Home Random Page


CATEGORIES:

BiologyChemistryConstructionCultureEcologyEconomyElectronicsFinanceGeographyHistoryInformaticsLawMathematicsMechanicsMedicineOtherPedagogyPhilosophyPhysicsPolicyPsychologySociologySportTourism






Suffix morpheme identification

Having segmented the suffixes by means of our Segmentation rules, we now wish to identify the clusters -al, -ic, -ly and -y as instances of the morphemes (AL), (IC), (LY) and (Y). Can we make this identification on reasonable grounds?

We know now that the clusters -al, -ic, -ly and -y are graphemically and phonemically no longer than our hypothetical morphemes, but we still do not know that, for example, /әl/ does not in fact consist of two morphemes *(A) + *(L).

However, there is one sufficient reason for rejecting such an idea and that is that no convenience is gained by it. This is cause enough but we can also add:

a) that morphemes consisting of a single consonantarerelatively rare in our language so that we have a right to be sceptical,

b) that the combination of vowel + consonant is a well established morphemic pattern in our language, and

c) that the clusters -al, -ic, -ly and -y are so frequent as to make us suspect single morphemes at work.

We therefore choose to regard all cases of segmentable -al, -ic, -ly, and -y in adjective forms as morphemic and identify them as instances of (AL), (IC), (LY) and (Y).

A review of the segmentation rules

The condition we have set up for identifying -al, -ic, -ly, and -y as instances of the morphemes (AL), (IC), (LY) and (Y) is that the stem is in each case segmentable from its suffix on the grounds of its possessing established morphemic status. Segmentability of the stem is thus a pre-condition to the morphemic recognition of the suffix, and the criterion on which the whole of our stock material will rest. A review of these segmentation principles is now called for.

Segmentation rules

The principles for segmentation which we have proposed above can be summarized here:

S 1(segmentation rule no. I): a stem can be segmented from its affix(es) if the stem or its affix-adjacent morpheme(s) appear in Webster or elsewhereinBrown as a free form.

Example: misplace to be segmented;

place appears in Webster as a free form;

segmentation of misplace = mis- + -place.

S 2: a stem can be segmented from its affix(es) by application of the pattern:

undeserv-: undeceiv- + -ed: -ing.

(Note: the shift within each of the two pairs must be semantically, phonologically and graphemically consistent.)

Example: imperial to be segmented;

apply pattern imperi-: industri- + -al:-ous;

segmentation of imperial = imperi- + -al.

(These two examples serve well to illustrate how difficult it is to ensure objective semantic consistency. Phonological and graphemic consistency offer few problems but semantic consistency is a much vaguer and less definable area. Nevertheless we still believe that the principle is a sound one and efforts should be made to follow it in practice as far as this is possible.)

S3: a stem can be segmented from its affix(es) if the stem or its affix-adjacent morpheme(s) appear in Webster or elsewhere in Brown as abound form segmentable by S 1 and/or S 2.



Example:

rational to be segmented;

consider the word irrational;

rational appears in Webster as a free form;

segmentation of irrational = ir- + -rational (by rule S 1);

again consider the word irrational;

apply pattern irration-: soci- + -al: -able;

segmentation of irrational = ir- + -ration- + -al (by rule S 2);

segmentation of rational = ration- + -al

Note that recognition criteria must be applied at all times (see section III below).


Date: 2016-04-22; view: 812


<== previous page | next page ==>
Stem morpheme identification” as a means to suffix segmentation | Degrees of allomorphy
doclecture.net - lectures - 2014-2024 year. Copyright infringement or personal data (0.019 sec.)