Linguistic Anthropology Putting Things Together Overview From Morphology

Linguistic Anthropology Putting Things Together

Overview • From Morphology • The analysis of words • and how they are structured • To Syntax • The analysis of phrases and sentences • and how they are structured

Morphology • Words vs. morphemes • Morphemes as smallest units of meaning in a language • respect+ful; dis+respect+ful • room+mate; stir+fry • fire+fight+er • Manhattan

Morphological Analysis • Describing morphemes… • Analyzing their arrangements…

Describing Morphemes: Bases • Form foundations of words • Establish basic meanings • English: fish; talk • Shinzwani: -lo- (fish); -lagu- (talk) • Czech: piv- (beer)

Kinds of Bases Roots STEMS (derived from roots) • Serve as underlying foundation • Can’t be broken down any further • English: fish • Shinzwani: -lo- (fish) • By means of affixes • English: fish+ing = fishing; talk+er = talker • Shinzwani: lo+a = -loa (fishing) • Can have additional affixes attached • English: talker+s = talkers • Shinzwani: ni+ku+loa = nikuloa (I am fishing).

Creating a Language: Bases Some of the base forms you may wish to create • 9 -12 things • visible body parts, movable items, parts of the room • 4 -6 actions • sit, stand, give, touch, open, close, lift, put down • 2 -6 persons • you, me, I, we, he/she/it, you/y’all, we two, we three • 6 -8 descriptors • size, color, number • 2 -5 indicators/places • the, a, this, that-overthere, in, at, on, under • Anything else of interest (consider your cultural focus) Remember to use only sounds in your charts.

Describing Morphemes: Affixes • Attach to bases • Add grammatical information • English: -er; -ing • = fisher, fishing, talker, talking • Shinzwani: hu- (to) ; niku- (I am) • = huloa (to fish), hulagua (to talk) • = nikuloa (I am fishing), nikulagua (I am talking) • Czech: -o; -a; -Ø • = pivo (beer), piva ((2, 3, 4) beers), piv ((5+) beers).

Kinds of Affixes • Prefixes • im+possible • un+likely • Suffixes • walk+ing • Infixes • fan+bloody+tastic • Circumfixes • m+loz+i (fisherman) • Reduplication • mpole+mpole (very slow) • Interweaving • k+i+t+aa+b (book) • Portmanteau • blog

What Affixes DO • Derivation • Changing one kind of word into another • verbs into nouns: read -- reader; -lo- -- mlozi • adjectives into verbs: modern -- modernize • Inflection • Showing relationships among words in a group • tenses: hunted -- hunting • comparisons: big -- bigger -- biggest • persons: I fish -- she fishes • number: cat -- cats; mpaha – zimpaha (cat/cats)

Creating a Language: Affixes • To go with your base forms, please create: • an affix to derive one kind of word from another • e. g. , things from actions, or actions from things • an affix to inflect one kind of word • For example: • • • gender: male, female, neuter. . . number: single, plural, dual, triple, inclusive, exclusive… shape: flat, thin, round, square, oblong, 3 -D, floppy. . . time: now, soon, never, always, yesterday, tomorrow… validity: witnessed, heard about, heard from reliable source… comparison: strong, stronger, strongest. . . • Remember to only use sounds in your charts!

Analyzing Arrangement: Free and Bound Morphemes • Free morphemes are like bases • Can stand alone • e. g. , words: speak; respect; Manhattan • Bound morphemes are like affixes • Must be attached to other morphemes • e. g. , affixes: -er; -ing; dis-; -ful • speak-er; speak-ing; dis-respect-ful • But note: roots can also be BOUND MORPHEMES • e. g. , Shinzwani -lo- ‘fish’, Czech piv- ‘beer’ • Hierarchy among affixes • English: derive first, then inflect… • help+er+s (not help+s+er)

Syntax • How words combine into phrases & sentences • Note fuzzy boundary between morphology and syntax • Shinzwani: ni+tso+hu+venza ‘I+will+you+like’ • All one word • English: I will like you • Four different words

Analyzing Syntax • Finding and testing substitution frames • Also called ‘slots and fillers’ • The cat in the hat • The cat in the basket • The cat in the tree • M+paha i+send+a mji+ni – the cat is going to town • M+wana a+send+a mji+ni – the child is going to town • Gari li+send+a mji+ni – the car is going to town • M+tu m+zuri m+moja u+le – that one good person • Ki+kapu ki+zuri ki+moja ki+le – that one good basket • Gari zuri moja li+le – that one good car

Labeling Substitution Frames • Let the language be your guide • Be prepared for different categories • Grammatical gender • Czech: masculine, feminine, neuter • Shinzwani: human, animal, body part, useful, abstract • Case • Czech: subject, object, possession, location • The effect of obligatory categories • Grammatical categories that must be expressed

Creating a Language: Syntax • Decide on word order for your language • SOV, SVO? ; adjective + noun? noun + adjective? • Create a simple declarative sentence type • Develop a way to ‘transform’ the sentence: • Create negative AND interrogative expressions • Create at least one tense (past, future, evidential) • Insert a word • Or add an affix • Or change the order of words • DO NOT just change intonation