Transcript Lecture 1 - Introduction

Introduction to English Linguistics
prof. Hugo Bowles
Lesson 7
Morphology 2 (Analysing morphemes)
1
Two methods

Two methods can be used to represent
morpheme analysis:
- Dividing by hyphens
- Using a tree diagram
2
Mehtod 1 – Dividing by hyphens

Dividing by hyphens (trattini) is the
simplest and easiest method for doing
morphological analysis.
How do you do it?
3
Step 1 – Find the root !
The root of the word is the base form to
which other bound morphemes are
attached.

Where is the root in:
- teacher
teach
- paper
no root (it’s a base form)
truth
- truthfulness
4
Find the roots the following words

unwholesome
 whole
 rulership
 rule
 underdeveloped
 develop
 overachiever
 achieve
 operational
 operate
 indispensable
 dispense
STEP 2 – Divide the bound morphemes
from the root with a hyphen
e.g. truthfulness
root
=
truth + bound morpheme -ful =
truth
truth-ful
truthful + bound morpheme -ness = truth-ful-ness
Answer = truth-ful-ness
Can you divide these words
with hyphens?

colourful
 happiness
 unbelievable
 teacher
 monster
 rattlesnake
colour-ful
happi-ness
un-believ-able
teach-er
monster
rattle-snake
Method 2 – tree diagram

This involves dividing the word in terms
of the grammatical functions of the
morphemes and representing it as a tree.

This is more difficult !
8
step 1 – divide the word using
hyphens

truthfulness
truth-ful-ness
9
step 2 – extract the words that
are created by the morphemes

In the single word truthfulness we have
actually found three words:
 truthfulness
 truthful
 truth (root)

What is the grammatical function of
these words?
10
step 3 – analyse the grammar
of each word

In the single word truthfulness we have
actually found three words:
noun (N)
 truthfulness
 truthful
adjective (A)
 truth (root)
noun (N)

What is the grammatical function of
these words?
11
step 4 – start the tree from the
root
-
Write the word at the bottom
Attach the grammatical category of the root
to the root
N
truth-ful-ness
step 5 – attach the grammatical
category of the next word
A
N
truth – ful - ness
step 6 – attach the grammatical
category of the next word
N
A
N
truth – ful - ness
Another example
specification
Step 1 – divide the word using hyphens
specification
specif-ic-ation
step 2 – extract the words

specification
 specific
 specify (root)
16
step 2 – extract the words

specification
 specific
 specify (root)
17
step 3 – analyse the grammar

specification (N)
 specific (A)
 specify (root) (V)
18
step 4 – start from the root
V
specif - ic - ation
19
step 5 – add the next category
A
V
specif - ic - ation
20
Step 6 – add the next category
N
A
V
specif - ic - ation
21
The structure is not always like this

The structure of the tree will depend on how
the word has been morphologically
constructed. Sometimes the root is in the
middle of the word or at the end of the
word. This will change the structure of the
tree.

Let’s try
unwholesome
step 1 – divide the word

un-whole-some
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step 2 – extract the words

unwholesome
 wholesome
 whole (root)
24
step 3 – analyse the grammar

unwholesome (A)
 wholesome (A)
 whole (root) (A)
25
step 4 – start from the root
A
un – whole - some
26
step 5 – add the next category
A
A
un – whole - some
27
step 6 – add the next category
A
A
A
un–whole - some
28
Draw tree diagrams for the
following words

rul-er-ship

under-develop-ed

over-achiev-er

operat-ion-al

in-dispens-able