Morphological Theory: An Introduction to Word Structure in Generative Grammar (Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics)

This is the first near-exhaustive introduction to the burgeoning field of morphology in generative grammar. Presupposing very little prior knowledge of linguistics, the book guides the reader from absolute basics to the most recent theoretical developments. Written in an accessible style, and including a wealth of exercises, this textbook is designed so that it can be used either on courses explicitly focused on morphology or as an adjunct to other courses, particularly in generative syntax and in phonology.

- The variants of Morpheme {in-}

The morpheme {in-} is realized by different phonetic representations depending on the phonemes following it. The phonetic representation (pronunciation) is not always symbolized by the letters. The word incomplete, for example, which is the word formation of the prefix {in-} and the free morpheme complete, is pronounced / iŋk∂mpli:t/ when pronounced rapidly. The phone [ŋ] is not written.
The change of phonetic representation because of the meeting of phonemes in morphological process is called morphophonemic change. The morpheme {in-} which attaches to the bases with bilabial phonemes in initial position will change to im-. In other words, the morpheme {in-} will be pronounced [im] if it meets the bilabial phonemes. The examples are as follows:
Prefix Base /bilabial/ Derived word
in- balance imbalance
in- perfect imperfect
in- moral immoral

The morphophonemic process of the prefix {in-} to im- is illustrated as: {in-} + base (initial bilabial phonemes) --> [im-].
The morpheme {in-} which attaches to the bases with the phoneme /k/ in initial position will change to /iŋ-/. The phone [ŋ] is not symbolized by the orthographic symbol but we can hear this sound when it is pronounced rapidly as explained above. The examples are as follows:

Prefix Base /k/ Derived word
in- complete incomplete / iŋk∂mpli:t/
in- correct incorrect /iŋk∂rekt/
in- consistent inconsistent /iŋk∂nsist∂nt/

The morphophonemic process of the prefix {in-} to [iŋ-] is illustrated as: {in-} + base (the phoneme /k/) --> / iŋ-/.
The morpheme {in-} which attaches to the bases with liquid phonemes in initial position will change to liquid phonemes. The morpheme {in-} in this case will be pronounced like the phone of the liquid phonemes which follow it. The examples are as follows:

Prefix Base /liquids/ Derived word
in- legal illegal
in- rational irrational

The morphophonemic process of the change of the prefix{ in-} to liquids is illustrated as: {in-} + base (initial liquid phonemes) --> / liquids/.
The morpheme in- which attaches to the bases with vowel phonemes in initial position will be pronounced /in-/. The examples are as follows:

Prefix Base /liquids/ Derived word
in- efficient inefficient

The morphophonemic process of the change of the prefix in- with vowels is illustrated as: {in-} + base (initial vowel phonemes) --> /in-/.
Based on the explanation above, the morpheme {in-} has the allomorphs /im-/, /iŋ-/, /ir-/,/il-/ and /in-/ and can be illustrated as follows:

/im-/
/iŋ-/
{in-} -----> /ir-/
/il-/
/in-/

morpheme allomorphs

Allomorph

The variants of morpheme are called allomorphs. Morphemes are abstract, what actually occurs, or what we hear is morphes. One morpheme can be realized by more than one morph. The morphes which belong to one morpheme are called allomorphs of the morpheme. Plural morpheme in English, for example, has allomorphs [s], [z], and [ez]. If we symbolyze the morpheme plural as {s}, we can say that the allomorphs of the morpheme {s} are [s], [z], and [Iz]. These alomorphs are phonetically conditioned. It means that the occurence the [s], [z] and [Iz] is influenced by the phone which they attach.