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Linguistics 100A > Chapter 4: Morphology > Flashcards

Chapter 4: Morphology Flashcards

1
Q

Morphology

A

part of grammar referring to words and word formation

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2
Q

word

A

the smallest free form in a language

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3
Q

free form

A

an element that does not have to occur in a fixed position with respect to neighbouring elements

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4
Q

morpheme

A

the minimal linguistic unit which has meaning or grammatical function

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5
Q

root

A

constitutes the core of the word and carries the major component of the meaning, typically belong to a lexical category

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6
Q

lexical category

A

noun, verb, adjective, preposition, etc

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7
Q

affix

A

always bound morphemes

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8
Q

base

A

the form to which an affix is added

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9
Q

prefix

A

an affix that is attached to the front of its base

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10
Q

suffix

A

an affix that is attached to the end of its base

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11
Q

infix

A

an affix that occurs within another morpheme (much less common than pre or suf)

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12
Q

allomorphs

A

the variant pronunciations of a morpheme
ex- [-s], [-z], [-iz] (- plural) of the morpheme: [-s]

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13
Q

Non-concatenative morphology

A

word building does not proceed in a linear sequence (happens in languages such as Tagalog or Arabic)

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14
Q

morphophonemics

A

the effects that can change a words pronunciation including its internal structure
Ex- /s/, /z/, /ez/ for the words lips, pills, judges

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15
Q

derivation

A

uses an affix to build a word with a meaning and/or category distinct from that of its base
Ex- sell-er, teach-er, treat-ment

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16
Q

complex derivations

A

words with multiple layers of internal structure
Ex- activation (act-ive-ate-ion)

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17
Q

class 1 of derivational affixes

A

often trigger changes in the pronunciation of the bases consonants and vowels and may affect stress placement

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18
Q

class 2 of derivational affixes

A

tend to be phonologically neutral, having no effect on the segmental makeup of the base or on the stress placement

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19
Q

compounding

A

the combination of 2 already existing words, the resulting compound is most likely a noun, adjective or verb

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20
Q

head

A

the morpheme that determines the category of the entire word

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21
Q

endocentric compounds

A

compound denotes a subtype of the concept denoted by its head (ex- dog-food is a type of food, caveman is a type of man, etc)

22
Q

exocentric compounds

A

the meaning of the compound does not follow the meaning of its parts (ex- redneck is not a type of neck it denotes a type of person, sabre-tooth is not a type of tooth rather a tiger)

23
Q

inflection

A

the modification of a word’s form to indicate grammatical information of various sorts

24
Q

affixation

A

process of adding an affix to a base

25
stem
the base to which an inflectional affix is added to
26
Four criteria used to identify if an affix is inflectional or derivational
category change, order, productivity, semantic transparency
27
category change
Inflection does not change the syntactic category or the meaning of the base of the word (ex- hearts, worked) Derivational changes the category or the type of meaning of the form to which it applies (ex- heartless, worker, kingdom)
28
order
Derivational affixes must be closer to the base then inflectional affixes (ex- neighbour-hoodDA-sIA)
29
productivity
the relative freedom with which they can combine with bases of the appropriate category Inflectional affixes are typically more productive than derivational affixes (ex- suffix -s can apply to any noun that allows a plural form) Derivational affixes characteristically apply to restricted classes of bases (ex- -ize can only combine with certain adjectives to form a verb)
30
semantic transparency
The contribution of an inflectional affix to the words meaning is usually completely transparent and consistent (ex- adding plural suffix & adding past tense suffix) In derivational affix it is often not possible to predict the words meaning from its parts (ex- actor is someone who acts but a professor is not someone to professes)
31
case inflection
indicates a words grammatical role in the sentence (subject, direct object, etc) (ex- he is used for subjects, him is used for direct objects)
32
ablaut
vowel alternations that mark grammatical contrasts, like the change in vowels to form the past tense of some words (ex- sing-sang, sink-sank)
33
umlaut
change that reflects phonologically conditioned alternations from an earlier stage in the languages history (ex- goose-geese, foot-feet)
34
suppletion
Replaces a morpheme with an entirely different morpheme in order to indicate a grammatical contrast (ex- go present tense, went past tense)
35
partial suppletion
sometimes treated as an extreme form of internal change
36
reduplication
marks a grammatical or semantic contrast by repeating all or part of the base to which it applies
37
full reduplication
repetition of the entire base
38
partial reduplication
copies only part of the base
39
tone
In some languages (not english) tone is used to make the distinction between past and future tense, process called tone placement
40
clitics
morphemes that must always be pronounced with another word (known as a host) ex- I’m, Mary’s, they’re
41
enclitics
clitics that attach to the end of their host
42
proclitics
clitics that attach to the beginning of the host
43
conversion
A process that assigns an already existing word to a new syntactic category Sometimes referred to as zero derivation ex- verb derived from a noun: butter (the bread), noun derived from a verb: (a long) run, verb derived from an adjective: dirty (a shirt)
44
clipping
A process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables Ex- names: Liz, Rob, Sue, casual speech: prof, psych, burger, general usage: ad, deli, demo, condo
45
blending
Creates words from non-morphemic parts of 2 already existing items Ex- froyo, wi-fi, motel, infomercial, toonie, etc.
46
backformation
A process that creates a new word by removing a real or supposed affix from another word in the language Ex- resurrect, enthuse, donate, self-destruction, etc.
47
acronyms
Formed by taking the initial letters of (some or all) the words in a phrase or title and pronouncing them as a word Ex- organizations or scientific terms: UNICEF, AIDS, recent innovations: ASAP, YOLO, FOMO, BOGO
48
initialisms
Different from acronyms Ex- PEI (prince edward island), USA, DIY, BYOB
49
onomatopoeia
Words that have been created to sound like the thing that they name Ex- buzz, hiss, cuckoo, sizzle
50
coinage
When a word may be created from scratch Common in product names Ex- Kodak, Teflon, Dacron
51
eponyms
new words created from names (ex- watt, fahrenheit, boycott) Brand names can become so widely known that they are accepted as generic terms (ex- kleenex, google, xerox)

Linguistics 100A (8 decks)

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