List of self-segregating morphology methods

This page is for a list of methods for self-segregating morphology: ways you can design a conlang so that morpheme boundaries, or word boundaries, or both, are always obvious and unambigious.

Here are a couple of threads about the topic:


 * A thread started by Rex May in March 2006 on the AUXLANG mailing list

--Jim Henry 23:44, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

The list

 * 1) All morphemes are the same length (all one syllable, or perhaps all are two syllables)
 * 2) A subset of the phonemes of the language are designated as an initial set, and the rest of the phonemes as the subsequent set.  A word must begin with one or more phonemes from the initial set and end with one or more from the subsequent set.  (Tceqli uses this method.)
 * 3) A subset of vowels are used only in initial or final syllables, while others are used in others.  Konya did this, with /e i o u/ in initial syllables and /a/ in second and subsequent syllables of a polysyllable.  gzb did this as well, but because of the initial and final consonant clusters allowed it is not perfectly self-segregating.  Or one could use pure vowels except in final syllables, which must have a diphthong; or ditto with front and back, or rounded and unrounded vowels...
 * 4) The initial phoneme indicates the number of syllables to follow (as in Jeff Prothero's Plan B).
 * 5) Tone or stress marking to distinguish initial or final syllable from following or preceding ones, and maybe distinguish monosyllables from intial syllables of polysyllabic words.