The answer will be assessed on the accuracy of the facts that is presented and the validity and consistency of the argumentation as well as the supporting evidence you adduce. A sufficient answer will present valid arguments for both sides and discuss them.
Problem Set 1:
1. Morphological segmentation and classification
Segment the following words into morphemes if possible and classify the morphemesaccording to the parameters free-bound, lexical-grammatical and say whether theyare uniqueorportmanteau morphemes.
table, and, realise, redo, helped, diversity, agreement, does, windmill, truck driver,biochemistry, geology, rode, went, cockroach, unfriend, upon
2. Morphological analysis: Ilgar verbs
angbani ‘you sit’
ngawani ‘I sit’
yiwani ‘he sits’
yinybani ‘she sits’
awani they sit’
adbani ‘we (inclusive) sit’
kandijawayiwalkbuyikbiny ‘the damper is burning’
angbalkbuyikbiny ‘you’re burning’
How would you say:
– ‘the trees are burning’ (‘trees’: arlirr)
– we excl. sit (‘we (excl.)’ ngad-)
How many allomorphs does the verb ‘sit’ have and how are they distributed, i.e. howdo you know when to use which? Is the distribution lexical/morphological orphonological?
3.What arguments can be presented for the view that units like -port (e.g. in transport),-mit (e.g. in transmit), -ceive (e.g. in deceive) should be considered morphemes?What arguments can be presented for the opposite view that they are notmorphemes? Which position do you find more convincing and why?
Start with the definition of the term morpheme and then think about whether theseunits fit this definition. But consider also your intuition and evidence of similar wordsabout the structure of these words, i.e. about whether they are complex or not.
NOTE: Your answer will be assessed on the accuracy of the facts you present and thevalidity and consistency of your argumentation as well as the supporting evidenceyou adduce. A sufficient answer will present valid arguments for both sides anddiscuss them.
