1. “Word Classes and Affixes”
MORPHOLOGY
“Word Classes and Affixes”
Deny A. Kwary

2. Main Divisions of Word Classes (Parts of Speech):
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Content Words
Function Words
Conjunctions
Prepositions
Articles
Pronouns

3. Exercise: Determine the word class of each of the following words
canine
the
him
elegant
inconvenience
eloquently
comply
inasmuch as
over
Noun
Article
Pronoun
Adjective
Adverb
Verb
Conjunction
Preposition

4. Morpheme: The minimal unit of meaning
Free morpheme: a single morpheme that constitutes a word and can stand alone.
Bound morpheme: a morpheme that must be attached to another morpheme.

5. Question #2 a, b, i, j, k, l, m Example:
Retroactive = retro + act + ive
Free morpheme = act
Bound morphemes = retro-, -ive

6. English Affixes (based on the position)
Prefix: An affix that occurs before a morpheme
Suffix: An affix that occurs after a morpheme

7. English Prefixes Examples of Negative Prefixes: un- non- dis- a-
Examples of size and degree prefixes:
mini- sub- over- super-

8. English Suffixes Class preserving suffixation: -er  lecturer
-ian librarian
-ist  scientist
-let  piglet
Class changing suffixation:
Verb  Noun
perform performance
Adjective  Adverb
nice  nicely
Adjective  Noun
active  activity

9. Affixes (based on the function)
Inflections vs. Derivations

10. Definition
Derivational morpheme: deriving (creating) a new word with a new meaning.
Inflectional morpheme: changing the form of a word because of the rules of syntax.

11. English Inflectional Morphemes
Nouns
–s plural
–’s possessive
Verbs
–s third person singular present
–ed past tense
–en past participle
–ing progressive
Adjectives
–er comparative
–est superlative

12. Some examples of English Derivational Morpheme
-ic : Noun  Adj ; alcohol  alcoholic
-ance : Verb  Noun ; clear  clearance
-ly : Adj  Adv ; exact  exactly
-ity : Adj  Noun ; active  activity
-able : Verb  Adj ; read  readable
-ship : Noun  Noun ; friend  friendship
re : Verb  Verb ; cover  recover
in- : Adj  Adj ; definite  indefinite

13. Describe the italic affixes:
impossible
terrorized
terrorize
desks
dislike
humanity
fastest
Derivational prefix
Inflectional suffix
Derivational suffix

14. Describe the italic affixes:
premature
untie
darken
fallen
oxen
faster
lecturer
Derivational prefix
Derivational suffix
Inflectional suffix

15. That’s All For Today
See You Next Week
Deny A. Kwary