MORPHOLOGY

MORPHOLOGY

1. Morphology is a field of linguistics focused on the study of the forms and formation of words in a language. A morpheme is the smallest indivisible unit of a language that retains meaning. The rules of morphology within a language tend to be relatively regular, so that if one sees thenoun morphemes for the first time, for example, one can deduce that it is likely related to the word morpheme. http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-morphology.htm

2.Morphology: 

The word morphology can be broken down (morphologically) into two meaningful parts (known as morphemes): morph- meaning shape and -ology meaning the study of. Thus, morphology, in its most generic form, is the study of shape. In language and reading,  morphology refers to the study of the structure of words, particularly the smallest units of meaning in words: morphemes. Morphemes are generally one of the two following types: 

a. Bound morphemes, which are prefixes and suffixes that cannot stand alone as words, such as geo-, re-, and -ity

b. Unbound morphemes, which are roots within more

complex words that can stand alone as words, such

as popular.

  (http://www.pebc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Keiffer-2007-Words-to-Build-Meaning1.pdf)

3. Morphology: is the study of word formation, of the structure of words.

1. some words can be divided into parts which still have meaning

2. many words have meaning by themselves. But some words have meaning

only when used with other words

3. some of the parts into which words can be divided can stand alone as

words. But others cannot

4. these word-parts that can occur only in combination must be combined in

the correct way

5. languages create new words systematically

(http://www.mathcs.duq.edu/~packer/Courses/Psy598/Ling-Morphology.pdf)

KEY WORDS:

• 
• Words and morphemes
• Compounding
• Clasify
• Structure
• Complex Words
• Inflection
• Formation
• Meaning

WORD	DEFINITION	EXAMPLE
Morpheme	A meaningful linguistic unit consisting of a word (such as dog) or a word element (such as the -s at the end of dogs) that can't be divided into smaller meaningful parts. Adjective: morphemic. Morphemes are commonly classified into free morphemes (which can occur as separate words) and bound morphemes (which can't stand alone as words).	Unfriendly Un Friend ly
Free Morpheme	A morpheme (or word element) that can stand alone as a word. Contrast with bound morpheme.
Bound Morpheme	A morpheme (or word element) that cannot stand alone as a word. Contrast with free morpheme.
Prefix
Suffix
Infix
Affix	A word element--a prefix, suffix, or infix--that can be attached to  a base or root to form a new word.Affixes are bound morphemes.	affixable and affixal.
Derivational Morpheme	Derivational morphemes, are added to the beginning of free morphemes (“prefixes”) or to the end (“suffixes”) to create words that have a similar but contrasting meaning or that have a similar meaning but which belong to a different word class.
Inflectional Morpheme	Inflectional morphemes are used to create words that are grammatically correct in a particular context. For example, the rules of grammar require that an -s morpheme be added to plural nouns and that the-ing morpheme be added to a verb to give it a “continuous” sense.

3.

Word	Number of Syllables	Number of Morphemes
Unlikely	4	4
Happiness	3	3
Loves	2	3
Morphology	4	4
syntax	2	2