B.

MORPHOLOGY (THEORY)
WORD STRUCTURE
I. The Word:
A minimal free form that can occur in isolation , e.g. house
Its position to neighboring elements is not entirely fixed
II. The Morpheme
A. Definition
- The minimal meaningful unit of language used to build up the word
E.g. teacher
teach + er
Mor + Mor
B. Characteristics (features):
A morpheme cannot be broken down further, i.e. it cannot be divided
without altering or destroying its meaning.
E.g. are

a/r/e (meaningless)

III. Kind of morphemes

Morphemes can be classified according to a variety of ways:
1. Lexical morpheme vs. Grammatical morpheme:
Lexical morpheme
a linguistic form (a MORPHEME) which has the concept of itself, i.e.
the meaning about the world
e.g. table, love, buffalo
Grammatical morpheme
a linguistic form (a MORPHEME) which does not have concept about
the world, but just signals the grammatical relations between lexical
morphemes,
e.g. the table in the corner
G Lex

G G

Lex

2. Free morpheme vs. Bound morpheme

Free morpheme:
a linguistic form (a MORPHEME) which can be used on its own is
called a free form, e.g. Betty, horse, red, write, love, drive.
Bound morpheme:
a linguistic form (a MORPHEME) which is never used alone but
must be used with another morpheme, e.g. as an AFFIX or
COMBINING FORM. For example, the English suffix -ing must be
used with a verb stem, e.g. writing, loving, driving.
3. Root morpheme vs. Affixational morpheme (Affix)
Root morpheme: also base form
a MORPHEME which is the basic part of a word which can occur on
its own (e.g. English man, hold, cold, rhythm).

Affix
Affixes are BOUND FORMS that can be
added:
a. to the beginning of a word (= a prefix), e.g. English un- which
usually changes the meaning of a word to its opposite: kind
unkind
b. b to the end of a word (= a suffix), e.g. English -ness which
usually changes an adjective into a noun: kind kindness
4. Derivatitional morpheme vs. Inflectional
morpheme
Derivational morpheme a linguistic form (a MORPHEME) which
can help create a new word with new meaning and/or new syntactic
category,
E.g. work

+ er

worker

Action agent

agent of action

Inflectional morpheme:
a linguistic form (a MORPHEME) which does not help create new
word but just changes the grammatical forms of the same word,
E.g.

s (singular person)
-ed (past tense form)
WorkV

-ed (past participal form)

-ing (present particpal form)

E.g. WORK+ER+S
Root

Der Inf.
Classification of morphemes

SUGGESTED EXERCISES ON MORPHOLOGY (PRACTICE ON

WORD STRUCTURE)
Ex.1.
Consider the following words and answer the questions below.
a) loneliness
b) White House
c) undresses
d) unthinkable
immobility
f) decentralization
g) easiest
h) prefeasibility
unhappiness j) lovelier k) optionality l) independently

e)
i)

Group the morphemes of these words into free morphemes and bound
morphemes and state whether the bound morphemes are inflectional
affixes or derivational affixes.
The first two words (loneliness and White House) have been done for
you
Word

Free morpheme

Bound morpheme
Derivational
affix

Inflectional
affix

loneliness

lone

-ly, -ness

White House

White, house

undresses

dress

un-

es

unthinkable

think

un-, -able

immobility

mobile

im-, -ity

decentralizatio
n

centre

de-,
-al,
-ation

easiest

ease

-y

prefeasibility

fease

pre-, -ible, -ity

unhappiness

happy

un-, -ness

lovelier

love

-ly

optionality

opt

-ion, -al, -ity

independently

depend

in-,-ent, -ly

-ize,
-est

-er

Ex.2.
Fill in the blanks with suitable words or phrases suggested
below in order to make the passages meaningful (some
words can be used twice) (3ms)
affixes, bases, bound, bound, derivational, free, independent, infixes,
inflectional
meaningful, morphemes, prefixes, single, suffixes, syllables, verb,
morphology
-----0 ------ is the arrangement and relationships of the smallest
------1------ units in a language. These minimum units of meaning are
called -----2------- . Note that morphemes are not identical to ----3------:
the form don't has one syllable but two -----4--------, do and not.

Conversely, the word Wisconsin has three syllables but is a ------5-------morpheme.

It is often useful to distinguish between -----6----- and ------7------morphemes. ---------8-------- morphemes can be used alone as ------9------words - for example, take, for, each, the, panda. ----10------- morphemes
form words only when attached to at least one other morpheme; re-,
dis-, un-, -ing, -ful, and -tion are all bound morphemes. The most familiar
bound morphemes are -----11------- (that is, prefixes and suffixes), but
even -----12-------- (forms to which affixes are attached) can be bound. An
example of a bound base is the -cept of such words as except, accept,
deceptive, and reception.
Some languages also have ------13---------, which appear inside a word,
but these are not important for English. Another classification of affixes
distinguishes -------14----- and -----15------ affixes. For instance, the -s used
to form plurals and the -ed used to indicate past tense are -------16-------affixes.
--------17--------- affixes may be either prefixes or suffixes. Most
derivational ------18--------- simply change the meaning of the word to
which they are attached (uniform, transplant, microwave, unbelievable,
desensitize). Derivational ------19------ normally change the part-ofspeech category and may also change the meaning of the word to which
they are attached. For example, -ify in codify changes the noun code to
a -----20-------.
E.g.
0
1

morphology
1

1
1

1
7

1
8

1
1

1
6

1
9

1
5

2
0

Ex3.
Consider the following words and answer the questions below
a) loneliness b) employees c) uncomfortably
killers f) ageless

d) invalid

e) lady-

Group the morphemes of these words into free morphemes and bound
morphemes and state whether the bound morphemes are inflectional
affixes or derivational affixes.
The first words (loneliness) has been done for you

Word

Free morpheme

Bound morpheme
Derivational
affix

E.g. loneliness

Lone

Inflectional
affix

-ly, -ness

employees
uncomfortably
Invalid
lady-killers
ageless
Ex4.
Fill in the blanks with suitable words or phrases suggested
below in order to make the passages meaningful (some
words can be used twice)
/ inflectional/ words/ derivational / bound / meaning / acronyms/ forms/
formation / free / internal
When you know a word you know both its sound and its (1)__________;
these are inseparable parts of the linguistic signs. The study of word (2)
__________and the (3) ___________structure of words is called morphology.
Morphemes combine according to the morphological rules of the
language. Some morphemes are (4) ___________; they must be joined to
other morphemes as parts of (5) _______. Other morphemes are (6)
__________; they need not be attached to other morphemes.
Morphemes may also be classified as (7) ___________ or inflectional. (8)
___________morphemes can change the syntactic category of the word
which they combine; (9) _____________morphemes never change the
syntactic category of the word.
(10) ____________are words derived from the initials of several words.
Please write the answers in the box below.
1.

06.

2.

07.

3.

08.

4.

09.

5.

10.

Ex5.
The representation of the internal structure of words
Words consisting of one or more morphemes
Single word
One morpheme

Complex word
Two

Three

More than three

And
Boy

boy-s

Hunt

hunt-er

hunt-er-s

hospital

hospital-ize

hospital-ize-ation

hospital-izeation-s

Gentle

gentle-man

gentle-man-ly

gentle-man-liness

Morphology deals with the internal structure of complex words only

The representation of the internal structure of the word
Tree & Bracket diagram: The diagram shows how a word begins at the
root and is built up one affix at a time.
Tree Structure
1. Analyze the word into separate morphemes
2. Start the building up at the root
3. Only one morpheme/affix can be added to the stem at one time
4. The number of morphemes is equal to the number of the layers of
the tree

Represent the internal structure of the following words by drawing the

tree structure and bracket diagram
Decentralization; nationalization, uncomfortableness, optionality,
undifferentiated, underdeveloped
WORD FORMATION (THEORY)
I.

Derivation

Derivation is the process by which affixes combine with roots to create

new words (e.g. in 'modern-ize', 'read-er', '-ize' and '-er' are derivational
suffixes).

II.

Compounding

Compounding is a morphological process to create new words by joining 2 or

more words
(simple or complex). Examples: skateboard, whitewash, cat lover, self-help, redhot, etc.
III.

Zero derivation: (also called conversion or functional shift):

Zero edrivation is a process by which a new word is created without the

adding of any affix but just by assigning a new syntactic category to the
already existing word.
Examples: Noun
proposition.
IV. Stress shift:

verb: comb, sand, knife, butter, referee,

Stress shift is a morphological process to create new words by shifting

the stress from one syllable to the other.
Noun
cmbine
mplant
rwrite
trnsport
Noun
cncrete
bstract

Verb
combne
implnt
rewrte
transprt
Adjective
concrte
abstrct

V. Clipping:
Clipping is a morphological process to create new words by by
shortening of a polysyllabic word (usually N and A)
Examples: bro (< brother)
pro (< professional)
prof (< professor)
math (< mathematics)
veg (< 'vegetate', as in veg out in front of the TV)
Types of Clipping :
+ Initial clipping : the first part of a word is clipped :
E.g. telephone

phone, helicopter

copter

+ Final clipping : the last part of a word is clipped :

E.g. Advertisement ad , microphone

mike

+ Initio - final clipping : the first and the last part are clipped
E.g. influenza flu , detective tec
+ Elliptico - conversional clipping (phrasal clipping):
E.g. popular music
Popular (music)

Pop(ular)
popA
popN
perm (from permanent ware), taxicab (from taxi meter - cab)
VI. Acronymy:
Acronymy is a morphological process by which new words are
formed from the initials of a group of words.
Examples: AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
radar (radio detecting and ranging)

VII. Blending:
Blending is a morphological process by which parts of two alreadyexisting words are put together to form a new word.
Examples: motel (motorist hotel)
brunch (breakfast & lunch)
smog (smoke & fog)
telethon (television & marathon)
modem (modulator & demodulator)
Spanglish (Spanish & English).
VIII. Backformation:
Backformationg is a morphological process to create new words by
cutting an affix off an already-existing word
Examples: pronunciate (< pronunciation < pronounce)
enthuse (< enthusiasm)
self-destruct (< self-destruction < destroy)
burger (< hamburger)
IX. Adoption of brand names as common words:
Backformationg is a morphological process by which a brand
name becomes the name for the item or process associated with the
brand name and acts as a normal verb/noun.
Examples: xerox, yahoo
X. Onomatopoeia (pronounced: 'onno-motto-pay-uh'):

Onomatopoeia is a morphological process by which a new word is

created based on the imitation of the sound of the entity which produces
the sound.
Examples: hiss, sizzle, cuckoo, cock-a-doodle-doo, buzz, beep, dingdong.
XI. Borrowing:
Borrowing is a morphological process by which a new word is taken from
another language.
Examples: spaghetti, pizza (from Italian)

SUGGESTED QUESTIONS
FORMATION)

ON

MORPHOLOGY

(THEORY

ON

1. What are the most common types of word formation in

English? Define them with illustrations
The two most common types of word formation: derivation and
compounding
Derivation is the process by which a new word is built from a base,
usually through the addition of an affix.
E.g.
Compounding is the process involving the combination of two words
(with or without accompanying affixes) to yield a new word.
E.g.
2. Explain the three criteria which are commonly used to help
distinguish between inflection and derivational affixes.
(C.L, p. 129-131)
Inflection can be distinguished from derivation according to the
following criteria:
1) Category Change:
Inflectional affixes never change either the category ( the part of
speech) or the type of meaning of the base morpheme, e.g. both eat
and eats are verbs with the same content or meaning. On the other
hand, derivational affixes characteristically change the category and/or
the type of meaning of the form to which they applied,
e.g. modern (A)
(property X)

+ ize
+ ize

modernize (V)
(action/ process of X)

WORD

2) Positioning within the word:

inflectional affixes are the last member to be added to the base
morpheme, following derivational affixes, e.g. in modernize
modernizes, the inflectional s follows the derivational affix ize. If an
inflectional suffix is added to a verb, as with modernizes, then no further
derivational suffixes can be added, e.g. [ [disDER [appear]V ]V sINF]V
3) Productivity:
Inflectional affixes typically have very few exceptions, e.g. the suffix s
can combine with any noun that allows a plural form. In contrast,
derivational affixes characteristically apply to restricted classes of
stems, e.g. terror (N) + ize
terrorize (V)
but horror (N) + ize

horrorize

(V) ( -)
Besides the principles mentioned above, it can be seen that inflection
makes use of only suffixes whereas derivation utilizes either prefixes or
suffixes, e.g.
Inflectional affixes: suffix
suffixes

Derivational affixes: both prefixes and

worked

co-worker

inflectional

derivational

derivational

SUGGESTED EXERCISES (PRACTICE ON WORD FORMATION)

Ex1.
Consider the following words in column 1 and column 2
Column 1
process

Column 2

Morphological

State the morphological process that is responsible for the creation of

the new words
in column 2
E.g. air-conditioner

air-condition

1) employ
employer
....................................
2) breakfast and lunch
brunch
....................................
3) house-keeping
house-keep
....................................
4) peel (N)
peel (V)
....................................
5) memorandum
memo
....................................

Back derivation

6) 'subject
sub"ject
....................................
7) sun, rise
sunrise
....................................
8) Palestine Liberation Organization PLO
....................................
9) advertisement
ad
....................................
10) lose
loser
....................................
Ex2.
Consider the following words in column 1
From each of the words in column 1, create new words and write
them in column 2
as suggested in the morphological process.
Column 1
process

Column 2

Morphological

E.g. "record

re"cord

stress shift

1) refrigerator
clipping

.........................

2) editor
formation

.........................

3) calm
conversion

.........................

4) day, dream
compounding
5) useful
derivation
6) human immunodeficiency virus
acronymy
7) binary, digit
blending
8) intercommunication system
clipping

initial-final

.........................
.........................
.........................
.........................
.........................

9) compact disk, read-only-memory .........................

acronymy
10) arrange
derivation

Ex3.

.........................

back-

Indicate the syntactic relations of compounding elements by

paraphrasing the following compounds:
Sunrise, washing machine, sightseeing, birth-control, baby -sitter
Sunrise : Noun compound
Syntactic relation: subject and verb compound
Sunrise ~ the sun rises
N + deverbal N

2. Washing machine: compound noun

Syntactic relation: Verb and adverbial compound
washing machine ~ X washes with the machine
Verbal N

+ N

ADV

E.g. swimming pool

3. sightseeing: Adjective compound
Syntactic relation: Verb and object compound
sightseeing
N

~ X sees sights (in a tour)

+ -ing participle

Obj

sightseeing: Noun compound

Syntactic relation: Verb and object compound
sightseeing
N

~ X sees sights

+ verbal N

Obj

E.g. dressmaking ~ X makes dresses

4. birthcontrol: Verb and object compound
birthcontrol
N

X controls birth

+ deverbal N

Obj

E.g. bloodtest ~ X tests blood

5. baby-sitter: Compound noun
Syntactic relation: Verb and object compound
baby-sitter
N + Agentive N

~ X sits the baby (in bed)

V

Obj