☆ Teacher Master Key • Lessons 130 & 131

Morpho-Phonology of Final “y” • Consonant vs. Vowel Conditioning • Page 70

INSTRUCTOR REFERENCE KEY

1. Orthoepic & Morphological Matrix of Final “y” (Representative Vocabulary)

Lessons 130 & 131 Linguistic Keys

Word	Base IPA	Inflected Form	Rule Classification	Morpho-Phonetic & Etymological Insight
carry	/ˈkæri/	carried / carrying	Consonant + y (Verb)	Final y preceded by consonant r. Changes to i before -ed; retains y before -ing.
pity	/ˈpɪti/	pitied / pitying	Consonant + y (Verb)	Preceded by consonant t. Changes to i before -ed; retains y before -ing.
deny	/dɪˈnaɪ/	denied / denying	Consonant + y (Long i)	Base ends in /aɪ/. Changes to i before -ed (denied); retains y before -ing (denying).
lily	/ˈlɪli/	lilies	Consonant + y (Noun)	Preceded by liquid l. Plural suffix -es triggers y → i: lilies (/ˈlɪl.iz/).
berry	/ˈbɛri/	berries	Consonant + y (Noun)	Preceded by liquid r. Plural suffix -es triggers y → i: berries (/ˈbɛr.iz/).
city	/ˈsɪti/	cities	Consonant + y (Noun)	Preceded by consonant t. Soft c (/s/) + short i + y → i + es: cities.
valley	/ˈvæli/	valleys	Vowel + y (Noun)	Preceded by vowel e (digraph ey). Suffix -s attaches directly without changing y!
joy	/dʒɔɪ/	joys / joyful	Vowel + y (Diphthong)	Preceded by vowel o (diphthong oy). Retains y before all suffixes (joys, joyful).
baby's	/ˈbeɪbiz/	baby's	Possessive Note	Possessive apostrophe-s never changes y to i (baby's rattle, lady's fan).

Why does English change y → i before -ed and -es, but keep y before -ing?

Scribal Minim Confusion: In Middle English, adjacent ii strokes looked identical to u or n in Gothic handwriting. Scribes strictly forbade spelling double ii in native vocabulary.
Phonotactic Protection: Writing *\*criing* or *\*hurriing* produces illegal geminate vowels. Therefore, the letter y acts as a consonant glide shield before -ing!

Why do valleys, toys, keys NOT change y → i?

Digraph Preservation: In valley, the ending -ey is an inseparable vowel digraph representing /i/. Changing y → i would produce an impossible trigraph *\*valleies*.
Diphthong Integrity: In toy and joy, -oy is the diphthong /ɔɪ/. Changing y → i would write *\*toies* or *\*jois*, corrupting the morpheme boundary.

3. Oral Dictation Sentences (Administer in Class)

Contextual Application • Exact Decodability

1. Mother hurried to comfort the little baby who was crying for her toys.

2. The kind scholar pitied the poor dog and carried it across the muddy road.

3. Sweet white lilies and ripe red cherries grew abundantly along the quiet valleys.

4. Our teacher told us wonderful stories about large cities across the wide sea.

5. The boy turned the small brass keys and found great joys in his new wooden chest.

Double "ii" Error: Writing carriing or pitiing. Rule: "Never write double 'ii' in English verbs! Keep the 'y' when adding -ing!"
Over-generalizing to Vowel + y: Writing valleies, keies, or toies. Mnemonic: "If a vowel hugs the 'y' (ay, ey, oy), let it stay!"
Possessive Form Confusion: Writing babies toy instead of baby's toy. The apostrophe protects the original y.

Vowel vs. Consonant Test: "Look at 'berry' and 'valley'. What letter comes right before the 'y' in each? Why do they make different plurals?"
The '-ing' Guard: "Why do we say 'cried' with an 'i', but 'crying' with a 'y'? What would happen if we wrote 'cri-ing'?"
Possessive Meaning: "What is the difference between 'The babies cried' and 'The baby's cry'?"

1. Verb Suffixation (5 pts)

Accurately applies y → i before -ed and retains y before -ing across all verb triads.

2. Consonant + y Plural (5 pts)

Correctly transforms 6 consonant + y nouns into -ies without leaving errant y letters.

3. Vowel + y Plural (6 pts)

Correctly applies simple -s to all 6 vowel + y nouns and handles possessive 's syntax.

4. 26px Penmanship (4 pts)

Strict alignment with 26px baseline; lowercase letters touch 13px dashed midline; clean letter spacing.