Theoretical Issues in Inflection

2018 ◽  
pp. 55-82
Author(s):  
Gregory Stump
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Semantic Composition ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Theoretical Issues

The domains of divergence among current conceptions of inflectional morphology appertain to five fundamental issues. What are the basic units in terms of which inflectional morphology is defined? Is the morpheme a theoretically significant concept? What sort of structure do inflected word forms possess? Do they have a quasi-syntactic hierarchical structure that determines their semantic composition? What is the relation between concatenative and nonconcatenative inflectional patterns? Are they equivalent alternatives for realizing morphosyntactic content or is affixation pre-eminent, sometimes triggering nonconcatenative operations of secondary status? What is the relation between a word form’s morphosyntactic properties and their inflectional exponents? Are exponents lexically listed with their properties, or do a word form’s morphosyntactic properties trigger rules that specify their exponents? Finally, what distinguishes inflection from word formation? Are these discrete components? Is their difference purely one of function? Competing answers to these questions are examined in the light of empirical evidence.

scholarly journals Hindi noun inflection and distributed morphology

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smriti Singh ◽  
Vaijayanthi M. Sarma
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Morphological Operations ◽  
Indian Languages ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Small Set ◽  
Nominal Inflection

This paper primarily presents an analysis of nominal inflection in Hindi within the framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993, 1994 and Harley and Noyer 1999). Müller (2002, 2003, 2004) for German, Icelandic and Russian nouns respectively and Weisser (2006) for Croatian nouns have also used Distributed Morphology (henceforth DM) to analyze nominal inflectional morphology. This paper will discuss in detail the inflectional categories and inflectional classes, the morphological processes operating at syntax, the distribution of vocabulary items and the readjustment rules required to describe Hindi nominal inflection. Earlier studies on Hindi inflectional morphology (Guru 1920, Vajpeyi 1958, Upreti 1964, etc.) were greatly influenced by the Paninian tradition (classical Sanskrit model) and work with Paninian constructs such as root and stem. They only provide descriptive studies of Hindi nouns and verbs and their inflections without discussing the role or status of affixes that take part in inflection. The discussion on the mechanisms (morphological operations and rules) used to analyze or generate word forms are missing in these studies. In addition, these studies do not account for syntax-morphology or morphology-phonology mismatches that show up in word formation. One aim of this paper is to present an economical way of forming noun classes in Hindi as compared to other traditional methods, especially gender and stem ending based or paradigm based methods that give rise to a large number of inflectional paradigms. Using inflectional class information to analyse the various forms of Hindi nouns, we can reduce the number of affixes and word-generation and readjustment rules that are required to describe nominal inflection. The analysis also helps us in developing a morphological analyzer for Hindi. The small set of rules and fewer inflectional classes are of great help to lexicographers and system developers. To the best of our knowledge, the analysis of Hindi inflectional morphology based on DM and its implementation in a Hindi morphological analyzer has not been done before. The methods discussed here can be applied to other Indian languages for analysis as well as word generation.

Gender as an inflectional category

2002 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW SPENCER
Keyword(s):  
Female Patient ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Lexical Entry ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Lexical Categories ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Explicit Analysis ◽  
Mixed Categories ◽  
Peculiar Nature

Russian adjectives, especially participles, can be used as nouns denoting people, e.g. bol′noj/bol′naja ‘(male/female) patient’ from bol′noj ‘sick’, učaščijsja/učaščajasja ‘(boy/girl) pupil’, participle from the verb učit′sja ‘to learn, study’. These are unusual in that they formally reflect the sex of their referent by means of inflectional morphology. Moreover, many surnames inflect like adjectives and they, too, inflect for gender: Mr. Puškin, Čexov, Tolstoj, Dostoevskij but Ms. Puškina, Čexova, Tolstaja, Dostoevskaja. Lexemes such as ‘patient, pupil’ are genuine nouns and not just adjectives modifying null nouns. The latter type do exist and have different properties from converted nouns. Converted nouns and adjectival surnames thus form systematic gender pairs which are forms of a single lexeme. However, gender is not conventionally regarded as an inflection category of the kind which induces word forms of lexemes in this way, rather it is an inherent ‘classificatory’ property of nouns. The paper discusses the peculiar nature of this type of inflectional marking and provides an explicit analysis of the construction. On the semantic side, nouns such as bol′noj, učaščijsja have a similar representation to that of a phrase person who is sick/studies and we effectively have an instance of the poorly researched phenomenon of de-phrasal word formation. On the morphosyntactic side, the lexical entry of the deadjectival noun or surname shares crucial properties with 3rd person pronouns. The analysis raises questions about the nature of lexical categories (especially ‘mixed categories’) and the structure of lexical entries generally.

scholarly journals ARIES: A lexical platform for engineering Spanish processing tools

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSÉ M. GOÑI ◽  
JOSÉ C. GONZÁLEZ ◽  
ANTONIO MORENO
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Type Checking ◽  
Efficient Retrieval ◽  
Software Interfaces ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
Run Time ◽  
E Mail ◽  
Unification Grammar

We present a lexical platform that has been developed for the Spanish language. It achieves portability between different computer systems and efficiency, in terms of speed and lexical coverage. A model for the full treatment of Spanish inflectional morphology for verbs, nouns and adjectives is presented. This model permits word formation based solely on morpheme concatenation, driven by a feature-based unification grammar. The run-time lexicon is a collection of allomorphs for both stems and endings. Although not tested, it should be suitable also for other Romance and highly inflected languages. A formalism is also described for encoding a lemma-based lexical source, well suited for expressing linguistic generalizations: inheritance classes, lemma encoding, morpho-graphemic allomorphy rules and limited type-checking. From this source base, we can automatically generate an allomorph indexed dictionary adequate for efficient retrieval and processing. A set of software tools has been implemented around this formalism: lexical base augmenting aids, lexical compilers to build run-time dictionaries and access libraries for them, feature manipulation libraries, unification and pseudo-unification modules, morphological processors, a parsing system, etc. Software interfaces among the different modules and tools are cleanly defined to ease software integration and tool combination in a flexible way. Directions for accessing our e-mail and web demonstration prototypes are also provided. Some figures are given, showing the lexical coverage of our platform compared to some popular spelling checkers.

Inflection and the Paradigm in German Nouns

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Pounder
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Structure Dynamic ◽  
Morphological Component ◽  
Process Framework ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Modern Standard

The paper presents an analysis of noun inflection in Modern Standard German within a process framework. Familiar issues in the description of German inflectional morphology are discussed, such as analysis of weak nouns and of plural formation, and the establishment of inflectional classes, as well as broader theoretical issues such as postulation of identity relations (“zeros”). The elements of a process morphology are elaborated, including some that deviate from well-known models, such as recognition of a dynamic morphological component distinct from the static lexicon, expression of morphological semantics in the morphological component, and formalization of the notion of a paradigm. The paradigm is claimed to be an essential morphological structure, dynamic in nature, responsible for organization of the inflectional system and ensuring, in cooperation with operations applied to stems, correct sequencing and selection of these inflectional operations. It is also concluded that the inflectional class, derivative of the paradigm, may be a useful construct in some languages (including German), but is not a necessary one for all inflecting languages.

Morphologie und Semantik der n-Erweiterung bei Muttern und Vatern im Deutschen

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-79
Author(s):  
Alexander Werth
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Low German ◽  
German Dialects ◽  
Semantic Concepts ◽  
Formation Pattern ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Comparative Constructions

Abstract: This paper deals with German kinship terms ending with the form n (Muttern, Vatern). Firstly, data from newspapers are presented that show that especially Muttern denotes very special meanings that can only be derived to a limited extent from the lexical base: a) Muttern referring to a home where mother cares for you, b) Muttern standing for overprotection, and c) Muttern representing a special food style (often embedded in prepositional phrases and/or comparative constructions like wie bei or wie von Muttern). Secondly, it is argued that the addition of n to kinship terms is not a word-formation pattern, but that these word forms are instead lexicalized and idiomatized in contemporary German. Hence, a diachronic scenario is applied to account for the data. It is argued in the present paper that the n-forms have been borrowed from Low German dialects, especially from constructional idioms of the type ‘X-wie bei Muttern’ and that forms were enriched by semantic concepts associated with the dialect.

scholarly journals Achievements of the academic grammar school

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-29
Author(s):  
Kateryna Horodensʹka ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Functional Syntax ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Ukrainian Society ◽  
Formation System

This study aims at investigating the development of grammatical theory at the Institute of the Ukrainian Language for the last 30 years. The paper summarizes achievements in grammar theory from applying the functional, i.e., semantic and grammatical, approach developed by I.R. Vykhovanetsʹ to differentiating units into word and nonword classes and distinguishing morphological categories of major word classes. This facilitated the establishment of the theoretical basis of functional and categorical morphology. The author analyses studies in formal grammatical, semantic, functional, categorical, deri vational, and anthropocentric syntax that attest to the multidimensional growth of a syntactic theory and main aspects of the Ukrainian word formation on the basis of semantic and categorical syntax and a formant- and stem-based derivatology. Some of the latest multi-pronged processes in word formation reflect dynamics of word formation rules, the replenishment of word formation resources, and the development of the word-formation system of Standard Ukrainian. The solving of a complex set of theoretical issues in the modern Ukrainian word-formation introduced the methodological foundations for the recent normative description of the word formation system of Standard Ukrainian. The article addresses issues in studies on applied grammar determined by the process of glo balization and democratization of the Ukrainian society and the needs of Modern Ukrainian language practice to be met. Particular importance is attached to the grammatical prescriptive norms in the professional use, the actualization of case forms appearing in the passive vocabulary, and the dynamics of morphological and syntactic norms in various functional and stylistic dimensions of Standard Ukrainian. Keywords: functional grammar, functional morphology, functional syntax, categorical grammar, categorical syntax, categorical word formation, classification of parts of speech, morphological categories.

Latviešu valodas apguvēju korpusa (LaVA) izmantošana pētniecībā un mācību uzdevumu izstrādē

2021 ◽  
pp. 142-161
Author(s):  
Ilze Auziņa ◽  
◽  
Kristīne Levāne-Petrova ◽  
Roberts Darģis ◽  
Kristīne Pokratniece ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Repeated Analysis ◽  
Reflexive Verbs

The Latvian Language Learners Corpus (LaVA) developed at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Latvia, includes more than 1000 texts created by foreign Latvian language learners studying at Latvian higher education institutions for the first or second semester reaching A1 (possibly A2) Latvian language proficiency level. The size of the corpus is more than 180 000 words. The morphologically annotated texts have been checked manually; the language learners' errors have been manually annotated. In addition, each text is accompanied by information about the author of the text (metadata): gender, age, native language, knowledge of other languages. When analysing the data, this information can be used to determine how the learner's mother tongue and language skills, in general, affect the acquisition of the Latvian language. Users of the corpus can analyse the data both on the LaVA website (see http://lava.korpuss.lv/search) and in the SketchEngine tool, where the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data can be performed. The quantitative approach makes it possible to find out the tendencies of the use of a word, word form, or construction and allows to determine the frequency of mistakes made by language learners. In addition, the objectivity of the research is ensured by looking at the data of language learners from different aspects and performing repeated analysis. For example, by statistically analysing the nouns used in learners' texts, it can be concluded that declension 4 nouns are most often used. The next in terms of frequency of use are declension 1, 5 and 2 nouns, while declension 3 and 6 nouns and indeclinable nouns are used very rarely. Qualitative analysis reveals certain features of morphology and word formation, including aspects of syntax, based on empirical data. It is possible to qualitatively analyse the erroneous use of nouns, verbs, or other parts of speech, trying to understand what rules determine this. For example, consider using non-reflexive verbs instead of reflexive verbs, using infinitives instead of finite forms (person forms), using a suffix that does not fit the noun paradigm, etc. According to LaVA data analysis, including learners error analysis, exercises and tests are generated. The exercises are intended to help the language learner to strengthen the linguistic competence of the Latvian language, for example, the use of verb forms in the indicative mood, both in indefinite and perfect tense forms. Exercise creation consists of three stages: (1) analysis of LaVA errors and identification of typical errors, (2) Collecting of sample sentences from various corpora of the Latvian language, for example, LVK2018, Saeima, with word forms and constructions in which language learners most often make mistakes in LaVA texts, (3) generation of different exercises using the selected sample sentences.

Grammar and Lexis

2019 ◽  
pp. 19-226
Author(s):  
Howard Jones ◽  
Martin H. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Cd Rom

This chapter has four sections, ‘Sounds and spelling’ (i.e. phonology and orthography), ‘Inflectional morphology’, ‘Syntax’, and ‘Lexis’ (the last of these covers word formation, borrowing, and vocabulary with meanings peculiar to the period such as dienest, êre, minne, ritter, vrouwe). In each section there is a summary of the main points, followed by detailed advanced paragraphs. The summaries serve as a stand-alone introductory grammar designed to help readers gain a reading knowledge of MHG as quickly as possible, which they can try out on the two introductory texts in Chapter 5. The detailed paragraphs can be used for reference or to gain an overview of particular areas of the language, and include extensive cross references to and from the texts in Chapter 5. The chapter concludes with an overview of the MHG dictionaries that are available on the Internet, in print, and on CD-ROM.

Morphological Theory and Creole Languages

2018 ◽  
pp. 454-475
Author(s):  
Ana Luís
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Morphological Evidence ◽  
Word Structure ◽  
Morphological Theory ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Creole Languages ◽  
Morphological Patterns

This chapter explores the interaction between creole morphology and morphological theory by drawing on empirical evidence which illustrates that morphological similarities exist between creoles and non-creoles. Such evidence shows that morphological patterns in creoles may be used for the creation of new lexemes (through word-formation), that morphosyntactic features may be mapped onto existing lexemes (by means of inflection), or that derived words in creoles may be semantically non-compositional while inflected words may exhibit form–meaning mismatches and be part of non-predictable paradigms. Conceptually, the morphological evidence will be used to claim that creole word structure is just as principled as the morphology of non-creole languages, and that it can be naturally accounted for by applying the same formal apparatus that is used for the analysis of non-creole languages.

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