Morphophonemic

Changes in the
American-English
Lexicon

Sheena Gwendolyn D. Valdez

Discussant
 Morphophonemics

deals with various

kinds of morphophonemic
changes
Morphophonemic
Changes
phonemic changes when
two or more morphemes
are combined into a
single word
Sometimes it is necessary for a
root of a word to change so
that we could obtain a
different part of speech or
grammatical form.

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Example

✗ CONTRITE [`kəntrait] + -ION > CONTRITION

[kən`triʃən]

✗ MALICE [`mælis] + -OUS > MALICIOUS

[mə`liʃəs]
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At times it is the base
that has a stronger
influence than the
affix, so that the
affix undergoes a
formal transformation.
✗ Morphophonemic rules
can affect either the base
or the affix that is to be
added.

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Morphophonemic Changes/Rules
MORPHOPHONEMIC MORPHOPHONEMIC
RULES AFFECTING RULES AFFECTING THE
THE AFFIX BASE
✗ VOICING
✗ ASSIMILATION ✗ LOSS OF PHONEMES
✗ DISSIMILATION ✗ ADDITION OF THE
✗ SYNTHESIS PHONEMES
✗ SIMPLE CONSONANT
CHANGE
✗ GRADATION
✗ CHANGE OF
SYLLABIC VOWEL OR
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DIPHTHONG
MORPHOPHONE
MIC RULES
AFFECTING THE
AFFIX
1. Assimilation
- a morphemic change in which the
last consonant of the prefixal
morpheme undergoes
assimilation of sorts, changes
into a phoneme identical with
the starting phoneme of the
word root.
- a case of loss of phonemes

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Example of a complete assimilation

✗ a) IN + LITERATE >
ILLITERATE
✗ b) IN + MORTAL >
IMMORTAL
✗ c) IN + REGULAR >
IRREGULAR
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Example of a partial assimilation

✗EN + POWER > EMPOWER

✗IN + BALANCE > IMBALANCE
✗IN + POSSIBLE > IMPOSSIBLE

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2. Dissimilation
takes place when two morphemes
are combined results in
neighboring phonemes becoming
less like each other

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Example of dissimilation

✗ IN + NOBLE = INNOBLE >

IGNOBLE

✗ IN + NOMINY = INNOMINY >

IGNOMINY
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3. Synthesis

- the process of combining or

fusing two different consonants
into a single one, different from
the other two.

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Example of synthesis

✗ ACT + ION = ACTION [`ækʃən]

✗ EXPOSE + URE = EXPOSURE
[ɪk`spoʊʒər]
✗ MOIST + URE = MOISTURE
[`mɔɪsʧər]
✗ PRESS + URE = PRESSURE
[`prɛʃǝr] 15
MORPHOPHONE
MIC RULES
AFFECTING THE
BASE
4. Voicing
- refers to the change of the phonemic
content of the base when an affix is to be
attached.
- The final consonant of the base is
changed to match the consonant nature
of the initial phoneme in the affix.

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Example of voicing

✗ Calf > calves ; knife > knives;

leaf > leaves; life > lives;
thief > thieves; wife > wives;

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5. Loss of the phonemes

With this change one or more

than one phoneme is dropped
from the original morpheme
and its phonological content is
altered.

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Example of loss of the phonemes

✗ Aristocrat [ǝ`rɪstǝkræt] + -acy = aristocracy

[ɛrǝ`stɑkrǝsi]
✗ enemy [`ɛnǝmi] + -ity = enmity [`ɛnmǝti]
✗ meter [mitǝr] + -ic = metric [mɛtrɪk]
✗ The phoneme /t/ is lost when changing word class (adjective to a noun)
e.g. different → difference; democrat → democracy

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6. Addition of the phonemes

As opposed to the previous one,

this change involves adding
another phoneme to the
phonological content of the
morpheme.
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Example of addition of the phonemes

✗BOMB [bɑm] – BOMBASTIC

[bɑm`bæstɪk]
✗LONG [lɔŋ] – LONGER [`lɔŋgǝr]
✗SOLEMN [`sɑlǝm] – SOLEMNIZE
[`sɑlǝmnaɪz]

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7. Simple Consonant Change

Simple consonant change

means that the last or final
consonant in a morpheme
undergoes a change of sorts
when a suffix is to be added.
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Example of simple consonant change

✗ DESPISE [dɪ`spaɪz] – DESPICABLE

[dɪ`spɪkǝbǝl]
✗ ELECTRIC [ɪ`lɛktrɪk] – ELECTRICITY
[ɪlɛk`trɪsǝti]
✗ EXTINCT [ɪk`stɪŋkt] – EXTINGUISH
[ɪk`stɪŋgwɪʃ]

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8. Gradation

- a combining of shifting of
the stress and changing of
the vowel.
- involves two processes
occurring one after the other
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8. Gradation
- It is the case that after adding certain
derivational suffixes, the main stress of the
word shifts from the first syllable onward
and is observed on another syllable,
usually the second.
- This actually brings about the weakening of
the vowel in the first syllable, so that it
reduces to a half sound of /ə/.
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Example of gradation

✗ COURAGE [`kɛrǝʤ] – COURAGEOUS

[kǝ`reɪʤǝs]
✗ INDUSTRY [`ɪndǝstri] – INDUSTRIAL
[ɪn`dʌstriǝl]
✗ PARENT [`pɛrǝnt] – PARENTAL [pǝ`rɛntǝl]
✗ SYMBOL [`sɪmbǝl] – SYMBOLIC [sɪm`bɑlɪk]

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9. Change of syllabic vowel or
diphthong
- refers to a kind of change in the syllabic
vowel or a morpheme, or the vowel of a
morpheme, or the vowel which bears the
primary stress.
- It may occur in inflection, but it also appears
with affixation, when the base alters its
syllabic vowel after the addition of a suffix.
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Example of syllabic vowel or diphthong

✗ CLEAR – CLARITY; LONG – LENGTH;

✗ STRONG – STRENGTH; WIDE – WIDTH
✗ i > oʊ Steal [stil] > stole [stoʊl]
✗ aɪ > ɪ five [faɪv] > fifteen [fɪfˈtin]
✗i>ɛ please [pliz] > pleasant [ˈplɛzǝnt]
✗ ɪə > ɜ hear [hɪər] > heard [hɜrd]

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10. Suppletion
- It is the occurrence of an
allomorph completely different in
its phonemic structure from the
normal form.

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Example of suppletion

The verb The adjective

go > went -er > more –

sell > sold good > better

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Morphophonemic process is a process which
happens to combine word ( morpheme), it
will make changing the sound
(pronunciation) and doesn’t change the
meaning. Sometimes, it changes the
phoneme of morphemes. It’s usually
related with suffixes, free and bound
morphemes, allomorphs and inflectional
morphemes.
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