Morphology Notes

Phonological Rule

  • Phonological rules express generalizations about phoneme sequences.
    • Example: [z] → [s] / voiceless consonant ____
    • Meaning: Change [z] to [s] when [z] follows a voiceless consonant.
    • Change occurs before the slash; condition after.

Application of Phonological Rule

  1. Underlying Representation: For 'cats', the plural form is [kætz].
  2. Condition Check: Verify if the preceding consonant is voiceless (e.g., [t] in [kætz]).
  3. Apply Change: Change [z] to [s].
    • Resulting Surface Representation: [kæts].

Words and Mental Lexicon

  • Words are fundamental language building blocks.
  • Mental lexicon entries include:
    • Pronunciation: [kæt]
    • Category: Noun
    • Meaning: Definition and context.

Meaningful Parts of Words

  • Some words contain meaningful components:
    • Nominal Compounds: Words like "This shark week will be different!"
  • Certain parts cannot exist independently, e.g.,.
    • Example: unhappy = happy + un-
    • Un- cannot stand alone: "Un!" is invalid.

Contribution of Morphemes

  • Un- contributes the meaning “not” or “opposite of”.
    • Systematic effect on meanings established through examples:
    • un-able, un-fair, un-safe.
  • Non-systematic prefixes, like in uncle or under, do not have a clear meaningful breakdown.

Compositionality

  • Language exhibits compositionality:
    • Meaning derived from individual parts and their combinations.

Morphemes in Morphology

  • Words consist of morphemes, the smallest meaning-carrying units:
    • Free Morphemes: Words like fair, safe.
    • Bound Morphemes: Must attach to other words (e.g., un-).

Affixes and Morphological Structure

  • Affixes: Another term for bound morphemes.
    • Examples include:
    • Prefixes (e.g., pre-pay)
    • Suffixes (e.g., -ness)
    • Infixes: (Not common in English)

Types of Affixes

  • Prefixes: Precede the stem (e.g., un-fair, anti-war).
  • Suffixes: Follow the stem (e.g., book-s, jump-ed).
  • Infixes: Inserted in the stem, (e.g., Ulwa: kuhbil + ka → kuhkabil).

Compounding in Morphology

  • Compounding involves combining two nouns to create a new noun.
    • Example Format: N → N N (e.g., toothbrush).

Lexicon Entry Structure

  • Lexicon contains information about morphemes and their connections:
    • Free morphemes list grammatical categories.
    • Bound morphemes list type (prefix/suffix) and their classification.

Inflectional vs. Derivational Morphemes

  • Derivational Morphemes: Create a new word and often change the category (e.g., -ful).
  • Inflectional Morphemes: Modify an existing word, maintaining category (e.g., -ed for past tense).

Productivity of Morphological Rules

  • Not all morphological rules apply universally.
    • Example of regular forms: -s (plural), -ed (past tense).
    • Irregular examples also exist (e.g., mice, geese).

Conclusion

  • Morphemes are fundamental in forming words; they can be bound or free.
  • Words reveal structured meanings, illustrated through tree diagrams.
  • Compositionality plays a key role in meaning formation.
  • Morphological rules are crucial for understanding word structure.