A. What is Morphophonemics?
Morphophonemics is a branch of linguistics dealing
with various kinds of morphophonemic changes. Morphophonemic changes are
phonemic changes when two or more morphemes are combined into a single word.
In English
there are ten types of morphophonemic changes. Each of them is described
briefly as follows:
B. Kinds of Morphophonemic Changes
1.
Loss
of phoneme
One or more phonemes that are present in
the normal allomorph may be missing in another allomorph.
Examples:
{in-} -> /i-/ in irregular, illegal.
{-Z2} -> /-0/ in students’, pianists’.
2.
Addition
of phoneme
One phoneme which is not present
in the normal allomorph may be added to another allomorph.
Examples:
a.
The
phoneme /-n-/ is added to the normal form of {solemn} pronounced /solem/ in
solemnize.
b.
The
phoneme /-g-/ is added to the normal form of {long} in {longer} and {longest}.
3.
Consonant
change
A consonant changes to another consonant. A
very common type of consonant change is voicing, a voiceless consonant changes
to a voiced consonant.
Examples:
a.
The
phoneme /-0/ is changed into /-th-/ in {paths}
b.
The
phoneme /-s-/ is changed to /-z-/ in {resist}.
4. Assimilation: A phonemic change which takes
place when two morphemes are combined
results in neighbouring phonemes becoming more like each other.
Examples:
a.
The
negative prefix {in-} becomes /im-/ in impossible, imbalance.
b.
The
prefix {en-} becomes /em-/ in empower, embitter.
5. Dissimilation: The dissimilation takes
place when two morphemes are combined results in neighbouring phonemes becoming
less like each other.
Examples:
The negative prefix {in-} becomes /ig-/ in
ignoble, ignominious
6. Synthesis: It is the fusion of two consonants into
a single new phoneme.
Examples:
a.
/-t-/
+ /-y-/ becomes /-e/ in nature
b.
/-s-/ + /-y-/ becomes /-s-/ in pressure
7. Change of syllabic vowel or diphthong
It is the substitution of
another syllabic vowel or diphthong for the one which appears in the normal
allomorph.
Examples:
a. /-e-/ à /-ou-/
in swell becomes swollen.
b. /-iy-/
-> /-e-/ in please becomes
pleasant.
8. Stress shift:
It usually happens when a certain affix is added
to a word.
Examples:
a. Syntax à syntactic
b. Linguist à linguistic
9. Gradation: When the process of
derivation involves a stress shift; it usually also involves certain types of
vowel change.
Examples: instrument à instrumental
Refer à reference
10. Suppletion: It is the occurance of an
allomorph completely different in its phonemic structure from the normal form.
Examples: ox + {-Z1} à
oxen
Go + {-D1} à went.
