morphology_01

Topic1TheDefinitionsofMorphologyBy:Group1Keypoints:1.theoriginofmorphology2.thedevelopmentofmorphology3.thedefinitionsofmorphologyLinguistictheoryissaidtoincludeatleastfourmajorsubfields:phoneticsThenatureandtypologyandspeechsoundsinthemselves.phonologyThefunctioningofsound-unitswithinthesystemsofindividuallanguages.syntaxTheconstructionsofphrasesandsentencesandalsothefeaturesofmeaningwhichareassociatedwiththem.semanticsThestudyofmeaning.pragmaticsThestudyofhowspeakersofalanguageusesentencestoeffectsuccessfulcommunication.Morphology1.OriginMorphologyitselfisaGreek-basedparallelingtotheGermanFormenlehre(the‘studyofforms’).Firstreference:1830sintheOED(OxfordEnglishDictionary)—referredasabiologicalterm.InfluencedbytheDarwin’sOntheOriginofSpecies(publishedin1859),philologistshavelonggivenupthehopethatthestudyingthe‘evolution’ofwords.Wenolongerthinkoflanguagesasorganisms.Morphology,therefore,issimplyatermforthatbranchoflinguisticswhichisconcernedwiththe‘formsofwords’indifferentusesandconstructions.(Matthews,P.H.Morphology)2.ThedevelopmentofmorphologyInthenineteenthcenturyitlayattheheartofcomparativelinguistics.Soitwasparamount.Inthetwentiethcenturymanystructurallinguistsattachedlessimportancetotheword.Somelinguistsevenrejectedtheexistenceofmorphology.Thelate1950s:Chomsky,thedevelopmentoftransformationalgrammar,thesurfaceanddeepsyntax.Sofarasthestructuralisttheorieswereconcerned,morphologywasatanall-timelow.Butsincethenitsstandinghadbeenrestored:a.thedisintegrationoftheclassicalChomskyanscheme;b.therenewedinterestinhistoricallinguistics.Inthe1980s,morphologyisclearlytobeaseparatedfield.3.Thedefinitionsofmorphology1).Morphology,therefore,isconcernedwiththeformsofwordsindifferentusesandconstructions.（Matthews,P.H.）2).Morphology(biology)isthestudyoftheformorshapeofanorganismorpart.3).Thestudyanddescriptionofwordformationinlanguagethatdealswithinflection,derivation,andcompounding,thesystemofword-formingelementsandprocessinalanguage.(LaurieBauer)4).Morphologyreferstothestudyoftheinternalstructureofwords,andtherulesbywhichwordsareformed.(戴伟栋)5).Morphologyisconcernedwiththeinternalorganizationofwords.Itstudiestheminimalunitsofmeaning-morphemesandword-formationprocess.(胡壮麟）6).Morphologyisusedtodescribethetypeofinvestigationwhichanalyzesallthosebasic‘elements’whichareusedinalanguage.(George,Yule)SimilaritiesAllthedefinitionsarelargelyrelatedtotheinternalstructureofwordsandword-formation.DifferencesAllthedefinitionsareseemlyquitesimilar.Almostallofthemhavegiventhegeneralpictureofmorphology,butthroughcarefulanddetailedcomparisonamongthem,wecanfigureoutthesubtledifferences.Givenasamefieldoflinguistics,differentlinguistslaydifferentemphasesontheirunderstandingsofmorphologyfromdifferentperspectivesandacademicareas.Firstly,somedefinitionsaregivenfromtheangleofdiachroniclinguistics,suchasthefirstdefinitionofmorphology—thestudyoftheformorshapeofanorganismorpart.InfluencedbytheevolutionarymodelofDarwin’sOntheOriginofSpecies,theprimarydefinitionofmorphologyisborninthebiologicalarea.AngleofDiachronicLinguisticsButsincethemiddleofthenineteenthcentury,ithadalsobeenusedtodescribethattypeofinvestigationwhichanalyzesallthosebasicelementsthatareusedinalanguage.Tillnow,morphologyisusedtodescribethewordstructureandwordformationinalllanguages.Secondly,fromthecoverageoftheabovedefinitions,someofthemisnotcompleteincontent,suchasthesecondandthethirdones.AngleofCoverageoftheDefinitionsAccordingtoMatthews,P.H.,morphologyisconcernedwiththeformsofwordsindifferentusesandconstructions.Hehasdigoutoneaspectofmorphology,thatistheinternalstructuresofwords,whileheneglectedanotherbranch---theformationofwords.Onthecontrary,thethirddefinitiongivenbyLaurieBauerfocusedonlyonthewordformationandrarelypaidanyattentiontothewordstructure.Thirdly,intermsofthetheoreticaldepth,let’shavealookatthenextthreedefinitionsofmorphologywhicharesomewhatmorecompleteandpracticalcomparedwiththeaboveones.幻灯片12AngleofthetheoreticaldepthTobeginwith,itisclearthattheonemadebyGeorgeYulegivesusadescriptioninaquitebroadsense,whichisevidentinitsdictionsuchas“basic”,“typeof”.Consequently,itisacceptableforpeoplewithlittleknowledgeofmorphologyorlinguistics,thoughsuchadescriptionisnotsoaccurateandcompatibleforlinguistsintheirstudyofwords.Asfortheresttwodefinitions,theyprovideuswithdescriptionsinacomparativelynarrowsense,thatistosaytheydisplaysomedetailsaboutthecontentofmorphology,itincludesnotonlythecommongroundsharedbyall-theinternalstructureofwords,butalsosomemorphologicalterms,morphemes,word-formation,etc.Summary&CommentsIntermsofmorphology,itshistoricaldevelopmentandseveraldefinitionsgivenbydifferentlinguistshavebeendisplayedsofar.Althoughopinionsfromdifferentaspectshavedrawourattentionmainlyontheirdistinctions,wecanstillfindsomesimilarities,namely,allthestudiesofmorphologymainlyfocuson“theformofwords”.Isageneraltheoryofmorphologypossible?Westudymorphologybecauseitisthere,anditisafacetoflanguagethathastobedescribedanditisasourceofabsorbingpracticalproblems.Somear