Chapter 2

Morphology
Morphology

. . . is the study of word structure.

This definition presupposes:

I that there are words (i.e. linguists are able to identify them)
I that words have structure (i.e. not only they are internally
complex but also the complexity is systematic/not random)
What are words?

‘What are words?’ is one of the hardest questions in

linguistics.

I Many linguists (i.e. not all) believe that the notion of word is
grammatically relevant

grammatical = not a concept about writing systems

What are words?

Take a sound signal like this in English:

(1) boIzwIlsIN
When we hear it, we all intuitively know that this continuous sound
signal has sub-parts with their own meaning/function - which
allows us to understand it.

(2) boI z wIl sIN

the claim that words exist:
some parts that are adjacent (=next to each other) form a
privileged unit that we call words.

(3) boI z wIl sIN

word1 word2 word3
What are words?

this is not a trivial claim

I did this:

(4) boIz wIl sIN

word1 word2 word3

and not this:

(5) boIz wIlsIN

word1 word2

or this:

(6) boI z wIl sIN

word1 word2 word3 word4

Why?
What are words?

I How do we identify words?

I Do we have native-speaker intuitions about where a word ends
and another begins?

(7) kedimbananedendikdikbakıyor
‘why is my cat staring at me?’
(8) how many words in this Turkish sentence?
a. 4?
b. 5?
c. 6?
d. more?
What are words?

the ant fell in water

I ç’ianç’velats’q’alşiçavarda Georgian
I dunç’uts’k’ariskodololu Laz

clearly, when we don’t speak the language, we typically can’t tell

how many words a sentence of that language has.
What are words?

If you ask literate people “how many words in this sentence?”

⇒ their answers reflect their orthographic knowledge of where they
insert spaces when they write.

is there a universal notion of word independent of writing

conventions?

⇒ this question is very much relevant because many lan-

guages have no writing system whatsoever!
What are words?

is there a universal notion of word independent of writing

conventions?

here is something that makes it even more challenging:

I Some languages that have no conventionalized writing
systems don’t even have a word for ‘word’.
I We can’t really ask the speakers of these languages “is this a
word in your language?” or “how many words does this
sentence have?”
What are words?

One interesting study1 recruited six Hindi-Kharia bilinguals who are

literate in Hindi but not in Kharia
I They asked them: “how many words does this Kharia
sentence have?”
I Speakers varied in their answers, sometimes significantly.

It appears:
native speakers don’t have converging intuitions about words,
independent of writing systems.

1
Reported in: Haspelmath, Martin (2011) The indeterminacy of word
segmentation and the nature of morphology and syntax.
What are words?

Let us be clear. There is a notion of “orthographic word” which

are units in a writing system.

TDK: good bad

(9) a. acı badem acıbadem

b. tek taş tektaş

TDK is just one of the many institutions that (try to) determine
how people should write. Of course, they fabricate the rules (so,
the rules don’t tell us anything interesting about language).

Their only purpose is to provide a consistent/uniform writing

convention for the users of that language.
What are words?
Basic concepts

morpheme = smallest form with a meaning/function

word = smallest free forma

a
This definition is not free of problems but it will do for this class.

Languages have small meaningful things

I -lar in kitaplar
I -y in salty
⇒ These are morphemes but they are not free forms. i.e. they
need to attach to other things. Hence, they are not words.
Basic concepts

But what does ‘free form’ mean exactly?:

A free form can typically be a short-answer to a question.

(10) Ne okudun? (what did you read?)

Xkitap

***

-dan is a morpheme in Turkish but apparently not a word:

(11) balkon-a mı düşmüş yoksa balkon-dan mı düşmüş?
‘did he fall to the balcony or from the balcony?’
a. 3 balkon-dan
b. 7 -dan

(how about English?)

Basic concepts
Basic concepts

Simple vs. Complex words

I A simple word = morpheme
I A complex word is composed of 2 or more morphemes.
Basic concepts

Exercise. simple or complex words?

(12) a. train
b. builder
c. going
d. took
(13) a. karlı (snowy)
b. kulak (ear)
c. konteyner (container)
d. kuşburnu (rose hip)
e. atarlı (≈ angsty)
Basic concepts
We classify morphemes, too:

morphemes

free morphemes bound morphemes

I a free morpheme is a simple word

(14) a. kitap, koş, değil

b. book, run, very
I a bound morpheme needs a host, it is not a word.

(15) a. -lar, -dı, -m, -de, -ma, -ce, -suz, sün

b. -s, -ed, -ing, -er, -less
Basic concepts
Suppose you have two adjacent morphemes X+Y. You know X is a
free morpheme but you wanna find out if Y is a free morpheme or
bound morpheme. How do you decide?

Can Y be a short answer to a question?

I If yes, then Y is a free morpheme.
I If no, we need to do another test.
Can you insert a free morpheme between X and Y?
I If you can, then Y is a free morpheme.
I If no, Y is (most likely) a bound morpheme.

(16) will read ⇒ 3 will alwaysfree morpheme read

conclusion: will is a free morpheme
(17) oku yacak ⇒ 7 oku hepfree morpheme yecek
conclusion: yacak is a bound morpheme
Basic concepts

Challenge Exercise. Are the ki and mı particles that follow the

verb in Turkish bound or free?

(18) a. o beni aramadı ki she didn’t (even) call me!

b. sen beni aradın mı did you call me?

note: the right answer will come from your native speaker intuitions
about strings like these, where you insert a free from in <X>

(19) sen beni aradın <X> mı

Basic concepts

Languages vary in the way they ‘package’ meaning.

Observe the contrast here.

(20) yarış-tır-ıl-a-ma-dı-k
(21) we were not able to be made to compete
Basic concepts
Languages vary in the way they ‘package’ meaning. But they often
build that meaning in the same way, it seems.

k we

dı were

ma not

a able to

ıl be

tır made to

yarış compete