to Morphological
DataAnalysis
How identify morphemes in
unfamiliar languages
key procedure: identify recurring strings of
sounds and match them with recurring
meanings
Important guidelines
1. Do not assume that the morpheme order
in the language you are analyzing is the
same as in English
Korean
hakkjyo-eyse
(at schools is literally school at
{school}{at})
Japanese
gakkoo-de
({school}{at})
2. Do not assume that every semantic
contrast expressed in English will also be
manifested in the language you are
analyzing.
Turkish
there is no equivalent for English the and
a
Mandarin Chinese
the same pronoun form can be used to
refer to a male or a female
3. Do not assume that every contrast
expressed in the language you are
analyzing is manifested in English
English
he/she
Hawaiian
ia
4. Concepts that are expressed by free
morphemes in English do not necessary
have the same status in other languages
Hare
morphemes indicate that body parts
must always be attached to a morpheme
designating a possessor
without a poss.
*fi head
*be belly
*dze heart
with a poss.
sefi my head
nebe your belly
?edze someones heart
5. Conversely, there are also some bound
form in English whose counterparts in
other language are free
The notion past or complete is expressed by
the bound morpheme ed in English, but by the
free morpheme leew in Thai. This morpheme
can be separated from the verb by an
intervening word.
Boon thaan khaaw leew
Boon eat rice past
Inuktitut
distinguishes singular, dual, and plural
Chibemba
eight-way distinction
How many morphemes can be found in the
following data?
Example:
mumlar
toplar
adamlar
kitaplar
Some Turkish words
candles
guns
men
books
mum-lar
top-lar
adam-lar
kitap-lar
candles
guns
men
books
{mum}
{top}
{adam}
{kitap}
{lar}
candle
gun
man
book
PLU