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Morphology
Morphology
Morph = form or shape, ology = study of Morphology is the study of the basic building blocks of meaning in
language.
What is a morpheme?
Free morpheme
Undressed
UnPrefex
Bound
dress
stem
free
careless
-ed
suffix
bound
care
stem
free
-less
suffix
bound
-ness
suffix
bound
A base morpheme :It is the part of a word that has the principal meaning
Underline the bases in these words
Womanly \ endear \ failure \ famous \ infamous \ enlighten
Imperfect not
impossible
Postwar after
postmortem
Circumvent around
circumstances
Irreverent not
irreplaceable
Proceed forward
progress
Copilot with
cooperation
Retroactive backward
retrogress
Contradict against
contravene
Devitalize do the
opposite of deactivate
Disagreeable not
dishonest
Insecure not
incompetent
Intervene between
intercede
Intramural within
intravenous
Obstruct against or
opposite obstacle
Prewar before
preconceive
Semiprofessional half
semisoft
Subway under
substandard
Supernatural over
superman
{-s pl}
{-s sg ps}
{- s pl ps}
{- 3d}
{-ing vb}
{-d pt}
{-d pp}
{-er cp}
{-er sp}
\ dogs , bushes
\ noun plural
\ boys
\ noun singular possessive
\ boys , mens
\ noun plural possessive
\ runs , catches
\ present third-person singular
\ discussing
\ present participle
\ chewed
\ past tense
\ chewed, eaten
\ past participle
\ bolder, sooner , nearer \ comparative
\boldest, soonest, nearest \ superlative
The inflectional suffixes differ from the derivational suffixes in the following ways
1234-
Examples: the plural (e)s of regular nouns can be pronounced \-z\, mats \-s\, or papers\-iz\ depending on the
final sound of the nouns singular form
Zero allomorph: an inflection on nouns or verbs presumed to be present although invisible
Examples: in three sheep and he hit a home run the plural of sheep and the past tense of hit are said to be
realized as zeros
Words a sound or a letter or a group of both that express particular meaning
Simple, complex and compound words:
1- Simple words consist of a single morpheme. Examples: slay, flea, long, spirit, knave, graph, pure, oyster,
mete
2- Complex words contain as their immediate constituents either two bound forms or abound and a free
form. Examples: matri|side \ tele|vise \ ex|clude \ cosmo|naut \ knav|ish \ tele|graph \ aqua|naut\
bi|cycle \ philo|sophy \ dent|tal
3- Compound words have free forms usually two as their immediate constituents
Examples: green|house \ out|side \ no|show \ under|go \ over|ripe \ attorney|general
*a small number of compound words have three or four free forms as coordinate ICs
Examples: happy|go|lucky \ spic|and|span
A special form of word formation that involves both compounding and clipping.
It is the fusion of two words into one, the first part of one word with the last part of another.
E.g. brunch breakfast+lunch \ Smog Smoke+fog \ motel motor+hotel \ telecast
television+broadcast
happenstance happen+circumstance \ stagflation stagnation+inflation \
simulcast simultaneous+broadcast \ dumbfound dumb+confound \ telecast tele+broadcast
Back-formation:
Avery specified type of reduction process in which a form of one lexical category is reduced to
form another.
When the Verb is formed from the Noun
E.g. televise television \ donate donation \ edit editor \ housekeep housekeeper
administrate administration \ babysit baby-sitter \ emote emotion
Inflectional Paradigms
Paradigm: is a set of related forms having the same stem but different affixes.
Stem
Plural
Possessive
--------
{s-pl}
{-s ps}
Plural +
Possessive
{-s pl
ps}
Doctor
doctors
doctors
doctors
Woman
women
womans
womens
Carpenter
Carpenters
Carpenters
Carpenters
Brother
Brothers
Brothers
Brothers
Japanese
Japanese
-------------
-----------------
Cattle
Cattle
-------------
Cattles
Athletics
athletics
Athletics
------------------
Duck
Ducks
Ducks
Ducks
Underline the noun modifier or pronoun reference that reveals the number of the bold noun:
-
Underline the verb that reveals the number of the bold noun:
-
Present
Participle
Past
Tense
Past
Participle
{s 3d}
{-ING vb}
{-D pt}
{-D pp}
Show
Shows
Showing
Showed
Showed
also shown
Ring
Rings
Ringing
Rang
Rung
Cut
cuts
Cutting
Cut
cut
Stem
---------
Learn
Learns
Choose
Chooses
Set
Sets
Learning
Learned
Learned
Choosing
Chose
Chosen
Setting
Set
set
*Verbs have three, four, or five forms for example the verb learn have four forms
Each of these five forms has its own uses:
1- The stem: occurs after to, after auxiliaries such as can and will
Examples: to sit \ can go \ we eat
2- The present third-person singular: is the form used with the pronouns he, she it
Examples: - he cuts his class every Wednesday \ that freshman cuts his class every Wednesday
3- The present participle: combines with seven of the eight forms... am\ is \ are\ was \ were\ be \ been
Examples: they were writing letters \ she must have been sleeping
Write down the following verb paradigms and indicate how many forms they have
-
Comparative
Superlative
----------
{ER cp}
{EST sp}
Deadly
Deadlier
Deadliest
sweet
Sweeter
Sweetest
Friendly
Friendlier
Friendliest
Soon
Sooner
Soonest
Write down the comparative and superlative forms for the following stems
Angry angrier angriest \ healthy healthier healthiest
Common commoner commonest \ quiet quieter quietest
Stupid stupider stupidest \ foolish x x \ cruel x cruelest
Well better best \ bad worse worst \ much, many more most
Old older oldest \ few fewer fewest
Noun: is the name of a thing that may be seen, felt, heard or understand
Verb: is a word that shows action or state of being
Adjective: is a word that modifies a noun
Adverb: defined as a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb
Indicate how many of the five forms the bold verbs has
-
Write down the source noun, verb, adjective, or bound form of the adjectives below
Golden gold \ helpless help \ lovely love \ peaceful peace
Classify the bold words whether its adverb or adjective
-