LICUNGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITY

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING COURSE

DORENA BENEDITO CUMBE

Introduction to word structure

BEIRA
2022
DORENA BENEDITO CUMBE

Introduction to word structure

Research work presented to the English Language

Teaching Course of the Faculty of Letters, as a
requirement for evaluation in the Morphology in
English discipline

Lecturer: dr. Félix Marecha

BEIRA
2022
 1. Introduction

In linguistics, morphology is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship
to other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words
such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Morphology also looks at parts of speech,
intonation and stress, and the ways context can change a word's pronunciation and meaning.

Since there is no uniform definition of “word", the approaches of morphology is to define

words as structural units which are composed of at least one base morpheme, morphs and
allomorphs.

Somehow, this definition is opposed within linguistic science to other approaches to define
"word", as semantic approaches simply define "word" as an independent unit of meaning.

The present manuscript focus to provide a characterization of grammatical word and to

present a short extension of the definition of the three main structural parts that composes a
word.

1.2. The objectives of the research

1.2.1.1. General objective
 To acquire knowledge about word formation processes;
1.2.2. Specific objectives
 To characterize the grammatical word;
 To define morphemes, morphs and allomorphs;
 To compare and contrast morphemes, morphs and allomorphs.

1.3. Research Methodology

1.3.1. Bibliographic research

Based on the bibliographical research, several literary works, manuals and several
scientific articles that directly or indirectly bring an approach to the subject, as well as diverse
information that in one way or another are related to the subject, were consulted.

The bibliographical research served as a basis for the textual production of several
concepts presented in this work. According to Minayo (2007), 'the researcher should start
from the knowledge previously built by other scholars on the subject in question, given that
their research can and should serve as a starting point for further studies'.

2. Grammatical word

Grammatical word is a word in which the primary function is to indicate grammatical

relationships, apart from lexical word, which the primary function of it is referential.
The 'word' is seen as a representation of a lexeme that is associated with certain
morpho-syntactic properties (i.e. partly morpho- logical and partly syntactic properties) such
as noun, adjective, verb, tense, gender, number, etc. We shall use the term grammatical word
to refer to the 'word' in this sense. (Francis Katamba, 1993).
Grammatical words are also known as Function words or structure words, grammatical
factors, grammatical morphemes, function morphemes, form words and empty words.

Grammatical words represent the part of grammar that can be

most directly contrasted with the lexicon.
Grammatical words sometimes do not make full use of all the sounds in a language.
Models of sentence production propose that at the formulation stage, lexical words are
processed at the functional level while grammatical words are processed at a later positional
level.
Grammatical words can account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of our vocabulary but
make up almost half of the percentage of the words we use in a sentence.

Grammatical words are:

 Determiners (Articles, Demonstratives, Possessive pronouns, Quantifiers)

 Conjunctions
 Prepositions
 Pronouns
 Modals
 Qualifiers
 Question Words
3. Morphemes, Morphs and Allophormes

3.1. Morphemes definition

A morpheme is considered as the smallest meaningful lexical item in a language. A

morpheme is not a word. The difference between a morpheme and a word is that a
morpheme sometimes does not stand alone, but a word on this definition always stands alone.

morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit a word can be broken into.

A morpheme a meaningful morphological unit of a language that cannot be further divided
(e.g. in, come, -ing, forming incoming).
 morpheme a morphological element considered in respect of its functional relations in
a linguistic system.

3.1. Morphs definition

In linguistics, a morph is a word segment that represents one morpheme (the smallest
unit of language that has meaning) in sound or writing. It is a written or pronounced portion
of a word, such as an affix (a prefix or suffix). For example, the word infamous is made up of
three morphs—in-, fam(e), -eous—each of which represents one morpheme. The word has
two affixes, both a prefix (in-) and a suffix (-eous) attached to a root word.

3.2. Allophormes definition

An allomorph is one of two or more complementary morphs that manifest a morpheme

in its different phonological or morphological environments.

In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant phonetic form of a morpheme, or, a unit of

meaning that varies in sound and spelling without changing the meaning. The term allomorph
describes the realization of phonological variations for a specific morpheme. The different
allomorphs that a morpheme can become are governed by morphophonemic rules. These
phonological rules determine what phonetic form, or specific pronunciation, a morpheme will
take based on the phonological or morphological context in which they appear.

4. Comparisons and contrasts between morphemes, morphs and allomorphs

Although a morpheme is an abstract unit of meaning, a morph is a formal unit with a

physical shape. A morpheme is the description of what a morph is or does to a word. Author
George David Morley explains: "For example, the morpheme meaning 'negative forming' is
evidenced in adjectives by the morphs un as in unclear, in - inadequate, im - immoral, il -
illegal, ig - ignoble, ir - irregular, non - non-existent, dis - dishonest." ("Syntax in Functional
Grammar: An Introduction to Lexicogrammar in Systemic Linguistics." Continuum, 2000).

The main difference between morpheme and allomorph is that morpheme is concerned
with the meaning and structure of a word whereas allomorph is concerned with the sound.
5. Conclusion

In morphology, a ‘word’ is perspectivated as structural. It is viewed in parts or forms where

raises awareness in changes on its contexts or in the parts of speech, intonation and stress.
Meanwhile, it divides a word in morphemes and consequently these morphemes are
subdivided in morphs and allophormes. A morpheme is the smallest unit of a word that has
meaning; a morph is a word segment that represents that morpheme and allomorph is the way
or ways a morph can potentially sound. Their difference lies on their function, a morpheme
sometimes does not stand alone, morph is the phonetic realization of that morpheme; a set of
allomorphs that have the same set of features forms a morpheme.
6. References

 VIOLAINE MICHEL LANGE, MARIA MESSERSCHMIDT, PETER HARDER, HARTWIG ROMAN

SIEBNER, KASPER BOYE 2017, 'PLANNING AND PRODUCTION OF GRAMMATICAL AND
LEXICAL VERBS IN MULTI-WORD MESSAGES', PLOS
ONE10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0186685

 https://www.studymode.com/essays/Difference-Between-Morph-Allomorph-
Morpheme-115932.html

 Minayo, M. C. S. (2007). (org). Social research: Method and creativity (25th ed).
Petropolis: Rio de Janeiro, Voices.

 Katamba, F. (1993). Morphology. New York. St Martin’s Press.

 McCarthy, A. C. (2002). An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their

Structure. Edinburgh. University Press