Morphology and syntax
How are words formed, and how are
they arranged?
Morpheme
• the smallest meaningful unit in a language
• 2 morphemes in a word: fireproof, snowplow
• 2 morphemes in a word: joyous, poisonous,
grievous, thunderous (-ous = adjective made from a
noun)
• 3 morphemes in a word: unsightly (un-, sight, -ly)
• 2 morphemes in a word: eats (eat, -s)
• 1 syllable, 2 morphemes: don’t
• 2 syllables, 1 morpheme: barren
Free vs. bound morphemes
• free morphemes can be used alone as independent words
(take, for, each, the, panda)
• bound morphemes form words only when attached to at least
one other morpheme (re-, dis-, un-, -ing, -ful, -tion
• “It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was
very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and
consolate. I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check
when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript
person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt,
her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way. I wanted
desperately to meet her, but I knew I'd have to make bones
about it, since I was travelling cognito. Beknownst to me, the
hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very
proper, so it would be skin off my nose if anything bad
happened. And even though I had only swerving loyalty to her,
my manners couldn't be peccable. Only toward and heard-of
behavior would do. Fortunately, the embarrassment that my
maculate appearance might cause was evitable.”
Jack Winter, “How I Met My Wife” (New Yorker, July 25/94)
Some bound morphemes
• affixes (prefixes and suffixes): added to the
beginning or end of another morpheme
• bases (morphemes to which affixes can be
attached) can sometimes be bound
• e.g., -cept (< Lat. capio, “to take”)
• except, accept, deceptive, reception – but no
cept!
Affixes
• inflectional affix: indicates a grammatical feature
(number, person, mood, tense, case): -s (plural), –
ed (past tense), ‘s (possessive)
• derivational affix (either prefix or suffix) can
change the meaning of the word it’s attached to
(uniform, transplant, microwave, unbelievable,
desensitize)
• or, can change its part of speech:
• power noun -> empower verb
• buzz verb -> abuzz adjective
• cool adjective -> coolness noun
• joy noun -> joyless adjective (and changes meaning
to its opposite)
Variant pronunciations of morphemes
• different pronunciations of –ed:
• [d] after voiced consonant: stabbed, raised, slaved
• [t] after unvoiced consonant: stopped, raced,
laughed
• [əd] after dental consonant: wanted, braided
• archaic [əd] pronunciations: learned, beloved
• different pronunciations of –s:
• [z] after voiced consonant: jobs, beds, bags
• [s] after unvoiced consonant: hats, hips, books
• -es [əs] after [s], [z], [č], [ǰ], [š], [ž]
• (hisses, sizes, beaches, edges, rushes, massages)
Lexical vs. function morphemes
• lexical words or morphemes (usually nouns,
adjectives, verbs): content words with referents in the
real world (radio, nasty, swim)
• function words or morphemes (usually conjunctions,
pronouns, demonstratives, articles, prepositions):
signal relationships between other words within the
language (but, myself, these, a, of, than)
• an example of a word with both lexical and functional
aspects: in
• function word: we are in love, one child in ten
• lexical word: I’m in! (an adjective, or a preposition
without an object)
Syntax
• the arrangement of words into phrases, clauses,
and sentences
• order affects meaning:
• Dog chases postman. / Postman chases dog.
• They are outside. / Are they outside?
• Only I saw Mary. / I saw only Mary.
• Naturally, I got up. / I got up naturally.
• Show me the last three pages. / Show me the
three last pages.
• The man with a dog saw me. / The man saw me
with a dog.
Incorrect/unidiomatic syntax
• I walked to town. / I to town walked.
• Hardly had I left… / Hardly I had left…
• That’s a fine old house. / That’s an old fine
house.
• John and I saw her. / I and John saw her.
• She switched it on. / She switched on it.
• instinct and education work together
Clause elements
• S = subject (identifies theme or topic of the
clause)
• V = verb (actions, sensations, states of being)
• O = object (direct or indirect)
• C = complement (gives further information
about another element) You are a fool. Did
you call me fat?
• A = adverbial (adds extra information about
the situation)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Common clause types in present-day English
S + V: I / yawned.
S + V + O: I / opened / the door.
S + V + C: I / am / ready.
S + V + A: I / went / to London.
S + V + O + O: I / gave / him / a pen.
S + V + O + C: I / got / my shoes / wet.
S + V + O + A: I / put / the box / on the floor.
word order in English has become more rigid
over time, but many basic patterns of modern
English syntax were already established by the
Old English period