Introduction To Morphology

Morphology is the identification, analysis and description of the structure of a given language's morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context (words in a lexicon are the subject matter of lexicology). Geert (2005: 7) Explain that, “In present-day linguistics, the term ‘morphology’ refers to the study of the internal structure of words, and of the systematic form–meaning correspondences between words.”  “The two basic functions of morphological operations are (i) the creation of new words (i.e. new lexemes), and (ii) spelling out the appropriate form of a lexeme in a particular syntactic context.”

What linguists infer from these observations:

a.       The meaningful parts into which words can be divided—e.g., boldest can be divided into bold+est--are called the morphemes of the language. These are considered the basic units of meaning in a particular language.

b.      Words that have meaning by themselves—boy, food, door—are called lexical morphemes. Those words that function to specify the relationship between one lexical morpheme and another—words like at, in, on, -ed, -s—are called grammatical morphemes.

c.       Those morphemes that can stand alone as words are called free morphemes (e.g., boy, food, in, on). The morphemes that occur only in combination are called bound morphemes (e.g., -ed, -s, -ing).

d.      Bound grammatical morphemes can be further divided into two types: inflectional morphemes (e.g., -s, -est, -ing) and derivational morphemes (e.g., - ful, -like, -ly, un-, dis-).

e.       Processes of word-formation can be described.

Morphem

A morpheme can be defined as a minimal unit having more or less constant meaning and more of less constant form. For example, linguists say that the word buyers is made up of three morphemes {buy}+{er}+{s}. The evidence for this is that each can occur in other combinations of morphemes without changing its meaning. We can find {buy} in buying, buys, and {er} in seller, fisher, as well as buyer. And {s} can be found in boys, girls, and dogs.

The more combinations a morpheme is found in, the more productive it is said to

be.

Note the terminology: Braces, { } indicate a morpheme. Square brackets, [ ]

indicate a semantic characterization. Italics indicate a lexical item.

1.      Morphemes can vary in size: neither the number of syllables nor the length of a word can indicate what is a morpheme and what isn’t. For example, Albatross is a long word but a single morpheme, -y (as in dreamy ) is also a single morpheme.

2.      Just as linguists have had success dissecting phonemes into combinations of distinctive features, so they have viewed morphemes as made up of combinations of semantic features. For example, we can analyze a word like girls in terms of both its morphological and its semantic structure:

Morphological: girls = {girl} + {s}

Semantic: {girl} = [-adult; -male; +human, ...] + {s} = {PLU} = [plural]

[More on this when we get to the topic of Semantics.]

3.      Two different morphemes may be pronounced (and even sometimes spelled) the same way. For example, the –er in buyer means something like ‘the one who,’ while the –er in shorter means something like ‘to a greater degree than.’ The first –er always attaches to a verb, while the second –er always attaches to an adjective. It makes sense to consider these two different morphemes that just happen to sound the same. (The first is called the agentive morpheme {AG} since it indicates the agent of an action; the second is called the comparative morpheme {COMP} since it indicates the comparative degree of an adjective.)

4.      We can’t always hold to the definition of a morpheme as having unchanging form. For example, when we consider words like boys, girls, shirts, books, we conclude that –s is the plural morpheme (symbolized {PLU}.) But what about words such as men or women? Here plurality is indicated not by adding –s but by changing the vowel in the stem. Yet we still want to say that men is, morphologically, {man} + {PLU}, even though the form of {PLU} is quite different in this case. In the same way, it seems sensible to say that went = {go} + {PAST}, just as walked = {walk} + {PAST}, even though in the first case {PAST} involves a morphological change in form quite different from the usual adding of –ed.

5.      Sometimes it is very difficult to identify morpheme boundaries. For example, the word hamburger originally meant {Hamburg} = ‘a city in Germany’ + {er} = ‘originating from.’ But probably most people now understand the word as meaning {ham} = ‘ham’ + {burger} = ‘hot patty served on a round bun.’

Division of Morphemes into Various Types

Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes

We can make a further distinction within the set of morphemes that are both bound and grammatical. Bound grammatical morphemes (those that don’t have a sense by themselves and, additionally, always occur in combinations) are commonly known as affixes. They can be further divided into inflectional affixes and derivational affixes.

Here is some of the evidence for the distinction between inflectional and derivational affixes (the book has more):

Inflectional Affixes	Derivational Affixes
All are suffixes	May be either suffixes or prefixes
Have a wide range of application. E.g. most English nouns can be made plural, with {PLU}	May have a wide or narrow range
All native to English (since Old English was spoken around 500-1000 AD)	Many were adopted from Latin, Greek, or other languages. (Though others, especially the suffixes, are native, including {ful}, {like}, {ly}, and {AG})

Inflectional Affixes

English has only eight inflectional affixes:

{PLU} = plural                                               Noun -s boys

{POSS} = possessive                                      Noun -’s boy’s

{COMP} = comparative                                 Adj -er older

{SUP} = superlative                                       Adj -est oldest

{PRES} = present                                           Verb -s walks

{PAST} past                                                   Verb -ed walked

{PAST PART} = past participle                     Verb -en driven

{PRES PART} = present participle    Verb -ing driving

Notice that, as noted above, even irregular forms can be represented morphologically using these morphemes. E.g. the irregular plural sheep is written as {sheep} + {PLU}, even though the typically form of {PLU} is not used here.

Similarly, better = {good} + {COMP}; drove = {drive} + {PAST}.

Addition;

·         {PLU} plural nounds are repsented as root + {PLU}, whether or not {-s} is actually added to the root.

·         {POSS} possessive nounds are root + {poss}, whether or not {-s} is added. It’s a historical accident that both these affixes sound the same.

·         {COMP} and {SUP}. comparative and superlative adjtectives. happier = {happy} + {COMP}; happiest = {happy} + {SUP}. Arguably, most beautiful = {beautiful} + {SUP}

Derivational Affixes

There are an indefinite number of derivational morphemes. For example, the following are some derivational suffixes:

{ize} attaches to a noun and turns it into a verb: rubberize

{ize} also attaches to an adjective and turns it into a verb: normalize

{ful} attaches to a noun and turns it into an adjective: playful, helpful

{ly} attaches to an adjective and turns it into an adverb: grandly, proudly

A different {ly} attaches to a noun and changes it into an adjective: manly, friendly

English also has derivational prefixes, such as: {un}, {dis}, {a}, {anti}, all of which indicate some kind of negation: unhappy, dislike, atypical, anti-aircraft.

Word Formation Processes

Obviously words don’t make words, people make words! But study of historical change in languages shows that people do so in ways that are systematic. Since children often make words too, the study of historical language change has potential relevance to study of child language.

·         derivation: adding a derivational affix, thus changing the syntactic category. orient > orientation

·         category extension: extending a morpheme from one syntactic category to another. chair (N) > chair (V)

·         compound: combining two old words to make one new one: put-down

·         root creation: inventing a brand new word. Kodak

·         clipped form: shortening a word: brassiere > bra

·         blend: two words smooched together: smoke + fog > smog

·         acronym: the letters of a title become a word: NASA

·         abbreviation: a little like clipping: television > TV

·         proper name: hamburger < Hamburg

·         folk etymology: a foreign words is assimilated to native forms: cucuracha (Spanish) > cockroach (English)

·         back formation: removing what is mistaken for an affix. burglar > burgle