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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.