MORPHOLOGY, MORPHEMES AND ITS TYPES
Morphology is a branch of linguistics in which
we study the structure of words, how words are formed, we study the internal
and external structure of words. In morphology, we also see how affixes change
the category and the meaning of words. In order to understand morphology, we
need to know the term morpheme, which is a smallest unit which has meaning or
grammatical function. That meaning is how language conveys the messages.
Morphemes are more than just letters, when a number of letters are put together
into a word part that now has meaning, then you have now morpheme. Morphology
studies how units of meaning, or word parts, can be arranged in a language.
DEFINITION OF MORPHEME
Morpheme is a smallest unit which has meaning
or grammatical function.
For example, “play” is a morpheme that has
meaning and “un” is also morpheme, but un has no meaning, however, has
grammatical function.
There are several important distinction when
it comes to morphemes.
FREE MORPHEMES AND BOUND MORPHMEMES
Free morphemes are those morphemes which can
stand alone in any situation and they have their own independent meaning. Free
morphemes function as words. We can attach the bound morphemes with the free
morphemes.
Examples of free
morphemes
Advance Move
Come Start
Drink Weak
Table Safe
Stop Danger
Invite Bright
Advice Determine
BOUND MORPHEMES
Bound morphemes do not stand alone; they have
not their own independent meaning. Bound morphemes do not exist as words or
free morphemes. Bound morphemes are attached with free morphemes.
Examples of bound
morphemes
s in Plays
er in player
un in Unkind
ness in Kindness
ly in Cheaply
dis in Dislike
mis in Misbehave
Note, the underlined
morphemes are bound morphemes
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MORPHEME AND WORD
Every word consists at least with one free
morpheme that is known as root word, free morpheme or stem.
Killer is word that has meaning
Ness is a morpheme that has no meaning but has
grammatical function
BOUND MORPHEMES
Bound morphemes are
divided into three categories.
1 Prefix 2
Suffix 3
Infix
1. Prefix is an affix that is added at the
initial part of a word.
Examples
of prefix
Like Dislike
Happy Unhappy
Lead Mislead
Kind Unkind
Close Disclose
Lucky Unlucky
Note,
the underlined parts of words are prefixes.
2. Suffix is an affix that is added at final part
of a word.
Examples
of suffix
Help Helpless
Sad Sadness
Kind Kindness
Play Player
Walk Walking
Kill Killed
Play Player
Note,
the underlined parts of words are suffixes.
3. An infix is an affix that can
be added to the middle of a word to change its meaning.
— Examples
Mother-in-law Sister-in-law Brother-in-law
Note, the underlined
affixes are infixes
DERIVATIONAL AND
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES
Derivational morphemes
create or derive new words by changing the meaning or class of a word.
Derivational morphemes can prefix and suffix
Example of
derivational morphemes
Honest Dishonest
Happy Happiness
Play Player
Like Dislike
Able Disable
Apply Misapply
Lead Mislead
Sad Sadness
Save Saved
Note, the underlined
morphemes are derivational morphemes
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES
Inflection morphemes do not change the meaning
or class of a word, they just give extra grammatical information about word`s existing
meaning. Inflectional morphemes do not create new words.
Examples of
derivational morphemes
Cat Cats
Dog Dogs
Tall Taller
Boy Boys
House Houses
Play Playing
Explain Explained
Note, the underlined
parts of words are inflectional morphemes.
Reference
The study of language fourth edition by George
Yule
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