6.3: Morphophonemic
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Because the English orthography represents meaning and structure (morphology), sound (phonology), and history (etymology), it has been described as “morphophonemic.” The word-forming element <morph> refers to “form or shape” and <phone> refers to sound. Even within the word “morphophonemic” the sense of “morphology” comes first and is prioritized over sound. This is because the structure of words must be analyzed before sound, such as in the words “reach” and “react.” These two words look similar in that they both have a <ea> in the middle of the words, but they sound differently from one another because “reach” contains an <ea> digraph and “react” has two separate morphemes: the prefix <re> and the base <act>. Thus, <ea> is not a digraph in the word “react.” This example illustrates why morphemes must be analyzed before sound can fully be understood, but it also shows how both meaning and sound are represented inside of words.
We can look more closely at some word families to discover how written English represents multiplicity through morphophonemics. More specifically, as Richard Venezky (1999) explains, “the visual identity of meaningful word parts takes precedence over letter-sound simplicity” (p. 198). To preserve the visual identity, morphemes will be spelled the same even though pronunciation may change. For instance, as we saw earlier within the family of words with the base <have>, the words have, having, behave, and behavior are all derived from the same historical Proto Indo-European root *kap- with a denotation of “grasp” or “take” (Harper, 2022). As different prefixes or suffixes are affixed to the <have> base, vowel alternations occur. Sorting the words using the International Phonetic Association’s (IPA) alphabet allows for “seeing” where the vowel shifts in pronunciation occur.
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Say the words in each box and listen for the sound represented by the vowel grapheme <a>. Vowel Alternations for Grapheme <a> |
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word sums IPA/æ/ |
word sums IPA /eɪ/ |
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have / hæv/ have/ + ing → having /ˈhævɪŋ/ |
be + have → behave /bəˈheɪv/ be + have/+ ing → behaving /bəˈheɪvɪŋ/ be + have/+ ed → behaved /bəˈheɪvd/ be + have/+ i + or → behavior /bəˈheɪvjər/ |
In the words have and having, the grapheme <a> shows what is known as the “short a” sound/æ/. In the words behave, behaving, behaved, and behavior, the grapheme <a> shows what is known as the “long a” sound /eɪ/. Words written in IPA symbols visually show how the grapheme <a> can represent both /æ/ and /eɪ/.
In the following family of words built from the word <please>, all the words derived from the Latin root placere and have a denotation of "to be acceptable, be liked, be approved.” Say the words in each box and listen for the sound represented by the vowel digraph <ea>.
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word sums IPA/ i: / |
word sums IPA /ɛ/ |
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please please /pli:z/ please/ + ing → pleasing /pli:zɪŋ/ dis + please/ +ed → displeased /dɪspli:zd/ |
please/ + ant → pleasant /plɛznt/ un + please/+ ant→ unpleasant /ənplɛzənt/ please/+ ure→ pleasure /plɛʒər/ please/+ure/+able→ pleasurable /plɛʒərəbəl/ |
The words written in IPA show that the vowel digraph <ea> can represent both the “long e” /i:/ like in the words please, pleasing, and displeased and the “short e” /ɛ/ like in the words pleasant and pleasurable.
Not only do written vowels in English represent multiple sounds, but the consonants also represent more than one sound.
In the following family of words built from the base <please>, say the words in each box; listen for the sound represented by the consonant grapheme <s>
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word sums IPA / z / |
word sums I. PA /ʒ/ |
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please /pli:z/ please/ + ing → pleasing /pli:zɪŋ/ dis + please/ +ed→ displeased /dɪspli:zd/ please/ + ant → pleasant /plɛznt/ un + please/+ ant→ unpleasant /ənplɛzənt/ |
please/+ ure → pleasure /plɛʒər/ please/+ure/+able→ pleasurable /plɛʒərəbəl |
The words written in IPA show how the consonant grapheme <s> can represent /z/ as in please and pleasant and /ʒ/ like in the words pleasure and pleasurable. There are also additional sounds that the grapheme <s> can represent. In light of this insight into morphophonemics, we can now return to our initial question about how the English language embodies multiplicity. Through its representation of multiple dimensions of the English language–meaning and structure, sound, and history–there is always multiplicity embedded within words. Only by understanding all of those dimensions can we fully make sense of words.
In the next section, we’ll further expand our understanding of how multiplicity applies to the English language by examining another one of the three dimensions in greater depth.
Phonology
What do all three of the images above have in common? What does each device allow us to do? If you’re still unsure about the commonality among them, it might help to examine the words below. Which similarities do you notice?
- smartphone
- microphone
- saxophone
As you might have guessed, all of these words have the same lexical element: <phone>. This raises another question: “What does <phone> mean?” Today, phones allow us to do most of our everyday tasks, such as video conferencing, banking, shopping, and many other activities. However, the original phone allowed people to hear one another across a distance. This meaning is evident when we examine the structure and origin of the word “telephone.”
tele + phone → telephone
<phone> means “sound, voice” It comes from the PIE root *bha- “to speak, tell, say.”
Just as a “telephone” allows us to hear sound across distance, a “microphone” also allows us to hear sound. It is formed from the elements <micro-> and <phone>. In the 1680s it referred to an “ear trumpet for the hard-of-hearing”, but it could be thought of as an “instrument for augmenting small sounds.” As we know, microphones are helpful when trying to be heard by large audiences. Similarly, a “saxophone” comes from the French word saxophone, which was named for Antoine Joseph Adolphe Sax, the Belgian instrument maker who invented it.
By analyzing these familiar devices, we can begin to identify the element <phone> within a variety of morphologically complex words, many of which are depicted in the graphic below.
One of the words that is especially relevant to our study of the English language is “phonology.” As we learned in a previous lesson, phonology represents the third dimension of our language. Phonology refers to the way that sounds represent meaning within a language. Orthographic phonology situates sound within an orthography—a system that includes all 3 dimensions and the spelling conventions. As we know, sound exists in service of meaning, so it must be examined within this context.
In the context of our language, there are several important words that are all built on the base <phone>. Although these words might seem similar, they represent different concepts. A phoneme is the smallest “distinctive unit of speech”. Phonemes are represented by graphemes (a single letter - graph, two letters – digraph, or three letters – trigraph) and phonemes can be represented by more than one grapheme. For example, the phoneme /z/ - the sound like the beginning of zoo or the end of please - can be represented by the graphemes <z> or <s> like in both of those words. Or, the phoneme /eɪ/ - what is known as the long a sound like the beginning of acorn or the end of play can be represented by the graph <a> like in acorn or the digraph <ay> like in the word play or the digraph <ai> like in the word rain. In another example, the letter <c> appears three times in the phrase “Pacific Ocean”, but each of those graphemes represents a different phoneme. The first <c> represents the phoneme /s/, the second <c> represents the phoneme /k/, and the third <c> represents the phoneme /ʃ/. These descriptions of certain linguistic features of the English orthography are important because they establish multiplicity - specifically of how phonemes can be represented by multiple graphemes and graphemes can represent multiple phonemes.
Based on what you’ve read about phonology, do you have any thoughts about how multiplicity is represented within this dimension of the language? Note your ideas below.
In addition to variations in phonemes and graphemes, the sounds in our language are also designed to allow for multiple pronunciations. Consider how you would pronounce the following words: homophone and nativity. The first word, homophone, could be pronounced with a long initial /o/ as in the word home, indicated by the IPA symbol [oʊ], or it could be pronounced similarly to the /o/ in the word odd, represented by the symbol [ɑ]. Neither of these pronunciations is “correct” or “incorrect,” rather, they are all acceptable pronunciations that can be explained through the concept of alternation, which refers to predictable and consistent shifts in pronunciation across related words. For example, the related words nation and national and nature and natural demonstrate the pronunciation shift that occurs in the initial /a/. The spelling of these words remains consistent to show and preserve the relationship among them, but the phonology varies. This is just one more example of how the English language embraces multiplicity instead of definitive, exclusive notions of correctness.
In the following section, another element of phonology will be explored, particularly within the dimension of multiplicity.
Homophones and Homographs
In the paragraph below from Questioning Naturalized Views, underline the other words that sound like “two”?
- “When we look at the word family of <two> we find a very large family. Do you know where you look to find out about a word’s family and history? You need to look it up in an etymology resource - that is a book or online resource that tells you where words came from and what are other word relatives. Some dictionaries will provide that information too.”
- 1. List those words below:
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2. What do these words have in common? |
3. What is different about these words? |
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4. Based on your observations of these words, why do you think these words are spelled differently?
5. Based on your previous answer, which parts of our language seem to be related?
As you might have discovered, words like “see” and “sea” sound the same, but they are spelled differently. Words that sound alike but are spelled differently are called homophones. You also might have noted that these words have different meanings: “see” refers to vision and “sea” refers to water. Based on our examination of a couple different pairs of words, it seems as though a pattern is forming--words that have different meanings are spelled differently, even if they are pronounced the same way. If we take this observation another step further, we can begin to notice an important relationship within the English language--spelling is connected to meaning as well as to sound.
However, we cannot assume that this is a pattern or convention based on just two examples. Instead, as with all aspects of the language, we must keep searching so that we can understand not just one word, but the whole system that these words are a part of--the orthography itself.
Which other homophones can you think of? Brainstorm some additional words below:
Ex. sea and see
Do you notice any other patterns from looking at these homophones? Which questions do these homophones make you think about?
In the example below, there are not just two or three homophones, but four:
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Homophones |
rite |
right |
write |
wright |
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What does each word mean? |
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Which languages do these words derive from? |
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As you look at your answers in this chart, what patterns do you notice? Which factors contributed to the spelling?
While some words sound alike but are spelled differently, other words are spelled the same way, but may be pronounced differently and have different meanings. These words are called homographs. For example, the words below have different meanings and pronunciations even though they are spelled the same.
On the lines below, see if you can generate more than one meaning for each word:
bow _____________________________
bow _____________________________
can _____________________________
can _____________________________
Homophones and homographs might seem tricky to remember at first. If you’ve ever had trouble recalling the meaning of each of these concepts, you’re not alone. However, by applying some of the concepts that we learned earlier in this guidebook, we can figure out the meaning without having to memorize definitions.
If you go back to the previous activity on word formation from the guidebook, how might you break these words down into morphemes? Underline any affixes you see in these words and circle the base.
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Affixes/Meaning |
Base/Meaning |
Word Sum |
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homophone |
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homograph |
Based on your analysis of these words, how do the meaning of the morphemes contribute to the overall meaning of each of these words? Share and discuss your thought process with your classmates.
Now that you’ve completed the activity, you probably discovered, <homo-> is a word-forming element that means “same, equal, or like.” It comes from Greek homos, meaning “one and the same” or “belonging to two or more jointly.” If we go back even further, the oldest spoken root is hypothesized to be *sem- meaning “one, as one, together with.”
In the word homophone, <homo-> describes the morpheme <phone>, which means “sound.” <phone> comes from the root *bha meaning “to speak or tell.” When we combine these morphemes, we are able to figure out the meaning of the whole word--a homophone means “same sound” or words that sound the same.
Similarly, the word homograph also contains the word-forming element <homo->, but it describes the morpheme <graph>, which comes from the Greek root graphos and means “something written.” Therefore, a homograph refers to words that are written the same way. In other words, they have the same spelling or mark.
See the “Homophone and Homograph” Activity for more opportunities to engage with these concepts.
The previous sections have illustrated the way that multiplicity thrives within the English language, not just as a result of it. When we consider multiple perspectives and realities, we can read the word and the world in a way that highlights difference instead of striving for “consensus and conformity” (Lewison et al., 2015, p. 10). In the following sections, you will encounter poems that contain multiple layers of meaning and invite us to hold possibly conflicting interpretations.