kindis a morpheme. If the dis removed, it changes to kin, which has a dif-
ferent meaning. Some words consist of one morpheme, e.g. kind, others of
more than one. For example, the English word unkindnessconsists of three
morphemes: the stem^1 kind, the negative prefix un-, and the noun-forming
suffix -ness. Morphemes can have grammatical functions. For example, in
English the -s in she talksis a grammatical morphemewhich shows that the
verb is the third-person singular present-tense form.
see also affix, allomorph, bound form, combining formmorpheme boundaryn
the boundary between two morphemes.
For example, in kindnessthere is a clear morpheme boundary between the
stem^1 kind and the suffix -ness. On the other hand, in the adverb doubly
(from double+-ly) it is hard to establish the boundary. Does the l go with
double, with -ly, or with both?
see also affix, combining form
morphologyn morphologicaladj
1 the study of morphemes and their different forms (allomorphs), and the
way they combine in word formation. For example, the English word
unfriendly is formed from friend, the adjective-forming suffix -ly and the
negative prefix un-.
2 a morphemic system: in this sense, one can speak of “comparing the
morphology of English with the morphology of German”.
see also affix, combining form
morphophonemic orthographyn
an alphabetic writing systemin which knowledge of how different forms
of a word are pronounced is needed to read perfectly. For example, one has
to know English to know that the “ea” of the present tense form readis pro-
nounced with a high front tense vowel (the same as in reed) while the past
tense form readis pronounced with a mid front lax vowel (the same as in red).
morphophonemic rulesn
rules that specify the pronunciation of morphemes. A morpheme may have
more than one pronunciation determined by such rules. For example, the
plural and possessive morphemes of English are regularly pronounced / Iz /,
/s/, or /z /, depending on whether the stem to which it is attached ends in a
sibilant, voiceless stop, or other sound. Similarly, the regular past tense
ending “-ed” is pronounced /ivd /, /t /, or /d /, depending on whether the stem
to which it is attached ends in an alveolar stop, voiceless consonant, or
other sound.
morpheme boundary