MORPHOLOGYImportant terms in morphology

ROOT, AFFIX, STEM and BASE

ROOTROOT

What is a root?

It a part of a classification of the

kinds of elements operating within

the structure of a wordprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

ROOTA root is the irreducible

core of a word with

absolutely nothing else absolutely nothing else

attached to it

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

ROOTPutting it another way, it is that

part of the word left when all the

affixes are removed

Example

In the word: meaningfulness

removing all affixes -ing, -ful and -ness

leaves us with the root mean

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

ROOT

It is the part that is always present,

possibly with some modification, in

the various manifestations of the

Lexeme

Example:Example:

happy is a root but if you add an

affix –ness, it becomes happi -ness

Roots can either be free or bound

morphemes prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

ROOTSExamples in English:

Roots (free morphemes)

man the tea bet very

Roots (bound morphemes)

-mit as in permit commit

submit admit remit

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

ROOTSN.B.:

In English, the roots which are

incapable of occurring in

isolation are Latinate, i.e. they

came into English from Latincame into English from Latin

The word –mit means ‘send or do’

but in present-day English none

of these meanings is

recognisableprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

ROOTSExamples in Swahili:

Roots (free morphemes)

mama shangazi chai

Roots (bound morphemes)

Adjectives: -zuri -baya -fupi -dogo

Nouns: -toto -tu

Verbs: -pig- -pend- -som- -l-prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

AFFIXES / AFFIXAn affix is a morpheme which occurs

only when attach to some other

morphemes (the root or stem)

No word may contain only an affix No word may contain only an affix

standing on its own like -s, -ed, -al, -er

Therefore, all affixes are bound

morphemes

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

TYPES OF AFFIXESThere are three common

types of affixes

1. Prefixes / Prefix1. Prefixes / Prefix

2. Suffixes / Suffix

3. Infixes / Infixprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

1. PREFIXESA prefix is an affix which is attached before a root

or stem

Prefixes are added to the beginning of a root or

stem

Examples in English:Examples in English:

re- make un- kind in- decent

Examples in Swahili:

m- toto ki- ti a- na- soma

wa- toto vi- ti tu- ta- somaprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

2. SUFFIXESA suffix is an affix which is attached after a

root / stem

Suffixes follow the root or stem

Examples in English:

In English, all the inflectional morphemes

Examples in English:

In English, all the inflectional morphemes

are suffixes. Therefore, English, has only 8

inflectional morphemes. These are:

Jims -’s sister -s (2 attached to Nouns)

like -s laugh -ing lik -ed tak -en (4 – Verbs)

quiet -er loud -est (2 – Adjectives)prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

2. SUFFIXESExamples in English:

Suffixes which are derivational

morphemes in English are:

state -ment child -ish teach -er

practic -al truth -ful direct -ion

stop -able kind -ly solid -ify

care -less -ness fool -ish -ness prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

2. SUFFIXESExamples in Swahili:

pig –a final vowel FV

pig -i –a applicative APP

pig –ish –a causative CAUS

pig –an –a reciprocal RECpig –an –a reciprocal REC

pig –ik –a stative STATIVE

pig –w –a passive PASS

All these: -i -ish -an -ik -w are

derivational suffixes in Swahiliprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

3. INFIXESAn infix is an affix which is inserted

into the root or stem

It is an affix that is incorporated

inside another wordinside another word

Infixes are very common in Semitic

languages like Arabic and Hebrew and also

in languages spoken in South East Asia like

Kamhmuprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

3. INFIXESExamples in Kamhmu:

Word Meaning Word Meaning

see to drill srnee a drill

toh to chisel trnoh a chiseltoh to chisel trnoh a chisel

hiip to eat with

a spoon

hrniip a spoon

hoom to tie hrnoom a thing with

which to tie

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

3. INFIXESExamples in Kamhmu:

In this language it seems

there is a regular pattern

whereby the infix -rn- is whereby the infix -rn- is

inserted to verbs to form

corresponding nouns as in:

see s -rn- eeprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

3. INFIXESExamples in Arabic:

Much of Semitic inflection involves

infixing vowels in a root that consists

entirely of consonants

Egyptian Arabic:Egyptian Arabic:

The word KTB ��� provides the

consonant skeleton which is

fleshed out with a variety of

vowelsprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

3. INFIXESEgyptian Arabic:

The word ktb ���

Word Meaning

ktb write

kitab book

katab he wrote

katib writerprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

3. INFIXESGenerally, Arabic has three

vowels: a i and u

In the word ktb ���In the word ktb ���

The vowels i and a are

inserted as in ktb as in

k -i- t -a- b bookprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

STEMSThe stem is that part

of a word that is in

existence before anyexistence before any

inflectional affixes

have been added

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

STEMSThe stem may consist of the following:

a) Single root morpheme (a ‘simple’ stem)

man the tea bet very

b) Two root morpheme (a ‘compound’

stem)stem)

blackbird wallpaper textbook

c) A root morpheme plus a derivational

affix (a ‘complex’ stem)

manly unmanly manliness

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

STEMSExamples in English:

Noun Stem Plural

cat -s

worker -s

fingerprint -sfingerprint -s

Verb Stem Past tense

play -ed

replay -edprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

STEMSExamples in Swahili:

Noun Stem Singular Plural

-toto m- wa-

-tu ki- vi-

Verb Stem

piga pig- -a

RT -FV

penda pend -aprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

BASE (FORMS)This is a term used in

morphology as an

alternative to ROOT or alternative to ROOT or

STEM

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

BASEIn other words, it is any unit

whatsoever to which affixes of any

kind can be added

Examples:

boy boy -s Inflectional (sg. – pl)boy boy -s Inflectional (sg. – pl)

boy -ish Derivational (N – Adj)

happy un- happy

unhappy uhappi -nessprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

HOW TO ANALYSE MORPHOLOGICAL DATA

Procedures for doing morphological

analysis:

1. Compare and contrast partially

similar forms. Then isolate the

forms

Classical GreekClassical Greek

Word Meaning

[graphɔ:] ‘I write’

[graphɛ:] ‘he writes’

[phɛmi] ‘to speak’prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

HOW TO ANALYSE MORPHOLOGICAL DATA

QUESTIONS

a)What is the Greek word for write?

b)What is the morpheme for 1st

person singular in Greek?

c)What is the morpheme for the 3rd

person singular in Greek?person singular in Greek?

ANSWERS

a) [graph-]

b) [-ɔ:]

c) [-ɛ:] prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

HOW TO ANALYSE MORPHOLOGICAL DATA

Hungarian

Word Meaning

[hɔz] ‘house’

[ɛjhɔz] ‘a house’

[hɔzɔ] ‘his / her house’[hɔzɔ] ‘his / her house’

[boɾ] ‘wine’

[ɛjboɾ] ‘a wine’

[boɾɔ] ‘his / her wine’

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

HOW TO ANALYSE MORPHOLOGICAL DATA

QUESTIONS

a)What is the morpheme for the

article ‘a’ in Hungarian?

b)What is the morpheme for the 3rd

person singular possessive marker

in Hungarian?in Hungarian?

ANSWERS

a) [ɛj-]

b) [-ɔ]prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

HOW TO ANALYSE MORPHOLOGICAL DATA

2. If a single phonetic form has two

distinct meanings, it must be

analysed as representing two

different morphemes

For example –er in English:

work worker Derivational (V – N)

fast faster Inflectional (comparative marker added to adjectives)

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

HOW TO ANALYSE MORPHOLOGICAL DATA

3. If the same meaning is associated

with different phonetic forms, then

all these different forms are just

allomorphs of the same morpheme

For example English negative form –inFor example English negative form –in

can be realized as:

a) [im-] as in imbalance before bilabials stops

b) [in-] as in inability elsewhere

c) [iŋ-] as in incomplete before velar plosives

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

HOW TO ANALYSE MORPHOLOGICAL DATA

N.B.:

Languages differ in terms of what they

mark both inflectionally and derivationally.

Hence, languages must be examined

carefully on the grounds of their own carefully on the grounds of their own

internal structures

These procedures are just a hint to

understand the morphological analysis but

they cannot fit as a perfect model for all

languages prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

TASK NO. 8

Study the Swahili data below and then

answer the questions that follows:

Word meaning

pika ‘cook’

pikia ‘cook for’pikia ‘cook for’

futa ‘wipe / erase’

futia ‘wipe for / erase for’

omba ‘ask / beg’

ombea ‘ask for / beg for’

kata ‘cut’

katia ‘cut for’prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

TASK NO. 8

QUESTIONS

a)What are the allomorphs of the

applicative form in Swahili?

b)State the phonological rule in b)State the phonological rule in

which each allomorph occurs in

Swahili.

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

TASK NO. 9

Study the following groups of

English words (A – D) then answer

the questions that follow:

GROUP A GROUP B GROUP C GROUP DGROUP A GROUP B GROUP C GROUP D

rider tresses running tables

colder melodies foundling lens

silver Bess’s handling witches

actor guess fling calculates

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

TASK NO. 9

QUESTIONS

a) In each group, identify the word

that has no suffix.

b) In each group, identify the word

whose suffix is different from the

others.others.

c) In each group, isolate the suffix

that the remaining two words share

and give its type and function.

prepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019

TEST II

WEDNESDAY

30TH JANUARY 2019

YOMBO 5YOMBO 5

1700 – 1800 hourson

Phonology & Morphologyprepared by Rahma Abdallah Muhdhar

23rd January 2019