Test 1; weeks 2-5 (morphology part 1)

Question 1

what is natural language

Answer 1

Natural language - has (or used to have) a speech community where children grow up acquiring this as their first language (ex. English, Cree, Latin) Klingon is NOT a natural language (artificial languages). Non-natural languages can become natural languages! A language does not have to have sounds it just has to be perceived!

Question 2

what is linguistics

Answer 2

the scientific study of natural language (what units are natural languages composed of?, what forms do they take?, etc.)

Question 3

what makes a scientific field of study

Answer 3

A Scientific Field of Study
Empirical - based on observable linguistic data
Observable linguistic data
speaker utterances
speaker intuitions about utterance acceptability
speaker intuitions about utterance meaning
Testable - concerned with theories (hypotheses) that are testable (falsifiable)

Question 4

what is linguistic data

Answer 4

Linguistic data

Utterances
things people say. Words phrases and sentences
Hi! Close the door! I hate radishes.

Utterance acceptability
Speakers intuitions about utterance acceptability
Words - flib > fbli
Sentences- the dog ate > dog the ate
Utterance meaning
Speakers intuitions about utterance meaning
Alice saw Max Max saw Alice
These two sentences are different despite containing the exact same words

Question 5

what are the fundamental properties of language

Answer 5

Language is Creative - Natural language is fundamentally creative
Native speakers of a language have the ability to produce and understand an infinite number of novel utterances.
Ex. consider conversion - a process that forms nouns in English
Let’s carton the eggs.
Language is Rule-Governed
When we recognize carton as a verb, we draw on our linguistic competence (grammar in a broad sense of the term) . Systematic, rule-governed knowledge about the phonology, morphology, and syntax of our language.

Question 6

all spoken languages have

Answer 6

All spoken languages have:
An inventory of distinctive speech sounds
Systematic rules that govern and constrain how these speech sounds combine into well-formed grammatical words.
These form our linguistic competence.

Question 7

what is morphological competence

Answer 7

Morphological competence
All languages have:
An inventory of morphemes
Systematic rules that govern and constrain how these morphemes combine well-formed words.
Ex. -ed past tense marker, is a suffix that attaches on the right, ex. Jumped

Question 8

syntactic competence

Answer 8

Syntactic Competence
All languages have:
An inventory of words
Systematic rules that govern and constrain how these words combine well-formed phrases and sentences.
Ex. the cat >  cat the

Question 9

semantic competence

Answer 9

Semantic Competence
All languages have:
Systematic rules that govern and constrain how morphosyntactic sentence structures map into mental representations of sentence meaning.
This forms part of speakers linguistic competence

Question 10

parity

Answer 10

☆Parity - all grammars are equal
The aim of linguistics is to investigate natural languages, not to rank them in terms of perceived goodness, or beauty, or correctness.
Natural language is what we speak

Question 11

phonological variation

Answer 11

Language is variable
Phonological variation - all languages have an inventory of distinctive phonemes (speech sounds). But phoneme inventories and behaviours vary across languages.
Ex. English have two sets of stop consonants; voiced and voiceless
/p t k/ minimal pairs: pin, bin; tip, dip; cap, gap - these all sound the same
Cree has a single set of stop consonants
/p t k/ no minimal pairs; you cannot vary ‘p’ and ‘b’

Question 12

morphological variation

Answer 12

Morphological variation
All languages have an inventory of morphemes but morpheme inventories and morpheme behaviour vary across languages
English marks definiteness with a free morpheme (the child)
Danish marks definiteness with a bound morpheme (barn-et) (CHILD-DEF)
Some languages do not mark definiteness

Question 13

syntactic variation

Answer 13

Syntactic variation
All languages have an inventory of words, and systematic rules that govern how they combine into well-formed phrases and sentences but they vary.
English; adjectives are ordered before the nouns they qualify - a small child
Spanish; adjective are ordered after the nouns they qualify - un nino bequeno a child young

Question 14

mutability

Answer 14

Mutability - All grammars change over time

English (Before 1200) ⇨ he saey not (Now) ⇨ I don’t say

Question 15

inaccessibility

Answer 15

Inaccessibility
Linguistic competence is subconscious - we cannot access rules of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, or semantics without reasoning intellect. We use linguistic competence to produce and understand phrases and sentences, so therefore we cannot access it.

Question 16

morphology definition

Answer 16

Morphology - the study of words and word formation 
Words - bird, laugh, sing, etc.
Stand alone items
Word formation - dinosaur
Could add -s to make dinosaurs

Question 17

what is a word

Answer 17

Words & Morphemes
Words - autonomous (free) units of language
Can be pronounced with a pause before and after
Ex. Alex // saw // a // bird
Can occupy different positions in the sentence
Alice saw a bird
The bird perched on a brand
Can be morphologically simple or complex
Simple - black, the, bird
A single morpheme - monomorphemic words
Complex - birds, blackbird, blackbirds
More than one morpheme

Question 18

what is a morpheme

Answer 18

Morpheme - smallest meaningful unit of language
Cannot be decomposed into smaller parts without a loss of meaning
Train cannot be decomposed into ‘tr’ and ‘ain’
Free versus bound morphemes
Free - can occur in isolation and can be pronounced with a pause before and after, morphologically simple
Bird, tree, the
Bound - cannot occur in isolation, must form part of a larger word
-ed, -s, -tion, -er, un- (pre/suffixes)
Allomorphs - different pronunciations of morphemes
Allomorphic variation - when this pronunciation vaires
Rule governed
-s = plural morpheme
[s] tip-s, bit-s, tick-s
[z] rib-s, rig-s, rim-s
[ǝz] rose-z, badge-z, fleece-z
Morphemes are not always pronounced the same

Question 19

what is an affix

Answer 19

Word structure - roots and affixes
Complex words consists of a root morpheme and one or more affixes
Root - determines the core meaning of the word - typically belongs to a lexical category
Affix - provide additional meaning, does not belong to a lexical category, always bound to morphemes
These apply in cycles
Ex. unkind (kind = root, un = affix)
Bases - a cover term for simple and complex forms which affixes attach
Ex. lengthened - length + en + ed
2 cycles of affixation - base of -en, then 2nd cycle of -ed

Question 20

types of affixes

Answer 20

Types of affixes
Prefix - attaches to the beginning of a base, on the left
Un-Kind, de-activate, re-play
Suffix - attached to the end of a base, on the right
Faith-ful, govern-ment, kind-ness
Infix - attaches in the middle of a morpheme
Ex. fan-FUCKING-tastic!
Ex. tagalog

Question 21

derivation

Answer 21

Derivation
A word building process
Creates a word with a meaning and/or category that is distinct from its base
It commonly involves affixation
Ex. the English -er combines a verb (V) to form a noun (N)
Ex. sell + -er = seller (one who sells)
Other examples
-ize combines nouns and adjectives to form causative verbs
Ex. modernize
-un combines verbs and adjectives to form reversive words of the same category
Ex. untie
Selectional restrictions - affixes do not attach freely to bases of all types
Complex derivations

Question 22

constraints on derivation

Answer 22

Constraints on derivation
Selectional restrictions
When we analyse complex derivations, it is necessary to pay careful attention to selectional restrictions. Ex. “un-happi-ness”
Selectional restriction affecting un- and -ness
(un) Adj, v = adj, v (unkind, undo, unwindow)
(ness) Adj = n (brightness, dayness)
Idiosyncratic constraints
Historical origin - the Latin suffix (-ant) can only combine with bases of Latin origin
Assis-ant, combat-ant, help-ant, fight-ant
Blocking - derivation may be blocked because the language already has a simple word with the intended meaning
Blocking is rarely absolute and rarely gives rise to ungrammaticality
Ex. stealer is blocked by ⇨ thief, cooker ⇨ cook, famousity ⇨ fame.
Phonological constraints - some derivational affixes can only attach to bases with particular phonological properties
Ex. ‘-en’ can only attach to monosyllabic bases that end in a consonant other than /l,r,m,n/.
Ex. whiten, soften, madden, quicken ✓
Blue-n (vowel ending) doesn’t work, angry-en doesn’t work (polysyllabic, vowel final)

Question 23

2 classes of derivational affixes

Answer 23

2 classes of derivational affixes
Class 1 - CAN change the phonological shape of the base
-ize changes final /k/ sound to /s/ sound - ex critic becomes criticize
Are always closer to the base than class 2 affixes
Class 2 - CANNOT change the phonological shape of the base
-ness triggers no change in base
Sweet [swit]
Are ALWAYS further from the base than class 1 affixes.

Question 24

semantic compositions of sentences

Answer 24

Semantic composition of sentences
A sentence - a string of words that expresses a proposition
Proposition - a state, event, or action involving one or more participants
Ex. Ally loves chocolate

Question 25

predicate and arguments

Answer 25

Major constituents - a sentence minimally contains a predicate and its arguments Predicate - describes what is happening; a state, event, or action Argument - describe the participants in the state, event, or action The children (subject argument) found (predicate) a kitten (object argument).

Question 26

sentence qualifiers

Answer 26

``` Sentence qualifiers - sentences can also contain expressions that provide further information about the ongoing state/event/action. These are called sentence qualifiers. Time - the train arrived at noon Place - they sat in the kitchen Manner - she closed the door swiftly Instrument - Source and Goal - ```

Question 27

argument types

Answer 27

Arguments - we can distinguish between 3 kinds of argument roles Subject - describes the dor Direct object - describes the person/thing being acted upon Indirect object - describes the person/thing at the receiving end of the action.

Question 28

predicates

Answer 28

Predicates - valency = # of arguments they take Intransitive predicates - the children (subject) laughed Transitive predicates - the children (subject) found a kitten (direct object) Ditransitive predicates - they (subject) gave the kitten (direct object) to Sue (indirect object)

Question 29

word categories

Answer 29

Word categories Words of all languages belong to one or another of a small number of categories Each category is defined by a particular set of properties Two major kinds of categories: Lexical Have dictionary content, denote things, actions, properties. Chair (noun), find (verb), tall (adjective) 5 categories (not all languages have all of them): Noun Verb Preposition Adjective Adverb Functional Have grammatical content, mark grammatical functions and relations The (determiner), not (negation), and (conjunction)

Question 30

functional categories

Answer 30

Functional categories Grammatical functions Tense (T) ex. -ed for past tense Determiner (Det) - ex. A, the, some, this Grammatical relations Conjunction (conj) - and, or, but Agreement (agr) - ex. Numbers - one cat, two cats

Question 31

sentence types

Answer 31

Sentence types Declarative - statements Interrogative - questions Imperative - demands/orders

Question 32

sentence structures

Answer 32

Sentence structures Simple - contain no other sentence. (Alex played) Conjoined - Two or more linked sentences (Alex played and Tristan slept) Complex - contain another subordinate sentence (Tristan knows that Alex played soccer)

Question 33

how to know if a word is a noun

Answer 33

Lexical categories - and what to look for! Nouns - denote entities (thing, beings, concepts, states) Common nouns, pronouns, proper nouns Nouns occur in noun phrases and can occur as arguments (subject, direct object, indirect object) Common nouns can occur with determiner expression They can be qualified by adjectives They can be marker for number and gender

Question 34

how to know if a word is a verb

Answer 34

Verbs - denote states, events, and actions Properties - occur as the heads of verb phrases (predicate phrases) Can serve as predicates Can be intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive Can be marked for tense and subject agreement

Question 35

how to know if a word is an adjective

Answer 35

Adjective - denote states, properties, and qualities Properties: Occur as heads of adjective phrases (AdjPs) Can qualify as nouns Can be modified by degree verbs Can show morphological agreement with nouns they qualify

Question 36

how to know if a word is an adverb

Answer 36

``` Adverbs Fall into different classes with different denotations Ex. time/frequency/place/manner/degree Properties: Occur as heads of adverbial phrases (AdvPs) Adverbs can qualify verbs or sentences Can qualify adjectives Can qualify adverbs ```

Question 37

how to know if a word is a preposition

Answer 37

Prepositions - denote locations and directions Poperties: Can occur as the heads of prepositional phrases (PPs) Are almost all transitive Can be modified by degree expressions Can mark certain grammatical functions

Question 38

inflection

Answer 38

Inflection - a cover term for morphology which marsk grammatical features and functions Plural suffix (-s) marks plural nouns Inflectional affixes in english Nouns - plural -s for possessions Verbs - 3rd person singular non past -s (he reads) Adjectives - comparative -er (ex. The smaller one), superlative -est (ex. The smallest one)

Question 39

inflection versus derivation

Answer 39

Inflection vs derivation Inflection marks words for syntactic features and functions Ex. plural suffix Rule noun + -s = noun plural Ex. heart + -s = hearts Derivation - creates words from other words (ex. heartless) Ex. adjective forming suffix -less Rule ⇨ noun + -less = adjective Ex. heart + less = heartless Differences between inflection and derivation Inflection does not change the meaning or category of words Ex. walk + ed = walked Derivation changes the meaning and/or category of words Ex. walk + er = walker when -er is attached, the word becomes a noun instead of a verb Ex. king + dom = kingdom when -dom is attached, the meaning is changed but category hasn’t changed - different subcategory Ordering of affixes Derivational affixes - attach closer to the base than inflectional affixes Inflectional affixes - attach further from the base than derivational affixes. Ex. it is neighbourhoods is not neighbourshood* Productivity Inflectional affixes - are more productive than derivational affixes Plural suffix -s (ex. Flowers, houses, flavours, etc.) SO many nouns have this ending. Derivational affixes less productive than inflectional affixes Modern-ize, legal-ize, final-ize Not as many nouns can have this ending Semantic transparency - Inflectional affixes - produce inflected word forms that are usually transparent and completely predictable in meaning Plural suffix: noun + -s = noun[plural] Simply general, completely predictable Derivational affix - produce derived words that are often opaque and unpredictable in meaning Agentive suffix: verb + -er = noun[agent]/[instrument] Teach + -er = teacher (noun)[agent] Toast + -er = toaster noun[instrument]

Question 40

compounding

Answer 40

Compounding - word formation process that combines two or more lexical categories to form a complex word base Ex. spoonfeed (V) - this is a compound (N)+(V) this is a kind of feeding Orthographic variation Consistent orthography Inconsistent orthography In english - blackbird, well-being, jazz concert

Question 41

internal structure

Answer 41

``` Internal structure Compound - consists of a head and a modifier Head - provides the core meaning Modifier - serves as a modifier Ex. loudmouth loud(head) mouth(head) ```

Question 42

properties of compounds

Answer 42

Properties of compounds Stress - compounds are stressed as single words and have one primary stress. Inflection - compounds are inflected as single words (ex. Past tense and plural marking) Endocentric compounds (internally headed) - core meaning is determined by the head Ex. dogfood, blackbird Exocentric compounds (externally headed) - overall meaning is idiosyncratic Ex. redneck, sabre tooth Inflection of endo and exocentric compounds inflection is determined by the head Exocentric compounds - inflexion is not determined by the head, instead regular inflection is employed Language variation - languages vary with regard to the internal structure of compounds Right headed compounds - ex. Korean (eye water = tears) Left headed compounds - ex. Tagalog (water salt = sea water)