Introduction to Linguistics - Assignment 4 James Madison University

1. Attempt to make up a new word in the English language using just existing morphemes and combining them only in ways that are normally permitted for those morphemes. (In other words, find a lexical gap not already mentioned in the textbook or in class. :) )
2. First find all the morphemes in each of the words below and determine what morpheme is the root morpheme for each, noting that morphemes can undergo changes in pronunciation and/or spelling when they are combined. Then, attempt to draw tree diagrams representing the stages of the morphological derivation (and inflection, if relevant) for each. (Think carefully about the order in which these morphemes must be combined based on 1. the general type of affix, 2. the grammatical constraints on what kind of stem a particular affix can combine with, 3. the intended meaning of the final word, 4. whether a potential intermediate stem exists as a word, and finally 5. that inflectional affixes are generally added as a last step for a particular use of an already fully derived word. Note, however, that some of these guidelines are not absolutes and some may be consistent with more than one hierarchy in a particular word!):
   1. boyish
   2. arguably
   3. prewashed
   4. inconceivable
   5. distrustfulness
   6. meaningful (Notice what's unusual about this one? :) )
   7. fourths
   8. Sally's
3. Use this link to download and print out a very small data sample for another language, Turkish. Answer the morphological analysis questions included with that data: Turkish Data and Questions

Now answer a few questions from the beginning of the textbook chapter on syntax (Chapter 3):