2. Taking Words Apart
we will focus on these smaller parts of
words, generally called Morphemes. The
area of grammar concerned with the
structure of words and with
relationships between words involving the
morpheme that compose them technically
called morphology and morphemes can be
thought of as the minimal units of
morphology.
3. Kinds of morpheme: bound versus
free
Free mor phemes ar e t hose t hat can
st and alone as wor ds. For examples:
{gir l} , {syst em} , {desir e} , {hope} et c.
All of t hese Whereas mor phems “free morphemes”
ar e f r ee
mBoournpdh emmoer constitutes phemes words is aGr by amat themselves,
ical unit s
t hat never “bound occur morpheme” s by it self are , but never
is
always at t words ached but t o always some part ot her
of word.
mor pheme.
Example : Un-Happy.
*Happy is t he or iginal mor pheme.
•Un is t he Bound mor phemes.
4. Bound Morphemes come into two
varieties
“Derivational’ and “Inf lectional”
These af f ixes do not necessar ily
change t he class of t he wor d, but t his
is normally t he case, e.g. fame (n.)> famous
(adj .)
Fur t hermor Derivational e, t he semant morphemes
ic element is
not ably higher . These mor phemes ar e
called:
For example:
Noun + Derivational morpheme
Adjective
Ex. Boy + ish boyish
5. Verb + Derivational morpheme Noun
Ex.
Acquit t + al acquit t al
Clear + ance clear ance
Adjective + Derivational morpheme
Adverb
Ex.
Exact + ly exact ly
Quiet + ly quiet ly
Main criteria for derivational morpheme:
•Create a new words with a different
meaning.
•Change the word class of the base
Note : Not all derivational morpheme
change word class !!
6. These af f ixes do not change t he
wor d class, but r at her cont r ibut e t o
meet Whether Whether ing gr ammat or or not not ical word word const class
class
r aint s.
These ar e changes changes called:
and and how
how
signif icantly meaning is
af f ected, “derivation”
always creates new word
signif icantly meaning is
af f ected, “derivation”
always creates new word
Inf lectional morphemes
For examples:
Cat VS. existing existing Cat s >> one Singular one ; ; while
while
VS. Plur al
Collect ““inf inf s lection” lection” VS. Collect is is merely merely limited
limited
to to change change word word ed form.
form.
>> Pr esent
VS. Past
Loud VS. Louder >> Posit ive VS.
Compar at ive
7. Kinds of morpheme: root, affix,
combining form
Root
A wor d or wor d element (t hat is a
mor pheme) f r om which ot her wor ds gr ow,
usually t hr ough t he addit ion of pr ef ixes
and suf f ixes.
Example an ident if y t he r oot s:
Knowingly
Br ainlessness
I nsuf f er able
Unt aint ed
Act ions
8. Af f ix
The mor phemes t he t erm ' af f ix' is a
collect ive t erm f or t he t ypes of
mor phemes t hat can only be used in
combinat ion wit h ot her mor phemes -i.e.
f or bound mor phemes. Depending on
t he posit ion wher e t he af f ix is
at t ached we can dif f er ent iat e
bet ween:
Pr ef ix
A pr ef ix is an af f ix pr ecedes a base:
un-t idy, dis-honest , ir -r egular
Suf f ix
A suf f ix is an af f ix which f ollows a
base: dog-s, kick-ed, nat ional-ise
9. What is a combining form?
Ther e is one ot her wor d par t t hat we
need t o discuss called t he combining
f orm. A combining f orm is made up of
a r oot plus t Combininhge fcoomrmbisn icnogn vsoiwste lo. f a
combining vowel.
The combining vowel is usually
an “o”, but ot her s may be
used. Let ’s look at some
NEXT
examples:
10. Combining vowels
Combining vowels link t he r oot t o t he suf f ix or
t he r oot t o anot her r oot . I f a suf f ix begins
wit h a vowel, t hen a combing vowel would NOT
be used. Look at t hese examples:
Ent er it is - ent er is t he r oot (int est ines), it is is
t he suf f ix and begins wit h a vowel so no
BACK
combining f orm would be used. How would it
look t o t ype: ent er oit is? I t j ust wouldn’t make
sense.
Except ion t o t he r ule! I f a combining vowel is
used bet ween t wo r oot s and t he second r oot
st ar t s wit h a vowel, t he combining vowel is
r et ained. Let ’s look at t his example:
pneumoencephalogr aphy - pneum is t he r oot
11. When a wor d has mor e t han one
r oot , a combining vowel is used t o
link t he r oot t o each ot her .
Slashes separ at e
element s
I E: ost eoar t hr it is ost e/
o / ar t hr / it is
Wor
d
r oot
Combin
ing
vowel
Wor d
r oot
suf f i
x
