morphology exercise Introduction to Linguistics

Lesson 5.5: MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

In this final section, Morphological Analysis, we will practice a skill that is essential for any language learner. It involves capabilities that non-native speakers in an ESL context have to use frequently, especially in the early stages of language acquisition. I find it very useful that language teachers explicitly practice this skill so that they are aware of the challenges their students face. The skill can be labelled compare and contrast and is described on p. 148 of the textbook. Please re-read this page carefully to make sure that you understand how this procedure works. I will briefly sum it up here. First, you pick partially similar forms in the foreign language to compare. Then you compare the translation to find similarities in your own language. Finally, you look for morphological similarities between the two languages. These three steps give you an account of the similarities of the morpheme(s). Next you contrast by looking for differences between forms in the two languages. You repeat the above three steps, which provides an account of the differences.

To practice analyzing morphemes, we will conduct an exercise that my students on campus usually enjoy very much. So I will try to transfer it to the web. Here is what we will do. I will divide all of you into four groups, MorphExercise 1-4. Each group will get 8 - 10 phrases or sentences from another language. I will put the language samples inside the group folder for each group so that the other groups can not see them. In your group, you will morphologically analyze your language sample using the Compare and Contrast procedure. I leave it up to you whether you divide the work or whether each group member figures out all phrases/sentences. At the end, you have to create a list of all morphemes from your language sample and post it in your group folder in FirstClass. For each morpheme you have to specify:

- the morpheme itself
- its meaning or function in English
- whether it is a stem or an affix
- whether it is a prefix, infix, or suffix
- in what order it appears in the phrase or sentence

With the information from this list, someone else should be able to re-create the language sample you analyzed if they are given the English translation for each word, phrase, or sentence in your original sample.

I will check on the progress in each group during the week. When a group is finished analyzing its data, that group should send me an email message to let me know. As soon as two groups are finished, I will take their lists of morphemes and swap them. In other words, group B will get the analyzed morphemes from group A; group A will get group B's list and so on. Then each group will "re-assemble" the other group's input language sample by taking the information from the list they received and putting it back together. So, everybody has to make sure that the morpheme lists have all the necessary information. For the "re-assembly" part of the exercise, I will give each group a list of the other group's sentences/phrases, but in translation. The group then has to put back together the original language sample. With the English translation and the list of morphemes from the other group in hand, you will be able to re-create the original phrases/sentences that the other group analyzed. So group A will take group B's output from their analysis (=the list of morphemes, their meaning/function, information on morpheme type, and order) and re-assemble it using the translation of group B's input as instructions (which I will provide). Post, in your group folder in FirstClass, the final list of phrases/sentences that you re-assembled. When everyone is done we can all look at each others' input language samples. I hope this is clear and works; we usually have a lot of fun with this exercise.

Now, there is nothing I can do to prevent you from going into each other's group items to peek at the input data while you are putting your morpheme list back together in the second part of the exercise. But I trust that we can use an honor system so that nobody goes into a group other than their own. Here are your group assignments so you don't have a reason to go into any other groups: MorphExercise1: Kim, Catalina, Tamara, Judith, Amy, Darcy, Mohammed; MorphExercise 2: Carol, Kathryn, Debra, Audrey, Kala, Christi; MorphExercise 3: Pamyla, Sue, Nan B., Nancy W. Marie, Lisa; MorphExercise 4: Suzy, Beth, Delores, Sonja, Antoinette, Robyn, Sarah.

Have fun and good luck!

This is the end of the lesson on morphology. You will find lesson 6 next week by going to the list of lessons on the home page (http://www.hamline.edu/personal/aschramm/linguistics2001/) and clicking on "Lesson 6".