A Linguistics Workbook, 4th Edition

Name

Section

1.10 Morphophonology 3: -ity Affixation (English)

When an affix is attached to a stem (or word) to create a new word, a nontrivial

phonological change may occur (see Linguistics, pp. 36-37). Lists I and I1 illustrate

just such a case. Consider the two lists of words and the relation between them,

and answer the questions that follow.

List I

1. eccentric


2. elastic


3. opaque


4. electric


5. peptic


6. specific


7. periodic


8. endemic


9. volcanic


10. centric
    1 1. egocentric

List I1

eccentricity

elasticity

opacity

electricity

pepticity

specificity

periodicity

endemicity

volcanicity

centricity

egocentricity

Questions

A. Transcribe the pairs of words in lists I and I1 in the spaces provided. Indicate

the placement of main stress (e.g., capable /kk~pab!/).