morphophonemics (n.)

A branch of LINGUISTICS referring to the analysis and classification of the PHONOLOGICAL factors which affect the appearance of MORPHEMES, or, correspondingly, the GRAMMATICAL factors which affect the appearance of PHONEMES. In the European tradition, morphophonology (or morphonology) is the preferred term; in the American tradition, it is morphophonemics. In some theories, morphophonemics is seen as a separate level of linguistic structure intermediate between grammar and phonology. In early versions of GENERATIVE grammar, morphophonemic rules were distinguished as a separate COMPONENT in the DERIVATION of SENTENCES, whereby a TERMINAL STRING of morphemes would be converted into their correct phonological form. In later generative theory, the term SYSTEMATIC PHONEMICS became standard.