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Homework 1_Part 2_Morphology

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21 views

Homework 1_Part 2_Morphology

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y.lin.39
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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General Linguistics 2024

Homework 1 – Part 2 – Morphology

This is the second part of HW 1. Last week you received the first part. Please ensure to
submit the entire homework together in a single pdf, rather than separately.

Due: Sunday, 25th of February

A) Tolpakaya Morphology
Study the following sentences in Tolkapaya Yavapai, a language of the Yuman family of
American Indian languages spoken in Arizona:

Present English Past English


'-chthúlma. I wash. '-chthúli. I washed.
mchthúlma. You wash.
chthúlma. She/he washes. chthúli. She/he washed.
'-chthúlchma. We wash
chthúlchma They wash.
mchthúlchma. You guys (plural) wash. mchthúlchi. You (pl.) washed.
'-'úuma. I see. '-'úu I saw.
'úuchma. They see. 'úuchi. They saw
'-'úuchma. We see
m'úuchma. You (pl.) see. m'úuchi. You (pl.) saw.
'-thíima. I drink. '-thíi. I drank.
'-thíichma. We drink.
vyámma. S/he runs. vyámi. S/he ran.
'ich'-chthúlma. I wash something.
nychthúlma. S/he washes me.
paanychthúlma. S/he washes us.

1. Based on its affixation system, what morphological type do you believe characterizes the
Tolkapaya language?
2. Make a list of the morphemes appearing in these sentences. Indicate their morpheme type
(free-content, functional, bound-derivational, inflectional). Be careful! What applies to
English in terms of morpheme categorization may not apply to Tolkapaya. If you are not
sure about the underlying form (the original morpheme without any alterations) of a
morpheme due to a lack of information, you can list the possible forms.
3. List the lexical category (part of speech) of content morphemes that you can identify and
indicate what type of free morpheme they are.
4. Identify the bound morphemes and list what type of bound morphemes they are.
5. List all the allomorphs that you discover and explain the in environment which they appear.
6. How does Tolkapaya indicate the past? What is the rule for the realization of the past tense
morpheme based on its environment?
General Linguistics 2024

7. If tpóqma means: S/he pours.


what’s the meaning of the following sentences in Tolkapaya:
- '-tpóqchma
- 'ichmtpóqma
- 'ich'-tpóqchi

8. Provide the Tolkapaya sentences for the English sentences given below:
- He drank something.
- You see me.
- They washed us.

B) Fieldwork language

1. Learn about how to indicate noun plurality in your fieldwork language.


Try to explain the system as clearly as possible, providing examples with glosses (remember if we
can’t understand we can’t grade your homework). Try to find if there are allomorphs for the plural
morphemes. If yes, explain when to use which one.

In your examples, include singular and plural pairs of sentences:


e.g.,
The lion caught the deer.
The lions caught the deer.
Write five sentences with singular and plural nouns in them (so, ten in total).
When working on the examples and explanation of pluralization in your language, remember the
English language (slide #59) that there is not only one way to indicate plurals. Not only [-s] but also
[-en] is used, sometimes the word remains unchanged (e.g., sheep-sheep), and sometimes there is
minimal change (e.g., foot-feet). Try to identify if similar differences and variations exist in the
language you are working on.

2. Are the plural morphemes free or bound?

3a. If it’s bound, indicate the type of bound morpheme (i.e., specify the affix type based on its
position).
3b. If it's free, indicate its position relative to the noun it pluralizes. Are there any constraints,
exceptions, or strict rules regarding where to add the free plural morpheme?

4. Provide one example for each of the items below in your fieldwork language:
- a compound
- a verb phrase
- an onomatopoeic word
- a borrowed word (specify the language it was borrowed from)

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