morphology1

4. Kanuri (Nigeria)

A. Roots Infix

bisay 'a Visayan' -in- 'language'

inglis 'an Englishman'

tagalog 'a Tagalog person'

ilokano 'an Ilocano'

sibwano 'a Cebuano'

B. Infix -in- before the first vowel.

C. -in- is infixed into a noun identifying a person by nationality to derive a noun meaning 'the language of noun'.

D. Nothing.

Derivational Morphology Practice

IA. Identify all the morphemes in each set below.

B. Identify the morphological processes operating in each set to derive the more morphologically complex member of each pair.

C. Identify the general function of each process.

D. Discuss anything semantically unpredictable about any of the derived forms in each set.

EXAMPLE: change/changeable read/readable drive/drivable

drink/drinkable sing/singable remark/remarkable

teach/teachable argue/arguable wear/wearable

A. ROOTS PREFIXES SUFFIXES

change read drive re- -able

drink sing mark

teach argue wear

B.. Suffix -able.

C. -able is suffixed to a verb stem to derive an adjective meaning “able to be VERBed”.

D. remarkable appears to mean something more than “able to be remarked”; it means “extraordinary”, clearly an extension from “likely to be remarked (since it’s out of the ordinary)”.

1. English

red/reddish green/greenish big/biggish blond/blondish small/smallish

A. Roots Suffix

red green big blond small -ish

B. Suffix -ish

C. -ish is suffixed to an adjective to derive an adjective meaning 'somewhat adjective' or 'a bit adjective'.

D. Nothing.

2. English

type/typist violin/violinist manicure/manicurist left/leftist harp/harpist race/racist

A. Roots Suffix

type violin manicure left harp race -ist

B. Suffix -ist

C. -ist is suffixed to a noun to derive an noun meaning 'one who plays or runs the noun, does the noun'.

D. leftist and racist seem to have specialized to meaning 'one who is on the left' and 'one who overemphasizes race negatively'.

3. Cebuano (Philippines)

bisaya ‘a Visayan’ binisaya ‘the Visayan language’

inglis ‘an Englishman’ ininglis ‘the English language’

tagalog ‘a Tagalog person’ tinagalog ‘the Tagalog language’

ilokano ‘an Ilocano’ inilokano ‘the Ilocano language’

sibwano ‘a Cebuano’ sinibwano ‘the Cebuano language’

A. Roots Prefix

gana 'small' kura 'big' nəm-

karite 'excellent' dibi 'bad'

kurugu 'long'

B. Prefix nəm-.

C. nəm- is prefixed to an adjective to derive a noun meaning 'the defining property or quality of adjective'.

D. Nothing.

A. Roots

The words in the first column.

B. Reduplicate the first CV of the root and lengthen the V if the V in the original is short and followed by only one C and shorten the V if the V in the original is long. Prefix the copy to the beginning of the word.

C. The partial reduplication turns a noun to an adjective meaning "like the N."

D. Nothing.

6. Cahuilla (Southwest American Indian)

A. Roots Suffix

The words in the first column. -vel

B. Suffix -vel

C. Suffixing -vel to a verb makes a noun.meaning 'the place in or instrument with which action typically occurs.'

D. The place/instrument distribution is rather odd.

10A. Roots Suffix

The words in the second column. -gi

B. Suffix -gi.

C. Suffixing -gi to a adjective makes an noun meaning 'the defining quality of the adjective'.

D. Nothing.

8.A. Roots Prefix Suffix

duce 'lead' rade 'scrape' ab- 'away, off' -re Infinitive

i 'go 'nega 'say no'

ice 'strike' solve 'loosen, release, free'

B. Prefix ab-

C. Prefixing ab- to a verb creates another verb meaning "verb away or verb off'.

D. If a verb already has the meaning 'off, away' in its meaning intrinsically, ab- can be added without noticeably changing the meaning (like solvere vs. absolvere).

9A. Roots Prefix

The words in the first column. ta-

B. Prefix ta-

C. Prefixing ta- to a verb makes a causative verb.

D. Nothing.

7A. Roots The words in the second column.

B. Reduplicate the the entire verb and prefix it to the root. Delete the second C in a final consonant cluster in the copy. (In other words, avoid CCC clusters).

C. Complete reduplication of a verb makes a noun meaning the instrument with which the verb is performed or the action of the verb.

D. The action/instrument distribution is rather odd. The action reading seems to arise when there is no typical instrument associated with the action.