffixes only (in English) ?
Infixes
• What kind of morphemes are English
infixes?
unbe-f*ing-lieveable
fan-f*ing-tastic
Phila-f*ing-delphia
edu-f*ing-cation
Derivational
Changes part of speech or meaning of
a word
judge+ment: V+mentÆ N
un-tie: reverse the effect of tying
Typically indicate a relationship in
meaning within a word.
(Not required by syntax)
un+kind relates un and kind
No particular relation to other words
As a class, relatively less productive
*unsad, *unbrave
*fiercity, *kindity
Typically occur before inflectional
(king+dom)+s, *(king+s)+dom
Inflectional
Does not change part of speech or
meaning of a word
big, bigg+er, bigg+est
Typically indicate a relationship
between words
(Are required by syntax)
eat+s: the -s tells us the subject is 3rd
person, singular
Very productive
-’s (possessive) and -s (plural) occur with
almost all nouns
Occur at the very end of the word
(ration+al+ize+ation)+s
May be prefixes or suffixes (in English) Are suffixes (and infixes) (in English)
Compounds
• New words from combining words
• Free morphemes
– black + bird
– land + lord
• Words derived via affixation
– look+ing + glass
– watch + mak+er
• Compound words
– used+car + sales+man
– air+craft + carri+er
Word Classes and Compounds
• Few limits to combination in English
-Adj
-N
-V
Adj-
bittersweet
poorhouse
dryclean
N-
headstrong
rainbow
spoonfeed
V-
catchall
pickpocket
sleepwalk
Word Classes and Compounds
• Head: the morpheme that determines the
category of the whole word.
• Two words from the same category yield a
compound from that category
N+N → N
Adj+Adj → Adj
V+V → V
rainbow
bittersweet
sleepwalk
Word Classes and Compounds
• The head tends to be in final position (in
English)
N+Adj → Adj
N+V → V
Adj+N → N
V+N → N
headstrong
spoonfeed
poorhouse
pickpocket
• Compounds formed with a preposition yield a
compound from the non-preposition’s category
N+prep → N
sundown
prep+V → V
uplift
Incorporation
• Special kind of formation of a compound verb
• English examples
houseclean baby-sit
(vs. spoonfeed)
• Chukchee (spoken in northeastern Siberia)
[tə-pelaɹkən qoɹaŋə]
I-leave reindeer
‘I’m leaving the reindeer”
[tə-qoɹa-pelaɹkən]
I-reindeer-leave
“I’m in the process of reindeer leaving”
Keep building and building . . .
three-time defending national champion
three-time defending national champion
three-time defending national champion
three-time defending national champion
Keep building and building . . .
• three-time defending national champion
• lifeguard
lifeguard chair
lifeguard chair manufacturer
lifeguard chair manufacturer biographer
lifeguard chair manufacturer biographer fanclub
lifeguard chair manufacturer biographer fanclub pencil set
• Great great great . . . great grandmother
Stress as an Indicator
• Compound word? Or individual words?
– The wool sweater gave the man a red neck.
– If you want to make Tim angry, call him a redneck.
(Note that orthography doesn’t always tell you: fire drill, bath towel
• Adj+N compounds have primary stress on the first word
• Individual words in phrases have independent primary
stress
(Note that in Adj+N compounds, the words in the same order as in
noun phrases.)
bláckbird
bláck bírd
gréenhouse
gréen hóuse
wét suit
wét súit
Compounds and Internal Structure
toy car factory
• Ambiguity
– A factory that makes toy cars?
– A miniature car factory sold by Fisher Price?
toy
car
factory
toy
car
factory
Compounds and Meaning
• Endocentric: compound denotes a subtype of its
head
bathtub
boathouse
magnifying glass
Commander in chief
• Exocentric: compound’s meaning is not a
subtype of its head
– The referent is not the same as the referents of any of
its constituent parts
turncoat
redhead
egghead
redneck
Inflection and Compounds
• For endocentric compound nouns, plural
markers appear next to the head
truck drivers
pocketbooks
mothers-in-law
Commanders in chief
*trucks driver
*pocketsbook
*mother-in-laws
*commander in chiefs
• For endocentric compound verbs, tense markers
appear next to the head as well
sleepwalking
sleepwalked
*sleepingwalk
*sleptwalk
Inflection and Compounds
• Irregular heads reveal an
endocentric/exocentric difference
endocentric
exocentric
wisdom teeth
saber tooths
Club feet
bigfoots
policemen
Walkmans (portable radio)
Oak leaves
Maple Leafs (Toronto’s hockey team)
Reduplication
• Whole or partial repetition of the base; partial
reduplication may be suffixing, prefixing or infixing
– Indonesian:
orang “man”
orang-orang “all sorts of men”
– Tagolog:
takbuh “run”
tatakbuh “will run”
lakad “walk”
lalakad “will walk”
– Mandarin
tan2 gang1qin2 “play piano”
tan2tan2 gang1qin2 “playing piano”
bei1 shu1bao1 “carry backpack”
bei1bei1 shu1bao1 “carrying backpack”
Reduplication in English
• Dismissive Reduplication
– New York dialect influenced by Yiddish borrowing:
valentine
valentine-schmalentine
over
over-schmover
ridicule
ridicule-schmidicule
remember
remember-schmember
or: remember-reschmember
unhappy
unhappy-schmappy
or: unhappy-unschmappy
Reduplication in English
• “Truly-truly” Reduplication
Does he just like her? Or does he like-like her?
• Diminutive Reduplication
itsty-bitsy
teeny-weeny
• Mandarin diminutive reduplication
gou3gou3 “doggie”
zhu1zhu1 “piggy”
xiong2xiong2 “bearie”
(Formal) Word Formation Processes
• Affixation
• Internal Change
– e.g. a vowel change: sing, sang
• Suppletion: using an entirely different
morpheme
– good, better, *gooder
• Compounding
– Incorporation
• Reduplication
Example Problem
Goals of morphological analysis:
• Identify each morpheme, and for each,
– identify meaning
– identify type
• Determine where each morpheme
appears wrt other morphemes
– Is it a prefix, suffix, or base?
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• Compare forms that are partially similar
– e.g. [palu] contributes the stick part of the meaning of [spalube] and
[spalulu]
– This suggests s- and –be and –lu are morphemes, and they are involved
in the meaning differences between [palu], [spalube], and [spalulu].
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• Compare forms that are partially similar
– [spalube] and [spalulu] are both possessive forms and they
have the morpheme [s-] in common
– we hypothesize that [s-] is the possessive marker
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• Compare forms that are partially similar
– Do other possessive forms have the [s-] prefix?
– We conclude that [s-] is the morpheme corresponding to
possession
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• Compare forms that are partially similar
– In meaning, [spalube] and [spalulu] differ wrt person
– In form, [spalube] and [spalulu] differ wrt their endings;
hypothesize that [-be] is the 3rd person singular morpheme,
and [-lu] is the 2nd person plural morpheme
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[ku:ba]
dough
[tapa]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• Compare forms that are partially similar
– Examine other forms with 3rd person singular meaning and
forms with 2nd person plural meaning
– Conclude that [-be] is the 3rd person singular morpheme,
and [-lu] is the 2nd person plural morpheme
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• Do any phonetic forms correspond to two distinct
meanings?
– e.g. In English, work+er vs. fast+er
V+er means “one who Vs”
Adj+er means the comparative form of Adj
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• Do any meanings correspond to more than one form?
–
–
–
–
e.g. English plurals have the forms [z], [s], and [ɪz]
allomorphs for tortilla: [ɡeta], [keta]
allomorphs for chicken: [bere], [pere]
allomorphs for rope: [doʔo], [toʔo]
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• The choice of allomorph should be predictable. What
phonetic environment determines which allomorph appears?
– allomorphs for tortilla: [ɡeta], [keta]
– allomorphs for chicken: [bere], [pere]
– allomorphs for rope: [doʔo], [toʔo]
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• The choice of allomorph should be predictable. What
phonetic environment determines which allomorph appears?
– /ɡeta/ becomes [keta] after [s]
– /bere/ becomes [pere] after [s]
– /doʔo/ becomes [toʔo] after [s]
Example Problem
• Isthmus Zapotec (spoken in Mexico)
[palu]
stick
[spalube]
[spalulu]
your(pl) stick
[ku:ba]
dough
[sku:babe] his dough
[sku:balu]
your(pl) dough
[tapa]
four
[stapabe]
his four
[stapalu]
your(pl) four
[ɡeta]
tortilla
[sketabe]
his tortilla
[sketalu]
your(pl) tortilla
[bere]
chicken
[sperebe]
his chicken
[sperelu]
your(pl) chicken
[doʔo]
rope
[stoʔobe]
his rope
[stoʔolu]
your(pl) rope
his stick
• What phonological rule captures the conditions determining
which allomorph appears?
– C[+voice] → C[-voice] / [s] ___ (but usually rules are more general)
– C[+voice] → C[-voice] / [-voice] ___
Cautionary Notes
• Sometimes, a single phonetic form has two
distinctive meanings
work-er
fast-er
paint-er
wid-er
lov-er
cold-er
act-or
pretti-er
– V-er: one who Vs
– Adj-er: “more Adj”
• These must be analyzed as representing two
different morphemes
Cautionary Notes
• Not all languages mark the same things
morphologically
– Tagalog does not usually mark the plural of nouns
– when necessary to be specific, [mɡa] for plural
[aŋ bataʔ] “the child”
[aŋ mɡa bataʔ] “the children”
– However, [mɡa] does not appear when a specific
number is given
[dalawa] “two”
[dalawaŋ bataʔ] “two children”
– English: *two child, *two dog
Cautionary Notes
• Languages make distinctions not found in English
– Sanskrit
singular/dual/plural distinction
juhomi “I sacrifice”
juhuvas “we (two) sacrifice”
juhumas “we (2+) sacrifice”
• Tepetotula Chinantec
verb form differs based on whether the object is
animate or inanimate
e.g if you want to say ‘I abandoned my friend’ vs. ‘I
abandoned the house’, you have to use different verb forms
• Comanche (a Native American language)
visible/not visible and proximate/remote distinction
Summary for Today
• Word formation, cont.
– compounding
– reduplication
• Morphological analysis example
• Languages differ wrt what information is
packaged in a word