PowerPoint PresentationChapter 2Slide 3Morphology: the study of ‘word units’The Words of Language: SegmentationThe Words of LanguageOur LexiconContent Words and Function WordsSlide 9MorphemesSlide 11WORDS OF THE YEAR 2013prefixes & suffixesBound: InfixesBound: circumfixesRoots and StemsSlide 17Rules of Word FormationSlide 19Slide 20Slide 21Hierarchical Structure of WordsSlide 23Slide 24Derivational affix productivityMorphological Exceptions…Other Morphological ProcessesSlide 28Other morphological curiosoOur magnificent morphological knowledge (competence)WEBSITE(Timonty Montler, U. of N. Texas)DICTIONARYChapter 2Morphology: The Words of LanguageWHAT IS A ‘WORD’?dogmeaning[dag]allowable string of soundsdogs,dogged,doggingdoggedlyall allowablepotential forms‘dawg’‘you dog!’allowable “word company”the dog, a dog, my dog, big dogstylistic variationsAre these ‘words’?studmuffinpfrangledsplunkygorgonize ‘-ing’the whole nine yardsMorphology: the study of ‘word units’Our morphology exemplifies the following universal aspects of language:discreteness: we can break it down into smaller parts rule-governed internal structure: hierarchical structure, as opposed to ‘flat’ linear structurequalitative creativity: we can infinitely combine words and change their grammatical categoryThe Words of Language: Segmentation•In spoken language we don’t pause between most words•So when you hear a sentence in a language you don’t know, you won’t be able to tell where one word ends and the next begins•Most English speakers can pick out all of the words in Thecatsatonthemat because they can identify all those wordsThe Words of Language•These boundaries between words can be played with for humor, as in the credits for NPR’s Car Talk:–Copyeditor: Adeline Moore –Pollution Control: Maury Missions–Legal Firm: Dewey, Cheetham, and HoweOur Lexicon•We all have a mental dictionary or lexicon of all the words we know, which includes the following information:–Pronunciation–Meaning–Orthography (spelling)–Grammatical category–Potential forms–Allowable “word company”–Stylistic variationContent Words and Function Words•Content words: the words that convey conceptual meaning (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.)–Open class: new types of content words can be added all the time•E.g. a new noun called a flurg would be fine•Function words: the words that convey grammatical meaning (articles, prepositions, conjunctions, etc.)–Closed class: new function words are very rarely added to a language•English does not have a gender-neutral third person singular pronoun, and rather than adopt a new pronoun, many people use they instead of choosing between he and she.Content Words and Function Words•The brain treats content and function words differently–Some aphasics are unable to read the function words in and which but can read the content words inn and witch.–Content words may be inadvertently switched in speech, but there is no documentation of function words being switched in this way–Children often omit function words from their speech when learning their first language (“doggie barking”)Morphemes•Morphology: the study of the structure of words and the rules for word formation•Morpheme: the minimal units of meaning–Morphemes can be words on their own, and/or can often be combined with other morphemes to make words•E.g. the word book has one morpheme•E.g. the word books has two morphemes: book + -s N plural markerMorphemes•Discreteness: In all languages, sounds combine to make morphemes, morphemes combine to make words, and words combine to make sentences•Creativity: We can combine morphemes in new ways to create new words that can easily be understood –writable–rewritable–unrewritableWORDS OF THE YEAR 2013prefixes & suffixes•Prefixes: bound morphemes that attach to the beginning of a root–E.g. untie retie, megadeal, über-creepy, bejeweled•Suffixes: bound morphemes that attach to the end of a root–E.g. kindness, wildling, ducky, landscape,Bound: Infixes•Infixes: morphemes that are inserted inside a root–German (Germany, Austria, Switz.; Germanic family)•Es ist nötig, sie anzurufen (‘to call’).–Bontoc (Phillippines; Austronesian family):fikas “strong” fumikas “to be strong”kilad “red”kumilad “to be red”Bound: circumfixes•Circumfixes: affixes that attach to both the beginning and the end of a root–German •Das habe ich gemacht (‘did’ as past participle)–Chickasaw (Oklahoma; Muskegon family):•chokma “he is good” ikchokmo “he is not good”•lakna “it is yellow” iklakno “it is not yellow”Roots and Stems•Roots: the morpheme base upon which other morphemes are attached to create complex words: un-love-able ~ be-dazzle-ing ~ pre-rate-d•Stems: once an affix has been attached to a root, the result is called a stem to which more morphemes may be attached: un-lovable ~ be-dazzling ~ pre-rate-dRoots and Stems•Bound roots: Roots that cannot stand alone and can only occur in combination with other morphemes–-ceive: receive, conceive, perceive, deceive–ungainly (*gainly), discern (*cern), nonplussed (*plussed)–huckleberry, lukewarm, cranberryRules of Word Formation•Derivational morphemes change the meaning and/or part of speech (syntactic category) of root–Adding un- or anti- to the words do, vegan changes the meaning drastically–Adding –ish to the noun boy creates the adjective boyish; or –ment to the verb establish creates a noun. •Derivational morphemes carry semantic meaning and are like an “affix version of content words”Rules of Word Formation•When a new word is created through derivation, other possible derivations may be blocked–Communist exists, so we don’t need Communite or Communian•Some derivations trigger pronunciation changes, while others do not–specific  specificity and Elizabeth  Elizabethan –bake  baker and wish  wishful–Catholic  Catho[k]ism OR catholi[s]ismRules of Word Formation•Inflectional morphemes have only grammatical function (similar to function words) and never change the part of speech of the root–waited, waits, waiting always suffixes in English and always follow any derivational morphemes–commit + ment can become commit + ment + s but not commit + s + mentRules of Word