Typology
Exercises
Seminar 1
I Introduction to Linguistic Typology. Language Universals.
Exercise 1 Decide which of the types - agglutination, isolation, fusion, incorporation – the following words are:
Run-of-the-mill, excitement, legroom, take-it-or-leave-it [offer], orderliness, waitresses; холодно, новому, ура-патриоты, хлебом, шапкозакидательство
Exercise 2 Analytic vs Synthetic. Make up a sentence using the given words. What are the clues in each of the cases that lead you to put the words in this order?
Ru: попросил, об, Машу, Сергей, одолжении.
Eng:?200, Val, every, his, month, ex-wife, sent, Alex.
Exercise 3 Apply J. Greenberg’s calculation of typological indices to Russian and English (on the examples of the following two texts):
(отрывок из текста«Back-nestling» о распространенной особенно среди женщин Африки традиции носить маленьких детей за спиной)
Many women, however, prefer to carry their children all day long. They feel the children are safe, sleep longer, keep quieter and not make a mess! I once visited a friend’s home where the mama-nurse was nestling my friend’s eleven-month-old child. Seeing he was restless, I asked the mama-nurse to put him down. At first she didn’t want to because she thought the child would make the room untidy. When she finally agreed I asked for some kitchen pot, spoons, unopened tins and boxes since there were no toys to play with. Immediately the child started banging the pots and boxes with the spoons. The different sounds fascinated him. But mama-nurse didn’t like the noise or the mess.
Однако многие женщины предпочитают носить своих детей за спиной целый день. По их мнению, так дети находятся в безопасности, спят дольше, ведут себя тише и не безобразничают. Однажды я пришла в гости к одной своей подруге, одиннадцатимесячного ребёнка которой вот так за спиной носила няня-негритянка. Видя беспокойство ребёнка, я попросила няню снять его. Сначала она не соглашалась, так как опасалась, что ребёнок приведёт комнату в беспорядок. Когда она все-таки сняла его, я попросила её принести из кухни кастрюли, ложки, нераскрытые консервы, потому что игрушек в доме не было. Ребёнок тотчас принялся поочередно изучать предметы. Затем начал стучать ложкой по кастрюлям. Новые звуки завораживали его. Но няня была недовольна и шумом и беспорядком.
English Russian
1) M/W morph/ word ____ ______
2) D/W derivat.m/word ____ ______
3) S/W suffixes/word ____ ______
4) P/W prefixes/word ____ ______
5) R/W root/word __________
(compounding)
Count the number of words (M), the number of roots (R), suffixes (S) and prefixes (P), derivational morphemes (S+P+flections (endings of Pl, case)) and do the divisions.
Which of the languages has a higher index of synthesis (M/W)?
II Phonological typology of Russian and English
Exercise 1 Which of the following Russian oppositions does not have an analogous opposition in English?
a) мыл – мул
b) код – кот
c) стул – стал
Exercise 2 Which of the following English oppositions does not have an analogous opposition in Russian?
a) look – luck
b) duck – dick
c) peep – pip
Exercise 3 What typological properties are illustrated by the following cross-linguistic oppositions:
a) tick - тик
b) post - пост
c) rod - род
d) thumb – сам
Seminar 2
I Suprasegmental features
Exercise 1 What is stress? Look at the following examples and conclude about the functions of stress?
a) present, v – present, adj
b) exploit, n – exploit, v
c) import, v – import, n
Give similar examples in Russian.
Exercise 2 Mark the stress(es) in the following words and conclude about the degrees of stress in English and Russian:
a) methodology методика
b) congratulation поздравление
c) exclamation восклицание
d) immigration иммиграция
Exercise 2 Compare the following set of examples and decide if the stress in English and Russian tends to be fixed or variable. Give 3-4 more examples of the kind from each language to prove the conclusion:
Ru: понимаю, непонятый, непонятный, понял
Eng: understand – understandable – misunderstanding;
II Lexical Typology of Russian and English
Exercise 1 How many morphemes do the following words consist of? Call them (root, base/stem, derivational, inflectional):
a) sounds g) бумага
b) proactive h) запад
c) believed i) узаконенный
d) outdo j) читали
e) garden k) университет
f) coast l) невеста
Exercise 2 Look up the notes of Lecture 2 and Seminar 1(J.H. Greenberg: quantitative indices) and complete the gaps in the following statements:
M/W is bigger in ____ than in ____.
D/W is _______ in Russian than in English.
S/W is smaller in ____ than in ____.
R/W is _______ in English than in Russian.
Exercise 3 Distribute the given words (1- 15) according to the type of word formation (A-F):
1 to okay A non-affixal (conversion)
2 affiliation B suffixal
3 pointblank C suffixal-prefixal
4 misbehave D prefixal
5 inexperienced E compounding
6 to google F compounding+conversion
7 a has-been
8 go-slow, n
9 зажиточный
10 домовладелец
11 залог
12 дорожный
13 металлоискатель
14 внедорожник
15 раненый
Exercise 4 Fill in the gaps with the words “Russian” or “English” so that these statements about the typological features of the lexical systems of the compared languages sound true:
1 Connection of roots in compounds with a linking morpheme is more typical of _____.
2 Conversion is much more productive in _______.
3 Suffixal-prefixal type of word-formation plays a more important part in ______ than in _____.
4 Compounding is an essential typological feature of the lexical system of the ______ language.
Seminar 3