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UNIVERSITÉ DE LOMÉ

Faculté des Lettres, Langues et Arts (FLLA)

Département d‘Anglais

Domaine : LETTRES LANGUES ET ARTS

Parcours : Licence d‘Anglais

Etablissement : Faculté des Lettres, Langues et Arts (FLLA)

Code et Intitulé de l‘UE : LNG260

Crédits : 4

Semestre : 4 Mousson

PHONOLOGIE ET MORPHOLOGIE DE LA
LANGUE ANGLAISE
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Brief presentation of the lecture

Phonology is the first part of the lecture. Firstly, it introduces the students to the relationship
between phonetics and phonology as a pre-step to the definition, characteristics and
conceptions of the phoneme. Secondly, it presents some techniques of the identification and
inventory of phonemes. Thereafter, it explains the key phonological processes followed by
differentiation between a phoneme and an allophone that is necessary to the understanding of
the phonological rules. Finally, it looks at the syllable structure systems and
suprasegmentals/prosody (with distinction between stress and tone) applied to English.

Morphology is the second part of the lecture. It deals with the definition and characteristics
of a morpheme, the structure of words highlighting the distinction between free and bound
morphemes, derivational and inflectional morphemes, morpheme versus allomorph as well
as their hierarchical structure in words. This leads us to the analysis of word
structure/constituents (morphological analysis). The last concern of morphology in this part
is the study of the word formation procedures (derivation, back formation, compounding,
functional shift, clipping, blending, coinage, antonomasia, acronymy, ideophone, neologism,
linguistic calque, onomatopoeia, borrowing among other technique).
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1. PHONOLOGY
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WEEK ONE
INTRODUCTION

‗Phonology‘ is a branch between phonetics and morphology as morphology is a branch

between phonology and syntax. In the first case we talk of functional phonetics, and in the
second we talk of morphophonology.

As a subfield of linguistics, Phonology is interested in the sound system of language. It is the

establishment and description of the abstract/underlying segments or units of sounds by
means of distinctive features, and their systematic organisation/combination in the mind of the
speaker. In a phonological study, there is necessity to rely on phonetics. In phonological
investigation, the phoneme constitutes the basic sound unit of study.

1.1 Relationship between phonetics and phonology

There is a close relationship between both branches. Analyses in phonology begin by a look
at articulated and acoustic characteristics of sounds; that is, speech sounds are named and
classified according to organs of speech used to produce them and according to how they
(sounds) are perceived.
Besides, the different natural classes used to define a phoneme or a group of phonemes are
provided by phonetic description.

The phonetician identifies and differentiates the speech sounds through experimental and
quantitative methods. As for the phonologist, he takes this identification into consideration in
order to make an inventory of the system of sounds which are specific to the language being
studied. The phonologist uses the techniques of the function criterion pertinence and
commutation (use of opposition network and comparison). Therefore, we can say that
phonetics rather comes under Science of the nature from which it borrows its techniques of
analysis and instruments. It means that phonetics draws its inspiration from physiology
(articulatory phonetics) and acoustic physics (acoustic phonetics).

On its side, phonology must be considered as a part of human science; it aims at interpreting
and accounting for the use of sounds by man to communicate. Phonology establishes its
analysis on the basis of products of ―language‖ isolated by the phonetician. One can therefore
say that phonology is a functional phonetics.

In phonology, phonological units are functional; they are units which are established
considering the function they exercise within the language. In structural phonology the main
unit is the phoneme dealt with in phonematics.

Phonematics

Initially, the notion of ―phonemics‖ was firstly used by the American linguists (in structural
linguistics). Lately, the term has been replaces by that of phonology. Besides, a new concept
which is phonematics, a linguistic calque of the French word « phonématique », is commonly
used in the description of language concerning how phonemes are combined to form words.
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WEEK TWO
1.2 The notion of phoneme

A phoneme is an abstract linguistic unit of sound used to write language and distinguish
words.

Conceptions and inventory techniques of phonemes

Despite the importance of the notion of phonemes in phonology, all the linguists do not agree
with one another on this notion.

a) E. Harold Palmer’s conception

For the English linguist Harold, the phoneme coincides with phonetic reality. According
to this conception later on shared by Daniel Jones (in SPE), the phoneme is a ―Family of
sounds‖. That is the phoneme corresponds to a class of sounds attested in a given
language (H. Gleason). It is the point of view of American structuralism developed by
Bloomfield, Daniel Jones, Kenneth Pike, Harris. For them, the phoneme is defined by its
characteristics. They have proposed the methodology of phonemes discovery through
segmentation (of words, morpheme etc) distribution of the linguistic unit with the
identification of the position or context in which the phoneme can take place and finally
the identification of phonemes of the language being studied.

POSITION

Sound distinction Initial Mid Final

English
/ʧ/ х х х
/ŋ / ø х х
/ʌ/ х х ø
/w/
/ə/
/r/

b) Psychological point of view

It is the mentalist point of view held by Baudoing de Courtenay; for him the phoneme is
an ideal sound the speaker tries to realise; for this reason the phoneme constitutes a
physiological part. Later, Edward Sapier has tried to point out the reality of phonemes in
the mind of the individual.
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c) Functionalist approach : Jakobsonian features

This model is borrowed from Ferdinand de Saussure‘s ideas. But the distinctive feature
theory has its roots in the work of the Russian scholars Trubetzkoy and Jackobson who
were in Prague School of Linguistics. When the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia,
Jackobson fled to New York and later moved to Harvard where he introduced the ideas of
the ‗Prague School‘ to Americans. The key publications of this approach are: Trubetzkoy
(1939) and Jakobson, Fant and Halle (1952). Trubetzkoy, for instance, was mainly
interested in devising a system of CLASSIFYING the phonemic OPPOSITIONS
(contrast): two-way opposition (‗BINARISM‘ in Jakobsian feature system) in the use of
common phonological parameters such as voicing and aspiration and multi-
dimensional opposition (MULTIVALUED-OPPOSITION in Ladfoged and Vennemann
sense).

So, the phoneme has a properly phonological reality. They insisted on the linguistic role
of phoneme saying that it does not have any value unless by its function and it alone must
be considered as identification criterion.
Henceforward, Chomsky and Halle (1968) in their book The Sound Patterns of English
(SPE) proposed a major revision of the theory with an increase of the number of
distinctive features, but like their original Jakobsonian precursors, SPE features remain
BINARY. They have only two coefficients or values, plus (+) indicating the presence of
a feature and minus (-) its absence.
Structural phonology today uses the approach showing that the phoneme is made up of an
overall pertinent features that constitute a ―bundle of features‖ or ―feature configuration‖
or ‗‘geometry of features‖ or ―feature matrix‖ on the phonological plan.

.
E.g. These pertinent features distinguish /p/
+ consonantal from the other phonemes; but the feature
/p/ + bilabial voicing distinguishes /p/ from /b/.
+ occlusive
- voice

Feature matrix

Functional method shows the organisation of the features characterising phonemes: the
features are stated starting from the general to the specific one. Features are also used to
describe phonemes in an economic way. Because of the features, this approach is called
Generative Phonology or Non-Linear Phonology dealing with natural classes and feature
system generally shown in the form of binary opposition.
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Distinctive feature matrix for the English consonants

SOUNDS
p b t d ʧ ʤk g f v θ ð s z ʃ Ʒ r l mn ŋ j w h
Features

Consonantal + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + +
Voice
Continuant - - - - - - - - + + + + +++ + + + - - -
Strident - - - - + + - - - - - - + + ++ - - - - -
Anterior ++ + + - - - - + + + + ++ - - - + ++ -
Coronal
Labial
High
Low
Back
Nasal
Sibilant - - - - + + - - - - -- ++++ - - - - -

Distinctive feature matrix for the English vowels

SOUNDS
ɪ i e ɛ u ʊ o ɔ Ə ʌ ɑ æ
Features

Vocalic + + + + + + + + + + + +
High
Low
Central
Mid
Back
Round
Front
Tense/ATR
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WEEK THREE

1.3 Techniques for the identification of phonemes

The technique of the discovery of phonemes is presented in phonemics by Pike L., Kenneth,
1947.

- Stage1: Segmentation of the corpus: one or two phonemes?

To answer this question, we use Segmentation of the words into smallest distinctive units of
sound: (the phoneme). The method of delimitation is based on comparison of two sequences
of sounds or minimal pair which oppose each other by only one segment. If the commutation
of one sound by another leads to a change of meaning, then both sounds will provisionally be
considered as two different phonemes. For instance in English, /k/ and /p/ can commute at
initial position in pat and cat. Pat / pæt/ and cat /kæt/.
In mild position: apt /æpt/~ act / ækt/.
Final position: nip /nɪp/~ nick /nɪk/.
In his work, the phonologist must show that each sound can be a phoneme but not necessary.
For instance in French: [r], [ R ] as well as /ʁ/ correspond to one phoneme but they represent
two phonemes in Arabic language.

In English [p] and [ ph ] correspond to the same phoneme /p/. We therefore have to look at
the variation of the same phoneme.

Complementary distribution or free variation? From phoneme to allophone

When two sounds do not commute, either you can never oppose them in the same
environment or the commutation does not lead to any new meaning. So, those sounds are
called variants or allophones of a same phoneme. Allophones occur at surface structure (SS)
as other contextual forms of the same basic or abstract sound in underlying or deep structure
(U/D S).

/ / ---------> [ ]
UR/DS SS
Abstract form Concrete/realised form

E.g. in French : [e] / [ɛ] as in /efe / ----> [ efɛ ] effet

E.g. in English: / t / ----> [ th ,] [ t ], [ tw ], [ ʔ ], [ Ɖ], [ r ], [ t].

/ɪmpɔ:tənt / --> [ ɪmpw ɔ:rənt- ] important
/ t / --------------------> [ r ]
The sound /t/ is also pronounced as [r], as [e] and [ɛ] can substitute each other in the word
‗effet‘ without changing the meaning of the word. So, [t] and [r], [e] and [ɛ] constitute
variants/allophones in free variation in these words.
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When sound that are variants cannot commute (because each of them has a specific context),
they constitute allophones in complementary distribution.
Example: [phwɔp-]
[ph] ~ [pw] ~ [p-] are in complementary distribution
 Chart of sound distribution (cf. Distributional approach of phonemes by Harold
Palmer and others).

The phonetic chart allows the linguist to identify the sounds that are phonemes and those that
are variants and the specific context in which every sound takes place.
- Stage2: Identification of phonemes and theirs features
We try to distinguish the different phonemes by articulation and acoustics procedures (here
phonetic transcription is necessary) using a certain number of pertinent features.
E.g. the sound /t/ is identified by the following features: + alveolar, + occlusive,- voice +oral

- Stage 3: Formation of minimal pairs

At this stage, forming minimal pairs will help the researcher make the inventory of all the
possible phonemes that can exist in the language being studied.

- Stage 4: Classification
We use a phonological chart to present the phonemes (consonants and or vowels) being
studied (that chart being different from the phonetic one).

- Stage 5: production
After having looked at the phonematic opposition, we realise that they do not have the same
production in the system. For instance /t/ and /l/ are very frequent in the language with quite a
high production and serve to form many words. Whereas /j / is less frequency because it has a
weaker production. As for /ŋ/ it occurs only in middle and final position of words in English,
but never at initial position. As a result, the production of a unit of sound depends on its
frequency as well as on its position in words.
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WEEK FOUR AND FIVE

1.4 Phonological processes

There are different phonological processes (insertion, deletion, dissimilation, metathesis and
those including secondary articulation...).

a- Assimilation, its direction

Assimilation is the modification of a sound made to be more similar to another sound in its
environment. The sound which is modified copies and shares the same feature(s) of the sound
that influences it as a result of anticipation (anticipated assimilation).

a1- Homorganic assimilation: the same organ

This type of assimilation takes place at point of articulation; in this process, the sound that is
being assimilated copies the features of the sound that influences it.

- In words
The process is related to the same organs which are adjusted to allow the production of the
assimilated sounds.
Eg:
in – appropriate [ ɪnəprəʊprɪət ]
in-decent [ ɪndisənt ]
in – possible [ ɪmpɔsəbl ]
un- correct [ ɪŋkərekt ]
in- regular [ ɪregjulə: ]
in- legal [ ɪli:gəl ]

a2 Voicing assimilation

It is a process in which a sound that was initially voiced becomes voiceless (or vice versa)
depending on the context.
Eg:
/ æbstrækt / ---> [ æpstrækt ] abstract

a3 Assimilation in manner of articulation

It deals with sounds carrying diacritics called secondary articulations such as nasalization,
palatalisation, labialisation, dentalisation, aspiration, unreleased, syllabic.

- The case of nasalization and nasality spreading

The vowels are initially oral but when they take place before a nasal alveolar, they copy the
feature + nasal.
e.g. song [sɔŋ ]
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b- Glottalisation
It is a process in which a glottal top occurs just before one of the sounds [ p, t, k or ʧ ].

Example : nature / nəɪʧə/ > [ nəɪʔʧə ]

mat [mæʔt]

c- Juncture

This process deals with the phoneme ―r‖ (in English),‖z‖, ―t‖, ―p‖ (in French) serving as a
―bridge‖ for two items following one another for articulation easiness.

- Juncture in English

The phoneme /r/ does not occur in syllable final position but when a word‗s spelling suggests
a final /r/ and a word begins with a vowel, the usual pronunciation is to articulate both items
with that phoneme /r/.
Ex : ―here is‖ /# hɪə # # ɪz #/ ---> [ hɪərɪz ]

- Juncture in French

In this language when 2 items follow one another, the second (2nd) beginning with a vowel the
first (1st) ending with a consonant, the pronunciation requires the juncture between that
consonant and that vowel.
Ex
―Les enfants vont à l‘école‘‘ [ ləzɑ ɑ vɔtalekɔl ]
[z] [t] constitute juncture sounds
This process is also called linking for the intrusive sound.
e- Sound coalescence

It‘s a process where there‘s phonological ―marriage‖ between two (2) sounds forming either
only one sound or a long sound as a vowel.

-Consonant coalescence

This is possible with sounds such as:

/s/ +/y/ or /j/ --->[ ʃ ]
/z/ + /y/ or /j/ --->[ ʒ ]
/t/ + /j/ ---> [ʧ]
1-―Don‘t you?‖ /dənt ju:/

[dənʧu:]
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2- ―Regression‖ = regress -ion/regres jən/

[regreʃn]

3- Confusion /kənfjuz jən/

[kən juʒn]

-Vowel coalescence
In this process, two (2) vowels that coexist because of two (2) morphemes following one
another come together as to form only one single vowel, sometimes being lengthened.
Ex Ho b lo < /h b l /
/ - / -> [ ] in [h b l ]

f) Epenthesis
It‘s a process similar to insertion; it deals with an addition of a vowel or a consonant between
two other sounds, sometimes at the beginning of a word.
Ex
In Ewe: bɔkiti (from English, ‗bucket‘ /bʌkɪt/ ).

In Tem:
/mɛ ɛɛ/ --->[mɛɳ ɛɛ].
ɪ go

In Kabiye:
sukuli (from English sku:l)
a) Deletion vs insertion
Both processes are symmetric.

- Deletion
In this process a sound is removed from its position.
/ tə eɪ / > [ t eɪ ] today
/ læn lɔ: / > [ lænlɔ: ] landlord
woa ‗‘them‘‘ + tɔ ‗‘father‘‘ > wo-tɔ ‗‘their father‘‘ (not * woa-tɔ).

- Insertion
It is characterised by an addition of a sound in a context where it was not.
/ menʃn / > [ menʃən ] mention
/ sku:l / > [ suk li ] school (CC --> C -V- C in borrowed words by African languages).

All the phonological processes are explained by phonological rules.

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WEEK SIX
1.5 Phonological rules

Phonological processes are stated in terms of phonological rules which are used to show how
abstract units combine and vary as well as the phenomena they undergo when they are used in
speech. The rules are either segmental or feature-combined.

A) Informal phonological rule

In the formulation of the informal phonological rule, a statement (sentence) is used to explain
how a phonological process works in a given phonological or morphophonological
environment.
EX. ―A vowel is nasalised before a nasal consonant‖ (in the word ‗song‘ [sɔŋ], ‗the vowel
/ɔ/ is nasalised [ ɔ] before the velar nasal consonant / ŋ /.

B) Formal phonological rule

a- Symbols used

In the formulation and writing of phonological rules some symbols are used. Below are some
of them.

// indicates the phonemic form (phoneme: sound set as basis for other variations).
[ ] shows the phonetic form, the change that has taken place in a given environment.
----> or > means : becomes/changes into/is transformed as;
<-- or < : results from.
—— Placement/position of an element.
∕ shows the environment an element occurs in.
# boundary of an element.

# —— initial position.

—— # final position.
[ ] —— [ ] between.
—— [ ] before.
[ ] —— after.

braces, they are used to put together elements having some features or
something in common.

Ø zero/nil element; empty space.

$ syllable.

The formal rule can be either segmental or feature-combined rule.

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b- Writing the segmental phonological rules

At this stage, segment of sounds and symbols are used to write the rules for which both
phonemic and phonetic forms are necessary in that they help one know the basic sound
and its possible changes in a given context/environment.
- Segmental rule for aspiration

[ khlæs ] class
/k/ —> [ kh ] / # ——

- Segmental rule for deletion

/ tədeɪ / --> [ tdeɪ ] today
/ ə / --> Ø / [ t ] —— [ d ] or / ə / --> Ø / [ t ] ——

- Segmental rule for dissimilation

/ fɪtθ/---> [fɪft] Fifth
/θ/ —> [t] / [f ] ——
- Segmental rule for insertion
/ menʃn / --> [menʃən ] mention
Ø —> [ ə ] /[ ʃ ] —— [ n ]

- Segmental rule for labialisation

/ gud / —> [gwud]
/ g / —> [ gw ] / —— [ u ]

- Segmental rule for vowel nasalisation

/sɪŋ / —> [ sɪŋ ] sing
/ɪ / —> [ ɪ ] / —— [ ŋ ]
c- Feature combination rule

The feature combination rule is stated in the theory of non-linear phonology (generative
phonology in the Generative Grammar approach). The rule uses features from natural
classes (consonantal, vocalic, obstruent, sonorent, strident, anterior, coronal, continuant,
syllabic, sibilant, nasal…) to characterise the segments of sounds implied in the rule.
In the feature combination rule we move from the general feature to the specific one. It means
from the traditional class which can be either consonantal or vocalic and we go to the point of
articulation to select the feature before we consider the feature from manner of articulation
specifying the feature [+/- voice].
- Feature combination rule for aspiration

+consonantal + consonantal
+ alveolar -----> + alveolar / # ——
+ stop stop
voice + Aspiration
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- Feature combination rule for deletion

For example in the word ‗today‘
today / tədeɪ / --> [ tdeɪ ]

+ voc + cons + cons

+ mid ---> Ø + alv —— + alv
+ central + occl + occl

- Feature combination rule for vowels nasalization

+ vocalic + consonantal
+ oral ---> [+ nasalization ] —— + nasal
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WEEK SEVEN
1.6 Syllable structure and suprasegmentals

1.6.1 Syllable structure system of the English language

a) Definition of a syllable
A syllable is a unit in speech which is often longer than one sound and smaller than a whole
word. So, a syllable is defined by the way in which vowels and consonants combine to form
various sequences. Vowels can form syllables by themselves or, they can be the centre of a
syllable, in the words such as:
are /ɑ:/; or /ɔ:/ err /ɜ:/
Vowels constitute single units. In the word ―bed” /bed/, the vowel /e/ constitutes the centre of
the syllable. Consonants are at the beginning or at the end of syllables and, with few
exception, do not usually form syllables on their own.
Syllables may be classified according to whether they end in a vowel (open syllables as in
“too” /tu:/ or in a consonant ( closed syllables as in “at”/æt/ for example. A syllable can be
divided into three parts: the beginning called the onset, the central part called the nucleus and
the end called the coda.
Ex
In the word ―bed‖, /b/ is the onset, /e/ the nucleus and /d/ the coda.
bed
onset coda
nucleus

b) Possible combinations of phonemes : syllable structure/system in English

The English language has its way of combining the phonemes into words. Since some
combinations are not admitted, the syllable structure system shows those that are required
by the language norms. The following combinations are some of the examples:
V as in / ɑ:/ ―are‖ (as minimum syllable);
VC as in / æt / ―at‖;
VCC as in /ækt/ ―act‖;
VCCC as in / ɪn z/ finds;
VCCCC as in / ɛksɛmpts / exempts;
CV as in /tu:/ ―too‖;
CCV as in /fri:/ ―free‖ ;
CCCV as in spray /spreɪ /;
When a word presents two consonants (CC) or more, CC or CCCC, together, we call them
―consonant cluster”.
A syllabic consonant such as /l/,/r/, /m/, /n/ or /ɳ/ stands as the ―peak‖ of the syllable
instead of the vowel and we call them ―weak syllables‖; they are marked by small vertical
line under them.
Ex
cattle / kætļ /
muddle /mʌ ļ/
struggling /strʌgļɪŋ/
 17

eaten /i:tņ/
bottom /bDtm/
―Particular‖ (with rhotic accent in American pronunciation where the syllabic ―r‖ is very
common.
/prtɪkəlr/
But BBC speakers could pronounce this word without any rhotic ―r ― /pə:tɪkjələ:/

1.6.2 Suprasegmentals : the example of stress in English

They are prosodic features, that is sound characteristics affecting whole sequences of syllables
or utterances that can involve for instance the relative loudness or duration of syllables
changes in pitch of a speaker‘s voice. Suprasegmentals include stress, tone, intonation …

a) Difference between tone and stress

Tone is a voice melody associated to a syllable in some languages using it. Tone can change
the meaning of a word but stress does not. Stress is used for emphasis and for grammatical
function in English; stress specifies the nature of the words (grammatical category) i.e. noun
or verb, adjective or verb.

b) Stress in English
- Stress for emphasis: ‗I / ˈwɪl / will‘
- Stress for contrast or choice : / rˈed / ‗red‘ not /blu / ‘blue‘.
- Grammatical information about the nature of a word that can have two categories:
Import / ˈɪmpɔ:t/ N --> Import /ɪmˈpɔ:t/ V
abstract / ˈæbstrakt / Adj --> /æbˈstrakt / Verb

- Stress shift
linguist / ˈlɪŋgwɪst / > / lɪŋˈgwɪstɪk / linguistic > / lɪŋgwɪsˈtɪkæl / linguistical

c) Tone in tone languages

English is not a tone language. African language, Chinese, for example, use tones with words.
Two main punctual tones are distinguished: high tone [ ˊ] and low tone [ ˋ ]; some languages
even identify a mid tone [ ˉ ].
Examples
In Ewe : tɔ ―father‖ vs tɔ ―river‖
In Kabiyè : m ―me‘‘; write!‘‘ vs m ―beat!‘‘

. Tone combination: complex tones

--->ˆ falling tone (complex tone)
+ ˊ ---> ˇ rising tone (complex tone)
évá ---> He came

Ht Ht
é-vâ Has he come?
 18

k kɔm ‗‘Naka has come.‘‘ vs k kɔm ‘‘Has Naka come ?‘‘ (Question)

Phonological rule can therefore be stated formally or informally. The informal rule uses a full
statement (full sentence) to explain the phenomena that is observed. The formal rule includes
both segmental and feature combinations. Dealing with speech sounds, we can consider them
at both level of phonemic form or phonetic form. This leads to the notion of transcription,
phonemic or phonetic. The difference between them is that in the phonetic transcription,
square brackets are used to present in details the rules such as secondary articulation,
assimilation, linking, deletion,… whereas phonemic transcription just presents sounds in deep
structure without any detail.

Phonetic transcription vs Phonemic/phonological transcription

[hji:kəŋgəʊ] < / hi: kən gəʊ/ ― he can go‖

[ hæpn-] < / hæpn /

[ ðə:rjɪz] < / ðə: ɪz /

When considered at the phonemic form usually, sounds are combined with different syllables
(syllable structure) in order to form words dealt with in morphology.
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2. MORPHOLOGY
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WEEK EIGHT

Introduction

Morphology is a linguistic branch which is concerned with the study of morphemes and their
different forms and the way they combine to form words in a language. So, the basic element
of study in morphology is the morpheme.

2.1 Definition of morpheme

A morpheme is defined as a minimal/smallest linguistic meaningful unit in a language. It has

a meaning or a grammatical function. A morpheme cannot be divided without altering or
destroying its meaning. The morpheme then has a form and a meaning.

Lexical form/function
Morpheme
Grammatical function

The elements such as ―tree‖ and ―mango‖ are separate/single items. They also constitute each
a single word. But if we consider ―mango-tree‖ we see that it is a word but not single because
it is made up of two morphemes that combine to form one word (mango + tree --> mango
tree). Similarly, ―book‖ and ―booklet‖ constitute each a word but they do not contain the same
number of constituents/morphemes: ―book‖ is made up of one constituent/morpheme but
―booklet‖ contains two morphemes which are ―book‘‘ and -―let‖. The element ‗‘booklets‘‘ is
also a word but it has three constituents/morphemes (book -let -s).

2.2 Morpheme: characteristics

Morpheme boundary is the boundary between two morphemes. For example, in kindness
there is a clear morpheme boundary between the stem kind and the constituent -ness. The
morpheme boundary helps identify the free morpheme as the lexical form and the non-free
morpheme as the bound form.

a-A lexical morpheme

A lexical morpheme can appear freely in a context; it is independent because it does not need
any other morpheme before functioning; it has its lexical function or grammatical
classification or category such as a noun, verb, adjective,…

b- Non-lexical/bound morphemes: affixes

A non-free/bound morpheme is dependent in that it cannot occur alone; it needs to be attached

to a root before it can function. Non-lexical morphemes are prefixes and suffixes.
-Prefixes
 occur before radicals/roots ;
 do not usually involve a change of word class ;
 help derive other words.
 21

- Suffixes
 occur after a radical/root ;
 the derivational ones involve a change in word class ;
 the inflectional ones do not bring any change in word class and do not change the
meaning of word either ; they only add the grammatical function related to syntactic
constructions ;
 Derivational suffixes change the meaning of parts of speech of the item ;
 Derivational suffixes indicate the relationship between words or sentences.
 22

WEEK NINE

2.3 Word structure or form

A word that is free can stand alone; if to it, it is possible to add some particles, then this word
can be divided into different morphological constituents which are radical or stem and
particles (affixes).

2.3.1 Radicals as free morphemes

The radical is relatively constant. Every single item or word has a radical with freer
distribution. They can occur almost everywhere in the sentence. Radicals include nouns,
verbs, adjectives, which are non-inflected adverbs or are non-derived, pronouns, prepositions,
conjunctions, determiners…
They are lexical morphemes since they can stand alone as meaningful words. André Martinet
calls them ―monemes‖. Lexical morphemes as radicals are free content or free functional
morphemes.

a) Free content morphemes

They constitute the basic elements of every language (lexicology and lexicography, each deals
with as “entries”. They are used to form phrases or sentences. They are as follows:
 Nouns (common or proper, concrete or abstract )
 Verbs ( transitive or intransitive, of action or state )
 Adjectives
 Adverbs

b) Free functional morphemes

They play a specific role in sentences. Pottier calls them ―grammemes‖. They include
prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, determiners, interjections…
The notion of ―stem‖ characterises a root that constitute a base.
Ex:
―undressed‖: dress is the stem

2.3.2 Affixes as bound morphemes (derivational vs inflectional)

Affixes are particles that cannot appear alone because they do not have any function by
themselves in a context. They need to be added to radicals before they can function. They
include prefixes and suffixes classified into bound derivational morphemes and bound
inflectional morphemes.

a) Bound derivational morphemes: Prefixes, Suffixes

Prefixes and suffixes are derivational morphemes because they are used to derive other
possible words.

- Prefixes as bound derivational morphemes

They are morphemes that occur before a root, i.e. Prefix- Radical
Prefixes are semantically pertinent because they add meaning to radicals. Prefixes are many in
English. Among them can be mentioned:
bi- (again/two)
 23

co- (with/together )
dis- (contrast/opposition/negation)
trans- (across/through)
re- (again/once more/repetition)
un- / in- (opposition/negation)
anti- (against)
hyper- (beyond, over)
hypo- (under)
neo- (new)
etc.

- Suffixes as bound derivational morphemes

They occur after a radical: Rad -Suffix
Suffixes are used to derive other words on the basis of radicals existing already in the
language. They are also numerous in English:
-ment (nominaliser / helps form nouns)
-ly (adverbiliser)
-less (adjectiviser)
-ness (nominaliser )
-ship (used to form nouns)
-tion (noun marker)
-er (noun marker)
-s (to form noun of sciences)
-hood (nominaliser)
-or (used to form nouns)
-full (used to form adjectives),etc.
b) Bound inflectional morphemes: only suffixes in English
They play a grammatical function, they are limited in number. In English, we have about
7 or 8 bound inflectional morphemes.
-ing (to form gerund or progressive form)
-est (used to form superlative with adjectives)
-er / ier (comparative)
-s ( to mark plural for regular nouns and third person singular simple present for ordinary
verbs)
-‗s‘ (possessive for plural or singular nouns)
-ed (for simple past or past participle of regular verbs)
-en (for some irregular plural nouns or past participle for some irregular verbs)

REMARK ABOUT AN “INFIX’’

In some languages ‗‘infixes‘‘ are attested as letters or sounds or group of letters or sounds
occurring within the word root to modify its meaning or function.
In Latin for example, the nasal infix ―n‘‘ is inserted within the root of a word to form a
verb: ‗‘frag‘‘ with the infix -n- becomes ‗‘frang‘‘ (to breake).
In Tagalong, the infix -um- shows that the verb is in the past tense: sulat ‗‘to write‘‘ with -
um- becomes sumulat ‗‘wrote‘‘.
In Kabiyè, the infixes are attested within the cardinal number referring to a noun of the
element which is counted: n lɛ ‗‘two‗‘; n dozo ‗‘three‗‘ in simple numeration; but
when objects, animals, etc., are counted: h tυ ‗‘leaves‘‘; h s ‗‘dogs‘‘;
h tυ nat lɛ ‗‘two leaves‗‘; h tυ nat dozo ‗‘three leaves‗‘
 24

h s n s lɛ ‗‘two dogs‘‘; h s n s dozo ‗‘three dogs‘‘

The examples show that -tυ- and -s - are infixes within the cardinal root.

In morphological analysis, the division of the word is presented first, after, the
constituents are shown using either the symbol - for affixes or / for the different
constituents of a word. The analysis starts with the radical as the first constituent, after,
suffixes are analysed with precision of their function and finally prefixes if any, with their
semantic value.
e.g. indirectly
1. in- direct -ly
2. in / direct / ly
direct: free content morpheme, part of speech/grammatical category: adjective ;
-ly: suffix, bound derivational morpheme, adverb marker
in-: prefix, bound derivational morpheme, negation marker.
 25

WEEK TEN

2.4 Allomorph vs morpheme

a) Morpheme
A morpheme is the actual form which is used to realize morphemes. If we consider the
word ―cat‖ we see that it is a single morpheme which consists of radical. But if we
consider ―cats‖, therefore, we have two morphemes realizing a lexical morpheme and an
inflectional morpheme. In different environments: a morpheme has different behaviours
known as allomorphs.

b) Allomorph
Allomorphs are variants or other forms of the same morpheme in deep structure (DS)
occurring at surface structure.

2.4.1 Identification of allomorphs

- Allomorphs for plural marker “-s” in English

The morpheme ―-s‖ does not have the same form depending on the context in which it
may occur:
1. [s]/[voiceless sounds except for sibilants] ―
―-s‖ /s/ -> 2. [z]/[voiced sounds ,consonants, vowels, except sibilants] ―
3. [(ɪ)z]/[sibilants] ―

Ex
a) cats [ kæts ]
b) dogs [ ɔgz ]
c) churches [ ʧɔ:ʧɪz ]
d) ears [ ɪəz ]

Segmental rules
a- /s/ -> [s] / [t] ―
b- /s/ -> [z] / [g] ―
c- /s/ -> [ɪz] / [ʧ] ―
d- /s/ -> [z] / [ɪə] ―

Using braces to write two rules into one:

b) and d):
[g] ―
/s/-> [z]
[ɪə] ―
 26

- Allomorph for “-ed” past tense and past participle marker

Depending on the last sound of the verb, the morpheme ―-ed‖ will realize different forms:

1) [d] after voiced sound except for / d /

―-ed‖ / t / ---> 2) [t] after voiceless sounds except for / t /
3) [ɪ ] / [ə ] after [t] and [d]

Ex
walk ---> walked
add ---> added
laugh ---> laughed
arrive ---> arrived

- Allomorph for the morpheme “in-”

This morpheme derives from different forms which can be explained by gemination.

1 [ in ] - alveolar except for bilabial, velar, liquid

2 [ im ] - bilabial consonant
3 [ iŋ ] - velar
4 [ il ] - lateral liquid
5 [ ir ] – retroflex liquid

Gemination shows two graphemes, the second being the assimilation of the first and both
having the same form but requesting only one sound pronounced as it were long (ll, rr,..).

- Allomorphs for irregular morphemes

They are morphemes having undergone changes in a specific environment; the change
may be partial or total.
Ex
1 man /mæn/ men [mən]
2 eat /i:t/ eaten [i:tn]
3 goose /gu:z/ geese [gi:z]
4 calf /kɑ:l / calves [kɑ:vz]

Morphemes ----> Allomorphs

1) - ə-+ plural [e]
2) -æ +plural /æ/ ----> [e] / [m] — [n]
3) -f- + plural ----> [vz] /— #
4)  ----> [n + PL] / $ — #

Remark
Allomorphs can be marked by conditioning.
 27

2.4.2 Allomorph conditioning

The allomorphic conditioning can be phonological, lexical, semantic, or syntactic.
 Phonologically conditioned allomorphs
The context in which they take place can be predictable and be analysed by morpho-
phonological rules. In that context, the rules are written to explain the different forms of
the allomorphs.
 Lexically conditioned allomorphs
They inform us about how the root undergoes partial or total change, as is the case of
some irregular verbs or nouns.
 Allomorphs with paradigmatic relationship
This deals with allomorphs which have grammatical category identification organized into
paradigm. Allomorphs are considered as paradigms when they can substitute one another
in a particular context:
[s] [z] [ɪz] constitute paradigms
 Allomorphs with syntagmatic relationship
At this stage, the combination is linear:
X – [S] – Y linear/syntagmatic rule
X2 – [Z] –X2

Sd1 Sd2

(t+s) [ts] in cats

(g+s) [gz] in dogs

 Semantically conditioned allomorphs

This refers to the allomorphs having the same grammatical function. Example: [s] and [z]
have the same function: they mark plural for regular nouns.

Conclusion
The different morphemes, free or bound, combine into larger units in order to form words.
The process of word formation is called lexical creation.
 28

WEEK ELEVEN

2.5 Word formation or lexical creation

What is the motivation for word formation?

Introduction
Languages are not static (they are dynamic) in the sense that they evolute. The part of
language that is mostly dynamic is its lexicon. The need for communication, because of
social, economic, scientific, technological, political, ideological development, leads to the
need for creation of new words. Two possibilities are offered: endoglossic and exoglossic
procedures.

2.5.1 Endoglossic word formation procedure

It is also an intralinguistic procedure. It is a technique in which elements that are used
together with the procedure of their combination are internal to the language itself.

a- Derivation
In this process, derivational affixes are used to derive new words from roots. This
procedure is very productive.
 Formation of nouns of instruments
Affixes are used together with roots in order to name some instruments.
e.g.
dig -er -> digger
point -er -> pointer
rob -er -> robber

 Nouns of agents
At this stage derivatives are added to roots to derive nouns for an action: do-er doer;
act-or actor.
 Nouns of actions
Particles are added to roots in order to derive nouns of actions done by the subject:
e.g.
creat -ion -> creation
react -ion -> reaction

Remark:
Derivation can be characterised by back formation known as reduction process. It is a
technique in which a word is shortened through disaffixation.
e.g. edit <-- editor <-- edition
TV <-- televise <-- television

b- Compounding (compound nouns)

This word formation process can use two or more roots in order to form other words.
Every word that is formed is a compound or complex word which gets its name from the
grammatical category of its constituents.
 29

e.g.
black-board (adjective-nominal compound word)
Adj N

girl-friend (nomino-nominal compound word)

N1 N2

waiting-room (verbo-nominal compound word)

V N
c- Acronymy
It is a lexical creation in which every initial grapheme/letter of a series of words is taken,
capitalized and strung together with others to be pronounced as a full word.
e.g ECOWAS, AIDS
This process of acronyms/sigles is used in the creation of nouns of political parties,
associations, NGOs ...
Acronyms/sigles can be lexicalized to become everyday terms, loosing thus their capital
forms.

Ex:
laser <-- LASER
onusien <- ONU

d- Clipping

It consists in dropping a syllable or more syllables leaving a part of words to stand as

entire words.
e.g.
add < advertisement
lab < laboratory
math < mathematics

Clipping, when applied to parenthood names or personal names, is called hypocoristic

expressing deep feelings or love. Some of them can be formed by reduplication of the
syllable that is considered.

e.g.
Mum < mummy
Chéché < chéri (in French)

Its also possible to have a double compounded clipping in some languages. In French for
instance we can create a word such as: ‗‘histo-géo‘‘.

e- Blending
In this process, parts or syllables of each word are taken and combined in order to form a
word.
e.g.
alcohol + Pop > alcopop
internet + telephone > netphone
 30

f- Linguistic calques
It consists in copying the procedure of word formation from another language to name a
new object or notion (a language A translates a word that belongs to a language B into a
unit of words or compound words).

Ex
French English
fin de semaine week-end
grate-ciel sky-scraper
igname pilée pounded-yam

g- Onomatopoeia

It consists in word formation process based on the imitation of the natural noise made by
an object or animal.
e.g.
boom (a noise made by an explosion)
splash (noise made by an object falling into water)

h- Idiophone
This is a creation system that refers to the form, state or colour of the object to name.
Ex:
lɔbɔlɔbɔ (very long), zɛɛɛ (very red) the ewe language);
poyipoyi (very white), kpolooo (very big, head for example) in Kabiyè;
Calvet (having ‗‘calvicie‘‘)

i- Neologism
In order to name new things, objects, etc., that are introduced into a culture where they did
not exist earlier, new words are created in terms of neologisms.
Ex:
―iron horse‖ to name the bicycle when it was first introduced into Ibo society in Nigeria.
Ewe
To name the concept of ―air plane‘‘ we have : yamev in Ewe, ɛsɔ lɔɔrɛ in Tem,
saŋgb nlɔr in Nawdm, etc.
ov n ‗‘coconut‘‘ in Ewe, in Kabiyè n s kp kp yɛ.

j- Coinage
It is an invention of total new forms to name a product or object or even ideologies.
Ex:
Newtown, nylon

k- Proper names: Antonomasia

It is a process of word formation used when giving individual names to geographical
places.
Ex:
Northfield
 31

2.5.2 Exoglossic word formation: borrowing

It deals with items that are completely new to the language because they are borrowed.
Borrowing implies words that are taken from a language A to be used in a language B.
Ex:
―vis-à-vis‖, ―coup d‘état‖, ―fiancé‖ from French
―alcohol‖ from Arabic languages
―zebra‖ from Bantou language

The combination of phonemes in a language helps produce syllables which, when

combined, will produce words. At this stage, sounds influence each other in words and
can adopt other behaviours in some specific environments. This gives us an idea about the
classification of English as isolating language, agglutinative language or fusional
language.
 32

WEEK TWELVE

2.6 Hierarchical structure of word in English

- Hierarchy of the occurrence of morphemes in words

- Hierarchical morphemic tree diagram

2.6.1 Morphological analysis of word structure: procedure

- Procedure
The method for the analysis of words requires the researcher to:
• Split the word into its different morphemes if it is not single;
• Number its constituent starting from the free morphemes before moving to the
affix(es) if any ;
• take each morpheme and analyse it starting from the free morphemes and moving to
the affixes;
• Specify the grammatical category, the function or semantic value of each morpheme.

- Model of morphological analysis

Following the procedure presented precedingly, we analyse the words below.

‗‘uselessly‘‘: is a derived word having the following constituents:
use/less/ly or use -less -ly:
1 2 3 1 2 3

1) use: Root/Radical, free content morpheme, verb/noun.

2) -less: suffix1, bound derivational morpheme, adjective marker, meaning
‗‘without‘‘.
3) -ly: suffix2, bound derivational morpheme, adverb marker.
‗‘blackboard‘‘: is a compound word presenting two free morpheme: ‗‘black‘‘ + ‗‘board‘‘ :
‗‘black‖ Root1 adjective and ‗‘board‘‘ Root2 noun.

tw ‗‘trees‘‘ in Ewe : an inflected word: t -w

1 2
1) t Root/Radical, free content morpheme, noun;
2) -w : suffix, bound inflectional morpheme, plural marker for nouns in Ewe.

m υ (an inflected word) ‗‘to write‘‘ : ma -υ

1 2
1) m , Root/Radical, free content morpheme, verb (IMP) ‗‘write!‘‘
2) -υ suffix, bound inflectional morpheme, infinitive marker for verbs in Kabiyè.
m yυ (a derived word) ‗‘writer‘‘ : m - υ
1 2
2) - υ suffix, bound derivational morpheme, noun marker.
underdevelopment < under- develop -ment (you do the analysis)
 33

2.6.2 Morphological classification of languages, the case of English

a) Basis for the classification

Languages can be classified according to the way morphemes are organised in the
construction of words and their occurrence in sentences. On this basis, three groups of
languages are identified.

b) Classification of languages

- Isolating language
It concerns a language in which words are often monomorphemic in sentences. In the
sentence: ‗ You sit down here‘, each word is single, one morpheme.

- Fusional language
It is a language in which morphemes in words are amalgamated (fused) together so that it is
not easy to distinguish them.
Ex. men <- man + PL; geese <- goose +PL; caught <- catch + past

- Agglutinating language
Words consist of two or more morphemes in their constructional structure and that can be
easily distinguished.
Ex. This foolish-looking man is a good-for-nothing.

CONCLUSION

Words have different structures as they have different formation procedures. But words
alone cannot convey meaningful complete information in communication process; they
need to enter a further stage where their combination will produce sentences that are
studied in syntax.
 34

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- Ladefoged, Peter, 2000. Vowels and Consonants, Oxford, Blackwell.
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Oxford: Blackwell.
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- Katamba, F., 1993. Morphology. St. Martin‘s Press.
- Green, J., 1991. Neologism. New Words Since 1960 Boomsbury.
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- Fudge, E. C., 1984. English Word stress, London, Georges Allen and Unwin.