Allomophes=variants of the same morphem.

Gramatical morphemes regulates the behavior of a word in a larger context.

Lexical morphemes alter the meaning of a base and stay closer to the base.
Inflectional morphems (grammatical) do not change the lexical class, they are
required by syntax:they typically signal syntactic or semantic relations between
different words in a sentence. They are higly systematic:they combine with large
classes of words, but not with each other(paradigmatic relation)
Paradigmatic relation(the system of determiners) they follow derivational
morphemes and occur at the very end of the word: in English,they are suffixes only.
External inflection- something added to the base (called)
Suppletive inflection- serving as an inflected form of a word with a totally
different stem (boy/girl)
Auxiliaries are found in pre-head position (ex: could )
Complementizers are found in the post head position (has been calling ME)
Complex VP- consist of head+auziliaries and complementizers (has been calling)
Motivation- direct relation between two words from different languages.
Arbitrariness- language doesnt copy reality : husband-masculine, wife-masculine
in old English
Conversion- derivation with a zero morpheme: to e-mail
Complete predication= they can stand alone and form the predicate without any
complementation, intransitive verbs, reflexive verbs.
Incomplete predication-auxiliaries, transitive verbs, verb with obligatory
preposition/other obligatory elements.
Double predication= V+cognate object ( live a happy life)
Cognate object=they are related in form and meaning with the verb.

Intransitive verb- doesnt allow any object: I sneezed.

Monotransitive verb is a verb that takes two arguments: a subject and a single
direct object (to eat, I bought a cat)

Ditransitive verb is a verb that takes both: a direct object and an indirect
object ( he gave her ten dollars)
Complex transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct object and
another object or an object complement.(to belive, to consider) She
considered him a hero.
Lexical verb- the verb which gets translated ( to see)
Auxiliaries verb is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which
it appears, to express tense, aspect, modality, voice ( be, have, will, could)
Semi auxiliaries-These are two-or three-word combinations (to have to, be

going to)
Linking verb a verb that connects a subject with an adjective or noun that
describes or identifies the subject (appear, become,seem)
Tense- a grammatical projection of the subjective time, deictic cateogory,
the point of orientation is the speech. Enable us to locate an event on the
time ares.
Catenative verbs are verbs which can be followed within the same clause by another
verb. (try, help)
Present progressive- imminent arrangement, plan and programme, it requires the presence of a
future time adverbial.
Aspect- describes the internal features of time, includes lots of meaning(progression, repetition),
describes a situation of on going at a certain time, creates a bridge between two sequence of time.

Voice- a grammatical category which makes it possible to view a situation in

two ways, without change in facts reported.

Verb related constraints- transitive verbs in certain uses cannot be

passivized they have a nice house
Agent related constraints- passive is the normal construction when the
object is difficult to specify, when the agent is too obvious, or when the
speaker prefers to leave the agent unspecified he was born in 1980
Object related constraints- passivization is impossible if the object is
expressed by/includes a reflexive, reciprocal or possessive pronoun (John
hurt himself)
Style constraints- passive tends to be associated with the informational
function of language, it is felt as more objective, impersonal and is therefore
preferred in scientific discourse.
Quasi passive constraints- strucutures which are passive in meaning
rather than in form ( the book sold quickly)
Mood=grammatical category which stands for the linguistic means of
expression used to refer to a situation as factual or non factual, real or
unreal, assertive or non assertive
Finite verbs-forms= have person and number distinctions and will
necessarily pertain to the past/present/future time sphere. Are contextdependent, due to the high number of syncretic forms.
The indicative- is used to refer to real factual situations or assertions, has a
full range of temporal references
The subjunctive- occurs in contexts involving non factuality, can also be
found in main clauses
Mandative subjunctive occurs in subordinate clauses introduced by that,
after a relatively small class of verbs. It is used in formal style ( He voted that
the present law be changed)

Formulaic subjunctive occurs in certain stereotyped, conventional of

traditional phrases built on patterns of little produuctivity in the language
(Long live friendship)
the WERE subjunctive- used to express factual remoteness in conjunction
with conditional construnctions introduced by
if/unless/suppose/supposing/imagine. It also occurs in clauses functioning as
complement to the verb wish or after constructions with Would rather, had
better. (I wish we met more ofter.)
Imperative it performs a directive function, but the illocutionary force of the
imperative goes beyond requests and commands, warnings,
invitations,wishes.
Subjectless imperatives-occur in the most common types of directive
clauses, no tense, aspect, or voice distinctions, rare expections. (Get lost!)
Determiners- basically closed-system items which occur before the nominal
Head, according to their position in the NP in relation to each other they may
belong to one of the three subclasses. (the girl who)
Modifiers- open class items occurring before and/or after the nominal Head
(the tall girl)
Number- is a primary, twofold category, is an inflexional category, marked
morphologically:external(boy-boys), internal(foot-feet), combination(child-children),
zero(fish).
Complements- are contentives, can occur as structures, post head position only,
immediately follow the Head if exist
Modifiers are identifiers,they add identifying detail and restrict the entity, can
occur as individual items/structures.
Verb paradigm- the system of all conjugated variants of a particular verb or class
of verb is called a verb paradigm.

Bound morpheme is a morpheme that appears only as part of a larger word; (likelihood)
Free or unbound morpheme is one that can stand alone.

Syncretism- one form performing more functions (call- verb/noun/

indicative/imperative/short infinitive/subjunctive)
Suppletion- the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are
not cognate. (partial: go-gone, total: mother-father)