structure of words and concerns how new words are formed
E.g. John likes to go. E.g. Going is impossible. E.g. He picks up the chopsticks. he-pick-up-chopstick
1 Morphology Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words and concerns how new words are formed
E.g. blackboardreporterbok choy E.g. blackboard reporter tank
2 Morphology Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words
A morpheme/ is the smallest meaningful form in a language whereas a word is the smallest meaningful free form in a language. In other words, a morpheme can be free or bound while a word must be free. Moreover, a morpheme has a constant shape and meaning (cf. lian2 zi3 lotus seeds vs. lian2 zi curtains)
E.g. books pens men hit eat E.g. M: / C: we one / first
Four grammatical levels: (1) morpheme/ (the smallest), (2) word, (3) phrase/, (4) sentence (the largest)