[MORPHOLOGY & SYNTAX]-MORPHEME
- Definition of Morphology
- Morphology is a branch of linguistics that studies the form of words.
- The unit of Morphology is Morpheme.
- Morpheme
- Morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language.
| Word & Morpheme | Similarity | Having sounds and meaning. |
| Difference | Word can stand alone and form a sentence by itself.Morpheme cannot stand alone and must be linked to other morphemes. |
- The symbol of a morpheme is { }.
- Characteristics of a morpheme
+ Morpheme can’t be divided into smaller parts.
+ Morpheme can be either a word or part of a word that has the meaning.
Ex: {teach}
teacher {teach} + {er}
+ Morpheme can reoccur in different environment without any change in meaning.
Ex: {un-}: unhappy, unimportance,…
- Classification/ Types of morphemes
- Morpheme can be classified according to 4 categories
3.1.Form:
- 2 types of morpheme:
+ Free morpheme (FM) is the morpheme that can stand alone with meaning (a monomorphemic word).
+ Bound morpheme (BM) is the morpheme that is always annexed to other morphemes
+ Example: dis/honest aware/ness
BM FM FM BM
3.2.Meaning:
- 2 types of morpheme:
+ Root/ base: part of a word that has the main meaning or its lexical meaning.
Ex: work/er -> work
FM BM R/B
Most bases in English are free morphemes, but some are bound morphemes.
Base in English can be:
- Freebase # free morpheme
- Bound base # bound morpheme
Stem: an existing word before affixes are added or a root in which an affix is added.
Ex: boy -> boyish -> boyishness
stem stem stem
+ Affixes:
- Bound morphemes that can be added to a stem.
- Affixes can be added before, within, or after a stem.
3.3.Position:
- 3 kinds
+ Prefixes: bound morphemes that are added before a free base/ stem.
Ex: not/ no {un-; in-; im-; il-; dis-;…}
+ Infixes: bound morphemes that are insulted within a word.
Ex: tooth -> teeth
+ Suffixes: bound morphemes that are added after a free base/ stem.
Ex: adjective suffixes {-ful; -able; -cal; -ic; -ous; -eous; -iar; -less; -ly}
3.4.Function
- Morpheme can be:
+ Inflectional morphemes
Bound morphemes are added to stem to make new grammatical forms.
Ex: go – went – gone – going
Characteristics of inflectional morphemes
- Do not make a change in part of speech.
- In words, inflectional morphemes always come last.
- Inflectional morphemes do not connect.
- Inflectional morphemes can come up with all stems of the given part of speech.
+ Derivational morphemes
Bound morphemes are prefixes, suffixes to form a new word.
Ex: work (v) -> worker (n)
Characteristics of derivational morphemes
- Change parts of speech of words.
- Some suffixes do not make a change in part of speech.
Ex: king (n) -> kingdom (n) - Do not close off the word. Inflectional morphemes can be added after derivational morpheme.
Ex: person (n) -> personal (a) -> personality (n) -> personalities (n)
4. Allomorphs
- Allomorphs are the different form of the same morpheme.
- An allomorph is the one that is similar to meaning but different from sound(s).
Ex: {-er}: [-er] -> teacher
- Types of allomorph
– Phonologically conditioned allomorphs
When the distribution is determined by the preceding sounds, the selection of allomorphs is phonologically conditioned.
Ex: ‘hats’ -> the morpheme {s} is pronounced /s/ because it is preceded by a voiceless consonant.
- The phonologically conditioned allomorphs are from the morpheme {-s} & {-ed}.
- Morphologically conditioned allomorphs.
-Morphologically conditioned allomorph is determined by a special morpheme (for irregular plural nouns or verbs).
4 types
+ Zero allomorph
There is no change in the form of the word(s) although the meaning maybe a little bit different.
Ex: fish -> fish put -> put
+ Addictive allomorph: adding suffixes to an existing word.
Ex: ox -> oxen child -> children
+ By replacing sound
Ex: mouse -> mice woman -> women
+ Suppletive allomorph: making a change in the form of the word => change in meaning.
Ex: be -> was/ were -> been bad -> worse
5. Immediate constituents (IC)
- Only 2 constituents at each cut.
- The recommendations on IC divisions
+ If a word has an inflectional suffix, the first cut is between that suffix and the word.
+ One of the IC should be a free form -> means a form that can stand alone with its meaning.
+ The cut is related to the meaning of word.
