Morphology
The Structure of Words
Morphemes
• Defined as, “a minimal unit of meaning”
• Not the same as a syllable, which is a unit of
sound (e.g., tuxedo has one morpheme and three
syllables, while sixths has three morphemes and
one syllable)
• Not the same as a word, although a word can
contain only one morpheme (e.g., tree, tuxedo)
• Some morphemes are bound, meaning they can
only appear attached to some other morpheme
(e.g., -s, -ly, -un). Free morphemes can appear
by themselves as words
Allomorphs
• Defined as “a variant of morpheme;”
variant can be in pronunciation and/or
spelling
• Examples:
–
–
–
–
Hymn, hymnal
-ible, -able, gullible/gullibility, usable
Electric/electricity
Condemn/condemnation
Inflectional vs. Derivational
Morphology
• Derivational Morphemes form new words,
often changing the word class (part of
speech) - E.g., bake/baker, legal/legalize
• Inflectional Morphemes make a different
form of the same word, such as plural or
past tense. The eight inflectional
morphemes in English will be shown on
the next slide.
English Inflectional Morphemes
• On Nouns:
– Plural
– Possessive
-s
-’s
• On Verbs:
–
–
–
–
3rd person singular present tense
Past tense
Part participle
Present participle
-s
-ed
-en
-ing
• On Adjectives:
– Comparative
– Superlative
-er
-est
Types of Morphology
• Affixation - adding an affix (prefix or suffix) to a
root (e.g., en-list-ed)
• Compounding - combining two or more roots in a
single word (e.g., eggplant, greenhouse)
• Internal Change - changing part of the root (e.g.,
sit/sat, foot/feet, mouse/mice)
• Suppletion - changing the root completely (e.g.,
good/better, is/am)
• Zero-Change - changing nothing (e.g., fish/fish,
hit/hit)
Some Adjective Affixes
GENERAL ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES
-al
normal
-an
urban
-ane urbane
-ant pliant
-ar
solar
-ary customary
-ate ornate
-ent fluent
-ic phonic
-id
fluid
-ile
senile
-ine saline
-it
implicit
-ite
definite
-ive active
-ory savory
-ose comatose -ous anxious
-y
hefty
-some handsome -ful peaceful
-ward backward -able fixable
-ly
-like
SIMULATIVE ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES
manly
-oid
asteroid, humanoid
egglike
-ish
sixish, boyish
Some Noun Affixes
-a
-i
-m
-on
-um
alga
fungi
poem
carbon
album
GENERAL
-ae
algae
-ice notice
-men specimen
-ory accessory
-ure fracture
-em
-in
-ment
-t
-us
ABSTRACT
-age damage
-dom wisdom
-em problem
-hood manhood
-ion action
-is
basis
-ship friendship -th
width
-y
democracy
emblem
toxin
pigment
cult
fungus
-e
-ine
-ness
-tude
importance
saline
kindness
magnitude
Some More Noun Affixes
-an
-ast
-eer
-ine
-or
-ster
-ess
-ix
-ary
-ory
-orium
AGENTIVE
physician -ant assistant
gymnast -ate delegate
auctioneer -ent president
libertine -ist dentist
actor
-t
poet
jokester
-eroo stinkeroo
-ar
-e
-er
-ite
-yer
templar
misanthrope
astrologer
Israelite
lawyer
FEMINI NE AGENTIVE
poetess -ette
usherette
aviatrix -a
alumna
LOCATIVE
granary
-arium
dormitory
-ery
auditorium
-eria
planetarium
cemetery
cafeteria
Still More Noun Affixes
-ee
-endum
-andum
-cle
-ette
-il
-let
-y
PATIENTIVE SUFFIXES
employee
-acle
spectacle
agendum
-end
dividend, reverend
memorandum
-and
multiplicand
DIMINUTIVE
muscle -cule molecule
cigarette -icle particle
pupil
-isk asterisk
piglet
-ling gosling
baby
-el
-ie
-le
-ule
morsel
doggie
candle
capsule
Some Verb and Negative Affixes
be-ize
-(i)fy
CAUSATIVE
befriend
en- encode
legal
-ate liberate
beautify
re-
aantidisinnon-
apathetic
antipathy
dishonest
inhuman
nonsense
ITERATIVE
redo
NEGATIVE
ananemic
dedefoliate
imimpossible
-less careless
unundo
Word Classes (Parts of Speech)
• Form Class Words
– Also known as “Content Words” and “Open Class
Words”
– Have Semantic Content
– Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs
• Structure Class Words
– Also know as “Function Words” and “Closed Class
Words”
– Have a Grammatical Function
– Pronouns, Articles, Prepositions, Auxiliaries…