Understanding Morphology

✍ Scribed by Martin Haspelmath

• Publisher: Hodder Arnold
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 305
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Understanding Morphology offers students an introduction to the study of work structure that starts at the very beginning. Assuming no knowledge of the field of morphology on the part of the reader, the book presents a broad range of morphological phenomena from a wide variety of languages. Starting with the core areas of inflection and derivation, the book presents the interfaces between morphology and syntax and between morphology and syntax and morphology and phonology. The synchronic study of word structure is covered as are the phenomena of diachronic change such as analogy and grammaticalization. Theories presented clearly in accessible language with the main purpose of shedding light on the data, rather than as a goal in themselves. The author consistently draws on the best research available, thus utilizing and discussing both functionalist and generative theoretical approaches. Each chapter includes a summary, suggestions for further reading, and exercises. As such this is the ideal book for both beginning students of linguistics, or anyone in a related discipline looking for a first introduction to morphology.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 3
Contents......Page 5
Preface......Page 10
Abbreviations......Page 12
1.1 What is morphology?......Page 15
1.2 Morphology in different languages......Page 18
1.3 The goals of morphological research......Page 20
1.4 A brief user's guide to this book......Page 23
Summary of Chapter 1......Page 24
Exercises......Page 25
2.1 Lexemes and word-forms......Page 27
2.2 Morphemes......Page 30
2.3 Affixes, bases and roots......Page 32
2.4 Formal operations......Page 35
2.5 Morphemes and allomorphs......Page 40
2.6 Some difficulties in morpheme analysis......Page 45
Appendix. Morpheme-by-morpheme glosses......Page 48
Exercises......Page 50
3.1 Productivity and the lexicon......Page 53
3.2 The form of morphological rules......Page 58
3.2.1 The morpheme-based model......Page 59
3.2.2 The word-based model......Page 61
3.3.1 Pattern loss......Page 65
3.3.2 Coalescence......Page 67
3.3.3 Analogical change......Page 68
3.3.4 Reanalysis......Page 70
Summary of Chapter 3......Page 71
Exercises......Page 72
4.1 Inflectional categories......Page 74
4.2.1 Derived nouns......Page 82
4.2.3 Derived adjectives......Page 83
4.3 Properties of inflection and derivation......Page 84
4.4.1 The dichotomy approach......Page 91
4.4.2 The continuum approach......Page 93
4.4.3 A tripartition: contextual inflection, inherent inflection and derivation......Page 95
Exercises......Page 97
5.1 Compounding......Page 99
5.2 Hierarchical structure and head-dependent relations in compounds......Page 104
5.3 Hierarchical structure and head-dependent relations in derived lexemes......Page 107
Summary of Chapter 5......Page 109
Exercises......Page 110
6 Productivity......Page 112
6.1 Possible, actual and occasional words......Page 113
6.2 Productivity, creativity and analogy......Page 114
6.3 Restrictions on word-formation rules......Page 117
6.3.1 Phonological restrictions......Page 118
6.3.3 Pragmatic restrictions......Page 119
6.3.5 Syntactic restrictions......Page 120
6.3.6 Borrowed vocabulary strata......Page 121
6.3.7 Synonymy blocking......Page 122
6.4 Measuring productivity......Page 123
6.5 Speakers'knowledge of productivity......Page 124
Summary of Chapter 6......Page 126
Exercises......Page 127
7.1 Types of inflection classes......Page 129
7.2 Describing global inflection classes......Page 136
7.3 Inheritance hierarchies......Page 139
7.4 The role of stems in inflection......Page 144
7.5 Productivity of inflection classes......Page 147
7.6 Syncretism......Page 150
7.6.1 Systematic versus accidental inflectional homonymy......Page 151
7.6.2 Polyfunctionality versus vagueness......Page 152
7.6.3 Natural syncretism......Page 153
7.6.4 Rules of referral......Page 154
7.7 Missing cells: defectiveness, deponency and periphrasis......Page 156
Further reading......Page 159
Exercises......Page 160
8.1 Dividing text into words......Page 162
8.2 Free forms versus bound forms......Page 164
8.3 Clitics versus affixes......Page 165
8.4 Compounds versus phrases......Page 168
8.5 Lexical integrity......Page 175
Exercises......Page 177
9.1 Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations in morphology......Page 179
9.2 Subtraction and back-formation......Page 181
9.3 Cross-formation......Page 183
9.4 Output constraints in morphology......Page 185
9.4.2 Semantic output constraints (or constructional meanings)......Page 186
9.5 Triangular relationships......Page 187
9.6 Bracketing paradoxes......Page 189
9.7 Are morphemes unnecessary?......Page 190
Exercises......Page 193
10.1 Two types of sound alternations......Page 195
10.2 Process descriptions of sound alternations......Page 202
10.3 Three types of morphophonological alternations......Page 206
10.4 The diachrony of morphophonological alternations......Page 209
10.5 Integrated versus neutral affixes......Page 213
10.5.1 Lezgian......Page 214
10.5.2 Yidiny......Page 215
10.5.4 Level ordering......Page 217
Further reading......Page 220
Exercises......Page 221
11.1.1 Semantic valence and syntactic valence (argument structure and function structure)......Page 223
11.1.2 Agent-backgrounding operations......Page 226
11.1.3 Patient-backgrounding operations......Page 228
11.1.4 Agent-adding operations: causatives......Page 229
11.1.5 Object-creating operations: applicatives......Page 230
11.1.6 General properties of valence-changing operations......Page 232
11.2 Valence in compounding......Page 233
11.2.1 Noun incorporation......Page 234
11.2.2 V-V compound verbs......Page 235
11.2.3 Synthetic nominal compounds......Page 237
11.3.1 Transposition and argument inheritance......Page 239
11.3.2 Action nouns (V -^ N)......Page 240
11.3.3 Agent nouns (V -> N) and deverbal adjectives (V -> A)......Page 242
11.3.4 Deadjectival transposition (A -> N, A -> V)......Page 243
11.4 Transpositional inflection......Page 244
Further reading......Page 249
Exercises......Page 250
12.1 Asymmetries in inflectional categories......Page 251
12.1.1 Frequent and rare categories......Page 252
12.1.2 The correlation between frequency and shortness......Page 253
12.1.3 The correlation between frequency and differentiation......Page 255
12.1.4 Local frequency reversals......Page 257
12.2 The direction of analogical levelling......Page 259
12.3 Frequency and irregularity......Page 261
12.4 Blocking strength and frequency......Page 263
Exercises......Page 265
References......Page 267
Glossary of technical terms......Page 279
Language index......Page 291
Subject index......Page 297