WORDS AND SENTENCES Chapter 4 INTRODUCTION Words change

WORDS AND SENTENCES Chapter 4

INTRODUCTION Words change and words mean different things in different languages Combining words in another language can give you unexpected results This is why linguistic anthropologists must use immersion in fieldwork so they understand how the language works In this lecture we will focus on Morphology: discovering and analyzing words Syntax: knowing how to analyze phrases and sentences

MORPHOLOGY Morphology is the analysis of words and how they are structured Is a word the smallest unit of meaning in a language?

MORPHOLOGY Morphology is the analysis of words and how they are structured Is a word the smallest unit of meaning in a language? No The smallest unit of meaning in a language is a morpheme Review: What is the smallest unit of sound? (from last week)

MORPHOLOGY Morphology is the analysis of words and how they are structured Is a word the smallest unit of meaning in a language? No The smallest unit of meaning in a language is a morpheme Review: What is the smallest unit of sound? (from last week) phoneme

MORPHEMES A word can include one or more morphemes: Example: Helpful Unhelpful The word unhelpful has two morphemes attached to it While ‘ful’ and ‘un’ are not words, they have meaning and are therefore morphemes

MORPHEMES When learning a new language, understanding morphemes is more helpful than memorization and can help you create and recognize new words

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS There are two parts to morphological analysis: Identifying/Describing morphemes Analyzing the way morphemes are arranged in words

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Identifying Morphemes: The trick is to find the minimal units of meaning by comparing words or short phrases Look at pg. 86 example of Shinzwani and English Hufua to work metal Hujua to know Hulagua to speak, talk Huloa to fish What do you notice?

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Identifying Morphemes: ‘hu’ seems to mean ‘to’ (as in to do something); the other part of the word is what is being done From this understanding or ‘rule, ’ you could predict or identify other words in this language If ‘farm’ is ‘lima, ’ how would you say ‘to farm’?

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Identifying Morphemes: ‘hu’ seems to mean ‘to’ (as in to do something); the other part of the word is what is being done From this understanding or ‘rule, ’ you could predict or identify other words in this language If ‘farm’ is ‘lima, ’ how would you say ‘to farm’? hulima

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Describing Morphemes: Generally they are described in terms of whether they function as a base or affix Bases are the foundation of words and Affixes are attached Examples: Sing is a base ‘er’ is an affix singer

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Describing Morphemes: Bases can be roots or stems Roots are morphemes that serve as the underlying foundation for other words Stems are words (or many morphemes together) that are derived from a root Additional affixes can be attached Example: Farmers Root: farm Affix: er Affix: s

WORDS AND MEANING What can you tell me about these? : un ed pre s non ing anti ist What do they mean? Where do they attach?

WORDS AND MEANING The left column are prefixes and the right are suffixes If you add –ist to words like “novel” or “art” it means a person who makes that particular item There are 2 kinds of morphemes: Free morphemes: stand alone as words (education, anthropology) Bound morphemes: are attached to free morphemes to modify meaning (dis-, -er, -ly) Possible Impossibility Womanly Womanizer

VIDEOS The word “doubt”: http: //ed. ted. com/lessons/beyond-the-shadow-of-a-doubtgina-cooke Spelling: free and bound morphemes: http: //ed. ted. com/lessons/makingsense-of-spelling-gina-cooke

“FOREIGN” MORPHEMES Free morphemes are most easily passed from one language to another Groups often “borrow” words Because of trade and politics, English has spread into many other languages English also has many borrowed words Remember the activity we did earlier in the semester

HOW MORPHEMES ARE ARRANGED Affixes are basically bound morphemes Affixes can be categorized by where they attach Prefix: at the beginning; ‘unpopular’ Suffix: at the end; ‘quickly’ Infix: into the middle; ‘absofreakinlutely’ Portmanteau: blended words; smoke + fog = smog More on pgs. 90 -91

HIERARCHY Every language has a specific order in which affixes can attach This is a hierarchy In English, suffixes are usually added before prefixes Help helpful unhelpful (not help unhelp) To figure this out, you first derive words and then inflect them Help + er +s = helpers (not help + s + er = helpser)

DERIVATION AND INFLECTION Derivation is the process of creating new words Inflection is the process of modifying existing ones Words that are used in the same way fit into the same category Example: The cat in the bed The cat in the _____ What words can go here?

DERIVATION AND INFLECTION Derivation is the process of creating new words Inflection is the process of modifying existing ones Words that are used in the same way fit into the same category Example: The cat in the bed The cat in the _____ What words can go here? Chair, window, yard, etc. All these would go into the same language category

DERIVATION AND INFLECTION What if we substitute cats for cat? Does it still make sense? Then cat and cats are in the same category What about catty? Does that make sense?

DERIVATION AND INFLECTION What if we substitute cats for cat? Does it still make sense? Then cat and cats are in the same category What about catty? Does that make sense? No, so it is in a different category AND is it a derivation. Catty was made out of the word cat What about the cat sat in the wonderful? In the happy? In the time? These are not in the same category as chair, yard, bed, etc.

ALLOMORPHS Remember allophones from last week? What are they?

ALLOMORPHS Remember allophones from last week? What are they? They are variations of phonemes So what do you think allomorphs are?

ALLOMORPHS Remember allophones from last week? What are they? They are variations of phonemes So what do you think allomorphs are? They are variations of morphemes Sometimes they are predictable and sometimes they are not General pattern: Im- goes with words that begin with [p] Il- goes with words that begin with [l] In- goes with words that begin with [d], [t], [s] Can you think of examples?

SYNTAX Syntax examines and describes how words are arranged into phrases and sentences One way to do this is to study substitution frames, grammatical frames in which you can place related words Think back to our example the cat in the _____ We would label and describe each category we find from these frames AND note the way the frames are arranged

SYNTAX We have determiners (the, a) We have verbs (sat) We have nouns (cat, bed) But nouns have to be further divided into subject nouns and object nouns Subject: cat Object: bed

SYNTAX There are different frames and different categories in each language For example, grammatical genders are categories into which words (usually nouns) are classified Example: Czech: neuter, feminine, masculine Shinzwani has 8 genders, including humans, body parts, and more

SYNTAX Obligatory categories are categories that have to be expressed Some languages you have to indicate gender; in other you don’t In some you have to indicate singular/plural; in others you don’t

SYNTAX We also have to look at the ordering of words in a sentence Sentences have Subjects, Objets, and Verbs, but they can be in different orders SVO: English, French, Russian, Swahili VSO: Classical Arabic, Hebrew, Irish, Tagalog SOV: Japanese, Persian/Farsi, Turkish

GRAMMARS Words can change and word order can change Prescriptive grammars are designed to be the models of proper speech; anything that diverges from this is ‘bad grammar’ English used a model based on Latin In the 1700 s and 1800 s limitations of this model were apparent In the 1800 s Franz Boas developed descriptive grammar, which says we should not judge a grammar as good or bad but learn it on its own terms

HOW LANGUAGE WORKS Elements and rules for their use is grammar Grammar is all the knowledge shared by those able to speak and understand a language. In English, there are many dialects, usually based on region or ethnicity The Standard American English (SAE) dialect is accepted as “most proper” Is there such a thing as superior/inferior dialects?

HOW LANGUAGE WORKS No, there is not Each dialect and each language is capable of communicating information “I do not have a computer” “I ain’t got no computer” These are both linguistically valid, but people make judgments based on cultural beliefs about class, education, and status

WORDS AND MEANING Video: Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understand the Brain. http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Q-B_ONJIEc. E Min 13 -24 Discuss what grammar is Is there a correct and incorrect grammar? Explain

ASSIGNMENT Article “Sorry, But There’s no Such Thing as Correct Grammar” an answer questions HW#4: “Expletive Deleted” (on Portal)