Morphology
Morphology
Morphology
Morphology
Morphology is the scientific study
of word formation. It is one of the major
components of grammar. It studies word structures, especially morphemes, which are
the smallest units of language. They can be base words or components that form
words, such as affixes.
Definitions of Morphology:
1. Bloomfield:
Morphology is the study of the constructions in which sound
forms appear among the constituents.
2.
Dorfman:
Morphology is the study of the ways and methods of grouping sounds into sound complexes or words of
definite, distinct, and conventional meaning.
Morphology is the study of word-formation process. It focuses on the origin of the words, and the function of prefixes and suffixes in the word-formation process. Morphology is the structure level between phonology and syntax. This is the level of words and word endings, to put it in simplified terms. It is what one normally understands by grammar (along with syntax). The term morphology refers to the analysis of minimal forms in language which are, however, themselves comprised of sounds and which are used to construct words that have either a grammatical or a lexical function.Morpheme
Morphemes are minimum meaningful
elements. These are regular combinations of phonemes. A morpheme is a minimal
grammatical system of a language. Morphemes are the distinct grammatical units
that form words. A morpheme is a distinct linguistic form that is not
divisible or analyzable into its constituents or smaller forms/units. If the
morpheme is analyzed into smaller units, it loses its identity and it will be
converted into a sequence of meaningless noises, e.g. ‘dance’ (dan+ce) or
(da+nce). Thus analyzing morphemes is found meaningless.
Morphemes are meaningful sequences of sounds-
"A word
cannot be divided into morphemes just by sounding
out its syllables. A morpheme is a form (a sequence
of sounds) with a recognizable meaning. Knowing a
word's early history may be useful in dividing it into morphemes, but the
decisive factor is the form-meaning link."A morpheme may, however, have more than one pronunciation or
spelling. For example, the regular noun plural
ending has two spellings (-s and -es) and three pronunciations ( /s/ as in backs, /z/ as in bags, and
/ɪz/ as in batches). Similarly, when the morpheme
-ate is followed by –ion (as
in activate-ion), the t of
-ate combines
with the i of -ion as the sound ‘sh’ /ʃ/ (so we might spell the word 'activashun').
Such allomorphic variation is typical of the morphemes of English, even though
the spelling does not represent it."
A morpheme may
be monosyllabic as (cat, dog, write, sing, etc.). These words are made up of
one morpheme. Such words are called as ‘monomorphemic’ or ‘simplex’ words. A
morpheme may be polysyllabic as (cats, writing, singing careful, etc.). These
words are made up of more than one morpheme. Such words are called
‘polymorphemic’ or ‘complex’ words.
Classification of Morphemes
Ronald W Langackerin his book ‘Language
and its Structure’ has divided morphemes into two classes: Lexical and
Grammatical.
Lexical Morphemes: Lexical Morphemes are – Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and
Adverbs. They have more or less independent meanings. They change their forms
frequently. Lexical morphemes are in large numbers in the language. They are
open-ended. So the new members are added to the lexicon quite often.
E.g. flower, rose, pluck, beautiful, rare, etc.
Lexical
morphemes carry the main meaning (or
significance) of the word it belongs to. The morpheme ‘ready’ in ‘readiness’
carries the meaning of the word, as does ‘bound’ in ‘unbound’, or ‘cran’ in
‘cranberry’. These morphemes, because they carry the lexical meaning, are lexical
morphemes.
Grammatical morphemes: Grammatical morphemes are elements like
prepositions, articles, conjunctions, forms indicating numbers, gender, tense, and
so on. They, by and large, do not change frequently. New members in their
family in any language are added rather infrequently. Grammatical morphemes can
become attached to lexical morphemes. The ‘ing’ in ‘singing’ carries no lexical
meaning, but it does provide a grammatical context for the lexical morpheme. It
tells us that the ‘sing’ is ‘ing’ (as in ‘on-going’). In the same way, the
morpheme ‘-ly’ in ‘timely’ carries no meaning independently, but it does turn
the noun ‘time’ into a word more frequently used as an adverb.
Types of Morpheme:
Morphemes
Free Morphemes Bound Morphemes
Prefix Suffix
Derivational Infix
Inflectional
Class changing Class Maintaining
Derivational
Class changing Class Maintaining
Free Morpheme: Free morphemes are those
morphemes that occur alone as independent words. For example, dog, film, run, front, etc. Free
morphemes can be used freely as words having their own specific meaning. They
always contain and sustain their meaning wherever they occur in a sentence.
Bound Morpheme:
A morpheme that doesn’t have any
independent meaning and can be formed with
the help of free morphemes is called a bound morpheme. Bound morphemes are those
morphemes that cannot occur as independent words. For example; -less, -ness, pre-, un-, en-, -ceive, -ment.
In bound morphemes, we can study Prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. It is also called an Affixation. All affixes are examples of bound morphemes.
However, some morphemes like and, or, but etc. are grammatical morphemes yet they are
independent words.
Roots
The
root of a word is
the part that remains after the removal
of affixes. The roots are unlimited in a language because
language is open-ended. The number of new words is
added to the language. In the word ‘happiness’, happy is the root word.
Affixes
All affixes are bound morphemes because they cannot
occur alone. Affixes are those bound morphemes that are naturally attached to
different types of words and used to change the meaning or function of those
words. For example, -ment in payment, enjoyment, entertainment, en- in enlighten, enhance, enlarge, -’s in Joseph’s, Lora’s, -ing in reading, sleeping, singing, etc.
Affixes can be categorized into three sub-classes
according to their position in the word and function in a phrase or sentence.
They are:
·
Prefixes
·
Infixes
·
Suffixes
Prefixes
Prefixes are kind of bound morphemes
included at the beginning of different types
of words. They are class-changing and class-maintaining. For example in-, un-,
sub- respectively in incomplete,
injustice, unable, uneducated, subway, etc. Prefixes are affixed before the
roots. They cannot occur independently.
Examples:
Negative prefixes:
|
Prefix |
Words/examples |
|
un- |
unhappy |
|
non- |
non-smoker |
|
in- |
inactive |
|
a- |
amoral |
|
il |
illogical |
|
mis- |
misfortune |
|
mal- |
malpractice |
|
dis- |
dishonor |
Prefixes of time and order
|
Prefix |
Words/examples |
|
Fore- |
foretell |
|
Pre- |
pre-war |
|
Post |
post-war |
|
Ex- |
ex-husband |
|
Re- |
rebuild |
Number prefixes
|
Prefix |
Words/examples |
|
Uni- |
unilateral |
|
Bi- |
bilingual |
|
Tri- |
tri-colour |
|
Multi- |
multinational |
Other prefixes
|
Prefix |
Words/examples |
|
Auto- |
autobiography |
|
Neo- |
neoclassical |
|
Pan- |
pan-Indian |
|
Proto- |
prototype |
|
Semi- |
semicircle |
|
Vice- |
vice-president |
Infixes
Infixes are those bound morphemes
that are included within the words. They are less commonly found in English.
They are used by literary writers. For example, -bloody- in absobloodylutely
Suffixes
Suffixes are those bound morphemes
that are added at the end of different types of words. Suffixes are affixed
after the roots or stems. Suffixes frequently
alter the word class of the base.
Suffixes are of two types-
1. Derivational 2. Inflectional
Suffixes:
Suffixes are affixed after the roots or stems. Suffixes
frequently alter the word class of
the base.
Noun noun 
suffixes
-ster –gangster
-er –
teenager
-let –
booklet
-ess –
waitress
-hood – boyhood
-ship –
friendship
-ing –
paneling
-ful –
mouthful
Verb 
noun suffixes
-er –
driver
-or – actor
-ation –
exploration
-ee –
employee
-al –
refusal
-age -
drainage
Adjective 
noun suffixes
-ness –
happiness
-ity – sanity
Verb suffixes
-ify – simplify
-ize – popularize
Noun 
adjective suffixes
-ful –
useful
-less –
childless
-like –
childlike
-y – creamy
Adverb suffixes
-ly – happily
-ward(s) –
backward(s)
-wise – weather-wise
Derivational Suffixes
Derivational suffixes are used to
make new words by changing their
meaning or grammatical category. In other words, derivational morphemes form
new words with a meaning and category distinct through the addition of affixes.
Thus, the derivational suffix,
‘-ness’ changes the adjective, ‘kind’ into the noun, ‘kindness’. Similarly, the
noun ‘care’ becomes the adjective careless. This is how derivational affixes
make new words by changing their meaning or grammatical category. Derivational morphemes can be categorized into two sub-classes. They are:
1.
Class-maintaining
derivational affixes
2.
Class-changing derivational affixes
1. Class-Maintaining Derivational Affixes
Class-maintaining derivational affixesusually
produce a derived form of the same
class as the root. They don’t change the class of the parts of speech.For example; -ship -hood, in relationship,
leadership, livelihood, manhood etc.
2.
Class-Changing Derivational Affixes
Class-changing derivational affixes
usually produce a derived form of the other class than the class of the root.
They change the class of the parts of speech. For example; -er (teach~teacher),
-ish (boy~boyish), -al (nation~national), etc.
Inflectional and Derivational Suffixes:
Suffixes are of two types: 1) Inflectional suffixes
2) Derivational suffixes
1) Inflectional Suffixes:
|
Nouns |
Adjectives and Adverbs |
Verbs |
|
i) Plural: -s, -es |
i) Comparative: -er |
i) Simple Present
Tense- |
|
e.g. cats,
toys, benches |
e.g. bigger,
greater, taller |
When subject
is 3rd person |
|
|
|
singular: -s, -es |
|
|
|
e.g. plays,
goes |
|
i) Possessive: -’s e.g. sister’s, father’s |
i) Superlative: -est e.g. smallest, fastest |
i) Past Tense:
-ed e.g. played, worked |
|
|
|
i) Present participle: -ing e.g. writing, working ii) Past participle: -en e.g. written, given |
2)
Derivational Suffixes:
Derivational suffixes are classified
into two types; i) Class maintaining derivational suffix and ii) Class changing
derivational suffix.
a)
Class
Maintaining Derivational Suffix: Class maintaining
derivational suffixes do not change
the class or the part of speech of a word to which they are attached.
e.g.
|
Suffix |
Stem |
Derived Word |
|
-ship |
friend(N) |
friendship(N) |
|
-let |
book(N) |
booklet(N) |
|
-hood |
mother(N) |
motherhood(N) |
|
-dom |
king(N) |
kingdom(N) |
b)
Class
Changing Derivational suffix: Class-changing derivational
suffixes usually produce a derived form of the other class from the root. They
change the class of a word to which
they are attached
|
Suffix |
Stem |
Derived Word |
|
-ful |
beauty (N) |
beautiful (Aj) |
|
-able |
read (V) |
readable (Aj) |
|
-ous |
virtue (N) |
virtuous (Aj) |
|
-ness |
happy (Aj) |
happiness (N) |
Subject Matter –II
3.3.1 Allomorphs
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 environment of a morpheme.
Lyons says,
“When a word is segmented into parts, these segments are referred to as
morphs”. Each morph represents a particular morpheme, but each morpheme does
not have a morph.
e.g. The plural noun sheep has one morph, but two morphemes. First morpheme – sheep
Second morpheme – plural
aspect
|
Morpheme |
Allomorph |
Example |
|
Plural morpheme(s/es) |
(-s) (-z) (-iz) |
Cats Bags Judges |
|
Past tense morpheme (-ed) |
(-t) (-d) (-id) |
Walked Bagged wanted |
There are several
irregular forms. In case of plural form of Child-children, sheep-sheep, explanation
is not possible. These are morphological conditioning.
A.
Zero Suffix:
e.g. sheep(s) sheep(p) Cut (present) cut ( past)
B.
i) Vowel mutation/replacive: A change or replacement in vowel.
e.g. find-found mouse-mice
ii) Consonant
change:
e.g. send-sent wife- wives
C.
Suppletion:
In suppletion, instead
of a partial change in root (vowel change/ consonant change/ addition of ‘s’), the
entire form of the root is replaced by a new form.
e.g. go – went, Be- am, are- was, were.
Morphological Analysis
Morphological analysis is the observation and description of the grammatical elements in a language by studying their form and function, their phonological variants, and their distribution and mutual relationships within larger stretches of speech.
Word-Formation Processes
/ Morphological Processes
Word-formation processes or
morphological processes produce new words. These processes are classified into
major and minor word-formation processes as per their contribution in forming
new words.
A)
Major
word-formation processes: Affixation, Compounding and
Conversion are major word-formation processes. Let us see them one by one:
1.
Affixation:
Affixation is a morphological process which creates new words. Affixes are
divided into two types: prefixes, suffixes.
On the basis of this division, there are two sub-processes.
(a)
Prefixation:
Prefixation means fixing the prefix before the root or base form. All the
prefixes are derivational. They are class maintainingor class changing. A- in asleep, be- in becalm, en- in encage, de- in deforest, dis-
in disbar, non- in non-stick, and un- in unhorse are class
changing prefixes. All the other prefixes are class maintaining.
Semantic types of Prefixes: negative prefixes (un-, non-, in-, a-), reversative or privative prefixes
(un-, de-, dis-), pejorative prefixes
(mis-, mal-, pseudo-, and others),
prefixes of degree or size (arch-,
super-, out-, sur-, sub-, over-, under-, hyper-, mini-, and others),
prefixes of attitude (co-, counter-,
anti-, pro-), locative prefixes(super-,
sub-, inter-, trans-), prefixes of time and other(fore-, pre-, post-, ex-, re-), and number prefixes (uni-, mono-, bi-, di-, tri-, multi-, poly- and
others).
Suffixation: Suffixation means fixing
an affix after the root or base.
Suffixes are inflectional or
derivational. Derivational suffixes are class maintaining and class changing.
Suffixes are occupational (-or in actor), diminutive or feminine (-ess in
tigress), suffixes of status or domain (–dom in kingdom), noun suffixes (-hood in childhood),, adjective suffixes (-ful in beautiful), verb suffixes (-ify in classify) etc.
2.
Compounding:
Compounding is a morphological process in which two roots or bases are brought
together to form a new word. The roots or bases in a compound word are treated
as a single word.
e.g Noun compounds:
black-board, windmill, bloodstain, doorknob etc. Adjective compounds: mouth-watering, colour-blind, home-sick, etc. Verb compounds: sleep-walk, hand-writing, sun-bathing etc.
3.
Conversion:
This is a morphological process which give changes the class
of the word without changing its
form.
Noun àVerb
1.
Sachin batted well.
2.
He
penned the letter. Verb àNoun
1.
The judge ordered
his release.
2.
We
paid attention to her walk.
AdjectiveàVerb
1.
Bolt bettered his
performance. Grammatical unitàNoun
1.
English is a must subject.
2.
Students must follow
these dos, and don’ts.
B) Minor word-formation processes: They include the following processes:
1.
Reduplicatives:
Some compounds have two or more
elements which are either identical or only slightly different; e.g.: goody-goody. The difference between the
two elements may be in the initial consonants, e.g.: walkie-talkie, or in the middle vowel, e.g.: criss- cross. Most of the reduplicatives are highly informal or
familiar.
The most common
uses of reduplicative are
(a) to imitate
sounds, e.g.: tick-tock, criss-cross, din-din etc.
(b)
to suggest alternating movements, e.g.: seesaw
(c)
to suggest instability, insincerity, etc. :e.g. wishy-washy
(d)
to intensify, e.g.:
tip-top
2.
Clipping:
The term ‘clipping’ denotes the subtraction of one or more syllables
from a word. The shortening
may occur at
(a)
the beginning of the word:
e.g.: telephone-phone
(b)
the end of the word: e.g.: photograph-photo
(c)
at
both ends of the word: e.g.: influenza-flu
3.
Blends:
In a blend at least one of the elements is fragmentary.
In this process fragments of the two word are brought together to form a new
word.
e.g:
|
Sr. No. |
Original words |
Blends |
|
1 |
Motor + Hotel |
Motel |
|
2 |
Breakfast + Lunch |
Brunch |
|
3 |
Potato + Tomato |
Pomato |
|
4 |
Smoke + Fog |
Smog |
|
5 |
Transfer + Resistor |
Transistor |
4.
Acronyms:
Acronyms are words formed
from the initial
letters ( or larger parts)
of words.
1.
Acronyms pronounced as sequences of letters can be called
‘alpha-betisms’:
(a) The letters
represent full words:
e.g. C.O.D – Cash on delivery
UN – the United Nations
USA –United States
of America
(b)
The letters represent
elements in a compound or just parts of a
word:
e.g. TV –
Television
GHQ – General Headquarters
2.
Many acronyms are pronounced as
words.
e.g. radar – radio
detecting and ranging
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