Linguistics Study Guide
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CHAPTER 4. MORPHOLOGY: THE ANALYSIS OF WORD STRUCTURE
Morphology is the study of words: their categories, their internal structure, and the operations that form them. Important topics and concepts found in this chapter include the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Morphological terminology Identifying morphemes Identifying lexical categories Analyzing word structure Derivation Compounding Inflection Morphological processes Morphology problems Morphophonemics
MORPHOLOGICAL TERMINOLOGY
The following terms are crucial to understanding morphology. You should know them!
TERM
Word
DEFINITION
Words are the smallest free forms found in language. Free forms are elements that can appear in isolation or whose position is not fixed. Words can be simple or complex. See table 4.1 on p. 105 of the text for some examples. A morpheme is the smallest meaning or functional unit found in language. Morphemes can be free or bound. Allomorphs are the different forms of a morpheme. A root is the core of a word. It is the portion of the word that carries most of the word’s meaning. The majority of English words are built from roots that are free morphemes, making English a word-based language. Some English words, though, are built from roots that are bound morphemes. Think of some examples. Affixes are different types of bound morphemes. There are three types of affixes found in language: prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. See tables 4.3 and 4.4 on p. 108 for some examples. A base is any form to which an affix is added. The base may be the same as the root, but it can also be larger than the root. See figure 4.3 on p. 107 of the text for an illustration of the difference between roots and bases.
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Morpheme Allomorphs Root
Affixes
Base
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72 Chapter Four
IDENTIFYING MORPHEMES
Morphemes are the building blocks of words. A word can contain only one
9/2/11
4:25 PM
Page 71
CHAPTER 4. MORPHOLOGY: THE ANALYSIS OF WORD STRUCTURE
Morphology is the study of words: their categories, their internal structure, and the operations that form them. Important topics and concepts found in this chapter include the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Morphological terminology Identifying morphemes Identifying lexical categories Analyzing word structure Derivation Compounding Inflection Morphological processes Morphology problems Morphophonemics
MORPHOLOGICAL TERMINOLOGY
The following terms are crucial to understanding morphology. You should know them!
TERM
Word
DEFINITION
Words are the smallest free forms found in language. Free forms are elements that can appear in isolation or whose position is not fixed. Words can be simple or complex. See table 4.1 on p. 105 of the text for some examples. A morpheme is the smallest meaning or functional unit found in language. Morphemes can be free or bound. Allomorphs are the different forms of a morpheme. A root is the core of a word. It is the portion of the word that carries most of the word’s meaning. The majority of English words are built from roots that are free morphemes, making English a word-based language. Some English words, though, are built from roots that are bound morphemes. Think of some examples. Affixes are different types of bound morphemes. There are three types of affixes found in language: prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. See tables 4.3 and 4.4 on p. 108 for some examples. A base is any form to which an affix is added. The base may be the same as the root, but it can also be larger than the root. See figure 4.3 on p. 107 of the text for an illustration of the difference between roots and bases.
71
Morpheme Allomorphs Root
Affixes
Base
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72 Chapter Four
IDENTIFYING MORPHEMES
Morphemes are the building blocks of words. A word can contain only one