Morphology: Words & Morphemes

Base Definition

Any form to which an affix is added. May also be a root or it may be a root plus one+ affixes.

Suffix Definition & Examples

Attached to the end of a base. EX: -ed, -ing, -ize

Prefix Definition & Examples

Attached to the front of a base. EX: pre-, de-, un-

Affix Definition

Bound morphemes that may be added to a root to modify its meaning and/or lexical category. EX: dog-s, de-humid-ifi-er

Root Definition

Constitutes the semantic core of the word. Has lexical category (verb, noun, adjective...)

Ordering of Inflection and Derivation

Derivational rules apply before inflectional ones. They are always closer to the root than inflectional affixes are. EX: neighbor-hood-s, not neighbor-s-hood

Word Examples

Dogs, dog, the, deactivate, hotdog

Morphological Rule Definition

Each affix has a rule which specifies which part of speech it attaches to, and which part of speech the resulting word is.

T/F: Derivational affixes always change the part of speech.

FALSE - Sometimes, but not always

T/F: All roots are free.

FALSE - some are bound

Two Types of Morphemes

Free or Bound

Bound Morpheme

Morpheme that can't stand alone and has to be attached to another morpheme (-s, de-, -er)

Free Morpheme

Morpheme that is a word and can stand alone (dog, act, with, taco)

Inflectional Affixes

Never changes part of speech, adds grammatical information but doesn't change fundamental meaning

Two Types of Words

Simplex or Complex

Derivational Affixes

Sometimes changes part of speech (e.g. changes V to N), changes meaning of word significantly

T/F: Every word consists of at least one root, plus optional affixes.

TRUE

Word Definition

The smallest meaningful unit of language that can stand alone (that is free).

Morpheme Definition

The smallest meaningful unit or language.

Morphology Definition

The system of categories and rules involved in word formation.

Derivational Affix Examples

cat -> cat-ty happy -> un-happy bake -> baker ice -> de-ice

Inflectional Affix Examples

cat -> cats happy -> happier bake -> baked ice -> ice's

Examples of Morphemes

dog, -s, act, -ive, read, -er, re-, -ing