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Understanding Morphology: Hierarchical Structures and Word Formation in Linguistics

This week explores morphology, focusing on the hierarchical structure of words. We examine words such as "unbelievable" and "unlockable," discussing their structural analysis and morphological ambiguity. Exercises will help solidify your understanding, including the concept of zero morphs and backformation. We will also delve into compounding, including endocentric and exocentric compounds and neo-classical formations. A related activity will encourage collaboration and deeper inquiry, preparing you for advanced topics like reduplication in Chinese.

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Understanding Morphology: Hierarchical Structures and Word Formation in Linguistics

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Linguistics week 13 Morphology 3

  2. Hierarchical structure of words (Fromkin 84) • unbelievable and unsystematic have only one structural analysis each: • believe相信 + -able可相信 + un-不可相信 • Unlockable, Fromkin shows on 85-6, is morphologically ambiguous • It can be understood in two ways • Try to understand why, by looking at the trees

  3. Reading and exercises • 69 to 74 (or further if you like) • Ex 2, 3, 4, 5A, 6 • You will probably enjoy these! • You might like to take a look at my master’s thesis • It contains a short section on reduplication in Chinese • It has some ideas about compounding (for next week) • You will get an idea of the structure of a Western-style essay: study, especially, the way the references and bibliography work

  4. Conversion to a different POS • Related words with different POS share the same form • Bank: He banked the money • Better: • You should respect your elders and betters • His performance is difficult to better • Empty: He emptied his glass in one gulp • Sometimes the stress changes • See how many examples you can think of

  5. Zero morphs (in inflectional morphology) • What’s the plural of sheep? • We can either say • {SHEEP}:{Ø} (the root plus a zero morph), or • The morpheme {SHEEP} realizes both singular and plural meanings • The same applies to the past and present tense of hit • A lot of linguists don’t like the idea of zero morphs, because it implies • {羊} singular, {羊};{Ø} plural (!)

  6. Shortening processes • Backformation (you usually need to know the history of the word) • Babysitter  babysit • Editor  edit • Clipping (this doesn’t involve complete morphemes) • Science-fiction  sci-fi • Information  info • Chinese stump compounds • 台大 • 網咖 • Are these backformations or clipped forms?

  7. Compounding • Relations between components • Fromkin 94-5 for some amusing examples • You have my ideas on Mandarin compounding • Endocentric compounds (modifier +head) • Boathouse, houseboat, blackbird, table-cloth, peanut, backpedal, gentleman, overeat • Exocentric compounds • Yellowhammer, scarecrow, hunchback, redneck

  8. Neo-classical compounds: two bound morphemes • Biology {LIFE}+{WORDS} • Telephone {DISTANT}+{SOUND} • Introduce {IN}+{LEAD} • In a way, these are the closest English equivalent to Chiense words like 朋友 • Group activity

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