MORPHOLOGY
Morphology deals with the internal structure of words, it studies the processes of word
formation. Etymologically, it is "the study of forms".
The smallest meaningful unit in grammar is the morpheme. There are two types of morphemes:
1. Free morphemes (stems, bases): dictionary words, such as cat, friend, etc. They can
stand on their own.
(Quirk: we distinguish the base of a derived word from the stem, which is the port of the word
that remains after every affix has been removed. In a word which has only one affix, such as
friendly, the stem (friend) is also the base; friendly is the base, but not the stem, of unfriendly.)
2. Bound morphemes: they cannot stand on their own, they are added to free morphemes or
they are joined together to form words. There are two types of bound morphemes:
a. Roots: bound morphemes of Latin or Greek origin. Many English words are formed from
a set of Latin roots with the addition of prefixes and suffixes:
-flect  inflect, reflect, deflect
-ceive receive, perceive, conceive
-mit admit, permit. Remit
Prefixes: they are always derivational.
b. Affixes
Suffixes: they can be inflectional or derivational.
Derivational affixes change either the class or the basic meaning of the word:
large (adj.) enlarge (v.)
kind (adi.) kindness (n.)
~
kindly (adv.)
~
unkind (change of meaning)
Inflectional suffixes do not alter the class of word or its basic meaning. They show such
grammatical categories as number, tense, case, etc.
paint / s
cat / s
small / er
/ ed
/’s
/ est
/ ing
Derivational suffixes always precede-inflectional suffixes:
teach / er / s
Processes of word-formation
The main processes English word-formation are:
1. Affixation: addition of prefixes and suffixes to stems or roots.
2. Conversion or zero affixation: derivational process by which a lexical item changes its
word-class without the addition of an affix.
They will release him soon, (v.)
They've ordered his release. (a)
3. Compounding: process of word formation by which two or more free morphemes are joined
to form a new lexical item.
Other processes of word formation:
Reduplicatives: some compounds have two or more elements which are identical or only
slightly different: goody-goody, walkie-talkie, criss-cross, tip-top, tick-tock (of clock), seesaw,
wishy-washy, higgledy-piggledy, etc. Many of the reduplicatives ore highly informal or
familiar, and many derive from the nursery, e.g.: din-din (dinner), bow-wow (dog), etc.
Clipping: subtraction of one or more syllables from a word, e.g.: phone, photo, flu, etc. The clipped
form tends to be used especially in informal language.
Blends: fragments of words are joined to form a new lexical item, e.g.: brunch from br(eakfast) +
(l)unch. Many blends have only a short life and are very informal, but some have become more
or less fully accepted in the language, e.g.: motel from motor 4 - hotel, smog from smoke + fog, transistor from transfer + resistor.
Acronyms: words formed from the initial letters (or larger parts) of words. Some acronyms are
pronounced as sequences of letters, e.g.: C.O.D. (cash on delivery), UN, TV, GHQ (General
Headquarters, etc. others are pronounced as words, e.g.: radar (radio detecting and ranging),
RAF (Royal Air Force: / a:r ei f / formal, / r æf / informal), UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization), etc.