Morphology
An Introduction to
the Structure of Words
Lori Levin and Christian Monson
Grammars and Lexicons
Fall Term, 2004
Goals
• Introduction to morphology, the structure of
words
– look at one interesting morphological
phenomenon—allomorphy
• To help you read linguistic texts
– What meanings can pieces of words have
What is a Word?
• There are no spaces in spoken language
Hewenttotownonhishorse
Hew entt otow non hi shor se
He went to town on his horse
What is a word?
Welsh without spaces between words.
Examples from Sadler (1988) Welsh Syntax
• Canithsiôn
John will sing.
• Canithmair
Mary will sing.
• Gweloddsiônddamwain John saw the accident.
• Gweloddsiônyllyfr
John saw the book.
• Darllenoddsiônyllyfr John read the book.
What is a word?
a) Jánosénekel
John sings
b) Máriaénekel
Mary sings
c) Máriafut
Mary runs
Hungarian examples from
Christian Monson.
Example of Words (Hungarian)
a) Jánosénekel
John sings
b) Máriaénekel
Mary sings
c) Máriafut
Mary runs
What is a Word?
• Possible Criteria
– Recurring units of form and meaning
– The smallest things you can say in isolation
– Pauses are not possible inside a word
• There are many exceptions to these rules
– Linguists always qualify what they mean by a word
• In this class words will be separated by spaces.
– Even if the orthography of the language does not use spaces
Morphemes
• Smallest unit of form and meaning
– Here too there are exceptions
• Affixes
– Prefix, suffix, infix
• Other changes
– Changes in vowels or consonants, reduplication
of part of the word, etc.
Example of Morphemes
(Hungarian again)
keresek
keresel
keres
I seek
you seek
he/she/it seeks
hiszek
hiszel
hisz
I believe
you believe
he/she/it believes
Example of Morphemes
(Hungarian again)
keresek
keresel
keresØ
I seek
you seek
he/she/it seeks
hiszek
hiszel
hiszØ
I believe
you believe
he/she/it believes
Allomorphs
• Same meaning
• Different form
• Complementary distribution
Allomorphy Example:
English Plural
bags, crabs, accidents, names, lollipops, brushes, churches,
maps, toes, faces, beds, books, prizes, flies, giraffes,
deaths, judges, garages…
Allomorphy Example: English Plural
bags, crabs, accidents, names, lollipops, brushes, churches,
maps, toes, faces, beds, books, prizes, flies, giraffes,
deaths, judges, garages…
s
accidents
z
beds
әz
faces
books
lollipops
maps
bags
crabs
names
prizes
churches
brushes
giraffes
deaths
toes
flies
judges
garages
ә = reduced vowel
English Plural Cont.
• Identify the allomorph environments
• Generalize if possible
– may require phonology—not covered in this class.
English Plural Cont.
• Identify the allomorph environments
• Generalize if possible
– may require phonology—not covered in this class.
Allomorph
Environment
s
?
z
?
әz
?
English Plural Cont.
• Identify the allomorph environments
• Generalize if possible
– may require phonology—not covered in this class.
Allomorph
Word-Final
Phoneme
s
z
әz
t, k, p, f,
d, g, b, m, v, l, s, z, ch,
th(voiceless) r, and vowels sh, dj, ž
English Plural Cont.
• Identify the allomorph environments
• Generalize if possible
– may require phonology—not covered in this class.
Allomorph
Word-Final
Phoneme
Generalize
s
z
әz
t, k, p, f,
d, g, b, m, v, l, s, z, ch,
th(voiceless) r, and vowels sh, dj, ž
?
?
?
English Plural Cont.
• Identify the allomorph environments
• Generalize if possible
– may require phonology—not covered in this class.
Allomorph
Word-Final
Phoneme
s
z
әz
t, k, p, f,
d, g, b, m, v, l, s, z, ch,
th(voiceless) r, and vowels sh, dj, ž
Generalize
voiceless
non-sibilant
consonants
voiced
non-sibilant
sounds
sibilants
Morphemes and Allomorphs
• English plural
morpheme
• Call it S
• This is something
abstract that has
different sounds in
different contexts
• Allomorphs of the
English plural
morpheme
– s
– z
– әz
An analogy from chemistry
• Is H20 a solid, liquid, or gas?
• It depends on the conditions: temperature,
pressure, etc.
• Is the English plural morpheme pronounced
with an s, a z, or a ә?
• It depends on the preceding sound.
Allomorph Environments
• Each allomorph has a separate environment
• Environments are complementary
– Wrong: s occurs after consonants
– Because: z and әz also occur after consonants
• Environments are complete
– Wrong: z occurs after vowels
– Because: z also occurs after voiced non-sibilants
• No unused environments
– Wrong (usually): The plural of words ending in the
phoneme p do not exist
Complementary Distribution
Complementary Distribution
All Sounds
(consonants + vowels)
Complementary Distribution
Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …)
All Sounds
(consonants + vowels)
Complementary Distribution
Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dj, …)
Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …)
All Sounds
(consonants + vowels)
Complementary Distribution
Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dj, …)
Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …)
All Sounds
(consonants + vowels)
Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)
Complementary Distribution
Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dg, …)
Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …)
All Sounds
(consonants + vowels)
*z
Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)
Complementary Distribution
Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dg, …)
Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …)
All Sounds
(consonants + vowels)
*z
s
Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)
Complementary Distribution
Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dg, …)
Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …)
All Sounds
(consonants + vowels)
*z
s
z
Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
hoz-ok
vár-ok
szűn-ök
hisz-ek
bring-1sgPres
wait-1sgPres
cease-1sgPres
believe-1sgPres
keres-ek
tud-ok
isz-ok
kér-ek
seek-1sgPres
know-1sgPres
drink-1sgPres
ask-1sgPres
mos-ok
vesz-ek
ad-ok
hív-ok
wash-1sgPres
buy-1sgPres
give-1sgPres
call-1sgPres
köt-ök
üt-ök
főz-ök
tart-ok
tie-1sgPres
hit-1sgPres
cook-1sgPres
hold-1sgPres
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
ok
ek
ök
ad-ok
isz-ok
vesz-ek
köt-ök
give-1sgPres
drink-1sgPres
buy-1sgPres
tie-1sgPres
tart-ok
hív-ok
keres-ek
főz-ök
hold-1sgPres
call-1sgPres
seek-1sgPres
cook-1sgPres
vár-ok
hoz-ok
kér-ek
üt-ök
wait-1sgPres
bring-1sgPres
ask-1sgPres
hit-1sgPres
tud-ok
mos-ok
hisz-ek
szűn-ök
know-1sgPres wash-1sgPres
believe-1sgPres cease-1sgPres
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
Environment
ok
?
ek
?
ök
?
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
ök
ö, ő, ü, ű
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
Generalized
?
?
ök
ö, ő, ü, ű
?
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
ök
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
ö, ő, ü, ű
Generalized
back
front front-rounded
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
ök
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
ö, ő, ü, ű
Generalized
back
front front-rounded
All Vowels
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
ök
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
ö, ő, ü, ű
Generalized
back
front front-rounded
All Vowels
Front Vowels
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
ök
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
ö, ő, ü, ű
Generalized
back
front front-rounded
All Vowels
Front Vowels
Front Rounded Vowels
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
ök
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
ö, ő, ü, ű
Generalized
back
front front-rounded
All Vowels
Front Vowels
Front Rounded Vowels
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
ök
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
ö, ő, ü, ű
Generalized
back
front front-rounded
All Vowels
Front Vowels
Front Rounded Vowels
Allomorphy Example:
Hungarian Present Tense 1sg
Allomorph
ok
ek
ök
Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i)
ö, ő, ü, ű
Generalized
back
front front-rounded
All Vowels
Front Vowels
Front Rounded Vowels
Stem Allomorphy
Allomorphy can affect the stem as well as the
affixes:
• Wolf/wolves
• Knife/knives
• Life/lives
• Leaf/leaves
Meanings of morphemes
• Inflectional morphemes:
– Have something to do with grammar
• Agreement, tense, etc.
– Generally do not change the part of speech or the
meaning of the stem.
• Derivational morphemes:
– May change part of speech or meaning.
• Happy (adj) happiness (noun)
• Construct (verb) construction (noun)
• Child (noun) childhood (different noun)
Inflection of Verbs
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tense
Aspect
Mood
Voice
Causative
Agreement
Three line example format
Most of the linguistic examples you see in this class
will be in a three-line format.
Please use this format in your homework.
Juan corría.
Juan run-3SG.IMP
“Juan was running.”
Los
niños
corrían.
the.PL child-PL run-3.PL.IMP
“The children were running.”
Three line example format
Sentence in the
original language.
Los
niños
corrían.
The.PL child-PL run-3.PL.IMP
“The children were running.”
Interlinear gloss.
Fluent translation or
explanation of the meaning.
Rules for glossing
•
Rules for glossing
• Each meaning is identified separately:
–
–
•
the, child, run
plural, 3rd person, imperfective
A dash means that there is a morpheme boundary.
– niño + s = niños
– The morpheme boundary may appear in the original language and the gloss, or
just in the gloss.
•
A dot means that two or more meanings are carried by one morpheme:
– ían carries three meanings
• Third person subject
• Plural subject
• Imperfective mood
• The main meaning of the word is in regular font.
• The meanings of other morphemes are in small caps.
• Meanings of morphemes are usually abbreviated.
– The author might include a list of abbreviations.
– The author might expect the abbreviations to be obvious.
Agreement
Features
• Nouns
Features
• Nouns
– number
• singular, dual, plural
– case
• nominative, accusative, dative, …
– gender/class
• male, female, neuter
• animate, inanimate, man-made object, shape, …
Features
• Verbs
Features
• Verbs
– Person
• first, second, third, third person far removed, …
– Number
– Tense
• present, past, future, remote past, ...
– Aspect
• perfective, imperfective, habitual, repetitive, …
– Mood
• indicative, conditional, subjunctive (doubt or possibility), …
Other Parts of Speech
• Adjectives
• Adverbs
• Determiners and Specifiers
Other Parts of Speech
• Adjectives
– Degree
• positive, comparative, superlative, etc.
– Number, Gender, Case
• Adverbs
– Degree, …
• Determiners and Specifiers
– Case
– Who knows!
• This is what Linguists try to elicit and categorize