This document provides an overview of morphology, the study of word structures and formation. It defines key morphological concepts such as morphemes, the smallest units of meaning; free and bound morphemes; affixes including prefixes, suffixes, and infixes; roots; bases; allomorphs; and word classes. Examples are given to illustrate different types of morphemes and how they combine to form words. Morphology examines how words are built up from smaller units and how their structures convey meaning.

1. WEEK 6
MORPHOLOGY:
STRUCTURE OF
WORDS
Öğr. Gör. AYLİN AYDIN

2. MORPHOLOGY is the
system of categories and
rules involved in word
formation and
interpretation.

3. WORDS AND WORD STRUCTURE
• WORDS are the smallest FREE FORMS found in language.
• A free form is an element that can occur in ISOLATION.
• This isolated form is the one that is NOT ENTIRELY FIXED.
• Plural –s cannot be regarded as a word for not being a free form nor
they occur in isolation.
• «the» is a word; not normally occurring in isolation, it is still a free
form in terms of its position in a sentence.

4. Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units in language.
«happy» consists of only one morpheme simply because it cannot be divided into
smaller parts. A single word may be composed of one or more morphemes:

5. prefix infix suffix

6. Examples for infix;
- now-a-days
- mother-in-law

12. Transportation
Transporting
Transported
Transports
Transport
Port

13. Base vs. Root
Root is a non-affix lexical morpheme.
Base is any root or stem to which an affix is added.
All roots are bases, but not vice versa.

14. 1. Free morpheme: a single morpheme that constitutes a word and can stand alone.
2. Bound morpheme: a morpheme that must be attached to another morpheme.

15. MORPHEMES
FREE BOUND
Affix
DERIVATIONAL INFLECTIONAL
OPEN
CLASS
CLOSED
CLASS
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Conjunctions
Prepositions
Determiners
Elephant
Teach
Good
and
in
the
Prefix Suffix
Pre-, un-, con-
-ly, -ist, -ment
Suffix
-s, -ing, -ed, -en,
-s, -’s, -er, -est
INSPECTOR
THERMAL
BANKER
RECEIVE
Root
Infix
-in-
Roots
are
Affixes
are

16. • There are three allomorphs of the
morpheme –s in English.
Bats /s/
Bugz /z/
Buses /ız/
• There are three allomorphs of the past
morpheme –ed in English.
Slammed /d/
Slipped /t/
Stilted /ıd/

17. Allomorphs are different forms of the same morpheme;

23. -WORD FORMATIONS-