MORPHOPHONOLOGY'S PAPER

CHAPTER II

Discussions and Result

I.I Definitions of Morphophonology

       Definitions of morphophonology ( also morphophonemics, morphonology ) is branch of linguistics which studies in general, the interaction between morphological and phonetic processes. when a morpheme is attached to a word, it can alter the phonetic environments of other morphemes in that word. Morphophonemics attempts to describe this process.

I.2 Process descriptions of sound alternations

        A language’s morphophonemics structure is generally described with a series of rules which ideally can describe every morphonemic alternation that takes place in the language.

       For an example of a morphophonological alternations in English , take the plural suffix. Written as “-s”or “-es” but generally understood to have the underlying representation /z/, the plural morpheme alternates between [s],[z],and [℮z], as in cats, dogs, and horses, respectively. The plural suffix “-s” can also appear to alter phonemes directly surrounding it. As an example the word “leaf” [lif] takes  its plural by alternating the [f] with a [v] and adding the plural suffix, this time written as “-es” but pronounced as [z].the result is “leaves” [livz]. Other words like “knife”, “fife” and “dwarf” also display this alternation. This may be because the last phoneme in these words is actually an archiphoneme /f/ which may be realized as [f] or [v] depending on the context, even though phonemes usually contrast.

       Another example would be the different pronunciations for the past tense marker “-ed”. After a voiceless sound “-ed” is generally realized as [t], as in walked, hoped, wished and so on.

1.3 Two types of sound alternations

       In linguistics, an alternation is the phenomenon of a phoneme or morpheme exhibiting variation in its phonological realization. Each of the various realizations is called an alternant. The variation may be conditioned by the phonological, morphological, and/or syntactic environment in which the morpheme finds itself.

       Alternations provide linguists with data that allow them to determine the allophones and allomorphs of a language's phonemes and morphemes and to develop analyses determining the distribution of those allophones and allomorphs.

I.4 Alternation related to meaning

A.  Morphophonological alternations

       Morphologically conditioned alternation an example of a morphonologically conditioned alternation is found in French, where many adjectives have a consonant at the end in the feminine gender that is missing in  the masculine.

Example:

masculine	feminine	meaning
Petit [peti]	Petite [petit]	small
Grand [gБā]	Grande [ gБād]	tall
Gros [gБo]	Grosse [gБos]	big
Joyeux [ЗwajΦ]	Joyeuse [ЗwajΦz]	merry
Franc [fяā]	Franche [ fяāι]	sincere
Bon [ b5]	Bonne [bOn]	good

B. Syntactically conditioned alternation

       Syntactically conditioned alternations can be found in the Insular Celtic languages, where words undergo various initial consonant mutations depending on their syntactic position.^[3] For example, in Irish, an adjective undergoes lenition after a feminine singular noun:

• unmutated mór [mˠoːɾˠ] "big", mutated in bean mhór [bʲan woːɾˠ] "a big woman"

In Welsh, a noun undergoes soft mutation when it is the direct object of a finite verb:

• unmutated beic [bəik] "bike", mutated in Prynodd y ddynes feic [ˈprənoð ə ˈðənɛs vəik] "The woman bought a bike"

I.5 The diachromy of morphophonological alternations

·         Morphophonemic Analysis

       Designates the analytic procedures whereby paradigms with phonological alternations are reduced to underlying representations and phonological rules. The term "morphophonemic analysis" has a now obscure origin. In the 1940s and 1950s, many phonologists worked with a theory in which (roughly) all neutralising rules were assumed to apply before all allophonic rules. This in effect divided the phonology into two components: a neutralising component, whose units were called "morphophonemes," and a non-neutralizing component, which dealt with phonemes and allophones. This bifurcated-phonology theory is widely considered untenable today, but "morphophonemics" remains a useful term for characterising the study of neutralising phonological rules as they apply in paradigms.

·         A Method for Morphophonemic Analysis

       When we conduct morphophonemic analysis, we seek to establish a connection between data and theory. The theory in question is that morphemes are stored in the lexicon in an invariant phonemic form. They are then strung together by morphological and syntactic rules. Finally, they are converted to their surface forms by a sequence of (often neutralising) phonological rules, applied in a particular order. The purpose of morphophonemic analysis is to discover a set of underlying forms and ordered rules that is consistent with the data; and the payoff is that seemingly complex patterns are often reduced to simplicity. Morphophonemic analysis may be contrasted with phonemic analysis. Phonemic analysis is a more limited form of phonological analysis that seeks only to discover the non-neutralising (allophonic) rules of the phonology. In phonemic analysis, only the distribution and similarity of the phones is examined. Therefore, the data need not be grouped in paradigms, but need only comprise a sufficiently large and representative set of words. Like phonemic analysis, morphophonemic analysis can be pursued with a systematic method.

I.6 Integrated versus neutral affixes

The Isolation Form Shortcut

·         "The underlying form of a stem is simply the way that the stem appears in isolation (taking away the effects of any allophonic rules)."

       This strategy particularly suggests itself for languages like English, where stems frequently appear alone. Hearing an alternation like [ˈplænt] ~ [ˈpl^{citation needed}(plant ~ planting; we are tempted to take the evidence of the isolation form [ˈplænt] as evidence sufficient in and of itself to justify the underlying form /ˈplænt/. This turns out to work fine for this particular case.

       However, the Isolation Form Shortcut does not work in general. The reason for this lies in how the system is set up, and simple logic: it is certainly possible that neutralisation rules could apply just in case no affix is added to the stem. We would say that in such cases, the affix "protects" the stem from the neutralizing rule, serving as a kind of buffer.

       To make this more precise: neutralising phonological rules are often conditioned by word edge; that is, they have environments like /___]_word. When an affix is present, a stem will be buffered by the affix, and the crucial rule won't apply. Indeed, the rule will apply in only those members of the paradigm where there is no affix, so that the buffering effect is absent.

      Phonologies that have this kind of phenomenon are quite common, occurring in Korean, Japanese, English, German, Russian, and many other languages.

MORPHOPHONOLOGY'S PAPER

CHAPTER II

Discussions and Result

I.I Definitions of Morphophonology

       Definitions of morphophonology ( also morphophonemics, morphonology ) is branch of linguistics which studies in general, the interaction between morphological and phonetic processes. when a morpheme is attached to a word, it can alter the phonetic environments of other morphemes in that word. Morphophonemics attempts to describe this process.

I.2 Process descriptions of sound alternations

        A language’s morphophonemics structure is generally described with a series of rules which ideally can describe every morphonemic alternation that takes place in the language.

       For an example of a morphophonological alternations in English , take the plural suffix. Written as “-s”or “-es” but generally understood to have the underlying representation /z/, the plural morpheme alternates between [s],[z],and [℮z], as in cats, dogs, and horses, respectively. The plural suffix “-s” can also appear to alter phonemes directly surrounding it. As an example the word “leaf” [lif] takes  its plural by alternating the [f] with a [v] and adding the plural suffix, this time written as “-es” but pronounced as [z].the result is “leaves” [livz]. Other words like “knife”, “fife” and “dwarf” also display this alternation. This may be because the last phoneme in these words is actually an archiphoneme /f/ which may be realized as [f] or [v] depending on the context, even though phonemes usually contrast.

       Another example would be the different pronunciations for the past tense marker “-ed”. After a voiceless sound “-ed” is generally realized as [t], as in walked, hoped, wished and so on.

1.3 Two types of sound alternations

       In linguistics, an alternation is the phenomenon of a phoneme or morpheme exhibiting variation in its phonological realization. Each of the various realizations is called an alternant. The variation may be conditioned by the phonological, morphological, and/or syntactic environment in which the morpheme finds itself.

       Alternations provide linguists with data that allow them to determine the allophones and allomorphs of a language's phonemes and morphemes and to develop analyses determining the distribution of those allophones and allomorphs.

I.4 Alternation related to meaning

A.  Morphophonological alternations

       Morphologically conditioned alternation an example of a morphonologically conditioned alternation is found in French, where many adjectives have a consonant at the end in the feminine gender that is missing in  the masculine.

Example:

masculine	feminine	meaning
Petit [peti]	Petite [petit]	small
Grand [gБā]	Grande [ gБād]	tall
Gros [gБo]	Grosse [gБos]	big
Joyeux [ЗwajΦ]	Joyeuse [ЗwajΦz]	merry
Franc [fяā]	Franche [ fяāι]	sincere
Bon [ b5]	Bonne [bOn]	good

B. Syntactically conditioned alternation

       Syntactically conditioned alternations can be found in the Insular Celtic languages, where words undergo various initial consonant mutations depending on their syntactic position.^[3] For example, in Irish, an adjective undergoes lenition after a feminine singular noun:

• unmutated mór [mˠoːɾˠ] "big", mutated in bean mhór [bʲan woːɾˠ] "a big woman"

In Welsh, a noun undergoes soft mutation when it is the direct object of a finite verb:

• unmutated beic [bəik] "bike", mutated in Prynodd y ddynes feic [ˈprənoð ə ˈðənɛs vəik] "The woman bought a bike"

I.5 The diachromy of morphophonological alternations

·         Morphophonemic Analysis

       Designates the analytic procedures whereby paradigms with phonological alternations are reduced to underlying representations and phonological rules. The term "morphophonemic analysis" has a now obscure origin. In the 1940s and 1950s, many phonologists worked with a theory in which (roughly) all neutralising rules were assumed to apply before all allophonic rules. This in effect divided the phonology into two components: a neutralising component, whose units were called "morphophonemes," and a non-neutralizing component, which dealt with phonemes and allophones. This bifurcated-phonology theory is widely considered untenable today, but "morphophonemics" remains a useful term for characterising the study of neutralising phonological rules as they apply in paradigms.

·         A Method for Morphophonemic Analysis

       When we conduct morphophonemic analysis, we seek to establish a connection between data and theory. The theory in question is that morphemes are stored in the lexicon in an invariant phonemic form. They are then strung together by morphological and syntactic rules. Finally, they are converted to their surface forms by a sequence of (often neutralising) phonological rules, applied in a particular order. The purpose of morphophonemic analysis is to discover a set of underlying forms and ordered rules that is consistent with the data; and the payoff is that seemingly complex patterns are often reduced to simplicity. Morphophonemic analysis may be contrasted with phonemic analysis. Phonemic analysis is a more limited form of phonological analysis that seeks only to discover the non-neutralising (allophonic) rules of the phonology. In phonemic analysis, only the distribution and similarity of the phones is examined. Therefore, the data need not be grouped in paradigms, but need only comprise a sufficiently large and representative set of words. Like phonemic analysis, morphophonemic analysis can be pursued with a systematic method.

I.6 Integrated versus neutral affixes

The Isolation Form Shortcut

·         "The underlying form of a stem is simply the way that the stem appears in isolation (taking away the effects of any allophonic rules)."

       This strategy particularly suggests itself for languages like English, where stems frequently appear alone. Hearing an alternation like [ˈplænt] ~ [ˈpl^{citation needed}(plant ~ planting; we are tempted to take the evidence of the isolation form [ˈplænt] as evidence sufficient in and of itself to justify the underlying form /ˈplænt/. This turns out to work fine for this particular case.

       However, the Isolation Form Shortcut does not work in general. The reason for this lies in how the system is set up, and simple logic: it is certainly possible that neutralisation rules could apply just in case no affix is added to the stem. We would say that in such cases, the affix "protects" the stem from the neutralizing rule, serving as a kind of buffer.

       To make this more precise: neutralising phonological rules are often conditioned by word edge; that is, they have environments like /___]_word. When an affix is present, a stem will be buffered by the affix, and the crucial rule won't apply. Indeed, the rule will apply in only those members of the paradigm where there is no affix, so that the buffering effect is absent.

      Phonologies that have this kind of phenomenon are quite common, occurring in Korean, Japanese, English, German, Russian, and many other languages.