Lexical Morphology: Structure, Process, and Development
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Top Lang Disorders Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 57–72 Copyright c 2013 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Lexical Morphology: Structure, Process, and Development Linda Jarmulowicz and Valentina L. Taran Recent work has demonstrated the importance of derivational morphology to later language devel- opment and has led to a consensus that derivation is a lexical process. In this review, derivational morphology is discussed in terms of lexical representation models from both linguistic and psy- cholinguistic perspectives. Input characteristics, including types of frequency (lexical, surface, affix, and relative) and transparency (semantic, phonological, and orthographic), are examined as key factors that affect processing and acquisition. We introduce the possibility that lexical prosody and syllabic characteristics are relevant to lexical representation and affix separability, and we pro- pose that derivational morphemes can emerge to different degrees in a system that is sensitive to both sound and meaning. Finally, morphological development with a focus on children’s sensitiv- ity to input characteristics is briefly reviewed, and we conclude with a perspective of how lexical representation can be a framework for derived word study in therapeutic or educational settings. Keywords: derivational morphology, lexical representation, school-age language HAT IS MORPHOLOGY? Based on a The morpheme-based view of morphology W quick look in a textbook for stu- has been replaced by lexeme-based mor- dents of communication sciences and disor- phology (Aronoff, 1994; Feldman, 1995) and ders, the answer is along the lines of the more recently by noncompositional theories “ . rules that govern the use of morphemes that view morphology as an emergent struc- inalanguage...”(Berko-Gleason&Bernstein ture (Bybee, 2006; Hay & Baayen, 2005; Ratner, 2013, p. 401). The traditional view, Seidenberg & Gonnerman, 2000). that discrete meaning-based morphemic units Morphology is not isolable from semantics, can be systematically combined to make new syntax, or phonology, and its effects extend words, like stringing beads, may be a sim- beyond rule identification and application. Be- ple way to present morphology; however, cause morphemes are units of meaning, mor- morphology is not just the study of rules. phology and the study of the mental lexicon are interconnected. Morphology’s role in syn- tax through inflectional paradigms is promi- nent, and until fairly recently morphosyn- Author Affiliation: School of Communication tax was the archetype of rule-based morphol- Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, ogy. Morphology and phonology also interact, Memphis, Tennessee (Drs Jarmulowicz and Taran); such as in allomorphic variation, lexical stress and Iris Speech Solutions, LLC, Arlington, Tennessee (Dr Taran). distinctions (e.g., record (N) and re cord This work was supported in part by the Center for Re- (V)), and derivational alternations (e.g., di- search Initiatives and Strategies for the Communica- vine/divinity). Morphology is also repre- tively Impaired at the University of Memphis. sented in orthography. So, if morphology is The authors have disclosed that they have no signif- peppered throughout language, perhaps the icant relationships with, or financial interest in, any question should be: What isn’t morphology? commercial companies pertaining to this article. In the first part of this paper, we review Corresponding Author: Linda Jarmulowicz, PhD, descriptions of morphological structure from School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Uni- versity of Memphis, 807 Jefferson Avenue, Memphis, TN the field of linguistics and evidence of the 38105 ([email protected]). nature of lexical representation and process- DOI: 10.1097/TLD.0b013e318280f5c0 ing from psycholinguistics. In addition, we 57 Copyright © 2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 58 TOPICS IN LANGUAGE DISORDERS/JANUARY–MARCH 2013 discuss key factors that affect processing and 2003). Inflection alters words to fit in differ- acquisition, such as distributional character- ent grammatical contexts, creating new word istics and transparency. In the second part forms, but not new lexemes. The two pro- of the paper, we discuss developmental data cesses are ordered such that inflectional mor- on morphological derivation, with a focus on phemes can be added to either a stem (e.g., children’s sensitivity to input characteristics help + ed[past]) or a derived word (e.g., help and how the data fit with current lexical mod- + er[agentive] + s[plural]), but a derivational els. We conclude with a brief review of how morpheme cannot be added after inflection understanding of lexical representation can (e.g., *help + ed[past] + er[agentive]∗). Un- be a framework for derived word study. like inflectional morphemes, derivational suf- fixes vary in their productivity and tend to STRUCTURE be pickier about the types of bases to which they attach. In sum, inflection is grammatical For at least 20 years, linguists have ob- morphology and derivation is a type of word served that morpheme-based theories, in formation, or lexical morphology. which words are reducible to morphemes Another area of linguistic theory that that combine by rules, are insufficient to ac- touches on morphology is lexical phonol- count for all of the phenomena encompassed ogy (Plag, 2003). Despite its name, lexical by morphology (Aronoff, 1994; Beard, 1995; phonology is as much about derivational Plag, 2003). Current linguistic accounts fre- morphology as it is about phonology. The quently posit two types of representation: the literature on lexical phonology describes lexeme and the morpheme. The lexeme is two classes of English suffixes that exhibit represented in the lexicon and is much like different kinds of phonological behavior (see a bare stem or a citation form (i.e., dictionary Lieber, 2010, for overview). For historical entry). The morpheme includes affixes, redu- reasons, English has Latin-based suffixes plication, and by some accounts modifications borrowed primarily through French (e.g., of phonological representation that change -al, -ive, -ic, -tion, -ity), suffixes borrowed a lexeme (Beard, 1995). The lexeme unites through Greek (e.g., -graph, -ology, -ist), grammatical and phonological forms (Stump, and native Germanic-based suffixes (e.g., -er, 2005). For example, the verbs am, was,and -ful, -hood, -less, -ness). These two classes been have distinct phonological and grammat- of suffixes (borrowed and native) behave ical forms, but all are related to the abstract differently. First, native suffixes can easily lexeme BE, which links these forms together. attach to borrowed suffixes (e.g., nativeness, Morphemes traditionally divide into in- signifier), but the reverse is generally not true flectional and derivational types, based on (e.g., *sorrowfulity,*boredomic). The Latin- their function in a language. Empirical data based borrowed suffixes have no trouble support the distinction in adult and pedi- attaching to other Latin-based suffixes (e.g., atric populations (Badecker & Caramazza, sensitive + ity, exception + al). Second, 1989; Clahsen, Sonnenstuhl, & Blevins, 2003); borrowed suffixes can attach to bound bases however, there are parallels in terms of (e.g., nutri + tion), whereas native suffixes how the two morphological systems operate attach only to free bases (e.g., *nutri + ful). (Deacon, Campbell, Tamminga, & Kirby, Finally, borrowed suffixes may alter the 2010; Hay & Baayen, 2005; Stump, 2005). segmental phonology or stress pattern of the An incontrovertible distinction between in- stem (e.g., sacrifice/sacrificial and active/ flection and derivation is that the latter is a type of word formation that creates new lexemes in the lexicon typically through the addition of affixes, which include prefixes, ∗We will use the linguistic convention of placing * before suffixes, and infixes (Aronoff, 1994; Plag, ungrammatical or incorrect examples. Copyright © 2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. Lexical Morphology 59 activity for segment and stress changes, sentation. The lemma bridges the conceptual respectively), whereas native suffixes do not. and the formal aspects of a word. The sec- In addition, certain suffixes prefer to attach ond level of lexical representation includes to others in what is called base-driven selec- the formal characteristics, such as morpho- tion (Plag, 2003). For example, if one wanted logical and phonological information, which to googlize his Web site, the likely noun are mapped to or from the lemma. The prod- from this verb would not be *googlizance uct of the lemma plus the result of form cod- or *googlizal or *googlizage;rather,tocom- ing is called the lexeme.∗ For production, the plete the sentence, I will not comment on lemma must be accessed first then mapped to the googliz____ of his website,mostEnglish the phonological representation. For recogni- speakers would add the suffix -ation,asin tion, the form (phonology for spoken, orthog- googlization. The suffix -ize appears to se- raphy for visual) representation is the entry lect -ation as the de-verbal suffix. Some of point to the system. these effects might best be explained by Note that the levels are free to connect and frequency of co-occurrence, as we discuss interact with other stored representations. So, below. awordlikecake might link to chocolate, ice cream, cookie,orcupcake at the lemma PROCESS level whereas the same word might