MORPHOLOGY

The study of Word

Structure
 MORPHOLOGY
- Morph = form or shape, ology=
study of

- Morphology is the study of the

basic building blocks of meaning in
language, of word formation, or of
the structure of words
Morphemes
The smallest unit of language that
carries meaning (maybe a
word or not a word)
A minimal unit of meaning or
grammatical function
The level of language at which
sound and meaning combine
A. Free morpheme: content &
functional morpheme
B. Bound morpheme:
derivational & inflectional
FREE MORPHEMES: Parts of Speech
 Nouns
 Verbs
 Content Words  Adjectives
 Adverbs

 Function Words  Conjunctions

 Prepositions
 Articles
 Pronouns
 Interjection
 Intensifier
 Content Words
 Nouns: plural, singular, countable, uncountable

 Verbs: (attached by the suffixes -ed, -s, -ing, -

en): walked, walks, walking, written
 Adjectives (attached by the suffixes -er, -est or use with
‘more’, ‘most’; occur with verbs like ‘be’, ‘seem’, ‘appear’)
taller , tallest, more beautiful, most
 Adverbs: (attached by the suffix -ly; or use with ‘more’,
‘most’) cleverly, slowly, hard, most beautifully
 Determiners/articles:
the, a/an, some, lots of, few
 Auxiliary:
can, could, shall, should, may, might
 Conjunction
While, after, although, and, so, but
 Interjection
Gee, okay, wow. Ouch. oops
 Intensifier:
very, too
 Prepositions:
In, with, by, into
 Pronouns:
I, me, mine, he, she, and so on
Exercise: Determine the word class of each of the
following words
a. betterment a. Noun
b. the b. Article
c. him c. Pronoun
d. elegant d. Adjective
e. inconvenience e. Noun
f. eloquently f. Adverb
g. comply g. Verb
h. inasmuch as h. Conjunction
i. over i. Preposition
Exercise (2): Determine the word class of each of
the following words
a. Those a. Determiner
b. Differ b. Verb
c. Whether c. Conjunction
d. Verify d. Verb
e. nice e. Adjective
f. with f. Preposition
g. Since g. Conj./prep/adv
h. Never h. Adverb
i. Bloody i. Adjective
Parts of Speech test

 Name the part of speech that is in bold and

underlined for each sentence.

 1. I bought a beautiful dress at the mall.

 2. What did she ask you to do?
 3. I left my shoes under the kitchen table.
 4. If we finish our work quickly we can go to the
movies.
 5. On Saturdays I work from nine to five.
 6. I want to go to a university in the United States.
 7. I'm sure I have met your girlfriend before.
 8. Well, I don't think I will be here to answer the
phone.
 9. Andy knocked on the door but nobody
answered.
 10. After lunch let's go out for a coffee.

 (http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/parts-of-
speech_quiz.htm)
Here are the answers
1. adjective (beautiful describes the dress)
2. pronoun (she takes the place of a specific person)
3. preposition (under tells where the shoes are)
4. adverb (quickly describes how the work is done)
5. verb (work is the action she does)
6. noun (university is a place)
7. verb (met is an action done in the past)
8. interjection (well is an exclamation)
9. conjunction (but is a word that joins words
together)
10. preposition (after tells when)
Word and Morpheme
 Word: the smallest free form
 Morpheme: the smallest meaningful
unit
 Word  simple and complex
 E.g. hunt and hunter
 Morpheme  free and bound
 E.g. hunt and -er
Exercises
a. Fly   Simple, no bm, fly
b. Desks   Complex, -s, desk
c. Untie   Complex, un-, tie
d. Tree   Simple, no bm, tree
e. Dislike   Complex, dis-, like
f. Reuse   Complex, re-, use
g. Triumphed   Complex, -ed, triumph
h. Delight   Simple, no bm, delight
i. Justly   Complex, -ly, just
Bound Morpheme
I. Definition: must be attached to another
morpheme
II. Derivational morpheme
- may change syntactic class
- to form new words
- examples: -able, un-, re-, etc.
III. Inflectional morpheme
- Different forms of the same word
- Not change syntactic class
- Only 8 kinds in English: -’s, -s (plural nouns), -ing, -
ed/-en, -est, -er, -s (S-V agreement)
 Derivation vs. Inflection (1)

 It changes the category  It does not change either

and/or the type of
meaning of the word, so
it is said to create a new
word.
e.g. suffix –ment in
government
the grammatical
category or the type of
meaning found in the
word.
e.g. suffix –s in books
 Derivation vs. Inflection (2)
 A derivational affix must combine with the base
before an inflectional affix.
e.g. neighbor (base) + hood (DA) + s (IA)
= neighborhoods
The following combination is unacceptable:
neighbor (base) + s (IA) + hood (DA)
= *neighborshood
 Derivation vs. Inflection (3)
 An inflectional affix in more productive than a
derivational affix.
e.g. the inflectional suffix –s can combine with
virtually any noun to form a plural noun.
On the other hand,
the derivational suffix –ant can combine only
with Latinate bases.
English Inflectional Morphemes
Nouns
–s plural
–’s possessive
Verbs
–s third person singular present
–ed past tense
–en past participle
–ing progressive
Adjectives
–er comparative
–est superlative
Some examples of English Derivational
Morpheme
 -ic : Noun  Adj ; alcohol  alcoholic
 -ly : Adj  Adv ; exact  exactly
 -ate : Noun  Verb ; vaccin  vaccinate
 -ity : Adj  Noun ; active  activity
 -ship : Noun  Noun ; friend  friendship
 re- : Verb  Verb ; cover  recover
Morphemes
free

derivational

in terms of in terms of
function morphemes nature

inflectional
bound prefixes

beginning
the sam e as

affixes position

in terms of

end
suffixes
Describe the italic affixes:
1) impossible 1) Derivational prefix
2) terrorized 2) Inflectional prefix
3) terrorize 3) Derivational prefix
4) desks 4) Inflectional prefix
5) dislike 5) Derivational prefix
6) humanity 6) Derivational prefix
7) fastest 7) Inflectional prefix
rivationalrefixnflectional
suffiDerivationalsuffix
Inflectional
suffiDerivational
Describe the italic affixes:

8) premature 8) Derivational prefix

9) untie 9) Derivational prefix
10) darken 10) Derivational suffix
11) fallen 11) Inflectional suffix
12) oxen 12) Inflectional suffix
13) faster 13) Inflectional suffix
14) lecturer 14) Derivational suffix
 Prefixes
 Prefixes are word parts that are attached at the
beginning of a base or root word.
 Prefixes have meanings, and they add their meanings
to the meaning of the root word.

Take, for example, the word prefix itself. It consists of

the prefix pre-, meaning “before,” and the root word
fix, which means “to attach.” Therefore, a prefix is a
word part that is “attached before” (at the beginning)
of the root word. There are many prefixes. Some
common ones are pre-, un-, non-, and dis-.
 Suffixes
 Suffixes are added at the end of a base word. Some
suffixes have a specific meaning, as –ful (“full of”
whatever the root says, such as joyful) and –or (a
person who does what the root says, such as inventor).
Other suffixes change a word’s part of speech.

 For example, by adding a suffix, the verb argue can be

made into the noun argument or the adjective
argumentative. Some suffixes change a verb’s tense,
such as changing the present tense of laugh to the past
tense, laughed.
 Suffixes are not as helpful as prefixes
and roots. For one thing, some suffixes
have several meanings. Also, some
suffixes change the spelling of the root
word when they are added to it. For
example, the y in happy becomes an “i”
when suffixes are added:
 happiness, happily, happier, and
happiest.
 Prefixes that Mean “Not”
 Negative prefixes are among the most commonly used prefixes.
When they are added to words, they create a word that means the
opposite of the base word. For example, adding the prefix un- to
the word kind creates the opposite word, unkind. There are four
negative prefixes. Of all prefixed words, the prefix un- appears in
roughly one-quarter of them! These four prefixes account for an
extremely large share of all words that contain a prefix.
 1. un- unhappy, unsafe, undo, unwrap, unbutton
 2. non- nonstop, nonfiction, nondrinker, nonfat
 3. dis- disagreement, dissimilar, dislike, disable, disobey
 4. in- incorrect, indirect, inactive, injustice, inhuman
also appears as il-, im-, ir-, as in illegal, immortal,
impossible, irresponsible
1. Suffixes that indicate nouns
These mean state of, condition of, or quality of....
 -ance, -ence reliance (rely), dependence (depend)
 -dom freedom (free)
 -hood adulthood (adult)
 -ity, -y maturity (mature), honesty (honest)
 -ive relative (relate)
 -ment retirement (retire)
 -ness kindness (kind)
 -ship friendship (friend)
 -tion, -sion, -ion isolation (isolate), suspension (suspend)
 -tude solitude (solitary)
 -er, -or reader (read), inventor (invent)
 -ist soloist (solo)
2. Suffixes that indicate verbs and mean to
make (what the base word indicates)

Suffix Example
 -ate automate (automatic)
 -ify liquefy (liquid)
 -ize socialize (social)
 -en cheapen (cheap)
3. Suffixes that indicate adjectives
These suffixes mean full of
 -ful colorful (color)
 -ous, -ious joyous (joy)
 -ate fortunate (fortune)
 -y roomy (room)

These suffixes mean relating to or pertaining to ..

 -al musical (music)
 -ic comic (comedy)
 -ish childish (child)
 -ive corrective (correct)

Other adjective suffixes:

 -able, -ible able to be or do reasonable ; sensible
 -less without homeless (home)
4. Other helpful suffixes

 -ly, -ily like, in the manner of friendly (friend),

sloppily (sloppy)
 (creates an adverb)
 -ology study or science
 (of whatever the root says) biology, psychology
 -ism philosophy or belief in
 (whatever the root says) terrorism, communism
Types of Word Formation
1. Compounding
2. Conversion
3. Clipping
4. Blends
5. Backformation
6. Acronyms
7. Onomatopoeia
8. Eponyms
1. Compounding
 Definition: Two or more words joined
together to form a new word.
 Examples:
 Home + work  homework
 Pick + pocket  pickpocket
 Fireman
 Hardware
2. Conversion
 Definition: Assigning an already existing word to a
new syntactic category.
 Examples:
butter (N)  to butter the bread
permit (V)  an entry permit
empty (A)  to empty the litter-bin
poor (A)  a poor
 This is a must,
 belief, believes;
 use, to use;
3. Clipping
 Definition: Shortening a polysyllabic word
by deleting one or more syllables
 Examples:
 Facsimile  fax
 Hamburger  burger

 Gasoline 
 Advertisement 
 bike
 Gym
 Lab
 Plane
 prof
4. Blends
 Definition: Similar to compounds, but parts of
the words are deleted.
 Examples:
 Motor + hotel  Motel
 Breakfast + lunch  Brunch
 Wireless + Fidelity  Wi-Fi
 broccoli + cauliflower  Broccoflower
 Broccoflower is an Eating plant of the species Brassica
oleracea. The edible portion is the immature flower head of
the plant. The word broccoflower is used to describe two
different forms with light green heads....

 breakfast + lunch  Brunch

 Brunch or bruncheon is a combination of breakfast and
lunch. The term is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch.
Brunch is often served after a morning event or prior to an
afternoon one, such as a wedding or sporting event....
 camera + recorder  Camcorder

A camcorder is a portable consumer electronics device
for recording video and Sound recording using a built-in
recorder unit. The camcorder contains both a video
camera and a video recorder in one unit, hence its
compound name....
 education + entertainment  Edutainment
Edutainment is a form of entertainment designed to
Education as well as to amuse. Edutainment typically
seeks to instruct or Socialization its audience by
embedding lessons in some familiar form of
entertainment: television programs, Video game, films,
music, websites, multimedia software, etc....
(4
 information + commercials  Infomercial
Infomercials are long-format television Television
advertisement, typically five minutes or longer..
Infomercials are also known as paid programming ....

 motor + hotel  Motel

 the word motel, a portmanteau of motor and hotel or
motorists' hotel, referred initially to a type of hotel
consisting of a single building of connected rooms
whose doors faced a parking lot and, in some
circumstances, a common area; or a series of small
cabins
5. Back-formations
 Definition: word created by removing a
morpheme perceived as an affix from
an already existing word
 Examples:
 editor  edit
 Television  televise
 self-destruction  self-destruct
 6. Acronyms
 Definition: Words derived from the initials of several
words
 Examples:
 severe acute respiratory syndrome
 SARS
 Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
 SCUBA
Other examples of Acronyms:
a) Radar a) Radio detecting and ranging
b) FYI b) For Your Information
c) TGIF c) Thanks God It’s Friday
d) a.k.a d) also known as
e) Html e) Hypertext mark-up language
f) www f) World wide web
g) SWOT g) Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats
 7. Onomatopoeia
 Definition: Words created to sound like the
thing that they name.

English Japanese Tagalog Indonesian

Cock-a-doo Kokekokko Kuk-kakauk Kukuruyuk

Meow Nya Niyaw Meong

8. Eponyms
 Definition: Words derived from proper
names or things.
 Examples:
 Kodak
 Sandwich
 Celcius
 Complete the process and
Identify the type of word formation:

1. Return on Investment  ROI  acronym

2. information, entertainment  Infotainment  blends
3. modulator, demodulator  Modem  blends
4. love, seat  Loveseat  compounding
5. International, police  Interpol  blends
6. A comb  To comb  conversion
7. Memorandum  Memo  clipping
8. Capt. Charles Cunningham Boycott  Boycott  eponym
9. Fanatic  Fan  clipping