Morphology - Chapter 1 - Morphemes

TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY
Faculty of Foreign Languages
MORPHOLOGY - 001167
Chapter 1: MORPHEMES
Designed by Lam Quang Tuyet Minh

001167 – Chapter 1 -
08/10/2020 1
MORPHEMES
CHAPTER 1 - CONTENTS
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Definition of Morphemes
1.3 Free and Bound Morphemes
1.4 Bases
1.5 Affixes
1.6 Inflectional Affixes
1.7 Derivational Affixes
1.8 Suffixal Homophones
1.9 Noun Feminine Forms
1.10 Noun Diminutive Forms
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1.2 DEFINITION
Morphology:
• The study of processes according to which
morphemes combine to form words;
[Stageberg, 2000:83]
• The study of the internal structure of words.
[Stageberg, 2000:87]

1.2 DEFINITION
Morphemes: the smallest meaningful unit in a
language. [Richards, Platt & Weber (1987)]
Morphemes: the smallest individually meaningful

elements in the utterances of a language. [Charles
Hockett (1958)]
e.g. teacher = {teach}, {-er}

students = {student}, {-s}

1.2 DEFINITION
A morpheme: a short segment of
language that meets three criteria:
1. It’s a word/ a part of word with meaning;
2. It’s indivisible;
3. It occurs in different verbal environments.

Exercise 8-1 (p.88)
How many morphemes does a word contain?
1. play 2. replay 3. date
4. antedate 5. hygiene 6. weak
7. weaken 8. man 9. manly
10. keep 11. keeper 12. able
13. unable 14. miniskirt 15. rain
16. rainy 17. cheap 18. cheaply
19. cheaper 20. cheapest21. cover
22. unemployment 23. verbalized
24. irrecoverable 25. deepening
26. undesirability 27. antidisestablishmentarianism

Exercise 8-2 (p.88)
Write the meaning of the italicized morphemes.
1. antedate
2. replay
3. manly
4. keeper
5. unable
6. rainy
7. cheapest
8. inactive
9. impossible
10.malfunction
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1.3 FREE and BOUND MORPHEMES
Morphemes: Free and Bound
A free morpheme: the one that can be uttered alone with

meaning. [Stageberg, 1983: 85]
e.g. {eat}, {certain}, {house}, {happy}…
A bound morpheme: may occur only when they combine

with another morpheme. [Jackson, 1980: 53]
e.g. {inter-}, {-vene}, {-er}, {-ly}…

Exercise 8-3 (p.89)
Underline the bound morphemes.

1. speaker 2. kingdom
3. petrodollar 4. idolize
5. selective 6. biomass
7. dug (pt.) 8. remake
9. dreamed 10. undo

1.4 BASES
Morphemes: Bases and Affixes
A base: a part of a word that has the principal

meaning.
e.g. loveable, annoyance, re-enter, denial,

audience, biochemistry

1.4 BASES
Free bases: can stand alone as a word when
the attached morphemes are removed.
e.g. unbreakable; friendship
Bound bases: never occur on their own and can

be joined to other morphemes.
e.g. sentiment, occur, monogamy

Exercise 8-4 (p.89)
Underline the bases in the words.

1. womanly 2. endear 3. failure
4. famous 5. infamous 6. lighten
7. enlighten 8. friendship 9. befriend
10. Bostonian 11. unlikely 12. prewar
13. subway 14. falsify 15.
unenlivened

Exercise 8-5 (p.90)
Write the meaning of the italicized BOUND BASES.
1. audience, audible, audition, auditory
2. suicide, patricide, matricide, infanticide
3. oral, oration, oracle, oratory
4. aquaplane, aquatic, aquarium
5. photography, biography, calligraphy
6. corps, corpse, corporation
7. monologue, monogamy, monochrome (adj.)
8. pendulum, pendant, suspender, impending
9. manual, manicure, manuscript
10. eject, reject, inject, project
1.5 AFFIXES
An affix:
a bound morpheme occurring
before, within, or after a base
PREFIX INFIX SUFFIX
unhappy, independent, geese, men, wrote happily, actor, loneliness

discovery

Exercise 8-10 (p.95)
Make each list into a word.
1. –ed, live, -en
2. -ing, -ate, termin
3. -er, -s, mor, -al, -ize
4. Provinc, -s, -ism, -ial
5. -ly, -some, grue
6. -ity, work, -able
7. In, -most, -er
8. marry, -age, -ity, -abil
9. -dom, -ster, gang
10. -ly, -ion, -ate, affect

1.6 INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES
The schema of the Inflectional affixes:
1. {-s pl}: dogs, oxen, mice
2. {-s sg ps}: boy’s, girl’s
3. {-s pl ps}: boys’, girls’
4. {-s 3d}: vacates, walks
5. {-ING vb}: discussing, talking
6. {-D pt}: chewed, rode
7. {-D pp}: chewed, eaten
8. {-ER cp}: bolder, nearer
9. {-EST sp}: boldest, nearest

1.6 INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES
The characteristics:
- Do not change the part of speech,
- Come last in a word,
- Go with all stems,
- Do not pile up.

1.7 DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES
e.g. unhappy, inconvenient, replay
adornment, failure, lecturer
Derivational affixes can change the meaning or the

word class of the words/ bases which they are added to.
 Derivational prefixes can change the word meaning.

 Derivational suffixes can change the word forms.

1.7 DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES
 can be bound morphemes (prefix, suffix).

 change the meaning and the word class of the ones which
they are attached to.
 do not close off a word.
 create new dictionary items  lexical morphemes.

Derivational vs Inflectional
morphemes
DERIVATIONAL INFLECTIONAL
MORPHEMES MORPHEMES
•Lexical function •Grammatical function
•Word class change •No word class change
•Meaning change •No meaning change
•No rules of grammar •Rules of grammar
•Pile up a word, before an •End a word, after a derivational
inflectional morpheme morpheme

1.8 SUFFIXAL HOMOPHONES
Some suffixes, inflectional and derivational,
have homophonous forms.
{-ER}
{-ER cp} {-ER n} {-ER rp}

bigger, fatter, smaller teacher, worker, fisher chatter, mutter, patter

Homophonous forms:
{-ING}
{-ING vb} {-ING nm} {-ING aj}

sleeping, burning, meeting, painting, charming, exciting,
talking wedding interesting

Homophonous forms:
{-D}
{-D pp} {-D aj}

chosen, given, finished excited, devoted, interested

Homophonous forms:
{-ly}
{-ly av} {-ly aj}

kindly, formally, happily friendly, manly, lovely

1.9 NOUN FEMININE FORMS
English has a small number of nouns with
feminine derivational suffixes.
SUFFIX MASCULINE FEMININE
-e fiancé fiancée
-ette farmer farmerette
-ine hero heroine
-ess tiger tigress

1.10 NOUN DIMINUTIVE FORMS
The morphemes convey a meaning of smallest or
endearment or both.
1. –ie, -i, -y auntie, Willy
2. –ette dinette, towelette
3. –kin, -ikin, --kins lambkin, manikin
4. –ling duckling, darling
5. –et circlet
6. –let booklet, starlet

HOMEWORK
Do the exercises in:
• [2]: 16-26, 28-43, 44-58
• [3]: 9, 87-113
• [4]: 1-27, 157-189
• [5]: 62-72

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TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Foreign Languages

Designed by Lam Quang Tuyet Minh

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Morphemes: the smallest individually meaningful

e.g. teacher = {teach}, {-er}

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A free morpheme: the one that can be uttered alone with

A bound morpheme: may occur only when they combine

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Underline the bound morphemes.

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A base: a part of a word that has the principal

e.g. loveable, annoyance, re-enter, denial,

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Bound bases: never occur on their own and can

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Underline the bases in the words.

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PREFIX INFIX SUFFIX

unhappy, independent, geese, men, wrote happily, actor, loneliness

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Derivational affixes can change the meaning or the

 Derivational prefixes can change the word meaning.

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 can be bound morphemes (prefix, suffix).

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{-ER cp} {-ER n} {-ER rp}

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{-ING vb} {-ING nm} {-ING aj}

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{-D pp} {-D aj}

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{-ly av} {-ly aj}

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