DLAB Morphological Analysis 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In this language: 'tari' = 'water,' 'tari-mu' = 'watery/of water,' 'beni' = 'stone,' 'beni-mu' = 'stony/of stone.' What does '-mu' do?
- Creates a noun from an adjective
- Creates an adjective from a noun (Correct answer)
- Creates a verb from a noun
- Indicates possession
Correct answer: Creates an adjective from a noun
'-mu' transforms nouns into adjectives: water → watery, stone → stony. This is a denominal adjective suffix — it derives an adjective meaning 'having the quality of X' from a noun. English uses '-y' similarly (water → watery).
Question 2: Given: 'sila' = 'speak,' 'silaba' = 'speak to each other,' 'dora' = 'look,' 'doraba' = 'look at each other.' What does '-ba' express?
- Reflexive action
- Reciprocal action (Correct answer)
- Causative action
- Habitual action
Correct answer: Reciprocal action
'-ba' converts verbs into reciprocal forms where two or more participants perform the action toward each other: speak → speak to each other, look → look at each other. This marks mutual, bidirectional action between participants.
Question 3: Study: 'kita' = 'read,' 'pan-kita' = 'readable,' 'tulis' = 'write,' 'pan-tulis' = 'writable.' The prefix 'pan-' creates what type of form?
- An active participle (one who does)
- A passive participle/potential form (able to be done) (Correct answer)
- A past tense form
- A gerund
Correct answer: A passive participle/potential form (able to be done)
'Pan-' transforms verbs into potential passive adjectives: read → readable (able to be read), write → writable (able to be written). This is a potential/abilitative derivation creating adjectives that indicate the possibility of the action being performed on something.
Question 4: In this language: 'kasa' = 'house,' 'kasa-ni' = 'at the house,' 'kasa-kara' = 'from the house,' 'kasa-made' = 'to/until the house.' These suffixes express what grammatical category?
- Number (singular/plural)
- Case (grammatical relationship) (Correct answer)
- Tense (time reference)
- Gender (masculine/feminine)
Correct answer: Case (grammatical relationship)
The suffixes '-ni' (locative/at), '-kara' (ablative/from), and '-made' (allative/to) mark different spatial cases on the noun. They indicate the grammatical relationship between the noun and the verb — specifically, the spatial role the noun plays. Japanese uses these exact particles.
Question 5: Given: 'foto' = 'photo,' 'fotograf' = 'photographer,' 'fotografi' = 'photography.' The root is 'foto.' What do '-graf' and '-grafi' derive?
- -graf creates the practitioner, -grafi creates the practice/field (Correct answer)
- -graf creates the tool, -grafi creates the location
- -graf creates the action, -grafi creates the result
- -graf and -grafi mean the same thing
Correct answer: -graf creates the practitioner, -grafi creates the practice/field
'-graf' derives the agent/person (photographer — one who does photography), while '-grafi' derives the abstract noun/field (photography — the practice itself). These derivational suffixes create two related but distinct word classes from the same root.
Question 6: Study: 'bon' = 'good,' 'bon-tat' = 'goodness,' 'mal' = 'bad,' 'mal-tat' = 'badness,' 'bel' = 'beautiful,' 'bel-tat' = ?
- beautifully
- beautician
- beauty/beautifulness (Correct answer)
- more beautiful
Correct answer: beauty/beautifulness
The suffix '-tat' consistently converts adjectives into abstract nouns naming the quality: good → goodness, bad → badness. Therefore bel (beautiful) + tat = beauty/beautifulness. This is a productive abstract noun derivation, similar to English '-ness' or Latin '-tas.'
DLAB Morphological Analysis 2
In this language: 'tari' = 'water,' 'tari-mu' = 'watery/of water,' 'beni' = 'stone,' 'beni-mu' = 'stony/of stone.' What does '-mu' do?