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Morphology
Chapter 3 – The grammar of English
Morphology
The area of linguistics that deals with the structure
or form of words.
It describes how morphemes combine to the
creation of meaning or the construction of new
words.
Morpheme = the smallest unit of meaning or
grammatical function
inflectional morphology deals with changes in the
form of words that have grammatical meaning
e.g. -est signals the superlative of adjectives
derivational morphology deals with the process of
new word formation
e.g. happy  unhappiness (see Chapter 4)
What is a morpheme?
unhappy
cats
un-happy = negative + happy
cat-s
= cat + plural
• A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning or grammatical
function. It cannot be divided into smaller units expressing
meaning or grammatical function.
• Free: can stand alone as words
- lexical e.g. pen, book
- functional e.g. if, the
• bound: cannot stand alone and must be linked to another
morpheme (called base or root) e.g. -ly, un-, -able, -ee
- derivational e.g. -ness, -able
- inflectional e.g. -s, -ing
morphemes and morphs
Morph = concrete = the physical form of a morpheme
A morpheme (abstract) is realized by a morph
words
morphs
morphemes
played
unhelpful
impolitely
play-ed
{PLAY}+ {past }
un-help-ful {negative} + {HELP} + {adjective}
im-polite-ly {negative} + {POLITE} + {adverb}
• Words
•
•
•
•
•
Taller
Teachers
Repainted
Drinkable
Going
Morphs
tall-er
teach-er-s
re+paint+ed
drink+able
go+ing
Morphemes
{TALL} +{comparative}
{TEACH}+{noun}+{plural}
{repetition}+{PAINT}+{past}
{DRINK}+{possible}
{GO}+{present participle}
Phonetical Allomorphs
morph -ed
indicates {past tense}
the morpheme can be phonetically
realised in different ways depending on
the phonological context :
e.g. raised [d] (-ed preceded by voiced consonant)
looked [t] (-ed preceded by voiceless consonant)
decided [ ] (-ed preceded by /t, d/)
Morphs that realise the same morpheme in different
contexts are called allomorphs of that morpheme
Graphic Allomorphs
• Inaccurate, intolerant, inexpensive, illegal,
impossible, irresponsible:
• the morphs -in, -im, -il, -ir are graphic
allomorphs of the same morpheme
meaning {not} or oppositeness of
meaning. They realise the same
morpheme {in} in different phonological
contexts (e.g. before a labial [p] or [m]
there is –im, before [r] there is –ir, etc.
• Problematic concepts
• Some scholars prefer to avoid the
distinction between morph, morphemes
and allomorphs.
• To simplify our analysis we will talk about
morphemes only.
Root, base
root= the core of the word, the morpheme which
determines the meaning of the word
e.g. happy is the root of happiness
bound root= a root that is not independent
e.g. dent- in dentist, dental, dentistry (Latin dens,
dentis): liberal, liberty, liberalise (Latin liber); morpheme
–ceive in receive, perceive, conceive (obscure origin) -fer
in infer, prefer, refer, transfer (Latin verb fero =bring,
send)
base= part of the word to which any affixes are attached
(inflectional or derivational)
e.g. happy is the root of unhappy; unhappy is the base
of unhappiness
Affixes
• Affix = morpheme attached to the
beginning or end of another morpheme.
• Prefix precedes, suffix follows.
• All affixes are bound morphemes
• Affixes are attached to the root, a base, or
the stem of a word.
• A stem is a part of a word to which
inflectional affixes are attached.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stem and Base are very similar
Reprinted = Re+print+ed
Verb print = root
Reprint = stem or base
-ed = inflectional morpheme
Originality = original+ity
Origin =root; original stem; -ity =
derivational morpheme
Exercise 2 p. 174 Morpheme identification
Identify the morphemes in the following words:
Handwriting, unmarried, uncomfortable, walked, volleyball, smaller,
unhappiness, employee, unemployment, blackboard, pubs,
businesswoman, headteachers, cheerful, unkindness, unfaithfulness,
dishonest, singers.
hand+write+ing
un+marry+ed
un+comfort+able
walk+ed
volley+ball
small+er
un+happy+ness
employ+ee
un+employ+ment
black+board
pub+s
busy+ness+woman
head+teach+er+s
cheer+ful
un+kind+ness
un+faith+ful+ness
dis+honest
sing+er+s
Exercise 1.1 p. 173
Identify the units (clauses, phrases, words, morphemes)
in the following sentences:
Example: The young lady bought a pair of very expensive shoes and
walked out of the shop. (Sentence)
Clauses: the sentence consists of two clauses which are joined by the
coordinating conjunction and:
the young lady bought a pair of expensive shoes
walked out of the shop.
Phrases: the young lady (NP), bought (VP), a pair of very expensive shoes
(NP), walked (VP), out of the shop (PP).
Words: the, young, lady, bought, a, pair, of, very, expensive, shoes, and,
walked, out of, shop.
Morphemes: the, young, lady, buy, -ed (inflectional morpheme), a, pair, of,
very, expense, -ive (derivational morpheme), shoe, -s (bound inflectional
morpheme), and, walk, out, of, shop
The dog barked the whole night so I took him out
for a walk in the morning (sentence)
• clauses: two, the dog barked the whole night,
So (coordinating conjunction) I took him out…
• phrases: The dog (NP), barked (VP), the whole night
(NP), I took him out (VP), for a walk (PP), in the morning
(PP)
• words: the , dog, barked, whole, night, I, took him, out,
for , a, walk, in, morning.
• morphemes: the, dog, bark –ed (inflectional morpheme),
the, whole, night, so, I, took, him, out, for, a, walk, in, the,
morning.
Exercise 2.2 p. 174 E.g. Unthinkable: un- (bound, derivational
prefix), think (free, root), -able (bound, derivational suffix)
Actors: act (free, root), -or (bound, derivational suffix), -s
(bound, inflectional suffix).
Computerize: compute (free, root), -er (bound, derivational
suffix), -ize (bound, derivational suffix).
Unbelievable – incredible - decolonialised
Unbelievable: un- (bound, derivational prefix), believe (free
root), -able (bound, derivational suffix)
Incredible: in- (bound derivational prefix), cred- (bound
root), -ible (bound derivational suffix)
Decolonialised: de- (bound derivational prefix), colony (free
root), -al (bound derivational suffix), -ise (bound
derivational suffix), -ed (bound inflectional suffix)
gratefulness, arguments, misunderstanding
• gratefulness: grate (free, root), -ful (bound,
derivational suffix), ness (bound, derivational
suffix); grateful (base)
• arguments: argue (free, root), -ment (bound,
derivational suffix), -s (bound, inflectional suffix)
• misunderstanding: mis- (bound, derivational
prefix), under (free, functional morpheme) stand
(free, root), -ing (bound, inflectional suffix).
PDE regular inflections
nouns
nouns
verbs
verbs
verbs
verbs
adjectives
adjectives
-s
-’s
-s
-ed
-ed
-ing
-er
-est
plural,
possessive case
3rd pers. sing.
past tense,
past participle
gerund
comparative
superlative
number in English nouns
• most nouns add -s
• some nouns add -es
e.g.
e.g.
girls, toys, cars
tomatoes, branches, knives
• the pronunciation of the inflectional ending -s/-es depends
on the phonetic context, i.e. there are three allomorphs of
the plural morpheme -s
e.g. cakes = [s] (preceded by the voiceless consonant [k])
beans = [z] (preceded by the voiced consonant [n])
judges= [iz] (preceded by the affricate consonant [
]
•some nouns have irregular plural endings, e.g.
children, brethren (Old English)
phenomenon-na, curriculum-la, stimulus-a
(Greek/Latin/French)
tooth-teeth, mouse-mice (vowel mutation/replacive
morph)
sheep (zero morph/zero inflection)
wife-ves, leaf-ves (from voiceless to voiced)
(see p. 131)
•uncountable nouns:
e.g. evidence, advice, equipment, information, accommodation,
furniture, news, access, baggage, hardware, homework, money,
research, sugar, wine, meat, water, milk
POSSESSIVE CASE IN ENGLISH NOUNS
The ’s genitive versus the of-form
Synthetic versus analytic option
Say whether the following examples are all acceptable and
discuss the rule of the ’s genitive versus the “of form”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
John’s car is fast
The car of John is fast
The students’ protest is still going on
The protest of the students is still going on
The car of the friend who is visiting me was stolen last night
The friend who is visiting me’s car was stolen last night
Yesterday’s newspaper
The newspaper of yesterday
The journey’s end
The end of the journey
The legs of the table
The table’s legs
Morphological analysis
• Morph = concrete realisation of a morpheme
• Morpheme = it is represented/realised by a morph
• WORD
Morph
Morpheme
• Oxen
2 ox-en
2 {OX}+{plural}
• Sheep
1 sheep 2 {SHEEP}+{plural}
• Women’s 2 women’s 3 {WOMAN}+
{plural}+
{possessive}
•
verb inflections
most English verbs are regular and have a paradigm of 5 word forms
and 4 verb inflections (because past and past participle are the same)
e.g. love / loves / loved / loved / loving
there is a smaller number of very frequently used irregular verbs
e.g.
take, took, taken (vowel mutation)
put, put, put (zero morph)
speak, spoke, spoken (vowel mutation)
lose, lost, lost (replacive morphs)
go, went, gone (suppletion)
auxiliaries are very irregular, e.g. the verb to be has forms that differ
from one another, e.g. am, are, is, was, were, been, being (suppletion)
most modal verbs do not inflect and have only two forms, e.g. may,
might, can, could
Morphological analysis
•
•
•
•
Word
Cooking
Taken
Cut
• Went
• Runs
Morph
2 cook+ing
2 take+en
1 cut
1 went
2 run+s
Morpheme
2 {COOK}+{present participle}
2 {TAKE}+{past participle}
2 {CUT}+{past}or {present}or
{past participle}
2 {GO}+{past}
2 {RUN}+{3rd person singular
present}
Gradability of adjectives and
adverbs
 Gradable: very beautiful, extremely nervous, a bit cold,
not bad at all (they can be graded)
 Ungradable: dead, married
 Gradable adjectives and adverbs can be inflected to
express comparative and superlative degrees
 The comparative degree of short adjectives is formed by
adding the suffix –er (shorter, faster, happier, nicer,
younger); the superlative degree by adding the suffix
- est (shortest, fastest, happiest, nicest).
 We can say that the lexeme small has 3 inflected wordforms: positive (small), comparative (smaller),
superlative (smallest).
Synthetic vs Analytic Comparison
• Synthetic comparison:
•
-er ending (comparative) e.g. warmer
•
-est ending (superlative) e.g. finest
• For adjectives of one or two syllables (ending with a
vowel sound)
•Analytic comparison (use of periphrastic form)
•
more and most e.g. more/ most interesting
more / most pleasant
•
more quickly
• For adjectives of more than two syllables or of two
syllables ending with a consonant sound
Irregular Comparison
• irregular comparison (process of
suppletion)
• e.g. good better best; little, less, least;
much, more, most; well, better, best; bad,
worse, worst
• Word-Form
• Colder
Morph
2 cold-er 2
• Worst
1 worst
Morpheme
2 {COLD}+ {comparative
degree}
2 {BAD}
+{superlative degree}
pronoun/determiners
inflection
Pronouns, and personal pronouns in particular, have
retained a certain degree of inflection in PDE.
e.g. personal pronouns express the categories of
number, gender and case often through suppletive
[sә′plitiv] forms
I - me; we - us, you - you, he - him, she - her, it - it,
they – them
Determiners such as the demonstratives this, that
express the category of number (singular: this/that ;
plural: these/those)
Morphological Analysis
•Word-form
Morph
•Him
1 him
Morpheme
5{HE}+{3rdperson}+{masculine}
+{singular}+{object}
Her
1 her
5 {SHE}+{3rdperson}+{feminine}
+{singular}+{object}
Syntax and Morphology
• Morphology/ Morphological analysis: deal
with the internal form of words
• Syntax: deals with the interaction of words
into larger units (phrases, clauses, and
sentences) and with the rules which allow
speakers to combine them.
• The order of constituents specifies and
signals their syntactic function
• Mark beat Luke at tennis (NP, VP, NP,
PP)
• Luke beat Mark at tennis (NP, VP, NP,
PP)
• Same morphological features of the words
but the different meaning is dictated by the
order of constituents.
Unmarked / marked order
•
•
•
•
Unmarked = typical, most common
Marked = untypical, less frequent
Unmarked order of constituents in English:
SVO -> NP in initial position = S
NP after verb = O
In Italian the order is more flexible:
Io la odio = Io odio lei I hate her
BUT Her, I hate implies a certain emphasis/marked
This book, I really liked! emphasis/marked
Mistakes due to Italian interference
• *Will follow some examples (a structural
calque from “seguiranno degli esempi”)
• *In chapter 2 will be presented the
translation of the dialogue
• *Can I ask you what’s the time?
• *I speak very well English
Phrase (it. sintagma)
• a meaningful unit of syntax made up of one or
more words
• it contains an obligatory head element and
optional modifiers (accompanying words, define
and modify the head pre-modifier vs postmodifier
The black labrador (NP) was chewing (VP) a
juicy bone (NP) very noisily (AdvP)
Types of phrases
Noun Phrase (NP)
Verb Phrase (VP)
Adjective Phrase (AdjP)
Adverb Phrase (AdvP)
Prepositional Phrase (PP)
• except for prepositional phrases (PP), phrases can
be constituted by a single lexical item
• all phrases can be extended by pre-modification or
post-modification
Examples of Phrases
• NP the headword is a noun (Peter, he, our room, the
lady with the black hat, a nice flowery garden, the family
who lived here)
• VP the headword is a verb (has seen, loved, should
come, is illustrated)
• AdjP the headword is an adjective (happy, happy for
you, happy to go, very happy)
• AdvP the headword is an adverb (late, too early, very
fast)
• PP the headword is a preposition, but it is always
followed by another element (on the floor, opposite the
station, for her birthday, of the table). The floor = C
(complement of the preposition).
types of Noun Phrases
determiner
-
pre-modifier
-
HEAD
post-modifier
John
-
suitcase
-
my
leather (n.)
a
large, old, blue suitcase
(size, age,
colour)
with wheels
(PP)
more Noun Phrases
det.
pre-modifier
HEAD
post-modifier
The
London
experience
-
-
London’s
churches
-
The
-
London
I know
(clause)
build Noun Phrases
Determiner
The
pre-modifier
ugly tabby
HEAD
Cat
A
nice,
Australian
Bloke
The
tall modern
Building
post-modifier
on Paul’s
computer
desktop/ on the
desktop of
Paul’s
computer
with a red
Ferrari
in the centre of
town
Constituents of a
Noun Phrase p. 140  complexity
• Determiners (Det.
underlined, head in bold):
Pre-modifiers (Pre-Mod,
• a car, the teacher,
that house, some
books, five dogs
• Adj or AdjP:
underlined, head in bold)
a new car
an extremely expensive car
• N or NPs:
summer house
third-year university students
Post-Modifiers (Post-Mod)
post-mod underlined, head in bold,
• A PP: that old man with a hat and stick
• A relative clause: a lot of hazards that can injure
children (here a clause is a whole unit, can’t be broken
down into further constituents)
• Non-finite clause: a man walking with a stick
• That-clause: [all of these data supported] the belief that
our children are likely to be spoilt
• Appositive NPs: Peter Smith, managing director of…
/The President of US, Barack Obama
• Some AdvPs: holidays abroad/ the car outside
• Some AdjPs: something similar
ambiguity in NPs
• The French history teacher
the (det.) French (pre-mod.) history (pre-mod.)
teacher (head)
[the] [French] [history teacher]
(the teacher of history is French)
[the] [French history] [teacher]
(the teacher teaches French history)
tree diagram
(the teacher of history is French)
NP
det.
mod.
head = NP
mod.
The
French
head
history teacher
tree diagram
(the teacher teaches French history)
NP
det.
Mod. = NP
mod.
The
head
head
French history
teacher
TREE DIAGRAM
“An interesting government report about air
pollution”
NP
det. mod.(adj.) mod.(n.)
head
mod.PP
head
C (NP)
mod.(n.) head
An interesting government report about air pollution
relative clause as a post-modifier of a NP
The man who came to dinner
NP
det.
the
head (n.)
man
mod. (clause)
who came to dinner
relative clause as a post-modifier of a NP
The man who came to dinner
NP
det.
head (n.)
mod. (clause)
S:NP
P:VP
V
A:PP
h(prep.) C:NP
h(pron.)
the
man
who
h(v.)
came
h (n.)
to
dinner
complex post-modification
• The proposal for a new building which the
committee put forward last week
- for a new building (PP)
- which the committee put forward last week (relative
clause)
- If a PP, an AdjP or an AdvP occur within a NP, we
can say they are embedded in the NP or subordinate
to the NP = Subordination within phrases
Activity
•
Analyse the constituent parts of the
following NPs illustrating with tree
diagrams:
1)
2)
3)
A luxury apartment in the heart of Oxford (p.141)
A rather disgustingly dirty carpet (p. 142)
A very interesting book about Renaissance art in Italy
(p.143)
frequency of NPs in English
• pre-modification is more common
than post-modification in all registers
• complex pre- and post-modification is
typical of some registers such as
written academic prose and
newspaper headlines
English / Italian NPs
Translate these noun phrases into Italian and notice the differences between
the two languages
The Los Angeles Police Department
Il Dipartimento di Polizia di Los Angeles
2. Air pollution
L’inquinamento dell’aria
3. The Birmingham train
Il treno per/da /di (?) Birmingham
4. Stansted airport
L’aeroporto di Stansted
5. The proposal of a national curriculum
La proposta di un curricolo nazionale
6. The country’s leading expert on youth culture
Il maggior esperto del paese sulla cultura giovanile
1.
Italian versus English NPs
English favours premodification (to the
left of the head). NPs are concise and
at times ambiguous
• The Los Angeles Police Department
Italian favours postmodification (to the
right of the head) and the use of
prepositions. NPs are longer and more
explicit
• Il Dipartimento di Polizia di Los Angeles
Translate into Italian
• The State of the World’s Children Report
• Rapporto sulle condizioni dei bambini nel
mondo
• Zimbabwean riot police officers
• Ufficiali dei corpi antisommossa dello
Zimbabwe
• A severe hepatic artery stricture
• Un grave restringimento dell’arteria
epatica
A Verb Phrase (VP)
• It consists of a head verb, either alone or
accompanied by one or more verbs. 
unlike NP, it is never exceedingly long
• Types of verbs:
• Lexical verbs
• Primary verbs functioning as main verbs (be,
have, do)
• Primary auxiliaries (be, have, do)
• Modal auxiliaries (must, may, can, shall, should)
VP
• If it contains one verb, it is a lexical verb,
e.g. went, arrives
• It there are more verbs, there is a lexical
verb pre-modified by one or more auxiliary
verbs
• Auxiliary verbs have a specific function: to
express categories such as aspect, voice, and
modality and to signal negation and clause type.
Grammatical categories
of verbs
• Tense: only present/past (in Italian present/past/future)
• Aspect: (unmarked = simple, progressive, perfective,
perfect progressive) (have- perfective; be-progressive
• Voice: active or passive (be- passive voice)
• Modality: (must – obligation/necessity; may – possibility;
will – prediction/volition; can – permission/ability)
• Mood: indicative, subjunctive, imperative
• Negation: positive or negative
• Clause structure type: declarative or interrogative
Verb Phrases : finite/ non-finite
• finite verbs or finite VPs: marked by tense
e.g. John plays the guitar
I enjoyed the concert
• non-finite verbs or non-finite VPs: not marked by tense,
person or number
e.g. To arrive on time was their objective
She travelled accompanied by her father
She broke her leg while skiing
Tense
•tense: property allowing the verb to
differentiate between present and past
e.g. Jane likes music / Jane liked music
•It is marked through verb inflections
• Unlike in Italian, there is no morphologically
marked form to express future time in
English (but a range of forms such as
will/shall+ infinitive, going to, simple present,
present progressive etc. see 148-149)
Tense versus Time
• Tense is related to form, time to meaning
• Present tense for different times:
• She is a student, she studies Italian (present
time)/One day the child comes and says: “I want
to be an artist” (historic present  refers to past
time)/If it rains, we won’t go (future)/This year
classes begin on Sept 15 and end on June 10
(future time)
• Past tense for different times: I just wanted to
say that I’m really sorry (refers to present time)
•
Aspect
property allowing the verb to give information about
the state or the action
• Progressive (or continuous) : the action is in
progress, ongoing
Sarah is helping her sister
• perfect: the action is complete, that is it occurred at
an earlier time and continues to the time of
utterance or is relevant to it
Sarah has helped her sister to take her degree
• perfect+progressive: (often called ‘duration form’)
stresses
continuity in the past and includes the time of
utterance
Sarah has been helping her sister since she was 12
Combination of tense/aspect
Present/past progressive
She is attending a linguistics course this year (present
tense, progressive aspect); when I met her, she was
working in an office (past tense, progressive aspect)
Present/Past Perfect
She has lived here for 5 years (present tense, perfect
aspect); She had lived in Milan before coming here (past
tense, perfect aspect)
Present/Past Perfect Progressive
She has been going to work by bike for years
This affair had been going on since February
Translate into Italian and identify the main
differences between the two languages
1. Sarah helps her sister every
Thursday
2. Sarah is helping her sister a lot
3. Sarah has helped her sister to
recover from illness
4. Sarah helped her sister one year
ago when she was ill
5. Sarah has been helping her sister
since last May
Translate from Italian into
English
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sono andata a Londra molte volte
Vivo a Londra
Vado a Londra ogni anno
Vivo a Londra da 5 anni e ne sono
felice
5. Ho vissuto a Londra per cinque anni
prima di tornare in Italia
6. Vivevo a Londra quando ho incontrato
John
Verb Phrase : Voice
• The singer performed the song
• The song was performed by the singer
• NP1+VP+ NP2  NP2 +be+VPed+ by+NP1
• The singer was performing the song
• The song was being performed by the
singer
Functions of the Passive
• the agent is unknown or irrelevant
Mr Constable has been murdered
• the focus is on the process to convey objectivity,
especially in academic prose
The results of the tests have been checked several
times
• to disclaim responsibility
He is said to be a swindler
More frequent in scientific writing and in the press
Use of “get” instead of “be” in colloquial speech
Modality
• English verbs can be marked for modality
(expresses shades of meaning)
• Modals (9): shall, should, will, would must, can,
could, may, might.
• Unmarked for tense, but have a time reference
(shall/will for future; present or past: can/could,
will/would, may/might)
• Semi modals (multi-word verbs that behave like
modals): have to, need (to), used to, ought to,
had better, be supposed, be going to
Deontic vs Epistemic modality
• Deontic/intrinsic: refers to actions or events that
can be controlled by humans; involves
permission (can/could/may/might), advice
(should ought to), volition, (will, would, shall,
going to) ability (can/could), obligation (must,
have to, supposed to)
• Epistemic/extrinsic: expresses different degrees
of possibility or probability of a fact; involves
prediction (will, shall, be going to), possibility
(can, could, may might) and necessity (must,
have to, supposed to, ought to)
Discuss the concepts of “tense” and “aspect” in the English verb and
illustrate with examples.
Tense and aspect are grammatical categories of
verbs. Tense refers to the distinction between
present and past forms of verbs (I think vs I
thought), while aspect refers to the state of the
action (progressive or perfect). In English we
may distinguish between progressive and perfect
aspects: I’m reading a book describes an action
in progress and still incomplete, while I’ve read
an interesting book describes a completed action
which is still relevant to the time of the utterance.
In English it is also possible to combine the
progressive and the perfective aspect in
sentences like I’ve been living in London for five
years/ I’ve been living in London since 2007.
Unlike Italian, English does not have a
morphologically marked future tense. To
express future events the most common forms
are will+verb, be+ going to+verb or the present
progressive form, eg We are going to buy a new
car. Tense does not coincide with time. In fact, it
is possible to say The games start next week.