LING 1001/8004
Morphology practice problem sample solution
NOTE: The solutions below do not always use the Leipzig glossing rules you have been introduced to
in our course since the goal here is to ensure you understand the meaning of the morphemes. Extra
information has therefore been provided here to facilitate understanding. Refer to tutorial tasks/lecture
slides and your textbook for examples of the grammatical glossing conventions you will be expected to
use in completing assessment tasks.
Morpheme class: noun roots
Morpheme class: verb roots
Morpheme(s)
Translation (gloss)
Morpheme(s)
Translation (gloss)
{ntwana}
{dza}
{fana}
{yoka}
{dlovu}
{gulube}
‘child’
‘dog’
‘boy’
‘snake’
‘elephant’
‘pig’
{bulal}
{lum}
{siz}
{pek}
{fundis}
{lim}
‘kill’
‘bite’
‘help’
‘cook’
‘teach’
‘farm’
Morpheme class: noun classifiers
Morpheme
Translation (gloss)
Morpheme class: subject agreement markers or
verb cross-referencing markers
Morpheme
Translation (gloss)
{um-}
{in-}
{aba-}
{izin-}
human sg.
non-human sg.
human pl.
non-human pl.
{u-}
{i-}
{ba-}
{zi-}
human sg. subject
non-human sg. subject
human pl. subject
non-human pl. subject
Morpheme class: derivational
Morpheme class: verb suffix (function unknown)
Morpheme(s)
Translation (gloss)
Morpheme(s)
Translation (gloss)
{-i}
agent marker
{-a}
unknown suffix, appears on all verbs
a) Is there evidence for allomorphy in this data set? Explain your response.
No, there is no evidence of morphemes that have the same meaning or function which have
different shapes in this data set.
b) What word classes do you have evidence for in this data set?
nouns and verbs
c) Give the rules involved in forming the different types of words you’ve identified in the
previous question.
N = {classifier} + {stem} + ({agent marker}) V = {subj. agreement marker} + {stem} + {-a}
d) How would you segment data point 11.? (In your response, list the morphemes and
indicate the boundaries by using the + symbol. Indicate a word boundary by using a
space to separate the words.)
{um} + {lim} + {i}
{u} + {fundis} + {a}
{aba} + {ntwana}