Morphology and Syntax

Morphology and Syntax Morphology 5 Trương Văn Ánh Trường Đại học Sài Gòn Additional Chapter Morphophonemic changes in English When morphemes are clustered or grouped in words, then changes in the phon[.]

Morphology 5

Trương Văn Ánh

Trường Đại học Sài Gòn

Additional Chapter Morphophonemic changes in English

When morphemes are clustered or grouped in words, then changes in the phonological structures of these words occur Such changes are called

morphophonemic changes.

In the process of analysis of these changes, we compare the different allomorphs of a given morpheme whereby we call one of them the normal form in comparison to which other forms are variations of the normal form The normal form is in fact the one that has the widest distribution

•

What we can do is to compare the allomorphs of a given morpheme and to call one of them the

others as variations or changes from default value There are some common types of morphophonemic changes in English:

(a) Loss of phonemes

- The phoneme /n/ of the negative prefix{in-} is lost

before the morphemes beginning with sonorant sounds /m/; /r/; /l/ and /n/.

e.g immobile ; irregular, illimitable

- The phoneme /t/ is lost when changing word class (adjective to a noun).

e.g different → difference; democrat →

democracy

(b) Addition of phonemes

e.g solemn / 'sɔləm / → solemnize / 'sɔləm naiz / (phoneme /n/ is added).

long / lɔη/ → longer / lɔηgə/ (phoneme /g/ is

added).

sword → swordsman; sale → salesgirl; craft →

craftsman

( the phoneme /s/ is added )

(c) Simple change of phonemes

e.g path / pæθ / → paths/ pæðz /; mouth →

mouths, etc.

The phoneme / θ / is changed to / ð / when

pluralized

(d) Assimilation - Dissimilation

- Assimilation is the process of replacing a sound

by another sound under the influence of a third sound which is near to it in the word or sentence e.g resist / rizist /; consist / kənsist/ etc.

The change of /z/ to /s/ under the influence of /n/.

There is another change due to assimilation of /n/

to /m/ before /b/,/p/,/m/

e.g impossible, imperfect, immoral, etc.

Prefix {in-} has the allomorph {im} before /p/,

/b/, /m/

- Dissimilation is the opposite of assimilation It takes place when the combining of two morphemes bring together two identical phonemes, resulting in the change of one of them

to a phoneme less like its neighbour.

e.g The Prefix {in-} has the allomorph {-ig} as in

ignoble

(e) Synthesis

There is the fusion of the two phonemes brought together by morpheme combination into a single new phoneme.

e.g {moist} {-ure}: / mɔist / + /ju:/ → / mɔistʃƏ/ (f) Stress shift, gradation

In many cases the addition of an affix to a word is

accompanied by a shift in stress called stress shif.

e.g línguist → lingúistics ;

The process of derivation including stress shift

involves vowel change This kind of change is called

gradation e.g sýmbol → symbólic

(f) Suppletion

This type of morphophonemic change is the occurrence of the allomorph completely different in phonemic structure from the normal form.

The essential here is semantic similarity and complementary distribution Different allomorphs are suppletive forms.

e.g The verb : {go} = {went}; {sell} = {sold }

The adjective ; {-er} = more - ; etc.

Inflectional Paradigms

A paradigm is a set of related forms having the same

stem but different affixes Here is a derivational

paradigm with the stem head: ahead, behead,

header, headlong, headship, heady, subhead

Inflectional paradigms are formed by the words to

which inflectional affixes are attached There are four

of them

1 Noun paradigm

Forms: Stem Plural possessive Plural + Poss

woman women woman’s women’s

{-s pl} {-s ps} {-s pl ps}

Meaning of Noun Possessive Morpheme

- Possessive: Lan’s dress (belongs to)

- Characterization or description: men’s coat

(for)

- Origin: Michelle’s novels

America’s products

- Measure (time, value, space): an hour’s wait, a dollar’s worth, a stone’s throw

- Subject of act: John’s flight

- Object of action: The boy’s punishment

2 Pronoun paradigm

Singular prenominal substitution

Subject object possessive possession

1st I me my mine

2nd you you your yours

3rd Male he him his his

Female she her her hers

N it it its its

Plural

1st we us our ours

2nd you you your yours

3rd they them their theirs

Interr Who whom whose whose

Relative

3 Verb Paradigm

Forms: Stem Third Present Past Past

Inflectional person participle tense participle

Suffixes singular {-ing vb} {-ed pt} {-ed pp}

{s 3rd}

show shows showing showed showed

ring rings ringing rang rung

put puts putting put put

4 Comparable paradigm

Stem Comparative Superlative

Inflectional {-er cp} {-est sp}

Suffixes

Models: tall taller tallest

lively livelier liveliest

friendly friendlier friendliest

soon sooner soonest

near nearer nearest

In paradigms the meaning of the stem remains

constant; the suffixes produce the differences in

meaning among the forms of each paradigm

PARTS OF SPEECH The major classes of lexical morphemes, which are the basis of words, are traditionally known as the parts

of speech

The word classes can be put into three groups as follows:

+ Form-classes:

There are five of form classes: nouns, verbs,

Membership of each class is determined by the form

of a word

+ Positional classes:

There are four main positional classes: nominal,

verbal, adjectival, and adverbial Membership in

in the sentences

+ Structure-classes:

Structure classes are small, stable, and closed Members of structure-classes include: qualifiers, prepositions, determiners, auxiliaries, interjections, conjunctions and pronouns

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