MORPHEMES AND ALLOMORPHS

ENG 235: Morphology and Syntax of English — Fall Semester 2003: MON & THU 1.30-3.00*
English Program, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures — University of Cyprus
Kleanthes K. Grohmann (Room 004, Phone x2106) — Email: kleanthes@punksinscience.org
October 23, 2003

CLASS 2: MORPHEMES AND ALLOMORPHS
SOME TERMINOLOGY: MORPH & CO.

A morpheme is the smallest string of sounds carrying information about meaning/function.
• free morphemes can stand on their own, i.e. be words
• bound morphemes need to attach to something
(1) a.
b.
house
house-s
• morphemes that are not words (i.e. those that are bound) are called affixes
• depending on their position, we have a prefix, suffix, infix, circumfix (?)
• affixes can be category-sensitive
(2) a.
b.
polite (adjective) – politeness (noun)
drive (verb) – driver (noun)
We can say that affixes attach to stems and that the most embedded stem in a complex word is
called the root (i.e. it is a simple stem). Note that while all affixes are bound (bound
morphemes) not all roots are free morphemes, some can be bound as well.
(3) a.
b.
leg-ible, aud-ience, magn-ify (associated with Romance roots)
cran-berry, huckle-berry, gorm-less (cranberry morphemes)
NB: What is a word? We might now have a better answer than last class: A word is the smallest
free form found in language. And yes, we can still distinguish simple from complex words.
• roots belong to lexical categories (i.e. nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions)
(4) a.
b.
care (verb, root) – careful (adjective)
careful (adjective, stem) – carefulness (noun)
MORE TERMINOLOGY: THE ALLOMORPH
Morphemes may come in more than one form:
(5) a.
b.
hand-s, dog-s, nun-s
cat-s, dock-s, trap-s
[z]
[s]
The plural morpheme –s is pronounced differently in (5a) and (5b). Is it the same or two
different morphemes? Answer: It is one morpheme with two different realizations
depending on the phonological environment. It is [÷s] after [t], [k], [p] and [÷z] after [d], [g], [n]
— What is it that makes these two sets different? The first is [-voice], the second [+voice].
1
(6) a.
b.
[Z] ‡ [s] / [-voice] ____
[Z] ‡ [z] / [+voice] ____
Vowels can be said to be inherently voiced, so they take the [z]-realization as well: day-s.
One further possibility of the realization of the plural morpheme is after sounds like [÷s], [÷z]:
(7) bus-es, box-es, maze-s
(6) c.
[Iz] (or [ ́z])
[Z] ‡ [Iz] / [coronal, fricative] ____
The rule in (6c) should actually apply before those in (6a,b). Why? Because if in the case of bus
for example, where –s is [-voice], we apply the rule in (6a) that would give us the plural
morpheme –s only, so we have no way of accounting for the presence of [Iz]. In other words,
we’ll get the wrong result. (Some sibilants are a subset of all voiceless consonants.)
(8) Allomorphic English plural rule
[Z] ‡ [Iz] / [coronal, fricative] ____
[s] / [-voice] ____
[z] / [+voice] ____
The three different realizations of the plural morpheme [Z] are called allomorphs. In most of
the cases allomorphs are predicted by the phonological environment (this is relevant for the
relation between morphology and phonology, which we will look at towards the end, class 10).
Something very similar can be said for the past tense morpheme -ed: [Id/ ́d], [d], [t]. [exercise]
But not only phonology determines allomorphy: the lexicon and grammar do as well.
(9) a. laugh, cliff — laughs, cliffs
b. wife, loaf — *wifes, *loafs
c. — wives, loaves
(10)
[s]
*[s]
[z]
my wife’s job ‹ ’s: [s]
It looks like the “word” wife e.g. comes in two allomorphs as well: free wife and bound wive.
Lastly, it must be pointed out that although intuitive, correlating morphemes with meaning is
not (always) accurate. (Class 1: “Morphemes are the smallest unit pairing sound and meaning.”)
Recall that we defined morphemes in terms of meaning or function above — for a good reason.
[rI], [r ́]
[rI], *[r ́]
(11) a. return, restore...
b. re-turn, re-store...
(12) a. involve, revolve
b. #involution / involvement, revolution /* revolvement
Further readings:
& Spencer, A. 1991. Morphological Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, Ch. 1
2


ENG 235: Morphology and Syntax of English — Fall Semester 2003: MON & THU 1.30-3.00*
English Program, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures — University of Cyprus
Kleanthes K. Grohmann (Room 004, Phone x2106) — Email: kleanthes@punksinscience.org
October 23, 2003
CLASS 2: MORPHEMES AND ALLOMORPHS
SOME TERMINOLOGY: MORPH & CO.
A morpheme is the smallest string of sounds carrying information about meaning/function.
• free morphemes can stand on their own, i.e. be words
• bound morphemes need to attach to something
(1) a.
b.
house
house-s
• morphemes that are not words (i.e. those that are bound) are called affixes
• depending on their position, we have a prefix, suffix, infix, circumfix (?)
• affixes can be category-sensitive
(2) a.
b.
polite (adjective) – politeness (noun)
drive (verb) – driver (noun)
We can say that affixes attach to stems and that the most embedded stem in a complex word is
called the root (i.e. it is a simple stem). Note that while all affixes are bound (bound
morphemes) not all roots are free morphemes, some can be bound as well.
(3) a.
b.
leg-ible, aud-ience, magn-ify (associated with Romance roots)
cran-berry, huckle-berry, gorm-less (cranberry morphemes)
NB: What is a word? We might now have a better answer than last class: A word is the smallest
free form found in language. And yes, we can still distinguish simple from complex words.
• roots belong to lexical categories (i.e. nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions)
(4) a.
b.
care (verb, root) – careful (adjective)
careful (adjective, stem) – carefulness (noun)
MORE TERMINOLOGY: THE ALLOMORPH
Morphemes may come in more than one form:
(5) a.
b.
hand-s, dog-s, nun-s
cat-s, dock-s, trap-s
[z]
[s]
The plural morpheme –s is pronounced differently in (5a) and (5b). Is it the same or two
different morphemes? Answer: It is one morpheme with two different realizations
depending on the phonological environment. It is [÷s] after [t], [k], [p] and [÷z] after [d], [g], [n]
— What is it that makes these two sets different? The first is [-voice], the second [+voice].
1
(6) a.
b.
[Z] ‡ [s] / [-voice] ____
[Z] ‡ [z] / [+voice] ____
Vowels can be said to be inherently voiced, so they take the [z]-realization as well: day-s.
One further possibility of the realization of the plural morpheme is after sounds like [÷s], [÷z]:
(7) bus-es, box-es, maze-s
(6) c.
[Iz] (or [ ́z])
[Z] ‡ [Iz] / [coronal, fricative] ____
The rule in (6c) should actually apply before those in (6a,b). Why? Because if in the case of bus
for example, where –s is [-voice], we apply the rule in (6a) that would give us the plural
morpheme –s only, so we have no way of accounting for the presence of [Iz]. In other words,
we’ll get the wrong result. (Some sibilants are a subset of all voiceless consonants.)
(8) Allomorphic English plural rule
[Z] ‡ [Iz] / [coronal, fricative] ____
[s] / [-voice] ____
[z] / [+voice] ____
The three different realizations of the plural morpheme [Z] are called allomorphs. In most of
the cases allomorphs are predicted by the phonological environment (this is relevant for the
relation between morphology and phonology, which we will look at towards the end, class 10).
Something very similar can be said for the past tense morpheme -ed: [Id/ ́d], [d], [t]. [exercise]
But not only phonology determines allomorphy: the lexicon and grammar do as well.
(9) a. laugh, cliff — laughs, cliffs
b. wife, loaf — *wifes, *loafs
c. — wives, loaves
(10)
[s]
*[s]
[z]
my wife’s job ‹ ’s: [s]
It looks like the “word” wife e.g. comes in two allomorphs as well: free wife and bound wive.
Lastly, it must be pointed out that although intuitive, correlating morphemes with meaning is
not (always) accurate. (Class 1: “Morphemes are the smallest unit pairing sound and meaning.”)
Recall that we defined morphemes in terms of meaning or function above — for a good reason.
[rI], [r ́]
[rI], *[r ́]
(11) a. return, restore...
b. re-turn, re-store...
(12) a. involve, revolve
b. #involution / involvement, revolution /* revolvement
Further readings:
& Spencer, A. 1991. Morphological Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, Ch. 1
2