Morphology Nou 1

7/31/2019 Morphology Nou 1

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General objectives of the course:

- understanding the place of morphology within thelarger context of linguistics;

- using the conceptual system specific to English

morphology;- enriching knowledge regarding English morphology;

- correctly using the English language.


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Objectives of the present lecture:

- understanding what morphology is and what it studies;

- understanding the difference between derivational andinflectional morphology;

- understanding the difference between lexical andfunctional categories;

- understanding the verb classes;

- understanding the difference between finite and non-

finite verb phrases.


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Introduction

linguistics is the empirical science that describeslanguages in terms of their various properties

the properties of a language are outlined in the grammar

of that language

grammar - interested in the general, recursive sets ofrules that operate in a language


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language - organized into hierarchical levels

a) the phonological level

b) the morphological level

c) the syntactic level

d) the semantic level

there are relations that hold between these levels of

language


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a phoneme, a word, a sentence = linguistic units

an individual linguistic unit has linguistic significance onlyif it is the constitutive part of an immediately higher level

of analysis


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Linguistic interest:

strings of phonemes/sei/-> words (say)

words (if complex) -> decomposable into morphemes (ex:child-hood)

strings of morphemes -> syntactic phrases(ex: the + boy,walk + s)

syntactic phrases -> sentences


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What does Morphology study?

Morphology = (gen.) the branch of science that deals withthe form and structure of an organism or its parts

= (ling.) the branch that studies the structure

of words


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Words - simple (girl, walk, rational)

- complex (girl+s, walk+ed, ir+rational)

* the base + markers

derivation/inflection


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a) Derivational Morphology

Derivational operations =processes

a) prefixation(happyunhappy)

b) suffixation(sense sensation sensational)

c) compounding(heartbreaking, sunflower)

derivational markers can changethe lexical class of thebase


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b) Inflectional Morphology

Inflectional operations = changes in the word that indicatecase, number, gender, person, tense, aspect, mood andcomparison markers

they do not changethe lexical class/category of thewords to which they attach

Ex: girl (noun) girls (noun)

play (verb) play-ed, play-ing (verbal forms)


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Two important properties distinguish inflectionalmorphology from derivational morphology.

1. inflectional morphologyis organized in paradigms

Ex: V V-s V-ed V-en V-ing

jump jumps jumped jumped jumping

N N-s

house houses


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2. an inflectional element once attached to the base form

of a word closes offthe respective lexical item

Ex: jump jumps - jumpsed


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The Morpheme

the morpheme - the basic unit of analysis in morphology- the minimal unit endowed with constant

form (acoustic image) and constant meaning

morphemes - grammatical morphemes (-s, -ed, -ing)

- lexical morphemes (boy(N), write(V), red(A), on(P))


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morphemes - bound= never occur in isolation(morphemes that form the classes of prefixes such as

un-, irand suffixes such as -s, -ed)- free= can occur in isolation (the, a, girl,

read, can, may, shall)


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Lexical Categories vs. Functional Categories

a) Lexical categories = (modern grammar - Chomsky) partsof speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions

and particles formerly considered as major parts ofspeech)

- the parts of speech have meaning

(descriptive meaning)and they designate objects in the

physical world.

- they form open classesof items


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b) Functional categories = grammatical markers (case,number, gender, tense, person)

- they do not have meaning, asthey do not designate objects in the real world

- the minor parts of speech areintroduced here, as they dont signify anything bythemselves (determiners (the, this, a), quantifiers (e.g.,many, much, few, a few), conjunctions (e.g., and, but))


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- they form closed classesof items (ex:the number of tense markers is limited to -sand -edin

English)


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functional category = the characteristic inflectionalvariation/paradigm of a certain part of speech:

- nouns (N) -characterizedby the paradigms of thecategories ofcase, number, gender and determination;

- pronouns (Pr)- characterizedby the paradigms of the

categories ofcase, number and gender;- verbs (V) -characterized by the paradigms of the

categories oftense, aspect, mood and voice;

- adjectives (A) and adverbs -characterized by the

category ofcomparison- prepositions (P) and particles (Prt) -characterized by no

inflectional paradigms


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Syntactic Phrases

Lexical categories + their specific functional categories =syntactic phrases (P(hrases))

- each lexical category (word) grows into a syntactic

phrase- (syntax) lexical categories are taken as heads

=>obligatory constitutive element of a phrase

Ex: girl (N) the girl (NP)

work (V) worked (VP)


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functional (morphological) categories:

- the category of number

- the category of determination

- the category of gender

- the category of case- the category of tense

- the category of aspect

- the category of modality and modal verbs


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1. THE VERB AND ITS CATEGORIES

Definition: The verb is the part of speech by means of

whichpeople express their perception of activities,events or states.

1.1. The verb classes

There can be depicted the following classes and forms ofverbs:

- lexical verbs

- auxiliary verbs

- semi-auxiliary verbs


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Lexical verbs: go, read, take, etc.

Auxiliary verbs:

- primary auxiliary: - periphrastic do

- aspectual beand have

- passive be

- modal auxiliaries: shall, should, will, would, can,

could, may, might, must, ought to; need, dare, used to


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Semi-auxiliary verbs:

- be able to, be about to, be apt to, bebound to, be due to, be going to, be liable to, be likely

to, be certain to, be sure to, be to, be unlikely to, besupposed to;

- have to, have got to;

- had better, would rather, would sooner.


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The lexical verbs constitute an open set, meaning thatnew ones can be added to the lexicon at any time.

The auxiliary and semi-auxiliary verbs form closed sets,being limited in number.


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1.2. The verb forms

Normally, the English verb has five forms:- the base form

- thes form

- the past

- theing participle- theed participle.


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FORM SYMBOL EXAMPLE FUNCTIONS

1. the baseform

V walkgo

a) the presenttense (exceptIIIrd personsingular):

I/you/we/theywalk

I/you/we/they

go


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b) imperative:

Walk!

Go!

c) subjunctive:

Theydemanded thatI walk/go.


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d) the bareinfinitive:

He cant walk.They may go.

e) the to-infinitive:

He wants usto walk/go.


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2. thesform

V-s walks

goes

the presenttense, IIIrd

personsingular:

He/she/itwalks.

He/she/itgoes.


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3. the past V-ed1 walked

went

the past tense:

Theywalked/wenthome.


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4. theingparticiple

(presentparticiple)

V-ing walking

going

a) theprogressiveaspect:

He iswalking/goinghome.

b) non-finiteing clauses:

Walking/Goinghome is noteasy.


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5. theedparticiple

(pastparticiple)

V-ed2 walked

gone

a) theperfective

aspect:She haswalked/gonehome.

b) the passivevoice:

This alley waswalkedon manytimes.


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Theed form is identical for both the past and the pastparticiple in the regular lexical verbs.

With the irregular lexical verbs, the number of forms mayvary from three (cut, cuts, cutting) to eight (be, am, is,are, was, were, being, been).

The modal auxiliaries do not have the infinitive (*to can),theing participle (*canning) or theed participle(*caned).


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1.3. Finite and non-finite verb forms

The finite forms of the verb are the forms where the verbshows tense, person or number.

Ex: I read.

She reads.

They left.

The non-finite verb forms are the forms that have noperson, tense or number.

The elements that differentiate them can be seen in thefollowing chart:


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Finite verb forms Non-finite verbforms

a) They have tensedistinctions (presentand past tense)

Ex: She workshard.

She workedhard.

a) They do not havetense distinctions.

Ex: *It is easy to work.

*It was easy towork.


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b) They can function asthe verb phrase of amain clause, having aconcord with thesubject. For the verb tobe, the concord is

between all persons andthe verb.

Ex: I am

You are

He/She is

We are

b) They cannot functionas the verb phrase of amain clause:

Ex: *She to comehomeearly.


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For the other lexicalverbs, the concord isrestricted to a contrastbetween IIIrd and non-IIIrd person singularpresent.

Ex: I gohome.He goeshome.

The modal auxiliaries

do not have a concordwith the subject.

Ex: I/you/he/we/theymaygo.


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c) They have mood:indicative, imperative

and subjunctive mood.Ex: He goeshome.

Gohome!

They suggested thathe gohome.

c) They do not haveimperative mood.

Ex: *Coming home!

*To come home!


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Both the finite and the non-finite verb forms can be eithersimple or complex.

a) The simple finite verb forms consist of only one verb,which can be present, past or imperative.

Ex: She goeshome.

She wenthome.

Gohome!


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b) The complex finite verb phrase consists of two or moreverbs. There are four basic types:

A (modal/periphrastic) modal or periphrastic auxiliary+ the base of the verb.

Ex: He may call.

Hedidnt call.

B (perfective) the auxiliary have+ theed participleof the verb.

Ex: He has called.


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C (progressive) the auxiliary be+ theing participle ofthe verb.

Ex: He is calling.

D (passive) the auxiliary be+ theed participle ofthe verb.

Ex: He is called.


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These four types enter various combinationswith each other:

AB: He may have called.

AC: He may be calling.

AD: He may be called.

BC: He has been calling.

BD: He has been called.

CD: He is being called.


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ABC: He may have been calling.ABD: He may have been called.

ACD: He may be being called.BCD: He has been being called.

ABCD: He may have been being called.


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c) The simple non-finite verb phrase consists of only oneverb in the infinitive or participle.

Ex: to call

calling


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d) The complex non-finite verb phrase respects almostthe same patterns as the complex finite verb phrase,

with the exception of A type, as the modal auxiliarieshave no non-finite forms.

- following the above-mentioned combinations,

there can be distinguished the following types of non-finite verb phrases:


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B: to have called / having called

C: to be calling / *being calling

D: to be called / being called

BC: to have been calling / having been callingBD: to have been called / having been called

CD: to be being called / *being being called

BCD: to have been being called / having been being

called


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1.5. The categories of verbsThe categories that are used with respect to the Englishverb are:

- tense- aspect- voice- mood


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Find a paragraph (three to five

sentences) from a

book/newspaper/magazine you readand identify:

- the verb classes

- the verb forms, finite/non-finite,simple/complex (if complex, specify

the type)

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Morphology Nou 1