morphophonemicsn
variation in the form of morphemes because of phoneticfactors, or the
study of this variation.
morphosyntaxnmorphosyntacticadj
an analysis of language which uses criteria from both morphology, the
combining of morphemes to form words, and syntax (see syntax^1 ), the
structuring and functioning of words in sentences.
For example, in English, the plural morpheme /s/ is added to nouns to show
that more than one item is being discussed:
Those pears are pretty expensive, aren’t they?
The s, ed, and ingof lives, lived, and living, are all morphemes but, at the
same time, they have meanings beyond the word they are attached to.
We can really say that their meaning only becomes apparent when they are
used in a sentence, e.g.
Peter lives in Paris.
Anita lived in Paris a couple of years ago.
Is she still living in Paris?
All these morphemes can be referred to as inflectional morphemes (see
inflection) and in order to discuss them, criteria both from morphology
and syntax (morphosyntactic criteria) have to be used.
Other inflectional morphemes would be the case markers in some lan-
guages (see case^1 ) which show whether a noun phrase is used as the subject
or the object of a sentence, and morpheme endings on adjectives to show
comparison, e.g.
These vegetables are fresherthan those at the other stall.
motheresen
another term for caretaker speech
mother talkn
another term for caretaker speech
mother tonguen
(usually) a first languagewhich is acquired at home.
motivationn
in general, the driving force in any situation that leads to action. In the field
of language learning a distinction is sometimes made between an orienta-
tion, a class of reasons for learning a language, and motivation itself, which
refers to a combination of the learner’s attitudes, desires, and willingness to
expend effort in order to learn the second language. Orientations include an
motivation