MORPHOLOGY
Lecture 11: Morphophonology & Morphosyntax
11.1 Morphophonology
Some phonological processes are triggered by morphological processes.
Consonant change
1.
2.
mutation or lenition: usually applies to change in initial consonants
gradation: usually applies to change medial or final consonant
In Celtic languages, initial consonants may undergo phonological change
(lenition) as a result of morphological environment, e.g. Scots Gaelic:
cu
a cu
a chu
mɔr ‘officer’
suːl ‘eye’
‘dog’
‘her dog’
‘his dog’
khuː
ə• khuː
ə• xhuː
> kiʃ•vɔr ‘tax-collector’
> le•huːl ‘one-eye’
Consonant gradation in Finish inflection
t>d
tt > t
k>Ø
nk > ng
LANE 333 AC 2008/9 Sem.II
pitää
>
ottaa
>
lukea
>
Helsinki
>
‘to keep’ pidän ‘I keep’
‘to take’ otan
‘I take’
‘to read’ luen
‘I read’
‘Helsinki’ Helsingissa
Al-Rawi 1
Stress change
English N > V derivation
'increase
'transport
'import
'contrast
'torment
increase
trans'port
im'port
con'trast
tor'ment
Vowel harmony
Mongolian comitative ("with") case inflection
xɪɾɪk ‘daugher’ > xɪɾɪktei ‘with daughter’
tsõx ‘window’ > tsõxtõi ‘with window’
mɔxɬak ‘kiosk’ > mɔxɬaktai ‘with kiosk’
11.2 Morphosyntax
Morphological process may be linked with phrasal/clausal syntax.


Passive
Causative

Case and agreement
 Case and agreement reflect dependency relations via morphology
A. Subject-verb:
English, I love ~ she loves
B. Subject-verb-object:
Northern Sotho (Bantu, South Africa; from Tallerman p. 160):
Ngwana mpša e-mo-lomile (mo marks ‘child’ noun class)
child
dog SUBJ-OBJ-bit
‘As for the child, the dog bit him/her’
LANE 333 AC 2008/9 Sem.II
Al-Rawi 2
C. Subject-verb-object-indirect object:
Kambera (Malayo-Polynesian; Sumba l.; from Tallerman p. 161)
I ama
na-kei-ngga-nya
the father 3SG:NOM-buy-1SG:DATIVE-3SG:DATIVE
‘Father buys it for me’

Tense/aspect
Debbie shouted at her mother and started crying.
*Debbie shouted at her mother and starts crying.
*Debbie shouted at her mother and will starts crying.
Clitics
Clitics: element which shares properties with both words and affixes.
French
Donnez-moi les livres
give
me the books
‘Give me the books’
Donnez-les
moi.
give
them me
‘Give them to me’
Il a
donné les livres à moi
he has given the books to me
‘He gave the books to me’
Il me les a donné
He me them has given
‘He gave me them’
English
The vice-president’s been hoeing the garden all day.
Three of his close friends’ve said they hate his new haircut.
The red-nosed clown’s purple wig fell off suddenly.
LANE 333 AC 2008/9 Sem.II
Al-Rawi 3
Clitics….




attach to inflected hosts
attach to phrases, not heads
may be restricted to certain positions in sentences
may have to occur in certain order
Compounding

Resemble a syntactic process
 See lecture 5 for some distinguishing tests
Noun Incorporation
Morphological process whereby an object noun attaches itself to a verb to form
a new lexeme.
Chukchee
Tə-pelarkən qoraŋə
I -leave
reindeer
‘I'm leaving the reindeer’
tə-qora-pelarkən
I-reindeer-leave
‘I’m reindeer-leaving’
English (gerunds only)
They went strawberry-picking last weekend.
I see you've been doing too much TV-watching.
The politician made her name saber-rattling.
Noun incorporation only works with objects or instruments of verb, not
subjects.
Conclusion:
 Morphological rules do not operate in a vaccum
 Morphology interacts closely with both syntactic rules and phonological
rules.
LANE 333 AC 2008/9 Sem.II
Al-Rawi 4