2. Morphology
Definition:
Morph (form) + ology (science of/the study of), thus;
Morphology is the science of word forms. It is the study of the internal structure of
words, and the rules by which words are formed.
Morphology is the arrangement and relationships of the smallest meaningful units in a
language.
In order to understand morphology, you need to know the term morpheme.
3. Morpheme
Linguists define a morpheme as the smallest unit of language that has its own meaning.
Morphemes are the minimal units of words that have a meaning and cannot be
subdivided further. They are more than just letters.
Simple words like giraffe, car, or yellow are morphemes, but so are prefixes like re- and
pre- and suffixes like -ize and -er.
There are two main types of morphemes:
1. Free morphemes which can occur alone
2. Bound morphemes must occur with another morpheme.
4. 1. An example of a free morpheme is "bad”
2. An example of a bound morpheme is "ly." It is bound because although it has meaning,
it cannot stand alone. It must be attached to another morpheme to produce a word.
Free morpheme: bad
+
Bound morpheme: -ly
=
Word: badly
Note: morphemes ≠ words
5. One morpheme: boy
Two morphemes: boy + ish
Three morphemes: boy + ish + ness
Four morpheme: gentle + man + li + ness
More than four: un + gentle + man + li + ness
Examples of Morphemes
6. • Sound units combine to form morphemes
• morphemes combine to form from words
• word combine to form phrases
• phrases combine to form sentences
Thus,
7. A word is one or more morphemes that can stand alone in a language.
1. Words that consist of only one morpheme, like the words in (1), can be termed
simple or simplex words.
2. Words that are made up of more than one morpheme, like the ones in (2), are called
complex.
What’s a word?
8. ● giraffe
● good
● car
● Cup
● just
● red
● opposition
● intellectual
● crystallize
● prewash
● repressive
● blackboard
1. Simplex Words 2. Complex Words
Words classifications
