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MORPHOLOGY definition; variability among languages.

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Presentation on theme: "MORPHOLOGY definition; variability among languages."— Presentation transcript:

1 MORPHOLOGY definition; variability among languages

2 What is a morpheme? The smallest unit that has a meaning or
grammatical function

3 Free morpheme v. bound morpheme
Free morphemes are single morphemes which constitute words. Bound morphemes are morphemes which can only occur in words attached to other morphemes: prefixes, suffixes, infixes, etc.

4 Affixes suffix, prefix, infix, circumfix An affix is a bound morpheme
attached to a stem or root morpheme Types of affixes are: suffix, prefix, infix, circumfix

5 A single word may be composed of one or more morphemes
1 morpheme product 2 morphemes productive 3 morphemes productivity 4 morphemes unproductivity

6 What type of word is the suffix -er attached to?
As the meaning (function) of this suffix can vary, we must consider these two different morphemes.

7 Derivational v. Inflectional affixes
Derivational affixes change part of speech or meaning of word are not required by syntax are not productive occur before inflectional suffixes may be prefixes or suffixes Are not productive means that they are selective about what they combine with. For example the suffix -tion doesn’t combine with just any verb

8 Derivational v. Inflectional affixes
meaning isn’t changed; neither is part of speech. (different form of word produced) required by syntax; typically indicate syntactic or semantic relations between different words are very productive occur at margin of word in English, only suffixes IN ENGLISH INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES ARE ALL SUFFIXES. NOT THE CASE IN ALL LANGUAGES. ONLY 8 INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES IN ENG. LISTED IN BOOK

9 Content v. function morphemes
Content morphemes are morphemes which carry semantic content. Function morphemes are morphemes which have a grammatical function derivational morphemes are content morphemes and inflectional morphemes are function morphemes Content morpheme: have some kind of independent, identifiable meaning or indicate a change in meaning when added to a word. Function morphemes provide info. about grammatical function by relating certain words in sentence to each other.

10 Are free morphemes content or function morphemes?
BOTH Examples of function morphemes which are also free morphemes in ENG. are prepositions, a articles, pronouns, and conjunctions


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