morphonn.1
/ˈmɔːfɒn/, U.S. /ˈmɔrˌfɑn/ Biology. Now rare. Perhaps disused.
A biological individual distinguished by morphological features; a morphologically distinct biological entity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > shape > [noun] > element of
morphon1873
1873 W. S. Dallas tr. E. Haeckel in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 11 245 Because the morphontes (morphological elements) of the first order which form the sponge-organism..exhibit a relatively high degree of physiological individuality, and because the personality of the sponges built up of these (the morphon of the third order) was not recognised, the former have been regarded as the ‘true individuals’ of the sponge.
1880 F. P. Pascoe Zool. Classif. (ed. 2) 284 Morphone, a morphological element.
1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 842/1 He distinguishes..the physiological individual (or bion)..from the morphological individual (or morphon).
1935 Science 4 Jan. 16/1 Any psychological theory which is so abstractly dynamic that it overlooks or slights basic problems of form-production is at least incomplete. The individual is a morphon as well as a bion!
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
morphonn.2
/ˈmɔːfɒn/, U.S. /ˈmɔrˌfɑn/ Linguistics.
In stratificational grammar: = morphophoneme n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [noun] > phoneme, allophone, etc.
phonea1866
phoneme1879
metaphone1930
diaphone1932
variphone1932
morphoneme1933
morphophoneme1934
microphoneme1935
stress phoneme1936
archiphoneme1937
allophone1938
diaphoneme1939
prosodeme1939
keneme1950
proto-phoneme1951
idiophoneme1955
morphon1964
hypophoneme1966
morphophone1967
1964 S. M. Lamb in Rep. 15th Ann. Meeting Linguistics & Lang. (Georgetown Univ. Inst. Lang.) 105 Morphons (i.e. morphophonemes) often have alternate phonemic realizations.
1965 Language 41 200 I shall use Lamb's convenient neologism morphon. The syntactic component of a correct generative grammar..yields sentences as strings of morphons.
1967 C. F. Hockett Lang., Math. & Ling. iii. 95 Relative to the terminal subalphabet T′(G′), a morphon string is a simple (linear) string.
1970 G. Sampson Stratificational Gram. ii. 33 The large number of neutralisations represented by almost every morphon.
1970 G. Sampson Stratificational Gram. iii. 45 In a complete description of English, there would be two further strata, each with its tactics, below the morphon level.
Derivatives
morˈphonic adj. of, relating to, or in terms of morphons.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [adjective] > phoneme, allophone, etc.
diaphonic1932
morphonemic1934
morphophonemic1934
subphonemic1935
microphonemic1936
monophonemic1936
allophonic1938
diaphonemic1939
monophonematic1940
diphonemic1950
idiophonemic1958
morphophonic1962
morphophonematic1964
hypophonemic1966
morphonic1966
1966 S. M. Lamb Outl. Stratificational Gram. ii. 29 There are three separate alternation patterns, the lexonic, the morphonic, and the phononic.
1970 G. Sampson Stratificational Gram. iii. 45 I am not in a position..to give the morphonic realisations of the morphemes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
morphonn.3
/ˈmɔːfɒn/, U.S. /ˈmɔrˌfɑn/ Chiefly Soil Science and Botany.
A category or subdivision defined on the basis of morphological features; a morphological type.
ΚΠ
1975 tr. E. A. Kornblyum in Soviet Soil Sci. 7 v. 623 (Abstr.) The main levels of morphological organization are defined, namely: ‘morphema’ (a simple morphological element), ‘morphon’ (a complex or composite quasiperiodic morphological element), and their derivatives.
1979 C. J. Van der Zwan in Rev. Palaeobot. & Palynol. 28 11 The term morphon is here introduced, to denote ‘a group of palynological species united by continuous variation of morphological characteristics’.
1981 Soviet Soil Sci. 13 i. 93 The morphons can differ significantly in their properties within individual soil horizons.
1991 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 78 318/2 The possibility exists that the morphons reflect developmental series rather than spore polymorphism.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.11873n.21964n.31975