Morphology (1)

Syllabus :

1.      Definition of Morphology

2.      Lexemes

3.      Morphemes

4.      Derivation

5.      Inflection

6.      Word formation process

7.      Compounding

8.      Blending

9.      Acronym

10.  Clipping

11.  Etc.

 

MORPHOLOGY

In the 19^th century, the term Morphology is the study of the change in the forms of words. The term is taken from the biological science, and refers to the study of shapes.  In Linguistics this means the study of the shapes of words.

Syntax is the study of ways in which words are strung together. Many traditional grammars (grammar books) deal largely with morphology and have little to say about syntax. For many people the term grammar is equated with Morphology . For most linguists today grammar includes both Morphology and Syntax.

1. The basic Concept

(1)   The cook was a good cook as cooks go, and as cooks go, she went.

How many words are there in (1) ?   à   15  

We count the items which appear between spaces on the page. These words are called orthographic words.

(2)   I’ve been in hot water so often I feel like a tea-bag. 

How many orthographic words are there in  (2)  ?  à  12

-          I’ve is one orthographic word.

-          Tea-bag is a single orthographic word.

How many different words does (1) contain ?

There are 11 different word-forms (or orthographic words)

Cook and cooks are different word-forms (orthographic words) which belong to, or realize the same lexeme.  Go and went are also different word forms which realize a single lexeme.

How many different lexemes are there in (1) ?   à  9 different lexemes.

                           ┌     

                           │    cook                   (word form)

                           │    cooks               (word form)

            COOK   ┤    cooked            (word form)

            (lexeme)  │     cooking           (word form)

                           └

Lexemes are the unit which are conventionally listed in dictionaries as separate entries

(3)   Edi walked home.

(4)   Edi has walked home.   

                                             Walked (3)  ┐

                                                          ├   the same lexeme [WALK}

                                        Walked (4) ┘

                                              Walked (3)  ┐

                                                            ├  the same word-form

                                         Walked (4) ┘

                                              Walked (3)  ┐

                                                            ├   different grammatical words

                                         Walked (4) ┘

                                            Walked (3)  ┐     walk + past tense

                                                          ├  

                                       Walked (4) ┘      walk + past participle

2. Elements Smaller than Words

-          Morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language.

-          Morpheme is an abstract unit realized by Morphs

-          The members of morph in the same morpheme are called Allomorphs.

-          Allomorph   is a variant of morphemes.

-          An allomorph is a conditioned morph.

-          Morphemes are enclosed in braces { }

-          Allomorphs are in complementary distribution. They never occur in the same environment or context.

-          Morpheme, like lexeme and phoneme, is realized by something else. We cannot hear a morpheme or say morpheme. We can only hear or say something which realizes a morpheme, morph.

-          Morph is a segment of a word-form which represents a particular morpheme.

-          Morphemes are abstract elements of analysis, and what actually occurs is a phonetic (or orthographic) strings which realizes the morpheme.

-          When the phonetic (or orthographic) strings which realize morphemes are segmentable, these are termed  ‘morph’. The form un. touch. able. s, the segmented portions are morphs, each of which represents a morpheme.   

3. Morphemes

a.       Look at the cat        /kæts ┐       

b.      Look at the dog    /dogz/   ├   

c.       Look at the horse /ho:siz/  ┘

The sentences are the same except the units cats /kæts/, dogs /dogz/, and horses   /ho:siz/

/kæt/, /dog /, and /ho:s/ carry the meaning of the words. /s/,  /z/, and /iz/ carry the meaning of  ‘plural’.

The words cats, dogs, and horses, therefore contain two meaningful units. Such units are called morphemes. Morphemes are put between braces like
{  }.

Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of a language.

Morphemes are abstract elements of analysis, and what actually occurs is a phonetic (or orthographic) string which realizes the morphemes.

When the phonetic (or orthographic) strings which realize morphemes are segmentable, these are termed “Morphs”

           

            Cats, dogs, horses contain two morphemes as follows:

                                                {cat}    and   {s}/{plural}

                                                {dog}   and   {s}/{plural}

                                                {horse} and  {s}/{plural}

{s)/{plural} is pronounced [s] after voiceless obstruent 

 Examples:       book --> books  [s]

                                    cat    --> cats      [s]

{s)/{plural} is pronounced [z] after voiced sounds

Examples: bag     -->     bags       [z]

                Lamb  -->  lambs    [z]

{s)/{plural} is pronounced [iz] after sibilant consonants such as [s], [z], [3], [s] , [ts], [d3]

Examples:        bus       -->  buses          [iz]

                        Watch  --> watches      [iz]

[s], [z], and [iz] are the concrete sounds which are called morphes. Morphes which are the members of of one morpheme are called the allomorphs of the morpheme.

The different sounds [s] [z] and [iz] are derived from the same morpheme {s}. The sounds [s], [z], and [iz] are called the allomorphs of the morpheme {s}/{plural}.

The various sounds above ([s], [z], and, [iz]) occur depending on the phonetic environment. The sounds which occur depending on the phonetic environment are called phonetically conditioned. [s], [z], and [iz] are phonetically conditioned allomorphs of the morpheme {s}/{plural}

[-en] also realizes the morpheme {s}/{plural} such as in the word Oxen (Ox singular, and Oxen plural), but it is not conditioned by phonetic environment. Ox is the only lexeme which makes its plural by adding –en. This variant is conditioned by the lexeme and is called lexically conditioned. [-en] therefore is the lexically conditioned allomorph of the morpheme {s}/{plural}.

Allomorph can also be grammatically conditioned. Look at the following examples:

Ein       gross. er          wagen                          ‘a big car         (masculine)’

Ein       gross. er          fisch                            ‘a big fish        (masculine)’

Ein       gross .es           haus                             ‘a big house’    (neuter)’

Ein       gross. es           tier                               ‘a big animal    (neuter)’

Ein       gross. e            feder                            ‘a abig feather (feminine)’

Ein       gross. e            schlange                      ‘a big snake’    (feminine)’

The change of er to es or e depending of the grammatical matter (in this case whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter).  This situation is called grammatically conditioned.  The allomorph which is grammatically conditioned is called grammatically conditioned allomorph.

Based on the illustration above we can make some definitions:

o   Allomorph is the variants of morpheme.

o   Allomorph is a conditioned morph.

o   Allomorph is a phonetically, lexically, or grammatically conditioned member of a set of morphs represents a particular morpheme.

Root, Stem, and base

-          A root is a form which is not further analyzed, either in terms of derivational or

inflectional morphology.

          It is a part of a word-form that remains when all inflectional and derivational

          affixes have been moved. In un.touch.ables , the root is touch

            - A stem is of concern only when dealing with inflectional morphology.

               Untouchables à untouchable (stem)

                Touched        à touch (stem)

REFERENCES

Bauer, Laurie. 1983. English Word Formation. New York: Cambridge University Press.

__________. 1988.  Introducing  Linguistic  Morphology.  Edinburgh :  Edinburgh

University Press.

Lim Kiat Boey. 1975.  An  Introduction  to  Linguistics  for  the  Language  Teacher.

Singapore: Singapore University Press.