An exponent is a
phonological
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
manifestation of a
morphosyntactic
In linguistics, morphology () is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Morph ...
property. In non-technical language, it is the expression of one or more grammatical properties by sound. There are several kinds of exponents:
*Identity
*Affixation
*Reduplication
*Internal modification
*Subtraction
Identity
The identity exponent is both simple and common: it has no phonological manifestation at all.
An example in English:
DEER +
PLURAL → deer
Affixation
Affixation is the addition of an
affix
In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...
(such as a
prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
,
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...
or
infix
An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem (an existing word or the core of a family of words). It contrasts with ''adfix,'' a rare term for an affix attached to the outside of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.
When marking text for int ...
) to a word.
Example in English:
''want'' +
PAST → ''wanted''
Reduplication
Reduplication
In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.
The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edwa ...
is the repetition of part of a word.
An example in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
:
दा ''dā'' ("give") +
PRESENT +
ACTIVE +
INDICATIVE +
FIRST PERSON +
SINGULAR → ददामि '' dadāmi'' (the ''da'' at the beginning is from reduplication of ''dā'' that involves a vowel change, a characteristic of
class 3 verbs in Sanskrit)
Internal modification
There are several types of internal modification. An internal modification may be
segmental, meaning it changes a sound in the root.
An example in English:
STINK +
PAST = stank (i becomes a)
An internal modification might be a
suprasegmental
In linguistics, prosody () is concerned with elements of speech that are not individual phonetic segments (vowels and consonants) but are properties of syllables and larger units of speech, including linguistic functions such as intonation, str ...
modification. An example would be a change in
pitch or
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
.
An example of the latter in English (acute accent indicates stress):
RECÓRD +
NOUN = récord
Subtraction
Subtraction is the removal of a sound or a group of sounds.
An example in French:
OEUF /œf/ ("egg") +
PLURAL = œufs /ø/ (final f is lost)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exponent (Linguistics)
Linguistic morphology