5)Distributional analysis in studying morphemes. Types of distribution.

Distributional morpheme types.

In accord with the allo-emic theory lingual units may be described by means of 2 types

of term allo-terms & eme-terms.Eme-terms denotes the generalized invariant:phonemes,

morphemes. Allo-terms are concrete manifistations of variants:allo-forms,allomorphes.

A set of allo-units is one eme-unit. The allo-emic identification of lingual elements is

achieved by means of distributional analysis. The aim of this analysis is to fix and study

the language unit in relation to the textual environment. The environment of the unit

may be right or left. E.x. un-pardon-able (left environment of the root)

The left environment of the root is the negative prefix –un, the right environment of

the root is the qualitative suffix –able. Respectively, the root –pardon- is the right

environment for the prefix, and the left environment for the suffix.

The analysis is conducted in 2 stages:

1.The analyzed text is divided into segments consisting of phonemes. They are called

morphs

2.We establish the environment of the morphs and defined the type distribution.

There are 3 main types of distribution:

- contrastive (the environment of the morphs are the same, but meaning are different)

- non-contrastive (if their meaning is the same suffix ed-t ex.learned-learnt)

- complementary (concerns different environments of different morphs, but their

meaning ex:dogs-oxen)

Morphemes can be: -free&bound(Bound morphemes cannot form words by themselves,

they are identified only as component segmental parts of words. On the contrary, free

morphemes can build up words by themselves, i/e/ can be used “freely”.e.g. handful –

the root hand is a free morpheme, the suffix –ful is a bound morpheme.)

-overt &covert (Overt morphemes are genuine, explicit morphemes building up words;

the covert morpheme is identified as a contrastive absence of morpheme expressing a

certain function. The notion of covert morpheme coincides with the notion of zero

morpheme in the oppositional description of grammatical categories.

e.g. clock-s - 2 morphemes (a lexical morpheme and a grammatical one)

clock-Ø – 2 morphemes (the overt root and the covert (implicit) zero morpheme Ø)

-segmental&suprasegmental (Supra-segmental morphemes are intonation contours,

accents, pauses.)

-additive (Additive morphemes are outer grammatical suffixes, as they are opposed to

the absence of morphemes in grammatical alternation: e.g. look-ed; small-er

The sound alternation (replacive morpheme) a way of expressing grammatical category

by changing a sound inside the root. Suppletive formation is building a form of a word

by different stems:good-better/go-went

On the basis of linear characteristics, “continuous (linear)” morphemes and

“discontinuous” morphemes are distinguished. The discontinuous morpheme is a

2-element grammatical unit, which is the analytical from comprising an auxiliary word

and a grammatical suffix:

e.g. be … ing – is going (continuous)

have … en – has gone (perfect)

be … en – is taken (passive)

Continuous morpheme is uninterruptedly expressed.