Glossary: morphology and phonology

Languages in which the time intervals between stressed vowels are roughly equal, e.g. English (cf. syllable-timed languages).

The form in which a word is pronounced when it is stressed. This term is usually applied only to words that normally occur unstressed and then are pronounced in their weak form, such as English to, a.

The property of phonological rules that outputs are modified to preserve the nature of underlying forms, especially in terms of what phonemes exist in the language.

A type of base modification that consists of deleting a segment (or more than a segment) from the base.

An affix that is attached to the end of its base.

In degree systems, the degree with the meaning ‘having the highest degree, most’.

The replacement of a form that is missing from an inflectional paradigm by one with a different root, e.g., went (exists alongside go, goes, going, gone). Thought, caught exemplify partial suppletion because, synchronically, their roots are significantly but not completely different from think and catch.

Phonetic features such as stress, length, tone, and intonation, which are not a property of single consonants or vowels.

A word-form as it is actually pronounced by speakers; a form derived from an underlying representation by (morpho)phonological rules.

A writing system where the symbols that are used represent whole syllables, rather than individual consonants or vowels on the one hand, or whole words on the other. Japanese and Cherokee use this kind of writing system.