Morphology: Intro to Linguistics [video 4]

Summary

In this video, the presenter dives into the concept of morphology, focusing on morphemes, the smallest units of meaning in linguistics. The discussion explores how morphemes make up words and contribute to their meaning, with examples from English and other languages like Spanish, Swahili, and Yupik. The video breaks down various types of morphemes, such as root words, prefixes, suffixes, and infixes, and explains how different languages treat morphemes differently. It also touches on complex linguistic concepts like inflectional and derivational morphemes, and demonstrates how morphemes can change depending on their phonological environment.

Takeaways

• 😀 A morpheme is the smallest unit in linguistics that can bear meaning, unlike phonemes, which are just sounds without inherent meaning.
• 😀 Words can be broken down into morphemes, which are meaningful units, as seen in the example of 'unbuttoned' (un + button + ed).
• 😀 English has various types of morphemes, such as root words, prefixes, suffixes, and even infixes, which all serve different functions.
• 😀 Prefixes and suffixes change the meaning or grammatical role of root words (e.g., 'anti-' in 'antihero' or 's' in 'dogs').
• 😀 Infixes, though rare in English, exist in some forms, such as expletive insertion (e.g., 'abso-freakin-lutely').
• 😀 Infixes follow specific grammatical rules in English, like being placed before the stressed syllable in a word.
• 😀 There are two main types of morphemes: inflectional (which indicate grammatical function) and derivational (which change the meaning or category of a word).
• 😀 Inflectional morphemes in English are often suffixes that modify grammatical elements, such as tense ('-ed') or plurality ('-s').
• 😀 Derivational morphemes, such as 'un-' or '-able', can transform a word’s meaning entirely (e.g., 'wrap' becomes 'unwrap').
• 😀 Languages vary widely in how they treat morphemes. Some languages, like English, treat them as isolated units, while others, like Swahili and Eskimo languages, combine many morphemes into single words.
• 😀 Some languages, such as Yupik, allow multiple morphemes to be packed into one word, making them highly polysynthetic, while others, like Mandarin Chinese, tend to isolate morphemes more strictly.

Q & A

What is morphology in linguistics?

Morphology is the study of the structure of words and the components that make them up. It involves analyzing morphemes, the smallest meaningful units in language.

What is a morpheme?

A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in language. It can be a root word, prefix, suffix, or even an infix that carries meaning in a word.

Can phonemes be considered morphemes?

No, phonemes are not morphemes. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in language but do not carry meaning. Morphemes, on the other hand, are the smallest units that convey meaning.

What is the difference between root words and affixes?

Root words are base words that carry meaning on their own, while affixes are prefixes, suffixes, or infixes that are added to root words to alter or expand their meaning.

What is an example of an infix in English?

An example of an infix in English is expletive insertion, where words like 'abso-freakin-lutely' are formed by inserting a word (often an expletive) in the middle of another word.

What are inflectional morphemes?

Inflectional morphemes are morphemes added to a word to indicate grammatical features, such as tense, number, or case. In English, these are typically suffixes like 's' for plural or 'ed' for past tense.

How do derivational morphemes differ from inflectional morphemes?

Derivational morphemes change the meaning or the part of speech of a word. For example, adding 'un-' to 'wrap' creates 'unwrap', changing its meaning. In contrast, inflectional morphemes only modify a word to express grammatical features without changing its core meaning.

What is a poly-synthetic language?

A poly-synthetic language is one in which many morphemes are combined to form a single word that conveys complex meanings. An example is the U.Pick language, where a single word can express what would take a full sentence in English.

How does Mandarin Chinese compare to English in terms of morphemes?

Mandarin Chinese is considered an isolating language, meaning that words generally consist of a single morpheme with little or no inflection. English, by contrast, combines multiple morphemes into a single word to convey more complex meanings.

What is an example of 'allomorphy' in English?

Allomorphy refers to the different forms of a morpheme depending on the phonological environment. For example, the plural morpheme in English is pronounced differently in 'cats' (/s/), 'dogs' (/z/), and 'witches' (/ɪz/), but all represent the same grammatical function.