Abrão Pira Bau Sele

Francisco Virgílio
Nelito Pius Piza
Sérgio Félix Curatacani

English Teaching Degree and Portuguese skills

Morphemes, Morphs and Allomorphs

Grammatical conditioning, Lexical conditioning and Suppletion

Universidade Rovuma
Instituto Superior de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente
2024
 Abrão Pira Bau Sele

Francisco Virgílio

Nelito Pius Piza

Sérgio Félix Curatacani

Morphemes, Morphs and Allomorphs

Grammatical conditioning, Lexical conditioning and Suppletion

Presented to the department of letters and

social sciences in partial fulfilment of
Morphology evaluation requirements. Year 2

Lecturer: Dr. Liguni Chuluma

Universiade Rovuma

Instituto Superior de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente

2024
Content page

1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................................4
2. Morphemes...........................................................................................................................................5
2.1. Types of morpheme: bound versus free...........................................................................................6
4. Allomorphs...........................................................................................................................................9
5. Grammatical conditioning, Lexical conditioning, and Suppletion......................................................11
7. Suppletion..........................................................................................................................................13
8. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................15
9. Reference............................................................................................................................................16
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1. Introduction

In this precise work, we will discuss Morphemes Morphs and Allomorphs which, by the way, is
the theme of the work. Going further, you will find out about grammatical conditioning Changes,
and plural making of the lexical conditioning as the main aim of the essay very specifically its
concept, structure and characteristics as well as its usage.Moreore the word morphology is the
identification, analysis, and description of the structure of words. Not only the structure itself, but
also how the formation processes of the words. Words can be thought of as the units that are
combined to form sentences in a language such as in English.Morpheme Morpheme is roughly
defined as the smallest linguistic unit that has meaning in a language. A morpheme is a
meaningful linguistic unit consisting of a word or a word element that cannot be divided into
smaller meaningful parts.in summary Grammatical conditioned is when the selection of a
particular allomorph is determined by a certain grammatical class such as irregular verbs in
English and determined by the grammatical features.
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2. Morphemes

According to (Katamba, 1993, p. 20) the term morpheme is used to refer to the smallest,
indivisible units of semantic content or grammatical function which words are made up of. By
definition, a morpheme cannot be decomposed into smaller units which are either meaningful by
themselves or mark a grammatical function like singular or plural number in the noun. If we
divided up the word fee [fi:](which contains just one morpheme) into, say, [f] and [i:], it would
be impossible to say what each of the sounds [f] and [i:] means by itself since sounds in
themselves do not have meaning.

Morphemes can be compared to pieces of lego that can be used again and again as building
blocks to form different words. Recurrent parts of words that have the same meaning are isolated
and recognised as manifestations of the same morpheme. Thus, the negative morpheme un-
occurs in an indefinitely large number ofwords, besides those listed above. We find it in unwell,
unsafe, unclean, unhappy, unfit, uneven, etc.

However, recurrence in a large number of words is not an essential property of morphemes.

Sometimes a morpheme may be restricted to relatively few words. This is true of the morpheme -
dom, meaning 'condition, state, dignity', which is found in words like martyrdom, kingdom,
chiefdom, etc.

According to (Haspelmath, 2002, p. 16) Morphemes can be defined as the smallest meaningful
constituents of a linguistic expression.

According to Haspelmath( 2002:31) a morpheme is a set of morphs (which are often but not
always formally similar), and only morphs can be pronounced and used in performance.

(Fudeman, 2011, p. 2) Claims that morpheme often defined as the smallest linguistic pieces with a
grammatical function. This definition is not meant to include all morphemes, but it is the usual
one and a good starting point. A morpheme may consist of a word, such as hand, or a meaningful
piece of a word, such as the -ed of looked, that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts.
Another way in which morphemes have been definedis as a pairing between sound and meaning
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2.1. Types of morpheme: bound versus free

According to (Carstairs-McCarthy, 2002, p. 18) A bound morpheme is a word element that

cannot stand alone as a word, including both prefixes and suffixes. Free morphemes, by contrast,
can stand alone as a word and cannot be broken down further into other word elements.

Attaching a bound morpheme to a free morpheme, such as by adding the prefix "re-" to the verb
"start," creates a new word or at least a new form of a word, in this case, "restart." Represented
sound and writing by word segments called morphs, bound morphemes can further be broken
down into two categories, derivational and inflectional morphemes.

Hundreds of bound morphemes exist in the English language, creating near-infinite possibilities
for expanding unbound morphemes—commonly referred to as words—by attaching these
elements to preexisting words.

According to Carstairs-McCarthy (2002:18) morphemes that cannot stand on their own are called
bound morpheme. Katamba (2005:27). In similarly, Meyer (2009:152) states if it is bound, it
must attached to a free morpheme.Based on the definition above, the researcher concludes that
bound morphemes are the morpheme that cannot stand alone.

It means that those need another morpheme to create a word. For example:

teach-er, un-happy, friend-ly. It is impossible to use the forms –er, un- and –ly independently.

Morpheme has a meaning, both lexical and grammatical. It cannot be divided into smaller
meaningful parts gain. Morpheme classified by two, free morpheme and bound morpheme. The
one stands alone as word, whereas the other morpheme cannot. It typically attached to another
form, such as un-, -ness, -less. Many words contain a root standing on its own. Roots which are
capable of standing independently are called free morphemes, for example:

Free morpheme : man book tea sweet pain walk bet very

Morphemes are commonly classified into free forms (morphemes which can occur as separate
words) and bound forms (morphemes which cannot so occur– mainly affixes): thus, unselfish
consists of the three morphemes un, self and ish, of which self is a free form, un- and -ish bound
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forms. A word consisting of a single (free) morpheme is a monomorphemic word; (Crystal, 2008,
p. 313)

We call words such as blizzard, never, amaze, or grace free morphemes because they are
meaningful units that can stand alone. They do not need to be attached or bound to another
morpheme in order to have meaning. (DeCapua, 2008, p. 37)

Endings (suffixes) such as –ful, -ment, or –er, or markers (inflections) such as –s need to be
attached or bound to other meaningful units. Since they cannot occur alone and function only as
parts of words, they are called bound morphemes. Frequently several morphemes, both bound
and free, occur in the same word as in:

undeniable un + deny + able

Undeniable consists of two bound morphemes –un and –able and the free
morpheme deny. (The “y” changes to “i” in accordance with English
spelling rules.)

backpacks back + pack + s

Backpacks is a compound word consisting of two free morphemes back and pack

and the bound morpheme –s.

There are many compound words or words consisting of two free morphemes in

English. Usually the –s bound morpheme can be attached to these words.

Compound word + –s

Firehouse Firehouses

Workshop Workshops

Schoolbook Schoolbooks

Lifestyle Lifestyles
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2.1.2. Classification of morphemes

Free morphemes-units:
Bound morphemes-units:

That can stand alone as words That must be attached or

bound to a free morpheme

by themselves.
Example: Cats
Example : Cat

2.1.3. Types of free morphemes

Open Class Morphemes:

Open Morpheme has independent meaning. It can stand alone. Also known as content words.

Closed Class Morphemes

Closed Morpheme has dependent meaning.It can not stand alone. Closed Class are not re-
productive.

2.1.4. Classification of bound morphemes

Bound morpheme

Bound morphemes(affixes) must be attached to the word. They are two kinds of bound
morphemes.

 Contractible Morphemes
 Affixes

Contractible Morphemes
Affixes

Contractible morphemes are like; Affixes divided into 3 groups;

I will = I’ll Prefixes= unclean

Infixes = nowadays
They had = They’d
Suffixes =adjustment
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So, they are auxiliary modals such as will, shall, has, have, had and would can be contracted in
informal style of language.

3. Morphs

A morph is a physical form representing some morphemes in a language. It is a recurrent

distinctive sound (phoneme) or sequence of sounds (phonemes).The term “morph” is sometimes
used to refer specifically to the phonological realisation of a morpheme. In some instance:

The English past tense morpheme that we spell -ed has various morphs. It is realized as [t] after
the voiceless [p] of jump (jumped), as [d] after the voiced [l] of repel ( repelled), and as [ed] after
the voiceless [t] of root or the voiced [d] of wed (rooted and wedded).

Morphs are phonological or orthographic forms to realize morphemes, and they are minimal
carriers of an utterance from the perspective of a language production, and are the actual spoken
and written realization of their abstract morphemes.

4. Allomorphs

Allomorph is a variant of a morpheme which occurs in certain definable environments. It is any

of two or more actual representations of a morpheme, such as the plural endings /s/, /z/, and /ιz/.
Allomorph has different sound, pronunciation, and spelling according to their condition.

Allomorph is one of two or more complementary morphs which represent a morpheme. Each
morpheme may have a different set of allomorphs. It occurs when a unit of meaning can vary in
sound without changing the meaning. Allomorph is used to explain the perception of variations in
sound for a specific morpheme.

“When two or more instances of a given morpheme occur with different shapes, we call
them allomorphs. ( Aronoff & Fudeman 2011, p. 15).

In the other hand (Haspelmalth, 2010, p. 22) claims that when a single affix has more than one
shape, linguists use the term allomorph. Normally the plural morpheme is realised by a
phonologically conditioned allomorph .
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Types of allomorphs

ADDITIVEALLOMORPHS:
To signify some difference in meaning, something is added to a word. For example, the past
tense form of most English verbs is formed by adding the suffix –ed which can be pronounced as
either /–t/, /–d/ or /–ǝd/:
Eg. ask + –ed = /ӕsk/ + /–t/, liv(e) + –ed =/lIv/ + /–d/, need + –ed =/nid/ + /–ǝd/.

THE ZIRO ALLOMORHP

There is no change in the shape of a word though some difference in meaning is identified. For
example, the past tense form of hurt is formed by adding the zero allomorph of {–D pt} to this
word.

REPLACIVE ALLOMORPHS
To signify some difference in meaning, a sound is used to replace another sound in a word. For
example, the /Ι/ in drink is replaced by the /æ/ in drank to signal the simple past. This is
symbolized as follows:
/drænk/ = /drΙnk/ + / Ι > æ /.
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5. Grammatical conditioning, Lexical conditioning, and Suppletion

Grammatical conditioning

According to (Haspelmalth, 2010, p. 26) states that grammatical conditioning the morphological
context (usually, grammatical function) determines the choice of allomorph.

In addition grammatical conditioning is when the selection of a particular allomorph is de-

termined by a certain grammatical class--irregular verbs in English. E.g. see, saw, seen
determined by the present, tense, past tense, and the non-progressive participle (these are
grammatical features).

Therefore grammatical conditioning changes the base not the affixes, this is the case in plural or
past tense form. For example in the word like knives, thieves and houses, shorting of basis, this
can be demonstrated in the English plural and past tense morphemes (Katamba, 1993, p. 39)

Example

Present tense Past tense

a. walk ∕ Wͽ:k/ Walked ⁄ WJ:kt ⁄

kiss ∕ kIS ∕ kiss-ed ⁄kISt ⁄

Grasp ∕gra:sp ∕ grasp-ed ⁄ gra:spt ⁄

b. weep ∕ wi:p ∕ wep-t ⁄ wept ⁄

Sweep ∕ swi:p ∕ swep-t ⁄ swept ⁄

c. shake ∕ feIk / shook ⁄ fuk/

take ∕ tuk / took ⁄ tuk ∕

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Grammatically conditioned plurals

Eg. elves, dwarves, calves, knives, leaves, loaves, lives, selves, sheaves, thieves, wolves, woves;
houses [ÈhaUzIz], blouses [ÈblaUzIz]
Regular plurals
E.g. beliefs, chiefs, proofs, safes
Alternatives
e.g. wharf – wharves, hoofs – hooves, scarfs – scarves, cloths – clothes (with difference in
meaning)

6. Lexical conditioning

According to (Haspelmalth, 2010) lexical conditioning, where the choice of a suppletive affix
allomorph is dependent on other properties of the base, for instance semantic properties as in

In Lexical conditioning the choice of affix allomorphs is dependent on other properties of the
base, for instance semantic properties , or where the choice of allomorphs cannot be derived from
any general rule and must belearned individually for each case. (Haspelmath, 2002, p. 30)

Lexical conditioning is also involved where the choice of allomorph cannot be derived from any
general rule and must be learned individually for each word. This is the case for the English past
participle suffi -en: speakers must simply learn which verbs take this suffi and not the more
common suffi -ed.

In addition lexical conditioning is when an irregular morph is used with a specific lexical item or
a small group of lexical items: English past participle -en/-ed is unpredictable and depends on
individual verb

e.g. the noun plural “-en”; it is determined by child,

Lexical condioning: if the form of a grammatical affix is determined by a special property of a

lexical item (irregular form), then the conditioning is called lexical conditing.

Plural making: Human nouns and non-human noun

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Human nouns Non-humans nouns

Man Men Mouse Mice

Child Childre Knife Knives

n

Woman Women Leaf Leaves

7. Suppletion

Katamba ( 1993: 31) Suppletion is a phenomenon whereby one lexeme is represented by two or
more different roots, depending on the context; for example, the verb GO is represented by
wen(t) in the past tense and go elsewhere. For instance, the English verb go has the suppletive
stem when in the past tense (wen-t), and the English adjective good has the suppletive stem bett
in the comparative degree( better). It is not always easy to decide whether an alternation is
phonological or suppletive. For instance, what about English buy/bought, catch/caught,
teach/taught? The root allomorphs of these verbs are not as radically different as go/wen-t, but
they are not similar enough to be described by phonological rules either. In such cases, linguists
often speak of weak suppletion, as opposed to strong suppletion in cases like go/went,
good/better.

Suppletion is said to take place when the syntax requires a form of a lexeme that is not
morphologically predictable. In English, the paradigm for the verb be is characterized by
suppletion. Am, are, is, was, were, and be have completely different phonological shapes, and
they are not predictable on the basis of the paradigms of other English verbs. We also find
suppletion with pronouns. Compare I and me or she and her.

In certain cases, such as with catch ∼caught or think-thought and other verbs like them in
English, it is most convenient to speak of partial suppletion. In these cases, the initial phoneme or
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phonemes of the word remain the same, but there is both internal change and change to the end of
the word (loss of segments and addition of a past tense indicator [t]). In addition Suppletion is
when two or more allomorphs are not phonologically related. go, went, gone

Suppletion is where allomorphs of a morpheme are phonetically unrelated. Suppletion is one of

the word formation processes or morphological processes. It stands as the core of morphological
irregularity. In suppletion processes, the change are very extreme because the base form is almost
no longer visible

"A case of partial suppletion is where almost the entire root appears to have been replaced with a
completely different form, leaving only the original root onsets. The English pair go–went is a
case of total suppletion – went shares nothing at all with go" (Fasold & Connor, 2006, p. 72)

In addition, When a morpheme that the pronunciation is totally changed tot, it called it is called
strong/total suppletion. But if it is just changed partly in pronunciation, is called weak/partial
suppletion. Furthermore, there are some kinds of suppletion, including suppletion in irregular
comparative/superlative adjectives and suppletion in irregular verbs of past tense.
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8. Conclusion

After readings carried out during this work, it was noted that morphemes can be affixes, prefixes,
suffixes, and can also be infixes, which are inserted within another form. When describing the
allomorph patterns of a language, the most important dimension is the conditioning of the
allomorphs, the conditions under which different allomorph are selected. More over the
philological context determines the choice of allomorphs. And in the other hand, the allomorphs
are always phonologically conditioned but suppletive allomorphs may be phonologically,
morphologically or lexically conditioned.
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9. Reference

MCCARTHY, A. (2002). English Morphology:Words and Their. Great Britain: MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin.

CRYSTAL, D. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA: Blackwell
Publishing Ltd.

DECAPUA. (2008). Grammar for Teachers . New Rochelle, NY 10805: College of New Rochelle.

FUDEMAN, A. &. (2011). What is morphology. India: Blackwell Publishing.

HASPELMALTH, S. &. (2010). Understanding Morphology second edition . 338 Euston Road, London NW1
3BH: Hodder Education, an Hachette UK Compan.

HASPELMATH. (2002). understanding morphology. New York: Wendy Rooke.

KATAMBA. (1993). Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. University of Newcastle upon Tyne:
University of Essex.