MORPHOLOGY & SYNTAX

CHAPTER 1: MORPHEME
 CHAPTER 1 MORPHEME
1. Definition
2. Classification
2.1. Form: free and bound mophemes
2.2. Meaning: roots (bases) and affixes
3. Inflectional and derivational affixes
3.1. Inflectional affixes
3.2. Derivational affixes
4. Suffixal homophones
5. Allomorphs
5.1. Definition
5.2. Kinds of allomorphs:
 CHAPTER 1 MORPHEME

1. Definition
A morpheme is short segment of language that
meets three criteria:
•It is a word or part of a word that has meaning.
•It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts.
•It recurs in differing verbal environment with a
relatively stable meaning
Ex: teacher
-EN in widen, strengthen, broaden, shorten
-NESS in happiness, kindness
• boy (1 morpheme)

• boy+ish (2 morphemes)

• boy+ish+ness (3 morphemes)

• gentle+man+li+ness (4 morphemes)

• un+gentle+man+li+ness (5 morphemes)
• Is –ed in the word “cleaned” a morpheme?
• Is the underlined part in the word “independence”
a morpheme?
• How many morphemes are there in the words
“TEACHERS”, “PERSONALISE”
“HAPPINESS"?
• TEACH ER S
• TEACH: GIVING INSTRUCTION
• ER: PERSON
• S: PLURAL
• PERSON AL ISE (3)
 MORPHEME CLASSIFICATION

2.1. FORM: FREE AND BOUND MOPHEMES

-A free morpheme is one that can be uttered alone
with meaning.
Ex: honest, possess, study, girl, danger

Can you give other examples of free morphemes?

-A bound morpheme cannot be uttered alone with

meaning.
It is always annexed to one or more morphemes to
form a word.
Ex: dishonest = dis (BM) + honest (FM)
2.2. MEANING: ROOTS (BASES) and AFFIXES
-ROOTS (BASES): A base morpheme has the
principal meaning.
Most of bases are free morphemes; but some are
bound. A word may contain one base and several
affixes.
Ex: personal teacher re-enter
FB FB FB
consent sentiment assent dissent
BB BB BB BB
The bound base –sent- in these words means “feel”
-AFFIXES: An affix is a bound morpheme that
occurs before or within or after a base.

How to distinguish between roots and affixes

Affixes differ from roots (bases) in three ways:
added on to a stem.
Example: -er must be attached to a stem “teach” 
“teacher”
not clear meaning; many are almost completely
meaningless.
 small number; roots: large number
 AFFIXES ROOTS (BAS)ES
added on to a stem. They form words by
Ex: -er must be themselves
attached to a stem Girl
“teach”  “teacher” School
-not clear and -clear and specific
specific meaning meanings
-many of them are
almost completely
meaningless.
-small number Very large number
KINDS OF AFFIXES BASED ON POSITIONS AND FUNCTIONS

• By position, affixes are of three kinds: prefixes,

infixes, and suffixes.

• By function, affixes are of two kinds: derivational

and inflectional.
KINDS OF AFFIXES BASED ON POSITIONS
before a base in-, un-, dis-,
prefixes inconvenient,
prefixes are
commonly single unhappy, dislike
occur within a word foot feet
-ee- in geese write wrote
infixes replaces the –oo- in
goose
-o- in chose replaces
–oo- in choose
occur after a base -ize, -ation,
suffixes pile up to the number failure, realize, friends,
of three or four dreamed, organization
KINDS OF AFFIXES BASED ON FUNCTION

By function, affixes are of two kinds:

derivational and inflectional.
• Derivational affixes are added to stems to
form new words.
Example: work (V) +-er worker (N)
• Inflectional affixes are added to stems to form
new grammatical forms.
Example: work (infinitive) + -ed worked
(past)
• + -ing working (present participle)
Derivational affixes are of two kinds

Class-changing derivational affixes: change class

of the words
Ex:happy (adj) ->happiness (noun)
child (noun) -> childish (adj)

Class-maintaining derivational affixes: do not

change class of the words
Ex:happy, unhappy, important, unimportant
 INFLECTIONAL SUFFIXES

1. -s pl. dogs, oxen, mice Noun plural

2. -s sg ps boy’s Noun singular possessive
3. -s pl ps.  Noun plural possessive
boys’, men’s
4. -s 3d. John reads booksPresent third person singula
5. -ing vb He is working. Present participle
6. -d pt He worked, rode Past

7. -d pp He has worked, eaten, Past participle

8. -er cp This one is bolder, sooner Comparative

9 .-est sp This one is the boldest, Superlative

soonest
 Inflectional
They do not change the
part of speech.
Ex: boy & boys (both
nouns)
They do not pile up; only
one in a word.
Ex: stopped; bigger
They come last in the word.
Ex: looked ; working
They go with all stems.
Ex: He works; eats; stops;
looks
Derivational
They change the part of
speech.
Ex: sing (v) =>singer (n)
They can pile up; some in a
word
person al iz ation
They need not close off a
word. Ex: Normal iz er s
The combination of the
derivational and the word is
arbitrary.
Ex: worker; typist
 SUMMARY OF KINDS OF MORPHEMES

The following figure summarizes all the types of

morphemes.
Morphemes
Roots free
bound
Affixes derivational prefixes
suffixes
inflectional suffixes