TABLE OF CONTENT

I. Morphology, Morphemes, Morphs and Allomorphs

1.1 Morphology ...................................................................
1.2 Morphemes ...................................................................
1.3 Morphs and Allomorphs ................................................

II. The Distribution of Morphemes ........................................

2.1 Bound morphemes and Free morphemes ....................
2.2 Roots, Stems, and Affixes ............................................
2.3 Nuclear and Peripheral Structure .................................

III. Morphemes and Word Meaning ........................................

3.1 Bases ...........................................................................
3.2 Inflections .....................................................................
3.3 Derivations ...................................................................

IV. Formal Relationship of Morphemes ..................................

4.1 Structural Relationship .................................................
4.2 Positional Relationship .................................................
 ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY

I. Morphology, Morphemes, Morphs and Allomorphs

1.1 Morphology
Morphology is the scientific study of morphemes and their
different forms and the way they are combined in word formation.
Morphology identifies and classifies morphemes and describes the
types of combinations that build words in a language. Every
language in the world has its own morphemes with its own
uniqueness. In Indonesian, for example, the word kebenaran (truth)
is the combination of three morphemes, namely (ke-), (benar), and
(–an) and the word perbuatan (action) is formed by combining the
morphemes (per-), (buat), and (–an). In Arabic, the word yaf’alu is
the combination of the morphemes (ya-) and (fa’ala), and the word
udkhul is the combination of the morphemes (u-) and (dakhala). In
English, the word quickly is formed by combining two morphemes
namely (quick) and (–ly); the word enlarge is formed by combining
the morphemes (en-) and (large).
When we investigate the formation of an English word, we
try to find the obvious meaningful elements. The elements, such as
bases, prefixes, and suffixes may occur in regular pattern. When we
find the occurrence of the elements in a patterned way and which
cannot itself be broken up into smaller elements, we can say that
we have isolated a minimum word-forming unit which is called a
morpheme. Let’s look at the following examples:

combination, imagination;
washes, brushes;
honestly, wisely

The words combination and imagination are said to have two

elements, namely (combine) + (-ation) (verb + suffix -ation), and
(imagine) + (-ation) ⇒ verb + suffix (-ation); Similarly, the words
watches and brushes are of two elements, namely (watch) + (-es)
and (brush) + (-es) ⇒ verb + suffix (–es). Another example is (adj.
+ suffix -ly) as in honestly, wisely, deeply, and many others. They
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occur in a patterned way, in the sense that other morphemes of the
same word class can also be combined with the same suffixes to
form new words, either with similar or different meaning.

1.2 Morphemes
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a language
which may constitute a word or parts of a word, e.g. re-, de-, un-, -
ish, in return, decentralize, unimportant, boyish. A morpheme
cannot be broken into smaller parts. When we force to divide it into
parts, the meaning will be destroyed. For example, the word smile
cannot be divided into smaller unit as s- and mile because the
division will alter its meaning.
English words may consist of only one morpheme, e.g. cut,
sit, back, behind; of two morphemes, e.g. friendship, friendly,
gentleman; or of more than two morphemes, e.g. friendliness,
uneconomical, incompleteness.
Most of the complex words have a fairly obvious structure.
The sort of structure can be shown by any of the following graphic
devices:

1) 2) in – complete – ness
Friend – ly - ness
Prefix
derivation

3)

un economy ic al

Figure 1. Graphic devices of word formation

Morphemes are represented within braces. The word bags,

for example, has two morphemes, namely ( bag ) and (/-z/). The
slant bars ‘/ /’ inside the braces indicate the phonemic script. Do not
forget to consider the change of phonemes as a result of combining
two morphemes together with different voicing.
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Exercise 1 Write down the elements of the following words:
Example: puts (put) (/-s/)
1. cries ……… ……
2. sweeps ……… ……
3. slices ……… ……
4. trees ……… ……
5. prays ……… ……
6. takes ……… ……
7. watches ……… ……
8. leaves ……… ……
9. flows ……… ……
10. matches ……… ……
11. player ……… ……
12. added ……… ……
13. fishing ……… ……
14. interested ……… ……
15. enjoyable ……… ……

Exercise 2 Describe the structure of the following words by means

of diagrams like those shown above!

1. pressure 6. disadvantages
2. shortage 7. uneducated
3. invariables 8. deepen
4. unfortunately 9. strengthen
5. unlikelihood 10. encouragement

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1.3 Morphs and Allomorphs
Morphemes frequently have more than one form. In English,
for example, the past tense form of some verbs is the same as the
perfect tense suffix ( –ed ) as in:

divide – divided ( /-ɪd /)

mend – mended ( /-ɪd /)
learn – learned ( /-d /)
work – worked ( /-t /)
jump – jumped ( /-t /)

and the perfect tense form of verbs is also (–ed ) , as in:

slice – sliced
match – matched
insert – inserted

While for other verbs, the perfect tense form is the suffix ( –en) as
in:
eat – eaten
brake – broken
give – given

The past tense morpheme is then represented by the morpheme (-

ed) and the past perfect tense morpheme is represented by (-en).
To account for the various forms of a given morpheme
linguist have posited a type of pseudo-morpheme called a morph.
One morpheme may be represented by one or more morphs. The
various morphs which represent one morpheme are called
allomorphs. Two or more morphs are the allomorphs of a single
morpheme if they have the same meaning and are in
complementary distribution. For example, (-s) is the allomorph of
the plural morpheme and the alternation is represented as (/-s/, /-z/,
/-iz/) in:

book – books /bu:ks/

bag – bags /bægz/
box – boxes /boksiz/
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Exercise 3 Write down the elements of the following words:
Example: Past tense Perfect tense
Went (go) (-ed) gone (go) (-en)

Words Past tense morph Perfect tense morph

1. smiled ………………….. ……………………..
2. swept ………………….. ……………………..
3. torn ………………….. ……………………..
4. cleaned ………………….. ……………………..
5. brought ………………….. ……………………..
6. taught ………………….. ……………………..
7. bought ………………….. ……………………..
8. applied ………………….. ……………………..
9. spoken ………………….. ……………………..
10. sung ………………….. ……………………..
11. hung ………………….. ……………………..
12. sung ………………….. ……………………..
13. gotten ………………….. ……………………..
14. slept ………………….. ……………………..

II. The Distribution of Morphemes

Each morpheme in a language has various characteristics
based on its occurrence with other morphemes. This is called
distributional relationship. On the basis of these features,
morphemes may be classified as follows:

2.1 Bound morphemes and Free morphemes

The morphemes which may occur alone or can be uttered in
isolation are called free morphemes, such as boy, girl, man. They
have certain meaning on their own. On the other hand, the
morphemes which never occur alone or cannot be used in isolation

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in normal discourse are called bound morphemes such as –ed in
wanted, -es in houses, and -s in reads.

Exercise 4 Separate the free morphemes and the bound

morphemes in the following words!

Free morpheme Bound morpheme

Exp.: encourages (courage) (en-) (/-s/)

1. looked ………………. ……………….

2. appearance ………………. ……………….
3. judged ………………. ……………….
4. sharpen ………………. ……………….
5. ability ………………. ……………….

2.2 Roots, Stems, and Affixes

Roots are the core element of a word. For example, happy in
the word happily. Roots are single morphemes. However, the
central part of a word does not always consist of a single
morpheme. The word bookcases consists of two root morphemes
namely book and case.
Stems are the part of a word to which affixes are added. In
some cases, stems are similar to roots as in the word computers,
tables, says, asks, each of which contain the core element:
“computer”, “table”, “say”, and “ask” with the suffix –s. However, in
more complex word formation, the stem can be changed as the
result of affixation. For example:

Stem Suffixation
Act Active
Active Activate
Activate Activation
Type types
Give gives
Small smaller

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 A stem may consist of one or two roots. The stems which
consist of one root followed by a suffix are called single stems, as
in bags, flags, books, cases, hands ; while the stems which consist
of two roots followed by a suffix are called compound stems as in
bookcases, and handbags.

Affixes are the part of a word added to the root. They may
be placed at the beginning or at the end of a word. The affixes
added at the beginning of the words are called prefixes and the
ones used at the end of the words are called suffixes. For example:

Stem Prefix Suffix New Word

Large en- --- enlarge (v.)
Smile --- -s smiles (v.)
Tree --- -s trees (n.)
Logic il- -al illogical (adj.)
Sharp --- -en sharpen (v.)

In the word formation of Indonesian we also have prefixes

such as:
me - melarang
ber - berlari
ter - tertidur; and
pe - penari, petinju.

On the other hand, we can also find in Indonesian the use of

suffixes such as
–kan satukan
–i terangi

and the combination of prefix and suffix that is also called confix
such as
me-…….-kan, in the word menetapkan,
me-……-i in the word melalui, merestui;
pe-……-.an in the word pertemuan, perkenalan, etc.

In addition, there is also insertion which is termed as infix added to

the roots. For example,

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 Gigi -er - gerigi
gigi -el - geligi
jari -em - jemari
This type of combination is not found in English word formation

Exercise 5 Write down the elements of the following words in the

appropriate column !

Words Root Stem Prefix Suffix

meaningful mean meaning -- -ful
friendliness
empower
careless
disagreement
Writings

Supplementary information:
 Morphemes may differ in form, depending upon whether
they occur before a vowel or a consonant.
 Certain morphemes have allomorphs.
 The vowel of the suffixes dependent upon the vowel of the
stem.
 The stem of a word may be:
a) a single stem consisting of only one morpheme ⇒ (root),
e.g. work ⇒in works
b) Two or more roots, e.g. work + shop ⇒workshop; day +
dream ⇒ daydream in workshops and daydreams
c) a root plus a derivational affix, e.g. work + er ⇒worker

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 in workers. This is called derived stem.

2.3 Nuclear Structure and Peripheral Structure

A nuclear structure contains the nucleus. A peripheral
structure contains a non-root and is always ‘outside’ of the nuclear
constituent. They are simply the name of immediate constituent.
Look at the following word formation.

Nuclear element Peripheral element New Word

Form -al formal

Formal -ize formalize
Formalize -er formalizer
Formalizer -s formalizers

class -ify classify

classify -cation classification

read -able readable

readable -ity readability

Task
Find words in which you identify the nuclear and the peripheral
elements!

_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

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III. Morphemes and Word Meaning
In terms of meaning, linguists identify several types of
morphemes, namely bases, inflections, and derivations.

3.1 Bases
Bases or roots are the expressions or the language units
associated with the core meaning. They do not have any additional
element to form the word. They have their meaning on their own as
they can be used in isolation. For example, watch, glass, wallet,
leaf, and the like.

Exercise 6 Isolate the base by subtracting the prefix. Then make a

new word by adding a suffix!

No. Word Base New word

1. Disagree Agree agreement
2. Unsafe
3. Enable
4. Endanger
5. entrust
6. enclose
7. Mislead
8. disappear
9. unable
10. inaccurate

3.2 Inflections
Inflectional morphemes are the suffixes attached to bases
without changing the word class as well as the original meaning. If
the suffix is added to the stem which is originally a noun (n.), the
new word remains a noun with the same meaning, as in bottle →
bottles , room → rooms , house → houses. If the stem is originally a
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verb (v.), the new word remains a verb with similar meaning to the
original one as in wash → washes; climb → climbs; stay → stays.
There are seven suffixes which are usually called
inflectional endings. The seven suffixes listed below are treated
separately from other suffixes because they make words that show
a very high degree of correlation between form and function.

1. –s plural
2. –s 3rd singular
3. –ed
Figure past
2. Inflectional Morphemes
4. –en past participle
5. –ing present participle
6. –er comparative
Figure 2 Inflectional Morphemes
7. –est superlative
1. –s plural
This inflectional morpheme is specifically attached to
singular noun to form plural noun. For example:
bird → birds
tiger → tigers
shop → shops
film → films

English has two types of plurals, namely regular and

irregular plurals. Regular plurals are those to which the suffix –s can
be attached, pronounced as /-z/, /-s/ and /-ɪz/, depend upon the
final sound of the stem to which it is attached. To state the rule for
the three regular phonemic shape of the plural suffix we can say
that it is /ɪz/ after a palatal or alveolar fricatives, /z/ after voiced
sounds, and /s/ after voiceless sounds. In any case, the various
sounds are just different ways of pronouncing the same
grammatical element – the same morpheme. The technical term for
a way of pronouncing a morpheme differently is ‘allomorph’.
Allomorphs whose shapes can be determined according to a

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general rule are said to be regular.
Irregular plurals on the other hand are the plural form of
nouns which do not go according to the rule – the use of suffix –s or
–es. The irregularity may be either in stem or in the ending. Some of
them have the change in stem while the others do not have the
change in stem. Word like shelf, leaf, show a change in stem but

add the regular ending; child has a change in stem ⇒ / ʧɑ ld /

becomes / ʧ ld / with an irregular ending (-ren) → /rən/.

Another group, like the word feet from the singular foot and the
word nucleus from the singular nuclei, can be said to have a change
in stem with zero ending.
The other group, including the words sheep, deer, and a few
others can be said to have no change in the stem but have the
irregularity of taking a zero allomorph ending.

Exercise 7 Add the appropriate allomorph of the plural ending to

each of the following stem, then write the phonetic
transcription!

1. box ……………. ……………………..

2. door ……………. ……………………..
3. dish ……………. ……………………..
4. eye ……………. ……………………..
5. axe ……………. ……………………..
6. dress ……………. ……………………..
7. key ……………. ……………………..
8. cause ……………. ……………………..
9. joke ……………. ……………………..
10. proof ……………. ……………………..

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Exercise 8 Write the plural form of the following singular nouns,
then write the phonetic transcription!

1. basis ……………. ……………………..

2. criterion ……………. ……………………..
3. gentleman ……………. ……………………..
4. knife ……………. ……………………..
5. mouse ……………. ……………………..
6. ox ……………. ……………………..
7. tooth ……………. ……………………..
8. wife ……………. ……………………..
9. thief ……………. ……………………..
10. alumnus ……………. ……………………..

2. –s 3rd singular
This inflectional morpheme is particularly added to a verb to
show an action done by a third person singular expressed in simple
present tense. For example,
wait → waits
look → looks
drink → drinks
dance → dances

The third person singular suffix has three allomorphs /-z, -s,

ɪz/ selected according to the phonemic shape of the stem, following

the same general rule previously given for the regular noun-plural
suffix. The only irregularities here are the four verbs: is, does, has,

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and says, which undergo a change in stem when the third singular
suffix is added.

Exercise 9 Write down each word with its appropriate 3rd singular
ending on the proper place in the chart below!

1. believe 6. get 11. mean 16. drive

2. belong 7. help 12. look 17. cry
3. follow 8. lead 13. meet 18. play
4. fix 9. eat 14. speak 19. climb
5. give 10. make 15. use 20. make

/-s/ /-z/ /-ɪz/

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3. –ed past
This inflectional morpheme is especially attached to a verb
to show an action done in the past, expressed in simple past tense.
For example,
study → studied
pray → prayed
cry → cried
toast → toasted

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 The past tense suffix also has three basic allomorphs /-d, -t,

-ɪd/, used in accordance with the final sound of the stem, by

considering voicing and articulation. In addition, there is also a zero

allomorph, as in put (no change in stem) and took (with a change in
the stem).

Exercise 10 Put the following verb forms in the appropriate place

of the chart below in accordance with the
pronunciation of the endings!

1. called 6. needed 11. stayed

2. decided 7. learned 12. mended
3. laughed 8. raised 13. listened
4. waited 9. promised 14. watched
5. cooked 10. reached 15. smoked

/-d/ /-t/ /-ɪd/

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Exercise 11 Put the following verb forms in the appropriate place
of the chart below!

1. bought 6. left
2. cut 7. paid
3. froze 8. rang
4. hurt 9. set
5. kept 10. woke
Change in Stem No Change in Stem
Regular Zero Special Zero Special
Ending Ending Ending Ending Ending

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4. –en past participle
This inflectional morpheme is particularly added to a verb to
show an action which is completely done. For example,
eat → eaten
give → given
write → written
speak → spoken

The past participle suffix is pronounced exactly the same as

the past tense suffix in all regular verbs; that is, it has three regular
allomorphs chosen according to the same rule. However, since
there are fifty or more common verbs that have a past participle
which is phonemically distinct from the past tense, it is convenient
to regard this suffix as a different morpheme. And accordingly, for
the regular verbs, we say that the past tense and past participle are
homonyms.
The most common allomorphs of the part participle suffix for

irregular verbs are /n/ and /ən/ as in grown and taken.

Exercise 12 Put the following verb forms in the appropriate place of

the chart below!

1. be 14. arise
2. beat 15. see
3. blow 16. shake
4. brake 17. show
5. choose 18. speak
6. do 19. swear
7. drive 20. throw
8. eat 21. take
9. freeze 22. forgive
10. go 23. forget
11. hide 24. lost
12. know 25. ring

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 13. ride
Change in Stem No Change in Stem
Regular Zero Special Zero Special
Ending Ending Ending Ending Ending

5. –ing present participle

This inflectional morpheme is specifically added a verb to
show an on going action or the action is still in process. For
example,
come → coming
tell → telling
make → making
type → typing

The present participle suffix –ing has only the one allomorph /-ing/.
The variations shown in spelling as walkin for walking is a case of
dialectic or stylistic variation.

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Exercise 13 Write the phonetic transcription of the following words
with their present participle ending!

1. cry …………………… /………………………/

2. freeze …………………… /………………………/
3. reach …………………… /………………………/
4. hide …………………… /………………………/
5. smile …………………… /………………………/
6. build …………………… /………………………/
7. ride …………………… /………………………/
8. put …………………… /………………………/
9. sail …………………… /………………………/
10. cross …………………… /………………………/

6. –er comparative
This inflectional morpheme is in particular added to a stem
which is originally an adjective to comparison of one thing to
another. For example,

high → higher
small → smaller
big → bigger
smart → smarter
There is no clear and simple way of predicting which stems will
accommodate the suffix –er for comparison. However, most of the
adjective stems that consist only of a base, with no derivational
suffix, take the ending –er. So do most two-syllable stems with a –y
or –ly suffix as in gloomy → gloomier , costly → costlier. If the
stem has some other suffix, or if it has more than two syllables, the
phrasal formation is usually preferred, as in more restful, more
flowery, more important, more central.

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Exercise 14 Write the comparative form after each word that permit
the –er ending and write ‘more’ infront of the others!

1. ……………… active ………………….

2. ……………… difficult ………………….
3. ……………… early ………………….
4. ……………… famous ………………….
5. ……………… few ………………….
6. ……………… formal ………………….
7. ……………… free ………………….
8. ……………… handsome ………………….
9. ……………… narrow ………………….
10. ……………… nervous ………………….
11. ……………… noisy ………………….
12. ……………… obscure ………………….
13. ……………… often ………………….
14. ……………… pleasant ………………….
15. ……………… fast ………………….
16. ……………… easy ………………….
17. ……………… lazy ………………….
18. ……………… crazy ………………….
19. ……………… smart ………………….
20. ……………… stupid ………………….
21. ……………… cool ………………….
22. ……………… bright ………………….
23. ……………… dark ………………….

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 24. ……………… expensive ………………….
7. –est superlative
This inflectional morpheme is attached to an adjective to
show that the thing is super or the most of all. For example,
low → lowest
long → longest
heavy → heaviest
bright → brightest

Exercise 15 Write the superlative form after each word that permit
the –est ending and write ‘most’ infront of the others!

1. ………………. Pleasing …………………….

2. . ……………… quiet …………………….
3. . ……………… sad …………………….
4. . ……………… selfish …………………….
5. . ……………… shadowy …………………….
6. . ……………… simple …………………….
7. . ……………… complicated …………………….
8. . ……………… suitable …………………….
9. . ……………… thin …………………….
10. . ……………… tiresome …………………….
11. ……………… beautiful …………………….
12. ……………… good …………………….
13. ……………… careful …………………….
14. ……………… fat …………………….
15. ……………… hard …………………….
16. ……………… friendly …………………….
17. ……………… fine …………………….

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 18. ……………… clever …………………….

In addition to the seven morphemes previously discussed,

there are still other inflectional morphemes presented here.

8. Negative-forming morpheme
Most of the negative-forming morphemes precedes the stem.
They are attached at the beginning of a word, especially adjectives.
The meaning contained in the negative prefix is not. They are of
various kinds, such as un-, in-, im-, ir-, il-, dis-, mis-, and -less.
For example,
do → undo
lock → unlock
like → dislike
accurate → inaccurate

However, certain morpheme (-less) is used following the

stem, which has the meaning ‘does not have any’, e.g. jobless
(does not have any job), homeless (does not have any home) etc.

Exercise 16 Write down the following words with their negative-

forming affixes!
1. like …………………………….……
2. accurate …………………………………..
3. rational .………………………………….
4. happy …………………………….……
5. important …………………………….……
6. dependent …………………………….……
7. logical …………………………….……
8. secure …………………………….……
9. saved …………………………….……
10. call …………………………….……
11. power …………………………….……

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 12. care …………………………….……
13. meaning …………………………….……
14. money …………………………….……
15. time …………………………….……

9. Possessive-forming morpheme
This inflectional morpheme is added to the end of a word
and it shows possession or ownership. For example,
Ali’s house
Bookcase’s shelves

When it is used following noun phrase, the position is next to the

second noun, as in:
Rita and Rica’s bags.
Buffalo and cow’s tail
Father and mother’s happiness

When it is used following plural nouns with –s the possessive

morpheme is written in ’, as in

Students’ notebooks
Girls’ dolls
Boys’ toys

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3.3 Derivations
Derivational morphemes are morphemes attached to the
stems either as prefix or suffix. The function of derivational
morphemes is to make new words and stems from familiar bases.
Derivational morphemes can change the word class as well as the
meaning they contain. Derivational morphemes are of the followings
types:

1. nominalizer (noun-forming morpheme)

2. verbalizer (verb-forming morpheme)
3. adjectivizer (adjective-forming morpheme)
4. adverbializer (adverb-forming morpheme)
Figure 3 Derivational Morphemes
Figure 3 Derivational morphemes

1. Nominalizer
This derivational morpheme is attached to the stem to form
a noun. Nouns can be formed by adding the suffix:
-ment, -ion, -tion, -ation, -action, -cation and –er / -or, -ance to
verbs as in the following examples:
work (v.) → worker (n.)
develop (v) → development (n.)
act (v.) → action (n.)
justify → justification
invite → invitation
lead → leader
operate → operator
perform → performance

or by adding the suffix: -ty, -ity, and –th to the adjectives, as in the
following examples:
able (adj.) → ability (n.)
secure → security
long → length

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 deep → depth
Exercise 17 Write down new words from the words in the list below
by combining each of them with the appropriate
nominalizers: -ment, -ness, -ion,
-tion, -ation, -action, - cation, -ity, -ty, -th, -ance!

Stem Suffix New Word

1. Agree -ment agreement
2. Accomplish ………. ……………..
3. State ………. ……………..
4. Involve ………. ……………..
5. Kind ………. ……………..
6. Friendly ………. ……………..
7. Aware ………. ……………..
8. Act ………. ……………..
9. Complete ………. ……………..
10. Attract ………. ……………..
11. Describe ………. ……………..
12. Prescribe ………. ……………..
13. Invite ………. ……………..
14. Satisfy ………. ……………..
15. Modify ………. ……………..
16. Clarify ………. ……………..
17. Classify ………. ……………..
18. Apply ………. ……………..
19. Responsible ………. ……………..
20. Secure ………. ……………..
21. Save ………. ……………..

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 22. Mature ………. ……………..
23. execute ………. ……………..
24. maintain ………. ……………..
25. direct ………. ……………..
26. maintain ………. ……………..
27. strong ………. ……………..
28. wide ………. ……………..

2. Verbalizer
This derivational morpheme is attached to the stem to form
a verb. Verbs can be formed by adding the prefix en- and suffix –en,
–ify, -ate, -ize to adjectives as in:

large → enlarge
sharp → sharpen
deep → deepen
pure (adj.) → purify (v.)
active (adj.) → activate (v.)
clear → clarify
general → generalize

or to nouns as in:
danger → endanger
courage → encourage
class → classify
summary → summarize

Exercise 18 Write down new words from the words in the list below
by combining each of them with the appropriate
verbalizers: en-, -en, –ify, -ate, -ize !

Stem Prefix/ Suffix New Word

1. danger en- endanger
2. counter ………. ……………..

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 3. large ………. ……………..
4. power ………. ……………..
5. short ………. ……………..
6. dark ………. ……………..
7. thick ………. ……………..
8. pure ………. ……………..
9. class ………. ……………..
10. beauty ………. ……………..
11. colony ………. ……………..
12. capital ………. ……………..
13. note ………. ……………..
14. character ………. ……………..
15. optimum ………. ……………..
16. bright ………. ……………..
17. minimum ………. ……………..
18. familiar ………. ……………..
19. sure ………. ……………..
20. circle ………. ……………..

3. Adjectivizer
This derivational morpheme is attached to the stem (noun)
to form an adjective. In other words, an adjective may be derived
from a noun by adding the suffix –ish, -ful, -al, -able/ -ible, -y and –
ous to the noun as in:
book → bookish
child → childish
beauty → beautiful
person → personal
humor → humorous
respect → respectable
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 rain → rainy
sun → sunny
mud → muddy
shadow → shadowy
and the suffix –able, and -ive to a verb, as in the following
examples:
count → countable
obtain → obtainable
expect → expectable
collect → collective

Exercise 19 Write down new words from the words in the list below
by combining each of them with the accurate
adjectivizer: -ish, -ful, -al, -ous, able, -ive!

Stem Prefix/ Suffix New Word

1. danger -ous dangerous
2. color ………. ……………..
3. meaning ………. ……………..
4. desire ………. ……………..
5. favor ………. ……………..
6. comprehend ………. ……………..
7. achieve ………. ……………..
8. boy ………. ……………..
9. procedure ………. ……………..
10. center ………. ……………..
11. continue ………. ……………..
12. select ………. ……………..
13. attract ………. ……………..
14. beauty ………. ……………..
15. response ………. ……………..

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 16. knowledge ………. ……………..
6. Adverbializer
This derivational morpheme is attached to the stem to form
an adverb. Adverbs can be derived from adjectives or nouns by
adding the suffix –ly to the adjectives. For example,
slow (adj.) → slowly (adv.)
neat (adj.) → neatly (adv.)
loud (adj.) → loudly (adv.)
careful (adj.) → carefully (adv.)

Exercise 20 Write down the adverbs from the words in the list
below by applying the rules!

1. separate ……………………………………….
2. week ……………………………………….
3. angry ……………………………………….
4. accept ……………………………………….
5. continue ……………………………………….
6. year ……………………………………….
7. easy ……………………………………….
8. happy ……………………………………….
9. day ……………………………………….
10. comprehend ……………………………………….
11. manual ……………………………………….
12. humor ……………………………………….
13. increase ……………………………………….
14. careless ……………………………………….
15. significant ……………………………………….

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IV. Formal Relationship of Morphemes
The formal relationship of morphemes to each other is
classified into two types, namely structural and positional
relationship.

4.1 Structural Relationship of Morphemes to Each Other

In terms of their structural relationship to each other,
morphemes are classified as additive, replacive, and subtractive
morphemes.

1) Additive Morphemes
Additive morphemes include roots, prefixes, suffixes, infixes,
and reduplicative. Roots constitute the basic or core element of
most words, such as large, small, kick.
Prefixes are bound elements which precede the root, such
as re-, un-, dis-, en-, while suffixes are bound elements which follow
the root, such as –ed, -s, -ing, -en.
Infixes occur within the root, such as –em-, -er-, -el- in jari →
jemari, suling → seruling, gigi → geligi in Indonesian.
Reduplicatives are the repetition of some or all part of a
root/stem. When all part of the stem is repeated it is called
repetition, such as jalan-jalan, buku-buku, sore-sore in Indonesian;
senggol-senggolan in Javanese; and if only a part of the stem is
repeated it is called reduplication as in sambung-sinambung.

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2) Replacive Morpheme
Certain morphemes replace parts of stem. These are
structurally different from additive which is added to the stem.
Replacive morphemes may consist of any phonemic form. They
may be vowels, consonants, tones, nasalization, or combination of
such segmental and suprasegmental features. In English, replacive
morphemes are in large quantities illustrated in the verbs which
undergo a change of syllabic in the past-tense and participial
formation as in added /id/, stopped /t/, watched /d/, wanted
/id/; walked /t/, begged /d/; but they also occur in other
structure.
Example: depart → departure ⇒ t→ʧ
Suggest → suggest ion ⇒ t →ʧ
Proceed → procedure ⇒ d→ʤ
Press → pressure ⇒ s→ ʆ

3) Subtractive Morpheme
Phonemes may be subtracted from stems as well as added
to stem to signify some differences in meaning. They usually results
from historical process of sound change which becomes
morphologically meaningful.
Example: grande – grand,
longue – long,
distincte – distinct.

4.2 Positional Relationship of Morphemes to Each Other

In terms of their positional relationship to each other,
morphemes are divided into successive, included, and

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simultaneous. Most morphemes occur in succession, some
occurs in included position, both partial and complete. For example,
the Zoque morphemes –hay (benefactive) and –pa (present tense)
may occur in the sequence –hapya.
Suprasegmental phonemes always have simultaneous
occurrence with some segmental units. In some instances,
morphemes consisting of segmental phonemes may have a partial
or a complete simultaneous occurrence. For example, in English
form /mi:ðuw/ as optional variant of /mi:t ju/ meet you. The
phoneme / ð / is actually a part of two morphemes in that the
phoneme /t/ and /j/ of the basic forms of the morphemes have
joined together and another phoneme has taken their place. Look at
the occurrence of the following morphemes.
/ ki ʆ uw / for the sequence of morphemes kiss you
/ hiðuw / for the sequence of morphemes hit you
/ li uw / for the sequence of morphemes lead you

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