Linguistics week 13
Morphology 3
1
Hierarchical structure of words
(Fromkin 84)
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unbelievable and unsystematic have only
one structural analysis each:
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believe 相信 + -able 可相信 + un- 不可相信
Unlockable, Fromkin shows on 85-6, is
morphologically ambiguous
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It can be understood in two ways
Try to understand why, by looking at the trees
2
Reading and exercises
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69 to 74 (or further if you like)
Ex 2, 3, 4, 5A, 6
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You will probably enjoy these!
You might like to take a look at my master’s thesis
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It contains a short section on reduplication in Chinese
It has some ideas about compounding (for next week)
You will get an idea of the structure of a Western-style
essay: study, especially, the way the references and
bibliography work
3
Conversion to a different POS
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Related words with different POS share the same
form
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Bank: He banked the money
Better:
» You should respect your elders and betters
» His performance is difficult to better
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Empty: He emptied his glass in one gulp
Sometimes the stress changes
See how many examples you can think of
4
Zero morphs (in inflectional
morphology)
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What’s the plural of sheep?
We can either say
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{SHEEP}:{Ø} (the root plus a zero morph), or
The morpheme {SHEEP} realizes both singular and
plural meanings
The same applies to the past and present tense of
hit
A lot of linguists don’t like the idea of zero
morphs, because it implies
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{羊} singular, {羊};{Ø} plural (!)
5
Shortening processes
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Backformation (you usually need to know the history of
the word)
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Clipping (this doesn’t involve complete morphemes)
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Babysitter  babysit
Editor  edit
Science-fiction  sci-fi
Information  info
Chinese stump compounds
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台大
網咖
Are these backformations or clipped forms?
6
Compounding
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Relations between components
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You have my ideas on Mandarin compounding
Endocentric compounds (modifier +head)
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Fromkin 94-5 for some amusing examples
Boathouse, houseboat, blackbird, table-cloth, peanut,
backpedal, gentleman, overeat
Exocentric compounds
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Yellowhammer, scarecrow, hunchback, redneck
7
modifier
head
compound
noun
noun
wallpaper
adjective
noun
blackboard
verb
noun
breakwater
preposition
noun
underworld
noun
adjective
snowwhite
adjective
adjective
blue-green
verb
adjective
tumbledown
preposition
adjective
over-ripe
noun
verb
browbeat
adjective
verb
highlight
verb
verb
freeze-dry
preposition
verb
undercut
noun
preposition
love-in
adjective
preposition
forthwith
verb
preposition
takeout
preposition
preposition
without
8
Neo-classical compounds: two
bound morphemes
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Biology {LIFE}+{WORDS}
Telephone {DISTANT}+{SOUND}
Introduce {IN}+{LEAD}
In a way, these are the closest English
equivalent to Chiense words like 朋友
Group activity
9