1. What are morphology and syntax?
Chapter 1 practice exercises
Data analysis
Exercise 1. Simplex or complex?
Beginner-Intermediate [1.1]
Are the following English words simplex or complex? If they are complex, segment them into morphemes using hyphens.
| a. | sofa |
| b. | beautiful |
| c. | bookshelf |
| d. | pastries |
| e. | recliner chair |
| f. | reassessment |
| g. | sunny |
| h. | spilled |
| i. | strawberry pie filling |
| j. | distressing |
Exercise 2. Relevance to morphology and syntax
Intermediate [1.1, 1.2]
Consider the following nursery rhyme.
Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn’t know where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they’ll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.
Brainstorm a list of things that someone would need to know about English in order to understand this nursery rhyme. Which of the things you listed pertain to morphology or syntax?
Communication and study skills
Exercise 3. Personal skills
Beginner [1.4]
What background skills, experience, and knowledge do you bring to this course that might help you succeed? For example, do you have experience with multiple languages or dialects? Do you have experience with pattern recognition and problem solving? Are you skilled at creative language play? Do you have good time management and organizational skills?
Exercise 4. Cultural reflection
Intermediate [1.4]
What is a traditional value from your culture? How will you apply this value during this course? For example, you could apply the Inuit value of working together for a common cause by establishing a study group or the Métis value of courage by participating in class in ways that stretch your comfort zone.
Exercise 5. Academic integrity
Intermediate [1.5]
Which of the following would count as an academic offence? Explain what you should do instead.
- Using lots of quotations in your paper, with in-text citations and a bibliography.
- Listing the headings or topic sentences of a paper word for word to summarize a text, without quotation marks.
- Providing a paraphrase without quotation marks.
- Working together with a classmate when group work is not allowed.
- Using a word-for-word definition from wikipedia without citing it.
- Submitting an answer composed by Artificial Intelligence without permission to do so.
- Having a friend proofread your essay for grammar errors.
- Listing the same ideas in the same order, but in your own words.
- Visiting the university writing centre for advice.
- Copying another student’s answer on homework or a quiz.
- Buying an essay from an essay-writing service.
- Checking the spelling of a word in a dictionary without citing it.
- Forgetting to include a references section in your paper.
- Hiring a tutor who tells you the answers if you can’t figure them out on your own.
Research and application
Exercise 6. WALS data analysis
Beginner [1.2]
Look at map 85A on the online language database WALS and answer the following questions.
To calculate percentages, divide the number of languages with prepositions or postpositions by the total number of languages and then multiply by 100.
a. Based on the sample in this map, what percentage of the languages of the world use prepositions?
b. Based on the sample in this map, what percentage of the languages of the world use postpositions?
c. Are languages that use prepositions and languages that use postpositions spread randomly throughout the world, or do they seemed to be grouped according to some sort of pattern?
d. Scroll down to the list of languages and click on the name of a language from the list that you’ve never heard of before.
-
- What is the language called?
- Does this language use prepositions, postpositions, or something else?
- What language family does it belong to?
(Hint: Look at the top of the page, just below the menu.) - Where is it spoken?
(Hint: Look underneath the map on the right side of the page.)
e. Write up your answer to all of the above questions in paragraph format, using in-text citations as appropriate.
(Hint: Cite the information you got from this specific map as Dryer (2013) and the information coming from the WALS database as a whole as Dryer and Haspelmath (2013). This is according to the instructions for citing WALS on the WALS homepage.)
Language Journal
For your language journal, you should pick a language that you don’t know much about. At the end of each chapter, there will be a few questions for you to research about your language. By the end of the semester, you will have created a profile of the morphosyntax of your language!
In the spirit of decolonization, I encourage you to pick a language that disrupts the status quo in some way, which can begin to provide you with a deeper understanding of language diversity and the unevenness of the language landscape of the world and in the field of linguistics, such as:
- A language that the student has never heard of before (which you can discover by searching a language database like WALS, Ethnologue, or Glottolog).
- A signed or tactile language.
- A language that is negatively affected by colonialism or globalization, especially if the student is or plans to be involved in community-led revitalization or documentation efforts.
- A non-standard variety of a language (e.g., AAVE or Michif French).
Personal language research
Exercise 7
Beginner-Intermediate. [1.2]
Research the basic background facts of your language. Where is it spoken? Approximately how many speakers are there? What language family does it belong to?
Exercise 8
Beginner [1.2]
Does your language use prepositions or postpositions? Include an example that supports your answer.
