Posts for Tag : Proto-Indo-European

۲. Morphology  0

Morphology is the branch of linguistics that (as opposed to phonology) is concerned with the elements of the language that carry meaning.

Basic principles of morphology are explained in this chapter, primarily with regard to their relevance for Persian grammar.

Contents

a. Morphemes

The morpheme is a phoneme string which represents the smallest element of the language that carries meaning.

In the following statement, one counts 20 morphemes at a first glance:

همین نوکر هندیه که پول از جیبِ ارباب‌ش دزدید، بیرون‌ش کردند؟

Iraj Pezeshkzad (20th and 21st Century AD)

Morpho_01_ENDE

In linguistics, morphemes are classified according to the following feature characteristics:

  • According to their ability to show semantic meaning:
    • Lexical morphemes refer to real or fictitious entities, features, situations or actions.
    • Grammatical morphemes do not show an independent, complete meaning but they modify or determine the meaning or the grammatical role of other language elements.

    Accordingly, the morphemes mentioned above can therefore be classified as follows (Gr = grammatical morpheme, Le = lexical morpheme):

    Morpho_02_ENDE

    The repertoire of lexical morphemes can be expanded arbitrarily, but with grammatical morphemes it is limited. A complete list of Persian grammatical morphemes is available in the thesaurus of the present web site.

  • According to their autonomy:

    • Bound morphemes do not appear non-attached in the statement, so they cannot represent any words but instead accompany other morphemes.

    • All other morphemes are called free morphemes. These are morphemes which can appear freely as independent words.

      Therefore, /bon/ بـن in /gol-bon/ گل‌بـن, /xɒnæ/ خانه in /ʧɒj-xɒnæ/ چای‌خانه, /gun/ گون in /nil-gun/ نیل‌گون, /pæri/ پری in /pæri-ʃæb/ پریشب and /gɒh/ گاه in /dɒneʃ-gɒh/ دانشگاه are free morphemes, because they can be noted in Persian as free words.

    The morphemes of the example mentioned above can therefore be classified as follows (Bn = bound morpheme, Fr = free morpheme):

    Morpho_03_EN

As the above example shows these two classifications are not congruent, all feature combinations therefore appear: There are free and bound lexical morphemes, as well as free and bound grammatical morphemes.

b. Classification of Persian Bound Morphemes

The following classification of bound morphemes displays a central role within the Persian grammar:

  • Verbal roots ↓. They are always bound lexical morphemes.
  • Affixes ↓. They are always bound grammatical morphemes.
  • Clitics ↓. Both lexical and grammatical morphemes fall in this class.

Bound morphemes from the upper example can be classified as follows (VR = verbal root, Af = affix, Cl = clitic):

Morpho_04_EN

b•a. Verbal Root

In Persian, verbal roots do not appear as free morphemes in this role. They are associated with processes or certain states as precursors of non-finite verb forms:

bon_EN

  • The following derivates can be generated from verbal roots by means of dental suffixes:
    1. Past participles with the dental suffix /-t/ (see 12•۱•a.): /sɒxt/ ساخت، /sereʃt/ سرشت
    2. Infinitives by means of the dental suffix /-tæn/ (see 12•۱•a.): /ændɒxtæn/ انداختن, /ænbɒʃtæn/ انباشتن
    3. Nomina actionis with the dental suffix /-tɒr/ (see 3•d•a•a): /gereftɒr/ گرفتار, /goftɒr/ گفتار

    Please note that the consonant /t/ in the dental suffixes is sonorized after voiced consonants as well as after vowels into the voiced allophone [d]: /sorud/ سرود, /ɒkændæn/ آکندن, /kærdɒr/ کردار

    The effect of combinative and free variation on verbal roots (in connection with dental suffixes) is demonstrated in chapter 20•۱..

  • Verbal roots can be converted into present participles without structural modifications: /puʃ/ پوش, /tærs/ ترس, /xænd/ خند

    However, certain differences can appear between verbal roots and present participles by means of the following Indo-European mutation processes (see 1•e.):

    • Apophony (Indo-European Ablaut) (see 1•e•a.):

      /ʃenu/ → /ʃenæv/ شنو

      /bæxʃu/ → /bæxʃɒ/ بخشا

      /færsu/ → /færsɒ/ فرسا

    • Grammatical alteration according to Verner’s Law (see 1•e•b.):

      /æfrux/ → /æfruz/ افروز

      /gomɒʃ/ → /gomɒr/ گمار

      /bæs/ → /bænd/ بنـد

      /ɒʃuf/ → /ɒʃub/ آشوب

  • By means of apophony (Indo-European Ablaut), also nominal participles can be generated from verbal roots (see 1•e•a.):

    /kær/ → /kɒr/ کار

    /bor/ → /bɒr/ بار

A complete list of Persian verbal roots is available in the chapter List of Participles in Persian within this website.

Grammatical categories of verbal roots (lexical aspect and transitivity) are discussed in chapter 13•c•a..

b•b. Affix

Affixes adopt a special position under morphemes. An affix is a bound grammatical morpheme appended to a so-called (morphological) stem, to either change its grammatical categories (= inflectional affix), or to modify either its semantic meaning or grammatical role (= derivational affix).

Stems can be single lexical morphemes, or morpheme strings which contain at least one lexical morpheme:

  • Stem /hend/ + affix /-i/ → /hendi/ هندی
  • Stem /hendi/ + affix /-hɒ/ → /hendihɒ/ هندی‌ها
  • Affix /hæm-/ + stem /ɒhæng/ → /hæmɒhæng/ هم‌آهنگ
  • Affix /nɒ-/ + stem /hæmɒhæng/ → /nɒhæmɒhæng/ ناهم‌آهنگ

In this website, the structure composed of the stem and its affix is called affixal formation.

An affix and its stem are always located within the same word ↓.

Affixes are classified according to their location to the stem:

  • Prefixes are set in front of the stem, e.g. /be-/ in /bekɒr/ بکار and /hæm-/ in /hæmkɒr/ هم‌کار.

    Most Old and Middle Persian prefixes (like /æ-/ in /æmordɒd/ امرداد, /ɒ-/ in /ɒræmidɒn/ آرمیدن and /pæʒ-/ in /pæʒmordæn/ پژمردن) have lost their semantic role in New Persian, and are not considered as prefixes any more. It seems that only the following (non-productive) prefixes have made the transition to New Persian:

    1. /bol-/ (= “much”, cf. the Greek πολύ- = “poly-“) generates adjectives from nouns: /bolkɒmæ/ بلکامه, /bolhævæs/ بلهوس
    2. /pɒ-/, /pɒj-/, /pɒd-/ and /pɒr-/ (= “against”, cf. the Greek παρά- = “para-“) generates new nouns from nouns:

      /pɒzæhr/ پازهر, /pɒjzæhr/ پایزهر, /pɒdzæhr/ پادزهر (= “antitoxin”)

      /pɒsæng/ پاسنگ, /pɒjsæng/ پایسنگ, /pɒrsæng/ پارسنگ (= “balance weight on scales”, see also the article of Dr. Ali Ashraf Sadeghi in مجلهء زبانشناسی, ۳۹rd issue, page 1)

    Nevertheless, some new prefixes have been built up in this language by means of grammaticalization ↓ of adverbs and prepositions (e.g. /næ-/ in /nægoftæ/ نگفته and /bi-/ in /bikɒr/ بی‌کار). These prefixes are discussed in the chapter 19..

  • Suffixes are appended to the stem, e.g. /-zɒr/ in /kɒrzɒr/ کارزار and /-gær/ in /kɒrgær/ کارگر. They represent the vast majority of affixes in Persian, and are covered in the chapters 20. and 13•d..
  • A circumfix consists of two segments which surround the stem to fulfill the role of one single affix, like /hæm- ~ -i/ in /hæmvelɒjati/ هم‌ولایتی and /hæmʃɒgerdi/ هم‌شاگردی or /nɒ- ~ -i/ in /nɒmɒdæri/ نامادری.

    It is striking that a circumfix is only assumed if the two segments fulfill one single role together. Therefore, the prefix /næ-/ and the suffix /-id/ in /nænevisid/ ننویسید are not recognized as a circumfix, because each of them determines a different grammatical category of the verb.

    Persian circumfixes are handled in the chapter 19..

  • Interfixes connect two stems. The only Persian interfix is /-ɒ-/, which is discussed in chapter 9•b•a.: /sær-ɒ-pɒ/ سراپا, /jek-ɒ-jek/ یکایک.

    Interfixes are normally grammaticalized ↓ conjunction, and they shoud not be mistaken for epentheses (like /æ/ in /mehræbɒn/ مهربان or /i/ in /ɒgɒhɒnidæn/ آگاهانیدن). Epentheses are phonemes or phoneme strings inserted between morphemes for phonotactical reasons. They do not carry meaning (consequently no morphemes), and their omission does not change the meaning or the grammatical function of the statement: /mehræbɒn/ ⇆ /mehrbɒn/, /ɒgɒhɒnidæn/ ⇆ /ɒgɒhɒndæn/

    By contrast, interfixes certainly have a semantic role.

  • Infixes are inserted in the stem; they are not noted in Persian.
  • Transfixes are multisectional affixes which are interlocked with the stem. Transfixes are not noted in Persian, and typically occur in Semitic languages. However, the Persian language is confronted with them primarily at the formation of the Arabic plural:

    Arabic lexical morphemes consist typically of three (or occasionally four) consonants. Depending on number of consonants these lexical morphemes are called triliterals (e.g. /skn/ س‌ک‌ن and /ʤrb/ ج‌ر‌ب) and quadriliterals (e.g. /drhm/ د‌ر‌ه‌م and /flsf/ ف‌ل‌س‌ف), respectively. In the transfixing, segments of the affix are inserted between these consonants:

    • stem /skn/ + transfix /ma-c1-aa-c2-ij-c3/ → /masaakijn/ (in Persian /mæsɒkin/) مساکین
    • stem /ʤrb/ + transfix /ta-c1-aa-c2-ij-c3/ → /taʤaarib/ (in Persian /tæʤɒreb/) تجارب
    • stem /drhm/ + transfix /c1-a-c2-aa-c3-i-c4/ → /daraahim/ (in Persian /dærɒhem/) دراهم
    • stem /flsf/ + transfix /c1-a-c2-aa-c3-e-c4-a/ → /falaasefa/ (in Persian /fælɒsefæ/fælɒsefe) فلاسفه

    These transfixes can be noted in 3•۱•g. Annex: Arabic Pluralizing Transfixes.

All Persian affixes are listed in the thesaurus of this website.

For the sake of completeness it should be noted that many linguists describe all morphemes which are not affixes as bases, whether they are bound or free, lexical or grammatical. This classification of the morphemes has been renounced in this website.

b•c. Clitic

The clitics represent a characteristic of the Proto-Indo-European language which has maintained itself predominantly in the Greek and Indo-Iranian languages. A clitic is an unstressed or weakly stressed bound morpheme which leans on a neighbouring expression.

Clitics are classified according to their position:

  • Proclitics lean on the following expression.
  • Enclitics lean on the previous expression.

There are both lexical and grammatical clitics:

All Persian clitics are listed in the thesaurus of this website.

Some Persian clitics seem to be interstages of grammaticalization, which is a process of language change in historical linguistics at which lexical morphemes gradually become bound and grammatical, partially losing their morphological and phonological independence. This becomes clear in the following examples:

  1. The archaic suppletive verb /hænd/ as a free lexical morpheme, e.g. in:

    از مرد خرد بپرس!، از ایرا

    جز تو به جهان خردوران هند /hænd/

    Nasir Khusraw (11th Century AD)

  2. The suppletive verb /-ænd/ as a lexical clitic, e.g. in:

    اکثرِ روستاهامان در این حـال‌ند /hɒl-ænd/.

    Jalal Al-e Ahmad (20th Century AD)

  3. The verbal inflectional affix /-ænd/, e.g. in:

    هر روز دسته‌جمعی زن و مرد و دخترها در موستان انگور می‌چیدند /mi-ʧidænd/ و خوشه‌هایِ درخشان را در لولا یا صندوق‌هایِ چوبی می‌گذاشتند /mi-gozɒʃtænd/. بعد آن لولاها را می‌بردند /mi-bordænd/ کنارِ رودخانه.

    Sadeq Hedajat (20th Century AD)

The pluralized forms of the partitive pronouns /xæjl-i/ خیلی and /bæʔz-i/ بعضی (= /xæjl-i-hɒ/ خیلی‌ها and /bæʔz-i-hɒ/ بعضی‌ها) can serve as further examples: the article /-i/ is understood as a derivational suffix by modern Persian speakers in these cases, therefore the inflectional suffix /-hɒ/ is attached to the article (instead of */xæjlhɒ-i/ خیل‌هایی and */bæʔzhɒ-i/ بعض‌هایی).

c. Morphs and Allomorphs

Similarly to the relation between phoneme, phones and allophones, the morpheme is understood in linguistics as an abstract class of one or more morphs, and single morphs of a morpheme are called allomorphs.

The simple form of allomorphy can be noted in (both lexical and grammatical) morphs which have a common etymology, e.g.:

Additionally etymological not-related morphs can be classed as allomorphs of a morpheme, specifically if they serve the same function. It is typically the case with inflectional affixes if several morphs cause the same modification of the grammatical category, e.g. the inflectional affixes /-ɒn/ and /-hɒ/ signalizing the plural in /deræxtɒn/ درختان and /deræxthɒ/ درخت‌ها.

d. Zero Allomorph and Zero Morpheme

Zero allomorphs are a specific form of the allomorphs of a morpheme. They are allomorphs which have no phone, nor a grammatical role. The sign for the zero allomorph is /Ø/.

In the following examples, the allomorphs [-æʃ], -ɒ and [-Ø] can be noted as past inflectional suffixes in third person singular:

گران‌مایه دستور گفتش /goftæʃ/ به شاه:

«نبایدت رفتن به آن رزم‌گاه»

Ferdowsi (10th and 11th Century AD)

گفتم: «گره نگشوده‌ام زآن طرّه تا من بوده‌ام»

گفتا /goftɒ/: «منَ‌ش فرموده‌ام تا با تو طرّاری کند»

Hafez (14th Century AD)

پرس‌پرسان می‌کشیدش تا به صدر

گفت /goftØ/: «گنجی یافتم آخر به صبر»

Rumi (13th Century AD)

A morpheme is called zero morpheme if it has a zero allomorph as the only allomorph. In Persian, for example, the zero morpheme of the imperative inflectional affix in second person singular can be noted:

بخور /boxorØ/ تا توانی به بازویِ خویش!

که سَعیَ‌ت بود در ترازویِ خویش

Saadi (12th and 13th Century AD)

e. Words and Lemmas

Words are defined according to phonological features: They are morphemes or morpheme strings which become separated from each other by limit signals, such as breaks.

In the example given above, one can recognize the following eleven words:

Morpho_05_ENDE

As this example highlights, words are not at all functional units: Clitics are functional units in the same word with the neighbouring units. However, besides the grammaticalization into clitics, further historical processes have led to the fusion of formerly independent functional units to form words, mainly because the original semantic distinction has been rendered extinct. For example:

  • The archaic phrase ↓ /ɒs-i ɒb/ آسی آب (= “water mill”, with the enclitical conjunction /-i/) has not developed into the phrase /ɒs-e ɒb/ آسِ آب in modern idioms of Persian: It is understood and pronounced as a single word (/ɒs-i-ɒb/ آسیاب). In this process, the meaning of the morpheme /ɒs/ آس (= “mill”) is not in the original conscious of most speakers, so new phrases like /ɒs-i-ɒb-e bɒdi/ آسیابِ بادی (= “windmill”), /ɒs-i-ɒb-e dæsti/ آسیابِ دستی (= “quern”) and even /ɒs-i-ɒb-e ɒbi/ آسیابِ آبی (“water mill”) are formed and used.
  • In the sentence سربه‌سرش گذاشته‌اند, the expression /sær-be-sær-æʃ/ سربه‌سرش is handled by speakers as a single word, although it consists of two sentence constituents (/sær/ سر as a direct object and /be sær-æʃ/ به سرش as a directive adverbial).

Lexicographical word forms, which are used as items in reference books, are called lemmas. Please note the lemmas to the words in the example given above:

Morpho_06_EN

As this example shows, infinitives are lemmas of verbs.

In addition, all inflectional affixes must be deleted from the word to achieve its lemma:

/ʃælvɒrhɒ/ شلوارها → /ʃælvɒr/ شلوار

/zibɒtærin/ زیباترین → /zibɒ/ زیبا

f. Phrases

In grammar, a phrase describes a morpheme string which forms a uniform syntactic role. Every phrase therefore consists of one or several direct constituents. Phrases are classified as follows:

  • Noun phrases (category symbol: NP) refer to (real or fictitious) entities, displaying the grammatical categories of nouns, particularly the number category. Noun phrases can be constructed simply, or consist of several constituents:

    باد /bɒd/، دریایِ سیاه /dærjɒ-je siɒh/، اراده‌ای آهنین /erɒde-i ɒhænin/، چنین کسی /ʧon in kæs-i/، دکترایِ زمین‌شناسی از دانشگاهِ تبریز /doktorɒj-e zæmin-ʃenɒsi æz dɒneʃ-gɒh-e tæbriz/

    There are even noun phrases in whose construction no noun appears:

    کوشش /kuʃeʃ/، ناپاکی /nɒpɒki/

    Nominalization describes especially the case in which an adjectival phrase ↓,a determinative phrase ↓ or a non-finite verb form is the only constituent of a noun phrase:

    کلان‌تر /kælɒntær/، گرم‌کن /gærm-kon/، همان /hæm-ɒn/، این /in/، گذشت /gozæʃt/، سوز /suz/

    Grammatical aspects of noun phrases are explained further in chapter 3..

  • On the other hand, adjectival phrases (category symbol: AP) do not refer to whole entities, but represent features that can belong to entities. They appear with grammatical categories of adjectives, especially the degree category. Again, adjectival phrases can be simple or combined:

    ترش /torʃ/، بلندترین /bolændtærin/، بزرگ‌تر از من /bozorgtær az mæn/، بسیار خاطره‌برانگیز /besjɒr xɒtere-bær-ængiz/

    Also among adjectival phrases there exist examples in whose construction no adjective exists:

    خانگی /xɒnægi/، دریادل /dærjɒ-del/

    Similarly to the nominalization, one encounters with the adjectivization process if a noun phrase or a non-finite verb form is the only constituent of an adjectival phrase: /neʃæstæ/ نشسته, /ʃenɒs/ شنـاس

    In Persian, adjectivization of noun phrases occurs more rarely than the nominalization of the adjectival phrases. This is the case if a striking feature of the entity to which the noun phrase refers is meant. Please see the following example for clarification:

    سویِ خردمند زِ خر خرترست

    هر که مر او را به ستوری رضاست

    Nasir Khusraw (11th Century AD)

    In this case, the noun phrase /xær/ خر (= “donkey”) is reduced to the feature “dumb” and used as adjectival phrase, and is further altered to the comparative /xærtær/ خرتر (= “dumber”) by the inflectional suffix /-tær/.

  • A determinative phrase (category symbol: DetP) normally appears within noun or adjectival phrases as a constituent, to determine the identifiability or the quantity of an entity or a feature respectively. Unlike adjectival phrases, determinative phrases do not have the degree category. In Persian there exist both simple (e.g. the article /-i/ in /xɒnæ-i/ خانه‌ای or the demonstrative pronoun /ɒn/ in /ɒn zæmɒn/ آن زمان) and combined determinative phrases (e.g. the qualificative pronoun /ʧon in/ in /ʧon in kæs-i/ چنین کسی or the elative pronoun /hær ʧe/ in /hær ʧe biʃtær/ هر چه بیشتر).

    The constituent that is accompanied by the determinative phrase is called determinative focus, such as /xɒnæ/ خانه, /zæmɒn/ زمان, /kæs-i/ کسی and /biʃtær/ بیشتر in the examples above.

    The terms “determinative phrase” and “determinative focus” are introduced in this website; they have been absent in the generally accepted phrase models until now. Please note that determinative phrases should not be confused with determiner phrases (category symbol: DP). Determiner phrases are (mostly noun or adjectival) phrases containing a determinative phrase, like the examples above: /xɒnæ-i/ خانه‌ای, /ɒn zæmɒn/ آن زمان, /ʧon in kæs-i/ چنین کسی, /hær ʧe biʃtær/ هر چه بیشتر.

    If the determinative phrase is a counting numeral or a pronoun, one encounters the rarity that the determinative focus is deleted. The determinative phrase is therefore nominalized, because it is the only constituent of the determiner phrase.

    This deletion can be noted in the following cases:

    • Proximate redundancy: If the entity referred to by the determinative focus has recently been mentioned:

      او سه پسر دارد. هر سه [NP[DetP/se/]] (= هر سه پسر [NP[DetP/se/] [NP/pesær/]]) دانش‌جو هستند.

      من دیروز کتابی خریدم. امروز نمی‌توانم آن [NP[DetP/ɒn/]] (= آن کتاب [NP[DetP/ɒn/] [NP/ketɒb/]]) را پیدا کنم.

    • Obviative redundancy: If the entity referred to by the determinative focus has recently not been mentioned, but the listener knows what it is, or the attention of the listener is called upon simultaneously:

      دو تا [NP[DetP/do tɒ/]] (= دو تا انسان [NP[DetP/do tɒ/] [NP/ensɒn/]]) داشتند در باره‌یِ بچّگی‌شان با هم گپ می‌زدند.

      این [NP[DetP/in/]] (= این چیز [NP[DetP/in/] [NP/ʧiz/]]) را ببین!

    The occurence of determinativization is noted very seldom, for example the application of the adpositional phrase /ʧon in/ چنین as determinative phrase (see 7•۱۳.): /ʧon in ʃæb-i/ چنین شبی

  • Adpositional phrases (category symbol: PP) consist of two constituents: an adposition and its adpositional focus (normally a noun phrase):

    تا کنون /tɒ konun/، برادرِ بزرگترش را /bærɒdær-e bozorgtær-æʃ rɒ/، مر شما را /mær ʃomɒ rɒ/

  • Adverb phrases (category symbol: AdvP) are relatively rare in Persian. They are either simple (like /idun/ ایدون) or combined adverbs (like /hæm-æknun/ هم‌اکنون).

  • A verb phrase (category symbol: VP) represents a process or a certain state within a particular time. It consists of one verb or more verbs which refer to one single activity or event:

    رفتم /ræftæm/، نوشته بودی /neveʃte budi/، داشتند می‌پوشیدند /dɒʃtænd mi-puʃidænd/

  • Inflectional phrases (category symbol: IP) are simple sentences or combined sentence complexes.

g. Phrase Structure Models

The following models are used for the illustration of the morphological structure of statements:

  1. The hierarchical indention model has the advantage that the statement is represented up to the level of its single morphemes:

    • Inflectional phrase /hæm-in nævkær hendi-e ke pul æz ʤib-e ærbɒb-æʃ dozdid, birun-æʃ kærdænd?/:
      • Noun phrase /hæm-in nævkær hendi-e ke pul æz ʤib-e ærbɒb-æʃ dozdid/:
        • Noun phrase /hæm-in nævkær hendi-e/:
          • Determinative phrase /hæm-in/:
            • Determiner /hæm-/: Proclitical intensive pronoun.
            • Determiner /in/: Demonstrative pronoun.
          • Noun phrase /nævkær hendi-e/:
            • Noun phrase /nævkær hendi/: Qualitative genitive phrase (originally /nævkær-e hendi/. The enclitical conjunction /-e/ is deleted because of attaching the enclitical article /-e/. See 10•۱•b.):
              • Noun phrase /nævkær/: Noun.
              • Adjectival phrase /hendi/:
                • Noun phrase /hend/: Noun.
                • Affix /-i/: Derivational suffix.
            • Determiner /-e/: Enclitical article.
        • Conjunction /ke/.
        • Inflectional phrase /pul æz ʤib-e ærbɒb-æʃ dozdid/:
          • Noun phrase /pul/: Noun.
          • Adpositional phrase /æz ʤib-e ærbɒb-æʃ/:
            • Preposition /æz/.
            • Noun phrase /ʤib-e ærbɒb-æʃ/: Possessive genitive phrase:
              • Noun phrase /ʤib/: Noun.
              • Enclitical conjunction /-e/.
              • Noun phrase /ærbɒb-æʃ/: Asyndetical possessive genitive phrase:
                • Noun phrase /ærbɒb/: Noun (Arabic affixal formations in Persian are usually are not analyzed morphologically more deeply).
                • Noun phrase /-æʃ/: Enclitical noun.
          • Verb phrase /dozdid/: Indicative past perfective:
            • Past participle /dozdid/:
              • Present participle /dozd/.
              • Affix /-id/: Built up by using the epenthesis /i/ (see 1•d•a.) with the affix [-d] (the assimilated allophone of the derivational suffix /-t/ after the vowel /i/, see 20•۱.).
            • Affix /-Ø/: Zero allomorph as past inflectional suffix (third person singular).
      • Noun phrase /birun/: Noun (originally adpositional phrase /be birun/).
      • Noun phrase /-æʃ/: Enclitical noun
      • Verb phrase /kærdænd/:Indicative past perfective:
        • past participle /kærd/:
          • Verbal root /kær-/.
          • Affix [-d]: assimilated allophone of the derivational suffix /-t/ after the voiced consonant /r/ (see 20•۱.).
        • Affix /-ænd/: Past inflectional suffix (third person plural).

  2. The bracket model is more compact; however, it could become difficult to find the right bracket couples off-hand. This model does not usually represent the morphological analysis of affixal formations:

    • [IP [NP [NP [DetP [Dhæm-] [Din]] [NP [NP [Nnævkær] [Ahendi]] [D-e]]] [Conke] [IP [Npul] [PP [Pæz] [NP [Nʤib] [Con-e] [NP [Nærbɒb] [N-æʃ]]]] [Vdozdid]]] [Nbirun] [N-æʃ] [Vkærdænd]]

  3. The morphological analysis in the tree model is more understandable. Also this model usually does not analyze the affixal formations internally:

PhraseTree

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