4 Chapter 4 Morphology4 Chapter 4 Morphology.pptVIP

Chapter Four Morphology 1. Defining morphology Some notions End of Chapter Four * * Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words, and of the rules by which words are formed (word formation) the formal representation of words in writing the total number of words stored in the brain Orthography: Lexicon: 2 Morpheme 2.1 Defining morphemes A morpheme is the minimal unit of meaning. a unit which cannot be divided without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical. A morpheme is the smallest unit in terms of relationship between expression and content, 2 Morpheme Some examples of morphemes: 1-morpheme boy, desire, go: 2-morpheme boyish, desirable, went: 3-morpheme boyishness, desirability: 4-morpheme gentlemanliness, undesirability: 5-morpheme ungentlemanliness: Over 5-morpheme antidisestablishmentarianism: 2 Morpheme 2.2 Allomorph the actual representation of a morpheme Some morphemes have a single form in all contexts. Examples: ‘dog’, ‘desk’ and ‘class’ In some contexts, a morpheme may have alternate shapes or phonetic forms. So when a morpheme can be realized by different forms in different contexts or environments, they are called allomorphs of the same morpheme. 2 Morpheme 2.2 Allomorph 2 Morpheme 2.2 Allomorph {a} a / an / An example: elsewhere [-consonantal] Suppletives words that are not related in form to indicate grammatical contrast with the root 2 Morpheme 2.3 Classification of morphemes Free morpheme A free morpheme is one that may constitute a word by itself. Examples: boy, bed, etc Bound morpheme A bound morpheme is one that may appear with at least one other morpheme. Examples: –s in dogs, -al in national 2 Morpheme 2.3 Classification of morphemes Some further notes Bound morphemes are traditionally called affixes in terms of position. Affixes are further divided int