The 4-Morpheme (4-M)

model:

Applied to second language

acquisition of Spanish

Presented by

Manuel Morales, Ph.D., Maranatha Baptist

Bible College

Daniel J. Smith, Ph.D., Clemson University

The 4-M model, a model of language production proposed by Myers-Scotton and Jake (2000), classifies all morphemes of every natural human language into four categories:

(1) content morphemes

three types of system morphemes

(2) early system morphemes

(3) late bridge system morphemes

(4) late outsider system morphemes

Myers-Scotton, C., & Jake, J. L. (2000).

Four types of morpheme:

Evidence from aphasia, code switching,

and second-language acquisition.

Linguistics 38(6), 1053–1100.

Dogs run. John‟s dog gallops.

Dog -s run

content early content

John -‟s dog

content bridge content

gallop -s

content late outsider

Content morphemes carry the basic content of the sentence (e.g. dog, run). Content morphemes assign or receive thematic roles.

System morphemes, in contrast, neither assign nor receive thematic roles. Verbs, nouns, and adjectives, minus their gender, person, and number affixes, for example, are content morphemes.

An early system morpheme modifies the meaning of a single content morpheme within the immediate maximal projection (immediate phrasal unit) of a content morpheme, for example within a Noun Phrase (NP).

Example: plural –s on nouns in English

dog -s

A late bridge system morpheme does not

modify the meaning of any single content

morpheme but must be there for grammatical

correctness and sometimes connects two

content morphemes into a larger relationship

outside the immediate maximal projection of at

least one of the morphemes.

Example: possessive –‟s in English

John ‟s dog

A late outsider system morpheme refers to a content morpheme outside its own immediate maximal projection, not to the morpheme of its own immediate maximal projection.

Example: 1st person singular –s on verbs refers to the subject content morpheme, not to the verb content morpheme of its own immediate maximal projection but to the noun phrase subject of the verb, which is in a phrase outside the immediate phrase of the verb.

The dog run-s

C=Content E=Early B=Bridge LO=Late Outsider

los perros negros corren

l o s perr o s

B E E C E Erefers to refers to „perr‟ in same refers to „perr‟ in same immediate

no content immediate phrase phrase

morpheme

negr o s corr e n

C LO LO C E LO

refers to „perr‟ outside refers to refers to

immediate phrase of „negr‟ „corr‟ within immediate phrase „perr‟ outside immediate phrase of „corr‟

Janice L. Jake (1998) shows how SLA data support the following order of morpheme acquisition: „content > early system > late system‟. Wei (2000) applied the 4-M model to second language (L2) acquisition of English. Based on the assumption “that the more accurately a morpheme was used, the earlier it must have been acquired” (Ellis, 1994, p. 91, as cited in Wei, 2000, p. 113), Wei shows that first language (L1) Japanese and L1 Chinese speakers learning English have probably acquired content morphemes before early system morphemes, and early system morphemes before late system morphemes because they produce the fewest errors among content morphemes, and the most errors among late system morphemes. Wei states that the 4-M model “can more effectively explain why certain errors are more common than others and determine the sequence of morpheme accuracy/frequency production…. It is the different levels at which morphemes become active in the production process… which decide the degrees of learning difficulty and the nature of morpheme acquisition in SLA” (2000, p. 137).

Percentage of Errors by Morpheme Type

(Students A,B,C,D,E)

Student A B C D E

Content 0% 2% 26% 11% 14%

Early System 15% 30% 39% 20% 27%

Total Late System 85% 68% 35% 69% 59%

Late Bridge System 8% 9% 9% 11% 5%

Late Outsider

System

77% 59% 26% 58% 54%