Morphology Lexical category Linguistics 200 Spring 2006 Lexical

Morphology: Lexical category Linguistics 200 Spring 2006

Lexical category n n = ‘part of speech’, ‘grammatical category’ What are the lexical categories? n n n of a given language? across languages? Why this is important in linguistics n Words of different lexical categories have different properties n n n Can combine with certain affixes (e. g. ) to form words Can combine with certain words (e. g. ) to form sentences (Imagine a dictionary which didn’t include lexical category)

Determining lexical category Morphological tests: what kinds of bound morphemes can be added to morphemes in category X? n Syntactic tests: what kinds of words can words in category X combine with? n Typical description of lexical categories n nouns: X, Y, Z characteristics (in lg. P) n verbs: A, B, C characteristics (in lg. Q) n adjectives: … n

Verbs n Meanings: typically denote actions, events, states n But meaning is not always a reliable guide ‘hungry’ is an adjective in English n ? An. A wi wi ‘be hungry’ is a verb in Sahaptin n n Some Sahaptin verbs s nwi ‘talk’ n p. Ajúwi ‘be sick, hurt’ n k. A Am ‘miss’ n pnú ‘sleep’ n

Characteristics of Sahaptin verbs n Can be affixed with tense/aspect suffixes –šA imperfective (unless irregular) n -(n)XA habitual n -t. A future n n Can be affixed with person/number affixes ? i- 3 sg n p. A- 3 pl n -k 2 sg imperative, etc. n

Question (part 1) n Think of a language (other than English) that you know or have studied. List one verb and explain why you think it is a verb.

Nouns n n Typically refer to objects, classes of objects, concepts Some Sahaptin nouns n n n Morphological test n n ? A ? A ‘crow’ ? w nš nš ‘man’ tiin. A wit ‘culture, tradition’ hulí ‘wind’ (also a verb, ‘be windy’) cannot be affixed with tense/aspect suffixes Syntactic test (‘frame’) for nouns n ___ verb or verb ___ n n ? ipnúšA ‘he’s sleeping’ ? ipnúšA ? w nš nš or ? w nš nš ? ipnúšA ‘the man is sleeping’

A noun-forming affix n Some affixes change lexical category (‘category-changing’) n E. g. –/t’A w. AAs/ instrument: ]V __ ]N (“attaches to verbs, forms nouns”) [[ q’íwi]V t’A w. AAs]N N(oun) V(erb) | q’íwi ‘play’ t’A w. AAs Phonology applies to word after morphemes joined together: [ q’iwit’A w. AAs] ‘toy’ n Properly speaking, –/t’A w. AAs/ does not cause / q’íwi/ to change category from verb to noun. Rather, –/t’A w. AAs/ specifies that the word containing the morpheme / q’íwi/V is a noun.

A verb forming affix • -i ‘do with N’: ]N ___ ]V • t. A Atp. As ‘shirt, dress’ (noun) • t. A Atp. Asi ‘wear, put on shirt, dress’ (verb) • • t. A Atp. Asik ‘put on your shirt’ (-k 2 sg imperative) ? Ajn ‘iron’ (noun) • ? A jni ‘iron, press’ (verb) • ? A jnik ‘iron it’

In unloosen, 1. 2. 3. The prefix un- is a category changing prefix. The prefix un- is not a category changing prefix. None of the above.

More morphological properties of Sahaptin nouns Cannot occur with verb affixes n Can occur with case suffixes (next week) n Nouns have dual and plural forms, but 2 types of nouns n n Animate, independently mobile n n -in dual, -ma plural Inanimate or immobile n dual/plural formed via reduplication

Animate nouns Animate and independently mobile nouns n Form plurals with -m. A n ? A ? A ‘crow, ? A ? Am. A ‘crows’ n ? Ap’úus ‘cat’, ? Ap’úusm. A ‘cats’ n ? A j. At ‘woman’, ? A j. Atm. A ‘women’ n č’A ‘ghost’, č’Am. A ‘ghosts’ n

Inanimate nouns Actually, inanimate or not independently mobile n Form plural via reduplication (a way of classifying morphemes by form) n a reduplicative morpheme copies the phonological segments of the root attached to n partial reduplication (affixational) vs. total reduplication (compounding) n

Reduplication in English A type of compounding n ‘real, true’ n red (vs. blue red) n home n tea n

Plurals n Inanimate nouns pšw. A ‘rock’, pšw. A ‘rocks’ n ? t t ‘tooth’, ? t t ‘teeth’ n w. A l. A ‘creek’, w. Al. Aw. A l. A ‘creeks’ (Walla) n n Immobile animate nouns (e. g. plants) n l. Atít ‘flower’, l. Atítl. Atit ‘flowers’

Adjectives Have dual and plural forms, like nouns n Morphological test n n ___-t. XAw ‘more/most’ t mn. A ‘heart’ (noun); *t mn. A t. XAw n t mn. A ji ji ‘nice’ (‘heart’-adj) (adj); t mn. A jit. XAw ‘nicer, nicest’ n n Syntactic test n p. A ju ju ‘very’ ___ p. A ju ju t mn. A ji ji ‘very nice’ n *p. A ju ju t mn. A (‘very heart’) n

Verbs vs. adjectives n ? A t. Aw ‘valuable, important’ (adjective) n ? A t. Aw iw. A ‘it’s valuable’ n n (? A t. Awi ‘love, like, value’ (verb) n n *? i? A t. AwšA ? i? A t. Awiša ‘he likes…’) ? An. A wi wi ‘be hungry’ (verb) ? i? An. A wi wišA ‘he’s hungry’ n *? An. A wi wi iw. A n

Summary Sahaptin lexical categories include noun, verb, adjective n Used in different syntactic and morphological contexts n Subcategories of lexical categories may also need to be distinguished; may have different morphological or syntactic characteristics n Change in lexical category can be accomplished with the addition of certain affixes n

Question (part 2) n In the language (other than English) that you know or have studied, list one noun and explain why you think it is a noun and not a verb.