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Part A
Part B
page 1
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
Part A
page 2
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 3
adam-lar-
man-PL-ACC
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 4
/z/
/z/
/z/
These fox-es
/Iz/
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
These ox-en
/En/
These mice
These geese
These women
These men
/aO/ /aI/
/u/ /i/
// /I/
// /e/
These brethren
// /e/, /En/
These sheep
These deer, moose, elk
These swine [=term of abuse for persons]
These policemen
These counsel
always disagree
These aircraft
land on the mat
These series
are non-finite
These Swiss
sit on the mat
The (very) poor
page 5
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
Mine
Yours
My aunts
Who
You
These
/Is/ /iz/
Those
/t/ /Ez/
We
Our sheep
I we
my our
page 6
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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MORPHs
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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For discussion.
1. Are /-z/ and /-En/ (plus change of stem vowel // /e/)
allomorphs of PLURAL in this sense?
Well, for the noun brother two plurals are possible, brother-/z/ and
brethr-/En/. That is, the distribution is not wholly complementary,
because with this particular noun the two exponents do not mutually
exclude one another.
Arguably, however, there are two different nouns in English, brother1
male sibling and brother2 fellow member of a religious society,
such as the Quakers, differing not only in meaning but also in their
plural exponents.
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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phonological
in the case of /s ~ z ~ Iz/:
Is the segment immediately preceding the PLURAL exponent a
sibilant (with the relevant feature being STRIDENT, picking out /s,
z, S, Z/, and not, e.g., /T, D, f, v/)? If yes, then /Iz/.
If not, is it voiced? If yes, then /z/. If not, then /s/.
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 14
morphological
in cases such as /naIf ~ naIv/ <knife> or /has ~ haz/ <house>
the allomorphy of the stem is conditioned by the morphological
category PLURAL;
its not phonological conditioning, because with following /s ~ z
~ Iz/ which is not an exponent of PLURAL, but of GENITIVE or
represents the copula is (short form), the stem-final segments
remain voiceless (knifes [naIfs], houses [hasIz]).
semantic
in the case of //:
cf. the deer/grouse/partridge/pheasant are over there
that is: when an animal is categorized as GAME, the PLURAL
exponent is // (especially in the register of game hunting, also of
photo safaris)
Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_and_shooting_in_the_United_Kingdom
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 15
lexical
in the cases of /En ~ aOaI ~ ui ~ e ~ I ~ ~ Iwe/:
lexical conditioning means you have to know the particular
lexical item which selects that particular allomorph which is the
worst possible case from the point of view of a learner: with all
the other kinds of conditioning (phonological, morphological,
semantic) the conditions play a role in the grammar
independently, while in the case of lexical conditioning no
independently needed property of items in construction with
allomorphs can be drawn on.
Note: policeman, policemen are only orthographically distinct,
not phonologically: /pE'lismEn/;
the PLURAL allomorph is //, showing that zero is not only
semantically conditioned, in the case of game animals, but also
lexically conditioned, in cases such as sheep (not game!),
policeman, aircraft, you, mine etc.
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 16
Homework problem:
Clearly, not all zero plurals can be accounted for as being
semantically conditioned: many zero-plural forms do not
refer to game. Can you find other generalisations about zero
plurals, or does every single form with a zero plural really
need to be lexically specified?
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 17
Homework
Sort out the regular (weak) PAST TENSE allomorphs in English (in
the same way weve done this for PLURAL above) and identify the
conditions under which they are selected.
The regular suffixal PAST seems analogous insofar as there are three
suffix variants, with or without a vowel ([Id] vs. [d], [t]), with a
voiced or voiceless final consonant ([Id], [d] vs. [t]), distributed along
what may seem the same lines as [Iz], [z], and [s] for PLURAL (or also
3SG.PRES.IND).
The problem consists in [t] having a partly wider, but partly also a
narrower, distribution than one would expect on the analogy of [s],
and in also being tied up with vocalic and consonantal stem
alternations.
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 18
(ii.a)
(ii.b)
(iii)
(iv)
flee fled
(v.a)
meet met, bite bit, shoot shot, light lit (also lighted)
(v.b)
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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Homework (optional):
Investigate the allomorphy of further -s exponents, namely those
of (i) the adverbializing suffix -s (e.g., unaware-s, eastward-s,
whence) and (ii) of the hypocoristic suffix -s on shortened
personal names (e.g., Bailey > Bails).
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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Homework:
Try out different orders of these allomorph selection statements.
How do they compare to the one given above in terms of economy of
environmental specifications?
Now, to account for the phonological similarity of allomorphs
insightfully the most natural solution is to relate them to each other
by phonological rules.
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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/ fOks-Iz
[ fOksIz
dOg-Iz
dOgz
dOgz
kt-Iz
ktz
kts
kts
edZ-Iz /
edZ-Iz ]
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 30
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 31
dOg-s
dOgz
dOgz
kt-s
kts
edZ-s /
edZz
edZIz
edZIz ]
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 32
actual forms
[ fOksIs
dOg-s
dOgz
dOgz
kt-s
kts
edZ-s /
edZIs
edZIs ]
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 33
On the other hand, assuming underlying voiced /z/, things work out
fine, as long as the vowel is inserted between sibilants before voice
assimilation between neighbouring consonants:
basic forms
/ fOks-z
vowel insertion fOksIz
assimilation
actual forms
[ fOksIz
dOg-z
dOgz
kt-z
kts
kts
edZ-z /
edZIz
edZIz ]
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 34
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
Part B
page 35
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 36
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
page 37
However, the line is not always easy to draw. For instance, in some
examples given above the vowel alternations do follow more general
phonological patterns.
The following examples are culled from Chomsky & Halles Sound
Pattern of English, with additional exemplification primarily from
Marchands handbook and Bauers textbook of English word
formation. The relevant theoretical literature is substantial: further
references upon request, or in Phonology II.
English historical phonology (s.v. Great Vowel Shift, Trisyllabic
Shortening, Open Syllable Lengthening) often gives clues to whats
going on and why. A common historical development is that purely
phonological rules acquire morphological conditions.
SHE I, Morpho&Synt 2
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