MorphologyA review

1. What is a morpheme?2. What is the difference between free and

bound morphemes?3. What is a root morpheme?4. What is the difference between inflectional

and derivational morphemes?

Morphemes◦ The most elemental unit of a word

Morphology◦Study of the internal structure; rules of word

formation

What are the building blocks in the formation of complex words?

believable unbelievable

desirable undesirable

happy unhappy

dressed undressed

Prefixes Prefixes are added to the beginning Suffixes Suffixes are added to the end

Form a word with 2 suffixes Form a word with 1 Prefix and 2 Suffixes

Affixes

For each of the words below, determine the number of morphemes it has.

Sister sister’s sisters happyblister

unhappy the teacher carefully

Mini exercise

◦ Free morphemes can be used alone◦ Bound morphemes must be attached to

other morphemes Free morpheme in a complex word:

Deactivationde+act+iv+at+ion

Act: 1 a : the doing of a thing (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Free morphemes vs. bound morphemes

Quick exerciseFor each morpheme below, determine

whether it’s free or bound.

Pre pro ive y worthwith

un ion re ductedable

Free morphemes vs. bound morphemes

Lexical morpheme◦ Have a ‘real world’ meaning◦ Also called content morpheme

Grammatical morpheme◦ Change the form of a word but don’t have ‘real

word’ meaning Test: find a synonym for the morpheme

◦ If you can find one, it’s a lexical morpheme What is the difference between free

&bound morphemes and lexical & grammatical morphemes?

Lexical morphemes vs. grammatical morphemes

What’s a root morpheme?

Root morphemes vs. Affix morphemes

Note: -roots tend to be free andlexical-affixes tend to be bound andgrammatical

Quick exercise Analyze the word: “production” How many morphemes does it have? Which morpheme is the stem? Which ones are

affixes? Is the stem free and lexical?

Exceptions

Word Meaning

con+duct To carry out

in+duct To place ceremoniously

ab+duct To lead away

Conclusion: ‘duct’ is a bound root morpheme

Quick exercise Identify the roots of the following words

kingdom interplanetary dimensional margins paintball children

Root morphemes

What are inflectional affixes?◦ Do not create new words when they attach to

existing words◦ They change the form of that word to indicate

grammatical meaning

Inflectional Affixes vs. Derivational Affixes

Inflectional Affixes vs. Derivational AffixesInflectional morpheme Example

Plural –s, -es (noun) Possessive –’s, s’ (noun) Comparative –er (adj.) Superlative –est (adj.) 3rd person singular –s

(verb) Past tense –ed (verb) Past participle –ed, -en Present participle -ing

Pim likes to eat peach-es Pim’s grades are great Pim is smart-er than Boss Pim is the quick-est of all Pim like-s to study Pim studi-ed hard for the

quiz Pim hasn’t fail-ed a test

yet. Pim has been study-ing for

3 hours

Derivational Affixes◦ Create new (or derive) new words in two ways◦ Some derivational morphemes change the

content meaning but not grammatical meaning◦ Others don’t significantly change the meaning but

the grammatical meaning.

Unlike inflectional affixes, derivational affixes can be both, prefixes or suffixes in English.

Inflectional Affixes vs. Derivational Affixes

Function Morpheme

Example Word

Change content meaning un- un+happy

Change content meaning re- re+write

Change grammatical function (noun ⇒verb)

-ize trauma(t)+ize

Change grammatical function (noun ⇒adj.) -y health+y

Change grammatical function (adj.⇒adverb)

-ly quick+ly

Derivational affixes

The number of derivational affixes in English is far greater than inflectional affixes

Quick exercise Each of the words below contains two morphemes, a

root and a derivational affix. Decide if the derivational affix changes the meaning or class of the root.

retake hopelessundress tensiondisembark cheerful

Derivational affixes

What is the general trend with regard to the behavior of derivational prefixes vs. suffixes? That is, how does each kind of affix derive new words?

Quick exercise Each of the words below contains two morphemes, a

root and a derivational affix. Decide if the derivational affix changes the meaning or class of the root.

rewrite hopelessunclear creationunhappy helpful

Derivational affixes

What is the general trend with regard to the behavior of derivational prefixes vs. suffixes? That is, how does each kind of affix derive new words?

Overview of all discussed distinctions

free

Morphemes

lexical-bound roots

bound

lexical

grammatical

derivationalinflectional

-eight suffixes

prefixesex:-un

suffixesex: -ness

Affixing◦ Affixing and derivation create new words in English◦ X number of affixes +Y number of words (stems)◦ Example: ‘un-’

Functional shift◦ Words changing word class◦ Example: impact (noun and verb)

Quick exercise:

Transition reference proposition help

hope

Word creation in English (Neologism)

Coined words◦ Speakers continually create new words.

Consider the word ‘dissing’ in the sentence:

Are you dissing me?

1. What does dissing mean?2. What part of speech does it belong to? (Defend your

answer on a morphological basis)

Word creation in English (Neologism)

Acronyms◦ Common acronyms that turned into words:◦ Laser, radar, scuba, MUIC

Where do they derive from? Light Amplification (by) Stimulated

Emission (of) Radiation RAdio Detecting And Ranging

Word creation in English (Neologism)

Borrowing Speakers of English aggressively borrow

from other languages◦ Kindergarten (German)◦ Croissant (French)◦ Sushi (Japanese)◦ Macho (???)

List 3 words in Thai that are borrowed from English?

Word creation in English (Neologism)

Blending◦ Mixing words

Quick exercise: from what words are the following blends mixed?

Motel Infomercial EdutainmentNetiquette

Word creation in English (Neologism)