Art of Word Formation: Quiz and Flashcards

9 Questions

What is morphology and why do linguists study it?

Morphology is the study of word formation in languages, including the smallest unit of language (morpheme) that has its own meaning. Linguists study morphology to understand how native speakers have intuitive knowledge of forming and understanding new words, and how it reflects the organization of the human mind.

What is the difference between a morpheme and a word? Give an example.

A morpheme is the smallest unit of language that has its own meaning, including prefixes, suffixes, and simple words. A word is one or more morphemes that can stand alone in a language, with simple words being called simplex and complex words being made up of more than one morpheme. For example, 'unhappy' is a complex word made up of two morphemes: 'un-' and 'happy', while 'happy' is a simplex word.

How can morphology be used to understand how the human mind processes language?

Morphology can be used to understand how the human mind processes language by studying how native speakers have intuitive knowledge of forming and understanding new words, and how the organization of the human mind reflects this knowledge.

What are the different ways of counting words, and how do they differ from each other?

Counting word tokens means counting every instance of a word in a sentence, regardless of whether it has occurred before or not. Counting word types means counting a word once, no matter how many times it occurs in a sentence. Lexemes are families of words that differ only in their grammatical endings or forms.

What is a lexeme, and how is it different from a word type?

Lexemes are families of words that differ only in their grammatical endings or forms. Dictionaries typically have a single entry for each lexeme. Word types refer to a specific instance of a word, regardless of its grammatical form.

What is a mental lexicon, and why is it important for understanding the concept of 'real words'?

Each person has a mental lexicon, or internalized dictionary, that contains a vast number of words that they can produce or understand. The question of what constitutes a 'real word' is complex and subjective, and understanding the nature of our mental lexicon is crucial in answering it.

According to the Oxford American Dictionary, a word is 'a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence and typically shown with a space on either side when written or printed.' However, this definition does not account for the fact that ______

languages need not be written, but they still have words, and words don’t have blank space between them in spoken language.

Morphologists define a word as ______ that can stand alone in a language.

a sequence of one or more morphemes

When we interpret the question 'what’s a word?' as meaning 'Is xyz a word?' we are asking what it means to say that xyz is a word of English, or Central Alaskan Yup’ik, or some other language. This question leads us to explore the nature of dictionaries and our mental lexicon, which is our native speaker knowledge of words. It also raises the question of whether ______

newly made-up words qualify as 'real' words.

Study Notes

Introduction to Morphology: Understanding Word Formation in Language

Morphology is the study of word formation in languages and how words are varied depending on their use in sentences.
Native speakers have intuitive knowledge about forming and understanding new words in their language.
Linguists study morphology to find out about this intuitive knowledge and how it reflects the organization of the human mind.
Morphemes are the smallest unit of language that has its own meaning, including prefixes, suffixes, and simple words.
A word is one or more morphemes that can stand alone in a language, with simple words being called simplex and complex words being made up of more than one morpheme.
English examples are used throughout the book, but other languages will also be explored.
English uses suffixes -ize and -ify to form verbs from nouns.
Speakers can make judgments about whether certain words could exist in their language.
Intuitive knowledge of word formation can be observed in everyday language use.
The book will cover the nuts and bolts of word formation and terminology used in morphology.
Morphology can be used to understand how the human mind processes language.
A precise definition of a word is one or more morphemes that can stand alone in a language.

Understanding Words and Lexemes

There are different ways to count words, including word tokens, word types, and lexemes.
Counting word tokens means counting every instance of a word in a sentence, regardless of whether it has occurred before or not.
Counting word types means counting a word once, no matter how many times it occurs in a sentence.
Lexemes are families of words that differ only in their grammatical endings or forms.
Dictionaries typically have a single entry for each lexeme.
The question of what constitutes a "real word" is subjective and can vary between dictionaries.
Different dictionaries may list different words, which can create confusion about what is considered a "real word."
Some words may not be listed in any dictionary but can still be considered words if they have a meaning and consist of morphemes.
Each person has a mental lexicon, or internalized dictionary, that contains a vast number of words that they can produce or understand.
Word formation rules allow us to create new words and understand new words when we encounter them.
The nature of our mental lexicon and word formation rules will be explored further in the following chapters.
The question of what constitutes a "real word" is complex and subjective, and understanding the nature of our mental lexicon is crucial in answering it.

Test your knowledge of word formation and morphology with this quiz! Explore the nuts and bolts of forming words in different languages and learn about the smallest unit of language: morphemes. This quiz will cover terminology and examples of word formation in English and other languages. Challenge yourself to see if you have an intuitive understanding of word formation and how it reflects the organization of the human mind. Dive into the world of morphology and take this quiz today!