Week 6/7 - MORPHOLOGY + Allomorphy Flashcards
Morphology + Morpheme definition
analysis of words into meangingful elements
un+read+able
walk+ing
MORPHEME: word/part of word which cannot be further divided into smaller units each w own meaning
-ING, READ, UN-, WALK, etc
How can we identify morphemes
Comparing across words:
- Same part of FORM of words
- Same contribution to MEANING of word
Allomorphs
Variant forms of a morpheme
- diff according to context
- typically in complementary distribution
We say there is an ALTERNATION between the allomorphs
Types of Allomorph conditioning:
LEXICAL CONDITIONING: when the allomorph depends of different forms/classes of lexeme (eg diff classes of verb lexeme)
PHONOLOGICAL CONDITIONING: when the allomorph is determined by phonological aspects of the environment
How to list relationship between allomorphs
NO PHONOLOGICAL RELATEDNESS? - list allomorphs in lexicon entry for that morpheme - EG PAST forms: /ca/ with Class A verb roots /ŋu/ with Class B verb roots meaning: event/state in past
IF PHONOLOGICALLY RELATED? - can describe HOW phon rel eg. /ca/ /ʈa/ /ta/ > all same vowel /a/ > all stop phoneme, diff places of articulation - this is SEGMENTAL ALTERNATION
SPECIFIC SEGMENTAL ALTERATIONS: /t/ ~ /ʈ/ ~ /c/
Conditioning
- determine what Seg Altern are
- Investigate CONDITIONS OCCUR IN
most likely due to: assimilation
- place
- manner
- full
Assimilation definition
process or pattern where one segment shares one or more phonetic properties with a neighbouring segment. ie it becomes the same or more similar.
English example of allomorphy
regular noun plural suffix
[s] [z] [əz]
s/z allophones of DIFF phonemes (bus/buzz) so:
diff in allomorphs is diff in phonemes.
Phonologically conditioned allomorphy:
- /s/ if preceding segment is voiceless
- /z/ if preceding segment is voiced
- except that /əz/ if preceding segment is one of /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/ (strident coronal)
we try explain phonolofical allomoprhy in terms of phonol structure in general in lang: possible segments, NOT just specific morpheme
here:
1. NO eng syll ends in /z/ after voicless seg,
2. NO eng syll end w 2 strident coronals
name hypocoristics
chatfield - chats (s)
agnew - ags (z)
cashman - cashes (ez)
Segmental Alternations
match up corresponding segments
analyse 2 alterNations btwn segments
/s/ ~ /z/
/ə/ ~ Ø
Phonemic alterNation
generalised phonological pattern of alternation between phonemes which results in different allomorphs of a morpheme in different contexts.
there can be allophones of noun morphemes - remember when analysing
hungarian example
analyse, characterise in terms of
- Obstruents (STOPS AND FRICATIVES as a group)
- voicing
eg rule: An obstruent is voiced if it is followed by a voiced obstruent
Phonological processes
phonemic alternations can be analysed as resulting from phonolical processes
/s/ ~ /z/
/ə/ ~ Ø - rule: Insert /ə/ where there would otherwise be two strident coronals in a row at the end of a syllable.
- can be understood in any word word in eng
Underlying form
process implies underlying form - basic form of plural with NO /ə/
basic form of eng morpheme
NOUN PLURAL
form /z/
meaning: PLURAL
general principle of morphological analysis in 2 components
- A single basic form of each morpheme in the lexicon: the UNDERLYING form aka underlying representation (UR)
+++++PLUS+++++
- One or more general phonological PROCESSES that are expressed rigorously as rules ////operate in terms of phonetic properties////.
