What is a grammar? s an ideal set of rules s a handbook containing prescriptive rules s a description of a language system s linguistic system in the mind of a speaker Prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar s Prescriptive Grammar Prescribes certain linguistic uses to be acceptable or unacceptable according to a socially determined “standard”. s Descriptive Grammar Describes what native speakers of a language do (verbally) when they speak their language. What are some of the characteristics of a grammar? s Consists of knowledge about the sounds of a language (phonetics), how the sounds pattern in a language (phonology), how words are formed (morphology), how sentences and phrases are formed (syntax), meaning (semantics) s Tacit s Which could be an English word? • bnick • blick Ø This class focuses on the morphological and syntactic aspects of grammar, or morphosyntax The lexicon s Your mental dictionary, consisting of idealized mental pictures called lexical entries.

TREE The lexicon s Your mental dictionary, consisting of idealized mental pictures called lexical entries.

TREE [tɹi] noun: count noun inanimate but a living thing -s plural modified by adjectives, PP, and relative clauses can occur with the and a

The lexicon

Lexical entries in the lexicon are ______. Hint: what’s the smallest unit of meaning in a language? Morpheme s Morphemes can be words or smaller than a words (affix). Types of morphemes

Stand alone? Core of the word? • root s free morpheme • clitic s bound morpheme • affix s prefix, suffix 1.prefix s inept 2.suffix 3.infix 4.circumfix

Root vs. Stem

The root is the core of the word. The stem is the form an affix is added to. s nation-al = root, stem s nation-al-ize = root, stem

Prefixes & suffixes 1. Prefixes s play re-play s hear mis-hear s appear dis-appear

2. Suffixes s play play-er s hear hear-s s appear appear-ed Infixes

Bontoc (Austronesian: Phillipines) s fikas 'strong' f-um-ikas 'he is becoming strong’ s kilad 'red’ k-um-ilad 'he is becoming red’ s bato 'stone’ b-um-ato 'he is becoming stone’ s fusul 'enemy’ f-um-usal 'he is becoming an enemy'

-um- ‘to become’

English Homeric -ma- infixation

(1) saxophone saxo-ma-phone (2) Mississippi Missi-ma-ssippi (3) telephone tele-ma-phone (4) Alabama Ala-ma-bama (5) wonderful wonder-ma-ful (6) dialectic dia-ma-lectic (7) feudalism feuda-ma-lism (8) hippopotamus hippo-ma-potamus (9) secretary secre-ma-tary (10)Michaelangelo Micha-ma-langelo

Yu, Alan C. L. 2004. Reduplication in English Homeric Infixation. Proceedings of NELS 34, ed. Keir Moulton and Matthew Wolf. UMass Amherst, GLSA.

Images taken from: http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/gallery/pics-homer.php Circumfixes Kosraean (Austronesian: Kosrae) s osak 'limp' ahkosakye 'cause to limp’ s mutul 'sleep' ahkmutulye 'cause to sleep’ s nihmnihm 'drink' ahknihmnihmye 'cause to drink' ahk- -ye ‘cause to’

Clitics Book definition: "a bound morpheme that accomplishes a task in a structure unit that is larger than just a word, but still must phonologically attach to some other word."

Simpler: "a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a word but depends phonologically on another word or phrase."

Even simpler: displays characteristics of a bound morpheme and a free morpheme Clitics

Clitics can be of any grammatical category, but are commonly pronouns, determiners, or adpositions.

They can be written as separate words but they need not be. Clitics vs. Affixes

Affixes attach to words: s appease-ment

Clitics can attach to phrases: s the queen's hat, the queen of England's hat Clitics in other languages

Malagasy (Austronesian: Madagascar)

1. Manapaka bozaka ve Rasoa? AT.cut grass Q Rasoa 'Is Rasoa cutting grass?'

2. Rasoa ve no manapaka bozaka? Rasoa Q No AT.cut grass 'Is it Rasoa who is cutting grass? Expression types The same linguistic concept(s) can be expressed by: 1) switching out lexical items (lexical expressions) 2) adding morphology (morphological processes) 3) a different syntactic structure (syntactic patterns)

Book example: English tense

1) I go (present)/I went (past) 2) I dance (present)/I danced (past) 3) I dance (present)/ I will dance (future)

A language may use only 1 expression type or any number to express a linguistics concept. Expression types – another example Which of the 3 does English most commonly use to express plurality (of nouns)?

2) morphological processes – add the suffix –s to make a noun plural

Does English ever use strategy 1 or 3?

Strategy 1 – Marshallese kuuj eo kuuj ko cat the.sg cat the.pl.nonhuman Subtypes of lexical expression 1) Strong stem suppletion – use a completely different form 2) Weak stem suppletion – use a somewhat different form 3) Isomorphism – use the same form

Marshallese jerbal 'work (N)' : jerbal 'work (V)' ro ‘the.pl’ : rein ‘the.pl.by.us.both’ : ran ‘the.pl.away.from.us.both’

mona 'eat.intransitive' : kan 'eat.transitive'