MORPHOLOGY

Linguistic

Morphology

Studies the internal structure of words and how are they formed

Morpheme

Key concepts

The smallest unit of meaning or gramatical function in a language

Types of morphemes

Lexical morpheme (roots)

Bound morphemes

Free morphemes

Gramatical morphemes

Can stand alone as words

Cannot stand alone. Must attach to another morpheme

Carry the main meaning

Express grammar not meaning

Example

Example

Example

Example

teach → teacher

bio → biology

un-, -ness, -s, -ed, bio-, -logy

Books, run, house, happy.

-s (plural)

-ed (past tense)

Affixes

They are bound morphemes attached to free morphemes or to a root.

Types

Prefixes

Infixes

Suffixes

Before the root

Inside the root (rare)

After the root

un-happy,

re-do.

Example

Example

Example

(NO YET)

happy-ness, teach-er

Morphological processes

(THIS IS THE HEART OF MORPHOLOGY)

Derivation

Inflection

Allomorphs

Creates a new word by adding an affix. It often changes meaning and/or word class.

Inflection modifies a word to express grammatical information, but:

does NOT create a new word.

does NOT change word class.

Allomorphs are different forms of the same morpheme, depending on context.

Example

Example

Example

happy (adj) → happiness (noun)

teach (verb) → teacher (noun)

modern (adj) → modernize (verb)

Plural morpheme in English:

cat + -s

bus + -es

man → men

Compounding (General)

Compounding forms a new word by combining two or more morphemes.

cat → cats (plural)

walk → walked (past tense)

she run → she runs (agreement)

- New word

- Often new category

- Vocabulary growth

Same word

Grammar only

Very important for syntax

Same morpheme (plural), different forms

Depends of the type of compounding

Free compounding

Bound compounding

A compound formed with free morphemes only.

A compound formed using COMBINING FORMS

(Greek or Latin bound lexical morphemes).

Not “free vs bound” mechanically, but using combining forms

Code

Code

Free morpheme + Free morpheme

Pattern A: Combining form + Combining form.

Example

note + book → notebook

tooth + brush → toothbrush

black + board → blackboard

cell + phone → cellphone

Pattern B: Combining form + Base

COMBINING FORMS

A bound lexical morpheme, usually from Greek or Latin, used to build new words.

Example

Example

bio + logy → biology

psycho + logy → psychology

(Base = word that exists, but here works as part of a classical structure)

Examples:

tele + phone → telephone

micro + chip → microchip

bio + fuel → biofuel

KEY RULE:

n bound (neo-classical) compounding, a free morpheme can appear,

but it functions as a base because the structure is controlled by a combining form.

Examples

bio- (life)

tele- (distance)

photo- (light)

psycho- (mind)

-logy (study)

-graph (writing)

-meter (measure)

Blending

Clipping

advertisement → ad

examination → exam

laboratory → lab

Acronyms

Combines parts of two words.

breakfast + lunch → brunch

smoke + fog → smog

motor + hotel → motel

Example

Shortens a word

Example

Forms a word from initial letters, pronounced as a word.

Example

NASA

UNESCO

Initialisms

Forms a word from initial letters, pronounced letter by letter.

Example

FBI

BBC

USA

Back-formation

Creates a word by removing an affix

Examples

editor → edit

television → televise

Reduplication