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    Proyecto1 NormaCuevas

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    This document compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between English and Spanish morphology and parts of speech. Both languages have morphemes and lexemes as their smallest units of meaning, though Spanish refers to them as "monemas", "morfemas", and "lexemas". The main parts of speech are the same between the languages, though Spanish has some gender-based differences in pronouns and articles. Overall, the document argues that Spanish morphology and grammar is more complex than English due to its gender distinctions in verbs, pronouns, and nouns.

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    Proyecto1 NormaCuevas

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    This document compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between English and Spanish morphology and parts of speech. Both languages have morphemes and lexemes as their smallest units of meaning, though Spanish refers to them as "monemas", "morfemas", and "lexemas". The main parts of speech are the same between the languages, though Spanish has some gender-based differences in pronouns and articles. Overall, the document argues that Spanish morphology and grammar is more complex than English due to its gender distinctions in verbs, pronouns, and nouns.

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    Proyecto1_NormaCuevas

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    This document compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between English and Spanish morphology and parts of speech. Both languages have morphemes and lexemes as their smallest units of meaning, though Spanish refers to them as "monemas", "morfemas", and "lexemas". The main parts of speech are the same between the languages, though Spanish has some gender-based differences in pronouns and articles. Overall, the document argues that Spanish morphology and grammar is more complex than English due to its gender distinctions in verbs, pronouns, and nouns.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    27 views3 pages

    Proyecto1 NormaCuevas

    Uploaded by

    normacuevasq
    This document compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between English and Spanish morphology and parts of speech. Both languages have morphemes and lexemes as their smallest units of meaning, though Spanish refers to them as "monemas", "morfemas", and "lexemas". The main parts of speech are the same between the languages, though Spanish has some gender-based differences in pronouns and articles. Overall, the document argues that Spanish morphology and grammar is more complex than English due to its gender distinctions in verbs, pronouns, and nouns.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 3

    Norma Gabriela Cuevas Quintero

    September 2023
    The Similarities and Differences Between English and Spanish

    In English, morphology defines morphemes as the smallest units of meaning in the language.
    In Spanish, the concept is “monemas” and they are divided into “morfemas” and ”lexemas”, in
    English lexemes and morphemes. These concepts are the same in both languages. Lexemes
    are lexically meaningful units of language from which other lexemes can be created through
    derivation (e.g. the verb play becomes the noun player by adding -er) and inflection creates
    other forms of the same lexeme (e.g. verb conjugation: play, plays, played, playing). In
    Spanish, lexemes are said to carry “referential meaning”, so the lexeme gives us the center
    idea or concept to grasp the meaning of the word. For example if you see the word “sung” you
    can identify that it is an inflection from the original verb “sing”. Morphemes are the smallest
    units of meaning that a word can be broken down into. For example the word “trees” can be
    broken down into “tree” and “-s”. The first carries the meaning of a tall plant that has a wooden
    trunk and branches, and the latter carries the meaning of pluralization. In Spanish, it is said
    that lexemes carry the lexical meaning and they are the roots or bases of the words, and
    morphemes are the ones with grammatical meaning that modify lexemes.
    In English, morphemes are classified into free and bound morphemes, which are called
    “morfemas independientes y dependientes” in Spanish. Free morphemes are those that can
    stand alone as words. These are divided into content words (Main verbs, Nouns, Adverbs,
    Adjectives) and function words (Pronouns, Auxiliary Verbs, Conjunctions, Articles,
    Prepositions) also called the parts of speech. On the other hand, bound morphemes carry
    meaning but cannot stand alone as a word. For example they can be inflectional, meaning
    that they do not change the word class of the base word (pluralizing -s, possessive -’s, 3rd
    person singular -s, regular past tense -ed, regular past participle -ed, present participle -ing,
    comparative -er, and superlative -est), or they can be derivational, and in this case the base is
    modified with prefixes (before the base) and suffixes (after the base), for example prehistoric,
    unusual, engagement, cordially.
    One important thing to mention is that infixes, or the insertion of affixes in the roots are not
    common in English, so the only examples that we can find are those of expletives, which are
    expressions of anger or
    excitement, and sometimes even pain. They are extremely informal and might be considered
    rude, for example fanf*ckingtastic, halleflippinlujah, absofreakinlutely, etc. but there are no
    examples found in the Spanish language. However, there are interfixes or “interfijos” just like
    in English.
    The main parts of speech in both languages are 9:
    1. Nouns, or “sustantivos” in Spanish, are the names that identify objects, feelings and
    concepts. They can be abstract, concrete, countable and uncountable. Just like in English,
    the endings of some words can help us identify that they are nouns in Spanish, for
    example “-ión, -ción, -idad, -ez”.
    2. Pronouns, or “pronombres” in Spanish, are the words that substitute the noun. In Spanish,
    there are two versions of “You”: formal (usted) and informal (tú). This distinction is
    important because although both mean the same in English, there is a different verb
    conjugation for each, since it is important to address people respectfully according to age
    or the amount of trust. Also, while in English the word “we” is enough to refer to a group
    including ourselves, in Spanish we can say “nosotros” and “nosotras” depending on the
    gender of the people in the group (nosotros= men, or mixed men and women / nosotras=
    women only), and the same goes for “they”: “ellos” or “ellas”.
    3. Adjectives, or “adjetivos” in Spanish, help us describe nouns (people, places, things, etc.)
    It is important to mention that while in English the adjective goes before the noun that they
    describe (beautiful dress), in Spanish the adjetive goes after the noun (vestido hermoso).
    4. Verbs, or “verbos” in Spanish, are actions or a state of being. Spanish verbs in infinitive
    form end in -ar, -er, or -ir. It is believed that Spanish is one of the languages that require
    more conjugation than others.
    5. Adverbs, or “adverbios” in Spanish, add a description to the verbs. Just like “-ly” is a
    distinctive adverb ending, “-mente” is the most common ending for adverbs in Spanish.
    6. Prepositions, or “preposiciones” in Spanish, explain the relationship between nouns, often
    referring to a location.
    7. Conjunctions, or “conjunciones” in Spanish, are the words that connect nouns, verbs,
    phrases and sentences. These can be simple or complex.
    8. Articles, or “artículos” in Spanish, draw attention to the noun that goes after them. They
    can be definite or indefinite. In English “the” is the only definite article, but in Spanish there
    are four: los, las, el, and la, and they change depending on whether the noun that they
    precede is masculine or feminine, and singular or plural. I have noticed that this is
    something non-native speakers of Spanish struggle with, due to the fact that sometimes
    nouns can seem feminine because they end in “a”, for example “el agua” “el alma” “el
    águila”, but for us Spanish speakers it is easy to use “the” in English, with no gender
    distinction for most nouns.
    9. Interjections, or “interjecciones” in Spanish, are abrupt remarks that help express different
    emotions.

    From my point of view, Spanish is much more complex in terms of gender distinction because
    it is needed for verb conjugation, and also the way we distinguish pronouns in Spanish is a
    topic that has gained popularity in the last 5 years because of inclusion and the changes in
    gender expression of people. In English, it is easier to address people who identify as non-
    binary due to the fact that in the English language the pronoun “they” exists, but in Spanish
    we do not have a neutral pronoun and verb ending that enables the speaker to conjugate the
    verbs accordingly; although “elle” and “-e” has been proposed, most of the population finds it
    very unusual and not easy to get used to, but I believe that gender-neutral pronouns would be
    a good addition to the language. Even though people find it strange, languages are ever-
    changing and evolving according to the needs from writhing the native speakers and the
    influences from people who use a language as their lingua franca.

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