1ense and aspecL morphology

1
sL
year Lngllsh mlnor
course lnsLrucLor: veronlca 1omescu
Chomsky (1963, 1998), lnker (1984)
llngulsuc creauvlLy
poverLy of lnpuL
language lnsuncL
lnLernallzed grammar
unlversal grammar
compeLence vs. performance
rlnclples and arameLers (Chomsky 1981)
unlversal Crammar = seL of prlnclples + seL of
parameLers
Chomsky (2003)
facLors responslble for growLh of human
language:
1. geneuc endowmenL 2. experlence
3. language lndependenL prlnclples (daLa analysls,
sLrucLural archlLecLure, developmenLal consLralnL)
grammar = a model of Lhe speaker's lnLernallzed
language

1radluonal grammars
nouonal
normauve, prescrlpuve
dlachronlc
language = collecuon of lLems
SLrucLurallsm
descrlpuve
synchronlc
spoken language: corpus
hollsuc vlew of language as a sysLem of
elemenLs
unlLs = value ln relauon Lo oLher lLems

SLrucLurallsm
formal denluons
lrles 1937:
verb = Lhe word class whose members occur ln
Lhe conLexL: Lo_, _lng, _s, _ed
SLrucLurallsm
language = formal sysLem of slgns
Saussure: language ls a sysLem based on Lhe
opposluon of lLs unlLs
P[elmslev (1943): anchorlng lLems relauvely ln
respecL Lo oLher ob[ecLs slmllarly dened
hlerarchlcal levels of language have lsomorphlc
organlzauon
sLrucLurallsL grammars: deducuve
corpus => rules
Cenerauve grammar
emplrlcal , galllean lnducuve sclence
language faculLy
mlnd: noL !"#$%" '"(", buL a complex modular
organ (lodor 1983)
1. llngulsuc creauvlLy
2. learnablllLy of grammars => nlLe seL of rules
1he morpheme
l parked Lhe car.
l park-ed [L] Lhe car.
palnLed [ld]
cleaned [d]

-> allomorphs (phonologlcally condluoned)
= a seL of morphs are allomorphs of Lhe same
morpheme lf Lhey are ln complemenLary
dlsLrlbuuon
A and 8 are ln complemenLary dlsLrlbuuon ln
case A never occurs ln any of Lhe conLexLs of 8
and Lhe oLher way around
grammaucal condluonlng
l drove Lhe car.
lexlcal condluonlng: ox-oxen
lorms whlch have a common semanuc
dlsuncuveness and an ldenucal phonemlc form ln
all Lhelr occurrences consuLuLe a slngle morpheme.
danc!", l!" (wld!")

lorms whlch have a common semanuc
dlsuncuveness may consuLuLe a morphemlc
segmenL provlded LhaL Lhe dlsLrlbuuon of formal
dlerences ls phonologlcally denable : allomorphs
(nlda 1948)
complexlLy of word sLrucLure ls due Lo Lwo
Lypes of morphologlcal operauons: )*+,-./*
and 0,')1"./*
lnecuonal varlauon: grammaucal markers for
*$2#,'3 4,*0,'3 -"(,3 5,'(/*3 !,*(,3 "(5,-!3
2//0 and -/25"')(/*
lnecuonal amxes
organlzed ln 5"'"0)42(
-%/(,0 (,!(
ln -/25%,2,*!"'6 0)(!')#$./*
park/parks/parked
go/goes/wenL/gone -> suppleuon
defecuve paradlgm: can

#!$%&'( &'*!+,"%!- ./0&1,0'( &'*!+,"%!-
n, v, A, Av,

deLermlners, lnecuon, degree,
complemenuzers
subsLanuve conLenL Lhelr role ls Lo glue Lhe conLenL
words LogeLher
open classes closed classes
Lyplcally comblne wlLh a
speclc lexlcal class:
e.g. Lhe n, Lo v