MORPHOLOGY

MORPHOLOGY

1. IT IS THE STUDY OF THE STRUCTURE OF WORDS.

2. MORPHEMES

   • THEY ARE THE SMALLEST MEANING-BEARING UNIT OF A LANGUAGE.
   • FREE MORPHEMES: LEXICAL AND FUNCTIONAL
     • FUNCTIONAL MORPHEMES ARE ALSO KNOWN AS CLOSED CLASS OF WORDS CONSIST LARGELY OF THE FUNCTIONAL WORDS IN THE LANGUAGE SUCH AS CONJUGATIONS, PREPOSITIONS, ARTICLES, AND PRONOUNS. FOR EXAMPLE, {AT}, {HE}, {YET}, ETC.
     • LEXICAL MORPHEMES ARE ALSO KNOWN AS OPENED CLASS OF WORDS, AND IT INCLUDES THE SET OF ORDINARY NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, AND VERBS, FOR EXAMPLE, {BOY}, {LOOK}, {CUTE}, ETC.
     • THEY CAN EXIST AS INDEPENDENT WORDS.
   • BOUND MORPHEMES: DERIVATIONAL AND INFLECTIONAL
     • DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES ARE ADDED TO A ROOT TO FORM A NEW WORD THAT DIFFERS USUALLY IN ITS PART-OF-SPEECH CLASSIFICATION. FOR EXAMPLE, {-NESS}, {-LY}, ETC.
     • INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES INDICATE CERTAIN GRAMMATICAL PROPERTIES ASSOCIATED WITH NOUNS ABS VERBS SUCH AS GENDER, NUMBER, CASE, AND TENSE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE SUFFIX {-S} THAT EXPRESS PLURALITY, AND THE SUFFIX {-ED} WICH IS ADDED TO VERBS.
     • THEY OCCUR ONLY WHEN ATTACHED TO ANOTHER MORPHEME.
   • IN ENGLISH, PREFIXES ARE USUALLY DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES THAT CHANGE THE MEANING BUT NOT THE PART-OF-SPEECH CLASSIFICATION, WHEREAS SUFFIXES ARE USUALLY DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES THAT CHANGE THE PART-OF-SPEECH CLASSIFICATION BUT NOT THE MEANING.
     • . EXCEPTIONS INCLUDE JOY / ENJOY AND DEAR / ENDEAR.

3. ALLOMORPHS

   • THEY ARE ANY OF THE VARIANT FORMS OF A MORPHEME.
     • FOR EXAMPLE, THE PLURAL ENDINGS OF THE WORDS HATS, DOGS, AND BUSES ARE: [s], [z], AND [ez].
   • THEY OCCUR DEPENDING ON THE PHONETIC ENVIRONMENT.
   • RULES
     • NOUNS THAT END IN ONE OF THE SIBILANTS /s/,/z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/, AND /ʤ/ TAKE [əz] PLURAL ALLOMORPH, AS IN WISHES, JUDGES, AND MAZES.
     • NOUNS THAT END IN A VOICELESS CONSONANT (OTHER THAN A SIBILANT) FORM THEIR PLURALS WITH THE VOICELESS ALLOMORPH [-s], AS IN CAPS, CHIEFS, AND WICKS.
     • REGULAR NOUNS END IN A VOICED SOUND AND TAKE THE VOICED ALLOMORPH [-z], AS IN JOYS, BUMS, AND LIQUIDS.
     • SOME IRREGULAR ALLOMORPHS OF THE PLURAL MORPHEME ARE [-Ən]AS IN OXEN, [-rƏn] AS IN CHILDREN, AND Ø (ZERO MORPH) AS IN DEER.
   • THE SO-CALLED IRREGULAR FORMS OF PLURAL AND PAST TENSES IN ENGLISH ARE DESCRIBED AS HAVING INDIVIDUAL MORPHOLOGICAL REALIZATION RULES.