MORPHOLOGY AND WORD FORMATION

MORPHOLOGY AND WORD FORMATION

1. What we have been describing as “elements” in the form of linguistic message are technically known as "MORPHEMES".

   • A MORPHEME is the smallest part of a word that has grammatical function or meaning.
     • Example: sawed, sawn, sawing and saws can all be analyzed into the morphemes {saw} + {-ed}, {-n}, {-ing},and {-s},
   • TYPES OF MORPHEMES
     • FREE MORPHEME: Can stand alone as words (e.g., "book", "run").
     • BOUND MORPHEME: Must be attached to a free morpheme to convey meaning (e.g., "-s" for plural, "-ing" for continuous tense).
   • ROOT MORPHEME
     • Core lexical unit of a word. Often carries the primary meaning..
   • Affixes
     • Morphemes attached to a root to modify its meaning or create a new word
     • TYPE OF AFFIXES
       • Prefixes: Attached before the root (e.g., "un-" in "unhappy")
       • Suffixes: Attached after the root (e.g., "-ful" in "beautiful").
       • Infixes: Inserted within the root (e.g., Tagalog language).
       • Circumfixes: Surround the root (e.g., German verb formation).
       • Derivational affix: Changes the lexical category or meaning of the word.( e.g. advice-advise)
       • Inflectional affix: Indicates grammatical relationships such as tense, plurality, etc. (e.g THE BIRDS)
   • Productivity:
     • Productive: Morphological process commonly used to create new words.
     • Non-productive: Morphological process rarely used or not actively creating new words.
   • Morphological Analysis:
     • Root: The core meaning of the word.
     • Affixes: Added elements modifying the root.
     • Boundaries: Points where morphemes are attached.
     • Meaning: Semantic contribution of each morpheme.
     • Grammatical Function: Role of each morpheme in the structure of a sentence.
   • A morpheme is a set of ALLOMORPHS that have the same set of lexical features.

2. "MORPH : Shape of form. OLOGY : the study of.

3. Word Formation Processes:

   • Derivation: Creating new words by adding affixes.
   • Compounding: Combining two or more words to create a new one.(e.g sawmill)
   • Blending: Merging parts of two words to create a new word.(e.g. Smog derives from Smoke)
   • Clipping: Shortening a word.
   • Back-formation: Creating a new word by removing affixes from an existing word.
   • Acronyms: Forming a word from the initial letters of a phrase.
   • Reduplication: Repeating all or part of a word to create a new word.
   • Conversion: Changing the function of a word without changing its form.
   • Coinage: Creating a completely new word.
   • Borrowing: Adopting words from other languages.(e.g taco and burrito, have become current in American English)