MORPHOLOGY

Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of

words. Morph – form or shape, Ology – study of internal structure of
words, thus words constructed out of smaller units called morphemes
 It is a word or a part of a word that has meaning
 It has relatively the same stable meaning in different verbal
environments.

CLASSIFICATION OF MORPHEMES
- There are two types of morphemes-free morphemes and bound
morphemes
o "Free morphemes" can stand alone with a specific meaning, for
example, eat, date, weak. "Bound morphemes" cannot stand
alone with meaning
- Morphemes are comprised of two separate classes called (a) bases
(or roots) and (b) affixes.

AFFIXES / ATTACHMENTS
- Suffixes - Are attached to the end if the stem  HappiNESS
- Prefixes - Are attached to the front of the stem  UNhappy
- Infixes - Are put in the middle of the word  NowAday
- Ablaut - Is change in a vowel that carries extra meaning
 Sing – SAng
SYLLABLE
A syllable is a unit of sound that creates meaning in language.
Consonants join vowels to create syllables smallest unit of sound in
a word. It is a single unit of speech
park - one syllable
silent - two syllable (si – lent)
Probably - three syllables (prob-a-bly)
Independent - four syllables (in-de-pen-dent)

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6 SYLLABLE TYPES
• Closed - A closed syllable has a single vowel and ends with a
consonant
– Common com-mon
– Butter   but-ter
• Open - An open syllable ends with a single vowel. The vowel has a
long sound
– Total to-tal
– Motor mo-tor
• Vowel-Consonant-E (also known as Magic E or Silent E) the
magic "e" syllable ends with a consonant and a silent "e." It has a
long vowel sound
– While while
– Mate mate
• Vowel Team - syllable contains two vowels that make one vowel
sound
– Meat meat
– Awful aw-ful
• R-Controlled
– Perform per-form
– Mirror mir-ror
• CONSONANT-L-E
– Rule Rule
– While While
– When you have a word spelling in which the "-le" sounds like "el”
– Divide before the consonant before the le
– For example
– a/ble ta / ble    crum / ble
– cas / tle wres / tle mum/ble

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FIND THE NUMBER OF SYLLABLES
• Listen Method
• Number of times that you hear the sound of a vowel is the
number of syllable in a word
• Chin Method
• Put your hand under your chin. Say the word.
• How many times does your chin touch your hand?
• This is the number of syllables.
• The "Clap Method" Rules
• Clapping may help you find syllables. Say the word.
• Clap each time you hear A, E, I, O, or U as a separate sound. The
number of claps is the number of syllables.
Examples:
• Number of times that you hear the sound of a vowel is the
number of syllable in a word
• Man Man (1 vowel/1 syllable)
• Progress pro / gress (2 vowels /2 syllables)
• Bicycle  bi /  cy /  cle_______(3 vowels / 3 syllables)
• Rhinoceros   rhi / noc /  er / us__(4 vowels) / 4 syllables)
• Prefixes and suffixes usually form separate syllables
• Un kind dif-fer
• When a word has a prefix or a suffix, each is counted as one
syllable
• As far as possible start a syllable with a consonant where there
is one
• Differ dif-fer
• Prefer pre-fer
• Locate lo-cate

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 • The prefix
• Concealed              becomes            con / cealed
• Repeat                   becomes             re  /  peat
• Prepare                  becomes              pre  /  pare
• Unseen                  becomes              un  /seen
• The suffixes
• awaken              becomes                a  / wak / en
• stranger            becomes                strang  /  er
• happiness          becomes                happ/ i /ness
• playful                becomes                play  /  ful0
• A single consonant between two vowels goes the second vowel if
the first vowel is long
• Belong be-long
• If possible end a syllable with a consonant and begin it with a
consonant when there are two
• Helmet  hel-met
• Calculate cal-cu-late

Divide between two middle consonants

• Split up words that have two middle consonants
Hap/pen Bas/ket
• Yellow        becomes         yel / low
• Balloon      becomes         bal / loon
• Buffalo       becomes         buf / fa / lo
• Written      becomes          writ / ten
• Rabbit becomes rab/bit
• Letter becomes Let/ter
• Dessert becomes des-sert

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• When a consonant is in the middle of a word, split the word in
front of the consonant. The first vowel often says its name
–  o/pen – pro/ject
– ba/by – pa/per
– a/ble – spi/der
• A compound word
– Made up of two words which have been joined together.
– To break a compound word into syllables, just divide it
again into two separate words
– basketball       becomes               Basket  /  ball
– sunflower        becomes                Sun   /   flower
– swordfish        becomes                 Sword /  fish      
– meatball          becomes                Meat  /  ball
– some-thing how-ever baby-sitter
– class-room break-fast

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WORD STRESS
• Word stress is also called accent
• Is the relative degree of force or emphasis that words or parts of
words have when they are considered (or spoken)individually
• If syllables have a stress they are said to be stressed
syllables (or accented syllables)
• If syllable do not have stress
• they are said to be unstressed syllables (or unaccented
syllables)

TWO LEVEL OF WORD STRESS

• Primary stress [|]

– The syllable that is pronounced loudest or with the greatest
emphasis in a word

• Secondary stress [|]

– The syllable that is pronounced little less emphasis in a word

• One syllable- Stressed

– DRINK
– GOOD

• Two syllable – First Syllable Stressed

– PAINter
– PENcil
– WOmen
– DRAWing
• Two syllable – Second Syllable Stressed
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– poLICE
– reCORD
– tWELVE

– Three syllable – First Syllable Stressed

– INtersting
– REStaurant

• Three syllable- Second Syllable Stressed

– toMAto
– agGRESsive
– iTAlian

• Three syllable- Third Syllable Stressed

– instiTUTE
– volunTEER
– interfere

• Four syllable-Second Syllable Stressed

– geOgrapher
– phiLOsophy
– esPECially

• Four syllable- Third Syllable Stressed

– eliVAtor
– enterTAIner
WORD STRESS RULE 1

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– Only 1 syllable can be stressed in a word.
– In long words, there can be 1 primary stress and 1 secondary
stress.
• “sing” is 1 syllable; 1 vowel and 2 consonants (s-i-ng)
“sting” is 1 syllable; 1 vowel and 3 consonants (s-t-i-ng)
“string” is 1 syllable; 1 vowel and 4 consonants (s-t-r-i-ng)
“hamstring” is now 2 syllables; 2 vowels and 6 consonants
“hamstring” can only have 1 stressed syllabe (HAMstring)

WORD STRESS RULE 2

– In 2-syllable nouns, the first syllable is normally stressed.

• Table
• CARpet
• COUNtry
• Human
• DOCtor

WORD STRESS RULE 3

– In 2-syllable adjectives, the first syllable is normally stressed
– Happy
– Ugly
– Yellow
– FANcy
– LOVEly

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WORD STRESS RULE 4

– In 2-syllable verbs, the second syllable is normally stressed, but

there are many exceptions to the rule.
– conVENE
– purSUE
– preVENT

WORD STRESS RULE 5

– In 3-syllable verbs ending with either -ly or -er (the -er is not really a
rule but rather a common pattern, the first syllable is normally
stressed.
– Usually
– GARdener
– BEAUtifully
– Manager
– RECKlessly
– PUBlisher
– INStantly
– CARpenter
– NORmallyC
– HAracter

WORD STRESS RULE 6

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 Words with weak prefixes always receive the primary stress on the
root. Examples:
a'broad
a'bove
ac'count
a'dapt
a'dmit
a'dult
a'head

WORD STRESS RULE 7

• The inflectional suffixes-ed., -es. and -ing do not affect the stress
pattern. Examples:
• ed-
– do'mestic do'mesticated
– recom'mend recom'mended
– re'late re'lated
– se'lect se'lected
– sub'mit sub'mitted

SENTENCE STRESS AND RHYTHM

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 • Sentence stress can be described as the rhythm of spoken
language
It can help you to understand a language, especially when
spoken fast
• They 'came
• 'See me at 'twelve.
• 'Take the 'horse for a ride.
• Have you 'met my ,friend
• I 'want to 'buy a 'car
• 'Amir and 'Salim are 'friends
• 'This is the 'house that 'Jack 'built
• 'Buy me a 'car
• He lost my ' bunch of 'keys.

FUNCTIONS OF SENTENCE STRESS

• Stress in a sense determines whether these words function as

nouns/adjectives or as verbs in a sentence
• When two -syllable words function as nouns or adjectives they are
stressed on the first syllable
– PREsent
• When they function as verbs they receive the stress on the second
syllable
– preSENT

RULES FOR SENTENCE STRESS IN ENGLISH

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The basic rules of sentence stress are:
1. content words are stressed
2. structure words are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is always the same
Content words – stressed

Words carrying the meaning Example

main verbs SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY

nouns CAR, MUSIC, MARY

adjectives RED, BIG, INTERESTING

adverbs QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER

negative auxiliaries DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed

Words for correct grammar Example

pronouns he, we, they

prepositions on, at, into

articles a, an, the

conjunctions and, but, because

auxiliary verbs do, be, have, can, must

PRONUNCIATION OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE “THE”

Pronounce “the” /ðə/ before consonant sounds
the cake → /ðəˈkeɪk/ the lesson → /ðəˈlɛsən/

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the university → /ðəˈjuːnəˈvɚsəti/

Pronounce “the” /ði/ before vowel sounds.

the apple cake → /ðiˈjæpəl keɪk/ the → orange → /ðiˈjɔrɪnʤ/
the Earth → /ðiˈjɚθ/ the hour → /ðiˈjawɚ/

Pronounce “the” /ˈðiː/ (with a long /i/ sound) when saying “the”

it with emphasis; it does not matter what sound follows it.
the way /ˈðiː ˈweɪ/

PRONUNCIATION OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE “ A & AN ”

“A” followed by Consonant sounds
a cake → /əˈkeɪk/
a lesson → /əˈlɛsən/
a university → /əˈjuːnəˈvɚsəti/
Pronounce “a” /ˈeɪ/ when you say the word by itself or when you
want to emphasize it. Some people also pronounce it /ˈeɪ/ normally

“AN” followed by vowel sounds

an apple cake → /ənˈæpəl keɪk/
an orange → /ən'ɔrɪnʤ/
an English movie → /ən'ɪŋglɪʃ 'mu:vi/

A SILENT LETTER
A silent letter is left unpronounced, such as
the d in handkerchief,
the n in autumn and the p in cupboard.
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 When talking fast, silent words like are very lightly pronounced
E.g Christmas, mountain and little. 

Silent letters from A to Z 

A - artistically B – dumb, bomb, doubt
C - muscle, scissors D - handkerchief, Wednesday
E – bridge F - halfpenny G – align, high
H – choir, rhyme I – business
K -  know, knee L - calm, talk
N – autumn, column P – cupboard
S – island T – listen
W - who, whole, write, wrong, two, sword, wrist

MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
• The language of medicine is primarily derived from Greek and
Latin
• Necessary for communicating with other medical personnel
• The wider your vocabulary base, the more competent you seem
to the rest of the medical community

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 The Body’s Organization

The Integumentary System protects the body from various kinds

of damage

Word Part Root Meaning

albin/o white

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myc/o fungus

cyt/o cell

Word Part Prefix Meaning

an- without

anti- against

de- removal

epi- upon

hyper- above normal

Word Part: Suffix Meaning

logy study

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 The

Muscular System

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