Morphology 2

Morphology 2
Trương Văn Ánh
Trường Đại học Sài Gòn
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1. Definition:
A morpheme is a short segment of language that meets three criteria:
+ It is a word or a part of a word that has meaning.
+ It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without violation of its meaning or without meaningless remainders.
+ It recurs in differing verbal environments with a relatively stable meaning.
A morpheme is the smallest unit of language which has an independent function.
Chapter 2
Morpheme
Word Morpheme Syllable Letter
A word has at least one morpheme.
Person > personal > impersonal > impersonalize > impersonalization > impersonalizations
A syllable may be a morpheme. Sometimes two syllables may be a morpheme. Sometimes more syllables may be a morpheme.
Ex: America + n + s
A letter is sometimes a morpheme (rarely). Usually many letters are in one morpheme.





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2. Classification:
2.1. Form: Free and Bound morphemes
Regarding to forms, morphemes can be classified as free and bound morphemes.
+ A free morpheme is one that can be uttered alone with meaning.
Free morphemes are monomorphemic words and they can operate freely in the language.
Ex: honest, possess, study, girl, danger
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+ A bound morpheme cannot be uttered alone with meaning. It is always annexed to one or more morphemes to form a word.
Bound morphemes must combine with other morphemes.
Ex: dishonest = dis (BM) + honest (FM)
2.2. Meaning: Roots (bases) and Affixes
This classification of morphemes put them into two classes: roots (bases) and affixes.
+ Roots (bases): A base morpheme is the part of a word that has the principal meaning. Most of bases in English are free morphemes; but some are bound. A word may contain one base and several affixes.
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Ex: personal teacher re-enter
FB FB FB
consent sentiment assent
BB BB BB
+ Affixes: An affix is a bound morpheme that occurs before or within or over or after a base. Affixes differ from roots (bases) in three ways:
- They do not form words by themselves – they have to be added to a stem.
Ex: er must be attached to a stem “teach”
- Their meaning, in many instances, is not as clear and specific as the meaning of roots, and many of them are almost completely meaningless.
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- Compared with the total number of roots, which is very large, the number of affixes is relatively small.
By position, affixes are of five kinds: prefixes, infixes, suffixes, superfixes and circumfixes.
- Prefixes are those bound morphemes that occur before a base. (about 75).
- Infixes are bound morphemes that occur within a word. Infixes in English are most commonly replacements, not additions.
Ex: ee in geese replaces the oo in goose.
o in chosen replaces oo in choose.
- Suffixes are bound morphemes that occur after a base. Suffixes may pile up to the number of three or four, whereas prefixes are commonly single, except for the negative un- before another prefix.
Superfixes are suprasegmental morphemes consisting of stress morphemes.
Ex: objéct (verb), óbjèct (noun)
Circumfixes are bound morphemes that occur both before and after a base.
Ex: In Indonesian:
Root prefix – root – suffix
patut mem - patut – kan (to correct)
Hantu meng – hantu – i (to haunt)
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By function, affixes are of two kinds: derivational and inflectional.
- Derivational affixes are added to stems to form new words.
Ex: work (V) + -er  worker (N)
- Inflectional affixes are added to stems to form new grammatical forms.
Ex: work (V) + -ing  working (present participle) (works, worked)
The following figure summarizes all the types of morphemes.

Morphemes
Roots Affixes
Free Bound Derivational Inflectional
dollar hemi- prefix suffix -s
honor scrib- an ity -ed
nose tele- mis less -ing
3. Inflectional and derivational affixes:
3.1. Inflectional affixes (suffixes):
3.1.1. Inflectional morphemes are bound morphemes which are part of the grammatical system.
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The inflectional affixes are all suffixes as follows:
Stem Inflectional suffix Examples Name
Dog, ox 1. {-s pl.} dogs, oxen N plural
Boy 2. {-s sg ps.} boy’s N sg ps.
Boy, men 3. {-s pl ps.} boys’, men’s N pl ps.
Read 4. {-s 3d.} John reads books Prs 3d sg
Work 5. {-ing vb} He is working. Prs.P
Work, ride 6. {-d pt} He worked, rode Past
Work, eat 7. {-d pp} He has worked, eaten PP
Bold, soon 8. {er cp} This is bolder Compar
Bold, soon 9. {est sp} This is the boldest Superlat
STEM
(Thân từ)
Happy > Unhappy: Prefix + happy
Hap + py (tiền tố)
happiness: happy + suffix
(hậu tố)
Affix: phụ tố (bao gồm tiền tố, hậu tố, trung tố, …)
Mỗi khi ta cắt bỏ một phụ tố, ta sẽ có 1 thân từ.
stem 2
Unhappiness: two stems
Stem 1 impersonalizations
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3.1.2. Stems are the words to which these affixes are attached. The stems include the base and all the derivational or inflectional affixes.
Ex: boys works
boy: stem work: stem
{-s}: inflectional affix {-s}: inflectional affix
3.1.3. Characteristics of inflectional suffixes
- They do not change the part of speech.
Ex: book (N) books (N)
want (V) wants (V)
- They come last in a word.
Ex: wanted, working, smaller
- They go with all stems of a given part of speech.
Ex: He eats, drinks, writes.
- They do not pile up. Only one ends a word.
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3.2. Derivational affixes
3.2.1. Derivational morphemes are either prefixes or suffixes that are not inflectional. They participate in the formation of new words.
3.2.2. Characteristics of derivational suffixes
- The words with which derivational suffixes combine is an arbitrary matter.
Ex: ment for govern, adorn, develop, etc.
In many cases, but not all, a derivational suffix changes the part of speech of the word to which it is added.
Ex: act (N) + -ive  active (Adj)
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- Derivational suffixes usually do not close off a word; that is, after a derivational suffix one can sometimes add another derivational suffix and can frequently add an inflectional suffix.
Ex: person + -al  personal + -ity  personality + -s  personalities


HOMONYMY
Sound Spelling Meaning
Homonym + + -
Homophone + - -
Homograph - + -
Notes: + (same)
- ( different)
Ex: row (n)>< row (v) Flower >< flour
lead (v) >< lead (n)



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In Vietnamese there is only one kind of homonyms.
Ex: đường (sugar) >< đường (way/road)
In English, there are homonyms:
Ex 1: row (line) >< row (move a boat)
homophones:
Ex 2: flower >< flour
homographs:
Ex 3: read (bare infinitive) >< read (past simple)
lead (v) lead (n)





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4. Suffixal homophones/homonyms
Homophones are words which sound alike, but are written differently and often have different meanings. Homonyms are the words (parts of the words) that have the same sound and spelling, but different meanings.
Some suffixes, both inflectional and derivational, have homophonous (homonymous) forms.
4.1. The inflectional morpheme {-er} comparative of adjective has two homophones (homonyms):
a) -er: derivational suffix can be attached to verbs to form nouns. This suffix conveys the meaning of “that which performs the action of the verb stem”. (Ex: worker, teacher)
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b) –er: derivational suffix. This conveys the meaning of repetition.
Ex: chatter, mutter, glitter
c) –er: Inflectional suffix. It is added to an adjective to make it comparative degree. Ex: tall - taller
4.2. The verbal inflectional suffix {-ing} (IS, present participle) has three homophones (homonyms).
a) The nominal derivational suffix –ing {-ing nm) as in meeting, wedding, reading.
b) The adjectival morpheme {-ing aj} as in charming, burning
c) The gerund morpheme {-ing gr} as in Swimming is good for health.
4.3 The verbal inflectional {-ed pp} (IS/ past participle) has a homophone/homonym: the adjectival
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derivational {-ed aj} (DS/Adjectival)
Ex: She was excited about the film.
She was a devoted mother.
Past simple: work – worked – worked
Past simple Past participle
He worked hard >< He has worked hard.
4.4. The adverbial derivational suffix {-ly av} (DS/Adverbial) has a homophone (homonym): the adjectival derivational suffix {-ly aj} (DS/ Adjectival) and the nominal derivational suffix {-ly n} (DS/ nominal)
Ex: daily (adj), daily (n), daily (adv)
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5. Immediate constituents (IC)
Immediate constituents are any of the two meaningful parts forming a larger meaningful unit. (Immediate constituents are any of the two morphemes standing next to each other)
Four sorts of morphemes – bases, prefixes, infixes, and suffixes are put together to build words. When we analyze a word, we usually divide a word into two parts of which it seems to have been composed.
Ex: un gentle man ly un gentle man ly
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IC division:
+ If a word ends in an inflectional/derivational suffix, the first cut is between this suffix and the rest of the word.
Ex: works worker

+ One of the ICs should be, if possible, a free morpheme. A free morpheme is one that can be uttered alone with meaning.
Ex: enlarge ment NOT en largement

in dependent NOT independ ent
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+ The meanings of the ICs should be replaced to the meaning of the word.
Ex: teach er NOT tea cher

The ultimate constituents are the morphemes of which the word is composed.
6. Allomorphs
A morpheme may have more than one phonemic form.
Ex: The morpheme {-ed pt.} has three phonemic forms:
- After /t/ or /d/ the sound is /id/
- After a voiced consonant other than /d/ it is pronounced as /d/

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- After a voiceless consonant other than /t/ it is pronounced like /t/
These three phonemic forms of {-ed pt.} are not interchangeable  They are in complementary distribution, abbreviated CD.
6.1 Definition
An allomorph is “any of the different forms of a morpheme.”
In other words, allomorphs have different phonemic forms, but they have the same meaning, and are in CD.
6.2. Kinds of allomorphs
Allomorphs are of two kinds: phonologically
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conditioned and morphologically conditioned allomorphs.
6.2.1. Phonologically conditioned allomorphs
- When the distribution was determined by the preceding sounds, we say that the selection of allomorphs is phonologically conditioned.
- When the related forms of a set, like the three forms of {-ed pt.}, have the same meaning and are in complementary distribution, they are called allomorphs and belong to the same morpheme. So, the morpheme {-ed pt.} has three allomorphs /id/, /t/ and /d/. This can be expressed in the formula:
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{-d pt.} = /-id/ ~ /-t/ ~ /-d/
Tilde ~ means “in alternation with”
{-s pl} = /-iz/ ~ /-z/ ~ /-s/
6.2.2. Morphologically conditioned allomorphs:
- This distribution was determined by the morphological environment. We say that the selection of allomorphs is morphologically conditioned.
{-s pl.} has other allomorphs such as /en/ in ox –oxen of /Ø/ (zero) in sheep –sheep.
{-s pl.} = /-iz/ ~ /-z/ ~ /-s/ ∞ /-en/ ∞ /Ø/ ∞ /a/ ∞ /i/, etc.
The symbol is ∞ (the infinity).
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6.2.3. Classification of morphologically conditioned allomorphs
The zero allomorph
There is no change in the shape of a word though some difference in meaning is identified.
The symbol is {Ø} (NIL)
Ex: The allomorph {Ø} of {-s pl.} in sheep – sheep
fish – fish
The allomorph {Ø} of {-ed pt.} in put – put
cut – cut
Types of Morphemes:
1. Accoding to the internal composition:
Morphemes may be composed of:
- Segmental morpheme: re-, un-, -ish, -less
- Supersegmental morphemes: stress morphemes, intonation morphemes.
2. According to the shapes and sizes of morphemes:
- Morpheme C (consonant): s
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- Morpheme VC (vowel-consonant): un-
- Morpheme CVC (consonant - vowel-consonant): man
3. According to the structural relationships of morphemes to each other:
- Additive morphemes (roots + affixes)
We form new grammatical forms by adding something, for example, en or ren which are the plural markers.
Ex: ox – oxen child – children





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- Replacive morphemes:
To signify some difference in meaning, a sound is used to replace another sound in a word. For example, the /I/ in drink is replaced by the /æ/ in drank to signal the simple past. This is symbolized as follows:
{dræƞk} = {drIƞk} + {I  æ}.
- Subtractive morphemes: Some morpheme is deleted.
Ex: {fiancé} {fiancée}
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- Suppletive morphemes:
To signify some difference in meaning, there is a complete change in the shape of a word.
Ex: go + the suppletive allomorph of {-ed pl.} = went;
be + the suppletive allomorph of {-s 3rd p} = is;
bad + the suppletive allomorph of {-er cp} = worse;
good + the suppletive allomorph of {-est} = best.
4. According to the distribution:
- Free morphemes and bound morphemes.
- Roots and affixes
- Segmental morphemes
- Supersegmental morphemes
Ex: The morpheme {book} consists of the segmental /b/ /u/ /k/, supersegmental /’/


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5. According to the function:
- Lexical morphemes:
prefixes prefixes + root: lex. mor.
Affixes roots + der. suf.: lex. mor
suffixes
roots + infl. suf.: gram. mor.
- Grammatical morphemes:
{-s}, {-ed}, {-ing}




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