Linguistics 120: Morphology
Dr. Will Styler - Spring 2019
--- ### Today's Plan - Introductions - Syllabus and Canvas - What is Morphology? - What are the learning goals? - How will we accomplish them? --- # Introductions --- ## Dr. Will Styler Instructor, Linguist, Gigantic Nerd
--- ## Andres Aguilar TA, Ph.D Student
--- ## Amber Thompson TA, Ph.D Student
--- ## Matt Zaslansky TA, Ph.D Student
--- ### Who are you? * What's your year? * Monolingual/Bilingual/Multilingual? * What languages do we speak? --- ## Syllabus and Schedule
--- ## Syllabus Stuff which bears repeating
--- # DO NOT PRINT THE SYLLABUS --- ### Syllabus Stuff which bears repeating * Check your email/Canvas * Come to office hours. * The syllabus will change *a lot*! * **We are here to help!** --- # The 130 Elephants in the Room --- ### This course is usually 60-70 people - Small groups are possible - Sections are a thing - Moveable tables - *This is not what happened* --- ![](humorimg/thisisfine.jpg) --- ### We wanted to be able to keep you all on track - ... but this is uncharted territory for the department --- ### We're doing our best to make this a great experience for you - But please, understand that some things may be a bit bumpy! - ![](humorimg/lab_accident.jpg) --- # Canvas --- ### We're moving to Canvas! - This will replace TritonEd within a few years - This is a pilot program - Let's take a look! --- # What is this course about? --- ## Clickers! * Clicker questions will start counting for points next week * **Any iClicker will work.** - Please feel free to buy used - Or borrow a friend's for this class * Easy points! ---
### This is a clicker question! A) One Answer B) Another C) A third D) The answer is D E) I'm not paying attention. ---
### This is a clicker question! A) One Answer B) Another C) A third D)
The answer is D
E) I'm not paying attention. ---
### When should you tell Will about any special accomodations you'll need? A) Within the first two weeks B) By the end of the quarter C) When I'm freaking out about my grade at the end of the quarter D) I won't tell him, then pretend I did when it's an issue at the end of the quarter ---
### When should you tell Will about any special accomodations you'll need? A)
Within the first two weeks
B) By the end of the quarter C) When I'm freaking out about my grade at the end of the quarter D) I won't tell him, then pretend I did when it's an issue at the end of the quarter --- ## You need to re-register your clickers in Canvas - Only this once. --- - ## YOU NEED TO RE-REGISTER YOUR CLICKERS IN CANVAS --- # OK, so, what are we studying? --- ## Morphology The study of how words are constructed in language --- ### Morphology is in a very central place in Linguistics - ![](img/linguistics_circles.jpg) --- ### Morphology is in a very central place in Linguistics - Close enough to Phonetics that you still have sound issues - All up in Phonology's business - It's the gateway to Syntax - ... and it's often the source of lexical meaning differences in Semantics --- ### You cannot escape Morphology - If you can't take words apart, words will take *you* apart --- ### Morphology is both theoretical and practical - "How do words work in Language" - "How do words work in *this* language" --- ### Because Morphology is *huge* in scope - There's *so* much to cover that we need to think carefully about what's on the table and not --- # Learning Goals --- ### In this course, we'll teach you about... - Morphological Analysis - Morphological Typology - Word Creation - The Lexicon - The Fuzzy Edges of Word-dom - How Morphology works in Languages --- ### Morphological Analysis - How do we look at complete words and their meanings and determine the morphemes present? - How can you determine the morphological properties of an unknown language? - What are the best strategies for finding the relationship between a word's form and its meaning? - What properties of words can carry meaning? - **How do we solve morphological problems?** --- ### Morphological Typology - What is a word? - What kinds of morphemes are found around the world? - What kinds of morphemes are *common* around the world? - What *categories* of morphemes are useful to distinguish? - How does morphology work in different languages? - How does morphology work in signed languages? --- ### Word Creation - How are new words formed? - What's the difference between inflectional and derivational morphology? - What kinds of word creation processes are *productive* and/or *creative* right now? - What processes are commonly used when creating new words? - How do new words get their meanings? --- ### The Lexicon - How are words stored in the mind? - What information accompanies words? - What are we actually storing when we store a word? - How does this representation affect our speech and language use? --- ### The Fuzzy Edges of Word-dom - What is a word, anyways? - Do affixes ever feel like words? - When does a compound become a word? - What kind of problems do these expressions cause in analyzing language? --- ## What's out-of-scope for the class? --- ### Topics we're not covering here - Analyzing phonological alternations - Nope. - Polysynthetic languages - Nonopepenopenope. - Complex templatic morphology - NnopeOnopePnopeE. - Methods for field elicitation of morphology - You should take field methods - OMG you should take field methods --- ## Learning Goal Summary - You'll learn how linguists think words are formed, stored, and created - You'll learn how to analyze language data to find relationships between word form and meaning - You'll learn why morphology is just *so* damned cool --- # How are we going to accomplish these goals? --- ## In-class Presentations --- ### 'Lecture' days - I'll have a plan and a presentation - You all will ask questions, and we will have discussions - Clickers will help us to check knowledge - *Active learning does not work unless you're active.* - Damnit. --- ## Readings --- ### Your book is actually really good - Haspelmath and Sims *Understanding Morphology* --- ## Language Data --- ![](humorimg/data_trumpet.jpg) --- ### Three ways of applying data to your brain - Discussion Problems - Homework assignments - In-class problem-sets --- ## Discussion Problems - You'll all have the same problem-set - You'll work out a (partial) solution on your own, then post it on Canvas - Then you'll talk with other students about their solutions - You'll be graded on your effort and the quality of your replies, not the solution *per se*. - **These replaced four full homeworks** - You're welcome ❤ --- ### Homework problem sets - These let you work on problems on your own - These give us a chance to evaluate your work - You can discuss these with your classmates - But you need to write up your own work, and mention who you've collaborated with --- ### In-class Group Analysis - Designed to give you a chance to work with actual data - We'll be here to help - You'll also get to help your classmates - This a part of the learning process - Pick a group you want to work with - Feel free to float around. - Sorry about the classroom layout! --- ### One thing I'd like to address... --- # "Group work!?" - ![](humorimg/disgusted.jpg) --- ### Why do group work? - Groups stimulate creativity and alternate solutions - Discussing topics helps cement learning - It helps you be involved in decision-making - You're gonna do group work for the rest of your life ---
### LIGN 111 Students: Did you learn a bunch from the group work portions of the class? A) Yes B) Eh... C) No --- ### What're the downsides? - Conformity pressure - Differing skill and preparation levels - It takes more time! - This lecture hall is gonna be tricky --- ## Sitting in Row G is *banned* on group work days - This is so we can freely access all groups in this classroom - We'll remind you, but that's why --- ### We're gonna see how well this works - Optimizations will be made - The schedule will change (except due dates) - DO NOT PRINT THE SYLLABUS --- # This quarter... - We'll learn how linguists think words work - We'll learn the best practices for analyzing words in language data - We'll delve into a truly wonderful area of linguistics --- ## For Next Time - Re-Register your clickers in Canvas - We'll dive into some data ---
Thank you!