Morphology and Semantics

Langue is the shared system of language rules, while parole is how individuals actually use language in real situations.

Synchrony studies a language at a single point in time, while diachrony studies how a language changes over time.

Paradigmatic: Relationship of substitution – words that can replace each other in a given context

Think: “Which words could I put here instead?”

Syntagmatic: Relationship of combination – words that co-occur in sequence

Think: “Which words go together in a sequence?”

simplified contact language that develops when speakers of different native languages need to communicate, usually for trade or work, and has no native speakers.

fully developed language that evolves from a pidgin when it becomes the first language of a speech community, with expanded grammar and vocabulary.

the smallest sound unit that can distinguish meaning in a language, e.g.: /k/ vs /f/ (kill vs fill)

a context dependent variant of a phoneme that does not change meaning, e.g. the /p/ in pin (p ) and cap (p)

they represent different phonetic variants of a morpheme, which can occur in different contexts, such as plural or tense forms. For example, the plural morpheme can be pronounced as /s/, /z/, or /ız/ depending on the word.

[cats] -> unvoiced ending so unvoiced /s/

[dogs]-> voiced ending so voiced /z/

[horses] -> /iz/ to distinguish singular and plural

smallest meaningful unit

e.g. un/break/able

Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes that:

• change the meaning of a word

• and/or change the word class (noun, verb, adjective, etc.)

Examples:

happy (adjective) → un + happy → unhappy (adjective, opposite meaning)

teach (verb) → teach + -er → teacher (noun)

nation (noun) → nation + -al → national (adjective)

💡 Derivational morphemes create new words.

Inflectional morphemes

• Do not create new words

• Do not change word class

• Only add grammatical information (tense, plural, comparison)

Examples:

walk → walk**-ed**

cat → cat**-s**

big → big**-ger**

Derivation Adding prefixes or suffixes to a base word to create a new word.• happy  -> unhappy, happiness• teach-> teacher

CompoundingJoining two or more words to make a new one. • notebook, toothpaste, blackboard

Conversion (Zero Derivation)Changing the word class without changing the form • to Google (verb) <- Google (noun)• a run (noun) <- run (verb)

BlendingCombining parts of two words. • smog (smoke+fog)• brunch (breakfast+lunch)

ClippingShortening a longer word. • phone (telephone)• ad (advertisement)

Acronyms & InitialismsForming words from the first letters of  phrase • Acronym (pronounced as a word): NASA; UNICEF• Initialism (pronounced letter by letter): FBI; USA

Borrowing Taking words from other languages. • piano (Italian)• tsunami (Japanese)

Coinage Inventing entirely new words, often brand names. • Kleenex, Xerox, Google

Back-formationCreating a shorter word by removing an affix (often mistakenly). • edit <- editor• burgle<- burglar

ReduplicationRepeating all or a part of a word. • byebye, zigzag, chitchat

EponymsWords formed from names of people and places. • sandwich• diesel

Suppletion in linguistics is the phenomenon where a word's forms come from different roots, rather than a single root, to fill grammatical roles like tense or comparison.

E.g. go and went

It the action by being said, not describing it.

I promise to help you. → saying it creates the promise

I apologize for being late. → saying it is the apology

Rhoticity

RP → non-rhotic: /r/ is not pronounced after vowels

car → /kɑː/

GA → rhotic: /r/ is always pronounced

car → /kɑr/

Vowel differences

Example

RP (British)

GA (American)

lot

/lɒt/

/lɑt/

Diphthongs

RP: /eɪ/ (day), /əʊ/ (go), /aɪ/ (high), /ɪə/ (here)

GA: /eɪ/ (day), /oʊ/ (go), /aɪ/ (high), /ɪr/ (here)

Consonants

/t/ in the middle of words:

RP: often pronounced clearly → better /ˈbɛt.ər/

GA: often a flap → better /ˈbɛɾər/ (sounds like /d/)

/r/ is always pronounced in GA, rarely in RP

Endocentric: Head is part of the word, e.g. butterbeer

Exocentric: head is not part of the word, e.g. skyscraper

A lingua franca is a language adopted for communication between speakers of different native languages.

A performative verb is a verb that performs the action it names simply by being uttered, usually in the first person present tense.

the branch of semantics that starts from a linguistic form (word or expression) and investigates its meaning(s) and how these meanings relate to others.

Example

Starting with the word “bank”, we analyze:

financial institution

river bank

A euphemism is a mild, polite, or indirect word or phrase used to replace one that might sound harsh, unpleasant, or embarrassing.

He died ->  He passed away.

One word, related meanings.

Bank

Words with opposite meanings.

gradable: the opposite is not absolute

hot<->cold  -> "extremely hot, very hot" etc

relational: on opposite sides of a relationship (both belonging together)

parent - child lend - borrow

polar opposition (complementary antonym): extreme opposites on a dimension, no middleground exists

male-female

A hyponym is a specific example of a category; a hypernym is the general category.

hypernym: fruit

hyponym: apple, banana

A meronym is a part of a whole.

wheel is a part of a car

same form, unrelated meanings

bat (animal) /bat (used in sports)

homophony: write-right

homography: row /r

words that commonly occur together

make a decision

heavy rain

meaning roles in events

agent (doer): The dog (agent) chased the cat

patient (receiver): the cat (patient)

refers to the literal or primary meaning of a word

"home" denotes a place where one lives, but its connotation may include feelings of comfort and safety (context is being excluded)

Some representatives that are better for that category than others

Fruit: apple

bird: blackbird

the branch of semantics that starts from a concept or meaning and investigates which linguistic forms (names, words, expressions) are used to express it.

Example:

Starting with the concept VEHICLE, we list: car, bus, bicycle, truck, motorcycle

Ogden and Richards’ Triangle of Meaning: a model showing that a word’s meaning comes from the relationship between the word (symbol), the concept in the mind( Reference), and the actual object (referent)