What is a morphosyntactic operation?

Definition
	A morphosyntactic operation is an ordered, dynamic relation between one linguistic form and another.

Discussion
	A morphosyntactic operation is often manifested (or coded) by a formal operator, such as a prefix, a suffix, a stress shift or a combination of two or more of these. However, some operations are not overtly coded. One method of noting the existence of a morphosyntactic operation that has no overt realization is to posit a zero morpheme.

Contrast: morphosyntactic operations and morphological processes

Morphological processes encode morphosyntactic operations.

Morphosyntactic operations have conceptual content and may be associated with particular functions.

Example:
	Plural formation is a morphosyntactic operation, whereas suffixation is a kind of morphological process that English uses to encode plural formation.

Kinds
	Here are two kinds of morphosyntactic operations:
	What is derivation? What is inflection?

Source
	Payne, T. 1997a 7–8, 29

Concept module: morphosyntactic operation
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): M
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004