1. INFLECTION IN LEXICAL
MORPHOLOGY
By
Kadek Intan Nirmala Sari
Putri Anggitawati

2. INFLECTION IN LEXICAL MORPHOLOGY
Frozen historical relics:
– Ablaut : change in a root vowel which indicates a
change in grammatical function, e.g. /aɪ/ alternates
with /əʊ/ to mark the change from present to past
tense
Present tense
Drive /draiv/
Write /rait/
Dive /daiv/
-
Ride /raid/
-
Past tense
Drove /dreuv/
Wrote /reut/
Dove /deuv/ (American),
/daivd/ (British)
Rode /reud/

3. – Umlaunt : Fronting of a vowel if the next
syllable contains a front vowel
Example:
Nominative Singular
fÕt
‘foot’
Nominative plural
fÕtiz
‘feet’
(where Õ = long vowel /o:/ )
There are very few nouns that use umlaut for
plural formation.

4. There is also some irregural plural inflection with
loanwords borrowed from Latin and Greek
For example:
Singular
• Addendum
• Stratum
• Datum
• Medium
Plural (Latin)
addenda
strata
data
media

5. For example:
Singular
 Tooth /tu: θ/
Plural
 teeth / ti:θ/
 Louse /laus/
 lice /lais/
 Mouse /maus/
 mice /mais/
 Goose /gu:s/
 geese /gi:s/

6. The suffix –en is another irregular plural ending
found at stratum 1,
For Example:
Singular
• ox
• brother
• child
Plural
oxen
brethren (change /a/
and suffixation of -en )
children (change /ai/
suffixation of –en )
/e/
/i/ and

7. LEXICAL RULES
Morphological rules are formalized it is
necessary to specify:
– the class of bases affected
– the affix that is attached
– where the affix is attached
– the class which the resulting word
belongs to
– the level or stratum to which the affix
belongs

8. Morphological rules that attach
affixes to bases
Form :
insert A in environment [Y _______ Z]x
Output: word
Example:
Insert /ə/ in environment [dɛɪt_]
Output:/dɛɪtə/
Noun + Plural

9. Stratum 2
Insert -s in environment [Y ______] Noun + Plural
Output: Y-s

10. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEXICAL
AND POST-LEXICAL
Post-lexical rules can apply in any context
lexical rules are cyclic
lexical rules are structure-preserving
Post-lexical rules are automatic

11. Quiz 1
Please match the correct Past form of these vebs below!
Present tense
stride
strive
arise
over-ride
smite
write
smote
over-rode
wrote
strove
arose
strode

12. Quiz 2
PLEASE FILL THE BLANK WITH THE CORRECT SINGULAR OR PLURAL
FORM.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
KNIFE
.......
........
THESIS
..........
WOMAN
.......
DIE
..........
LICE
CALVES
.........
BABIES
......
MEN
.........

13. ANSWER
SINGULAR
PLURAL
KNIFE
LOUSE
CALF
THESIS
BABY
WOMAN
MAN
DIE
KNIVES
LICE
CALVES
THESES
BABIES
WOMEN
MEN
DICE