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Word (sub)structure Processes Affixation: prefixes, suffixes Vowel change Suppletion (lots of others…)

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Ways of classifying and distinguishing various objects by their properties

Syntax: objects = constituents

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Feature name: what property the feature represents

Feature values: binary: + or -, yes or no, easy or hard multi-valued: whole range of possible values

Feature specification: associating feature names with feature values

Book explores several alternative schemes

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Packaging up features that are related somehow

Feature matrix: means of displaying related features

We prefer the simplest and most complete way of combining features into feature bundles

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Word categories Noun [+N, -V] Verb [-N, +V] Adjective/adverb [+N, +V] Preposition [-N, -V]

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Specifies how many objects are involved

Singular/Plural dog/dogs (Eng)

Singular/Dual/Plural yom/yomayim/yamim (Heb)

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Specifies some (arbitrary) class that the word itself belongs to

French, Spanish: masculine, feminine bon étudiant, bonne étudiante (Frn)

German, Russian: masculine, feminine, neuter der Mann, die Frau, das Mädchen (Ger)

Some languages have dozen (or more!)

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Specifies speaker, addressee 1st: self, selves (I, we) 2nd: you (thou, you, y’all, yunz) 3rd: others (he, she, it, they, them) Some languages have an inclusive/

exclusive distinction Some languages have a distal (distance-

based) distinction

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Add morphology depending on related temporal (time) properties Past, future, present▪ manger+ai (Frn); sing+s

Remoteness is specified in some languages Not just verbs in some languages▪ tu+pus (Lus)

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Add morphology depending on nature of action Active: subject does, accomplishes the

actionMary beat everyone in the race. Passive: subject receives action

Everyone in the race was beaten by Mary. Middle: in between active and passive

This book reads well.

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Add morphology based on the function of the sentence Declarative: makes a statement Interrogative: asks a question Imperative: gives an order, command Irrealis: communicates improbability Conditional: communicates conditionality

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Inflect verb based on how much it transfers the action, and to whom Transitive: action is transferred

▪ I sang a song. Instransitive: action isn’t transferred

▪ He burped. Ditransitive: transitive + indirect object

▪ She bought me an ice cream cone. Causative: some entity is made/caused to do

something

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Often words and constituents must agree English: subject + verb (person, number) French: adjective + noun (gender, number) German: verb + object (case)

Features are usually used to characterize agreement

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What are minor morphosyntacticfeatures?

What are ɸ-features? What are cases? What is aspect? What are uninterpretable features?

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