Different theoretical positions can lead to conflicting restrictions on our understanding of what morphology is about. In this textbook, Laurie Bauer presents a new way of thinking about morphological structure – one that will maximise our benefits from the existing disparate approaches available. Presenting a clear and critical overview, this book equips students with the tools to discuss morphological phenomena and to do so in relation to other linguistic contexts, including semantics, psycholinguistics and language change. Structured around the core areas of morphemic theory, word morphology, word syntax, the boundaries of morphology, and exemplars and resonances, each chapter discusses the limits, strengths and wider implications of existing theories and issues surrounding these facets of morphology.

Rethinking Morphology is a lively and accessible tour of word-formation patterns and theories of morphology. It offers excellent insights into the strong suits of different classical approaches, also laying out the motivation for more recent cognitively-based views. It will be equally useful as a textbook and as a reference work for researchers in related fields. -- Professor Janet B. Pierrehumbert, University of Oxford

Laurie Bauer is Professor of Linguistics at the Victoria University of Wellington. He is on the editorial board of the journal Word Structure.