Vladimir Ž.

Jovanović

ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY
Lecture 4
MORPHOLOGICAL RULES
 Morphological rules
 MORPHOLOGICAL RULES - the
principle factor in organizing
morphemes in lexemes and word
forms of a language.
 A limited set of rules stored in our
heads, responsible for proper
combinations of elements into well-
formed lexical structures.
 Morphological rules
 Govern the ordering of lexical and
grammatical morphemes according to
logic, meaning, grammar and
communication purposes.
 Guide our regular language
production.

adj. {pretty} + {-est} = prettiest

v. He {read} + {-s3} = He read-s
 Morphological rules
 Inflectional rules apply constantly and
to an indefinite number of items of the
same category.
 Unless prevented by a restrictive
factor or another irregularity, all
English nouns should be pluralized by
the application of the plural morpheme
{-s1}.
 Morphological rules
 MR prevent combining noun stems
with the past tense morpheme of
verbs or any other “illicit” structures.
v. {make} + {-est} =*makest
adj. {modest} + {-est} = *modestest
 Morphological rules
 How are MR productively used by
speakers to generate grammatical
words?
 The famous wug test.
 If we assume that a thing is called
*mun, two or more of them would be
referred to as *mun-s, judging by the
intuition by the native speakers.
 Morphological rules
 There are MR that pertain to
producing different lexemes.
 These rules are called derivational
or lexeme formation rules and
they run the synthesis of lexical
morphemes.
 Morphological rules
 V. {bath} + {room} = bathroom
 N. {room} + {bath} = *roombath
 Adj. {self } + {-less} + {-ly} =
*lesslyself
 adv. {affect} + {-ion} + {-ate}+ {-ly}
= affectionately
 Morphological rules
In English morphology,
inflectional rules are applied
only after all the derivational
ones have been applied.
n {propose} + {-iton} + {-s1}+
= n propositions ¶
 Morphophonemic rules
 Morphophonemics - studies the
ways phonemes are used to
express different grammatical and
lexical categories.
 Morphophonemic rules
Morphophoneme - a
phonological variant, usually
on the final parts of
morphemes, which carries
particular grammatical
meaning.
 Morphophonemic rules
It is an abstract unit. When
there is a change in its
concrete realizations, this
signals a difference in the
grammatical form or lexical
category.
Morphophonemic rules

pesniK
pesnic-i
pesnič-e
 Morphophonemic rules

Thechange formally marks

the difference between the
nominative case singular,
nominative plural, and
vocative singular.
 Morphophonemic rules
 Morphophonemic rules or
changes (SANDHI) - changes
that occur in the phonological
content of morphemes by which
they become adapted to different
grammatical functions or lexical
categories.
 Morphophonemic rules
 At times it is necessary even for
the root of a WF to change so that
we could obtain a different part of
speech or grammatical form.

 n. metal /'metal-ic 

 Morphophonemic rules
Morphophonemic rules in
English can affect the base
or the affix that is to be
added.
 ASSIMILATION
 Assimilation - the last consonant of
the prefix undergoes a change into a
phoneme identical with the starting
phoneme of the word root.
 Caused by the tendency to facilitate
the pronunciation of the two
morphemes in combination, by trying
to use phonemes which are related or
similar according to the place of
articulation.
 ASSIMILATION
 If the last prefixal phoneme changes
completely and is identified with initial
in the root, it practically merges with it
and disappears in pronunciation.
 More or less, this is a case of loss of
phonemes. This is called complete
assimilation.
 ASSIMILATION
in + logical > illogical
in + legitimate > illegitimate
in + modest > immodest
in + mature > immature
in + relevant > irrelevant
in + replace + able > irreplaceable
 ASSIMILATION
 Partial assimilation - when the last
prefixal phoneme is not completely
merged, but changed into another
from the set of phonemes articulated
at the same place of articulation.
 Bilabial plosives have the greatest
strength for assimilating alveolars into
bilabials.
 ASSIMILATION
en + bitter = embitter
en + body + ment = embodiment
in + perfect = imperfect
en + power = empower
in + patient = impatient
¶
 DISSIMILATION
 A process quite opposite to
assimilation, as the name indicates.
 Two phonemes from two different
morphemes, the last of a prefix and
the first of the root are dissimilated
so that they are no longer the same
phoneme, but the first one is
changed into a different one.
 DISSIMILATION
 The reason for that is easier
morpheme identification.
 The difference may be in the
place of articulation, or any other
sound quality. This is not
frequently present a change.
 DISSIMILATION
in + noble = innoble > ignoble

¶
 SYNTHESIS
 This morphophonemic change is
also known as palatalization.
 It refers to the process of
combining or fusing two
different consonants into a
single one, different from the
other two.
 SYNTHESIS
 It occurs when two morphemes
meet each other in a derivative,
and the final consonant of one
(velar or alveolar) and the initial
of the other, the sounds /i/
and /j/ most often, get
combined into a palatal sound.
 SYNTHESIS
dent- + -ure = denture
mix + -ure = mixture
close + -ure = closure
nat- + -ure = nature
impress + -ion = impression
regress + -ion = regression
alienate + -ion = alienation ¶
 VOICING
 Voicing - the change of the
phonemic content of the base when
an affix is to be attached.
 The final consonant of the base is
changed to match in the consonant
nature of the initial phoneme in the
affix.
 VOICING
 This normally occurs when the noun plural
suffix for regular plural formation is to be
added to a nominal base.
 The voiced /z/ exerts a strong voicing
influence on the final labiodental and
interdental fricative consonant that end
certain nouns.
 VOICING
 The voiceless consonants /f/
and /θ/ assume the form of
their voiced counterparts /v/
and /ð/. The voicing of the
latter is optional.
 VOICING
half > halves
knife > knives
loaf > loaves
life > lives
sheaf > sheaves
wolf > wolves
wreath > wreaths /ri: θs/or /ri: ðz/
bath > baths /ba: θs/ or /ba:ðz/
youth > youths /ju: θs/ or /ju: ðz/
 VOICING
 This morphophonemic rule does not
apply consistently, as many
exceptions would ascertain chiefs,
beliefs, etc., nor does it occur in
similar morphological and
phonological circumstances, such as
the case of genitive case markation,
wife’s, thief’s, etc. ¶
 LOSS OF PHONEMES
 One or more phonemes is dropped from
the original form and its phonological
content is altered.
 “original”, = the most usual morph of a
particular morpheme, the “default
morph”.
 Both vowels and consonants can be lost,
at various positions in the morpheme.
 LOSS OF PHONEMES
    Themost dominant is the
loss of /t/ after fricatives
before nasals and /l/.
 haste > hasten
 soft > soften
 nest > nestle
 LOSS OF PHONEMES

agent > agen-cy

different > differen-ce
meter > metr-ic
enemy > enm-ity

¶
 ADDITION OF PHONEMES
 This change involves adding another
phoneme to the phonological content
of a morpheme.
 This is not a very customary change
in English and usually occurs with the
so called “silent letters” in writing
which represent no phonemes in the
root.
 ADDITION OF PHONEMES
 This is to prove, once
again, that in morphology it
is the phonemic content of
morphemes that matters
and not the orthographic
one.
 ADDITION OF PHONEMES

bomb/bɒm/ >bombastic /bɒm’bæs.tɪk/

malign > malignant
long > longer
solemn > solemnize

¶
SIMPLE CONSONANT CHANGE
 Simple consonant change - the final
consonant in a morpheme undergoes
a change when a suffix is to be
added.
 This is quite a frequent phenomenon
in English, particularly when it comes
to deriving adjectives from verbs.
SIMPLE CONSONANT CHANGE

provide > provis-ion

admit > admiss-ion
conclude > conclus-ion
deride > deris-ive

¶
 ABLAUT IN DERIVATION
 It refers to a change in the syllabic
vowel of a morpheme, or the vowel
which bears the main stress.
 The mutation of the vowel signals a
change in lexical category.
 Ablaut (apophony) is present both in
inflection and derivation.
 ABLAUT IN DERIVATION
wise /waɪz/ > wis-dom /’wɪzdəm/
broad /brɔ:d/ > bred-th /bredθ/
precise/prɪ’saɪs/  > precis-ion /prɪ’sɪʒən/
nation/’neɪʃən/ > nation-al/’næʃənəl/ 
please/pli:z/ > pleas-ure/’pleʒər/ 
sign  /saɪn/ > sign-ature /’sɪɡnɪtʃər/ 

¶
 GRADATION
 Gradation - a complex change as it
involves two processes occurring one
after the other.
 After the addition of certain derivational
suffixes, the main stress of the word
shifts from the first syllable onward and
is observed on another syllable, usually
the second.
 GRADATION
 This brings about the weakening
of the first syllable vowel, so that
it reduces to //.
 The syllabic vowel has changed in
quality and this occurrence is
called vowel change.
 GRADATION
Thus, gradation is a combination
of shifting of the stress and
changing of the vowel.

province/’prɒvɪnt s/ > provincial /prə’vɪnt ʃəl/

 GRADATION
detriment > detriment-al
/’detrɪmənt/ > /detrɪ’mentəl/
carnivore > carnivor-ous
/’kɑ:nɪvɔ:r/ > /kɑ:’nɪvərəs/
dual > dual-ity
/’dju:əl/ > /dju:’æləti/ ¶
Reading
 Chapter 5