NZSL311 Key terms Wk 4

Morphology

Study of the smallest meaningful units in language and the processes by which these combine to create new meanings

Morpheme

Smallest meaningful unit or segment: a word or part of a word.

Phonomorpheme

In signed languages some phonemes (eg, handshape or movement) have intrinsic meaning > therefore a blend of phoneme/ morpheme.

Free morpheme

Signs/ Words that stand alone. Root morphemes can be modified/ (eg. learn, cat). Non-root morphemes can’t be modified (eg. at, to, whose )

Bound Morpheme

A morpheme that is always attached to another morpheme (eg. un-, dis-, -ness, -ing). Includes affixes (prefix, suffix)

Monomorphemic sign

Sign comprising a single morpheme (eg. communicate, buy, girl)

Bi-morphemic sign

Sign comprising 2 morphemes (eg. miscommunicate, put-there)

Polymorphemic

Signs that contain multiple morphemes or units of meaning (usually applied to classifier constructions)

Derivation

Creating a new word or changing word class by adding a morpheme (eg. dry > dryer, game > gaming, live > liveable). In NZSL – movement reduplication to create noun from verb (lock > key; open-door > door)

Influence

Modify the meaning of a sign by adding bound morphemes. Inflection - especially change in movement, loc – is prevalent in signed languages (eg. agreement verbs, temporal aspect)

Compounding

Two free morphemes combine to create a new meaning (eg. work^shop, face^book, temper^bad)

Lexical extension

Existing sign acquires a new or extended meaning (eg. world > global; book > library; report > media)

Reduplication

Repetition of movement in a sign. Used for inflection: plural, temporal, distributive agreement, derivation: verb >noun

Temporal aspect

Shows the internal temporal characteristics of an action (verb): frequent, habitual, continuous, durative

Manner & degree (adverbial inflection)

Adverbial inflection shows how an action is done (manner) and intensity (degree). These are often combined in NZSL, usually through change to movement and addition of NMF

What are the three types of verbs?

Plain – form of the sign (HOLM) always remains the same.

Agreement – in some transitive verbs (involving two persons) start and end points of the sign ‘agree’ with the agent/ recipient of an action (person) – eg. pay, give, look-at, help, visit

Spatial – start/end points of the verb alter to show source and goal (location) – eg. go-to, move, drop-off, throw, operate Some linguists treat 2 & 3 as one category: ‘indicating verbs’