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Linguistics week 13. Morphology 3. Hierarchical structure of words (Fromkin 84). unbelievable and unsystematic have only one structural analysis each: be lieve 相信 + - able 可相信 + un- 不可相信 Unlockable, Fromkin shows on 85-6, is morphologically ambiguous It can be understood in two ways
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Linguistics week 13 Morphology 3
Hierarchical structure of words (Fromkin 84) • unbelievable and unsystematic have only one structural analysis each: • believe相信 + -able可相信 + un-不可相信 • Unlockable, Fromkin shows on 85-6, is morphologically ambiguous • It can be understood in two ways • Try to understand why, by looking at the trees
Reading and exercises • 69 to 74 (or further if you like) • Ex 2, 3, 4, 5A, 6 • You will probably enjoy these! • You might like to take a look at my master’s thesis • It contains a short section on reduplication in Chinese • It has some ideas about compounding (for next week) • You will get an idea of the structure of a Western-style essay: study, especially, the way the references and bibliography work
Conversion to a different POS • Related words with different POS share the same form • Bank: He banked the money • Better: • You should respect your elders and betters • His performance is difficult to better • Empty: He emptied his glass in one gulp • Sometimes the stress changes • See how many examples you can think of
Zero morphs (in inflectional morphology) • What’s the plural of sheep? • We can either say • {SHEEP}:{Ø} (the root plus a zero morph), or • The morpheme {SHEEP} realizes both singular and plural meanings • The same applies to the past and present tense of hit • A lot of linguists don’t like the idea of zero morphs, because it implies • {羊} singular, {羊};{Ø} plural (!)
Shortening processes • Backformation (you usually need to know the history of the word) • Babysitter babysit • Editor edit • Clipping (this doesn’t involve complete morphemes) • Science-fiction sci-fi • Information info • Chinese stump compounds • 台大 • 網咖 • Are these backformations or clipped forms?
Compounding • Relations between components • Fromkin 94-5 for some amusing examples • You have my ideas on Mandarin compounding • Endocentric compounds (modifier +head) • Boathouse, houseboat, blackbird, table-cloth, peanut, backpedal, gentleman, overeat • Exocentric compounds • Yellowhammer, scarecrow, hunchback, redneck
Neo-classical compounds: two bound morphemes • Biology {LIFE}+{WORDS} • Telephone {DISTANT}+{SOUND} • Introduce {IN}+{LEAD} • In a way, these are the closest English equivalent to Chiense words like 朋友 • Group activity