Esperanto Morphology Exercise

Esperanto is an artificial language that was invented by Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887. It was
designed to be easy to learn and is based largely on the languages of western Europe. It is
now primarily spoken in France, although it may also be found in eastern Asia, South
America and eastern Europe. There are now between 200-2,000 native speakers and about
2,000,000 people worldwide speak it as a second language.

Examine the following data from Esperanto and then answer the questions below:

1. bono ‘goodness’ 11. portistino ‘female porter’

2. instrua ‘instructive’
3. malfacila ‘difficult’
4. patrino ‘mother’
5. instruisto ‘teacher’
6. porti ‘to carry’
7. facila ‘easy’
8. patro ‘father’
9. portisto ‘porter’
10. instrui ‘to instruct’
12. pura ‘pure’
13. malbone ‘badly’
14. facile ‘easily’
15. bona ‘good’
16. malgranda ‘small’
17. bone ‘well’
18. facilo ‘easiness’
19. granda ‘big’
20. instruo ‘instruction’

21. Mia mas vin ‘I love you’
22. Kio estas tio? ‘what is that?’
23. Tio estas hundo ‘that is a dog’
24. Mia mas vin ‘I love you’
25. Pardonu min ‘excuse me’
26. Kie estas la necesejo? ‘where is the toilet?’
27. Cu vi parolas esperanton? ‘do you speak Esperanto?’
28. Mi ne komprenasi vin ‘I don’t understand you’
29. Kio estas via nomo? ‘what is your name’
30. Mia nomo estas Marko

A. What are the morphemes that correspond to the following lexical categories and
concepts?
i. Nouns o iv. Adverbs e
ii. Verbs i v. Feminine in
iii. Adjectives a vi. The opposite (not…) mal

B. Translate the following English words and phrases into Esperanto.

i. “purity”
ii. “bad”
iii. “female teacher”

C. What are the morphemes that correspond to the following pronouns and grammatical
concepts/morphemes?
i. I v. no/not
ii. My vi. me
iii. You (subject) vii. what
iv. You (object) viii. Where
Turkish
Turkish is an Altaic language. It is the official language of Turkey and is spoken by about 50
million people worldwide.

1. deniz 'an ocean' 9. elim 'my hand'

2. denize 'to an ocean'
3. denizin 'of an ocean'
4. eve 'to a house'
5. evden 'from a house'
6. evjikden 'from a little house'
7. denizjikde 'in a little ocean'
8. elde 'in a hand'
10. eller 'hands'
11. dishler 'teeth'
12. dishiminiz 'of our tooth'
13. dishleriminiz 'of our teeth'
14. eljike 'to a little hand'
15. denizlerimizde 'in our oceans'
16. evjiklerimizde 'in our little houses'

A. Give the Turkish morpheme which corresponds to each of the following English
translations.

ocean: in: my:

house: to: of:
hand: from: our:
tooth: [plural]: little:

B. What is the order of morphemes in a Turkish word (in terms of noun, plural marker, etc.)?

C .How would you say "of our little hands" in Turkish?

D. Give the English translation for the Turkish form "dishjiklerden". little teeth
Swahili
Swahili is a Bantu language which is spoken primarily in East Africa. There are
approximately 800,000 native speakers of Swahili, and some 30,000,000 people (!)
worldwide speak Swahili as a second language.

anapenda 'he likes' alimona 'he saw him'

atapenda 'he will like'
alipenda 'he liked'
amependa 'he has liked'
alinipenda 'he liked me'
alikupenda 'he liked you'
alimpenda 'he liked him'
alitupenda 'he liked us'
aliwapenda 'he liked them'
nitampenda 'I will like him'
alimsaidia 'he helped him'
alimpiga 'he hit him'
alimchukua 'he carried him'
alimua 'he killed him'
ananitazama 'he looks at me'
atakusikia 'he will hear you'
alitupanya 'he cured us'
ninakupenda 'I like you'
nitawapenda 'I will like them'

Pronouns Tenses Verbs

he: [present]: see:
me: [future]: help:
you: [past]: hit:
him: [past part.]: carry:
us: kill:
them: look:
I: hear:
cure:
like:

Translate the following English sentences into Swahili:

i. He has hit me.
ii. He helps us.
iii. I will look at you.
Czech is a Slavic language which is spoken by about 10 million people, primarily in the
Czech Republic.

nesu ‘I carry’ yedu ‘I drive’

ponese ‘He will carry’ ponesu ‘I will carry’
povedete ‘You (pl) will lead’ yede ‘He drives’
poplavu ‘I will swim’ nese ‘He carries’
priplavesh ‘You will swim here’ odnesou ‘They will carry away’
priyedou ‘They will drive here’ odplavete ‘You (pl.) will swim away’
odvedeme ‘We will lead away’ poplaveme ‘We will swim’
odyede ‘He will drive away’ prineseme ‘We will bring here’
poyede ‘He will drive’ prinese ‘He will bring here’
nesou ‘They carry’ odvedu ‘I will lead away’
plavou ‘They swim’ odnesesh ‘You carry away’
vedeme ‘We lead’

A. Identify the Czech morphemes which correspond to the following English translations:

Verbs Pronouns Tense, Location

carry: s I: u here: p
bring: he: e away: od
lead: we: e will:
drive: you: h
swim: v you (pl.): e
they:

B. What is the order of these morphemes in Czech (in terms of verbs, pronouns, tense,
location)?
(b – pron

C. Provide Czech translations for the following English sentences:

1. He will swim.
2. They drive away.
3. You lead away.
4. I will bring here.