LIN120: Sociolinguistics, Spring 2008

Homework 5, due February 27 at the beginning of class.

Part 1: Word structure (5 points) Draw trees for words 1-9 on p. 5 of your Week 5 handout. As you draw the trees, think about:

• how many morphemes each word contains (some will have more than three!)
• what each morpheme contributes to the meaning of this particular word;
• what category (noun, verb, adjective) each affix attaches to, and what category it creates. For example: -ness attaches to an adjective and creates a noun (happy --> happiness)

Some of the words have more than one possible tree structure. If you find a word like this, draw both trees and label each tree with an unambiguous definition.

Part 2: Morphology-phonology interactions. (2 points) In last week's problem set on 'g-dropping', you (hopefully!) discovered that 'g-dropping' applied much more frequently in progressives than in nouns for these four speakers. Now, think about why this might be the case.

• Recall that 'g-dropping' never occurs in words like cling, bring, string, etc., but only seems to apply to the suffix -ing.
• Look at the ING.xls spreadsheet again and read through the list of ing words that are Nouns. (You can use Data > Filter > AutoFilter to make this easier.) Think about how/if the various words included in this data set might be broken down into morphemes.
• Write a short paragraph (3-4 sentences) in which you propose an explanation for the difference in frequencies you found last week. Include specific examples from the data set in your observations.

Part 3: Folk etymology. (3 points) Pick any three words from the list below and do the following:

• Transcribe the word using the IPA.
• Show how you think the word is broken down into morphemes, using + signs to indicate where the morpheme breaks go. If you're not sure, you can write a sentence explaining your segmentation. (In some cases there's no clear 'right' answer, so don't get too bogged down if you have conflicting intuitions.) Finish this step before you look ahead to the link!
• Now look at the original forms and meanings of these words. Some of the words are native to English and some were borrowed from other languages.
• For each of your three examples, write a brief commentary (2-4 sentences) on the principal changes in morphological structure, phonology, and/or meaning that the word appears to have undergone. Why might these changes have taken place?
  1. cherries
  2. woodchuck
  3. bridegroom
  4. cutlet
  5. caterpillar
  6. hangnail

Part 4: Start preparing for the midterm! Use this week to catch up on the assigned readings and figure out which concepts and materials you want to review. If you'd like me to bring practice exercises in a particular area for us to work on in class next week, let me know by the end of the day Tuesday Feb. 26.