Module3

Derivations

The process of starting from the underlying form/representation, showing how rules apply and arrive at the observed surface representation

Morphology

the system of categories and rules involved in word formation and interpretation

Morpheme

the smallest linguistic unit of meaning or function

Morphology creates words by __________ morphemes in a systematic way

combining

Mono morphemic words

Some words that contain only 1 morpheme

Example: big, run, lung

Polymorphemic words

Other words contain more than one morpheme

Example:unhappy, quickness, untwisted

How can free morphemes exist?

As their own word (roots)

How do bound morphemes exist?

Attached to another morphemes

Derivational Affix

Can change the core meaning and create a whole new word

Example of derivational affix

electric > electricity

Comfort > comfort+able

Inflectional affix

Does not change the core meaning of words and it can mark a particular grammatical environment or relationship

Prefix

an affix that attaches BEFORE a word

Example: in + edible

Suffix

an affix that attaches after a word/root

Example: drink+able

Circumflex

an affix that is added at both the beginning and the end of a word/root

Example (Samoan): finau “to quarrel”

fefinauaʔi “to quarrel with each other”

Infix

an affix that is added inside the word/root

Example (Bontoc, Phillipines) fikas “strong”

fumikes “to be strong”

Morphological process Step one (basic idea)

Store morphemes in the brain

Morphological process step two (basic idea)

morphemes are combined or changed via morphological processes

Morphological process step three (basic idea)

the output of morphological processes is words

Compounding

combining two independent words to form a new word

Example: blackboard (in classroom), hot dog (food

compared to

black board (board that is black)

hot dog (dog that is hot)

Reduplication

Process of forming a word by repeating either an entire word or part of the word

Total/Full Reduplication

Indonesian

rumah “house” → rumah-rumah “houses”

Partial Reduplication

Tagalog

bili “buy” → bibili “will buy”

Alternations

Internal morpheme modifications that make new words or morphologocial distinctions