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Morphology, Part 4: Allomorphy

Morphology, Part 4: Allomorphy. February 2, 2012. Internal Change. A (slightly) more common word-formation process in English is internal change . = changing sounds inside a root creates a new word. Also known as alternations sing ~ s a ng present/past drive ~ dr o ve present/past

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Morphology, Part 4: Allomorphy

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  1. Morphology, Part 4:Allomorphy February 2, 2012

  2. Internal Change • A (slightly) more common word-formation process in English is internal change. • = changing sounds inside a root creates a new word. • Also known as alternations • sing ~ sang present/past • drive ~ drove present/past • foot ~ feet singular/plural • mouse ~ mice singular/plural • import ~ import noun/verb • present ~ present noun/verb

  3. By the way... • Some internal change processes have (limited) productivity in English • What’s the past tense of “sing”? • sang sung • ring? • rang rung • bring? • brang? brung? • brought? brought?

  4. Internal Change Quick Write • 46 total responses. • Did you vake? Yes, I… • vook (2); vade (1) • Did you slike? Yes, I… • Everybody said “sliked”! • Did you neak? Yes, I… • nuck (1)

  5. Internal Change Quick Write • 4. Did you mide? Yes, I… • mid (6); mode (5); made (1); midden (1); midded (1) • 5. Did you strink? Yes, I… • strunk (10); strank (6) • 6. Did you lun? Yes, I… • lan (5); lunded (1) • Internal changes are made for the new forms to the extent that they resemble phonologically similar forms already in the language. (ride, drink, run)

  6. Last but not least • Sometimes an affix changes form, depending on what kind of root it attaches to. • Consider English /in-/ • combines with adjectives to form adjectives • means “the opposite of” • Examples: • /in-/ + accurate = inaccurate • /in-/ + tolerant = intolerant • /in-/ + direct = indirect

  7. Allomorphy • What’s going on in these cases? • /in-/ + legible = illegible • /in-/ + regular = irregular • /in-/ + legal = illegal • There are two new forms of the affix: /il-/ and /ir-/ • These are called allomorphs. • Allomorphs = “different forms”

  8. Allomorphy • What’s going on here? • /in-/ + probable = improbable • /in-/ + mobile = immobile • /in-/ + possible = impossible • /in-/ changes to /im-/ before both /p/ and /m/. • /p/ and /m/ are both produced with the lips. • To explain patterns like this, we’re going to need to know something about how we actually produce the sounds of English. • We have to study Phonetics!

  9. Allomorphy • Another English example: • a dog an owl • a noise an orange • a strawberry an apple • Here’s another: • walked invited • sprayed needed • stopped hated • fired landed • What’s the pattern?

  10. Allomorphy • One last pattern: • cats matches • judges dogs • chairs passes • When do we add an extra syllable? • How does the pattern compare to the formation of third person singular verbs? • waits, loves, shows, finds… • watches, hatches, kisses, spazzes… • The pattern is based entirely on the sounds involved; • not on the meaning of the morphemes.

  11. Allomorphy • Italian Quick Write • Finally: Let’s work on some practice morphology exercises…

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