morphology Dr. Comfort Pratt
Definition
The branch of linguistics that studies the
structure of words.
What is a word?
The smallest unit of a language that can stand alone as a complete utterance, normally separated from other words by spaces in written language and potentially by pauses in speech.
A word may consist of one or more morphemes.
When it consists of only one morpheme, it is
known as a
Ex:
When it consists of two or more morphemes,
it is known as a
Ex:
What are morphemes?
The smallest meaningful elements into which
words can be analyzed.
The way morphemes operate in language
provides the subject matter of morphology.
Examples
• Kindness
• unforgettable
• Morphology
A morpheme can range from a single sound to
many syllables.
Ex:
Types of Morphemes
Free Morpheme
A morpheme which constitutes a word by itself.
Ex:
Bound Morpheme
A morpheme which is not a word by itself but is
always part of other words.
Ex:
Types of Morphemes
Examples of Bound Morphemes
• rewrite
• thankful
• pinkish
• unreal
• wondrous
• happily
Components of a Word
Root
The morpheme to which affixes are attached and which provides the main component of the meaning of the word.
• Lexical categories
• Non-lexical categories
• Content words
They denote concepts like objects, ideas, and actions.
• Function words
They have a grammatical function.
Ex: beautiful
dangerous
unwind
happily
Affix
A morpheme which is attached to a base and by so
doing modifies the meaning or syntactic category of
the base.
Base
The form to which an affix is added. Sometimes it
coincides with the root. Other times it is the root and
an affix.
Ex: comfort--able
un--comfortable
There are four types of affixes.
• Prefix
An affix which is attached to the beginning of the
base.
Ex:
• Infix
An affix which is inserted into another
morpheme.
• Suffix
An affix that is attached to the end of a base.
Ex:
• Circumfix
It is a morpheme which is attached both at the
beginning and at the end of a base.
MAIN FIELDS
Two main fields are traditionally recognized
within morphology:
Inflectional Morphology
Derivational Morphology
Inflectional morphology
The field of linguistics which studies the way
in which words vary (inflect) in order to
express grammatical contrasts in
sentences.
Ex: past/present
singular/plural
DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY
• The way in which words vary in order to
form different classes of words.
Ex: verb/noun
adjective/adverb
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