LCM 1101 How to Learn Foreign Languages

Levels of language I – B [week 5 – day 2]

2022 Winter
Prof. Juana M. Liceras
jliceras@uottawa.ca
MODULE #3. Levels of language I

(A)
• Sounds and phonemes

(B)
• Morphemes: roots, themes, affixes
MODULE #3. Levels of language I

O’Grady and Dobrovolsky. 1996. Contemporary Linguistic

Analysis. Toronto: Copp Clark Ltd. (3rd edition)

Genetti, C. 2019. How languages work. An Introduction to

Language and Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. (2nd edition)
Inflectional Morphology and compounding

un perro policía
‘a police dog’

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Inflectional Morphology and compounding

dos perros policía / *dos perro policías

two dogs police
‘two police dogs’

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Derivational Morphology and compounding

una carta bomba

a letter bomb

‘a letter bomb’

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Derivational Morphology and compounding

dos cartas bomba / *dos carta bombas

two letters bomb
‘two letter bombs’

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 Morphology and compounding
• What is a ‘carta bomba’?
• a letter…

• What is a ‘letter bomb’?

• a bomb…

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 Properties of compounds
1. En English NN compounds have a more prominent stress on their first component while in a sequence Noun
+ Adjective the second element is usually stressed.
police dog
cute dog
Compound word Non-compound expression
greénhouse green hoúse
bláckboard black boárd
wét suit wet suít

2. Tense and plural markers cannot be attached to the first element

(1a) *The player [dropped kick] the ball through the goalpost
(1b) The player [drop kick]ed] the ball through the goalpost
(2a) *The [foxes hunter] didn’t have a licence
(2b) The [fox hunter]s didn’t have a licence

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 Inflection
Stem – the base to which an inflectional affix is added
NOMINAL INFLECTION : number
singular plural
apple apple-s
car car-s
dog dog-s

VERBAL INFLECTION: tense

work work-ed
jump jump-ed
hunt hunt-ed

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 Inflection versus Derivation
• Inflection = No category change:
Noun + plural affix  Noun (plural)
Verb + ed afix  Verb (past)
• Derivation = possible category change
Adjective: modern  Verb: modern-ize
Noun: king  Noun: kingdom
• A derivational affix must combine with the base before an inflectional affix does
neighbour  neighbour-hood  neighbour-hood-s

• Productivity. Inflectional affixes can combine with bases of the appropriate category
with almost no restriction while derivational affixes apply to restricted clases of bases
(-s can combine with virtually any noun, while -ize combines with only certain
adjectives to form a verb). 11
 NOUN CLASS
• Gender distinction in Russian
Class suffix example
Masculine ø dom ‘house’
Feminine -a ulits-a ‘street’
Neuter -o tʃuvstv-o ‘sensation’

• Gender distinction in Spanish and French

Class suffix example
Masculine -o libr-o ‘book’
Femenine -a mes-a ‘mesa’

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 Person and number agreement
SPANISH ITALIAN
1s habl-o parl-o I speak
2s habla-s parl-i you
3s habla-Ø parl-a he/she/it speaks
1p habla-mos parl-iamo we
2p habla-is parl-ate you [p]
3p habla-n parl-ano they

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 Case

• Case in Latin

maiden
of.. maiden
to… maiden
maiden
maiden!
on, for, with … maiden

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 Case

• Case in Turkish
‘house’

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