TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING phonology & grammar Jos Ribamar de Castro

Nowhere else in English is the connection between the sound system and inflectional morphology closer than it is in the regular grammatical inflections of the language.Linguists often refer to this area as morphophonology.

1. The S inflectional ending. /z/ /s/ /Iz,az/ Regular plural boys boats buses Third -person singular sees makes churches Possessive Rays Mikes Roses 2. The ed inflectional ending. /d/ /t/ /Id,ad/ cried walked chatted

3. The comparative and superlative inflectional endings. Base form /ar/ /ast/ big bigger biggest friendly friendlier friendliest (more friendly) (most friendly) narrow narrower narrowest (more narrow) (most narrow) gentle gentler gentlest (more gentle) (most gentle)

4. Adverbs taking the periphrastic form. slowly more/most slowly sharply more/most sharply 5. Irregular noun plurals. Identical singular/plural forms deer,elk,sheep,moose,fish. Vowel change Modern English goose/geese foot/feet tooth/teeth man/men woman/women mouse/mice louse/lice

-en plural ending. ox / oxen child/children brother/brethren /f/ = /vz/ leaf/leaves wife/wives thief/thieves /f/= /s/ chief/chiefs belief/beliefs cliff/cliffs /f/= /vz/ or /s/ hoof/hooves,hoofs dwarf/dwarves,dwarfs /s/= /ziz/ house/ houses /0/= / z/ or /0s/ bath/baths path/paths truth/truths

6. Part-of-speech alternations. Noun Verb /s/ /z/ use use house house abuse abuse /0/ / / teeth teethe bath bathe

Verb Adjective blessed /t/ blessed /id/ learned /d/ learned/id/ beloved /d/ beloved /id/ Also naked,wicked /id/ /f/ /v/ shelf shelve safe save proof prove relief relieve

prefix + stem Noun Verb an OVERflow to overFLOW an OVERload to overLOAD

prefix + stem ( verbs only) overHEAT overCOME outPLAY outDO

Verb form

apPROpriate /eit/

Adjective form apPROpriate /at/

noun/adjective CONduct REbel Object SURvey PROtest DESert

verb conDUCT reBEL obJECT surVEY proTEST deSERT

Content word (strong form) vs Function word (weak form). He said that that chair was his. He said (h)e wanted to take (h)im to school.

To / Two / Too When I was in England my brother was TWO. When I was in England my brother was TOO. Hes going to England. /u/ Hes going to China. /a/

Conclusion Although foreign language learners often receive extensive grammar instruction (including past tense,plurals,possessive,parts of speech) at na early stage,the pronunciation aspect of such grammar lessons is not always well addressed.This lack of integration between grammar and phonology (pronunciation) can affect other areas of language proficiency,such as listening,speaking,and writing.

Thus, pronunciation is clearly an area where teachers and textbook writers,especially at the beginning level, need to give greater attention to.