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Morphology

An Introduction tothe Structure of Words

By Christian Monson

Goals

• Introduction to morphology– look at one interesting morphological

phenomenon—allomorphy

• To help you read linguistic texts– what features can morphemes realize

What is a Word?

• There are no spaces in spoken language

Hewenttotownonhishorse

He went to town on his horse

Hew entt otow non hi shor se

Example of Words (Hungarian)

a) Jánosénekel

John sings

b) Máriaénekel

Mary sings

c) Máriafut

Mary runs

What is a Word?

• Possible Criteria– Recurring units of form and meaning

– The smallest things you can say in isolation

– Pauses are not possible inside a word

• There are many exceptions to these rules– Linguists always qualify what they mean by a word

• In this class words will be separated by spaces.– Even if the orthography of the language does not use spaces

Morphemes

• Smallest unit of form and meaning– Here too there are exceptions but most linguists

pretend that morphemes really do exist

Example of Morphemes (Hungarian again)

keresek I seek

keresel you seek

keres he/she/it seeks

hiszek I believe

hiszel you believe

hisz he/she/it believes

Example of Morphemes (Hungarian again)

keresek I seek

keresel you seek

keresØ he/she/it seeks

hiszek I believe

hiszel you believe

hiszØ he/she/it believes

Allomorphs

• Same meaning

• Different form

• Complementary distribution

Allomorphy Example:English Plural

bags, crabs, accidents, names, lollipops, brushes, churches, maps, toes, faces, beds, books, prizes, flies, giraffes, deaths, judges, garages…

Allomorphy Example:English Plural

bags, crabs, accidents, names, lollipops, brushes, churches, maps, toes, faces, beds, books, prizes, flies, giraffes, deaths, judges, garages…

s z *z

accidents beds faces

books bags prizes

lollipops crabs churches

maps names brushes

giraffes toes judges

deaths flies garages

* = reduced vowel

Allomorph Environments

• Each allomorph has a separate environment• Environments are complementary

– Wrong: s occurs after consonants– Because: z and *z also occur after consonants

• Environments are complete– Wrong: z occurs after vowels– Because: z also occurs after voiced non-sibilants

• No unused environments– Wrong (usually): The plural of words ending in the

phoneme p do not exist

English Plural Cont.

• Identify the allomorph environments

• Generalize if possible – may require phonology—not covered in this class.




Allomorph s z *z

Environment ? ? ?




Allomorph s z *z

Word-Final Phoneme

t, k, p, f, th(voiceless)

d, g, b, m, v, l, r, and vowels

s, z, ch, sh, dg, ž




Allomorph s z *z

Word-Final Phoneme




Generalize ? ? ?




Allomorph s z *z

Word-Final Phoneme




Generalize

voiceless non-

sibilant consonants

voiced non-sibilant

soundssibilants

Complementary Distribution


All Sounds (consonants + vowels)



Consonants (b, d, f, g, k, l, m, …)




Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dg, …)




Sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, dg, …)Voiced (b, d, dg, g, l, m, …)





*z





*z

s





z

*z

s

Allomorphy Example:Hungarian Present Tense 1sg

hoz-ok vár-ok szűn-ök hisz-ek

bring-1sgPres wait-1sgPres cease-1sgPres believe-1sgPres

keres-ek tud-ok isz-ok kér-ek

seek-1sgPres know-1sgPres drink-1sgPres ask-1sgPres

mos-ok vesz-ek ad-ok hív-ok

wash-1sgPres buy-1sgPres give-1sgPres call-1sgPres

köt-ök üt-ök főz-ök tart-ok

tie-1sgPres hit-1sgPres cook-1sgPres hold-1sgPres


ok ek ök

ad-ok isz-ok vesz-ek köt-ök

give-1sgPres drink-1sgPres buy-1sgPres tie-1sgPres

tart-ok hív-ok keres-ek főz-ök

hold-1sgPres call-1sgPres seek-1sgPres cook-1sgPres

vár-ok hoz-ok kér-ek üt-ök

wait-1sgPres bring-1sgPres ask-1sgPres hit-1sgPres

tud-ok mos-ok hisz-ek szűn-ök

know-1sgPres wash-1sgPres believe-1sgPres cease-1sgPres


Allomorph ok ek ök

Environment ? ? ?


Allomorph ok ek ök

Stem Vowel a, á, (i), í, o, ó, u, ú e, é, (i) ö, ő, ü, ű


Allomorph ok ek ök


Generalized ? ? ?


Allomorph ok ek ök


Generalized back front front-rounded


Allomorph ok ek ök



All Vowels


Allomorph ok ek ök



All Vowels

Front Vowels


Allomorph ok ek ök



All Vowels

Front Vowels

Front Rounded Vowels

Features

• Nouns

Features

• Nouns– number

• singular, dual, plural

– case• nominative, accusative, dative, …

– gender/class• male, female, neuter

• animate, inanimate, man-made object, shape, …

Features

• Verbs

Features

• Verbs– Person

• first, second, third, third person far removed, …

– Number– Tense

• present, past, future, remote past, ...

– Aspect• perfective, imperfective, habitual, repetitive, …

– Mood• indicative, conditional, subjunctive (doubt or possibility), …

Other Parts of Speech

• Adjectives

• Adverbs

• Determiners and Specifiers

Other Parts of Speech

• Adjectives– Degree

• positive, comparative, superlative, etc.

– Number, Gender, Case

• Adverbs– Degree, …

• Determiners and Specifiers– Case– Who knows!

• This is what Linguists try to elicit and categorize

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