fission (n.)

A term sometimes used in PHONOLOGY and MORPHOLOGY to refer to a process in which one linguistic unit is split into two. In some recent models of phonology, for example, it is one of two formal processes used to represent the relationship between MONOPHTHONGS and DIPHTHONGS. In particular, in PARTICLE PHONOLOGY, it refers to the process which splits one ROOT NODE into two, thus providing a mechanism for handling diphthongization and other types of ‘breaking’ phenomena. In DISTRIBUTED MORPHOLOGY, fission handles certain cases of double EXPONENCE.