ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX

Morphemes and Allomorph

and Some Morphological Processes
 Morphemes and Allomorph
Homophonous Morphemes
• Morphemes that sound similar but they differ
in meanings.
1. -er as in: fatter and bigger
2. -er as in : worker and teacher
3. -er as in : screwdriver
1. –er: (comparative) fatter and bigger
 The suffix -er in these cases is an
inflectional suffix known as “the
comparative morpheme.”
2. er: (human agent) worker and teacher
3. –er: (inanimate instrument) screwdriver
The suffix -er in these cases is a derivational suffix
known as “the agentive morpheme.”
 ALLOMORPHS
• Allomorphs are variations of the same
morpheme.
• Some commonly used examples of variations
of a single morpheme are:
• The indefinite article in English: The form a is
used before words beginning with consonants,
while the form an is used before words
beginning with vowels.
 ALLOMORPHS
• The plural morpheme in English: The plural -s
in English is pronounced /s/ as in books, /z/
as in pens, or /iz/ as in watches depending on
the final sound of the word to which it is
attached.
Another examples of allomorphs:

illegal impossible ineligible incomplete

irrelevant impatient intolerant ingrate

illogical imbalance insecure incorrect

irresponsible imbalance infamous

irrelevant impatient indecent
irregular immature inactive
[ɪm], [ɪŋ], [ɪr], [ɪl],[ɪn] these morphemes share the same
meaning “not” but they differ in phonetic forms. These
are called allomorphs.
*Note here that [ɪr] and [ɪl] are both pronounced [ɪ]
[ɪ] [ɪm] [ɪn] [ɪŋ]
illegal impossible ineligible incomplete
irrelevant impatient intolerant ingrate
illogical imbalance insecure incorrect
irresponsible imbalance infamous
irrelevant impatient indecent
irregular immature inactive
The [ɪ] allomorph is conditioned by a following liquid
sounds /r/ , /l/

The [ɪm] allomorph is conditioned by a following

bilabial sounds /p/, /b/ and / m/

The [ɪŋ] allomorph is conditioned by a following velar

stop sounds /k/ and /g/

The [ɪn] allomorph is conditioned by a following /e/, /f/

, /t/, or /f/.
In addition, the inflectional morpheme that is added
verbs to form the past tense (regular verbs) all have the
orthographic form -ed, but phonologically they are
pronounced as [d], [ɪd], and [t].
/d/ /ɪd/ /t/
Called Parted Talked
Played Glided Laughed
Begged Needed Watched
Seemed Passed
So, we can formulate the following
morphological rule as follows:

{-ed} → [ɪd] / after /t/ and /d/

[t] / after /k/, /f/, /ch/ and /s/
[d] / elsewhere
 Morphological Processes
(ALTERNATION)
Alternation

The morphological process that uses morpheme-

internal modifications to make new words or
morphological distinctions.
 Morphological Processes (ALTERNATION)

The usual way to form plurals in English is to

add suffix –s to the word. However, with
irregular plurals, we make internal modification.
EX:
man men [æ] – [ɛ]
goose geese [u:] - [i:]
foot feet [ʊ] - [i:]
 Morphological Processes
(ALTERNATION)
Irregular Verbs
ring rang rung [ɪ]-[æ]-[ᴧ]
drink drank drunk [ɪ]-[æ]-[ᴧ]
swim swam swum [ɪ]-[æ]-[ᴧ]
feed fed fed [i]-[ɛ]-[ɛ]
hold held held [oʊ]-[ɛ]-[ɛ]
 Morphological Processes
(ALTERNATION)
Some verbs show both an alternation and the
addition of an affix to one form:
Root Alternation Alternation + Affixation
break broke broken
speak spoke spoken
Bite bit bitten
write wrote written
 Morphological Processes
(ALTERNATION)
Alternation can change the word class; from
noun to verbs:

NOUNS VERBS
strife (n) [stɹɑɪf] strive (v) [stɹɑɪv]
teeth (n) [tiθ] teethe (v) [tið]
breath (n) [brɛθ] breathe (v) [brið]
use (n) [jus] use (v) [juz]
 Morphological Processes
(SUPPLETION)
Suppletion

A morphological process between forms of

a word wherein one form cannot be
phonologically or morphologically derived
from the other.
 Morphological Processes
(SUPPLETION)
A small number of English verbs have suppletive
past tenses:

Present Past
is [ɪz] was [wᴧz]
go [ɡoʊ] went [wɛnt]
 Morphological Processes
(SUPPLETION)
Two common English adjectives—good and
bad—have suppletive comparative and
superlative forms.
Adjective Comparative Superlative
good [ɡʊd] better [bɛtə] best [bɛst]

bad [bæd] Worse [wəːs] worst [ wəːs]

In Arabic: [marʔat] ‘woman’ [nisaːʔ] ‘women’

 REFERENCES
• Hope C. Dawson, Michael Phelan, 2016. Language Files,
Materials for an Introduction to Language and Linguistics.
Columbus: Ohio State University Press . Ch.4

• Yule, George (2006). The Study of Language: An Introduction.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch. 6

• Katamba, Francis(1993). Morphology. 1st edn. St. Martin's

Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue: New York. Chapter, 1,2 and 3.