Root-and-pattern morphology
We said that in Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Arabic, roots generally consist of three consonants. To form words, vowels are superimposed on this consonantal pattern. We call this type of morphology root-and-pattern.
Hebrew root with sample forms
The following forms share a triconsonantal root, M-L-K. In some, the root consonant /k/ is realized as the fricative [x].
M-L-K: melex ‘king’
malkah ‘queen’
malax ‘he reigned’
yimlox ‘he reigns, he will reign’
malxut ‘royalty, royal power, reign, kingdom’
mamlaxah ‘kingdom, sovereignty, dominion’
In root-and-pattern morphology, the root consonants in a given inflectional or derivational paradigm combine with vowels and sometimes consonants in a fixed pattern. It is possible to think of the consonantal root being superimposed on a template. Thus, in the box above, malax ‘he reigned’ consists of a root m-l-x and a template _a_a_. The consonants fit into the empty slots of the template. Yimlox ‘he reigns’ can be thought of as the root m-l-x and a template yi_ _o_. (We use y here to represent IPA [j] in keeping with traditional Hebrew transliteration.)
Words of a given class typically share a single pattern. Referring again to the box above, in Hebrew grammar, melex ‘king’ is called a segolate noun (if you do not already know this term, you do not need to learn it for this course). Segolate nouns consist of two syllables, and they are stressed on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable.1 The group of segolate nouns can be subdivided into three different classes. All of the nouns in melex’s class share its vocalic pattern. Thus we find berex ‘knee’, regel ‘foot, leg’, nefeʃ ‘soul’, and ʕeved ‘servant’. The triconsonantal roots of these forms are, in order: b-r-k, r-g-l, n-f-ʃ, and ʕ-b-d. In the word for ‘servant’, the root consonant /b/ is realized as [v], and in the word for ‘knee’, the root consonant /k/ is realized as [x]. Alternations of this sort are important to the phonology and morphology of Hebrew.
As an aside, the root-and-pattern morphology of Hebrew and Arabic is reflected in their writing systems, which use the primary symbols to represent consonants and diacritics to represent vowels.
While by definition there are no exceptions to the minimal word, we do sometimes find exceptions to generalizations about possible root shapes. In the Semitic languages, we do find roots consisting of two consonants (CC) and four (CCCC). But these are less numerous than triconsonantal roots.
McCarthy (1981) remains one of the most influential studies of root-and-pattern morphology and is a good starting point for further exploration of the phenomenon, along with Katamba and Stonham (2006: 154–77), where root-and-pattern morphology is discussed in detail within the context of templatic morphology.
1 One of the first lessons a student learns in solving problems having to do with accent or stress is to count not from the beginning of a word, but from the end. Most stress systems work that way, though a few, such as that of Hungarian, count from the beginning.
