Nida's analysis of the theory of morpheme as described by Hockett,Bloch and Bloomfield and his suggestions of refinement.

1. Identification of Morphemes-E.nida I Introduction to Morphological and Syntactic Analysis Course Instructor: Asst Prof.HariMadhab Ray 20th November 2009 I.C.Darnal, AbeyweeraGH,VijayKB,Hemant

2. MORPHEME: Smallest indivisible unit of SEMANTIC CONTENT or GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION with which words are made. Morpheme as introduced by Hockett and Bloch: Has a STRUCTURAL SIMPLICITY which can be used in ALL LANGUAGES NIDA says: This STRUCTURAL SIMPLICITY can lead to following problems: Can give a FALSE IMPRESSION of SIMPLICITY Can MISREPRESENT FACTS. (P.S. : Nida is not criticizing the handling of datas by Hockett and Bloch rather he is showcasing the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES upon which DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS is based. He suggests a REFINEMENT .) Theories: Shown : showed {Alternants) : Two Morphemes, one for each. Sing: sang- *The PAST TENSE form of “sing” is expressed by ZERO SUFFIX *There is a PHONETIC DIFFERENCE from “short I – to – ae (dipthong)

5. Non- Linguistic Meaning: A unit that has no GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION , MEANING and a CONTENT MEANING of it’s own.MORPHEMICALLY RELEVENT AND MORPHEMICALLY IRRELEVANT: In the words sequence: river, brother, sister, never etc. /er/ is MORPHEMICALLY IRRELEVANT. In the words sequence: walked, showed, dropped etc. /ed/ is MORPHEMICALLY RELEVANT .

6. PORMANTEAU ITEMS : A SINGLE MORPH SIMULTANEOUSLY representing a BUNDLE OF several DIFFERENT GRAMMATICAL ELEMENTS. Hockett says: MEN {one morph} which belongs simultaneously to two morphemes [ {man}, {s} ] Hockett does not say: MEN = Morphemic alternant of MAN + ZERO ALTERNANT of the plural suffix. Here MEN is a PORMANTEAU ITEM as {/man/ = noun}, {/s/ = plurality} . COMPLICATIONS TO PORMANTEAU ITEMS: /man/ ; /men/ - complimentary distribution, therefore number of morph = 1. Also, /men/ = one morph representing two morphemes [ {man}, {s} ]. If this explanation of Hockett is applied in : /she/; /her/ - also in complimentary distribution, therefore number of morph = 1. However this is not the case. Here there are two morphemes /she/ ; /her/. Hockett says : If an ALTERNANT occurs after the NOUN it will NOT OCCUR after the VERB and vice-versa. Eg: The boys run (Alternant in noun) The boy runs (Alternant in verb)

8. The theory of Bloomfied can be understood by the following principles: 1. Forms which posses a common SEMANTIC DINTINCTIVENESS but which DIFFER in PHONEMIC FORM constitute a SINGLE MORPHEME PROVIDED that the distribution of Formal Differences can be PHONOLOGICALLY DEFINED. eg: houses - /iz/, talks -/s/, bags -/z/ . 2. Forms which posses a common SEMANTIC DINTINCTIVENESS and IDENTICAL FORM in all their OCCURANCES constitute a SINGLE MORPHEME. eg: /er/ - dancer, walker, etc. 3. SUPPLETIVE ALTERNANTS: Forms that do not exhibit the SAME ALTERNANT. Eg: wife-wives. 4. In languages such as German the First Person Singular has one morpheme i.e./ne/. BUT The Morphemes for second Person Singular Pronoun have Three Distributional Morphemes i.e: /a/, /pe/, /ma/.(pg 424).

9. Semantically related forms in complementary distribution that occur in different combinations may belong to the same morpheme. Eg: ex- denotes past tense category; the same can be said of /t/, /d/, /ed/. (both the prefix and the suffix define a tense relationship). Phonologically defined Allomorphs – BASIC MORPHEME; /s/, /z/, /ez/. Morphologically defined Allomorphs- NON-BASIC MORPHEME. Oxen. Use of Morphemes is subject to Phonological Change.(assimilation, palatalization, reduction of clusters, Verner’s phenomenon).(ref: ppt3) An OVERT formal difference among related forms constitute a MORPHEME.eg: /sang/, /sing/ = A COVERT Zero Alternant of /ed/ and the OVERT replacement /i/ to /ae/.

10. 9.The difference in the CONSONANTS constitute a Sub-Morphemic replacement because it has a Semantic Value. Eg: strive –strife(ref pg 428). 10.The difference in the SYLLABICS constitute a MORPHEMIC replacement because it as the only overt distinction between phones. eg: loose – lost (/uw/ - /o/. 11.The Morpheme /z/ in “was” occur in First and Third Person Singular and /r/ in “were” occurs in all other situation. The meaning of /z/ and /r/ are essentially grammatical. 12.The difference in the Environment constitute a difference in the meaning.eg: unreal and past-tense “were”(ref-first slide). 13.A linguistic form which occur in DIFFERENT GRAMMATICAL ENVIRONMENTS {can be featured by both inflection and derivation} have different Morphemes.eg: “boy”(N) – “boyish”(Adj) 14. According to Bloch there are “no actual synonyms”( i.e. they are formally different and identical in meaning) eg: plural markers that are formally different. /en/-unproductive /z/- productive as it has a distributional characteristics, therefore meaningful.

11. 15.Socio-linguistic acceptability of Morphemes. Eg: “shown”. 16.According to Bloch - The forms /have, hav, av, v/ occur in environments that are CONNOTATIVELY DIFFERENT( speed of utterance, voice texture and the preciseness of articulation). Therefore, Bloch considers these to be 4 different Morphemes. 17.A unit which is different PHONOLOGICALLY and SEMANTICALLY is not considered to be a morpheme as a morpheme is a distinct meaningful unit in its own. 18.Homophonous Forms ( Phonologically same ) of different DISTRIBUTIONAL CLASSES consist of different Morphemes too with their OWN DISTINCT MEANING.eg: “read”(V), “reed”(N).

12. 19.SEMANTICALLY RELATED Homophonous Forms have ONLY ONE morpheme. eg: They fish(V) - {derived by zero affixation in the fish(N) The fish(N) (The possible semantic relationships between Homophonous forms can be referred to pg:435.) 20. SEMANTICALLY RELATED Homophonous Forms have ONLY ONE morpheme with DIFFERENT DISTRIBUTIONAL-CLASS membership. eg: a run(N) in her stocking. they run(V) away. they run(V) the office. 21. A Form(one) that do not occur in correspondingly DIFFERENT DISTRIBUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT has as many morphemes as their meanings. Eg: He saw a saw. 22.In some languages such as Greek each letter represent a morpheme. eg:/lusontai/ - /s/: future tense, /o/: indicative mode, /n/: plurality, /t/: third person.

14. SUPRA-SEGMENTAL PHONEMES: difference in tone.(ref pg 438)

15. BOTH SEGMENTAL PHONEMES & SUPRA-SEGMENTAL PHONEMES: Languages such as Ngbaka Have INHERENT TONE eg: /li/ = it can have different meanings such as “face”, “name” & “water” in accordance to it’s SEGMENTAL PHONEMES / SUPRA-SEGMENTAL PHONEMES.

16. 2. by their POSITIONS with respect to other Morphemes – ADDITIVE: stems(eg : boy) and affixes(prefixes , infixes or suffixes) REPLACIVE: may consist of Segmental or Supra-segmental phonemes. . . ADDITIVE AND REPLACIVE: ref point no:1 sub-sec:3 SUBTRACTIVE: combined into one morpheme on the basis of their SEMANTIC DISTINCTIVENESS and the PHONOLOGICAL DETERMINATION of their DISTRIBUTION. Eg: masculine Adjectives(in French): have VOWEL ENDING. feminine Adjectives(in French) : have CONSONANTAL ENDING.

18. Vijay

19. Hemant

20. Ishwar

21. M.A.Linguistics 1st Semester

22. Centre for Linguistics

23. SLL/CS-JNU