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Article published In: The architecture of writing systems
Edited by Kristian Berg, Franziska Buchmann and Nanna Fuhrhop
[Written Language & Literacy 17:2] 2014
► pp. 282–307

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Morphological spellings in English

 | University of Oldenburg, Germany
 | University of Oldenburg, Germany
 | University of Oldenburg, Germany
 | University of Oldenburg, Germany
Published online: 22 September 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.17.2.05ber
Morphologically motivated spellings in English are usually thought to be restricted to cases like 〈electric – electrician – electricity〉, where the stem final letter 〈c〉 is kept constant in spelling although the corresponding phoneme varies in spoken language. However, there are many more – and fundamentally different – spellings that refer to morphological information. We will show this by systematically going through the three major parts of morphology: inflection, derivation, and compounding. In each area, we will identify spellings that can best be explained with reference to morphology. As a result, we will present an overview of formal and functional means of morphological spellings which goes far beyond the ubiquitous example cited above. Keywords: English; spelling; writing system; morphology; stem constancy
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