UNIT 4: STRUCTURE OF WORDS AND SENTENCES

Reference used: Language, Culture and Society, p. 53-71

Unit Outcomes:

At the end of this unit, students should be able to :

1. Explain the similarities and differences of the three morphological processes.

2. Understand the purpose of the Morphological Process to Language development.
3. Construct words in derivational process of morphology.
4. Establish well defined communication scheme.

Introduction

Every language has its own set of morphemes, which it organizes into words, phrases, and sentences in
a specific way, and each language has its own set of grammatical categories, which differ from one to
the next. A sentence is an essential unit of linguistic analysis, and it can be broken down into smaller
constituents such as noun phrases, verb phrases, or the subject, verb, and object.

-Explanation -

A morphological process is a means of changing a stem to adjust its meaning to fit its syntactic and
communicational context. It alter stems to derive new words. They may change the word’s meaning or
its grammatical function.

Just as languages differ in their phonemic systems, they differ in morphologies. Some morphological
processes however are quite common throughout the world even though they may be applied
differently in specific language.

Three common morphological processes :

1. Derivation - new words are formed from existing ones, frequently by changing them from one word
class to another. In English the process of word formation is frequently accomplished by the use of
derivational affixes.

2. Inflection - the use of affixes to indicate grammatical relationships (number, case, person, tense and
others). In English all inflectional affixes are suffixes and are limited to the plural and possessive markers
in nouns( as in mothers and mother's) , comparative and superlative markers in adjectives (as in taller
and tallest) and the third-person singular present tense marker and the past-tense, progressive and
past-participle markers in verbs (as in waits, waited, [is] singing and beaten).

3. Reduplication - the doubling or repetition of a phoneme or phonemes. Complete reduplication results

from copying the entire word, while partial reduplication copies any number phonemes or syllables.
Reduplication can serve many functions in languages, from making plural forms to marking intensity or
diminutives.
ACTIVITY 1: Give it a Try!

Now that you have been introduced to different definitions of derivation, inflection and Reduplication,
state the similarities and differences between the three. Make it brief and concise.

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ACTIVITY 2: Work on it.

After being enlightened about what the Morphological process is. In this Activity, you are to formulate
your very own concept map of the significance of the process to Language development. Put your
concept map inside the box below. (20 Points)
CONCEPT MAP SCORING:

LIGIBILITY -5

CONTENT. - 10

ORIGINALITY. -5

__________

20 POINTS

ACTIVITY 3 : Try to Connect!

Divide the Following words into morphemes and morphs provided below.

Example : (i) truth Morphemes : {true} {th} Morphs : tru + th

(ii) barefoot Morphemes : {bare} {foot} Morphs : bare + th

1. research

2. butterfly

3. holiday

4. morpheme

5. phoneme

6. phonology

7. morphemic

8. plant

9. trouser

10. vaccine
References used:

http://www.linguisticsnetwork.com/morphological-processes-101/

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/CamilleAnn1/morphological-processes-37527621

https://glossary.sil.org/term/morphological-process

https://www2.hawaii.edu/~bender/process.html