Morphology and syntax

1. Morphology and syntax How are words formed, and how are they arranged?

2. Morpheme • the smallest meaningful unit in a language • 2 morphemes in a word: fireproof, snowplow • 2 morphemes in a word: joyous, poisonous, grievous, thunderous (-ous = adjective made from a noun) • 3 morphemes in a word: unsightly (un-, sight, -ly) • 2 morphemes in a word: eats (eat, -s) • 1 syllable, 2 morphemes: don’t • 2 syllables, 1 morpheme: barren

3. Free vs. bound morphemes • free morphemes can be used alone as independent words (take, for, each, the, panda) • bound morphemes form words only when attached to at least one other morpheme (re-, dis-, un-, -ing, -ful, -tion • “It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate. I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way. I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I'd have to make bones about it, since I was travelling cognito. Beknownst to me, the hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so it would be skin off my nose if anything bad happened. And even though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn't be peccable. Only toward and heard-of behavior would do. Fortunately, the embarrassment that my maculate appearance might cause was evitable.” Jack Winter, “How I Met My Wife” (New Yorker, July 25/94)

4. Some bound morphemes • affixes(prefixes and suffixes): added to the beginning or end of another morpheme • bases (morphemes to which affixes can be attached) can sometimes be bound • e.g., -cept (< Lat. capio, “to take”) • except, accept, deceptive, reception – but no cept!

5. Affixes • inflectional affix:indicates a grammatical feature (number, person, mood, tense, case): -s(plural), –ed (past tense), ‘s (possessive) • derivational affix (either prefix or suffix) can change the meaning of the word it’s attached to (uniform, transplant, microwave, unbelievable, desensitize) • or, can change its part of speech: • power noun -> empower verb • buzz verb ->abuzz adjective • cool adjective -> coolness noun • joy noun -> joylessadjective (and changes meaning to its opposite)

6. Variant pronunciations of morphemes • different pronunciations of –ed: • [d] after voiced consonant: stabbed, raised, slaved • [t] after unvoiced consonant: stopped, raced, laughed • [əd] after dental consonant: wanted, braided • archaic [əd] pronunciations: learned, beloved • different pronunciations of –s: • [z] after voiced consonant: jobs, beds, bags • [s] after unvoiced consonant: hats, hips, books • -es[əs] after [s], [z], [č], [ǰ], [š], [ž] • (hisses, sizes, beaches, edges, rushes, massages)

7. Lexical vs. function morphemes • lexical words or morphemes (usually nouns, adjectives, verbs): content words with referents in the real world (radio, nasty, swim) • function words or morphemes (usually conjunctions, pronouns, demonstratives, articles, prepositions): signal relationships between other words within the language (but, myself, these, a, of, than) • an example of a word with both lexical and functional aspects: in • function word: we are in love, one child in ten • lexical word:I’m in! (an adjective, or a preposition without an object)

8. Syntax • the arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences • order affects meaning: • Dog chases postman. / Postman chases dog. • They are outside. / Are they outside? • Only I saw Mary. / I saw only Mary. • Naturally, I got up. / I got up naturally. • Show me the last three pages. / Show me the three last pages. • The man with a dog saw me. / The man saw me with a dog.

9. Incorrect/unidiomatic syntax • I walked to town. / I to town walked. • Hardly had I left… / Hardly I had left… • That’s a fine old house. / That’s an old fine house. • John and I saw her. / I and John saw her. • She switched it on. / She switched on it. • instinct and education work together

10. Clause elements • S = subject (identifies theme or topic of the clause) • V = verb (actions, sensations, states of being) • O = object (direct or indirect) • C = complement (gives further information about another element) You are a fool. Did you call me fat? • A = adverbial (adds extra information about the situation)

11. Common clause types in present-day English • S + V: I / yawned. • S + V + O: I / opened / the door. • S + V + C: I / am / ready. • S + V + A: I / went / to London. • S + V + O + O: I / gave / him / a pen. • S + V + O + C: I / got / my shoes / wet. • S + V + O + A: I / put / the box / on the floor. • word order in English has become more rigid over time, but many basic patterns of modern English syntax were already established by the Old English period