Practice Exercises in Morphology

Linguistics 201
Free and Bound Morphemes
List the morphemes in each word below, and state whether each morpheme is free (F) or
bound (B).
1. creating
2. seaward
3. wastage
4. poetic
5. modernize

6. unhealthy
7. waiter
8. reconsider
9. keys
10. incompletion

Word Trees
For each word below, draw a word tree.
1. shipper
2. disobey
3. resettled
4. anticlimaxes
5. unemployment

6. simply
7. jumping
8. digitizes
9. activity
10. confrontational

Practice Exercises in Morphology

Linguistics 201
Free and Bound Morphemes
List the morphemes in each word below, and state whether each morpheme is free (F) or
bound (B).
1. creating

6. unhealthy

create (F)
ing (B)
2. seaward

un (B)
health (F)
y (B)
7. waiter

sea (F)
ward (B)
3. wastage

wait (F)
er (B)
8. reconsider

waste (F)
age (B)
4. poetic
poet (F)
ic (B)
5. modernize
modern (F)
ize (B)

re (B)
consider (F)
9. keys
key (F)
s (B)
10. incompletion
in (B)
complete (F)
ion (B)

Word Trees
For each word below, draw a word tree.
1. shipper
2. disobey
3. resettled
4. anticlimaxes
5. disengagement
1.

6. simply
7. jumping
8. digitizes
9. activity
10. confrontational

2.

DAff

DAff

ship

er

dis

obey

3.

V
V
DAff

IAff

re

settle

4.

N
N
DAff

IAff

anti

climax

es

5. 3.

N
V
DAff

DAff

dis

engage

ment

6.

Adv

7.

Adj

DAff

IAff

simple

jump

ing

For #7, jumping could also be either a noun (Jumping over the water was dangerous)
or an adjective (The jumping bunnies looked ridiculous.) In both of these cases, ing
is a derivational affix.
8.

V
V
N

DAff

IAff

digit

ize

9.

N
Adj
V

DAff

DAff

act

ive

ity

10.

Adj
N
V

DAff

DAff

confront

ation

al

Practice Exercises in Morphology II

Linguistics 201
Derivational and Inflectional Affixes
For each word below, indicate whether the word is morphologically simple (S), includes
an inflectional affix (I), or includes a derivational affix (D).
1. rider
2. colder
3. silver
4. lens
5. legs

6. reader
7. redder
8. radish
9. redness
10. rotation

Esperanto
Esperanto is an artificial language that was invented by Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887. It
was designed to be easy to learn and is based largely on the languages of western Europe.
It is now primarily spoken in France, although it may also be found in eastern Asia, South
America and eastern Europe. There are now between 200-2,000 native speakers and
about 2,000,000 people worldwide speak it as a second language.
Examine the following data from Esperanto and then answer the questions below:
1. bono
2. instrua
3. malfacila
4. patrino
5. instruisto
6. porti
7. facila
8. patro
9. portisto
10. instrui

goodness
instructive
difficult
mother
teacher
to carry
easy
father
porter
to instruct

11. portistino female porter

12. pura
pure
13. malbone badly
14. facile
easily
15. bona
good
16. malgranda small
17. bone
well
18. facilo
easiness
19. granda
big
20. instruo
instruction

A. What are the morphemes that correspond to the following lexical categories and
concepts?
i.

Nouns

iv. Adverbs

ii.

Verbs

v. Feminine

iii.

Adjectives

vi. The opposite (not)

B. Translate the following English words and phrases into Esperanto.

i.

purity

ii.

bad

iii.

female teacher

Practice Exercises in Morphology II

Linguistics 201
Derivational and Inflectional Affixes
For each word below, indicate whether the word is morphologically simple (S), includes
an inflectional affix (I), or includes a derivational affix (D).
1. rider
2. colder
3. silver
4. lens
5. legs

D
I
S
S
I

6. reader
7. redder
8. radish
9. redness
10. rotation

D
I
S
D
D

Esperanto
Esperanto is an artificial language that was invented by Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887. It
was designed to be easy to learn and is based largely on the languages of western Europe.
It is now primarily spoken in France, although it may also be found in eastern Asia, South
America and eastern Europe. There are now between 200-2,000 native speakers and
about 2,000,000 people worldwide speak it as a second language.
Examine the following data from Esperanto and then answer the questions below:
1. bono
2. instrua
3. malfacila
4. patrino
5. instruisto
6. porti
7. facila
8. patro
9. portisto
10. instrui

goodness
instructive
difficult
mother
teacher
to carry
easy
father
porter
to instruct

11. portistino female porter

12. pura
pure
13. malbone badly
14. facile
easily
15. bona
good
16. malgranda small
17. bone
well
18. facilo
easiness
19. granda
big
20. instruo
instruction

A. What are the morphemes that correspond to the following lexical categories and
concepts?
i.

Nouns

iv. Adverbs

ii.

Verbs

v. Feminine

in

iii.

Adjectives

vi. The opposite (not)

mal

B. Translate the following English words and phrases into Esperanto.

i.

purity

puro

ii.

bad

malbona

iii.

female teacher

instruistino

Practice Exercises in Morphology III

Linguistics 201
I. Morphological Analysis
From the following data sets, identify the strings of sounds which correspond to the
morphemes in each language.
Swahili
Swahili is a Bantu language which is spoken primarily in East Africa. There are
approximately 800,000 native speakers of Swahili, and some 30,000,000 people (!)
worldwide speak Swahili as a second language.
anapenda
atapenda
alipenda
amependa
alinipenda
alikupenda
alimpenda
alitupenda
aliwapenda
nitampenda
Pronouns
he:
me:
you:
him:
us:
them:
I:

'he likes'
'he will like'
'he liked'
'he has liked'
'he liked me'
'he liked you'
'he liked him'
'he liked us'
'he liked them'
'I will like him'

alimona
alimsaidia
alimpiga
alimchukua
alimua
ananitazama
atakusikia
alitupanya
ninakupenda
nitawapenda

Tenses
[present]:
[future]:
[past]:
[past part.]:

Translate the following English sentences into Swahili:

i. He has hit me.
ii. He helps us.
iii. I will look at you.

'he saw him'

'he helped him'
'he hit him'
'he carried him'
'he killed him'
'he looks at me'
'he will hear you'
'he cured us'
'I like you'
'I will like them'
Verbs
see:
help:
hit:
carry:
kill:
look:
hear:
cure:
like:

Cree
Cree is an Algonquian language which is spoken primarily in Canada. There are
approximately 100,000 native speakers, who can be found from the Rocky Mountains in
Alberta all the way to James Bay in northern Quebec.
niwapahten
kimachishen
nitapinan
kiwapahten
nimachishenan
kitapinawaw

'I see'
'You cut'
'We sit'
'You see'
'We cut'
'You (pl.) sit'

Pronouns
I:
You:
We:
You (pl.):

niwapahtenan
kimachishenawaw
nitapin
kiwapahtenawaw
nimachishen
kitapin

'We see'
'You (pl.) cut'
'I sit'
'You (pl.) see'
'I cut'
'You sit'

Verbs
see:
cut:
sit:

II. Word-Formation Processes

Name the word-formation process exemplified by each of the following derivations.
1. Graphical User Interface GUI
2. professor prof
3. information + commercial infomercial
4. drink drank
5. sandwich (named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich!)
6. un- + rely + -able unreliable
7. wind + shield windshield
8. orientation orientate
9. good better
10. a process to process

Practice Exercises in Morphology III

Linguistics 201
I. Morphological Analysis
From the following data sets, identify the strings of sounds which correspond to the
morphemes in each language.
Swahili
Swahili is a Bantu language which is spoken primarily in East Africa. There are
approximately 800,000 native speakers of Swahili, and some 30,000,000 people (!)
worldwide speak Swahili as a second language.
anapenda
atapenda
alipenda
amependa
alinipenda
alikupenda
alimpenda
alitupenda
aliwapenda
nitampenda
Pronouns
he: a
me: ni
you: ku
him: m
us: tu
them: wa
I: ni

'he likes'
'he will like'
'he liked'
'he has liked'
'he liked me'
'he liked you'
'he liked him'
'he liked us'
'he liked them'
'I will like him'

alimona
alimsaidia
alimpiga
alimchukua
alimua
ananitazama
atakusikia
alitupanya
ninakupenda
nitawapenda

Tenses
[present]: na
[future]: ta
[past]: li
[past part.]: me

Translate the following English sentences into Swahili:

i. He has hit me.
amenipiga
ii. He helps us.
anatusaidia
iii. I will look at you.
nitakutazama

'he saw him'

'he helped him'
'he hit him'
'he carried him'
'he killed him'
'he looks at me'
'he will hear you'
'he cured us'
'I like you'
'I will like them'
Verbs
see: ona
help: saidia
hit: piga
carry: chukua
kill: ua
look: tazama
hear: sikia
cure: panya
like: penda

Cree
Cree is an Algonquian language which is spoken primarily in Canada. There are
approximately 100,000 native speakers, who can be found from the Rocky Mountains in
Alberta all the way to James Bay in northern Quebec.
niwapahten
kimachishen
nitapinan
kiwapahten
nimachishenan
kitapinawaw

'I see'
'You cut'
'We sit'
'You see'
'We cut'
'You (pl.) sit'

Pronouns
I: ni
You: ki
We: ni- -an
You (pl.): ki -awaw

niwapahtenan
kimachishenawaw
nitapin
kiwapahtenawaw
nimachishen
kitapin

'We see'
'You (pl.) cut'
'I sit'
'You (pl.) see'
'I cut'
'You sit'

Verbs
see: wapahten
cut: machishen
sit: tapin

II. Word-Formation Processes

Name the word-formation process exemplified by each of the following derivations.
1. Graphical User Interface GUI
Acronym
2. professor prof
Clipping
3. information + commercial infomercial
Blend
4. drink drank
Internal Change
5. sandwich (named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich!)
Eponym
6. un- + rely + -able unreliable
Affixation
7. wind + shield windshield
Compound
8. orientation orientate
Back formation
9. good better
Suppletion
10. a process to process
Conversion

More Morphology Practice Exercises

Linguistics 201
Turkish
Turkish is an Altaic language. It is the official language of Turkey and is spoken
by about 50 million people worldwide.
1. deniz
2. denize
3. denizin
4. eve
5. evden
6. evjikden
7. denizjikde
8. elde

'an ocean'
'to an ocean'
'of an ocean'
'to a house'
'from a house'
'from a little house'
'in a little ocean'
'in a hand'

9. elim
10. eller
11. dishler
12. dishiminiz
13. dishleriminiz
14. eljike
15. denizlerimizde
16. evjiklerimizde

'my hand'
'hands'
'teeth'
'of our tooth'
'of our teeth'
'to a little hand'
'in our oceans'
'in our little houses'

A. Give the Turkish morpheme which corresponds to each of the following

English translations.
ocean:

in:

my:

house:

to:

of:

hand:

from:

our:

tooth:

[plural]:

little:

B. What is the order of morphemes in a Turkish word (in terms of noun, plural
marker, etc.)?

C .How would you say "of our little hands" in Turkish?

D. Give the English translation for the Turkish form "dishjiklerden".

Czech (this one's tricky!):

Czech is a Slavic language which is spoken by about 10 million people, primarily
in the Czech Republic.
nesu
ponese
povedete
poplavu
priplavesh
priyedou
odvedeme
odyede
poyede
nesou
plavou
vedeme

I carry
He will carry
You (pl) will lead
I will swim
You will swim here
They will drive here
We will lead away
He will drive away
He will drive
They carry
They swim
We lead

yedu
ponesu
yede
nese
odnesou
odplavete
poplaveme
prineseme
prinese
odvedu
odnesesh

I drive
I will carry
He drives
He carries
They will carry away
You (pl.) will swim away
We will swim
We will bring here
He will bring here
I will lead away
You carry away

A. Identify the Czech morphemes which correspond to the following English

translations:
Verbs
carry:
bring:
lead:
drive:
swim:

Pronouns
I:
he:
we:
you:
you (pl.):
they:

Tense, Location
here:
away:
will:

B. What is the order of these morphemes in Czech (in terms of verbs, pronouns,
tense, location)?

C. Provide Czech translations for the following English sentences:

1. He will swim.
2. They drive away.
3. You lead away.
4. I will bring here.

More Morphology Practice Exercises

Linguistics 201
Turkish
Turkish is an Altaic language. It is the official language of Turkey and is spoken
by about 50 million people worldwide.
1. deniz
2. denize
3. denizin
4. eve
5. evden
6. evjikden
7. denizjikde
8. elde

'an ocean'
'to an ocean'
'of an ocean'
'to a house'
'from a house'
'from a little house'
'in a little ocean'
'in a hand'

9. elim
10. eller
11. dishler
12. dishiminiz
13. dishleriminiz
14. eljike
15. denizlerimizde
16. evjiklerimizde

'my hand'
'hands'
'teeth'
'of our tooth'
'of our teeth'
'to a little hand'
'in our oceans'
'in our little houses'

A. Give the Turkish morpheme which corresponds to each of the following

English translations.
ocean: deniz

in: de

my: im

house: ev

to: e

of: in

hand: el

from: den

our: imiz

tooth: dish

[plural]: ler

little: jik

B. What is the order of morphemes in a Turkish word (in terms of noun, plural
marker, etc.)?
noun - adjective - plural - possessive pronoun - preposition
Exception: when "imiz" (our) is combined with "in" (of), the "in" appears
inside of the "imiz". For example, #12: dishiminiz "of our tooth"
C .How would you say "of our little hands" in Turkish?
eljikleriminiz
D. Give the English translation for the Turkish form "dishjiklerden".
from little teeth

Czech (this one's tricky!):

Czech is a Slavic language which is spoken by about 10 million people, primarily
in the Czech Republic.
nesu
ponese
povedete
poplavu
priplavesh
priyedou
odvedeme
odyede
poyede
nesou
plavou
vedeme

I carry
He will carry
You (pl) will lead
I will swim
You will swim here
They will drive here
We will lead away
He will drive away
He will drive
They carry
They swim
We lead

yedu
ponesu
yede
nese
odnesou
odplavete
poplaveme
prineseme
prinese
odvedu
odnesesh

I drive
I will carry
He drives
He carries
They will carry away
You (pl.) will swim away
We will swim
We will bring here
He will bring here
I will lead away
You carry away

A. Identify the Czech morphemes which correspond to the following English

translations:
Verbs
carry: nes
bring: nes
lead: ved
drive: yed
swim: plav

Pronouns
I: u
he: e
we: eme
you: esh
you (pl.): ete
they: ou

Tense, Location
here: pri
away: od
will: po

B. What is the order of these morphemes in Czech (in terms of verbs, pronouns,
tense, location)?
tense/location - verb - pronoun
Note: when a location (here/away) is specified, then the future morpheme
("po") does not appear on the surface.
C. Provide Czech translations for the following English sentences:
1. He will swim.
poplave
2. They drive away.
odyedou
3. You lead away.
odvedesh
4. I will bring here.
prinesu