Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Syntax
Unidad 1
Morphology
Tema 1
Lexemes and Word Forms
sing
4
What is a word?
5
Subtopic 1: Lexemes and word forms
Lexeme
Source: https://www.education.vic.gov.au
Subtopic 1: Lexemes and word forms
Types of Morphemes
A free morpheme can stand alone as its own word.
Source: https://semanticsmorphology.weebly.com/inflectional-and-derivational-morphemes.html
https://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxc/nlp/InteractiveNLP/NLP_morph1.html
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Remember!
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Subtopic 2: Prosodic word vs. Morphological word
Prosodic word
A phonological word can be defined as a
string of sounds that behaves as a unit for
certain kinds of phonological processes,
especially stress or accent.
Morphological Word
Recuperado de https://all-about-linguistics.group.shef.ac.uk/branches-of-
linguistics/morphology/what-is-morphology/
Bibliografía
» Aronoff, M., & Fudeman, K. A. (2010). What is morphology?: Fundamentals of
Linguistics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
» Eldredge, D. L., & Mayea-Rodríguez Liesder. (2015). Introduction to Spanish, English
linguistics. Xlibris.
» Kim, J.-B., & Sell, P. (2008). English syntax: An introduction. CSLI Productions.
» Koehl, M. (1996). WHEN DOES MORPHOLOGY MATTER?. Annual Review Of Ecology And
Systematics, 27(1), 501-542. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.27.1.501
» Roy, A. C., Curie, A., Nazir, T., Paulignan, Y., des Portes, V., Fourneret, P., & Deprez, V.
(2013). Syntax at hand: Common syntactic structures for actions and language. PLoS
ONE, 8(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072677
Morphology and
Syntax
Unidad 1
Morphology
Tema 1
Lexemes and Word Forms
https://wordwall.net/es/resource/45709127/delivational-and-inflectional-morphemes
4
What is a
morpheme?
A "morpheme“ is the smallest
unit of meaning in a word.
Source: https://www.education.vic.gov.au
5
Remember!
Source: https://semanticsmorphology.weebly.com/inflectional-and-derivational-morphemes.html
https://wordwall.net/es/resource/30486056/morphemes
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Bibliografía
» Aronoff, M., & Fudeman, K. A. (2010). What is morphology?: Fundamentals of
Linguistics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
» Eldredge, D. L., & Mayea-Rodríguez Liesder. (2015). Introduction to Spanish, English
linguistics. Xlibris.
» Kim, J.-B., & Sell, P. (2008). English syntax: An introduction. CSLI Productions.
» Koehl, M. (1996). WHEN DOES MORPHOLOGY MATTER?. Annual Review Of Ecology And
Systematics, 27(1), 501-542. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.27.1.501
» Roy, A. C., Curie, A., Nazir, T., Paulignan, Y., des Portes, V., Fourneret, P., & Deprez, V.
(2013). Syntax at hand: Common syntactic structures for actions and language. PLoS
ONE, 8(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072677
Morphology and
Syntax
Unidad 1
Morphology
Tema 2
Word Formation
Objetive
To understand how languages work,
specifically the English language and
also how words can change and form
other words.
Subtopics
» Subtopics:
1: Types of word formation
2: Paradigms and morphosyntax
3: Allomorphy
WARM-UP ACTIVITY
What is a morpheme?
4
Subtopic 1: Types of word formation
Prefixes
Main
Compounds
types of Suffixes
word
formation
Conversion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPqxNqO8u-A 6
Subtopic 1: Types of word formation
Prefixes
We add prefixes before the base or stem of a word. They change the
meaning of the word.
Examples Prefixes
monorail, monolingual mono- means ‘one’
Suffixes
We add suffixes after the base or stem of a word. The main purpose
of a suffix is to show what class of word it is (e.g. noun or adjective).
Examples Suffixes
-ism and -dom are used to form
terrorism, sexism
nouns
widen, simplify -en and -ify are used to form verbs
reasonable, unprofitable -able is used to form adjectives
Conversion
Examples Explanation
verb from noun text, meaning to send a
Can you text her?
text-message
All companies have
nouns from prepositions
their ups and downs
OK, so the meeting’s on Tuesday.
noun from adjective
That’s a definite
Adapted from: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es-LA/grammar/british-grammar/word-formation_2
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Subtopic 1: Types of word formation
Compounds
When we use compounding, we link together two or more bases to
create a new word.
A linguistic paradigm is the complete set of related word forms associated with a
given lexeme. The familiar examples of paradigms are the conjugations of verbs and the
declensions of nouns. Accordingly, the word forms of a lexeme may be arranged
conveniently into tables, by classifying them according to shared inflectional categories
such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, or case.
Morphosyntax is the
part of grammar that is
responsible for studying
both the forms of words
and the relationships
between them to form
phrases, sentences, and,
in general, meaningful
and unambiguous
messages.
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Subtopic 3: Allomorphy
Unidad 2
Lexical
Morphology
Tema 1
Lexical morphology
Objective
Explain important starting points for
modern morphological theory . Describe
important concepts and models in
morphology . Compare and judge
morphological descriptions
Subtopics
10
Bibliografía
» Aronoff, M., & Fudeman, K. A. (2010). What is morphology?: Fundamentals of
Linguistics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
» Eldredge, D. L., & Mayea-Rodríguez Liesder. (2015). Introduction to Spanish, English
linguistics. Xlibris.
» Kim, J.-B., & Sell, P. (2008). English syntax: An introduction. CSLI Productions.
» Koehl, M. (1996). WHEN DOES MORPHOLOGY MATTER?. Annual Review Of Ecology And
Systematics, 27(1), 501-542. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.27.1.501
» Roy, A. C., Curie, A., Nazir, T., Paulignan, Y., des Portes, V., Fourneret, P., & Deprez, V.
(2013). Syntax at hand: Common syntactic structures for actions and language. PLoS
ONE, 8(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072677
Morphology and
Syntax
Unidad 2
Lexical
Morphology
Tema 2
Other types of Word formation
Objective
Explain important starting points for
modern morphological theory. Describe
important concepts and models in
morphology. Compare and judge
morphological description
Subtopics
Subtopic 1: Some morphological phenomena
Subtopic 2: Other types of Word formation
translating a word from one language into Love, loves, loved, loving
another: grattacielo from skyscraper
Subtopic 2: other types of Word formation
Derivation:
Back Formation :
Clipping :
Compounding:
UNIT 1
Morphology
1. Unit 1: Morphology............................................................................................3
Topic 1: Lexemes and word forms................................................................................. 3
Objective: ...................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction: ................................................................................................................. 3
2. Subtopics information........................................................................................4
2.1 Subtopics 1: Lexemes and word forms ............................................................... 4
2.2 Subtopic 2: Prosodic Word vs. Morphological word .......................................... 6
2.3 Subtopic 3: Inflection vs. derivation ................................................................... 8
5. Bibliography ....................................................................................................15
2
Morphology
1. Unit 1: Morphology
Topic 1: Lexemes and word forms
Objective:
To understand how languages work, specifically the English language. This can be
obtained by studying each part of the language. IN this case how words can change
and form other words.
Introduction:
In linguistics, a lexeme is the fundamental unit of the lexicon (or word stock) of a
language. A lexeme is often--but not always--an individual word (a simple lexeme or
dictionary word, as it's sometimes called). A single dictionary word (for example, talk)
may have a number of inflectional forms or grammatical variants (in this example,
talks, talked, talking).
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2. Subtopics information
2.1 Subtopics 1: Lexemes and word forms
Morphemes
The identification and analysis of morphemes, which are frequently characterized as
the smallest linguistic elements with a grammatical function, is a significant approach
in which morphologists research words, their internal structure, and how they are
generated. This definition does not cover all morphemes, but it is the most common
and an excellent place to start. A morpheme is a word or a meaningful portion of a
word that cannot be broken down into smaller meaningful bits, such as the -ed in
gazed. Morphemes have also been defined as a combination of sound and meaning.
We purposefully avoided using this definition. As we will see, certain morphemes have
no solid or continuous shape, while others do not have meanings in the traditional
sense.
You might also hear the term morph. The term'morph' is sometimes used to refer to a
morpheme's phonological manifestation. For example, the English past tense
morpheme that we spell -ed has various morphs. It is realized as [t] after the voiceless
[p] of jump (cf. jumped), as [d] after the voiced [l] of repel (cf. repelled), and as [ ed]
after the voiceless [t] of root or the voiced [d] of wed (cf. rooted and wedded). These
morphs are also known as allomorphs or variations. In this situation, voicing and the
location of articulation of the verb stem's last consonant decide the appearance of one
morph over another.
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Another view is that morphology is the study of word production, which includes how
new words are coined in different languages around the world and how different
forms of words are utilized in sentences. As a native speaker of your language, you
have an instinctive understanding of how to create new words, and you identify and
understand new words every day.
Lexemes
Take a look at the following phrases:
• autoclave (v.)
• head bracelet (n.)
• conversate (v.)
• deBaathification (n.)
• oversuds (v.)
• McDonaldization (n.)
• unwipe (v.)
Have you ever come across these words? What do you think they mean? You've
probably never heard or read them before. Nonetheless, you presumably had no issue
picking out at least a general idea of what they meant. Assuming you already know
what an autoclave is, the verb to autoclave most likely means 'to sterilize with an
autoclave.' A head bracelet is most likely anything that is worn around the neck.
DeBaathification has to do with getting rid of the Baath (the Iraqi political party
associated with Saddam Hussein). And so on. You may not know what they imply
exactly, but you can make an educated estimate.
Because these terms follow the laws of English word construction, you can make
educated assumptions about them. You can usually figure out anything else once you
know what the base — the primary part of the term – signifies. We'll look at the most
prevalent techniques of producing new lexemes in English and other languages around
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the world in this chapter. You'll discover how to break down words into their
constituent pieces, how to organize those parts, and how the various parts contribute
to their meanings.
Various Morphemes
Most native English speakers will identify that words like unwipe, head bracelet, and
MacDonaldization are made up of numerous important parts and will be able to
separate them:
un / wipe
head / bracelet
McDonald / ize / ation
Some of these morphemes can be used as words on their own, such as wipe, head,
bracelet, and McDonald. Free morphemes are what they're called. Bound morphemes
are morphemes that can't stand on their own. Derived words are new lexemes
generated with prefixes and suffixes on a base, and the process by which they are
formed is called derivation. The prefixes and suffixes attach to the base, which is the
semantic substance of the word. For example, the base of unwipe is wipe, while the
base of McDonaldization is McDonald. The base is frequently a free morpheme, as it is
in these two examples.
Word stress, phonotactics, and segmental word-level rules are all common
characteristics of prosodic words. This thesis examines many facets of the prosodic
word's meaning in terms of derivation, compounding, and cliticization. It also covers a
number of morphological concerns; but, due to the length constraints of this article, I
shall ignore these.
The prosodic word is just one component of the prosodic hierarchy, which is a
collection of hierarchically organized phonological elements (Selkirk 1981, 1986;
Nespor & Vogel 1986). The geometry of this constituent structure is determined by the
Strict Layer Hypothesis (SLH).
The sorts of analysis that a model assigns are heavily influenced by its morphotactic
assumptions. This effect is most noticeable when dealing with morphological classes.
The shape of one or more word forms tends to identify the class of an item in
languages whose morphological systems are structured into inflectional classes.
Traditional models take advantage of this predictability by creating a set of exemplary
paradigms and expressing particular things using diagnostic surface shapes. However,
inflection class is rarely determined only by the qualities of roots or exponents. As a
result, models that represent items using their underlying root forms must frequently
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Reduplication is also widespread, while internal alterations such as ablaut and root, as
well as pattern derivation, are less common. Derived words can fall into a variety of
semantic groups. Event and effect, individual and participant, collective and abstract
noun are all common nouns. Causative and applicative categories for verbs, as well as
relational and qualitative derivations for adjectives, are well-documented.
Negatives, relational words, and evaluatives are commonly derived in languages. Most
languages use some form of derivation, while some languages rely on compounding
rather than derivation to generate their lexical stock. Productivity (the extent to which
new words can be created with a given affix or morphological process), the principles
that determine the ordering of affixes, and the place of derivational morphology in
relation to other components of the grammar have all dominated the theoretical
literature on derivation. Derivation research has also played a role in a variety of
psycholinguistic issues about language perception and production.
1998, 2005). Although the forms conduisons and conduisez are both forms of the
verbal lexeme CONDUIRE, the form conducteur is usually connected with a separate,
nominal lexeme CONDUCTEUR 'driver,' which is derived from CONDUIRE. To
distinguish between inflectional and derivational distinctions, practical criteria like
those in (2) have been used.
However, the reliability of these criteria varies. As previously noted, (2a) is a sufficient
but not sufficient criteria; derivation may fail to create a change in syntactic category
(read reread) or lexical meaning (syntactic lexical). Furthermore, even though
participles typically have adjectival qualities and gerunds have nominal traits, (2a)
contradicts the common notion that a verb's participles and gerunds are among its
inflected forms.
Criterion (2b) is far more trustworthy, albeit it, too, raises some concerns. For example,
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bakes cookies is likewise plausible, and its lack of tense sequencing offers it somewhat
different pragmatics.
Criterion (2d) often, but not always, distinguishes inflection from derivation along the
same lines as previous criteria. Some derivational procedures, for example, have
extremely regular semantics; one example is the derivation of ordinal numerals in -th.
Simultaneously, the phenomena of deponency and metaconjugation entail inflected
forms with unexpected semantics; less spectacularly, an inflected form is lexicalized
with a specific meaning on rare occasions, as in the case of brothers.
4. Further Reading
Los siguientes recursos complementarios son sugerencias para que se pueda ampliar la
información sobre el tema trabajado, como parte de su proceso de aprendizaje
autónomo:
Videos de apoyo:
Video: Morphology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nduDAN9sKx4
Bibliografía de apoyo:
Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2017). An Introduction to English Morphology.
5. Bibliography
» Baker, A., & Hengeveld, K. (2012). Linguistics. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
» Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. (2020). For the love of language (2nd ed.).
Cambridge.
» Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2017). An Introduction to English Morphology.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
» Curzan, A., & Adams, M. (2011). How English works: A linguistic
introduction. Longman.
» In Genetti, C. (2014). How languages work: An introduction to language and
linguistics.
» Rahman, T. (2010). Linguistics for beginners. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
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UNIT 1
Morphology
1. Unit 1: Morphology............................................................................................3
Topic 2: Word Formation .............................................................................................. 3
Objective: ...................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction: ................................................................................................................. 3
2. Subtopics information........................................................................................4
2.1 Subtopics 1: Types of word formation ............................................................... 4
2.2 Subtopic 2: Paradigms and morphosyntax ........................................................ 6
2.3 Subtopic 3: Allomorphy ...................................................................................... 8
5. Bibliography ....................................................................................................14
2
Morphology
1. Unit 1: Morphology
Topic 2: Word Formation
Objective:
On successful completion of the topic students will:
- have a robust understanding of the principal word formation processes of the
language
- have an overview of relevant theory debate
- be able to progress to independent research on the subject
Introduction:
This course gives students the opportunity to investigate, in the light of current
morphological theory, the word-formation processes of Modern English. The course
will survey the major word formation processes of English (as well as some of the
minor ones), combining this survey with a thorough discussion of key concepts such as
'morpheme', 'word', productivity' etc.
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2. Subtopics information
2.1 Subtopics 1: Types of word formation
In this course, we will study five major morphological processes that affect roots and
stems and which lead to the production of new words. Those processes are affixation,
compounding, symbolism, reduplication and suppletion.
A. Affixation
Affixation consists in adding derivational affixes (i.e., prefixes, infixes and suffixes) to
roots and stems to form new words. For example, if the suffix -able is added to the
word pass, the word passable is created. Likewise, if to the word passable the prefix in-
(or rather its allomorph im-) is attached, another word is formed, namely impassable.
Affixation is a very common and productive morphological process in synthetic
languages. In English, derivation is the form of affixation that yields new words.
B. Compounding
Compounding consists in the combination of two or more (usually free) roots to form a
new word. For example, the word blackboard, heartfelt, brother-in-law are compound
words; they are made up of the roots (at the same time words themselves) black and
board, heart and felt, brother, in and law, respectively.
following characteristics:
1. Compounds words behave grammatically and semantically as single words.
2. Since compound words behave as units, between their component elements no
affixes (whether inflections or derivations) can usually occur; inflectional
suffixes can appear only after compound words. For example, bathrooms,
school, buses, water resistant. Exceptions: passersby, brothers-in-law, courts-
martial.
3. Compound words can be written in three different ways:
a) Open, i.e., with a space between the parts of the compound; e.g., toy
store, diving board, flower pot.
b) Hyphenated, i.e., with a hyphen (-) separating the elements of the
compound; e.g., flower-pot, air-brake, she-pony.
c) Solid, e.g., without a space or hyphen between the component
elements of the compound; e.g., flowerpot, washrooms, pickpocket.
Preference for a particular form of writing the compound word depends largely
on lexicographical conventions and the variety of English use. For instance,
hyphenation (i.e., separating the elements of a compound with a hyphen) is
more common in British English than in American English. In American English,
the tendency is to write the compounds open or solid (Quirk et al., 1985).
However, hyphenation is quite common practice in both varieties of the
language when ad hoc premodifying compounds5 are used; e.g., a
muchneeded rest; a state-of-the-art report.
4. The global meaning of the compound word can often be guessed from the
individual meaning of each element of the compound. For example, a
boathouse is ‘a shed in which boats are stored’; a bookstore is ‘a store which
sells books’; and so on. But there are a few compound words whose global
meanings have to be learned as if they were single words because such
meanings cannot be guessed from the individual meanings of the component
elements of the compounds. For instance, a Redcoat is ‘a British soldier’, not ‘a
coat that is red’. Similarly, a flatfoot is ‘a detective or policeman’, a turncoat is
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C. Symbolism
Symbolism (or morpheme internal change) consists in altering the internal phonemic
structure of a morpheme to indicate grammatical functions (cf. Pei, 1966). For
example, in order to form the plurals of goose \gu…s\ and tooth \tu…T\ in English, the
phoneme \u…\ is replaced by the phoneme\i…\, thus yielding the plural forms geese
\gi…s\ and teeth \ti…T\, respectively.
D. Reduplication
Reduplication consists in the repetition of all or of part of a root or stem to form new
words. If the entire root or stem is repeated, the process is called complete (or total)
reduplication, and the new word is considered as a repetitive compound. Total
reduplication is fairly frequent in Indonesian, Tojolabal (Mexico), Hausa (Sudan), and
Hawaiian. For example, in Tojolabal [-otS] means ‘to enter’, [-otSotS] ‘to enter little by
little’. (cf. Nida, 1949). Similarly, in Indonesian, total reduplication is used to form the
plural of nouns, as in [rumah] ‘house’, [rumahrumah] ‘houses’; [ibu] ‘mother’ [ibuibu]
‘mothers’; [lalat] ‘fly’, [lalatlalat] ‘flies’. In Hawaiian, holo means 'run', holoholo 'go for
a walk or ride'; lau means 'leaf', laulau 'leaf food package'.
E. Suppletion
Suppletion consists in a complete change in the form of a root (i.e., a word) or in the
replacement of root by another morphologically unrelated root with the same
component of meaning in different grammatical contents (cf. Richards et al., 1985;
Byrne, 1978; Pei, 1966). For example, good and well change to better and best in the
comparative and superlative. Similarly, bad and badly change to worse and worst.
Likewise, be changes to am, are, and is in the present; am/is change to was and are to
were in the past. Another example is go which changes to went in the past. As can be
seen, this process yields completely irregular forms. Suppletive forms help to fill gaps
in grammatical paradigms of the language (cf. Pei, 1966).
Stem identification: The first part of the thesis concerns the structure within a
morphological paradigm, focusing on stem identification. The goal is to devise
general and language-independent strategies for stem extraction applicable for
different types of morphology across languages, and goes beyond the common
substring-based approaches.
Paradigmatic similarity: The second part of the thesis asks what structure there
is across morphological paradigms. Paradigms often do not inflect in the exact
same pattern, which leads to inflection classes, e.g., Spanish verbs in distinct
conjugation groups. At the same time, paradigms inflect in remarkably similar
ways, e.g., Spanish verbs in the second plural all end with-mos regardless the
inflection classes. This part of the thesis develops a string-based hierarchical
clustering algorithm that computationally characterizes the similarity and
differences across morphological paradigms.
Stem identification
Given a morphological paradigm with inflected word forms, what is the stem of the
paradigm? This question on stem identification is part of the morpheme segmentation
problem, important for both theoretical linguistics (Spencer 2012) and computational
linguistics (Goldsmith 2010, Hammarstr¨om and Borin 2011); once the stem is
identified, what is not the stem in each word form can be subject to further
segmentation and morphological analysis for potential affixes. Stem identification is far
from being a trivial problem.
Morphosyntax
The morphosyntax is the study of grammatical categories whose properties are
definable by morphological and syntactic criteria. Some authors point out that the
term replaces what was traditionally called grammar. In this sense, morphosyntax is
intimately linked with morphology and syntax.
What is an Allomorph?
We have an entire article dedicated to morphemes - we recommend that you check
that out before reading this one on allomorphs. A morpheme is the smallest unit of
meaning in a language. This means that a morpheme cannot be reduced beyond its
current state without losing its basic meaning. This makes it different from a syllable,
which is a word unit - morphemes can have any number of syllables.
Free morphemes
Free morphemes can stand alone. Most words are free morphemes - some examples
include: “house”, “book”, “tall”, “peacock”, and “smile”; these carry meaning on their
own and are complete in themselves. Take the word “tall” for example - it has a
meaning on its own, you can't break it down into smaller parts (such as t-all, ta-ll, or
tal-l). “Peacock” is also a free morpheme; despite having more than one syllable, it
cannot be broken down into smaller parts without losing its basic meaning.
Free morphemes are either lexical or functional. Lexical morphemes give us the main
meaning of a sentence or text; they include nouns, adjectives and verbs. Functional
morphemes help to hold the structure of a sentence together; they include
prepositions (eg. with), conjunctions (eg. and), articles (eg. the) and pronouns (eg.
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her).
Bound morphemes
Bound morphemes cannot stand alone. They have to be bound to another morpheme
to carry any meaning - bound morphemes include prefixes, like “pre” -, “un” -, and
“dis” - (eg. pre-screen, undone, disapprove); and also suffixes, like - “er”, - “ing”, and -
“est” (eg. smaller, smiling, widest).
There is some debate around the different types of allomorphs - the way they are
categorized will depend on which textbook you use! For the sake of clarity, we will
take you through some examples of three common types of allomorph in the English
language: past tense allomorphs, plural allomorphs, and negative allomorphs.
Struggling to notice the difference? Say these past tenses of the following verbs out
loud, focusing on the “ed” morphemes: “wanted”, “rented”, “rested”, “printed”. In
each of these words, the “ed” morpheme is pronounced /ɪd/.
Now do the same with this set of words: “touched”, “fixed”, “pressed”. Notice how the
“ed” morpheme is pronounced /t/.
Plural allomorphs
We typically add “s” or “es” to nouns to create the plural form; these plural forms of
“s” and “es” always have the same function, but their sound changes depending on the
noun.
The plural morpheme has 3 common allomorphs: /s/, /z/ and /ɪz/. Which one we use
depends on the phoneme that precedes it.
When a noun ends in a voiceless consonant (ie. ch, f, k, p, s, sh, t or th), the plural
allomorph is “s”. Examples include: “books”, “chips”, and “dishes”.
When a noun ends in a sibilant (ie, s, ss, z), the sound of the allomorph sound becomes
/ɪz/. Examples include: “buses”, “houses”, and “waltzes”.
Other plural allomorphs include the “en” of words such as oxen, the “ren” of children,
and the “ae” of words such as formulas and antennae. These are all plural allomorphs
as they serve the same function as the more common “s” and “es” suffixes.
Negative allomorphs
Think of the prefixes we use to make a negative version of a word; informal (not
formal), impossible (not possible), unbelievable (not believable) or asymmetrical (not
symmetrical). Are you seeing the pattern here? “In” -, “im” -, “un” - and “a” - all serve
the same function, and so they are allomorphs of the same morpheme.
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3. What is morphosyntax?
Morphosyntax is another word for grammar.
Grammar can be divided into morphology and syntax. Morphology is the study of
words and their rules of formation. And syntax is the study of sentences and their rules
of formation. Essentially, morphology and syntax are studies of the same thing –
formation rules of a language but at differing “levels”.
4. Further Reading
Los siguientes recursos complementarios son sugerencias para que se pueda ampliar la
información sobre el tema trabajado, como parte de su proceso de aprendizaje
autónomo:
Videos de apoyo:
Video: Syntax - Morphosyntax: Crash Course Linguistics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1r1grQiLdk
Video: Morpheme||Morph||Allomorphs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm1Qafg2_0U
Bibliografía de apoyo:
Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2017). An Introduction to English Morphology. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.
© Universidad Estatal de Milagro – UNEMI
5. Bibliography
» Baker, A., & Hengeveld, K. (2012). Linguistics. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
» Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. (2020). For the love of language (2nd ed.).
Cambridge.
» Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2017). An Introduction to English Morphology.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
» Curzan, A., & Adams, M. (2011). How English works: A linguistic
introduction. Longman.
» In Genetti, C. (2014). How languages work: An introduction to language and
linguistics.
» Rahman, T. (2010). Linguistics for beginners. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
© Universidad Estatal de Milagro – UNEMI
UNIT 2
Lexical Morphology
2. Subtopics information........................................................................................4
2.1 Subtopics 1: Morpheme-based morphology ................................................................. 4
2.2 Subtopic 2: Lexeme-based morphology .......................................................................... 5
2.3 Subtopic 3: Word-based morphology .............................................................................. 6
5. Bibliography ....................................................................................................11
2
Lexical Morphology
Introduction:
This topic is primarily concerned with morphological analysis and developing an
understanding of how languages vary with respect to what information a word
encodes. We also study classical linguistic typology, including both morphological and
word order typology.
© Universidad Estatal de Milagro – UNEMI
2. Subtopics information
2.1 Subtopics 1: Morpheme-based morphology
Word forms are examined as morpheme arrangements in morpheme-based
morphology. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. The
morphemes in a word like independently are in-, depend, -ent, and ly; depend is the
root, while the other morphemes are derivational affixes in this case.
Dog is the root, while -s is an inflectional morpheme in words like dogs. This method of
studying word formations, referred to as "item-and-arrangement," considers words as
if they were made up of morphemes strung together ("concatenated") like beads on a
string. More modern and advanced techniques, such as distributed morphology, aim to
preserve the concept of the morpheme while allowing for non-concatenated,
analogical, and other processes that have proven troublesome for item-and-
arrangement theories and comparable approaches.
Baudoin’s "single morpheme" hypothesis: The status of roots and affixes is the same
as that of morphemes.
Bloomfield’s "sign base" morpheme hypothesis: They are dualistic signs because they
have both (phonological) form and meaning as morphemes.
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In the United States, lexical morphology is far from a given, but SBM and LAH underpin
the work of Bresnan (1982), Farmer (1984), Guerssel (1983), Halle (1973), Halle and
Mohanan (1985), Keyser and Roeper (1984), Lieber (1981,1983), Sadock (1985), and
Selkirk (1985). (1982). Marantz (1982) and Pesetsky (1985) appear to concur on the
most important points while disagreeing on others. Kiparsky (1982) agrees with foggy
reasoning while disclaiming. Finally, Jackendoff (1975) makes the assumption that
Bloomfield (1933: 177-183), for example, proposed that lexemes and affixes are 'free'
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The goal of these arguments is to show that affixes are not lexemes at all, but rather
belong to a category of morphology with members that are so dissimilar to lexemes in
form, function, organization, and operation that they cannot share the same
component, let alone the same definition. The lexical sign (symbol) with its directly
related form and meaning, and the (grammatical) morpheme in paradigm, which is
indirectly correlated with meaning, are the two discrete modalities of expressing
meaning in grammar. All of this necessitates a whole new morphological foundation,
one based on lexemes and morphemes, as well as separate lexicological and
morphological theories.
The sorts of analysis that a model assign are heavily influenced by its morphotactic
assumptions. This effect is most noticeable when dealing with morphological classes.
The shape of one or more word forms tends to identify the class of an item in
languages whose morphological systems are structured into inflectional classes.
Traditional models take use of this predictability by creating a set of exemplary
paradigms and representing particular things using diagnostic surface shapes.
However, in isolation, the qualities of roots or exponents are rarely accurate
indications of inflection class. As a result, models that represent items using their
underlying root forms must frequently incorporate diacritic class characteristics to
replace lost inflection class information.
Individual forms are derived in independence from the other forms in a grammatical
system, which is another premise that is closely associated with constructive
approaches. This assumption is reflected in the IA and IP models' solely syntagmatic
structure, as well as hybrid models like Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz
1993). Word forms are 'assembled' or 'processed' one at a time in a standard IA or IP
model, either by extracting sub-word units from the lexicon or by applying rules that
encapsulate these units. Words have no status as permanent lexical units since they
are the result of morphological derivation, and the derivation of a given form has no
access to 'paradigmatic' information about other word forms.
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The central premise is that exemplary patterns or 'paradigms' can reflect form
variation within an inflectional system, and that the forms of non-exemplary things can
be determined from primary parts that designate which pattern a given item follows.
Traditional models, unlike many contemporary techniques, do not enforce a dramatic
4. Further Reading
Los siguientes recursos complementarios son sugerencias para que se pueda ampliar la
información sobre el tema trabajado, como parte de su proceso de aprendizaje
autónomo:
Videos de apoyo:
Video: Word-based morphology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MpxA9oPq-M
Bibliografía de apoyo:
Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2017). An Introduction to English Morphology.
5. Bibliography
» Baker, A., & Hengeveld, K. (2012). Linguistics. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
» Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. (2020). For the love of language (2nd ed.).
Cambridge.
» Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2017). An Introduction to English Morphology.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
» Curzan, A., & Adams, M. (2011). How English works: A linguistic
introduction. Longman.
» In Genetti, C. (2014). How languages work: An introduction to language and
linguistics.
» Rahman, T. (2010). Linguistics for beginners. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
© Universidad Estatal de Milagro – UNEMI
UNIT 2
Lexical Morphology
2. Subtopics information........................................................................................4
2.1 Subtopics 1: Some morphological phenomena .................................................. 4
2.2 Subtopic 2: Other types of word formation ....................................................... 6
5. Bibliography ....................................................................................................13
2
Lexical Morphology
Introduction:
This topic is primarily concerned with morphological analysis and developing an
understanding of how languages vary with respect to what information a word
encodes. We also study classical linguistic typology, including both morphological and
word order typology.
© Universidad Estatal de Milagro – UNEMI
2. Subtopics information
2.1 Subtopics 1: Some morphological phenomena
The following are some morphological examples. This has to do with the word's form,
particularly the inflection's form. In morphological phenomena, the type of
morphology is described, such as:
Conversion: zero derivation: changing a word from one category to another without
adding affixes: halt (N) to halt (V).
Clipping: fan (fanatic); when a lengthier form is abbreviated to make a new form.
Blending: combining bits of many terms: smog (smoke + fog), ), brunch (breakfast +
lunch).
Backformation: the process of creating a simple word from a more complex one: edit
from editor; burgle from burglar.
Calque: a word that has been created by translating a word from one language into
another. : grattacielo from skyscraper.
Eponym: a personal name from which a collective noun is derived: Lord Sandwich from
Sandwich.
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Acronyms: a term created by combining the first letters of several other words: Ash
from ‘Action on Smoking and Health; Tesol from‘Teachers of English to Speakers of
Other Languages’.
Onomatopoeia: When the meaning is viewed as imitating the sound, words are
formed: buzz, hiss, crack.
Cognates: words that have descended from the same progenitor ; beam (English) is
cognate with baum (German).
means that a nonce-formation can mix and match any of these meanings in the
complex word;
When other speakers accept the nonce-formation as a lexical item, the potential for
ambiguity vanishes, and only one meaning is utilized. The term telephone box, for
example, can have just one of the following meanings:
1. a box shaped like a telephone;
2.a box located near a telephone;
3.a box which functions as a telephone, and so on;
This method is said to have become institutionalized once it has been established.
Finally, the word is lexicalized, which occurs when the lexeme takes on a form that is
not obtained through the application of productive rules due to changes in the
language system.
Lexicalization can occur at any level of language analysis, including the morphological,
syntactic, and phonetic levels.
To put it another way, the word-formation process is the process by which new words
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Back Formation
Back-Formation is a word-formation technique that removes the derivational prefix
from the primary form in order to produce a new term. In terms of producing new
words, however, Back-Formation is the polar opposite of derivation. Examples:
Conversion
A word in one grammatical form changes to a word in another grammatical form
without affecting its spelling or pronunciation. The term 'Google,' for example, began
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We used to say "Google it" as a noun until a few years ago, but today we say "Google
it." Examples:
Noun To Verb
Access – to access
Google – to google
Compounding
Compounding is a word-formation technique in which two or more words are
combined to generate a new term. Compound words are made up of two words
connected by a hyphen. Examples:
Clipping
Another important word-formation process is 'clipping,' which cuts or shortens a word
without affecting its meaning. It preserves the original meaning, unlike the back-
formation procedure.
When clippings are assigned, they are given varied roles in words. Back clipping
eliminates the last few letters of a word; fore clipping removes the first few letters of a
word; and middle clipping keeps the middle position. Finally, Complex Clipping
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Words Clippings
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Photograph Photo
Blending
The pieces of two or more words are combined to generate a new word in the
'Blending' word-formation method. Examples:
Words Blendings
Breakfast+lunch Brunch
Biographical+picture Biopic
Abbreviation
Another well-known and extensively used word-formation approach for shortening a
word or phrase is 'abbreviation.' 'Abbreviation is growing more prevalent in the
modern period. People nowadays utilize it almost everywhere. Examples:
Words/Phrases Abbreviation
Junior Jr.
Mister Mr.
Master of Arts M.A
Acronyms
An acronym is a term formed by pronouncing an initialism as a word. It is formed from
the first letter of each word in a phrase, and the newly formed letters form a new
word, allowing us to communicate more quickly. For example, the word 'pin' is an
initialism for Personal Identification Number.
Acronyms Words/Phrases
AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
ASAP As Soon As Possible
AWOL Absent Without Leave
Borrowing
Borrowing is another type of word development in which a word from one language is
directly borrowed into another. Let's look at some borrowed English words from other
languages:
Algebra Arabic
Cherub Hebrew
Murder French
Pizza Italian
Tamale Spanish
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1. What is Onomatopoeia?
Words formed when the meaning is perceived as imitating the sound: buzz, hiss, crack;
2. What is an Acronyms?
A word formed by joining the initial letters of other words
4. What is Conversion
In conversion, a word of one grammatical form converts into another grammatical
form without changing any spelling or pronunciation
4. Further Reading
Los siguientes recursos complementarios son sugerencias para que se pueda ampliar la
información sobre el tema trabajado, como parte de su proceso de aprendizaje
autónomo:
Videos de apoyo:
Video: Other Morphological Phenomena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSlav_85BaY
Video: English. Word formation. Suffixes ant, ent, ance, ence, ment. Adverbs with -ly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRNEUPXlObY
Bibliografía de apoyo:
Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2017). An Introduction to English Morphology.
5. Bibliography
» Baker, A., & Hengeveld, K. (2012). Linguistics. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
» Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. (2020). For the love of language (2nd ed.).
Cambridge.