ABSTRACT
Morphological reconstruction can be viewed as an analytical process that ‘undoes’ the processes of change and posits earlier morphological structures. It is understood to include any reconstruction that posits morphologically complex words in earlier states of language or historical processes that modify the internal morphological structure of words. The first technique to be considered consists of simply applying synchronic morphological analysis to the results of comparative phonological reconstruction which yields sets of protowords that share a common element. Reconstruction may posit morphological complexity which is not attested in the attested languages, if they have altered their morphological analysis by processes such as the loss of a boundary and absorption of a formative into the stem. Functional change of morphemes can be viewed as a kind of semantic change. The morphological complexity of words can be eliminated, requiring reconstruction for its recovery from simple word forms; this kind of investigation is somewhat akin to the etymological study of vocabulary.
