From the phoneme to the morpheme

From the phoneme to the morpheme • Phonology to morphologyContrastive analysis in morphological constructions in English and Spanish COURSE: INGL 4235 PROF. ANÍBAL MUÑOZ CLAUDIO TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS 3:00-4:20 P.M. ROOM: LCS 101 www1.uprh.edu/animun

Preview Definitions Inflectional Paradigms Derivational Paradigms Intonation Patterns Position or Word Order Form Class Words (Lexicon –meaning) Nouns –Class I, Pronouns, Verbs –Class II, Adjectives –Class III, Adverbs –Class IV Function Words (determiners, conjunctions, others) Compound nouns Anglicism, calques, borrowings, and language evolution Semantic equivalents Connotations idiomatic expressions Morphemes of gender and number in nouns, pronouns,verbs, articles, adjectives, and adverbs Lexical units vs. function words Affixation –suffixes and prefixes PREVIEW

Definitions • Phoneme- any of a small set of basic units of sound, different for each language, by which utterances are represented. eg. /t/, /d/, /k/, /a/, /æ/ • Morpheme –any of the minimal grammatical units of a language that cannot be divided into smaller grammatical parts (smallest unit of meaning or lexical unit) eg. a, at, be, s, ness, ly, ic,

Paradigms • Paradigms The devices used by structuralists for establishing word classes in English include consideration of ways in which certain types of words can be grouped into sets, called paradigms, on the basis of the inflectional and derivational affixes (prefixes and suffixes) that they will take. • Inflectional paradigms They are sets of forms. Each set is made up of a base form (singular), plus whatever morphemic changes –either the addition of suffixes or sound changes or both –may be used to adapt the base form to certain functions without changing the lexical meaning.(1999, Herndon) For example, the inflectional paradigm for the class form (NOUNS) is made up as follows.

Nouns – inflectional paradigms

Spanish inflectional contrast

Derivational Paradigms • Derivational paradigms are made up of sets of endings that may be attached to bases that may shift their lexicalmeaning or part ofspeech or both. Some examples of noun-marking derivational suffixes are –hood, -ship, -ness, and –ment. Words having these endings are recognized, even in isolation, as nouns. (1999, Herndon)

Spanish derivational paradigms Noun: amigo amistad, amigable, amistoso, etc. NOUNS Adjective: oscuro oscuridad, oscurecer, etc. ADJECTIVES Verb: establecer Establecimiento, estable, etc. VERBS

Content (Form) words(carry lexical/ meaning) 1. Nouns –Class I Words • Inflectional paradigm –generally speaking, nouns are forms that will accept inflections. (slide # 5) • Derivational paradigms –many forms may be recognized as nouns on the basis of various noun-marking derivational suffixes added either to bound bases or to other words –often words belonging to other classes. There are literally dozens of these endings. For example, -er, -or, and –ment adapt verbs to use as nouns; Examples: verbs + derivational suffix = noun work + er = worker play + er = player stimulate + or = stimulator govern + ment = government 3. Intonation Pattern – differences of stress may distinguish nouns from verbs (slide # 7). Heavier stress on the first syllable almost always signals a noun; heavier stress on the second signals a verb. noun -súspect / verb -suspéct

Position and word order Nouns fill certain characteristic positions in relation to other parts of speech. The most obvious is that just before the verb. Examples: The _____ is here. These _____ are beautiful! 5. Function Words –In English, noun determiners immediately precede nouns or precede them with certain words in between. Some noun determiners never appear except when followed by a noun and invariably signal its coming. These are the articles the, a, and an and the possessive pronouns my, your, our, and their. Other pronouns are quite frequently used as determiners, but have other functions as well. These are the demonstratives this, that, these, and those and the other possessive pronouns, his, her, and its.

Pronouns • When considered a separate class, pronouns are Class II words, but most school texts consider them a subcategory of nouns. • In contrast to nouns, pronouns constitute a closed class –no new pronouns have been added to English for hundreds of years. If anything, the class has become smaller instead, as few speakers now make use of the forms thee, thou, thy, and thine. • Personal pronouns fall into an inflectional paradigm that is similar to, but not exactly like, that for nouns. Forms show both number and the possessive case, but they also show gender and the nominative and objective cases. Example: he / his / him (see enclosures) • Pronouns, in most cases are identifiable by the ability of each to substitute for a type of noun or noun phrase. (1999, Herndon)

2. Verbs Class II Words a. Inflectional Paradigm –English verbs commonly have five forms , the base form and four inflected forms. These inflections are the present 3rd person singular, the past, the present participle, and the past participle form. (see example below) • The present 3rd singular is similar in many ways to the noun inflections • The past tense, or preterit, is commonly formed with the –ed ending, but there are several irregular allomorphs. • The present progressive is formed by an –ing suffix. • The past participle makes use of –ed and –en endings or internal vowel changes. In a class by itself in many ways is the verb be, which has eight inflected forms (be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been) base 3rd sing. past present prog. past part.

b. Derivational Paradigm Some verbs are marked by suffixes such as the –ate ending added to bound bases and nouns, the –ize added to bound bases, nouns, and adjectives, and the –fy added to bound bases, nouns, and adjectives, and the prefix –en added to nouns and some other verbs. Examples: summarize, beautify, locate, etc. c. Intonation Pattern See contrasts with nouns marked by intonation d. Position or Word Order Some positions mark verbs. Verbs commonly occupy the first position in requests, a position between two nouns or pronouns, or between noun and adjective or adverb. Here’s a simple set of test frames for verbs. The child may___ something. The children ___ friendly. ___ you ____ me that? e. Function Words – function words that work with verbs are the various forms of have and be and the modals can, may, should, will, and others. (1999, Herndon) Verbs (cont.)

Inflectional Paradigms True adjectives commonly show comparative and superlative degrees by adding –er and –est inflections. Derived adjectives make use of the function words more and most for this purpose. Derivational Paradigms True adjectives fit into derivational patterns with nouns formed by adding the suffix –ness to true adjectives and adverbs formed by adding the suffix –ly to the same adjectives. (1999, Herndon) happy-happiness-happily b. (Cont.) Adjectives are derived from other words by adding such endings as –y, ic, and –ous to nouns and bound bases; -ful and –less to nouns; -able,-ent, and –ive to verbs and bound bases. 1. greed greedy 2. class classic 3. danger dangerous 4. need needful 5. home homeless 6. manage manageable 7. differ different 8. persuade persuasive Adjectives

Inflectional Paradigm In a few cases adverbs admit the comparative and superlative degree endings (er, est), usually they use more and most. Some adverbs have a base form that also serves as an adjective (fast, hard). In this case the class will depend upon other structural devices. (1999, Herndon) Derivational Paradigm –the most common adverb-marking suffix is the –ly added to adjectives (common + ly), (soft+ ly), (bare + ly). . There are other combinations. Intonation Patterns The intonation patterns of larger structures often show adverbs patterning closely with verbs, in contrast to adjectives which usually pattern with nouns. Word Order Most adverbs in English are extremely mobile. Various types may fill any of several positions or positional combinations, but almost all can fill the position following a noun-verb-complement sequence like the following. The boy ate his cookies _____. (1999, Herndon) Adverbs

Some words in English may not make use of the structural paradigms. They have no inflectional or derivational endings. They perform a function in the system –outside of the grammatical relationships they signify, they have little or no meaning. The categories of function words are often called closed classes because new forms are rarely, if ever, added to them. Function words represent only a few hundred of the more than half a million words in English. (1999, Herndon) Function Words (do not carry lexicon)

Function Words • Determiners – The workings of the determiner class of function words is described in some detail under the form class with which they appear, the nouns or class I words. The most commonly used members are the, a, an, and some. • Auxiliary Verbs – Forms of the auxiliaries have and be work with various inflected forms of verbs. Modals are usually considered a subcategory because their operation is somewhat different from that of have and be. Other auxiliaries are forms of get and do. • Qualifiers – They work with both adjectives and adverbs. Some of the most frequently used are more, most, very, quite, rather, and somewhat. • Prepositions – They introduce modifying or qualifying phrases set apart by intonation pattern and the presence of the preposition form. They indicate the relation of words with other words. (eg. location, direction, time, etc.)

Function Words • Conjunctions – They always work as coordinators of linguistics forms or syntactic units having equal value. The two most frequently used are and and but. • Subordinators – they connect dependent clauses and include words such as because, after, although, unless, and so on, as well as the relative pronouns who, whose, which, and that. • Interrogatives – they operate in the formation of questions and include words such as when, where, why, how and so on, as well as the interrogative pronouns who, which, and what

Other considerations when contrasting English and Spanish morphology • Compound nouns English takes many compound nouns (two words) in contrast to Spanish. mochila o bulto – book bag bombero – firefighter baño –bathroom sala –living room cuaderno-workbook abuelo(s) –grandfather

Anglicism, borrowings, and language evolution • Anglicism – a word, idiom, or characteristic feature of the English language occurring or borrowed by another language. • eg. Parking, hanguear, badtrip,

From the phoneme to the morpheme