A Linguistics Workbook, 4th Edition

Name

Section

4.17 Morphosyntax 1: Telugu

Each of the following words in Telugu (a Dravidian language spoken in India) is

translated into English by an entire sentence. Each word is complex, that is,

composed of several morphemes. Analyze the words by identifying the morphemes

occurring in each word, and answer questions A-C.

The phonetic values of the symbols used can be determined from the chart in

appendix 3. An exact understanding of the value of the phonetic symbols is not

necessary to carry out the analysis required for this exercise. For example, the d

with a dot under it (4) can be understood simply as a "different kind of d" that

appears in Telugu but not in English.

The verbal morphology of Telugu is very complex, a fact that is not reflected in

this exercise.

Telugu form

1. ceppeenu


2. ceppincunu


3. cuustaam


4. ceppeem


5. ceppanu


6. nawincum


7. cuustunnaadu


8. ceppceyi


9. kodataanu


10. paadataanu


11. ceppeeru


12. ceppavu


13. ceppeevu


14. ceppam


15. ceppcedu


16. cuuscedu


17. cepparu
    1 8. kodatunnaayi
    1 9. ceestunnaanu


18. ahgutaam


19. ceeseenu


20. adugutaadu

English gloss

"1 told"

"I cause (someone) to tell"

'We will see"

"We told"

"I will not tell"

"We cause (someone) to laugh"

"Me is seeing"

C 'They told"

"I will beat"

"I will sing"

"YOU (pl*) told'?

"You (sg.) will not tell"

"You (sg.) told"

"We will not tell"

"He told"

"He saw"

"You (pl.) will not tell"

"They are beating"

"1 am doing"

"We will ask"

"I did"

"He will ask"