📌 For Martinet, synthèmes are units resulting from derivation or composition and are distinct from monemes and syntagms.
André Martinet, founder of the functionalist school of syntax, distinguishes the moneme and the syntagm as two meaningful units and argues that the word is not a formalizable notion.
In Martinet’s analysis, hier contains one moneme, aim/able contains two monemes, and en voiture is a syntagm.
A moneme is minimal; a syntagm combines monemes.
★ Must-know
📌 Bloomfield distinguishes the morpheme as a minimal form, the syntagm as a free non-minimal form, and the word as a free minimal form.
📌 Coseriu classifies repeated discourse as equivalent to phrases, syntagms, or words according to the linguistic unit with which each expression can be substituted.
Further detail
📌 Bloomfield’s autonomy criterion is problematic for grammatical words because determiners always accompany a noun and prepositions introduce a noun phrase or an infinitive verb.
Bloomfield, an American linguist who contributed to the development of US structuralism in the 1930s–1940s, is considered the founder of distributionalism.
Distributionalism prioritizes the distribution of forms along the syntagmatic axis and treats meaning as a secondary question.
In Bloomfield’s analysis, calcul and -ateur are morphemes, un homme calculateur is a syntagm, and calculateur is a word because it can occur autonomously.
La nuit tous les chats sont gris is equivalent to a phrase, rester coi is equivalent to a syntagm, and au fur et à mesure is equivalent to a word and functions as a lexeme. - Coseriu
Bloomfield tests autonomy; Coseriu tests fixed, non-recombinable expressions.
Free lexemes coincide with simple nouns, adjectives, verbs, or adverbs, as in table, grand, and vite.
Bound lexemes include derivational prefixes and suffixes attached to a word root, as well as Greek and Latin stems that combine to form French words.
Free grammemes include:
Bound grammemes are inflectional affixes that mark tense, mood, and person on verbs, and gender and number on adjectives and nouns.
In mangeait, -ai- marks the imperfect and -t marks the third-person singular; in enseignantes, -e- marks feminine gender and -s marks plural.
Lexemes form an open class; grammemes form closed systems.
★ Must-know
📌 Derivational affixes create words, whereas inflectional affixes do not create new words but add grammatical information such as gender, number, tense, mood, or person.
Further detail
📌 When a base cannot be decomposed into smaller morphemes, it coincides with the radical, as in gel.
📌 Combinatory variants are allomorphs conditioned by context and occur in complementary distribution.
📌 Free variants are realizations that vary with speakers’ individual habits and are not determined by context.
The combinatory allomorphs of aller are:
The verb asseoir has the free allomorphs assoi- and assied- in assois and assieds.
The form -ier appears in poirier for a tree name, plombier for an occupation, and princier for an adjective expressing a relation to a noun.
The form -ais appears in antillais as an inhabitant name and in marchais as an imperfect indicative inflection for the first or second person singular.
Allomorphy: several forms, one meaning; homonymy: one form, several unrelated meanings.
Suffixes are added to the end of a base and most often change its grammatical class, as in croy-able.
Prefixes are added to the beginning of a base, change its meaning, and do not change its grammatical class, as in in-croyable.
Proper composition combines autonomous words, as in portefeuille, céleri-rave, bon marché, and eau de vie.
Learned composition combines Greek or Latin bases that are not necessarily autonomous, as in apiculture, homicide, and thalassothérapie.
Derivation adds affixes; composition combines words or learned bases.
| Relation | Forms | Meanings |
|---|---|---|
| Allomorphy | Several forms | One morpheme and meaning |
| Homonymy | One form | Several unrelated morphemes and meanings |
| Type | Elements combined | Autonomy |
|---|---|---|
| Proper composition | Existing words | Words are autonomous |
| Learned composition | Greek or Latin bases | Bases need not be autonomous |
Take a 16-question practice quiz on Morphology and Word Formation, with every answer explained.
1. In Martinet’s terminology, what is a moneme?
2. In an analysis using Martinet’s categories, a phrase consists of two monemes whose mutual relations are especially close. Which unit does the phrase exemplify?
Memorize the key concepts of Morphology and Word Formation with 48 flashcards.
What is a moneme according to Martinet?
The minimal unit with a meaningful function.
What is a syntagm according to Martinet?
A combination of at least two monemes with especially close mutual relations.
How does Bloomfield define a word?
A form utterable alone but not divisible into meaningful elements each utterable alone.
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