ENGL 390: The Linguistic Structure of Modern English
Fall 2005
Dr. J. Rubba
© Johanna Rubba 2005

English Words

+First level of meaningful language units:

• A string of speech sounds which triggers a particular thought/concept

F / erplen / = formÕ

F ( = meaning

+Two ways to study words:

• Structure: Building blocks for words - Morphology

F Roots, affixes: smaller = small + -er; transformation = trans- + form + -ation

• Storage:

F What is included in our knowledge of one word?

F Arrangement of words in the mind - Lexicology

] Categories: grouped by kind: tools > hammer, screwdriver, wrench, pliers, drill

] Associative networks (schemas): restaurant words: menu, table, server, check, entree, reservation, dinner, eat out, order, tip, etc.

English Words: “Parts of Speech”

+“Parts of speech” = categories of words

+Traditional Linguistic
-noun -noun
-pronoun -pronoun, proform
-verb -verb
-adjective -adjective
-article -determiner
-quantifier
-adverb -adverb
-qualifier
-preposition -preposition
-conjunction -conjunction/complementizer
-interjection -interjection
-expletive/dummy subject

English Words: Form vs. Function

+ Form: part of speech (noun, adjective, preposition, etc.) - its identity

+ Function: role in phrase: head, modifier

+ Category (form) does not change when function changes:

• Noun, head of phrase: the sheep’s wool

• Noun, modifier of head: a wool hat

+ Wool does not “become an adjective”

+ It is a noun in the role of modifier

+ Analogies: farm animals, sports

• Both oxen and horses can pull a wagon.

• A horse does not turn into an ox when you hitch it to a wagon (or vice versa).

• An outfielder who plays first base one time does not change identities into the person who usually plays first base; s/he just changes function or role in the game.

English Words: Tests for Part of Speech

+Linguists have (to some extent) redefined -- changed the definitions of -- parts of speech.

+Determined by “behavior”:

• Which suffixes can be attached to the word?

F Noun suffixes vs. adjective suffixes

• What words can such a word follow?

F Determiners such as a, the vs. auxiliaries such as would, can

+Meaning is not taken into consideration (e.g., “person, place or thing, ” “action or state”)

+Function is separate from word class:

• Role “modifier of noun” can be played by adjectives, participles, or nouns:

F Adj.: some sweet candy

F Participles: the sleeping child; the chosen people

F Noun: a straw hat

English Words: Tests for Part of Speech

+Grammatical context clues

F Five big snurps baloogled into the fromp.

] Clues that “snurp” is noun:

v Plural -s

v Head role: modified by “five”, “big”

] Clues that “baloogle” is a verb:

v Past suffix -ed

v Head role: modified by “into the fromp.”

] Clues that “fromp” is a noun:

v Stands alone after “the”.

F Pind floogle nosser ock turfs dorb.

] ? - Are -er of nosser and -s of turfs suffixes?

] No grammatical words like the, into to show relations between words.

English Words: Morphology

+Units that build words: morphemes

+Morpheme: smallest word part with a distinct meaning

• paint = “apply paint to” -er “one who does an action”

• painter = “one who applies paint to something”

+Analyzing words into morphemes:

• Look for smaller meaningful parts

• State the meanings of the parts

• Prove morphemehood by giving examples of each morpheme in a different word

• Form alone is not proof of morphemehood - MEANING must remain the same

English Words: Morphology

+Classwork: group practice

+Each group come up with THREE examples of each of the following:

• free morpheme (3)

• bound morpheme (prefix, suffix) (3 of each)

• Inflectional suffix

• Derivational prefix and suffix (3 of each)

• simple, complex, and compound word (3 of each)

+Analyze these words into component morphemes. Prove morphemehood of each with examples of other words containing the same morpheme.

• anti-rezoning

• detoxification

English Words: The general nature of English morphology

+English favors free morphemes as root words.

• Thing, free, play, like, etc.

+English has many bound roots as a result of borrowing from Greek and Latin:

• phon- (‘sound’, Greek: phonation, telephone, phonograph, etc.)

• vis- (‘sight’, Latin) - vision, visibility, visual, etc.

+English is sparse on inflection (8 categories with markers), but generous with derivation

+English derivational morphology is highly productive (in active use): http://www.wordspy.com

+Irregular morphology: Root vowel change, different suffix, zero-marking

• “Fossils” from older versions of English

English Words: The general nature of English morphology

+Allomorphy/morphophonological processes:

• Changes in pronunciation of a morpheme w/out change in meaning:

F Three pronunciations of ‘-s’ suffixes:

] after / s, z, s‡, z‡, c‡, æ‡ /: [´z] bushes, sneezes, judges

] After voiceless consonants: [ s ] cats, flops, proofs

] After voiced Cs and vowels: [ z ] bees, jobs, cones

F Keep, kept - make, made - leaf, leaves

F Variations in borrowed words (French, Latin, Greek, others)

] Destroy - destruction

] Divide - division

] Electric - electricity

English Words: Formation of new words

+Wholly new words: barf, nerd

+Metaphor: extending an existing word because of some perceived similarity: mouth of river, computer mouse, computer virus

+Affixation, compounding

+Others: acronyms, blends, clipping, etc.

• http://www.wordspy.com

Inflection and punctuation: Apostrophes

Child Language Acquisition of Morphology & Lexicon

+ Acquisition of all types of meaningful items begins in early childhood (words, affixes, inflection, derivation, compound words, etc.)

+ Language development stages:

• One-word stage Two-word stage Telegraphic stage

• ca. 12-18 mos. ca. 18-24 mos. ca. 24-36 mos.

• wawa! num wawa! What Daddy doing?

• ‘I want water.’ ‘Water tastes good.’ ‘What is Daddy doing?’

+ Morphology:

• As with phonology, developmental

• Begins in telegraphic stage

• Typical order of acquisition of inflectional morphemes: -ing, plural -s (‘books’), possessive -’s (Mama’s), past tense -ed (‘talked’), present tense -s (‘talks’)

• Derivational morphemes also early: doggie, teacher, “pizza-eater” (actual example)

• Overgeneralization of regular inflection in telegraphic and later stages: finded, maked, comed, falled, foots

F Fades gradually during early school years

Morphology: Applications – Child Language Acquisition of Morphology

Morphology: Applications – Child Language Acquisition of Morphology

+ By school age (5, 6 years):

• All inflectional morphemes of English mastered

• Some overgeneralization may continue

• Ongoing learning of derivational morphemes

+ Child internalizes morphology of home dialect, whether standard or nonstandard

+ Morphology varies a lot across English dialects

• Nonstandard Standard
They’re a-comin’ down the road. They’re coming down the road.
Dat my sista bike. That’s my sister’s bike.
Mama come home late last night. Mama came home late last night.
He don’t know where she is. He doesn’t know where she is.
I seen that movie yesterday. I saw that movie yesterday.
It got broke. It got broken.

Schooling: Morphology

+Inflection taught in grammar lessons.

+Derivation taught in vocabulary lessons.

+Inflection taught mainly to “correct” any nonstandard uses.

+Derivation taught to expand vocabulary and reading comprehension.

• There is a much larger number of derivational than inflectional affixes.

• Derivational affixes are less regular: action vs. payment vs. refusal.

• Much derivational morphology in advanced vocabulary: antioxidant, iconoclast, catalyst, androgynous, ambulatory, fluorescence, geodesic.

Schooling: Morphology

Morphology: Applications – Child Language Acquisition of Morphology & Lexicon

+Children learn ca. 5,000 words/year during the school years.

+Not through instruction;

+Meaning is guessed from context

+And refined each time the child reads/hears the word.

+Rely on this skill for vocabulary expansion:

• Reading - children should read into the millions of words per year.

F Reading exposes child to more vocabulary, and same vocabulary in varied contexts.

• Coach and model context-guessing skills in the classroom.

+Dictionary lookup, memorizing definitions, writing sentences with the new word largely ineffective.

Morphology: Applications

+Creative uses of morphology in literature

• Humor: “How I met my wife”