<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d7457499965315254495\x26blogName\x3dMorphology\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLUE\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://wordformationprocess.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttps://wordformationprocess.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d6679181475193558265', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Morphology

Morphophonemic variation in English

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Many morphemes of English have more than one way of being pronounced; this is often not reflected in the spelling of the morpheme. Such variations affect both affixes and roots. Sometimes the pronunciation varies because of nearby sounds; sometimes there is no logic to it — its motivation lies in forgotten history.

The pronunciation variants of a morpheme are called allomorphs. The phenomenon of variation in the pronunciation of a morpheme is called allomorphic variation or morphophonemic variation (since it is the phonemic makeup of a morpheme that is varying). The variations themselves are sometimes called morphophonological processes.

The English past-tense morpheme has three allomorphs: /@d/, /t/, and /d/. (Remember, /@/ is being used to stand for schwa.)

Morpheme: Past tense '-d'/'-ed'
Allomorphs: /@d/, /t/, /d/
Distribution: /@d/ after /t/ and /d/, /t/ after other voiceless consonants, /d/ after other voiced Cs and vowels

Motivation: Phonological. /d/ occurs after vowels and voiced consonants other than /d/; /t/ occurs after voiceless consonants other than /t/; and /@d/ occurs after the alveolar stops /t/ and /d/.
/@d/ after /t/ and /d/ /t/ after other voiceless consonants /d/ after other voiced Cs and vowels
faded, stated, petted, sounded kissed, leaped, fluffed, stocked buzzed, played, mooned, sued

Unmotivated allomorphy: A change in the pronunciation of a morpheme that is not based on the phonological surroundings. Most of these simply must be memorized.

Examples:

  • 'Electric' usually has final /k/; but has final /s/ in 'electricity'. The morpheme 'electric' has two allomorphs: 'electri/k/' and 'electri/s/-'; the second occurs only when the suffix -ity' is attached to the word.
  • Words such as 'life', 'shelf', 'leaf' have a final /f/ in most forms, but when they are pluralized, the base has a final /v/: 'lives', 'shelves', 'leaves'. Thus these words have two allomorphs: one final in /f/ in the singular ('life', 'shelf', 'leaf') and one final in /v/, which occurs only when the plural suffix is added: 'live-', 'shelv-', 'leav-'. Notice that not all words that end in /f/ undergo this change: the plural of the noun 'proof' is not 'prooves'. Dialects differ in how they pluralize words such as 'roof', 'hoof'; some people say 'roofs' while others say 'rooves'; some say 'hoofs' and others 'hooves'. The plural of 'loaf' is 'loaves', but the plural of 'oaf' is not 'oaves' but 'oafs'. A learner of English has to memorize which words change from /f/ to /v/ and which don't.
** The 'at' sign ( = @ ) is used in internet exchanges as a replacement for the schwa symbol (the upside-down, backwards ). This is because it is not yet possible to transmit IPA symbols over the net to people whose machines do not contain phonetic fonts. In this document, I'll use the @ to stand for schwa, since many of my readers do not possess a phonetic font on their machines.

Labels:

posted by Admin aka Mimin, 3:08 AM | link | 0 comments |

English derivational morphology

Below is a sample of some English derivational affixes. This is only a sample; there are far more affixes than presented here.

Some derivational affixes of English
Affix Class(es) of word to which affix applies Nature of change in meaning Examples
Prefix 'non-' Noun, adjective Negation/opposite Noun: non-starter
Adj.: non-partisan
Suffix '-ity' Adjective Changes to noun electric/electricity
obese/obesity
Prefix 'un-' Verb
Adjective
Reverses action
opposite quality
tie/untie, fasten/unfasten
clear/unclear, safe/unsafe
Suffix '-ous' Noun Changes to adjective fame/famous, glamor/glamorous
Prefix 're-' Verb Repeat action tie/retie, write/rewrite
Suffix '-able' Verb Changes to adjective;
means 'can undergo action of verb'
print/printable, drink/drinkable

Labels:

posted by Admin aka Mimin, 3:07 AM | link | 0 comments |

Regular and irregular inflectional morphology

Here are some ways English inflectional morphology is irregular:

Type of irregularity Noun plurals Verbs: past tense Verbs: past participle
Unusual suffix oxen, syllabi, antennae , taken, seen, fallen, eaten
Change of stem vowel foot/feet, mouse/mice run/ran, come/came, flee/fled, meet/met, fly/flew, stick/stuck, get/got, break/broke swim/swum, sing/sung
Change of stem vowel with unusual suffix brother/brethren/ feel/felt, kneel/knelt write/written, do/done, break/broken, fly/flown
Change in base/stem form
(sometimes with unusual suffix)
, send/sent, bend/bent, think/thought, teach/taught, buy/bought send/sent, bend/bent, think/thought, teach/taught, buy/bought
Zero-marking (no suffix, no stem change) deer, sheep, moose, fish hit, beat hit, beat, come
More ways inflection can be irregular:

Suppletion (instead of a suffix, the whole word changes):
be - am - are - is - was - were - been
go - went - gone
good - better - best
bad - worse - worst
some - more - most

Syntactic marking (added meanings are indicated by a separate word rather than marking with a suffix or change to the base):
Future of verbs: will go, will eat, will fight, etc.
Comparative/superlative of adjectives: more intelligent, more expensive, etc.; most intelligent, most expensive, etc.

Labels:

posted by Admin aka Mimin, 3:04 AM | link | 0 comments |