LANE 333 - ALLOMORPHS

L.      ALLOMORPHS

ALLOMORPHS: VARIATIONS OF MORPHEMES

DEFINITION:

An allomorph is ‘any of the different forms of a morpheme’. (Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 9)

EXAMPLE: long, length

MORPHEME           FREE ALLOMORPH          BOUND ALLOMORP      {long}                   /lɔŋ/                                      /lεŋ-/

NOTE: a morpheme may have more than one phonemic form.

pt}

SELECTION OF ALLOMORPHS:

•The past-tense ending, the morpheme {-D pt}, has three phonemic forms.

•The choice depends on the preceding sound:

1.      After an alveolar stop /t/ or /d/, the allomorph /-ǝd/ takes place as in parted /partǝd/.

2.      After a voiceless consonant other than /t/, the allomorph /-t/takes place as in laughed /lӕft/.

3.      After a voiced consonant other than /d/, the allomorph /-d/ takes place as in begged /bεgd/.

•The occurrence of one or another of them depends on its phonological environment.

•This pattern of occurrence is called complementary distribution.

NOTE: These three phonemic forms of {-Dpt} are not interchangeable. They are positional variants. They are allomorphs belong to the same morpheme.

•It must be emphasized that many morphemes in English have only one phonemic form, that is, one allomorph – for example, the morpheme {boy} and {-hood} each has one allomorph - /bɔy/ and /-hUd/ - as in boyhood.

•It is really not the morpheme but the allomorph that is free or bound.

•For example the morpheme {louse} has two allomorphs: the free allomorph /laws/ as in the singular noun louse , and the bound allomorph /lawz-/ as in the adjective lousy.

1. ADDITIVE ALLOMORPHS:

To signify some difference in meaning, something is added to a word. For example, the past tense form of most English verbs is formed by adding the suffix –ed which can be pronounced as either /–t/, /–d/ or /–ǝd/:

ask + –ed = /ӕsk/ + /–t/, liv(e) + –ed =/lIv/ + /–d/, need + –ed =/nid/ + /–ǝd/.

2. REPLACIVE ALLOMORPHS:

To signify some difference in meaning, a sound is used to replace another sound in a word. For example, the /Ι/ in drink is replaced by the /æ/ in drank to signal the simple past. This is symbolized as follows:

/drænk/ = /drΙnk/ + / Ι > æ /.

3. SUPPLETIVE ALLOMORPHS:

To signify some difference in meaning, there is a complete change in the shape of a word.

For example:

_ go + the suppletive allomorph of {–D pt} = went;

_ be + the suppletive allomorph of {–S 3d} = is;

_ bad + the suppletive allomorph of {–ER cp} = worse;

_ good + the suppletive allomorph of {–EST sp} = best.
4. THE ZERO ALLOMORPH:

There is no change in the shape of a word though some difference in meaning is identified. For example, the past tense form of hurt is formed by adding the zero allomorph of {–D pt} to this word.

Source:

Stageberg, Norman C. and Dallin D. Oaks (2000). An Introductory English Grammar , Heinle, Boston:USA.

LANE 333 - Immediate Constituents

K.  Immediate Constituents

The Structure of Words:

There are two levels for word- structure: the level of morphemic analysis and the level of derivational or word-formation analysis. The morphological analysis of word- structure on the morphemic level breaks up the word into its constituent morphemes.

• A word of one morpheme, like blaze, has, of course, just one unitary part. 

• A word of two morphemes, like cheerful, is obviously composed of two parts, with the division between them:

• A word of three or more morphemes is not made up of a string of individual parts;

• It is built with a hierarchy of twosomes.

•As an illustration, lets us examine the formation of gentlemanly, a word of three morphemes:

• gentle and man were put together to give gentleman.

• We see that the meaning of gentleman is a composite of these of its two constituents.

•Now we add –ly, meaning “like”, and get gentlemanly, like a gentleman.

• Now, when we analyze a word we show this process but in reverse.

•We usually divide a word into two parts of which it seems to have been composed.

• Words are formed in steps; they have a special type of structure characterized as hierarchical.

•This hierarchical structure can be schematically represented by means of tree diagrams that indicate the steps involved the formation of the word.

Immediate Constituents:

•In doing word diagrams like those above to show layers of structure, we make successive divisions into two parts, each of which is called an Immediate Constituent, abbreviated as IC.

•The process is continued until all component morphemes of a word, the ultimate constituents, have been isolated.

Recommendations on IC division:

Here are three recommendations on IC division:

1. If a word ends in an inflectional suffix, the first cut is between the suffix and the rest of the word.

2. One of the ICs should be, if possible, a free form.

3. The meaning of the ICs should be related to meaning of the word.

• some words are ambiguous in that they have more than one meaning.

• When we examine their internal structure, we find out that they may be analyzed in more than one way.

Source:

Stageberg, Norman C. and Dallin D. Oaks (2000). An Introductory English Grammar , Heinle, Boston:USA.

Noun Diminutive Forms

J.      Noun Diminutive Forms

•      In English six diminutive suffixes can be found.

•      They are morphemes that convey a meaning of smallness or endearment or both.

•      They are:

1.                  -ie, -i, -y

2.                  -ette

3.                  -kin, -ikini, -kins

4.                  -ling

5.                  -et

6.                  -let

• The vowels of these diminutive suffixes are three front vowels /i/, /Ι/, and /ε/.

         i. The first suffix /i/ is highly productive. It is frequently attached to one syllable first names to suggest endearment and intimacy or smallness as in Johnny, Jamey, Jackie.

Similarly, it is attached to common nouns, sometimes indicating a diminutive notion about a participant in a discourse more than about one person or thing being referred to, as in doggie, sweetie, birdie, or mommy.

      Examples:

a.      SUFFIX  -ie

Ø  Auntie

Ø  Sweetie

Ø  Jackie

b.      SUFFIX  -y

Ø  Janey

Ø  Mickey

Ø  Mikey

Ø  Johnny

Ø  Betty

          ii. The second suffix is also in active use, generally to indicate smallness. Thus, a dinette/daɪnεt/ is a small dining area.

          iii. The other four diminutive suffixes exist in the language as diminutive but are rarely if ever added to new nouns.

          iv. In short, they are unproductive and inactive.

           v. Furthermore, in some words, such as cabinet /kæbənɪt/and toilet /tɔɪlɪt/, the meaning of the diminutive suffix has faded away to little or no significance.

      Examples:

      SUFFIX          DIMINUTIVE NOUN

          -ette              roomette              

           -kin               lambkin

           -kins             babykins

           -ling             duckling
           -et           circlet

           -let               starlet

•  In addition to these six diminutives, many others have come into English as a part of borrowed words.
• These are diminutives in their own or parent language but are nonmorphemic in English
• Most of these borrowed diminutive endings contain the vowels /i/, /Ι/, and /ɛ/, though these vowels have often reduced to /ǝ/ in English because of lack of stress.
• Nearly, all these suffixes have lost the diminutive sense that was once alive in them.

Examples:

Ø  Mosquito

Ø  puppet

Ø  Pupil

Ø  Novel

Ø  Muscle

Ø  Particle

Ø  Formula

Source:

Stageberg, Norman C. and Dallin D. Oaks (2000). An Introductory English Grammar , Heinle, Boston:USA.