Practice Time

Exercise 1. For each of the following words, identify the affix(es) in the word. For each affix, say whether it is derivational or inflectional. For inflectional affixes, say what grammatical information the affix indicates.

purity
newest
misunderstand
Canadian
unlikely
weaken
nieces
expectantly

Exercise 2. The regular English plural morpheme has several allomorphs, including two different spellings (-s and -es) and three different pronunciations [s, z, ɨz]. Say the following words aloud to yourself and determine which allomorph appears on each word.  The form of the allomorph depends on the final sound in the base. What is the natural class of sounds that predicts the appearance of each allomorph?

books chips buses fans
tomatoes wishes cuffs farms
cars judges shirts rainbows
quizzes myths gloves flies
grapes caves peas toys
clocks beaches dances  

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Essentials of Linguistics Copyright © 2018 by Catherine Anderson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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