Distributed morphology
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Within the school of linguistics called Generative Grammar, distributed morphology is a framework for theories of morphology developed in 1993 by Morris Halle and Alec Marantz.
The central claim of distributed morphology is the idea that there is no unified lexicon as in earlier generative treatments of word-formation. Instead, the morphemes that make up words are manipulated in various ways by syntax. The actual lexical items are not inserted into the sentence until syntactic operations are finished. In other words, the structure of the sentence is worked out before there are any actual words present. Words are drawn from the mental lexicon that best match up with the structure that the syntax has created.
For example, to create the sentence, The dogs ate the meat, the word dogs is inserted after a noun root with the meaning [DOG] combines with a feature [plural]. At the end of the derivation, the English word dogs is inserted in the appropriate spot - that is, where the syntax decides to place the subject. Also, a verbal root meaning [EAT] combines with a [past tense] feature and [3rd person plural] feature. The closest matching word in English is ate, which is inserted wherever the syntax has determined that the verb should go. We should note that the [3rd person plural] feature is not actually matched in English, because there is a total lack of person/number agreement in the past tense in English:
| I ate | we ate |
| you ate | you ate |
| s/he ate | they ate |
Of course, many other languages do have active person/number agreement that must be matched. Consider the same verb conjugated in the past tense in Portuguese:
| eu comí | nós comemos |
| tu comeste | vós comestes |
| ele/ela comeu | eles/elas comeram |
Thus, the same sentence in Portuguese would enter the verb comeram, since it is the best match for the combination [EAT] [past tense] [3rd person plural]. The words cannot be entered until the features are combined in the right way.