Morphology and syntax
As we already know the grammar is divided into two branches:
Morphology -> is the internal structure o a word,
-> has to do with how words are shaped.
-> is the study of how the shapes of words may be systematically adjusted in order to accomplish communicative tasks.
-> is the study of how meaningful units combine to shape words.
Following the etymology of the word we can deduce that "morphology" is the science that studies the shape of individual words.
morph - logy
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shape science of
The smallest unit in linguistic meaning is a morpheme
-> a grammatical unit in which there is an arbitrary union of sound and a meaning that cannot be further analysed.
Every words in every language is composed of one or more morphemes
Morphemes can be subdivided into two types ->
Free morphemes -> is a morpheme which can be used as a word of its own because it can occur in isolation and cannot be divided into smaller meaning units
Ex.
sing
happy
create
…
in this case we are talking about simple words that to exist they don't need other elements.
Bound morphemes -> is a morpheme which cannot accour as its own because it cannot stand independently.
-> in this case we are talking about complex words that to exist they need other elements -> the so-called affixes
Affixes are divided into -> prefixes -> which occurs word-initially.
-> are normally a class-preserving in fact they will not change the class of a word.
Ex.
create -> re-create
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verb verb
-> suffixes -> which occurs word-finally
-> are normally a class-changing in fact they will change the class of a word.
Ex.
teach -> teach-er
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verb noun
Some morphemes change their sound or their spelling but not their meaning when they appear in different contexts.
-> each of these different forms is classed as an allomorph.
So:
an allomorph is each alternative form of a morpheme.
This could be a variation in sound (pronunciation), or spelling, but never in function or meaning.
Past tense allomorphs
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Some examples of English allomorphs ->
In English, we use the past tense morpheme “ed”, which is most often used with past regular verbs.
-> is pronounced slightly differently depending on the verb it is bound to:
-> /t/ in washed -> /woʃt/
/-ed/ -> /d/ in buzzed -> /bʌzd/
-> /ɪd/ in planted -> /pla:ntɪd/
Plural allomorphs
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In English, we typically add “s” or “es” to nouns to create the plural form.
-> their sound changes depending on the noun.
-> /z/ in dogs -> /dɒɡz/
/-s | -es/ -> /s/ in cats -> /kæts/
-> /ɪz/ in horses -> /hɔːsɪz/
Less common plural allophones :
/-s | -es/ -> /null allomorph/ in sheep -> /ʃiːp/
-> /ən/ in oxen -> /ɑksən/
Morphology is normally divided into two branches ->
Derivational morphology -> derivation is the morphological process which create a new word from an existing word, often by adding a prefix or suffix.
Derivational affixes -> formation of a new word whose meaning is different from the meaning of the root o which it is attached.
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Ex.
fix -> fix-able
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verb adj.
Derivational prefixes -> formation of a new word whose meaning isn't different from the meaning of the root o which it is attached.
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Ex.
read - re-read
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verb verb
-> with a new meaning and/or a new category
English morphology Pagina 1
