LIN203H1 Lecture 4: lec4.pdf
Document Summary
A morph is a minimal structural component of a particular word. But often several similar morphs have the same function and origin, so that they seem to be slightly different versions of a more abstract entity. in- : im- : il- : ir- : Dogs and foxes end with different morphs, but the same morpheme: They each end with a plural suffix: dogs with -s, and foxes with -es. But it makes sense to think of them as just different forms of the same suffix. the plural morpheme -s can appear as different morphs in different words. These are the allomorphs of the morpheme. (we often refer to a morpheme just by the name of its most common allomorph: -s, in this case. ) Thus the morpheme -s has the allomorphs -s and -es. Its allomorphs include: in-delicate, in-tangible, in-controvertible, in-accessible im-possible, im-material, im-penetrable il-legible, il-legal ir-responsible, ir-regular: and one or two others.
