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
N
2.
V
V
DAff
DAff
V
ship
er
dis
obey
3.
V
V
DAff
V
IAff
re
settle
d
4.
N
N
DAff
N
IAff
anti
climax
es
5. 3.
N
V
DAff
V
DAff
dis
engage
ment
6.
Adv
7.
V
Adj
DAff
V
IAff
simple
y
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
s
9.
N
Adj
V
DAff
DAff
act
ive
ity
10.
Adj
N
V
DAff
DAff
confront
ation
al
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