The document discusses several suffixal homophones in English morphology. It identifies four cases: 1) The inflectional suffix "-ER" has two homophones that indicate an agent/doer or repetition. 2) The verbal inflectional suffix "-ING" has homophones that indicate ongoing action or a noun. 3) The verbal inflectional suffix "-ED" has a homophone that derives adjectives. 4) The adverbial suffix "-LY" has a homophone that derives adjectives from nouns or forms alternate adjectives. Tests are provided to distinguish between homophones in some cases.

1. LANE 333 -
MORPHOLOGY
2012 – Term 1
Suffixal
Homophones 2
By: http://SBANJAR.kau.edu.sa/
Dr. Shadia Y. Banjar http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogspot.com
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2. H. Suffixal Homophones
Some suffixes, both inflectional and derivational
have homophonous forms.
I. The inflectional morpheme has two
homophones: {-ER n } & {-ER rp}
II. The verbal inflectional suffix has two
homophones : {-ING nm} & {-ING aj}
III. The verbal inflectional has a homophone
in the adjectival derivational {-D aj}
IV.The adverbial derivational suffix has one
homophone: {-Ly aj}.
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3. Suffixal Homophones
I. The inflectional morpheme
I. The inflectional morpheme {-ER cp} has two homophones:
1. Derivational morpheme {-ER n }, as in hunter, fisher. It is
often called the agent –er and conveys the meaning of “that
which performs the action of the verb stem”. It may also
attached to nonverbal stems as in: teenager, new Yorker
;conveying the meaning of “that which is related to”. Both
belong to the same morpheme.
2. Derivational morpheme {-ER rp} , which appears at the
end of words and conveys the meaning of repetition as in glitter,
mutter.
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4. Suffixal Homophones
II. The verbal inflectional suffix
•The verbal inflectional suffix {-ING vb}
has two homophones :
1. Nominal derivational suffix {-ING nm}
as in meetings, weddings.
2. Adjectival morpheme {-ING aj} as in a
charming woman.
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5. Verbal Inflectional Suffix Tests
There are two tests to distinguish the verbal {-ING vb} from the
adjectival {-ING aj}:
•The verbal {-ING vb} can usually occur after as well as before
the noun it modifies as in:
I saw a burning house.
I saw a house burning.
1. The adjectival {-ING aj} can be preceded by a qualifier
(very) or by the comparative or superlative (more and
most), while the verbal {-ING vb} cannot.
It is a very comforting thought.
This is a more exciting movie.
* I saw a rather burning house,
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6. Verbal Suffix Tests
2. The adjectival {-ING aj} can occur after the verb ‘seems’,
but the verbal {-ING vb} cannot.
The snake seems interesting.
* The snake seems crawling.
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7. III. The verbal i*nflectional
•The verbal inflectional {-D pp } has a homophone
in the adjectival derivational {-D aj } as in:
Helen was excited about her new job
she was a devoted mother
• The adjectival {-D aj } can be preceded by a
qualifier (very, rather,quite) or (more & most)
•The test of the verb (seem) is applicable to
adjectival {-D aj }, but not to verbal {-D pp}
*The very departed guests had forgotten their dog.
*The guests seem departed.
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8. IV. The adverbial derivational suffix
• The adverbial derivational suffix is added to most
adjectives to form adverb of manner as kindly, happily.
has as a homophone the derivational suffix {-LY aj}
that is distributed as follows:
a. Added to monosyllabic nouns to form adjectives that are
inflected with –er, -est: love lovely
b. It is added to nouns to form adjectives that are not inflected
with –er, -est: king kingly
c. It is added to few adjectives, giving alternate adjectival
forms that are also inflected with –er, -est : dead deadly
d. Added to a short list of time nouns to form adjectives : day
daily, month monthly.
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