Practice Exercises in Morphology

Linguistics 201

Free and Bound Morphemes

List the morphemes in each word below, and state whether each morpheme is free (F) or
bound (B).

1. creating 6. unhealthy
2. seaward 7. waiter
3. wastage 8. reconsider
4. poetic 9. keys
5. modernize 10. incompletion

Word Trees

For each word below, draw a word tree.

1. shipper 6. simply
2. disobey 7. jumping
3. resettled 8. digitizes
4. anticlimaxes 9. activity
5. unemployment 10. confrontational
 Practice Exercises in Morphology
Linguistics 201

Free and Bound Morphemes

List the morphemes in each word below, and state whether each morpheme is free (F) or
bound (B).

1. creating 6. unhealthy

create (F) un (B)

ing (B) health (F)
y (B)

2. seaward 7. waiter

sea (F) wait (F)

ward (B) er (B)

3. wastage 8. reconsider

waste (F) re (B)

age (B) consider (F)

4. poetic 9. keys

poet (F) key (F)

ic (B) s (B)

5. modernize 10. incompletion

modern (F) in (B)

ize (B) complete (F)
ion (B)
Word Trees

For each word below, draw a word tree.

1. shipper 6. simply
2. disobey 7. jumping
3. resettled 8. digitizes
4. anticlimaxes 9. activity
5. disengagement 10. confrontational

1. N 2. V

V DAff DAff V

ship er dis obey

3. V

DAff V IAff

re settle d

4. N

DAff N IAff

anti climax es

5. 3. N

DAff V DAff

dis engage ment

6. Adv 7. V

Adj DAff V IAff

simple y jump ing

For #7, “jumping” could also be either a noun (“Jumping over the water was dangerous”)
or an adjective (“The jumping bunnies looked ridiculous.”) In both of these cases, “ing”
is a derivational affix.

8. V

N DAff IAff

digit ize s

9. N

Adj

V DAff DAff

act ive ity

10. Adj

V DAff DAff

confront ation al
 Practice Exercises in Morphology II
Linguistics 201

Derivational and Inflectional Affixes

For each word below, indicate whether the word is morphologically simple (S), includes
an inflectional affix (I), or includes a derivational affix (D).

1. rider 6. reader
2. colder 7. redder
3. silver 8. radish
4. lens 9. redness
5. legs 10. rotation
Esperanto

Esperanto is an artificial language that was invented by Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887. It

was designed to be easy to learn and is based largely on the languages of western Europe.
It is now primarily spoken in France, although it may also be found in eastern Asia, South
America and eastern Europe. There are now between 200-2,000 native speakers and
about 2,000,000 people worldwide speak it as a second language.

Examine the following data from Esperanto and then answer the questions below:

1. bono ‘goodness’ 11. portistino ‘female porter’

2. instrua ‘instructive’ 12. pura ‘pure’
3. malfacila ‘difficult’ 13. malbone ‘badly’
4. patrino ‘mother’ 14. facile ‘easily’
5. instruisto ‘teacher’ 15. bona ‘good’
6. porti ‘to carry’ 16. malgranda ‘small’
7. facila ‘easy’ 17. bone ‘well’
8. patro ‘father’ 18. facilo ‘easiness’
9. portisto ‘porter’ 19. granda ‘big’
10. instrui ‘to instruct’ 20. instruo ‘instruction’

A. What are the morphemes that correspond to the following lexical categories and
concepts?

i. Nouns iv. Adverbs

ii. Verbs v. Feminine

iii. Adjectives vi. The opposite (not…)

B. Translate the following English words and phrases into Esperanto.

i. “purity”

ii. “bad”

iii. “female teacher”

 Practice Exercises in Morphology II
Linguistics 201

Derivational and Inflectional Affixes

For each word below, indicate whether the word is morphologically simple (S), includes
an inflectional affix (I), or includes a derivational affix (D).

1. rider D 6. reader D
2. colder I 7. redder I
3. silver S 8. radish S
4. lens S 9. redness D
5. legs I 10. rotation D
Esperanto

Esperanto is an artificial language that was invented by Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887. It

was designed to be easy to learn and is based largely on the languages of western Europe.
It is now primarily spoken in France, although it may also be found in eastern Asia, South
America and eastern Europe. There are now between 200-2,000 native speakers and
about 2,000,000 people worldwide speak it as a second language.

Examine the following data from Esperanto and then answer the questions below:

1. bono ‘goodness’ 11. portistino ‘female porter’

2. instrua ‘instructive’ 12. pura ‘pure’
3. malfacila ‘difficult’ 13. malbone ‘badly’
4. patrino ‘mother’ 14. facile ‘easily’
5. instruisto ‘teacher’ 15. bona ‘good’
6. porti ‘to carry’ 16. malgranda ‘small’
7. facila ‘easy’ 17. bone ‘well’
8. patro ‘father’ 18. facilo ‘easiness’
9. portisto ‘porter’ 19. granda ‘big’
10. instrui ‘to instruct’ 20. instruo ‘instruction’

A. What are the morphemes that correspond to the following lexical categories and
concepts?

i. Nouns o iv. Adverbs e

ii. Verbs i v. Feminine in

iii. Adjectives a vi. The opposite (not…) mal

B. Translate the following English words and phrases into Esperanto.

i. “purity” puro

ii. “bad” malbona

iii. “female teacher” instruistino

 Practice Exercises in Morphology III
Linguistics 201

I. Morphological Analysis

From the following data sets, identify the strings of sounds which correspond to the
morphemes in each language.

Swahili

Swahili is a Bantu language which is spoken primarily in East Africa. There are
approximately 800,000 native speakers of Swahili, and some 30,000,000 people (!)
worldwide speak Swahili as a second language.

anapenda 'he likes' alimona 'he saw him'

atapenda 'he will like' alimsaidia 'he helped him'
alipenda 'he liked' alimpiga 'he hit him'
amependa 'he has liked' alimchukua 'he carried him'
alinipenda 'he liked me' alimua 'he killed him'
alikupenda 'he liked you' ananitazama 'he looks at me'
alimpenda 'he liked him' atakusikia 'he will hear you'
alitupenda 'he liked us' alitupanya 'he cured us'
aliwapenda 'he liked them' ninakupenda 'I like you'
nitampenda 'I will like him' nitawapenda 'I will like them'

Pronouns Tenses Verbs

he: [present]: see:
me: [future]: help:
you: [past]: hit:
him: [past part.]: carry:
us: kill:
them: look:
I: hear:
cure:
like:

Translate the following English sentences into Swahili:

i. He has hit me.

ii. He helps us.

iii. I will look at you.

Cree

Cree is an Algonquian language which is spoken primarily in Canada. There are

approximately 100,000 native speakers, who can be found from the Rocky Mountains in
Alberta all the way to James Bay in northern Quebec.

niwapahten 'I see' niwapahtenan 'We see'

kimachishen 'You cut' kimachishenawaw 'You (pl.) cut'
nitapinan 'We sit' nitapin 'I sit'
kiwapahten 'You see' kiwapahtenawaw 'You (pl.) see'
nimachishenan 'We cut' nimachishen 'I cut'
kitapinawaw 'You (pl.) sit' kitapin 'You sit'

Pronouns Verbs
I: see:
You: cut:
We: sit:
You (pl.):

II. Word-Formation Processes

Name the word-formation process exemplified by each of the following derivations.

1. Graphical User Interface → GUI

2. professor → prof

3. information + commercial → infomercial

4. drink → drank

5. sandwich (named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich!)

6. un- + rely + -able → unreliable

7. wind + shield → windshield

8. orientation → orientate

9. good → better

10. a process → to process

 Practice Exercises in Morphology III
Linguistics 201

I. Morphological Analysis

From the following data sets, identify the strings of sounds which correspond to the
morphemes in each language.

Swahili

Swahili is a Bantu language which is spoken primarily in East Africa. There are
approximately 800,000 native speakers of Swahili, and some 30,000,000 people (!)
worldwide speak Swahili as a second language.

anapenda 'he likes' alimona 'he saw him'

atapenda 'he will like' alimsaidia 'he helped him'
alipenda 'he liked' alimpiga 'he hit him'
amependa 'he has liked' alimchukua 'he carried him'
alinipenda 'he liked me' alimua 'he killed him'
alikupenda 'he liked you' ananitazama 'he looks at me'
alimpenda 'he liked him' atakusikia 'he will hear you'
alitupenda 'he liked us' alitupanya 'he cured us'
aliwapenda 'he liked them' ninakupenda 'I like you'
nitampenda 'I will like him' nitawapenda 'I will like them'

Pronouns Tenses Verbs

he: a [present]: na see: ona
me: ni [future]: ta help: saidia
you: ku [past]: li hit: piga
him: m [past part.]: me carry: chukua
us: tu kill: ua
them: wa look: tazama
I: ni hear: sikia
cure: panya
like: penda

Translate the following English sentences into Swahili:

i. He has hit me.

amenipiga

ii. He helps us.

anatusaidia

iii. I will look at you.

nitakutazama
Cree

Cree is an Algonquian language which is spoken primarily in Canada. There are

approximately 100,000 native speakers, who can be found from the Rocky Mountains in
Alberta all the way to James Bay in northern Quebec.

niwapahten 'I see' niwapahtenan 'We see'

kimachishen 'You cut' kimachishenawaw 'You (pl.) cut'
nitapinan 'We sit' nitapin 'I sit'
kiwapahten 'You see' kiwapahtenawaw 'You (pl.) see'
nimachishenan 'We cut' nimachishen 'I cut'
kitapinawaw 'You (pl.) sit' kitapin 'You sit'

Pronouns Verbs
I: ni see: wapahten
You: ki cut: machishen
We: ni- -an sit: tapin
You (pl.): ki -awaw

II. Word-Formation Processes

Name the word-formation process exemplified by each of the following derivations.

1. Graphical User Interface → GUI

Acronym
2. professor → prof
Clipping
3. information + commercial → infomercial
Blend
4. drink → drank
Internal Change
5. sandwich (named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich!)
Eponym
6. un- + rely + -able → unreliable
Affixation
7. wind + shield → windshield
Compound
8. orientation → orientate
Back formation
9. good → better
Suppletion
10. a process → to process
Conversion
 More Morphology Practice Exercises
Linguistics 201

Turkish

Turkish is an Altaic language. It is the official language of Turkey and is spoken

by about 50 million people worldwide.

1. deniz 'an ocean' 9. elim 'my hand'

2. denize 'to an ocean' 10. eller 'hands'
3. denizin 'of an ocean' 11. dishler 'teeth'
4. eve 'to a house' 12. dishiminiz 'of our tooth'
5. evden 'from a house' 13. dishleriminiz 'of our teeth'
6. evjikden 'from a little house' 14. eljike 'to a little hand'
7. denizjikde 'in a little ocean' 15. denizlerimizde 'in our oceans'
8. elde 'in a hand' 16. evjiklerimizde 'in our little houses'

A. Give the Turkish morpheme which corresponds to each of the following

English translations.

ocean: in: my:

house: to: of:

hand: from: our:

tooth: [plural]: little:

B. What is the order of morphemes in a Turkish word (in terms of noun, plural
marker, etc.)?

C .How would you say "of our little hands" in Turkish?

D. Give the English translation for the Turkish form "dishjiklerden".

Czech (this one's tricky!):

Czech is a Slavic language which is spoken by about 10 million people, primarily

in the Czech Republic.

nesu ‘I carry’ yedu ‘I drive’

ponese ‘He will carry’ ponesu ‘I will carry’
povedete ‘You (pl) will lead’ yede ‘He drives’
poplavu ‘I will swim’ nese ‘He carries’
priplavesh ‘You will swim here’ odnesou ‘They will carry away’
priyedou ‘They will drive here’ odplavete ‘You (pl.) will swim away’
odvedeme ‘We will lead away’ poplaveme ‘We will swim’
odyede ‘He will drive away’ prineseme ‘We will bring here’
poyede ‘He will drive’ prinese ‘He will bring here’
nesou ‘They carry’ odvedu ‘I will lead away’
plavou ‘They swim’ odnesesh ‘You carry away’
vedeme ‘We lead’

A. Identify the Czech morphemes which correspond to the following English

translations:

Verbs Pronouns Tense, Location

carry: I: here:
bring: he: away:
lead: we: will:
drive: you:
swim: you (pl.):
they:

B. What is the order of these morphemes in Czech (in terms of verbs, pronouns,
tense, location)?

C. Provide Czech translations for the following English sentences:

1. He will swim.

2. They drive away.

3. You lead away.

4. I will bring here.

 More Morphology Practice Exercises
Linguistics 201

Turkish

Turkish is an Altaic language. It is the official language of Turkey and is spoken

by about 50 million people worldwide.

1. deniz 'an ocean' 9. elim 'my hand'

2. denize 'to an ocean' 10. eller 'hands'
3. denizin 'of an ocean' 11. dishler 'teeth'
4. eve 'to a house' 12. dishiminiz 'of our tooth'
5. evden 'from a house' 13. dishleriminiz 'of our teeth'
6. evjikden 'from a little house' 14. eljike 'to a little hand'
7. denizjikde 'in a little ocean' 15. denizlerimizde 'in our oceans'
8. elde 'in a hand' 16. evjiklerimizde 'in our little houses'

A. Give the Turkish morpheme which corresponds to each of the following

English translations.

ocean: deniz in: de my: im

house: ev to: e of: in

hand: el from: den our: imiz

tooth: dish [plural]: ler little: jik

B. What is the order of morphemes in a Turkish word (in terms of noun, plural
marker, etc.)?

noun - adjective - plural - possessive pronoun - preposition

Exception: when "imiz" (our) is combined with "in" (of), the "in" appears
inside of the "imiz". For example, #12: dishiminiz "of our tooth"

C .How would you say "of our little hands" in Turkish?

eljikleriminiz

D. Give the English translation for the Turkish form "dishjiklerden".

from little teeth

Czech (this one's tricky!):

Czech is a Slavic language which is spoken by about 10 million people, primarily

in the Czech Republic.

nesu ‘I carry’ yedu ‘I drive’

ponese ‘He will carry’ ponesu ‘I will carry’
povedete ‘You (pl) will lead’ yede ‘He drives’
poplavu ‘I will swim’ nese ‘He carries’
priplavesh ‘You will swim here’ odnesou ‘They will carry away’
priyedou ‘They will drive here’ odplavete ‘You (pl.) will swim away’
odvedeme ‘We will lead away’ poplaveme ‘We will swim’
odyede ‘He will drive away’ prineseme ‘We will bring here’
poyede ‘He will drive’ prinese ‘He will bring here’
nesou ‘They carry’ odvedu ‘I will lead away’
plavou ‘They swim’ odnesesh ‘You carry away’
vedeme ‘We lead’

A. Identify the Czech morphemes which correspond to the following English

translations:

Verbs Pronouns Tense, Location

carry: nes I: u here: pri
bring: nes he: e away: od
lead: ved we: eme will: po
drive: yed you: esh
swim: plav you (pl.): ete
they: ou

B. What is the order of these morphemes in Czech (in terms of verbs, pronouns,
tense, location)?

tense/location - verb - pronoun

Note: when a location (here/away) is specified, then the future morpheme

("po") does not appear on the surface.

C. Provide Czech translations for the following English sentences:

1. He will swim.
poplave
2. They drive away.
odyedou
3. You lead away.
odvedesh
4. I will bring here.
prinesu