Morphology(words, sentences and dictionaries)

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.    Background of Study

Morphology is an essential subfield of linguistic. Generally, it aims to describe the structure of words and patterns of word formation in a language. The traditional concern of morphology is the identification of morphemes. Linguist interested in morphology look at the parts that words are divided into and study the meaning of these individual parts. The main aim of morphology is to assign meaning parts of words.

We can study the structure of language in a variety of ways. For example, we can study classes of words (parts of speech), meanings of words, with or without considering changes of meaning (semantics), how words are organised in relation to each other and in larger constructions (syntax), how words are formed from smaller meaningful units (morphology), the sounds of words (perception and pronunciation or articulation), and how they form patterns of knowledge in the speaker's mind (phonetics and phonology) and how standardized written forms represent words (orthography). Since this website is primarily devoted to the exploration of English throught its words, the focus in this website is on morphology (word stucture) and other aspects of words, such as etymology, lexical semantic change, word usage, lexical types of words, and words marking specific linguistic varieties.

B.     Purpose of Study

1)      To give more explanation about words, sentences and dictionaries.

2)      To give the kinds of words, sentences and dictionaries.

3)      To know the functions of words, sentences and dictionaries.

C.    Problem Identification

Based on the background of study, we will identify the problems are following:

1)      What are word, sentence and dictionary?

2)      What are the functions of words, sentences and dictionaries?

3)      What are the kinds of words, sentences and dictionaries?

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A.     WORDS

1.      Definition of Word

In language, a word is the smallest element that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content (with literal or practical meaning). This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own. A word may consist of a single morpheme (for example: oh!, rock, red, quick, run, expect), or several (rocks, redness, quickly, running, unexpected), whereas a morpheme may not be able to stand on its own as a word (in the words just mentioned, these are -s, -ness, -ly, -ing, un-, -ed). A complex word will typically include a root and one or more affixes (rock-s, red-ness, quick-ly, run-ning, un-expect-ed), or more than one root in a compound (black-board, rat-race). Words can be put together to build larger elements of language, such as phrases (a red rock), clauses (I threw a rock), and sentences (He threw a rock too but he missed).

The term word may refer to a spoken word or to a written word, or sometimes to the abstract concept behind either. Spoken words are made up of units of sound called phonemes, and written words of symbols called graphemes, such as the letters of the English alphabet.

2.      Kinds of Word

1)      Noun: A noun is a person, place, thing, quality, or act.

Examples : shoes, turtle, anger, sadness, town

2)      Verb: Verbs are action or existence words that tell what nouns do.

Examples: to laugh, to read, watched

3)      Adjective: An adjective describes a noun. Examples: bald, heavy, useful

4)      Adverb: An adverb describes a verb, adjective, or adverb. It often ends in 'ly'. Examples: simply, patiently

5)      Interjection: An outcry or sudden utterance. Usually starts a sentence.

Examples: ouch, god, my

6)      Preposition: A preposition describes the relationship between a noun and another noun (or verb or adverb).  Examples: at, down, to, from

7)      Conjunction: A conjunction joins together words, phrases, or clauses.

Examples: but, and, so

8)      Pronoun: A pronoun replaces a noun or noun phrase that is understood from context.

Examples: she, me, it

3.      Functions of Word

Function words might be prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, grammatical articles or particles, all of which belong to the group of closed-class words. Interjections are sometimes considered function words but they belong to the group of open-class words. Function words might or might not be inflected or might have affixes.

Function words belong to the closed class of words in grammar in that it is very uncommon to have new function words created in the course of speech, whereas in the open class of words (that is, nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs) new words may be added readily (such as slang words, technical terms, and adoptions and adaptations of foreign words).

Each function word either gives some grammatical information on other words in a sentence or clause, and cannot be isolated from other words, or it may indicate the speaker's mental model as to what is being said.

In English, for example, words tend to be smaller than the sentence, and we combine words to form sentences. One tricky thing, however, is that in many languages, a single word can have "sentence" meaning. Here's an example from Spanish: hazmelo. This "word" is actually a command that is best translated as "do it for me" (do (haz) it (lo) for me (me)). In Swahili, the word atakusumbua means "s/he will annoy you." Nevertheless, if we take English as an example, we have a clear sense that sentences can be broken down into smaller units (words), each of which generally contributes to the meaning of the whole.  For example: Pigs like mud is a sentence containing three words (pigs, like, mud).

B.     SENTENCES

1.      Definitions of Sentence

Based on linguistic, A sentence is a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that are grammatically linked. A sentence can include words grouped meaningfully  to         express, statement, a question, exclamation,

request, command or suggestion

.

Requisite of sentence:

1.      Begin by capital letter.

2.      At least consist of Subject and Verb.

3.      Ending by full stop marker.

Sentences may be classified according to the purpose of the speaker or writer. The four principal purposes of a sentence are described below.

1.      The declarative sentence is used to make a statement of fact, wish, intent, or feeling.

ex. I have seen that movie twice. I wish I could go on the picnic.

2.      The imperative sentence is used to state a command, request, or direction. The subject is always "You," even though it may not be expressed in the sentence.

ex. (You) Be on time for dinner. (You) Open the window, please.

3.      The interrogative sentence is used to ask a question. It is followed by a question mark.

ex. Do you have a sweater? Are you having a bad day?

4.      An exclamatory sentence is used to express strong feeling. It is followed by an exclamation point.

ex. Don't burn yourself out! Keep out! He screamed, “Help!”

2.      Kinds of Sentences and Their Punctuation

A sentence may be one of four kinds, depending upon the number and type(s) of clauses it contains.

1)      An independent clause  contains a subject, a verb, and a complete thought.

Example          : I wrote my first novel last year.

2)      A dependent clause contains a subject and a verb, but no complete thought.

Example          : after I wrote my first novel last year

A Simple Sentence has one independent clause.

Example          : Tom reads novels.                

A Compound Sentence has two independent clauses joined by

·         a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so),

·         a conjunctive adverb (e.g. however, therefore), or

·         a semicolon alone.

·         Examples         : Tom reads novel but Jack reads comic.

                                                  Tom reads novel however Jack reads comic.

                                                  Tom reads novel; his friend reads comic.              

A Complex Sentence has one dependent clause  joined to an independent clause.

Example          : Although Tom reads novel, Jack reads comic.                                 

A Compound-Complex Sentence has two independent clauses joined to one or more dependent clauses.

Example          : While Tom reads novel, Jack reads comic, but James reads only newspaper.

C.     DICITONARIES

1.      Definition of dictionary

A reference book containing an alphabetical list of words, with information given for each word.

2.      Kinds of dictionaries

Since a dictionary only represents an aspect of a lexicon for a certain purpose, dictionaries differ along a large number of parameters. Some of the more important ones are the following:

a)      Monolingual lexicon (“definition dictionary”)

a.       dictionary

b.      encyclopedia

b)      Bilingual dictionary (“equivalence dictionary”)

o    glossary

c)      Multilingual dictionary (e.g., a multilingual terminological glossary)

3.      Functions of dictionaries

Its most general functions are the following:

• The dictionary provides information on parts and aspects of the lexicon of one language. This is a monolingual dictionary.
• The dictionary provides help in translating between languages. This is a pluri- (mostly, a bi-)lingual dictionary.

On the other hand, the functions of a dictionary may be distinguished according to the role or perspective of the user:

• If he is in the role of speaker or writer, he is taking the onomasiological perspective.
• If he is in the role of hearer or reader, he is taking the semasiological perspective.

A dictionary is a very important tool for anyone who is learning a new language. With a good dictionary you can do the following:

• look up the meaning of an English word you see or hear
• find the English translation of a word in your language
• check the spelling of a word
• check the plural of a noun or past tense of a verb
• find out other grammatical information about a word
• find the synonym or antonym of a word
• look up the collocations of a word
• check the part of speech of a word
• find out how to say a word
• find out about the register of a word
• find examples of the use of a word in natural language

           

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

A.     CONCLUSION

From the explanation above, we can conclude that , a word is the smallest

element that  we can combine it to be a sentence. Based on Oxford Leaner’s Dictionary, a sentence is a set of words expressing statement, a question or an order usually containing a verb and a subject. Sentence a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that are grammatically linked. The using of dictionary, we can find many words that include in it. There are some functions of dictionary:

• look up the meaning of an English word you see or hear
• find the English translation of a word in your language
• check the spelling of a word
• check the plural of a noun or past tense of a verb
• find out other grammatical information about a word
• find the synonym or antonym of a word
• look up the collocations of a word
• check the part of speech of a word
• find out how to say a word
• find out about the register of a word
• find examples of the use of a word in natural language