Language Science Exam 1

How to count phonemes

Count all the sounds

What is a syllable made up of

Onset, rime, nucleus, coda

Onset

The beginning consonant

Rime

Nucleus + coda

Nucleus

The vowel

Coda

Consonant at the end

Phonotactics

A systematic organization of phonemes within syllables

Examples of phonotactics constraints

/str/ beginning but not end of words

/ing/ ending but not beginning words

/st/ beginning and ending of words

Stress patterns

Trochee and iambs

Iambic patterns

Weak to strong (shorter/longer)

Only two syllable word

Trochee patterns

Strong to weak (louder/softer)

Two syllable words

Brown’s 14 morphemes

1. Progressive ing

2. Plural s

3. Preposition in

4. Preposition on

5. Possessive s

6. Regular past ed

7. Irregular past

8. Regular 3rd person singular present tense s

9. Articles a, an, the

10. Contractible copula

11. Contractible auxiliary

12. Uncontractible copula

13. Uncontractible auxiliary

14. Irregular 3rd person

Progressive -ing (present participle)

Doesn’t include gerunds or adjectives

Ex. Walking, jumping

Plural -s

Regular plurals

Doesn’t include words that don’t have a singular form like a pant, a scissor

Preposition in

Does not include adverb forms like please come in

Ex put the food in the fridge

How to know if it’s a preposition vs adverb

If it has an object it’s a prepostion

If it doesn’t then it’s an adverb

Preposition on

Does not include adverb forms like he turned the light on

Ex book on the table

Possessive -s

Does not include possessive pronouns like his, hers, its, yours

Ex the dog’s collar

Regular past -ed

Don’t confuse with participles like the grape is smashed

Ex he smashed the grape

Irregular past

Include did and had

Does NOT include were and was

Ex she went home

Regular 3rd person singular present tense -s

Ex she likes ice cream

Articles a, an, the

Ex the big worm with a green head was on an apple

Contractible copula

BE morphemes

Contracted to a subject

Main verb

Ex he is a friend. I am awesome. You’re nice

Contractible auxiliary

BE is the helping verb followed by VERB-ing

Does not include have or do

Ex he is talking. I am studying

Uncontractible copula

Ex this is it. He was tired

Uncontractible auxiliary

Ex this is working. He was sleeping

Irregular 3rd person

Includes has and does

Ex she has to go home. He doesn’t like that, does he?

Word formation processes

Derivation, compounding, conversion, coinage, clipped form, blend, acronym, abbreviation, eponyms, back formation

Derivation

Addition of a derivational suffix that can change the syntactic category

Ex capital —> capitalize. Do—> do-able

Compounding

Creating of a new word by combining two or more free morphemes

Ex notebook, underarm, breakup

Conversion

Extension of a morpheme from one syntactic category to another

Ex object (noun) object (verb)

Carpet (noun) carpet (verb)

Coinage

A new creation of a root word based on no pre-existing morphemes

Ex Band-aid, google

Clipped form

Shortened form of pre-existing morpheme

Ex lab from laboratory. Math from mathematics

Blend

A combination of parts of pre-existing forms

Ex smog, brunch, spork

Acronym

A word from the first letters of each word

Abbreviation

A word formed from the names of the first letters or first letters of the prominent syllables of a word

Ex TV

Eponyms

A word formed from a proper name

Ex Obamacare

Back formation

A word formed by adding what is mistaken for an affix

Ex edit from editor. Mix from mixture

Lexical

Have meaning in and of themselves

Includes nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

Open class

Content word

Ex picture. Fly

Grammatical words

Expresses a relationship between lexical morphemes

Includes determiners, prepositions, and other grammatical forms

Small membership

Closed class - new forms not easily generated

Help connect lexical morphemes

Ex the, and, him, it, on, is

Free Morpheme

Can stand alone as words

Ex boy, at, tall, the

Bound Morpheme

Cannot stand alone as words

ALWAYS GRAMMATICAL

Affixes and contracted forms

Ex -est, -ed, ‘m, ‘ve

Inflectional

Only suffixes

One per word

Last morpheme on the word, can’t come before anything else

8 inflectional morphemes

1. Past tense

2. Present tense

3. Past participle

4. Superlative -est

5. Comparative -er

6. Possessive ‘s

7. Plural -s

8. Present participle/progressive

Inflectional past tense

Ex she jumped

Inflectional present tense

Ex she jumps

Inflectional past participle

He has broken the chair

The word HAS

Inflectional superlative -est

Ex the smallest chair

Inflectional comparative -er

Ex the smaller chair

Inflectional possessive ‘s

Ex the boy’s chair

Inflectional plural -s

Ex two chairs

Inflectional present participle/progressive

Ex he is smiling

Derivational morphemes

Suffixes and prefixes

Can have multiple on a word

Ex un, able, dis, re, anti, tion, ful, ism

Rules for combining morphemes

Inflectional suffixes follow derivational suffixes

Only one inflectional morphemes can be attached to a particular syntactic category

5 grammatical features

Number, person, case, tense, aspect

Number

Singular/plural

Ex I walk, we walk

Person

1st, 2nd, 3rd

Ex she walks

Case

Pronouns, possessive, possessive -s

Ex I, you, he, she, her, mine, ours, heather’s

Tense

Indicates the point in time that something occurred

Only on verbs

Marked on the FIRST verb

Aspect

Occurs in conjunction with an auxiliary verb

The verb after tense

Perfective with -en or -ed ending

Ex she had walked, it was broken

Progressive with -ing ending

Ex she is walking

Allomorphs

Variant of a morpheme

Plural s/z/lz

Homomorphs

Identical morphs that do not represent identical morphemes

Ex teacher vs taller

Syntax

The study of the organization of phrases, clauses, and sentences

Sentences based on function

Declarative, exclamatory, imperative, interrogative

Declarative

Sentences that make a positive/negative statement or assertion

Indicated with a period when writing and falling intonation when speaking

Subject + predicate word order

Ex Martha isn’t funny. Chocolate ice cream is delicious

Exclamatory

Sentences that express a strong or sudden emotion

Indicated with an exclamation point when writing and pitch changes and increased volume when speaking

Subject + predicate word order

Often contain interjections

Ex oh my what a mess!

Imperative

Sentences that make a request or give an order

No special writing or speaking conventions

Do not contain an explicit subject

Ex do your chores! Push the button

Interrogative

Sentences with the function of obtaining information

Indicated with a question mark in writing and rising intonation in speaking

WH questions, yes/no questions, tag questions

WH questions

Seek info about the subject, verb, or object

Yes/No questions

Seek a yes or no response

Tag questions

A combo of declarative and interrogative sentences

Subject Noun Phrase (NP)

The “doer” of an action

Only for simple, active, declarative sentences

Object Noun Phrase (NP)

The “receiver” of an action

Only for simple, active, declarative sentences

Finite

Marked with tense

The first verb in simple sentences

Nonfinite

Not marking tense

Usually have infinitive “to” in front

Require multiple verbs in the sentence

Clause Definition and Levels

A group of words that express a particular meaning

Finite vs nonfinite

Main vs subordinate

Main clause

Independent

Always finite

Provides the framework for any subordinate clauses around it

Subordinate clause

Dependent

Needs to be attached to main clause to make sense

Sometimes finite, sometimes not

Types of sentences

Simple, compound, complex, compound-complex

Simple sentences

Contain one clause: main clause

Compound sentences

Contain two main clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction

Coordinating conjunctions

For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)

Complex sentences

Contain more than one clause: main clause +1 or more dependent clauses

Compound-complex sentences

Contain a compound sentence and complex sentence structure

Complex sentences subordinates

Finite subordinates: adverbial, nominal, relative

Nonfinite subordinates: infinitive, gerundive, participal

Adverbial

Main clause + finite subordinate clause

Begins with subordinating conjunction

Modifies the verb

Provides info about time, manner, condition, reason, comparison

Ex after, if, since, when, while, although, because, before, until, so (that)

Relative

Main clause + finite adjective clause

Modifies the noun of the main clause

Usually embedded into main clause

Begins with who, that, which

Ex the reason that he gave up is unclear

Nominal

Main clause + finite complement clause

Completes a thought or statement introduced by the main clause

Answers the question “what” with a complete finite clause

Ex you know she’s the best dancer

Infinitive

Main clause + nonfinite clause

Embedded into the main clause

4 types: different subject, same subject, unmarked infinitives, wh-infinitives

Gerundive

Main clause + nonfinite clause

When verb that ends in -ing is used as a noun

Embedded into main clause

Follows a main verb in a sentence

Ex Betty likes hiking in the wilderness

Participal

Main clause + nonfinite clause

Word that ends in -ing -ed -en functions as an adjective

Embedded into main clause

Usually precedes the subject in a sentence

Ex the sleeping baby was calm