Dini Sasi Ramadhani

11320092 / B
Morphosyntax
As we know that morphology deals with learning the word. We learn how the
word is formed, like in affixation, compound, blend, back formation, coinage,
borrowing, and other forms. If we study syntax, we learn about the structure of
word, like the rules to combine the words and phrases into a good sentence. In this
case we will learn about morphology and syntax. We usually call it as
morphosyntax. Thus, morphology and syntax have relationship. The relationship
between morphology and syntax is when we use word in sentences; the words
absolutely will influence the structures of words. Syntax learns about those
structures. In morphosyntax, there are some parts that we will discuss and they are
in a main, which is valency.
Valency is the number of phrases that is needed for a verb or is implied by
the meaning of the verb. For example, the sentence is mom sleeps. It has one
argument (mom) and it is intransitive (do not need the object. In another example,
Mom buys an apple. It has two arguments (mom and an apple) and we can call that
sentence as transitive (need the object in the sentence). We can see in passive
sentence. For transitive sentence, there are two parts, which is the agent (mom)
and the theme (apple). If we change that sentence into passive sentence, like an
apple is bought by mom. In passive sentence, the agent (mom) is not important.
We can delete the agent (mom). Besides passive, there is also anti-passive. Antipassive is like transitive in passive, but they are little different. The difference is we
do not only reduce the agent but also the object is disappears. We make transitive
word become like intransitive. For instance, they killed the people. The sentence
becomes they killed people. Actually I do not really understand about this part.
Now, we talk about causative. Causative is when we add the new word in the
sentence. Of course, it expresses cause to do something. For instance, we can see
the example in Liebers opinion. The water boiled. If we add the new word, it
becomes molly boiled the water (caused the water to boil). Applicative is like
causative but the difference is we add the new word in the object. For instance, we
buy some apples. If we add applicative, it will be we buy some apples for you. The

last is noun incorporation.

According to Lieber(2009,149) where the object or

another argument of the verb forms a single complex word with the verb noun
incorporation in Example: Siberian Koryak qoya- reindeer combines with the verb
stem -nm- to kill, yielding the derived form qoyanm- to reindeer-slaughter (Mithun
1984: 847).
In

conclusion,

we

can

conclude

that

morphology

and

syntax

have

relationship. They influence each other. There are some ways that morphology
affects the syntax in the sentence, such as passive, anti-passive, causative,
applicative, and other way.

In the sentence or making sentence, we cannot

separate between morphology and syntax. Because of it, we learn morphosyntax.