Allomorph Inflection and Noun Plural Morpheme free essay sample

Different allomorph of the root may be used depending on the grammatical word of which it forms part. We will illustrate this by contrasting the base form, the past form and the past participle form of the following verbs: Base Past tense Past participle a. jump call He jump-ed yesterday. He call-ed yesterday. He has jump-ed. He has call-ed . b. ride drive He rode yesterday. He drove yesterday He has ridden. He has driven. c. sing stink She sang yesterday. She stank yesterday. She has sung. She has stunk. 2. 1 In [a] regular verb stems like â€Å"jump† remain unchanged all three columns. The formation of the past tense and the past participle is simply accomplished by the suffixation –ed. This contrasts with the verb in [b] and [c] where the grammatical word that is realised by the word-form dictates the allomorph of the stem that is used. Thus in [b] we see the base form â€Å"ride† (as in I ride). We will write a custom essay sample on Allomorph: Inflection and Noun Plural Morpheme or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But if â€Å"ride† is in the past tense it must be realised as rode and if it is past participle that is required, then the form selected is ridden. Similarly, in [c] the base form of sing is sing (as in I sing). But if â€Å"sing† is in the past tense, it must be realised as sang and if it is in the past participle that is required, then the form selected is sung, and so on. This is a case of the selection allomorph of the root being solely conditioned by grammatical factors. Hence it is called grammatical conditioning. 3. The lexically-conditioned allomorph: The selection of inflectional affixes may be determined by the presence of a particular lexical root morpheme. Hence this is called lexical conditioning. A classic example pf this in English is the way in which â€Å"ox† forms its plural as â€Å"oxen† rather than â€Å"oxes†. Phonologically and grammatically comparable words like fox ? foxes and box ? boxes from their plurals using the regular /-z/ suffix. In the phonology and grammar of modern English, there is nothing that explain why ox has oxen as its plural. The suffix –en singles out this particular word. In other words, -en is a lexically conditioned allomorph of the plural morpheme. Our final example involves nouns which remain unchanged in the plural: Singular Plural sheep sheep deer deer equipment equipment aircraft aircraft 2. 2 If a farmer said to you: I have just lost one sheep but my neighbor has lost 200 sheep this year, you would know that sheep is singular in â€Å"one sheep† but plural in â€Å"200 sheep† although the same word-form â€Å"sheep† in both cases. The plural of sheep and other words of the ilk is formed by adding a zero suffix, as it were. In spite of absence of any overt number marking, such nouns can function as plurals. A child acquiring English needs to recognise and memorise, word by word, the set of noun which take zero, rather than the suffix /-z/ because the distribution of the zero plural suffix is lexically-conditioned. . Suppletion: madness without method. Occasionally, there is no method in the madness. This is so tiny minority of cases when suppletion takes place. Then the choice of the allomorphs of a root morpheme that serve in different grammatical contexts is phonological arbitrary: the allomorphs in question bear no phonological resemblance to each o ther. That is what happens in the case of the verb â€Å"go†, which has â€Å"went† as its past tense form and â€Å"gone† as its past participle. The form â€Å"good†, â€Å"better† and â€Å"best† which belong to the adjective â€Å"good† also show suppletion since the relationship between the morphs representing the root morpheme is phonological arbitrary. It would plainly make no sense to claim that there is single underlying representation in the dictionary from which â€Å"go† and â€Å"went† or â€Å"good† and â€Å"better are derived. The best we can do as to content ourselves with listing these allomorphs together under the same entry in the dictionary. Normally, the word-forms representing the same lexeme show some phonetic similarity (see [2. ] for example). However, when suppletion occurs, the word-form that realised a lexeme bears no reasonable resemblance to the other word-forms representing the same lexeme. Mercifully, the majority of words follow general rules (for example adding the suitable phonologically conditioned allomorph of the plural /-z/ suffix) and wor d-forms belonging to the same lexeme are phonologically similar to some degree. Acquiring a language for the most part involves working out these general rules rather than using brute force to commit morphemes and their allomorphs to memory. III. Summary: The selection of allomorph to use on a given occasion ma be conditioned by phonological, grammatical, or lexical factors. Normally, phonological conditioning is due to assimilation: the allomorph that occurs in a particular context is the one that is most similar to the sounds found in neighboring forms. However, the choice of allomorph is sometimes grammatically conditioned. If a root morpheme occurs in a particular grammatical word, then it must have a certain specified allomorph.

Civil War essays

Civil War essays The Blacks Struggle following the Civil War After the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln, the slaves of America were free. This was a huge step in making our country truly free to all people. The construction of the South did not however work out smoothly for the freed slaves. There were many roadblocks along the way such as the Black Codes, the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, and the terror of the Ku Klux Klan. In this essay, we will look at the struggles that faced the blacks following the Civil War. After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, former slaves took on a new role in American society. This role was one of more significance and self worth than in slavery, but this class of freedmen was anything but appreciated. Without the manpower of the slaves, the south's agricultural society would fail, and without the agriculture there would be little money or food in the south. The passing of the Louisiana Black Code in 1865, confirmed that whites felt as if blacks could not handle the responsibility or the rights of true citizens. Whites thought they did not deserve these rights because they were inferior to themselves and simply less than human. It was almost as if slavery had never ended. The blacks were free, however many of the Negroes everyday rights were abolished. Section 3, of the Louisiana Black Code states No Negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. Section 9 declares, No Negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any a rticles of merchandise or traffic within said parish. And one of the worst of these codes is in Section 4 of the Louisiana Black Code. Every Negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conductor of said Negro. (Weinstein 167) Many blacks remained on farms and plantations because they did not know what els...

NO TOPIC SO FAR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

NO TOPIC SO FAR - Essay Example The Director of CBO gave a detailed testimony to outline how many government programs can impede economic growth by increasing the marginal tax rate. An increase in the marginal tax rate affects the amount of the money that households can use for savings and investments. The effect of low savings and investments is slow economic growth. The impact of increasing marginal tax rates can be explained using a case example of a single mother who makes approximately $20,000 in a year. The mother will be forced to pay an additional 15 cents as a tax because of the income raise (Jacobs). Furthermore, her eligibility to support programs like food stamps, Earned Income Credit tax, and Medicaid can be eliminated or slightly reduced. The situation creates a poverty trap for an average modest family in America. The CBO estimates the Obamacare law will discourage work and lead to increased rate of unemployment. The effect of the Obamacare law on employment is clarified by Patton in his Forbes article â€Å"Is Obamacare an Economic Disaster?† According to Patton, the heavy demands placed on employers by the law will prompt them to cut down the number of employees (Patton). They have to consider firing some employees for them to afford paying the cost of healthcare. Employers can also reduce the number of hours covered by employees to avoid increasing the cost by paying health insurance. It would also increase the price of products and services to cover the additional cost of providing health insurance. All these actions result in loss of income for many families. It reduces the amount of money available for saving and investments. Some people might lack the mean to take care of their families. Reducing the number of hours worked, increasing operating costs and loss of employees creates a business environment that makes forecasting impossible. Therefore, businesses will fear to invest and save. They would cut on additional