Please Note: This is a new version of a previously announced text.

Assuming only the most basic background in linguistics, What is Morphology? provides a concise, critical introduction to the central ideas and perennial problems of morphology. Designed to familiarize beginning students and specialists alike with the importance of morphology as a subject of research, this reader-friendly volume moves organically from the morphological “facts of everyday life” to important relationships with phonology, syntax, and semantics.

This second edition builds on the previous one, expanding chapters on morphological productivity and the mental lexicon, and adding coverage of experimental and computational methods. Aronoff and Fudeman have revised and expanded the exercises and added suggestions for further reading to each chapter. Cross-linguistic data from Kujamaat Joola, a West African language, is used throughout the book to explain and clarify new ideas presented. What is Morphology? equips readers with the skills to analyze a wealth of classic morphological issues through engaging narration and by direct example.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Remarks on Transcription The International Phonetic Alphabet

1. Thinking about Morphology and Morphological Analysis

2. Words and Lexemes

3. Morphology and Phonology

4. Derivation and the Lexicon

5. Derivation and Semantics

6. Inflection

7. Morphology and Syntax

8. Morphological Productivity and the Mental Lexicon

Glossary References Index