323 Morphology
Mid Term Exam
Answer Sheet
2 MR 05
Use this exam sheet to answer as many questions as possible.
Complete (1) and then (3) first, then complete the others.
1.
(a)
Define the following terms [25]:
Stem
A base with lexical meaning.
(b)
Grammatical morpheme
A morpheme
lexical meaning.
(b)
which
is
required
by
grammar
and
has
no
Free morph
One which does require a host.
(b)
Base
a form to which a derivational ending may be adjoined.
(b)
Stem-extender
a morph (morpheme) which has no lexical meaning but has
a function.
2.
Give two examples of two (or more) allomorphs of a
grammatical morpheme in English. That is, cite two
grammatical morphemes and two allomorphs of each one. [10].
‘s’: plural of nouns; third person singular of verbs; possessive
marker; the derivational suffix in words like ‘physic+s.’
‘ed’: past ten se marker; marker of the nonprogressive
participle.
3.
Consider the following data from English (in orthographic
form) with their phonemic transcription: †[15]
(1)
locus (singular)
/lók´s/
loci (plural)
/lókaj/
or
/lósaj/(=American
English)
b.
local
/lók´l/
c.
locative
/lák´tiv/
(a)
Assume that there are no more than three allomorphs of
the lexeme.
(b)
Determine the stem, inflectional, and derivational
morphemes of all the word forms, and if there might be a
stem extender.
(b)
stem
/lók´s/
/lókaj/ or
/lósaj/
/lók´l/
/lák´tiv/
(b)
lók-´s
lók (or)
lós
lók-´l
lák-´t-ive
ending: inflection
or
derivational or
stem- extender
stem extender
inflectional
ending: inflection
or
derivational or
stem- extender
-----
derivational
derivational
--derivational
Are any of the inflected forms considered irregular?
Which ones?
Yes. The plural marker ‘aj’
4.
Find the root, all bases, and the stem for c) and d). [15].
2. Table
/lók´l/ R=lók; B=lók, lók+´l; S= lók+´l
/lák´tiv/ R=lák; B=l´k, lák+´t, lák-´t+iv; S=lák-´t+iv;
Note: there are two allomorphs of the root. I haven’t really
covered alternations of the root. If they give both {lók, lák}.
great/ If they give one root for the wrong form, zero.
5.
(2)
Consider the following data from the Somali language: [25]
Determine the allomorphs for each noun stem and
for the plural ending. List them in the blanks
spots in the following table:
Table 1:
singular
plural
awowe
awowayaal
fure
furayaal
waraabe
waraabayaal
baabaco
baabacooyin
ilno
linooyin
qado
qadooyin
buug
buugag
beed
beedad
miis
miisas
shabeel
shabeello
xidid
xididdo
cashar
casharro
yaal, yin, aC (redup), Co (redup)
gloss
grandfather
key
hyena
palm
table
lunch
book
egg
table
leopard
eagle
lesson
allomorphs
noun stem
awowe, awowa
fure, fura
waraabe, waraabe
babaco, babacoo
lino, linoo
qado, qadoo
buug
beed
miis
shabeel
xidid
cashar
allomorphs of the plural.
Note: I didn’t go into how to express reduplicaton. This turns
out to be less than a fair question that I took from another
source. If they give ‘ag, ad, as’ I guess we’ll have to accept
it. I have no other choice. If they are completely off base, then
nothing, of course.
The task here is to find the best analysis to keep the allomorphs
as simple as possible.
Reduplication is a process where part of a stem or morpheme is
copied and repeated: BATOR -> BATOR+OR (the coda of the final
syllable is reduplicated). Or a consonant can be reduplicated and
an epenthetic vowel is inserted: BATOR -> BATOR+aR. ‘a’ is the
inserted epenthetic vowel here. Two kinds of reduplication occurs
in the above set. There are four classes. Determine the four
classes. Assume that /e/ --> /a/ †/ ___/y/.
Double vowels are long. To keep the analysis simple, assume that
each doubled vowel is a long phoneme: /oo/ = /o:/.
6.
Are
the
following
English
affixes
inflectional
or
derivational. Each of these affixes has more than one function—
determine their function. Find a minimum of two functions. (2
extra points if you can find a third function). The function may
vary between inflection and derivation. [10]
(2)
-ed, -s, -er.
-ed = inflectional twice, past, nonprog. participle
-s = inflectional twice = 3PS, plural of nouns, allow infl
if they site the possessive as inflection (should be a
clitic).
-er = inflectional once = comparative, derivational = one
who, that which (agent, instrument). If they come up with
something else, judge it fairly.