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 MyersScotton 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. Johnâ€&#x;s dog gallops. Dog content
-s early
run content
John content
-â€&#x;s bridge
dog content
gallop content
-s 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
los perros negros corren l o s perr B E E C refers to no content morpheme
negr C
refers to „perr‟ in same immediate phrase
o LO
LO=Late Outsider
o E
s E
refers to „perr‟ in same immediate phrase
s LO
refers to „perr‟ outside immediate phrase of „negr‟
corr C
e E
n LO
refers to „corr‟ within immediate phrase
refers to „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 Content
A
B
C
D
E
0%
2%
26%
11%
14%
Early System
15%
30%
39%
20%
27%
Total Late System
85%
68%
35%
69%
59%
8%
9%
9%
11%
5%
77%
59%
26%
58%
54%
Late Bridge System Late Outsider System