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MORPHOLOGY

by Don L. F. Nilsenby Don L. F. Nilsen

And Alleen Pace NilsenAnd Alleen Pace Nilsen

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CONTENT WORDS VS. FUNCTION WORDS

You may have been told that there are eight Parts of Speech in English.

You may have been told that their names are: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Pronouns, Articles, Auxiliary Verbs and Expletives.

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What your teachers told you is not a lie, but it is very much an oversimplification.

These Part-of-Speech Categories need to be divided into two very different types of Parts of Speech.

The Content Words carry real-world meaning.

The Function words carry only grammatical meaning.

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The Content Words are Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs.

The Function Words are Articles, Auxiliary Verbs and Expletives.

The Pronouns belong to neither of these categories. Pronouns can stand in the place of Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositional Phrases, or even Sentences.

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Since Content Words carry real-world meaning:

Content words can be stressed.Content words cannot be easily figured

out if they are deleted.Content words can be inflected.Content words more readily enter into

compounds.Content words are an open set; new ones

enter our language daily.

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Pronouns meet some of these criteria but not others. They carry some real-world meaning, but not as much as the words they replace.

They can sometimes be stressed.They can be figured out if deleted.They can be inflected.They don’t enter into compounding.They are a closed set.

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CATEGORIES VS. FUNCTIONS

“Noun” is a category. “Subject” is a function.

A Noun or a Pronoun can function as a Subject, a Subject Complement, a Direct Object, an Indirect Object, an Object Complement or an Object of a Preposition.

Pronouns functioning as S or SC are in subject form; those functioning as DO, IO, OC, or OP are in object form.

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A Verb functions as a Predicate.

An Adjective or an Adverb functions as a Modifier.

An Adjective answers “which,” “what kind of,” or “how many” and modifies a Noun.

An Adverb answers “how,” “when,” “where” or “how much” and modifies a Verb, an Adjective, an Adverb or a Sentence.

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Function Words have only grammatical meaning.

Prepositions relate Nouns to other Nouns (fourth of July).

Conjunctions relate Sentences to other Sentences.

Articles mark Nouns.

Auxiliaries mark Verbs.

Expletives mark the place of the Subject so that the Subject can be postponed.

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OLD AND NEW INFORMATION

The Subject of a sentence gives Old Information. It provides the “subject” for the people to talk about.

The Predicate of a sentence gives New Information. It provides new and insightful information about the Subject.

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Subject and Predicate are important not only to Linguists, but also to Rhetoricians, Psychologists, Logicians, etc., but different names are used in different fields:

Subject vs. PredicateTopic vs. CommentOld Information vs. New InformationTheme vs. RhemePresupposition vs. Assertion

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Contrast the following

Bound vs. Free Morphemes

Stem vs. Affix

Prefix vs. Suffix vs. Infix

Derivational vs. Inflectional

Content vs. Functional Morphemes

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Analyze the following word

Antidisestablishmentarianism

STEM: stable or establish

Suffixes: -ment, -arian, -ism

Prefixes: dis-, anti-

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NOUNS

PLURAL: cats, dogs, horses, deer, data, mice, alumni

POSSESSIVE: dog’s, its

PLURAL POSSESSIVE: dogs’

NOTE: English used to have four cases: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative

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VERBS

THIRD PERSON SINGULAR PRESENT INDICATIVE: goes

PAST TENSE: buzzed, walked, heated, sang

PAST PARTICIPLE: driven, hit, liked

PRESENT PARTICIPLE: driving

NOTE: English used to have two more forms: driveth, drivest

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SUPPLETIVE VERBS

• A suppletive form is one which comes from two different paradigms. These must be high-frequency words, or they will become regularized through common use.

• “Go-went” is a suppletive verb, as is “is-be.” “Go” comes from the “go” paradigm, while “went” comes from the “wend” paradigm.

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ADJECTIVES

COMPARATIVE: higher, more beautiful, more friendly

SUPERLATIVE: highest, most beautiful, most friendly

NOTE: Old English Adjectives used to have four cases (Nom, Gen, Dat, Acc), agreed with nouns, and came after nouns

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ADVERBS

COMPARATIVE: faster, more imaginatively

SUPERLATIVE: fastest, most imaginatively

Adverbs usually end in –ly, however there areFLAT ADVERBS: fast, firstAND –LY ADJECTIVES: friendly

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PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Sing Nom Obj Pos Substantive Reflexive

1st I me my mine myself2nd you you your yours yourself3rd he him his his himself she her her hers herself it it its its itself

Plural1st we us our ours ourselves2nd you you your yours yourselves3rd they them their theirs themselves

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RELATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS

RELATIVE: INTERROGATIVEwhen whenwhere wherewhy whyhow howwhich whichwhat whatthat

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DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

singular: plural:

close: this these

far: that those

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Contrast these sentences

When did she arrive? (Int Pro)

I know when she arrived. (Rel Pro)

This is the pen that you borrowed. (Rel Pro)

Please give me that pen. (Dem Pro)

I know that you wanted to do well. (SC)

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INDEFINITE PRONOUNS (GO WITH A SINGULAR VERB)

THING: PLACE: TIME: BODY

ANY anything anywhere ever anybody

NO nothing nowhere nevernobody

SOME- something somewhere sometimes somebody

EVERY- everything everywhere always everybody

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ARCHAIC FORMS:SHAKESPEARE & THE BIBLE

NOMINATIVE: POSSESSIVE: ACCUSATIVE:

SINGULARS: thou (Nom), thy, thine (Gen), thee (Acc)

PLURALS: you, ye

DUALS: wit, uncer, unc, git, incer, inc (NOTE: No longer in Modern English

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MORPHOLOGICAL HUMOR

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UGLIFICATION

“I never heard of ‘Uglification,’ Alice ventured to say. ‘What is it?’ The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. “never heard of uglifying!” it exclaimed. “You know what to beautify is, I suppose?’ ‘Yes,’ said Alice doubtfully: ‘it means—to make—anything-prettier.’ ‘Well, then,’ the Gryphon went on, ‘if you don’t know what to uglify is, you are a simpleton.’”

(Carroll, Lewis Alice in Wonderland 128-129)

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The term “uglification” is part of a longer quote in which Alice is being told about the education system in Wonderland. Students in Wonderland study “Reeling, Writhing, Uglification and Derision.”

They call their teacher “Tortoise” because he “taught us.”

Lessons get shorter each day. That’s why they’re called “lessens.”

In Wonderland, “Latin and Greek” becomes “Laughing and Grief,” and “drawing, sketching and painting in oils” becomes “Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.”

(Carroll, Lewis Alice in Wonderland 128-129)

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CLICK AND CLACKTHE TAPPET BROTHERS

On National Public Radio’s “Cartalk,” Click and Clack are playing with Morphology in their list of credits:

Copyeditor: Adeline MooreAccounts Payable: Ineeda CzechPollution Control: Maury MissionsPurchasing: Lois BidderStatistician: Marge Innovera Russian Chauffeur: Picov AndropovLegal Firm: Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe.

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BILINGUAL MORPHOLOGICAL WORD PLAY

“Un petit d’un petitS’étonne aux Halles”

This makes no sense in French, but it makes perfect sense in English:

“Humpty DumptySat on a wall”

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NEW DEFINITIONS

ArteryArtery: The study of painting: The study of painting

BacteriaBacteria: The back door of a cafeteria: The back door of a cafeteria

BariumBarium: What doctors do when patients : What doctors do when patients die.die.

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WATERGATEThe Watergate Hotel is where the break-in of the National

Democratic headquarters occurred.

Today’s dictionaries give more room to the metonymous meaning of Watergate than to the literal meaning of “a gate controlling the flow of water.”

“Gate” has now become a suffix meaning “scandal” as in

Irangate, Contragate, Iraqgate, Pearlygate, Rubbergate, Murphygate, Gennifergate, Nannygate, Monicagate, ad infinitum.

WATERGATE-GATE:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfze1k4jsp8

Concluding Statements:

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