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elements.
§
5. As a result of the application of distributional analysis to the morphemic level, different types of
morphemes have been discriminated which can be called the "distributional morpheme types". It must be
stressed that the distributional classification of morphemes cannot abolish or in any way depreciate the
traditional morpheme types. Rather, it supplements the traditional classification, showing some essential
features of morphemes on the principles of environmental study.
We shall survey the distributional morpheme types arranging them in pairs of immediate correlation.
On the basis of the degree of self-dependence, "free" morphemes and "bound" morphemes are distinguished.
Bound morphemes cannot form words by themselves, they are identified only as component segmental parts of
words. As different from this, free morphemes can build up words by themselves, i.e. can be used "freely".
For instance, in the word handful the root hand is a free morpheme, while the suffix -ful is a bound
morpheme.
There are very few productive bound morphemes in the morphological system of English. Being extremely
narrow, the list of them is complicated by the relations of homonymy. These morphemes are the following:
1) the segments -(e)s [-z, -s, -iz]: the plural of nouns, the possessive case of nouns, the third person singular
present of verbs;
2) the segments -(e)d [-d, -t, -id]: the past and past participle of verbs;
3) the segments -ing: the gerund and present participle;
4) the segments -er, -est the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs.
The auxiliary word-morphemes of various standings should
be
interpreted in this connection as "semi-
bound" morphemes, since, being used as separate elements of speech strings, they form categorial unities with
their notional stem-words.
On the basis of formal presentation, "overt" morphemes and "covert" morphemes are distinguished. Overt
morphemes are genuine, explicit morphemes building up words; the covert morpheme is identified as a
contrastive absence of morpheme expressing a certain function. The notion of covert morpheme coincides with
the notion of zero morpheme in the oppositional description of grammatical categories (see further).
For instance, the word-form clocks consists of two overt morphemes: one lexical (root) and one
grammatical expressing the plural. The outwardly one-morpheme word-form clock, since it expresses the
singular, is also considered as consisting of two morphemes, i.e. of the overt root and the covert (implicit)
grammatical suffix of the singular. The usual symbol for the covert morpheme employed by linguists is the
sign of the empty set: O.
On the basis of segmental relation, "segmental" morphemes and "supra-segmental" morphemes are
distinguished. Interpreted as supra-segmental morphemes in distributional terms are intonation contours,
accents, pauses.
The said elements of language, as we have stated elsewhere, should beyond dispute be considered signemic
units of language, since they are functionally bound. They form the secondary line of speech, accompanying its
primary phonemic line (phonemic complexes). On the other hand, from what has been stated about the
morpheme proper, it is not difficult to see that the morphemic interpretation of supra-segmental units can
hardly stand to reason. Indeed, these units are functionally connected not with morphemes, but with larger
elements of guage: words, word-groups, sentences, supra-sentential constructions.
On the basis of grammatical alternation, "additive" morphemes and "replacive" morphemes are
distinguished. Interpreted as additive morphemes are outer grammatical suffixes, since, as a rule, they are
opposed to the absence of morphemes in grammatical alternation. Cf. look + ed, small + er, etc. In distinction to
these, the root phonemes of grammatical interchange are considered as replacive morphemes, since they replace
one another in the paradigmatic forms. Cf. dr-i-ve - dr-o-ve - dr-i-ven; m-a-n - m-e-n; etc.
It should be remembered that the phonemic interchange is utterly unproductive in English as in all the Indo-
European languages. If it were productive, it might rationally be interpreted as a sort of replacive "infixation"
(correlated with "exfixation" of the additive type). As it stands, however, this type of grammatical means can be
understood as a kind of suppletivity (i.e. partial suppletivity).
On the basis of linear characteristic, "continuous" (or "linear") morphemes and "discontinuous"
morphemes are distinguished.
By the discontinuous morpheme, opposed to the common, i.e. uninterruptedly expressed, continuous
morpheme, a two-element grammatical unit is meant which is identified in the analytical grammatical form
comprising an auxiliary word and a grammatical suffix. These two elements, as it were, embed the notional
stem; hence, they are symbolically represented as follows:
be ... ing - for the continuous verb forms (e.g. is going);