Rethinking Morphology

Laurie Bauer is Professor of Linguistics at the Victoria University of Wellington. He is on the editorial board of the journal Word Structure.

• AcknowledgementsAbbreviations and notational conventions1 Introduction1.1 Morphology and the word1.2 Theory and description1.3 About this bookNotes and commentsReading Discussion questions2 Morpheme-based morphology2.1 A sketch morphemic model2.2 Problems for the morpheme2.2.1 How much similarity of form must allomorphs share?2.2.2 How much similarity of meaning must allomorphs share?2.2.3 What are the limits of analysis?2.2.4 Empty morphs2.2.5 Zero morphs2.2.6 Processes as morphs2.2.7 Cumulative exponence2.2.8 Extended exponence2.2.9 Superfluous morphs2.2.10 Morphs with incompatible meanings2.2.11 Inversion2.3 Evaluation2.4 An alternativeNotes and commentsReading Discussion questions3 Word-based morphology3.1 Introduction3.2 The fundamentals of such a model3.3 Two potential criticisims of word-based morphology3.4 Inflection and derivation3.4.1 Questions of definition3.4.2 The inflection-derivation split3.5 What if there is no inflection-derivation split?Notes and commentsReading Discussion questions4. Word syntax4.1 Introduction4.2 Some basics4.3 Headedness4.4 Morphotactics4.5 ConclusionNotes and commentsReading Discussion questions5 The phonological correlates of concatenation5.1 Introduction5.2 Deletion of phonological material5.2.1 Haplology5.2.2 Truncation5.3 Addition of phonological material5.4 The modification of phonological material5.4.1 Assimilation5.4.2 Remnants of historical processes5.4.3 Cluster simplification5.4.4 Structure optimisation5.5 Wider phonological change5.6 ConclusionNotes and commentsReading Discussion questions6. The borders of morphology6.1 Introduction6.2 Meaning without form6.3 Form without meaning6.4 Acronyms6.5 Phonaesthemes6.6 Blends6.7 Clippings6.8 Yiddish-influences shm-6.9 Backformation6.10 Messy formations and the limits of description6.11 AnalogyNotes and commentsReading Discussion questions7 Exemplars and resonances7.1 Interlude: the acquisition of phonemes7.2 Acquiring morphology7.3 Exemplar theory7.4 Resonances7.5 Why is an approach based on exemplar theory and resonances an improvement?7.5.1 Morphemes7.5.2 Unique outcomes7.5.3 Inflection and derivation7.5.4 Morphotactics7.5.5 Headedness7.5.6 Lack of compositionality7.5.7 Productivity7.5.8 Typology and naturalness7.6 Is there anything that this kind of approach cannot explain?7.7 Examples7.8 ConclusionNotes and commentsReading Discussion questionsGlossaryReferencesIndex

Rethinking Morphology is a lively and accessible tour of word-formation patterns and theories of morphology. It offers excellent insights into the strong suits of different classical approaches, also laying out the motivation for more recent cognitively-based views. It will be equally useful as a textbook and as a reference work for researchers in related fields.