Homework 2 - LING 200

Due Friday March 17, 2022

Name:
CIRCLE the letter that corresponds to the correct answer.
1. A morpheme is

(a) The smallest unit of sound.

(b) The smallest unit of sound that bears meaning.
(c) A special phonetic representation.
(d) More ‘pheme’ than a phoneme.

2. A bound morpheme is one which

(a) replaces a free morpheme.

(b) can stand alone.
(c) is formed of two or more morphemes.
(d) cannot stand alone.

3. Which of the following sets describes only morphological processes?

(a) Affixation, reduplication, and phonemicization.

(b) Reduplication, phonemicization, and assimilation.
(c) Affixation and reduplication.
(d) Affixation and phonemicization.

4. An allomorph is the

(a) phonetic (or surface) form of a morpheme.

(b) abstract (or underlying) form of a morpheme.
(c) smallest meaningful unit.
(d) phonetic (or surface) form of a phoneme.

5. An infix is best characterized by which of the following statements?

(a) It is attached to a root.

(b) It is attached to an affix.
(c) It is inserted within a root.
(d) It copies all or part of a root.

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 The following questions (6-11) make reference to the Samoan data below. (The number of
syllables in a Samoan word corresponds to the number of vowels in the word. Thus, [manao]
has three syllables, ma-na-o and [atamaki] has four syllables, a-ta-ma-ki.)

manao ‘he wishes’ mananao ‘they wish’

nofo ‘he stays’ nonofo ‘they stay’
alofa ‘he loves’ alolofa ‘they love’
punou ‘he bends’ punonou ‘they bend’
taPoto ‘he lies’ taPoPoto ‘they lie’
galue ‘he works’ tatanu ‘they bury’
mate ‘he dies’

6. The process by which Samoan forms plural verbs is:

(a) infixation
(b) reduplication
(c) suffixation
(d) random

7. The plural morpheme in Samoan is:

(a) a copy of the penultimate (second to last) syllable of the singular.

(b) a copy of the second CV sequence of the singular.
(c) the sequence [-na-] which has an infinite number of allomorphs.
(d) unpredictable.

8. The best way to describe the placement of the plural morpheme is:

(a) it is placed before the final syllable.

(b) it is placed before the penultimate syllable.
(c) it is placed after the first syllable.
(d) it is placed before the final or penultimate syllable but you cannot determine which
based on the data.

9. The expected plural form of ‘he works’ is:

(a) galulue
(b) galuee
(c) gagalue
(d) lugalue

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10. The expected singular form of ‘they bury’ is:

(a) tata
(b) tanu
(c) tanutanu
(d) tanunu

11. The expected plural form of ‘he dies’ is:

(a) matete
(b) matemate
(c) mamate
(d) temate

The following questions (12-16) make reference to the Turkish phonetic data below. (The
IPA symbol [1] stands for a high, central, unrounded, lax vowel.)

lokanta ‘a restaurant’ lokantada ‘in/at a restaurant’

kap1 ‘a door’ kap1da ‘in/at a door’
randevu ‘an appointment’ randevuda ‘in/at an appointment’
baS ‘a head’ baSta ‘in/at a head’
kitap ‘a book’ kitapta ‘in/at a book’
koltuk ‘an armchair’ koltukta ‘in/at an armchair’
taraf ‘a side’ tarafta ‘in/at a side’

12. Which of the following statements is true?

(a) Turkish has two morphemes meaning ‘in/at’.

(b) Turkish has one morpheme meaning ‘in/at’ and it has two allomorphs.
(c) Turkish has one allomorph for the morpheme ‘in/at’.
(d) Turkish has one allomorph and two morphemes meaning ‘in/at’.

13. The Turkish equivalent of ‘in/at’ is:

(a) a prefix
(b) an infix
(c) a suffix
(d) a reduplicant

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14. The best statement about Turkish ‘in/at’ is which of the following?

(a) The morpheme /ta/ becomes [da] after vowels.

(b) The morpheme /da/ becomes [ta] after consonants.
(c) The morpheme /ta/ is added to consonant-final nouns and the morpheme /da/ is added
to vowel-final nouns.
(d) (a) and (b) above are equally economical and general so either is fine.

15. Which among the following would influence a choice between (a) and (b) of the previous
question?

(a) If there was more data that showed that [da] occurred after voiced consonants.
(b) If there was more data that showed that [ta] occurred after voiced consonants.
(c) Both (a) and (b).
(d) None of the above.

16. Given an additional noun [deniz] ‘an ocean’, what would the form ‘in/at an ocean’ be? (Base
your answer solely upon your analysis of the Turkish data given in the chart, in the absence
of any further knowledge of Turkish.)

(a) dadeniz
(b) denizta
(c) denizda
(d) dentaniz

17. Productive morphology is:

(a) predictable, default morphology.

(b) unpredictable, irregular morphology.
(c) not found in English.
(d) the creation of new morphemes from existing morphemes.

18. Which of the following best characterizes English plural formation.

(a) It is just suffixation.

(b) It is suffixation with insertion and assimilation depending upon the environment.
(c) It is suffixation with assimilation depending upon the environment.
(d) It is just assimilation.

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19. Unproductive, irregular morphology

(a) need not be stored in the lexicon.

(b) is derivable from productive, regular morphology.
(c) does not occur in English.
(d) must be stored in the lexicon for all relevant forms.

20. Which information must you store in the lexicon about particular affixes?

(a) whether they change the category of the morpheme to which they attach.
(b) whether they add an additional meaning to the morpheme to which they attach.
(c) where/how they attach.
(d) all of the above.

21. Heads of phrasal categories are

(a) elements which come first.

(b) elements which are optional.
(c) elements which come last.
(d) elements which are obligatory.

22. Which of the following represents a grammatical, or well-formed, sentence of English?

(a) Elephant the the carpenter with hit nail a.

(b) Elephants sing in absolute seriousness.
(c) Some elephants sing herself to sleep.
(d) No more please elephants.

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 The next four questions refer to the tree below.

CP

C C’

IP

NP I’

DP N’
I VP
D’ N has
cop V’
D
the
V’ PP

V NP P’
hit
DP N’ P NP
with
D’ N DP N’
man
D D’ N
the club
D
a

23. The syntactic representation above is:

(a) ambiguous.
(b) unambiguous.
(c) sometimes ambiguous.
(d) ambiguous at d-structure but not s-structure.

24. The syntactic relationships in this tree result in an interpretation where:

(a) The man is using the club as an instrument of the hitting activity.
(b) The cop is using the club as an instrument of the hitting activity.
(c) The man is identified as having a club.
(d) The club is hitting the cop.

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25. The PP ‘with the club’ is:

(a) the specifier of V

(b) the complement of V
(c) the sister of V
(d) none of the above

26. If the PP ‘with the club’ was joined instead at the N’ that immediately dominates the N
‘man’, the interpretation would change to

(a) The man is using the club as an instrument of the hitting activity.
(b) The man is identified as having a club.
(c) The cop is using the club as an instrument of the hitting activity.
(d) The club is hitting the cop.

The next 6 questions are based on the following data from Sanskrit (India).

Aham ekam śuklam gajam apaśyam

I one white elephant saw
1. ‘I saw a white elephant.’

Rama tam lekham likhati

Rama that letter writes
2. ‘Rama is writing that letter.’

Rama Sitā-yai ekam lekham ayacchat

Rama Sitā-to one letter gave
3. ‘Rama gave a letter to Sitā.’

Tvam Sitā-yai tam śuklam gajam akrı̄nāh

˙ ˙
You Sitā-for that white elephant bought
4. ‘You bought that white elephant for Sitā.’

27. In sentences 1, 2, 3, and 4, the lowest V’ (V-bar) dominates

a. NP NP V, in that order
b. V and NP, in that order
c. NP and V, in that order
d. V NP NP, in that order

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28. In sentence 4, the VP has

a. only V and NP in that order

b. one V’ (V-bar)
c. two V’s (V-bars)
d. no V’s (V-bars)

29. Based on these sentences, Sanskrit NPs are structurally and linearly

a. just like English but PPs are different

b. very different from English but PPs are the same
c. very different from English and PPs are different too
d. just like English and PPs are just like English too

Now consider the additional data from Sanskrit below for the next 3 questions. Bolded words
indicate extra emphasis.

Ekam śuklam gajam aham apaśyam

one white elephant I saw
7. ‘A white elephant, I saw.’

tam lekham Rama likhati

that letter Rama writes
8. ‘That letter, Rama is writing.’

Ekam lekham Rama Sitā-yai ayacchat

one letter Rama Sitā-to gave
9. A letter, Rama gave to Sitā.’

Sitā-yai tvam tam śuklam gajam akrı̄nāh

˙ ˙
Sitā-for you that white elephant bought
10. ‘For Sitā, you bought that white elephant.’

30. The assumptions made initially about the structure of VP in Sanskrit appear to be falsified
by this new data. The best solution to this problem is:

a. Change the original assumptions so that, for example, a verb like ‘give’ sometimes
requires a complement/object and sometimes does not
b. Keep the original assumptions and add a transformation
c. Change the original assumptions and add a transformation
d. None of the above

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31. The best rationale for your choice of answer in the immediately preceding question is:

a. You have determined which letter is most often the correct answer
b. You like transformations
c. Sentences 1, 2, 3, and 4 are clearly closely related to sentences 7, 8, 9, and 10.
d. Sentences 1, 2, 3, and 4 are clearly closely related to sentences 7, 8, 9, and 10 and
objects of sentences specify something about the V head of VP, not the N head of the
subject NP

32. Assume that you chose one of the options which involved adding a transformation. Which
of the following would be the best way to describe the transformation?

a. NP’s and PP’s are fronted (moved to the beginning/CP domain of the sentence) for
emphasis
b. The first NP in the VP is fronted for emphasis
c. The nouns ‘elephant’ and ‘letter’ in Sanskrit are obligatorily fronted for emphasis
d. Nouns are fronted for emphasis

Consider the following data from Malagasy, the national language of Madagascar.

ely ‘to scatter’ manely ‘s/he scatters’

tao ‘to like’ manao ‘s/he likes’
ota ‘to sin’ manota ‘s/he sins’
soratra ‘to write’ manoratra ‘s/he writes’
babo ‘to capture’ mamabo ‘s/he captures’
petraka ‘to sit down’ mametraka ‘s/he sits down’

33. The allomorphs of the morpheme contributing the meaning of present tense and a third per-
son singular (he/she) subject are:

a. [am-], [an-]
b. [man-], [mam-], [mano-], [mamo-], [mana-], [mama-], [mane-], [mame-]
c. [man-], [mam-]
d. [ma-]

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34. The underlying (phonemic) form of the morpheme above (contributing the meaning of present
tense and a third person singular (he/she) subject) is:

a. /mam-/
b. /ma-/
c. /man-/, /mam-/
d. /man-/

35. The following process is crucial in determining the allomorph that occurs in the 3rd person
sg forms in the above data:

a. Reduplication
b. Deletion of the last consonant of the root morpheme
c. Place of articulation assimilation of the last sound of the affix to the first consonant
sound of the root, then deletion of the first consonant of the root. In that order
d. Deletion of the first consonant of the root, and place of articulation assimilation of the
last sound of the affix. In that order.

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