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Assignment No: 1

In this 1st

chapter we read about the language and its form and function. Language is used for

communication, and the main function of communication between the people is a language. But

we take a language as a tool and its main function is communication, but has some other uses as

well, like-wise also language people can also be communicated e.g.: Sign languages (used for the

deaf), facial expressions and styles of dresses also help people to communicate with no one

another, but no one can call as languages. And as a tool, a language has form with its function;

the form/structure of a language can be understood in terms of its basic function.

There is a Form-Function composite in language which consists of symbols like

words (linguistic forms) which are used to mean or refer our concept and also called as signifier

that signifies a concept of something. A word itself is just a sound, but that intentionally spoken

sound gives perception to receiver who gains a signified concept of that form/structure of sound.

So it is assumed that the bond/relation between the form and signified concept is intentional, in

general, speakers use linguistic forms to present concept to be communicated. And the relation

between signifier and signified the concept is Form-Function composite.

As we know that a language has its uncountable symbols and sounds, and people

shape them according to their communicative needs daily. The words are inter-related parts of

language those express the infinite number of ideas of speaker. And that skill of speaker is

basically a creativity to shape imagination of speaker. But a question arises that how a limited

mind could expresses the never-ending number of ideas and the answer of that finite input and

infinite output is called as recursion.

As a linguist Grammar is defined as a knowledge that a speaker of a language

knows consciously or unconsciously, in other sense the grammar is a ability of a fluent speaker

to distinguish between a sentence and a non-sentence most of the people use their grammar

without thinking about it, they just use their Tacit. So it does not mean that the grammar is a sort

of the book containing a detailed statement of any rules, but it only means that anybody who

speaks or writes acceptable sentences in a language knows as its grammar. And grammar deals

with the phonetics, morphology, syntax and semantics of a language.

Morpho-syntax deals with the study that how the sounds which are systematically

organized in a particular language combine to form words and sentences. The term morph-

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syntax derived from two words Morphology and Syntax. Morphology means the study of

forms/structure of words and syntax means the arrangement of words in phrase or sentence.

Many linguists like to talk about morphology and syntax together is that sometimes a

communicative job that is performed by word shapes morphology in one language is performedby combinations of words syntax in another, so if the linguists want to compare different

languages it helps to be able to refer morph-syntax.

We have described to sub-headings within the general domain of grammar in any

language, the morphology and syntax. We have observed the communicational jobs that are

accomplished morphologically in one language can be accomplished syntactically in another.

There is another sub-heading and that is a Lexicon. Different linguistic theories have vastly

different ideas for Lexicon of a language. In the broad sense, the Lexicon of a language consists

of a list of all units in that language. Units in Lexicon are just images; they are not actual words,

phrases, or sentences, but rather mental picture that can be thought-up from memory when

needed for the purpose of producing actual words. Sometimes these pictures are referred as

templates, and such units are called Lexicon entries. The lexicon entry for a linguistic unit

consists of a cluster of all its characteristics. The term entry is based on the metaphor of the

Lexicon as a mental dictionary.

As we discussed before that the morphology is the study about the forms of words

and those forms of words which give meaning are called as Morphemes. Morpheme is a

minimal shape or piece that expresses meaning. For example a English word unkind contains

two morphemes one is kind means generous and un shows its opposite of generous. The

word kind cannot be divided into smaller meaningful pieces therefore kind is a morpheme

(minimal shape). In most situations this definition works fine, however more current theories

acknowledge that fact that particular meanings are not necessarily or directly linked to particular

piece of form. Other problems with traditional definition of a morpheme such fact includes that

the meaning contributed by a morpheme may vary depending on other morpheme in the word,

and whole message may be more, less than or simply different from the sum of the meanings of

all morphemes in the message. For these reasons, it is appropriate to think of morphology as an

established system of variations in the shapes of words rather than simply strings of meaningful

piece.

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Here are some types of morphemes, a bound morpheme and a free morpheme. Bound

morpheme is a morpheme that must be attached to some other morphemes in order to be used

naturally in discourse. Bound morphemes can affixes, roots. And free morpheme does not have

to attach to some other form. As shown in above referred unkind example. Bound and freemorphemes have further division; a bound morpheme may be in the form of prefix, suffix or

inffix. These three are regarded with attachment of bound morpheme with root. Prefix comes

before root, suffix comes after root, in unbelievable, in this un- is prefix andable is suffix of

root believe. Now some little idea about root and stem, a root is morpheme that expresses the

basic meaning of a word and cannot be further divided into smaller morphemes, we can say that

a root is a free morpheme. And a stem may consist on just root or it may also be analyzed into a

root plus derivational morphemes. Derivational morphemes may have some meaning as roots

but these are not alone stand as complete word as re or un etc words in English. Inflectional

are only present pronunciation, which also change the meaning as shown in above examples s is

only inflectional morpheme. After all these processes we finally move toward stage. A word is

a difficult concept to define. Word is the smallest structural pattern that can be delimited by

pauses. Words may contain one or more morphemes, free morphemes can be words dog, but

not all words are free morphemes, they may be morphologically complex (dogs).

A prototype is the best example for the category for most English speakers a

sparrow is probably close to the prototype for the category of Bird. Penguins in Turkey are

treated also as a bird but they are not the best examples of this category. So, they are not

normally the first thing that comes to an English speakers mind when someone mentions the

word bird. In linguistics most definitions are based on prototypes. Nouns and verbs are

prototype definitions, and these not changed over time, these are best examples of prototype.

But here are many nouns that refer to things that do change significantly over time, such as

sincerity, first or explosion. We know these are nouns because they have many grammatically

properties or prototypical nouns, and few of the grammatically properties of prototypical words.

The concept of prototypical is important at many levels of linguistic analysis.

SUMMARY ON CHAPTER # 02

In second chapter we learn about some morphological processes and conceptual

categories. We all know about language problems of labeling, so each language categorizes the

universe in its own unique way, and each individual person categorizes the universe in his own

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unique way, whether we are speaking the same language or not, as for example for labeling of

past actions Spanish language has two past tenses, so, different endings on the Spanish verb

categories the word differently then the tenses in English do, therefore English speakers must re-

conceptualize or re-organize their native categorization concept in order to become fluentspeaker of Spanish. This example from Spanish clears that how categorization varies from

language to language. And you can find out similar examples in Lexicon, Grammar and patterns

of conversations.

In a conceptual category a particular element of meaning must determine some

pattern of grammatical (Lexicon, Morphological, or Syntactic) expression. Here an expectation

that verbs in English can be tweaked Morphologically like in inflectional (ed) morpheme in past,

if the event described happened prior to time the verb is uttered, therefore past tense is

conceptual category in English, but location driver is not a category that is relevant to English

grammar is that there is no regular exception that clause involve grammatical indication that an

action happens downriver of the place of speaking .a large selection of the important conceptual

categories known to exist in the worlds languages as well as the ways in which they are

characteristically expressed .these conceptual categories are based on limited evidence.

Here linguists make hypothesis regarding conceptual categories, they stand back

and make an educated guess about the general function of any grammatical pattern based on

evidence from the clear observation of native speakers .in a real field situation the linguist would

want to select many forms form several speakers and observe how forms are used in natural

discourse, these conceptual categories are truly relevant to native speaker, the actual term uses

one chooses to label a category in important but choosing a term is not necessary analytically

discussion in and of itself, rather it is a pedagogical decision .so a conceptual category may be so

unusual that it needs a new term.

There is complete continuum between conceptual category and easy to label and

that are unusual that new labels need to be invented for them. For example plural and past tense

are clearly distinguished conceptual categories in languages though even those can be

problematic on the other hand end of the continuum every language has grammatical patterns

that defy a straightforward and functional label, therefore linguists always strive for a balance

between exclusivity and communicatively in the way they gloss and represent language data

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labels for conceptual categories should be insightfully familiar but not overly particular so, we

can summarize conceptual categories as:

1::A conceptual category exists when there is an expectation of patterned behavior, a recurring

relationship between variation and variation in form.

2::Conceptual category labels are interpretations designed to help readers of a grammatical

description understand and remember the function of particular structure.

Here two other sub-categories discussed under the heading of conceptual

categories:

i- Derivational categories ii- Inflectional categories.

Languages often exhibit an important contrast between inflection and derivation. This distinction

is understood as a difference between types of morphological or lexical expression. It is not

often applied to syntactic constructions. Usage of the term derivation is distinct from

Morphophonemic Derivation which is quite a different notion, there is also a continuum

between inflection and derivation. The difference between inflection and derivation is best

characterized in terms of prototype and clusters of features that tend together. Prototypical

derivational categories create new stems. Usually the new stems created by a derivational

category belong to a different word clause than the stem that is the basis of the derivation and

sometimes the derivational category just significantly changes the meaning of the base stem.

Inflectional categories, on the other hand, do not change the word clauses, and do not adjust the

meaning of roots in major ways. They simply add some important information that may be

required by the syntactic or situational context.

Now lets discuss about the Big Ten Morphological processes which help to

patternize the change made with words.

1- Prefixation:- Prefixation involves the addition of a morpheme (a prefix) to thebeginning of a root in English the morpheme un- is a kind of prefix, often languages

allow several prefixes to be attached tone root, an example of this in English would be a

word like anti-disestablishment, in this word two prefixes anti, and dis, attached.

Other examples, selfishunselfish ect.

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2- Suffixation:- Suffixation involves the addition of a morpheme (a suffix) to the end ofthe root. In English, the past tense is often expressed with a suffix spelled ed as in

called. Other examples of suffix also possible rather then past tense. As

establishments in this ment or -s are suffixes.

3- Infixation:- Infixation involves that the addition of morpheme (an affix) in the middleof a root, in English the use of infix is very seldom.

4- Circumfixation:- Circumfixation is rare morphologic process in which onemorpheme has two parts, one that appears before the root and another after the root.

Examples from Chukchee, a chukchee, a chutotko-kamchatkn language spoken in

Northeastern Siberia, Russia. Some examples are given below;

1.Jatjol fox ---- a-jatjol-ka (without a fox)

2.Cakett sister-- a-cakett-ke (without a sister)

5- Stem Modification:- Stem modification is a change in shape that does not

involve the addition of any affix. The difference in form between sing song in

English can not be called infixation because there is no specific form that has been

added to the root. Rather the root vowel has just changed into something else. This also

adopted in other languages too.

6- AUTOSEGMENTAL VARIATION: - This is a change in shape that does not involve

consonants and vowels. Rather, it consists of adjustments in features such as STRESS,

TONE, and NASALIZATION. The best example of auto segmental variation as a

morphological process in English is the difference between some nouns and verbs that

is signaled by nothing but a change in stress, as in the above example. This difference is

not indicated in the regular English spelling system, so I have placed a stress mark in

these words to highlight the difference between convert (a verb) and convert (a related

noun).

7- Reduplication XE "reduplication":- It involves the repetition of part or all of a root.Plurality in Ilokano (another Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines) is

expressed by reduplicating the first syllable of the root, as in the above example.

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8- NON-CONCATENATIVE MORPHOLOGY:- This is common in Semitic languages,such as Hebrew and Arabic, but rare elsewhere. It involves superimposing a pattern of

vowels, and possibly other morphological pieces, on a root that consists only of

consonants. For example, 20 illustrate a few of the verb forms for the root, ktb in BiblicalHebrew. This root can never be pronounced on its own, but must appear in an inflected

form (examples courtesy of David Andersen, as cited in van der Merwe, et al. 1999).

9- SUBTRACTIVE MORPHOLOGY: - This is another quite rare process, whereby one

or more segments are omitted from a word in order to express a particular conceptual

category. Murle (along with several other Nilo-Saharan languages of East Africa) is one

of the few languages of the world that illustrate true subtractive morphology. In each of

the Murle examples above, the stem-final consonant is omitted in order to form the

plural.

One has to be careful to distinguish subtractive morphology from simple zero realization

of certain categories, especially when those categories have overt marking in another

language the linguist is familiar with.

9- COMPOUNDING: - involves combining roots to form new stems. In the Englishexample above, it is impossible to identify one part as the root and the other as an affix.

Black and bird are both roots that clump together morphologically to form a stem. The

new stem, blackbird, expresses an idea that is more than simply the combination of the

meanings of the two rootsthis word does not refer to any bird that happens to be black,

but rather to a specific species of bird. Even though this word is formed out of two roots,

it functions just like other noun stems in the language.

Now we will discuss about methods for representing morphological processes.

Many of the grammatical patterns in language may be expressed in ordinary prose. When we

analyze morph syntactic, it is very important to explicit and sometimes grammatical patterns are

so complex that explicit prose statements become difficult to follow. In these cases linguists

have found it useful to employ various notational systems. Therefore, prose statements are often

the most communicative way of expressing the facts about grammatical structure. The second

method is a variation on a general approach to morphological structure that is called The Item

and Arrangement model. It can be very useful for describing languages that tend to have lot of

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morphemes per word, especially if the morphemes tend to fall into well defined sets of

paradigms. Every linguist needs to be familiar with this method, at least as a beginning point for

a full morph syntactic analysis of a language. Here are some steps to analyze those processing

methods. There are, Isolate the roots means the expectations with similarity of meaning, to co-relate with similarity in form Estimate the affix positions in this, material to the left and the

right of these roots, we suspect that there are prefixes and suffixes. Begin to analyze prefixes,

there are two prefix positions, since these kinds of prefixes are likely to be grammatical

morphemes. Analyze the suffixes,the difference between most honored sir and most very

honored sir, since there is some commonality. Label the Columns positions in highly

morphological structures tend to be associated with particular sets of conceptual categories, for

example, verbs in a highly morphological language have one position for tense, other for aspect

and for the person and number of the subject.

Some processes rules also additional for those methods. A process rule is a

representation that describes relationship between the various shapes of words as though they

were changing that the word undergoes. In this, all rules may gloss, which help for the formation

of words in any language, like that how in English a verb changes its tense due to its inflectional

morpheme and how plurality formats by inflectional morphemes. These all are also discussed in

conceptual categories, a conceptual category exists when there is an expectation of patterned

behavior a consistent relationship between variation in form and variation in function. In

Conceptual category labels (or "glosses") are interpretations designed to help readers of a

grammatical description understand and remember the functions of particular grammatical

constructions or units such as words, roots and affixes, the way of all these categories to change

the form of words are processes or rules.