Group Names : Riyan Pratama Andallas [E1D117089]

Utari Aisyah [E1D117100]

Morphology

A. Definition of Morphology according to experts

1.Crystal (1980 : 232-233)
Morphology is the branch of grammar that examines the
structure or form of words, mainly through the use of
morpheme.
2.Samsuri (1988 : 15)
Morphology as a branch of linguistics that studies the
structure and forms of words.
3.Verhaar (1996 : 97)
Morphology is the branch of linguistics that identifies the
basic units of language as grammatical units.
4.Rochelle Lieber (2009 : 2)
Morphology is the study of word formation.
5.Fromkin , et . al
The study of the internal structure of words, and of the rules
by which words are formed, is Morphology.
 B. Own definition
1.Ryan
The study of word structure or deals with the study of how
words combine to form.
2.Utari
Morphology is the branch of linguistics that identifies the
basic units of language. Morphology studies the structure or
form of words as well as the effect of changes in word forms
on word groups and meanings.
C. Etymology and definition about Morpheme
Etymologically, morpheme from the French, by analogy with
phoneme, from the Greek, "shape, form”. The smallest
functioning unit in the composition of words, and the
minimal distinctive unit of grammar. Morphemes are
commonly classified into free forms (morphemes which can
occur as separate words) and bound forms (morphemes
which cannot so occur - mainly affixes).
1.Definition of morphology
 Morph (form) + ology ( science of)
→ morphology (the science of word forms) ,
 The study of the internal words, and the rules by
which words are formed,

so, morphology is the study of the structure of words

and the rules for word formation.
2.The Words of Language
 Lexicon: Our mental dictionary of all the words we
know
 Dictionaries describe the spelling, standard
pronunciation, definitions of meaning, and parts of
speech of each word
 They may also prescribe language use
3.Morphemes
They gave it me,” Humpty Dumpty continued, “for an un-
birthday present.”
“I beg your pardon?” Alice said with a puzzled air.
“I’m not offended,” said Humpty Dumpty.
“I mean, what is an un-birthday present?”
“A present given when it isn’t your birthday, of course.”
LEWIS CARROLL,
Through the Looking-Glass, 1871
In the foregoing dialogue, Humpty Dumpty is well aware that
the prefix un- means “not,” as further shown in the following
pairs of words:
A B
desirable undesirable
likely unlikely
inspired uninspired
happy unhappy
developed undeveloped
sophisticated unsophisticated

 Morpheme: the minimal units of meaning

 Morphemes can be words on their own, and/or can

often be combined with other morphemes to make
words
 E.g. the word book has one morpheme
 E.g. the word books has two morphemes:
book + -s
N plural marker
 The decomposition of words into morphemes illustrates
one of the fundamental properties of human language—
discreteness. In all languages, sound units combine to
form morphemes, morphemes combine to form words,
 and words combine to form larger units—phrases and
sentences.
 Discreteness is an important part of linguistic creativity.
We can combine morphemes in novel ways to create
new words whose meaning will be apparent to other
speakers of the language.
 writable
 rewritable
 unrewritable

Examples of Morphemes
one morpheme boy
desire
morph (“to change form”)
two morphemes boy + ish
desire + able
morph + ology
three morphemes boy + ish + ness
desire + able + ity
four morphemes gentle + man + li + ness
un + desire + able + ity
more than four un + gentle + man + li + ness
anti + dis + establish + ment + ari + an +
ism
4.Bound and Free Morphemes

 Free: morphemes that can stand alone

 E.g. boy, desire, gentle, man and so on
are single morpheme that can be uttered
with no other morphemes connected to it
 Bound: morphemes that cannot stand alone, but
must be attached to other morphemes
 E.g. -ish, -ness, -ly, pre-, trans-, and un-
are bound morphemes because they
cannot stand alone
 Prefixes: bound morphemes that attach to the
beginning of a root
 E.g. un- as in untie
  Suffixes: bound morphemes that attach to the end of a
root
 E.g. -ness as in kindness

 Infixes: morphemes that are inserted inside a root

 Bontoc (Phillippines):
fikas “strong” fumikas “to be strong”
kilad“red” kumilad “to be red”
 Circumfixes: affixes that attach to both the
beginning and the end of a root
 Chickasaw (USA):
 chokma “he is good” ikchokmo “he is
not good”
 lakna “it is yellow” iklakno “it is
not yellow”
5.Roots and Stems
 Roots: the morpheme base upon which other
morphemes are attached to create complex words:
un-love-able
 Stems: When a root morpheme is combined with
an affix, it forms a stem: un-lovable
root believe verb
stem believe + able verb + suffix
word un + believe + able prefix + verb + suffix
root system noun
stem system + atic noun + suffix
stem un + system + atic prefix + noun + suffix
stem un + system + atic + al prefix + noun + suffix
+ suffix
word un + system + atic + al + ly prefix + noun +
suffix + suffix + suffix