LIN

 110
Chapter  8
Other  Rules
Addition  and  Spelling
 More  Changes
• We  have  looked  so  far  at  deletion  rules  and  
change  rules
• The  function  of  these  rules  is  to  alter  the  basic  
forms  of  the  morphemes  that  we  learn  in  the  
course
• If  we  know  the  rules,  we  can  unravel  them  to  
arrive  back  at  the  basic  forms,  which  we  can  then  
associate  with  a  given  meaning
• Chapter  8  covers  two  more  types  of  change  rules:
• Addition Rules  and  Spelling Rules
 Addition  rules
• Addition  rules  add  a  sound/letter  to  the  end  of  
certain  roots  when  they  are  followed  by  certain  
suffixes
• P-­‐Addition  adds  the  letter  <p>  and  sound  <p>  
between  [m]  and  <t>.
– This  is  real  phonetic  assimilation.  [p]  is  a  bilabial  stop,  
which  provides  a  transition  between  the  bilabial  nasal  
[m]  and  the  stop  [t].
– It  affects  only  two  roots  ending  in  [m]:  -­‐sum-­‐ and  –
em-­‐,  so  the  total  number  is  small,  but  it  affects  all  
words  with  these  roots
– Consume/consumption;  redeem/redemption
 Addition  rules
• U-­‐ Addition adds  the  letter  <u>  between  the  letters  <c>  and  
<l>  in  roots  of  the  form  <Xcle>  when  a  suffix  beginning  in    a  
vowel  follows
– Miracle/miraculous;  carbuncle/carbunculate;  
clavicle/claviculate;  corpuscle/corpusculous;  
muscle/muscular;  oracle/oracular,  etc.
• The  OED  lists  300  words  ending  in  <-­‐cle>,  so  there  are  
potentially  many  words  of  the  form  <Xcular>  or  <Xculate>  or  
<Xculous>
• The  ending  <-­‐cle/-­‐cul>  comes  from  the  Latin  diminutive  suffix  
<-­‐cul>,  which  was  added  to  a  word  to  mean  ‘little’
• The  English  word  muscle comes  from  the  Latin  word  mus-­‐cul-­‐
us,  which  literally  means  ‘little  mouse’
 Spelling  rules
• Spelling  rules  do  not  affect  pronunciation
• Spelling  rules  result  from  peculiarities  of  English  spelling  whose  
origins  are  buried  in  the  distant  past
• The  letter  <y>  was  not  used  in  Latin  except  for  words  borrowed  
from  Greek
– In  Middle  English  (1100  – 1500),  <y>  was  introduced  as  a  variant  form  
of  <i>  or  <ie>  at  the  end  of  a  word
• The  letter  <x>  has  a  peculiar  history
– <x>  was  the  only  Latin  letter  that  stood  for  a  sequence  of  sounds:  [ks]
– The  only  Latin  morpheme  that  contained  [ks]  was  the  prefix  <ex-­‐>
– The  Romans  did  not  use  the  letter  <k>  but  used  <c>  instead
– When  a  root  ending  in  [k]  was  followed  by  a  suffix  [s],  the  sound  
sequence  [ks],  which  should  have  been  spelled  <cs>,  was  instead  
spelled  as  a  single  letter  <x>
 X-­‐ Replacement
• When  a  root  ending  in  <c>  or  <g>  is  followed  by  
the  suffix  [-­‐s],  the  sequence  of  sounds  [ks]  that  
results  is  spelled  <x>,  at  the  end  of  the  word
• Any  English  word  that  ends  in  <x>  could  consist  of  
a  root  ending  in  <c>  or  <g>  followed  by  [-­‐s]
– Most  of  the  actual  cases  are  formed  on  the  roots  
<flec>,  and  <plec/plic>
• Flex/flection;    duplex/duplicate;  
– A  few  cases  involve  the  root  <noc>
• Equinox/nox/nocturnal/noctambulist
 Consonant  Doubling
• Latin  and  Greek  had  truly  double  consonants
• In  Latin,  when  a  letter  was  doubled  in  spelling,  it  was  held  for  a  longer  
duration  than  a  single  consonant:
– Oppidum,  bellum,  ille,  pinna,  etc.
– In  Italian,  this  is  still  true:  casa  vs.  cassa
• In  English,  there  were  once  true  long  consonants
• In  spelling,  we  still  have  double  consonants,  but  they  are  identical  in  
pronunciation  to  single  consonants
• In  spelling,  most  consonants  cannot  be  doubled  at  the  end  of  a  word
– Exceptions  are  <–ss>,  <-­‐zz>
• When  a  word  ends  in  a  stressed  ‘short’  vowel  followed  by  a  single  
consonant  letter,  the  letter  is  doubled  when  a  suffix  is  added  that  begins  
with  a  vowel  letter,  even  if  the  vowel  is  silent:
– Contról,  controlled;  stop/stopped;  refer/referred
– Compare  gállop/  galloped;  develop/developed;  honor/honored
 Y-­‐Change
• The  y-­‐change  rule  is  very  simple:
• When  a  word  ends  in  the  letter  sequence  <Cy>   (a  
consonant  followed  by  <y>)  and  a  suffix  is  added  
to  the  word,  the  letter  <y>  becomes  the  letter  <i>
• There  are  two  exceptions
– When  the  first  letter  of  the  suffix  is  <i>,  the  <y>  
remains
• Cry/crying/*criing
– When  the  suffix  is  <-­‐s>,  the  <y>  becomes  <ie>
• Spy/spies/*spis