Understanding Morphology in Linguistics

Slide Note

Morphology is a branch of linguistics that focuses on word structure and the smallest meaningful units of language known as morphemes. It delves into the decomposition of words and the classification of morphemes into bound and free categories. Bound morphemes, such as prefixes and suffixes, modify the meaning of free morphemes and are attached to stems, forming words. Types of affixes, including prefixes and suffixes, play a significant role in changing word forms and maintaining word classes. Inflectional suffixes do not create new words but indicate grammatical variations within a word. The study of morphology helps in understanding the intricate details of language structure.

rdesm Follow

Uploaded on Dec 06, 2024 | 0 Views

Download Presentation

Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.

The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

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 Morpheme is Minimal Meaningful Unit -- Bloomfield

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

Cont Morphemes Bound Morphemes Free 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 not Occur Independently Need Help of Other Morphemes Occur Only as a Proper Sub-Part of a Word e.g. : - dis, - ness, un -, mis - , - ful, im-, - tion, etc.

Bound Morphemes BOUND MORPHEME is used as something Attached to a 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 (Aj) Cl. Ma. De. Prefix Stem logical (root) Cl. Ch. De.Suffix Il- logic (N) - al

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

Co-pilot (N) Empower (V) Cl. Ch. De. Pre. Stem Cl.Ma. De. Pre. Stem Root Root Em - Power (N) Co - Pilot (N)

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)

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