Inflection

English compounds are very productive,

which is to say, it is very easy to create
new compounds in English.

Just look around you while you are walking in a

shopping mall and see how many of the store names,
for instance, are compounds. (shopping mall is itself a
compound, as is store name).
Some dervational affixes, are more productive,
which is to say, the rule that attaches them to
stems is very common.
I.e. -able is very productive, since pretty much it
attaches to any verb (emailable material;
microwavable food; textable; SMSable)

Other dervational affixes are not so productive

(the rule that attaches them to stems applies
only infrequently).

ous, is not so productive. We rarely find it on new

nouns. (????emailous material, microwavous food;
textous; SMSous)
Inflectional Affixes
The most productive affixes in
English.
Inflectional Rules typically apply to all
members of some large part of speech
category, for instance, almost all nouns
can be plural (with /-s/ or one of its
allomorphs); the past tense morpheme (-
ed) occurs on almost all verbs.
Inflection & meaning:

The meaning of inflectional

affixes, however, is completely
predictable. They mean either the
past form of the verb or a plural
form of the noun.
Inflectional morphemes:
Occur after derivational morphemes,
at the margin of the word:

• nation – al – ize - ation + s

• *nation + s – al – ize – ation
• *nation – al – ize + ed – ation
 English, as it turns out, has pretty pathetic
inflectional morphology:
• 3rd person sg. Present (wait-s)
• Past tense and its allomorphs (wait-ed , caught, etc.)
• Progressive (wait-ing)
• Past participle and its allomorphs (eat-en , walk-ed, sung etc.)
• Plural and its allomorphs (chair –s; childr-en etc.)
• Possessive (chair – ‘s)
• Comparative and its allomorphs (fast – er ; better, worse)
• Superlative and its allomorphs (fast – est , best, worst)
• Case (and gender) for pronouns:
Nominative Objective Genitive
I me mine
you you yours
he him his
she her hers
we us ours
you you yours
they them theirs
Inflectional Morphemes Derivational Morphemes

•Meaning predictable: •Meaning not always

compositional
•Grammatical function
•don’t determine a category
•occur outside
(after)derivation
•Very producative
predictable: not always
compositional
•Lexical function
•if suffixes determine category
•occur inside
(before) inflection
•Many are not producative
 (Some) Italian Verb Infl.
PRES va = PAST
1st SING: (I) aspett-o ‘(I) wait’ aspetta- v(a) -o I waited
2nd SING: (you) aspett-i ‘(you) wait’ aspetta- v(a) –i you waited
‘he/she waits’
3rd SING: (he/she) aspetta ‘(we) wait’ Aspetta-va (s)he waited’
1st PL: (we) aspett-iamo ‘(you-PL) wait’ Aspetta -va- mo we waited’
2nd PL: (you) aspetta-te ‘(they) wait’ aspetta- va –te you waited
3rd PL: (they)
aspetta-no aspetta- va –no theywaited

(I) will wait’

ra/re = FUT ‘(you)’ll wait’
1st SING: (I) aspette-r(a)-o ‘((s)he)’ll wait’
2nd SING: (you) aspette-r(a)-I ‘(we)’ll wait’
3rd SING: ((s)he) aspette-ra ‘(you)’ll wait’
1stPL: (we) aspette-re-mo ‘(they)’ll wait’
2nd PL: (you) aspette-re-te
3rd PL: (they) aspette-ra-nno
 Swahili:
atanipiga ‘he will beat me’

atakupiga ‘he will beat you’

Atampiga  ‘he will beat him’

atatupiga ‘he will beat us’

nitakupiga ‘I will beat you’

nitampiga ‘I will beat him’

ananipiga ‘he is beating me’

 Swahili:
a-ta-ni-piga ‘he will beat me’ a = he
he-fut-me-beat ni = I
‘he will beat you’ ut = you
a-ta-ku-piga etc.
‘he will beat him’
he-fut-you-beat ni = me
a-ta-m-piga ‘he will beat us’ ku = you-obj
he-fut-him-beat
tu = us
a-ta-tu-piga ‘I will beat you’
he-fut-us-beat etc.
ni-ta-ku-piga
‘I will beat him’ ta = future
I-fut-you-beat
ni-ta-m-piga na = present
‘he is beating me’
I-fut-him-beat li = past
a-na-ni-piga me = perfect
How can we tell which morphemes correspond
which which meanings?

Compare & contrast similar forms to

recognize recurring units. Check what is
constant in their meaning to establish what
these units mean.
atanipiga he’ll beat me, atakupiga he’ll beat you ,
nitakupiga I’ll beat you, ananipiga he is beating me
==> piga = beat
==> ta =future
==> ne = me
==> ku = you….
Mohawk*

Washakotya’tawitsherahetkvhta’se’

‘He made the thing that one puts on one’s

body [i.e., the dress] ugly for her.’

*Mohawk is spoken by the Native Americans who were

the guardians of the eastern door in the once powerful
Iroquoian Confederacy in upstate New York. It is still
used by 2,000-4,000 people in Québec, Ontario and
New York.
Inflectional Morphemes Derivational Morphemes

•compositional •may be non compositional

•don’t determine a category •if suffixes determine category
•occur outside derivation •occur inside inflection
•are not heads •if suffixes are heads
•commonly have allomorphs •rarely have allomorphs
 Allomorphs
Different SOUNDS for THE SAME MEANING= same
Morpheme (with 2 or more allomorphs)
(1) A cat an egg
(2) More intelligent taller

Allomorphic variation is about sound not about spelling!!!

Same spelling, different sounds, one meaning
3. Cats curches calls => 3 allomorphs
4. Impress impression.
5. Industry industrial
6. Electric electric-ity

7. Impossible, indecent, incoherent, irrational, illegal

…but no allomorphic variation here
8. Ride rid-ing
9. Create creat-ive….
Two or more different sounds-1 meaning
(or grammatical function)

(1) Tall-ermore intelligent (comparative)

(2) A cat an egg
(3) Cat-s curch-es

Er and more in (1) are ONE and the same

Morpheme (a.k.a. “comparative” morpheme).
We say that they are allomorphs of the
SAME morpheme. The same holds for a and and