Understanding Morphology: Word Structure and Morphemes

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Morphology, a branch of linguistics, focuses on word structure by examining morphemes, which are the smallest meaningful units of language. Morphemes can be free or bound, with bound morphemes modifying the meaning of free morphemes through affixes like prefixes and suffixes. Types of affixes include inflectional and derivational suffixes. Inflectional suffixes do not form new words but change aspects like tense or number, while derivational suffixes create new words or change word class. Explore how morphemes form words through various examples and tree diagrams.

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Morphology

A branch of linguistics that is concerned with the questions regarding Word Structure . Morph the smallest significant stretch of language. Morpheme The Decomposed Unit of the word OR The Isolated Component of the word. Can not be decomposed into smaller units / Morphemes Morphemes are meaningful units Morpheme is Minimal Meaningful Unit Bloomfield

Cont For e.g. The word Ilogical has 3 Morphemes : il logic al Bravely :: Brave ly Unfaithful :: Students :: International :: Examinations :: Un faith ful Student s Inter nation al Examine tion - s

Cont Morphemes Free Morphemes Bound Morphemes Occur Independently Exist as a Word of English Can Stand Alone Can be Used in a Sentence without attaching a Morpheme e.g. brave , faith, student, nation, etc. Can t Occur Independently Need Help of Other Morphemes Occur Only as a Proper Sub-Part of a Word e.g. : - dis, - ness, un -, mis - , - tion, im- etc.

Bound Morphemes BOUND MORPHEME is used as something Attached to a FREE MORPHEME / BASE / STEM BOUND MORPHEMES added to the Stem are called -- AFFIXES which Modify the Meaning of the Free Morpheme Bound Morpheme Added Before a Free Morpheme is called Prefix. Bound Morpheme Added After a Free Morpheme is called Suffix. Any Form to which an Affix is added is called STEM. A Stem is also called the ROOT.

Tree Diagram Illogical Prefix Stem logical (root) Suffix Il- logic - al

Cont Faithfully (root) Faith - ful -ly Stem Faithful Stem Suffix Suffix

Types of Affixes : Prefix i) Class Changing Derivational Prefix ii) Class Maintaining Derivational Prefix Suffix i) Inflectional Suffix ii) Derivational Suffix

i) Inflectional Suffixes: Do not Form New Words e.g. Act and Acts are not two different words. Do not Change the Class/Part of Speech e.g. Pen ~ Pens ( both Ns) Run ~ Runs (both Vs) Tall ~ Tallest ( both Ajs) Lion ~ Lioness (both Ns) Closing morphemes. Occur at the end of the word. e.g. Worked , students, tallest, lioness Do not pile up like Derivational Suffixes (e.g. centralization) One Inflectional Suffix ends the word. e.g. Teaches :: Teach + - es ( Inflectional Suffix) Derivational :: Derive + - tion + -al

Cont Inflectional Suffixes are attached to : 1. Nouns : i) Plural ii) Possesive -s -s/-es # girls , boxes # girl s, girls 2. Verbs: i) Present (singular) -s ii) Past -ed iii) Present Cont. -ing iv) Past Participle -en # comes, takes # walked, went # walking, going # written, gone