MORP H O LO G Y

MORPHOLOGY
• IT STUDIES THE PATTERNS OF FORMING WORDS BY COMBINING INTO
MINIMAL DISTINCTIVE UNITS OF MEANING CALLED MORPHEMES.
• IT IS THE STUDY OF WORD FORMATION : IT DEALS WITH THE INTERNAL
STRUCTURE OF WORDS.
• IT ALSO STURDIES THE CHANGES THAT TAKES PLACE IN THE STRUCTURE
OF WORDS.
MORPHEME
a. IT IS A WORD OR PART OF A WORD THAT HAS MEANING
b. IT CANNOT BE DIVIDED INTO SMALLER MEANINGFUL PARTS
WITHOUT VIOLATION OF ITS MEANING OR WITHOUT
MEANINGLESS REMAINDER
c. IT RECURS IN DIFFERENT WORDS WITH STABLE MEANING
MORPHEME
IT IS THE SMALLEST MEANINGFUL UNIT OF A LANGUAGE
UNHAPPINESS- 3 MORPHEMES (UN-), (HAPPY), (-NESS)
SALAMANDER- 1 MORPHEME
CATS – 1 WORD 2 MORPHEMS
ELEPHANT – 3 SYLLABLES 1 MORPHEME
MORPH
• A MORPH IS THE PHONETIC REALIZATION OF A MORPHEME OR THE WAY A MORPHEME IS
FORMED.

• SEEN AS A SEQUENCE OF PHONEMES

• MORPH IS THE SMALLEST UNIT THAT CARRIES MEANING BOTH IN WRITING AND SOUND
EXAMPLE:
COURAGEOUS- 2 MORPHEME, 3 MORPHS
COURAGE/ -OUS = 2 MORPHEME
COU/RA/GEOUS = 3 MORPHS
ALLOMORPH

• ALLOMORPHS ARE THE DISTINCT VARIANTS OF THE SAME MORPHEME

• THEY DIFFER IN SHAPE AND PRONUNCIATION ACCORDING TO THEIR CONDITION
AND FUNCTION
• THEY MAY BE PHONOLOGICALLY AND MORPHOLOGICALLY CONDITIONED
-(-S) WITH MORPHS ENDING IN /P,T,K, ETC/ IS PORDUCED WITH VOICELESS
SOUND
/P/- RAPS
/K/- THANKS
/T/- CATS
(-Z) WITH MORPH ENDING IN /D, G, M, V, ETC./ IS PRODUCED WITH VOICED
MORPHS
/D/- DOGS (DOGZ ) /G/- HUGS (HUGZ )
/M/- RIMS (RIMZ ) /V/- LOVES (LOVEZ )
(-IZ) WITH MORPHS ENDING IN /Z, S, X, ETC/ WITH SIBILANTS, AFFRICATES,
AND FRICATIVES
/S/ BUSES (BUSIZ)
/X/- BOXES (BOXIZ)
LEXEME
• LEXEMES ARE UNITS OF LEXICAL MEANING WHICH ARE RELATED WITH
INFLECTION
• EXAMPLE: WRITE- WRITES, WROTE, WRITTEN, WRITING
DRIVE- DRIVES, DROVE, DRIVEN, DRIVING
KICK- KICKS, KICKED, KICKING
LOVE- LOVES, LOVED, LOVING
MORPHEME
INFLECTIONAL MORPHEME

•INSERTED WITHIN THE ROOT OR STEM TO CREATE NEW WORDS

•DO NOT NECESSARILY CHANGE ITS MEANING
•FOCUSES ON THE (1) PLURALITY OF THE WORD, (2) POSSESIONS,
(3) TENSE, (4) DEGREE OF COMPARISON
EXAMPLES:
GIRL GIRLS (S) PLURALITY
KICK KICKS (S) THIRD PERSON/SING, VERB
TALK TALKED (-ED) PAST TENSE
WRITE WRITEN (-EN) PAST PARTICIPLE
GIVE GIVING (-ING) PRESENT
PARTICIPLE/PROGRESSIVE
WISE WISER (-ER) COMPARATIVE
HAPPY HAPPIEST (-EST) SUPERLATIVE
COLEEN COLEEN’S (‘S) POSSESIVE
DERIVATIONAL MORPHEME
• AFFIXES ATTACHED TO A FREE MORPHEME WHICH CHANGE THEIR
FUNCTIONAL MEANING
GIRL GIRLY (-LY)
WISE UNWISE (UN)
HAPPY HAPPINESS (NESS) HAPPILY (LY)
KIND UNKIND (UN) KINDLY (LY)
PLAY PLAYFUL (-FUL) PLAYFULNESS (-
NESS)
LEXICAL MORPHEME

• IDENTIFIED AS WORDS THAT CONTAIN MEANING OF THE MESSAGES AND OFTEN

REFERRED TO AS THE CONTENT WORDS.
• NOUN, VERB, MODIFIERS (ADJECTIVES)
• EXAMPLE: TALK, MAKE, CAT, STRANGE, PICK, BEAUTIFUL
GRAMMATICAL MORPHEME
• WORDS IN SENTECNCE THAT MOFIDY THE MEANING
• CAN BE DELETED IN SENTENCES
• PREPOSITIONS, PRONOUNS, CONJUNCTIONS, AND INTERJECTION
• EXAMPLE: BEYOND, UNDER, INTO, AT, HE, SHE, BUT, HOWEVER
SHE WENT INTO THE WOODS.
I FOUND HER AT THE OFFICE.
THE BALL IS BIG.