Morphology/Syntax Flashcards

Question

Case | Noun inflection

Answer 1

The role a noun plays Nominative: Marks subject I saw him. Accusative: Direct object He saw me. Dative: Indirect object He gave it to me. Locative: Location It was on me. Genitive: Possessor My book

Answer 2

Distinguishes between speaker, addressee(s), and anyone else English: Inflectional forms of pronouns depend on value of Person Person interacts with number (case is involved too) First, second, third + SG vs PL

Answer 3

Use the inflection with one word to match the inflectional features of another word. Ex: Matching person and/or number (SG in present tense) Verb usually changes to agree with its subject/object

Answer 4

Information about the time of an event relative to the moment of speaking. English: Two tense values– **past and non-past.** (future isn't done by morphology on the verb)

Answer 5

Information about **temporal structure of the event** indicated by the verb. English: Aspect is influenced by tense Ex: ongoing, competed, or repeated Perfective: Completed Wrote Progressive: Ongoing Writing Habitual: Repeated occurrence Writes

Answer 6

Marking a **negative** meaning Subcategory of polarity: feature with values of affirmation (positive or negative). Negation uses negative. Ex: un-, not, etc.

Answer 7

The inflectional feature that indicates a **speaker’s attitude** toward an event/situation Included beliefs like reality, likelihood, obligation, etc. Ex: can, may, might, should, must

Answer 8

Infection mark the type of clause/sentence Ex: Statements vs questions vs commands

Answer 9

Agreement Negation Tense Modality Aspect Clause type

Answer 10

Can use multiple processes at the same time within a word One language might use different processes for the same inflectional info Ex: present→past might used no change or -d or -ed etc. Affixation Compounding Reduplication Alteration Suppletion

Answer 11

Formation of a word by adding an affix to a base Prefix: Attaches before the base Suffix: Attaches after the base Infix: Goes inside the root Circumfix: Goes around the base

Answer 12

Formation of a word by **combining two or more existing words.** How to see if a compound is actually one word **Stress:** Perceived prominence of a syllable within a multi-syllable word. Compound has stress on first component Phrase has stress on second component or both **Affixation** Tense and number affixes cannot be added to the first element in a compound (must use whole compound as a base) Drop kick→ drop kicked not dropped kick **Syntax** Adverb (“very”) cannot modify an adjective inside a compound Ex: very green house = house that is very green. very greenhouse = doesn’t make sense, glass enclosed garden that is very ??

Answer 13

Forming a word by copying and repeating all or part of the base. **Total/full reduplication:** Involves the entire base. Ex: Do you like him … or do you like him like him? **Partial reduplication:** Only uses a part of the base. Ex: flip-flop

Answer 14

Formation of a word by changing the **phonetic feature(s)** of a segment in the base Ex: sing (PRS) sang (PST) /i/ → [æ] (becoming low vowel)

Answer 15

Where a morpheme is replaced with an entirely different morpheme to indicate a change in grammatical information. Comparative good→better Superlative Good→best

Answer 16

The interaction of morphology with phonological or phonetic processes.

Answer 17

**Variant pronunciations** of the same morpheme Allophones or phonemes = allomorphs for morphemes Allomorph is **surface** form Morpheme is underlying form stored in lexicon

Answer 18

1. Identify root and its lexical category 2. Identify any affix(es) 3. Attach the first affix to the root (first affix does V→V then second does V→A so cannot be V→A then V→V) 4. Attach remaining affixes in proper order Can also use trees for compound words

Answer 19

The study of sentence formation. Component of grammar concerned with organizing words into larger units (phrases, clauses, sentences) Grammaticality: If native speakers find a sentence possible or not. Still describing grammar and not prescribing Insight: There is a particular constraint in English grammar that is different in other languages. Rules in english grammar Sentences don’t have to make sense to be grammatically correct

Answer 20

Building blocks of larger units (phrases, clauses, sentences) Sources of words for syntax: Lexicon: Speaker’s mental dictionary Morphology: Component of grammar that builds words

Answer 21

Group of **words** in a language that **share** a significant number of syntactic **characteristics** Noun Verb Adjective Preposition Adverb Determiner Auxilary verb Conjunction Degree word

Answer 22

Denote entities Can inflect for number (can mark number) Can occur with determiners Cannot be marked for tense Ex: my grandfathered = my late grandfather

Answer 23

Denote actions, events, processes Can inflect for tense Usually occur after the subject

Answer 24

Describes nouns Can occur with degree marking (too, more, less, very)

Answer 25

Words that occur with noun phrases Denote a **relationship** (spatial, temporal, logical) to another noun phrase or element in a clause They went to [the beach]

Answer 26

Describes verbs Only occur with verbs (not nouns)

Answer 27

Modify nouns by providing info about definiteness and/or specificity Occur with nouns (not verbs) **(a,** an, the, my, **your,** his, her)

Answer 28

Verbs with more **abstract meanings** and minimal semantic content (have, do, will, could, would, may, might) Appear with or instead of a main verb

Answer 29

Words that connect other words and/or phrases (and, or, but)

Answer 30

Words that express degree, gradation Appear with adjectives, adverbs, prepositions (too, quite, more, very. almost)

Answer 31

A group of one or more words that function together as a syntactic unit

Answer 32

Gives the phrase its category

Answer 33

A group of one or more words that function together as a syntactic unit

Answer 34

Expressions of the same type can occur in the same position in the sentence NPs have same distribution

Answer 35

Describe the internal content and structure of a phrase. NP PP VP

Answer 36

Have noun as head Includes names and pronouns Determiners also appear in NPs and occur before the head Adjectives appear in NPs and occur before head but after determiner NP→ (D/NP) (Adj) N (PP) Can make trees that connect all parts (D, Adj, N, PP) to NP

Answer 37

Have preposition as the head Combine with NPs NPs can have PPs within their structure PP → P NP Trees connect to all parts (P, NP) which then connect to PP

Answer 38

Have verb as head Can combine with NPs or PPs (could even have multiple PPs) Adverbs can appear in VP VP→(Adv) V (NP/CP) (PP) NP not optional for some VP (selection) The fox devours… needs a NP The fox eats. doesn’t need a NP Can make trees that connect all parts (Adv, NP, PP) to VP NP could have D and N PP could have NP and P

Answer 39

Requirements for the type(s) of words that can or must occur with a given word. Words have selectional requirements Relate to arguments

Answer 40

A syntactic element required by another word or phrase

Answer 41

Syntactic element that optionally occurs w/ a word or phrase Can have multiple

Answer 42

The largest unit of grammar, over which a grammatical rule can operate Basic sentence= subject + predicate S (Sentence) → NP (Aux) VP

Answer 43

More abstract meaning that can mark tense, aspect, modality. Always occur with other verbs

Answer 44

A phrase consisting of one subject and one predicate Can have one or multiple clauses S + Pred [S + Pred] = 2 clauses Multiple clauses are embedded clauses

Answer 45

Two clauses, one is embedded (if, that, whether) Multiple elements working together in syntax CP→ C S

Answer 46

Repeated application of rules. Can happen in NPs and clauses Can express an infinite number of ideas with a finite vocabulary.

Answer 47

Things that belong to entities. Entails recursion for NPs

Answer 48

Process that joins together elements that have identical categories In syntactic category of conjunction Can coordinate **Single words (heads)** Need to bein the same syntactic category can be coordinated Single words are the heads of phrases X→X Conj X **Entire phrases** Need to be in same syntactic category XP→XP Conj XP

Answer 49

Yes-No questions Wh-questions Include question word Who, what, why, how, etc.

Answer 50

Aux and subject are reordered. Move aux before the subject. Happens after PS rules apply Yes No questions

Answer 51

A process that moves a unit from one position to another within syntactic structure. Types: D structure, S structure

Answer 52

The structure built from PS rules

Answer 53

The structure built after PS rules from movement rules. Surface structure is what’s actually pronounced.

Answer 54

A word or group of words that function(s) in syntax as a unit Each node in the tree Need to use constituency tests Only constituents can do some syntactic operations Non-constituents cannots because they aren’t a cohesive unit

Answer 55

Substitution Movement

Answer 56

If can replace a word/words and the meaning is similar→then word/words is one unit Can replace NP constituents with pronouns (“it”/“they”) Can replace VP constituents with phrase “do so too” The lion does so too. I did so too.

Answer 57

Topicalization: Moving a phrase to the front of a sentence as its topic [PP On the beach], I ate a ripe mango ___. Clefting: Putting words between “It is/was” and “that” at the beginning of the sentence It was [PP on the beach] that I ate a ripe mango.

Answer 58

Word/phrase/sentence has more than one meaning Two types Lexical Structural

Answer 59

Words, morphemes with different meanings that may sound alike Bat vs bat Ambiguous sentences: I picked up the bat

Answer 60

Arises from multiple possible structural representations. Bart hit the clown [PP with a balloon]. Bart used a balloon to hit a clown. Bart hit the clown who was holding a balloon **Modifier rule:** A modifying phrase attaches inside the phrase it modifies. Bart [VP hit [NP the clown] [PP with a balloon]]. The modifying PP is inside VP, so it modifies VP Bart used a balloon to hit the clown. Bart [VP hit [NP the clown [PP with a balloon]]]. The modifying PP is inside NP, so it modifies NP Bart hit the clown who was holding a balloon Coordination can involve structural ambiguity