Morphology and Syntax

February 21, 2012

keelin@ling.ed.ac.uk

Plan

Morphology:

Hierarchical structure of words

Dissecting word structure

Exercises

Syntax:

Word classes

Phrasal structure

Word - Sentence Level

Phonetics: acoustics and articulation of speech
Phonology: relevant sound segments
Morphology: minimal units of meaning
Syntax: sentence structure
Semantics: sentence meaning
Pragmatics: language in interaction

Sound Level
Word Level

Sentence Level

Morphology Recap

Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units in language

Not equal to words

Free (independent words) and Bound (must attach to a free)

Derivational: Can change the category of the word its attached to,
will result in new dictionary entry (edit -> editor)
Inflectional: Cannot change the category of the word it attaches to,
only adds grammatical information (goes, walked, eating)

Ordering rules

A word is not just a sequence of morphemes

Each word has internal structure

Morphemes are added in a strict order - reflecting a hierarchy within

the word

Take the word unsystematic

If we put it together step by step, we could have

Noun + un = *Unsystem

However, this results in a nonexistent word, as the order violates

the hierarchy

Ordering rules

Unsystematic

Noun + atic = Systematic

un + adjective = Unsystematic

The first step attaches a derivational suffix atic to the (free) root
noun. This forms an adjective
The second step takes this adjective and attaches a derivational
prefix un, creating a new word, with the same category
We use a tree structure to show the steps involved

Tree structure
Adjective
Adjective

Un
Derivational
Noun

System
Free Root

atic
Derivational

Structure

Structure is key to human language

Words and sentences have component parts, relating to each other
in rule-governed ways

Well see trees again in syntax - sentence structure

Theyre common to many areas of linguistics

Some rules

Noun + atic = Adjective (Systematic)

Un + Adjective = Adjective (Unhappy)

Adjective + al = Adjective (Egotistical, Fantastical)

[Noun + al = Adjective (Autumnal, National)]

Adjective + ly = Adverb (Happily, Hopefully)

Using these rules, work out the tree structure for unsystematically

Unsystematically (Adverb)
Adverb
Adjective
ly

Adjective

al

Deriv
Adjective

Un

Deriv

Noun
System

atic Deriv

Deriv

Some rules are

more generative
than others - i.e.
Verb + able = Adjective (Adorable, Desirable)
will be useful in
more
Adjective + en = Verb (Darken)
Noun -> Adjective = ish/esque/ous/ate/ful/ic/like environments

More rules

(boyish, picturesque, joyous, affectionate, healthful, alcoholic, lifelike)

Verb -> Noun = al/ance/ation/ence/er/ist/ion/dom

(acquittal, clearance, accusation, conference, singer, conformist,
prediction, freedom)

Adjective -> Adverb = ly (exactly, quietly)

Noun -> Verb = ize/ate/ish/n (moralize, vaccinate, brandish, hasten)

More rules

Not all derivational morphemes cause a change in grammatical

class
friend+ship, human+ity, un+do, re+cover, in+flammable
This is often the case with prefixes: a+moral, auto+biography, ex
+wife, super+human, re+print, semi+annual
And suffixes: vicar+age, old+ish, America+n, music+ian
There is a vast list of morphemes, and many rules to do with
ordering etc. Best to be familiar with a few examples of Noun ->
Adjective, Adjective -> Adverb, Verb -> Adjective, Adjective -> Verb,
Verb -> Noun

Rule breakers

Some combinations of root + affix are not allowed in English (as

weve seen, morphological rules differ cross-linguistically, so this
may well be different in different languages)

E.g. *Unsystem is disallowed as its a combination of un + Noun

7Up used the slogan of The Uncola in the 70s

This may have worked as its unusual - grabs our attention

What about Untruth? Probably a back-formation from untruthful

Not made up of un + truth

Trees

These are hypothetical ways in which people represent the internal

structure of morphologically complex words

We have a complex mental structure which we are unaware of

Some words are structurally ambiguous

Unlockable

Why is this ambiguous? Work it out!

Un + Verb = Unlock (V) + able = Adjective

Verb + able = Lockable (Adj) + un = Adjective

Unlockable
Adjective
Verb
Verb
Un
Deriv
Deriv

Lock

able
Deriv
Able to be
unlocked

Adjective

Un

Adjective

Deriv Verb
Lock able
Unable to be Deriv
locked

Some more exercises

Draw the trees for:

befriended

endearment

unpalatable

mistreatment

deactivation.

Noun

Answers

Verb

Verb
Verb

Be Noun

En

Adj
dear

ment

Adj

ed

friend

Adj
Un

Noun
palate

able

Answers
Noun

Noun

Noun

Verb

Mis

Verb
treat

Verb
ment

Adj
De

Verb
act

ive

ate

ion

Answers

Noun

Noun
We dont have
Noun mis+ Noun

Mis

Verb
treat

Verb

Verb
ment

Adj
De

Verb
act

ive

ate

ion

Bound Roots

So far weve only looked at words with free roots

We said that bound morphemes have to attach to a root

This is true, however, the root can also be bound

In this case, the bound root and the bound morpheme affixes
cling to one another
Think of words like unkempt, horrify, vengeance, inept, salvation
Based on our knowledge of morphology so far, we can select the
affixes, leaving us with the bound root. This cannot exist on its own

Trees with bound roots

Adjective

Affix

Bound
Root

Un

kempt

Adjective

Noun

Affix

Bound
Root

Bound
Root

Affix

In

ept

Salv

ation

Types of word formation

Conversion

Clipping

Blends

Back formation

Acronyms

Compounds

Conversion

This is when an already existing word is assigned a new syntactic

category
Even though theres no overt morpheme added, it still resembled
morphological derivation because of the change in category and
meaning
This is sometimes called zero derivation (as if theres an invisible
derivational morpheme)

N to V = butter (butter the bread)/ ship (ship the package)

V to N = a permt from to prmit/ a cntest from to contst

Adj to V = dirty (to dirty a shirt)/ empty (to empty the bin)

Clipping

Clipping forms new words by deleting syllables

Most common are names: Robert - Rob etc

Some words which you may not know are examples of clippings
are: (ham)burger, lab(oratory), (omni)bus, porn(ography),
deli(catessen), zoo(logical garden)

Blends

Words that are created from non-morphemic parts of two already

existing words, usually the start of one word and the end of another

brunch from breakfast and lunch

smog from smoke and fog

telethon from telephone and marathon

chunnel from channel and tunnel

motel from motor and hotel

Back formation

Sometimes words enter our language because of an incorrect

morphological analysis
Here, a new word is created by removing an affix from an existing
word

Resurrect was backformed from resurrection

Enthuse from enthusiasm

Lots of examples such as edit from editor, housekeep from

housekeeper

Acronym

Acronyms are formed by taking the first letters of a phrase or title

and reading them as a word

AIDs for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

UNICEF for United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund

Sometimes, acronyms enter normal vocabulary, so speakers arent

aware of their provenance

RADAR for Radio Detecting and Ranging

SCUBA for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

Textspeak examples have entered the language - lol/rofl

Compounds

Another way to build words involves compounding, the

combination of lexical categories (nouns, adjective, verbs,
prepositions)
Usually, the resulting compound is a noun, verb, or adjective
Examples of compounds are words like greenhouse, spoonfeed,
nationwide
In compounds, we use the Right Hand Head rule to work out the
category of the word
Greenhouse is a Noun, because its rightmost morpheme is a Noun
The morpheme that determines the category for the word is known
as the Head

Right Hand Head

Work out the heads for each of these compounds:

fire-engine

after-thought

white-wash

drop-kick

red-hot

in-grown.

Noun
Noun
Verb (Noun?)
Verb (Noun?)
Adjective
Adjective

Compounds & stress

English orthography is inconsistent in how it represents compounds

- sometimes theyre presented as single word, sometimes
hyphenated, sometimes as separate words

This is where stress can help

gren-hose vs gren hose

blckbord vs blck bord

wt sut vs wt sut

In non-compounds, the second element is usually stressed

Compounds & tense/plural

Another way of distinguishing compounds is looking at tense and

plural markers
These cannot typically be attached to the first element, but to the
compound as a whole

*The player dropped kick the ball

The player drop kicked the ball

The foxes hunter did not have a licence

The fox hunters did not have a licence

Endocentric vs Exocentric

There are two main types of compound

In most cases the rightmost component of a compound determines
something about the meaning of the entire compound.
These compounds are called Endocentric
However, in some cases, the meaning of the compound does not
follow from the meaning of its parts

These compounds are called Exocentric

Endocentric = the head is contained within the word

Exocentric = the head is not contained within the word

Examples

Endocentric compounds

steamboat = a type of boat

water hose = a hose that carries water

bath tub = a tub in which people bathe

bath towel = a towel used after bathing

Exocentric compounds

bluebottle = not a bottle that is blue, but a fly

redneck = not a neck that is red, but a hick

Exercise

Are these compounds endocentric or exocentric?

party hat

bluestocking

sugar-daddy

dimwit

underdog

turncoat

raincoat.

Endocentric
Exocentric
Exocentric
Endocentric
Exocentric
Exocentric (semantic relationship)
Endocentric

Summary of Morphology

Words consist of meaningful units called morphemes

These, when affixed to a root, can change the meaning and/or
category of a word
Operations which can modify and combine morphemes include
affixation, internal change, suppletion, reduplication
Two basic forms of word formation = derivation (using derivational
morphemes) and inflection
Key to remember is that morphemes are the smallest meaningful
units
Words have internal structure in a similar way to sentences, as well
see next

Break

Syntax

Now were moving on from structure at a word level, to structure at

a phrasal and sentence level
Syntactic theory is about the rules and principles that determine
how people combine words to make meaningful sentences
Again, sentences are not just strings of words (in the same way that
words are not just strings of morphemes)
There are strict syntactic rules about the structure of sentences
We know how to combine words in specific way to reach a certain
meaning

Bag of words

Consider these words: Bit A The Dog Cat

A cat bit the dog

The cat bit a dog

A dog bit the cat

The dog bit a cat

All of these have specific, and different meanings

These different meanings come about solely from our combinations

of words

Syntax

Languages differ not only in sounds, or the way words are put
together, but also the ways in which words can be put together into
larger units
This is Syntax
Rules about how words can be put together differ according to
language spoke, dialect spoken, social group, time frame etc
They know not what they do - does not follow the rules we use
for modern English, but was totally normal in the 17th Century
Even though the word meanings havent changed, the syntax has

Prescriptive vs Descriptive

This is where this argument is very important

Linguists do not tell people how they should be combining words,
theyre describing what they actually do
When a syntactician talks about rules, they mean generalisations
based on observation of what actually happens, rather than
instructions on how to behave
When we describe a sentence that is considered ungrammatical,
well use an asterisk beside it. This holds for most of linguistics

Keelin ate the chocolate

*Ate Keelin chocolate the

Word classes

People are often taught ways to remember word classes in school

Noun = Person, place or thing

Verb = Doing word

Adjective = Word that describes a noun

However, as well see as we learn more, these definitions can be

too simple
Chrissy gave us some definitions last week
We need to look at operational definitions - how words function
within a sentence

Definitions of word classes

We need definitions based on the function of words within a

sentence
Verbs (V): Finite verbs are verbs which indicate the tense, person,
number of an element in the sentence

We also have verb forms which dont express tense - infinitive

e.g. She dreams of retirement

e.g. I walked home yesterday

Harry wants to leave the country

In the future tense, we also use the infinitive form, but without to

Keelin will eat the chocolate cake later

Verbs (V)

Keelin will eat the chocolate cake later

Here, we appear to have two verbs - whats going on?

The will is known as an auxilliary verb

will is telling us information about the tense, but eat is the main
verb
English is an SVO (Subject Verb Object) language, so if we have a
declarative sentence, the verb can usually be found directly after
the subject (which tends to be an NP)

Nouns (N)

We have multiple kinds of nouns, with multiple distinctions

A noun that can take a plural is known as a count noun

house - houses, cat - cats, etc

However, we also have mass nouns. These are nouns that cannot
be pluralised

water - *waters, gold - *golds, etc

Another distinction is abstract vs concrete

abstract = luck, love, hate, justice

concrete = bottle, floor, apple, etc

Nouns (N)

How do we determine if something is a noun?

Nouns can be combined with a determiner

definite = the, indefinite = a/an/some, demonstrative = this/that/

these/those
Proper nouns (names) dont fit this criterion
* The Keelin
But, if we modify the noun slightly it works
She is no longer the Keelin I used to know
Verbs cannot combine with determiners: *The walked, *a breathes

Nouns vs Verbs

Verbs can combine directly with nouns

Keelin examines books

But nouns cannot combine directly with other nouns

*Keelins examination books

Keelins examination of books

Note: pronouns (it, he, she, etc). These stand for another noun. It
should be clear from the context which noun they refer to

Adjectives (Adj)

Adjectives qualify a noun or noun phrase

One way to test for adjectives is superlatives

cold - colder - coldest, big - bigger - biggest etc

Some are irregular: good - better - best

Some add more and most: enthusiastic - more enthusiastic etc

We talk about two kinds of adjective - predicative and attributive

John is ill, Keelin is blonde, Chrissy is tall = predicative

An ill man, a blonde woman, a tall woman = attributive

Adverbs (Adv)

Adverbs qualify a verb

As we saw in morphology, adverbs are often hallmarked by the
suffix -ly
Keelin quickly ate all the cake
But, as ever, we have exceptions - Chrissy often laughs, Simon
presented well

Prepositions (P)

Prepositions can express ideas of place (in, on), time (during,

throughout), direction (towards) etc

They usually combine with a noun to their right

Keelin ate cake in France

Phrase structure

We have rules in syntax about what word classes can pattern

together in phrases
NP -> (Det) N
This means that Noun Phrases can be made up of Determiners and
Nouns. Determiners are optional

The girl

Keelin

Both of these are NPs - they each contain a N, and the first also
has a determiner

Phrase structure

We also have rules about Verb Phrases, Adjective Phrases,

Prepositional Phrases etc

NP -> (Det) N

PP -> P NP

VP -> V NP

AP -> A NP

Again, we use trees to represent this

Phrase Trees
PP

NP

Det

The

cat

On

wheels

Sentence structure

This allows us to build up sentences from phrases

If I want to analyse the sentence the cat sat on the mat, I look at
the internal phrases

The cat sat on the mat

Det N V

NP VP PP NP

P Det N

However, there are rules in syntax (as is morphology) about what

order these interact in
Its not just a bag of words!

Constituency

A sentence is divided into groups of words. The connections

between words in one group is closer than between words
belonging to different groups

A group of words that cling together is called a constituent

To test whether a group of words is a constituent, we have 3 tests:

Replacement/Substitution: a constituent can be replaced by a

single word
Movement: a constituent as a whole, can be placed in a different
position in a sentence
Clefting: Change sentences to it was...

Constituency tests

Replacement tests: we can use slightly different tests to test the

constituency of different phrase types

NPs can be replaced by pronouns

PPs can be replaced by adverbs

Adj Ps can be replaced by so

VPs can be replaced by do so

Examples

If I want to check whether a car is a constituent of bought in the

sentence Keelin bought a car, I use

Replacement: Keelin bought it

Movement: A car, Keelin bought

Clefting: It was a car that Keelin bought

All of these new sentences are grammatical.

This means that a car is a constituent of bought

In a way, it is licensed by the verb

We can show this graphically

this:
NP is alike
constituent
of the VP, and so,
[NP] [VP [NP]]
is bracketed with it

Examples

I want to test whether over the hill is a constituent of the verb in

the sentence She went over the hill

Replacement: She went there

Movement: Over the hill she went

Clefting: It was over the hill she went

All of these sentences are grammatical, and so I know that over

the hill is a constituent of the V went

She went over the hill

[NP] [VP [PP]]

Test Exercises

She collected leprechaun statues - is leprechaun statues a

constituent of the Verb?
The water went under the bridge - is the bridge a constituent of
the Preposition?
Keelin felt sick - is sick a constituent of the Verb?

Answers

She collected leprechaun statues - is leprechaun statues a

constituent of the Verb?
She collected them / Leprechaun statues, she collected/ It was
leprechaun statues that she collected. YES!
The water went under the bridge - is the bridge a constituent of
the Preposition?
The water went under it / The bridge, the water went under / It
was the bridge the water went under YES!
Keelin felt sick - is sick a constituent of the Verb?
Keelin felt sick, and so too did Chrissy / Sick, Keelin felt / It was
sick that Keelin felt YES!

Next week

Constituency

Syntactic trees

More complex trees

Semantics