LING*1000 DE - Homework Assignment #1: MORPHOLOGY & SYNTAX

Due Oct. 17 @11:59pmEST

Please submit via dropbox in Courselink. Out of 82

1. List the morphemes in each word below and state whether each morpheme is i) free, bound,
root, or stem. ii) If the morpheme is an affix, indicate whether it is prefix or suffix. iii) and if
it is derivational (indicate what category the suffix changes the word to) or inflectional
(indicate what the function of the suffix is: ex. Verb tense, plural, etc.) (11 points).

Ex. Creating
create (free, root)
-ing (bound, affix: inflectional suffix, expresses the progressive verb tense, or gerund)

a. unworthy

b. summer

c. perceived

d. familiarizes

2. For each word below, draw a word tree (with lines indicating the relationship between
parts). Indicate the grammatical category of each morpheme in the tree. (17 points)

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a. unteachable

b. decriminalizing

c. speedily

3. Which word formation process explains the creation of each of the following words? Give the
morphological process and indicate the origin of each word, what is its etymology? (12 points)

Word Word Formation Process Origin

ex. firetruck compound fire + truck
ex. sandwich eponym the Earl of Sandwich
1. chillax
2. burrito
3. brb
4. upgrade
5. galvanize
6. cell

4. Consider the following data from Spanish and answer the questions below. Spanish NOUNS
have two genders (masculine and feminine), and number (singular and plural). The masculine
singular definite article is el (plural los) meaning ‘the’; the feminine singular definite article is la
(plural las). They are free morphemes and go with the masculine, and feminine nouns,
respectively. (7 points)

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 Masculine
el libro, los libros  ‘the book(s)’
el abuelo, los abuelos  ‘the grandfather(s)’
el momento, los momentos ‘the moment(s)’
el café, los cafés  ‘the coffee shop(s)’
el puente, los puentes  ‘the bridge(s)’
el hombre, los hombres  ‘the man/men’
el corazón, los corazones  ‘the heart(s)’
el dolor, los dolores  ‘the pain(s)’
el ratón, los ratones  ‘the mouse/mice’
Feminine
la libreta, las libretas  ‘the notebook(s)’
la abuela, las abuelas  ‘the grandmother(s)’
la casa, las casas  ‘the house(s)’
la calle, las calles  ‘the street(s)’
la clase, las clases  ‘the classroom(s)’
la torre, las torres  ‘the tower(s)’
la mujer, las mujeres  ‘the woman/women’
la ciudad, las ciudades  ‘the city(s)’
la razón, las razones  ‘the reason(s)’

a. What are the morphemes that indicates plural on the noun?

________________________________________________________________________

b. What linguistic environment determines the form of each allomorph?

________________________________________________________________________

c. What is the morpheme that attaches to the NOUN that indicates masculine singular gender?
________________________________________________________________________

d. What is the morpheme that attaches to the NOUN that indicates feminine singular gender?
________________________________________________________________________

e. Do these morphemes apply to all nouns in Spanish?

________________________________________________________________________

f. What is the plural form of la mansión? Don’t forget the definite article.
________________________________________________________________________

g. What is the feminine form el amigo (the friend)? Don’t forget the definite article.

________________________________________________________________________

5. Consider the 2 columns of words below and answer the questions that follow. (3)
Straight straighten
Hard harden
Sweet sweeten
Awake awaken
Ripe ripen
Bright brighten

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Worse worsen
a) In these data, what part of speech does the suffix -en attach to?
b) What part of speech is the resulting word after the suffix -en has been attached?
c) How does the suffix -en change the meaning of the word that it is attached to?

6. Draw phrase structure trees to represent the following sentences. Name each constituent
(phrasal, lexical and grammatical categories, including the auxiliary). You may use a syntax tree
generator like http://mshang.ca/syntree/ or the ones suggested in the notes in the section on
syntax in courselink. You can also draw the syntax trees by hand.

a) ‘I will cook some food tomorrow.’ (6 points)

b) ‘Many children jumped over the tall bench.’ (8 points)

c) ‘Our new friend put the books under the table.’ (10 points)

d) ‘They brought fresh water and soft drinks.’ (8 points)

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