Morphology
Morphology is the study of word structure. For example in the sentences The
dog runs and The dogs run, the word forms runs and dogs have an affix -s
added, distinguishing them from the bare forms dog and run. Adding this suffix
to a nominal stem gives plural forms, adding it to verbal stems restricts the
subject to third person singular. Some morphological theories operate with two
distinct suffixes -s, called allomorphs of the morphemes Plural and Third person
singular, respectively. Languages differ wrt. to their morphological structure.
Along one axis, we may distinguish analytic languages, with few or no suffixes
or other morphological processes from synthetic languages with many suffixes.
Along another axis, we may distinguish agglutinative languages, where suffixes
express one grammatical property each, and are added neatly one after another,
from fusional languages, with non-concatenative morphological processes
(infixation, Umlaut, Ablaut, etc.) and/or with less clear-cut suffix boundaries.
Morpheme
In morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that
has semantic meaning.
In spoken language, morphemes are composed of phonemes, the smallest
linguistically distinctive units of sound.
The concept morpheme differs from the concept word, as many morphemes
cannot stand as words on their own. A morpheme is free if it can stand alone, or
bound if it is used exclusively along side a free morpheme.
English example: The word "unbreakable" has three morphemes "un-",
(meaning not x) a bound morpheme, "-break-" a free morpheme, and "-able".
"un-" is also a prefix, "-able" is a suffix. Both are affixes.
Types of morphemes

Free morphemes like town, dog can appear with other lexemes (as in town
hall or dog house) or they can stand alone, or "free".
Free morphemes fall into two categories .
First :The set of ordinary nouns , adjectives and verbs this is called ( lexical
morphemes ) eg) boy , man , sad , long , follow , break …
Second :This set consists largely of the functional words in the language such
as conjunctions , prepositions and pronouns this is called ( functional
morphemes) eg)and , but , on , near , the , that , it ……

Bound morphemes like "un-" appear only together with other morphemes
to form a lexeme. Bound morphemes in general tend to be prefixes and
suffixes. Unproductive, non-affix morphemes that exist only in bound
form are known as "cranberry" morphemes, from the "cran" in that very
word. This also falls in two categories :
First :Inflectional morphemes modify a word's tense, number, aspect, and so
on. (as in the dog morpheme if written with the plural marker morpheme s
becomes dogs).
Noun +
-'s , -s
Verb +
-s , -ing , -ed , -en
Adjective +
-est , -er
Second: Derivational morphemes can be added to a word to create (derive)
another word: the addition of "-ness" to "happy," for example, to give
"happiness." ( -less , -ness , pre- , un- , …..)

Allomorphs are variants of a morpheme, e.g. the plural marker in English
is sometimes realized as /-z/, /-s/ or /- ɪz/.
Free morpheme
In linguistics, free morphemes are morphemes that can stand alone, unlike
bound morphemes, which occur only as parts of words. In the English sentence
colorless green ideas sleep furiously, for example, color, green, idea, and sleep
are all free morphemes, whereas -less, -s and -ly are all bound morphemes
Bound morpheme
Bound morphemes are morphemes that can occur only when attached to root
morphemes. Affixes are bound morphemes. Common English bound
morphemes include: -ing, -ed, -er, and pre-.
Morphemes that are not bound morphemes are free morphemes.
Allomorph
An allomorph is a linguistics term for a variant form of a morpheme. The
concept occurs when a unit of meaning can vary in sound (phonologically)
without changing meaning. It is used in linguistics to explain the comprehension
of variations in sound for a specific morpheme.
[edit] Allomorphy in English
English has several morphemes that vary in sound but not in meaning. Examples
include the past tense and the plural morphemes.
Example In the English language the past tense morpheme is -ed. It occurs in
several allomorphs depending on its phonological environment, assimilating
voicing of the previous segment or inserting a schwa when following an alveolar
stop:



as /əd/ in 'hunted' or 'banded',
as /d/ in 'buzzed',
as /t/ in 'fished'
morphological description
The lion's wildness shocked the teachers.
The
girl
's
wild
(Functional) ( lexical ) (inflectional) (lexical)
- ness
shock
(derivational ) (lexical )
ed
the
teach
er
s
( inflectional ) (Functional ) (lexical) (derivational) ( inflectional)
This shows the different categories of morphemes
Lexical
Free
Functional
Morphemes
Derivational
Bound
inflectional
problems in morphological description
So far we have only considered examples of English words in which the
different morphemes are easily identifiable . thus what is the inflectional
morpheme which makes sheep the plural of sheep , or men the plural of man ?
A related question concern the inflection which makes went the past of go .
And yet another question concern the derivation of an adjective like legal . If al
is the derivational suffix , as it is in forms like institutional , then what is the
stem ? No it is not leg
A full description of English morphology will have to take account of both
historical influences and the effect of borrowed elements .
Morphemes
Introduction
Morphemes are what make up words. Often, morphemes are thought of as
words but that is not always true. Some single morphemes are words while
other words have two or more morphemes within them. Morphemes are also
thought of as syllables but this is incorrect. Many words have two or more
syllables but only one morpheme. Banana, apple, papaya, and nanny are just a
few examples. On the other hand, many words have two morphemes and only
one syllable; examples include cats, runs, and barked.
Definitions








morpheme: a combination of sounds that have a meaning. A morpheme
does not necessarily have to be a word. Example: the word cats has two
morphemes. Cat is a morpheme, and s is a morpheme. Every morpheme is
either a base or an affix. An affix can be either a prefix or a suffix. Cat is
the base morpheme, and s is a suffix.
affix: a morpheme that comes at the beginning (prefix) or the ending
(suffix) of a base morpheme. Note: An affix usually is a morpheme that
cannot stand alone. Examples: -ful, -ly, -ity, -ness. A few exceptions are
able, like, and less.
base: a morpheme that gives a word its meaning. The base morpheme cat
gives the word cats its meaning: a particular type of animal.
prefix: an affix that comes before a base morpheme. The in in the word
inspect is a prefix.
suffix: an affix that comes after a base morpheme. The s in cats is a suffix.
free morpheme: a morpheme that can stand alone as a word without
another morpheme. It does not need anything attached to it to make a
word. Cat is a free morpheme.
bound morpheme: a sound or a combination of sounds that cannot stand
alone as a word. The s in cats is a bound morpheme, and it does not have
any meaning without the free morpheme cat.
inflectional morpheme: this morpheme can only be a suffix. The s in cats
is an inflectional morpheme. An inflectional morpheme creates a change
in the function of the word. Example: the d in invited indicates past tense.
English has only seven inflectional morphemes: -s (plural) and -s
(possessive) are noun inflections; -s ( 3rd-person singular), -ed ( past
tense), -en (past participle), and -ing ( present participle) are verb
inflections; -er (comparative) and -est (superlative) are adjective and
adverb inflections.




derivational morpheme: this type of morpheme changes the meaning of
the word or the part of speech or both. Derivational morphemes often
create new words. Example: the prefix and derivational morpheme un
added to invited changes the meaning of the word.
allomorphs: different phonetic forms or variations of a morpheme.
Example: The final morphemes in the following words are pronounced
differently, but they all indicate plurality: dogs, cats, and horses.
homonyms: morphemes that are spelled the same but have different
meanings. Examples: bear (an animal) and bear (to carry), plain
(simple) and plain ( a level area of land).
homophones: morphemes that sound alike but have different meanings
and spellings. Examples: bear, bare; plain, plane; cite, sight, site.
Fifteen Common Prefixes and Ten Common Suffixes
The following tables and tip are adopted from Grammar and Composition by Mary
Beth Bauer, et al.
Meaning
Prefix Prefix
Meaning
adto, toward
interbetween
circum-misaround,wrong
about
com- postwith, together
after
dedisexinin-
re-away from,
back, off
again
away, apart
subbeneath, under
from, out
trans- across
not
unnot
in, into
Suffix
Meaning
-able (-ible)
capable of being
Suffix
Meaning
-ance (-ence)
the act of
-ly
in a certain way
-ate
making or applying
-ment
the result of being
-ful
full of
-ness
-ity
the state of being
the state of being
the act of or the
state of being
without
-tion (-ion, -sion)
Tip
-less
Suffixes can also be used to tell the part of speech of a word. The following examples show the parts
of speech indicated by the suffixes in the chart.
Nouns: -ance, -ful, -ity, -ment, -ness, -tion
Verb: -ate
Adjectives: -able, -ful, -less, -ly
Adverb: -ly