Understanding Morphology

Citation

Haspelmath, M., & Sims, A. D. (2010). Understanding Morphology (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The book is a textbook of about 380 pages in the Understanding Language series, with twelve chapters, a key to comprehension exercises, references, a glossary of technical terms and language and subject indexes. The publisher states that the second edition has been fully revised in line with recent research and adds "big picture" questions that bring out central themes, together with research exercises for each chapter. Every chapter ends with a summary, suggestions for further reading and exercises. The order moves from the basic units of word structure through inflection and derivation to the interfaces with syntax and phonology, and ends with the effect of frequency.

Chapter 1: Introduction

The opening chapter introduces the study of word structure and what the book sets out to cover.

Chapter 2: Basic Concepts

This chapter sets out the vocabulary used throughout, including the notions of morpheme, allomorph, word-form and lexeme.

Chapter 3: Rules

The chapter deals with morphological rules and introduces the competing morpheme-based and word-based ways of modelling word formation.

Chapter 4: Lexicon

The chapter takes up the lexicon and the question of what is listed in it.

Chapter 5: Inflection and Derivation

Here the book turns to the two main kinds of morphological process and to the difference between them, the first of the core areas the publisher names.

Chapter 6: Productivity

The chapter treats productivity, the extent to which a pattern can be used to form new words. The publisher singles out the revised discussion of productivity and change in the second edition.

Chapter 7: Morphological Trees

The chapter shows how the structure of complex words, including compounds, can be represented as trees.

Chapter 8: Inflectional Paradigms

The chapter covers paradigms and inflection classes, the organisation of inflected forms into patterned sets.

Chapter 9: Words and Phrases

The chapter addresses the boundary between words and phrases, including clitics, and so the interface between morphology and syntax.

Chapter 10: Morphophonology

The chapter treats the interface with phonology, including allomorphy conditioned by sound.

Chapter 11: Morphology and Valence

The chapter covers morphology that changes the number or kind of arguments a verb takes.

Chapter 12: Frequency Effects in Morphology

The final chapter looks at how frequency of use affects morphological patterns, a topic that links back to the discussion of listing and productivity.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–4

• Morpheme, allomorph, word-form and lexeme: the basic units and distinctions on which later analysis rests.
• Morpheme-based and word-based models: two competing ways of formulating morphological rules.
• The lexicon: the repository of stored words and patterns, and what must be listed in it.

Chapters 5–8

• Inflection versus derivation: the contrast between forming forms of a word and forming new words.
• Productivity: the readiness of a pattern to produce new forms.
• Morphological trees: a representation of the internal structure of complex words and compounds.
• Inflectional paradigms and inflection classes: the arrangement of forms into sets and the classes of words that share a set.

Chapters 9–12

• Clitics: elements that behave partly like words and partly like affixes.
• Morphophonology and allomorphy: how sound patterns condition the shape of morphemes.
• Valence-changing morphology: affixation that alters a verb's arguments.
• Frequency effects: the influence of how often forms are used on their storage and change.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Cross-linguistic breadth. The publisher describes a broad range of morphological phenomena drawn from a wide variety of languages, and the book carries language and subject indexes. A reader is not tied to English examples.
• Theory serves the data. According to the publisher, theories are presented in accessible language with the aim of shedding light on the data, and both functionalist and generative approaches are used and discussed. Janet Pierrehumbert, quoted by the publisher, praises the revisions for keeping the typological examples of the first edition while adding a clear discussion of recent advances on productivity and change.
• Built-in learning support. Every chapter has a summary, further reading and exercises, the book has a key to comprehension exercises, and the second edition adds big-picture questions and research exercises. This makes it usable without an instructor.
• Coverage of change as well as structure. The publisher notes that diachronic phenomena such as analogy and grammaticalization are treated alongside the synchronic study of word structure.

Limitations

• Not an English reference. The examples come from a wide variety of languages rather than from English alone, so students who want a systematic description of English word formation will need a reference such as the Oxford guide in the same list.
• Theory is a means, not the subject. The publisher says theories are used to shed light on the data rather than as a goal in themselves, so readers who want one framework developed in depth will need a theory-oriented text or the primary literature.
• Current debates need follow-up reading. Newer topics such as frequency effects and the revised discussion of productivity assume that readers will follow the further-reading lists into the research literature.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the morphology list, this is a textbook that takes a broad cross-linguistic view and engages with current analytical debates. Lieber's Introducing Morphology is an undergraduate introduction written for students with little linguistics background, and Aronoff and Fudeman's What is Morphology? is a concise problem-based introduction; either can come first. Booij's The Grammar of Words and Katamba and Stonham's Morphology are comparable theory-oriented introductions, so a reader can use them for a second view on the same topics. Bauer, Lieber and Plag's The Oxford Reference Guide to English Morphology is a large descriptive reference on English, useful as a companion for English data.

How to Use This Book

The publisher presents the book as a first introduction to morphology for beginning students of linguistics and for readers in related disciplines, assuming no prior knowledge of the field. Some background in linguistics, including simple glossing, makes the later chapters easier.

Work through Chapters 1–5 in order, since they establish the units and the contrast between inflection and derivation that everything else uses. Chapters 6–8 (productivity, trees, paradigms) are the analytical core, and Chapters 9–11 cover the interfaces and can be read in the order that suits a syntax or phonology course. Chapter 12 can be read last or alongside Chapter 6. Do the comprehension exercises and check them against the key, then use the research exercises and the further-reading lists to move into the primary literature.