PORTFOLIO TASK

Student’s Name : 1.
2.
3.
Student Reg. No. : 1.
2.
3.
Unit :…
1. Write, in the space below, a paragraph that describes what you’ve learned in this unit.

 Morphology is the study of morphemes. These two words (morphology and

morpheme) are derived from the same root (morph). They differ significantly at the
end of each word, one ending in –logy, and the other in –eme.

 free morpheme

Morphemes that can stand alone to function as words are called free morphemes. They
comprise simple words (that is words made up of one free morpheme) and compound
words (that is words made up of two free morphemes). Morphemes can be divided into
two general classes. Free morphemes are those which can stand alone as words of a
language, where as bound morphemes must be attached to other morphemes. Most
roots in English are free morphemes
(for example,dog, syntax, andto), although there are a few cases of roots (like-gruntleas
indisgruntle) that must be combined with another bound morpheme in order to surface
as an acceptable lexical item.

 Bound morpheme
A bound morpheme is a word element that cannot stand alone asaword, including both
prefixes and suffixes.
Attaching a bound morpheme to a free morpheme, like adding the prefix "re-" to the verb
"start," creates a new word or at least a new form of a word, like "restart."
Represented in sound and writing by word segments called morphs, bound morphemes
can further be broken down into two categories; derivational and inflectional morphemes.

Inflectional morphemes are considered more predictable because there are only eight in
the closed set of accepted inflectional morphemes, which include the pluralizing "-s," the
possessive "-'s," the third-person singular "-s," the regular past tense "-ed," the
regularpast participle "-ed," the present participle "-ing," the comparative"-er," and the
superlative"-est."
derivational morphemes are considered lexical because they influence the base word
according to its grammatical and lexical class, resulting in a larger change to the base.
Derivational morphemes include suffixes like "-ish," "-ous," and "-y" and prefixes like "un-
," "im-" and"re-."

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In the same way, you could continue to add more bound morphemes to the beginning of
theword to make it even more complex and once again alter its meaning — though this
has the potential to result in a convoluted word that's hard to understand.
Such is the case with words like "antiestablishmentism" whose four bound morphemes
change the original word "establish” which means "to form" into a word that now means
"the belief that systemic structures of power are implicitly wrong."

 Affixe
In English grammar and morphology, an affix is a word element that can be attached to a
base or root to form a new wordor a new form of the word, usually occurring in the form
of either a prefix or a suffix.
Here are some examples of affixes:
*.incapable
(The affix is the prefixin.)
*.ex-President
(The affix is the prefix ex-.)

 Prefix
Aprefixis an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Here are some examples of
prefixes:
*.microscope
(The prefix is micro-.)
*.tripod
(The prefix is tri-.)
*.devalue
(The prefix is de-.)

Here is a list of common prefixes with some examples:

Prefix Meaning Example

a-, an- without amoral, atypical

ante- before antecedent, antenatal

anti- against anti-establishment

auto- self autopilot

circum- around circumvent

co- with co-conspirator, co-pilot

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com-, con- with companion, contact

contra- against contradiction

de- off delist, devalue

dis- not disappear

en- put into enclose, envelop

ex- out of, former extract, ex-governor

beyond, more
extra- extracurricular
than

hetero- different heterosexual

homo- same homonym, homophone

hyper- over, more hyperactive

il-, im-, in-, illegal, impractical, inconsiderate,

not, without
ir- irresponsible

in- into insert

inter- between internet, intersection,

intra- inside intranet, intravenous

macro- large macronutrients

micro- small microscope

mono- one monocle

non- not, without nonentity, nonstarter,

omni- all, every omnipresent, omniscient

post- after post-mortem

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 pre-, pro- before, forward precede, project

sub- under submarine, substandard

syn- same time synchronize

super- above supervisor, superhuman

trans- across transmit

tri- three tripod, triceratops

un- not undone, unfinished,

uni- one unicorn, unilaterally

 Suffixes
A suffix is added to the end of a word to change its meaning. Here are some examples of
suffixes:
*.tenderness
(The suffix is -ness.)
*.expensive
(The suffix is -ive.)
*.painted
(The suffix is -ed.)
Here is a list of common suffixes with some examples:
Suffix Meaning Example

comfortable,
-able, -ible can be done
passable

-al, -ial having the characteristics of personal

past-tense verbs (weak

-ed danced, jumped
verbs)

-en made of golden, wooden

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 -er comparative tidier, nicer

actor, narrator,
-er, -or one who
worker

-est superlative nicest, greatest

-ful full or full of cupful, careful

-ic having characteristics of linguistic, sarcastic

verb form (present participle

-ing dancing, singing
and gerund)

-ion, -tion, -
act or process attraction, attrition
ation, ition

-ity, -ty state of humility, infinity

-ive, -ative,
adjective form of a noun expensive, plaintive
itive

-less without topless, fearless

-ly adverb ending nicely, quickly

enjoyment,
-ment action or process
entrenchment

-ness state of, condition of eagerness, kindness

-ous, -eous, -
possessing the qualities of erroneous, joyous
ious

-s, -es plural tables, foxes

-y characterized by fatty, happy, jumpy

 “Irregular” Morphemes
Apart from the regular morphemes as described above, there are also
“irregular” morphemes. Some linguists called them “marked” morphemes in that

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they do not follow the rules in word-formation.
For example:
man ➡men (plural)
buy ➡bought (past)
am ➡was (past)
bind ➡bound (past)
bring ➡brought
catch ➡caught
goose ➡geese
is ➡was
Based on the above example, there are possibly three types of change:
* internal change, e.g. man to men
* almost complete, e.g. buy to bought
* complete, e.g. am to was

2. Which part(s) of this unit do you feel that you have not fully comprehended? Write (it
/ them) in the space below.

3. What would you do or have done to have full mastery of this unit?