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Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University Unit 21: Morphology: Morph, Morpheme, Allomorph

Unit 21: Morphology: Morph, Morpheme, Allomorph Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
21.1 Morpheme
21.2 Morphs
21.3 Allomorphs
21.4 Phonological Conditioning
21.5 Morphological Conditioning
21.6 Problem of Morphemic Cutting
21.7 Classification of Morphemes
21.8 Phonological Semantic and Syntactic Considerations in Morphemes
21.9 Morphophonemics
21.10 Summary
21.11 Keywords
21.12 Review Questions
21.13 Further Readings
Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Discuss Morphology.
• Define Morph, Morpheme, Allomorph.
Introduction

Morphology is the science and study of the smallest grammatical units of language, and of their
formation into words, including inflection, derivation and composition. According to Dorfman,
morphology is the study of the ways and methods of grouping sounds into sound-complexes or
words, of definite, distinct, conventional meaning. Bloomfield calls it the study of the constructions
in which sound forms appear among the constituents. Broadly speaking, morphology is the study of
the patterns of word-forms. It studies how the words are formed, where they originate from, what
their grammatical forms are, what the functions of prefixes and suffixes in the formation of words
are, on what basis the parts of speech of a particular language are formed, how the systems of gender,
number, plural, etc. function, and how and why the word-forms change.
Morphology is “a level of structure between the phonological and the syntactic.” It is complementary
to syntax. Morphology is the grammar of words; syntax the grammar of sentences. One accounts for
the internal structure, or ‘form’ of words (typically as sequences of morphemes), the other describes
how these words are put together in sentences. A discussion of how plurals are formed, for example,
would belong to morphology, while a discussion of prepositional phrases would belong to syntax.
The way morphemes combine to form words is known as the morphology of a language. Morphology,
therefore, refers to the form of words themselves in a language system, whereas syntax refers to the
form of the arrangement of words in phrases and sentences. Agreement, for example, is a
morphological feature and word-order is a syntactic feature of a language system.
Morphology is not only the synchronic study of word-forms but is also the study of the history and
development of word-forms. So it is both a synchronic (in a given time) and a diachronic (across
time) study of the word-forms. When it is only synchronic, it is called morphemics.

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