 One of the fundamental properties of human

language.(6 fundamentals: productivity, creativity, displacement ,

arbitrariness , duality and discreteness)
 Discrete linguistic units – combine in a rule
governed ways to form larger units.
 Sound Units - combine to form morphemes
 Morphemes – combine to form word
 Words – combine to form larger units (phrases &
sentences) and so on.
 Grammar – set of rules that explain how words
are used in a language.
 A study of the internal structure of words,
and of rules by which words are form.

 Morph - means 'shape, form',

 Ology - means ‘science of, branch of
knowledge concerning’.

 The science of word forms.

 A morpheme refers to the smallest meaningful
element of a word. A morpheme cannot be further
broken into parts.

For example: chair, dog, bird, table and computer

 As you can see they express a direct meaning yet

cannot be further separated into smaller parts.
 However, a morpheme is not similar to a syllable
as it carries a meaning. For example, when we say
giraffe, it consists of a number of syllables but a
single morpheme. However, this is not always the
case. Sometimes a single word can carry a
number of morphemes.
 If we take the word ‘regained’, this word
consists of 3 morphemes. They are, ‘re’ , ‘gain’
and ‘ed’.

Note: A morpheme cannot be further broken into

parts. (SMALLEST MEANINGFUL)
A "morpheme" is a short segment of language that
meets three basic criteria:

 1. It is a word or a part of a word that has

meaning.

 2. It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful

segments without changing its meaning or leaving a
meaningless remainder.

 3. It has relatively the same stable meaning in
different verbal environments.
 A word can be defined as a meaningful element of a
language. Unlike a morpheme, it can always stand
alone. A word can consist of a single morpheme or a
number of morphemes.

 For example: reconstruct

 it is a single word, but it is not a single morpheme

but two morphemes together (‘re‘ and ‘construct‘).
 When forming phrases or sentences, we use a
number of words.
 For example: Didn’t you hear, he has been
reassigned to the head office.

 it is a combination of words that convey a

meaning to the reader.

 ‘reassigned’; this once again conveys a

complete meaning. But even though this is a
single word, it consists of a number of
morphemes. They are, ‘re’ , ‘assign’, ‘ed’.
 What is the difference
between morpheme and
word?
 The difference between the two is
that,
A WORD ALWAYS CONVEYS A
MEANING,
While
A MORPHEME CAN SOMETIMES
CONVEY A MEANING AND
SOMETIMES NOT.
 Open class/Content Morphemes

 Close class/Function Morphemes

 Free Morphemes

 Bound Morphemes

 Derivational Morphemes

 Inflectional Morphemes
 Words that denotes concept such as objects,
action, attributes, ideas.

 NOUNS

 VERBS

 ADJECTIVES

 ADVERBS
 Words that do not have clear lexical meaning.
 They specify grammatical relation and no
semantic content.
Examples:
 Conjunctions: ( and, or, & but )
 Prepositions: ( in, on, over & of )
 Articles: ( the, an, & a )
 Pronouns: ( it, I, me, mine, myself, she,
her, hers, herself, we, us, ours and
ourselves.)
 Words that can stand alone with a specific
meaning.
 Words that can function independently.
Examples:
 dog
 town
 milk
 table
 It appears only as a part of words.
 Words that can not stand alone without specific
meaning.
Examples: Affixes
Prefixes: (unstable, dismiss, illegal, etc.)
Suffixes: (commonly, sadness, truthful , etc.)
Infixes: in Philippine language (kinain, kumain)
Circumfixes: (unfaithful, unhappiness)
Root – lexical content morpheme that cannot be
divide/analyzed into smaller parts.
Examples: ( painter, reread, conceive ).
er, re, con, ceive can’t stand alone as a word.

 Stem – form when root is combine with affixes.

which may or may not a word.

Note: Other affixes can be added to stem to form

more complex stems.
Word ( believable, systematic, sadness. )
Not a word ( unbelieve, unsystem, unsad.)

root believe verb

stem believe + able verb+suffix
word un + believe + able prefix+verb+suffix
Complex word:
root system noun
stem system+atic noun+suffix
stem un+system+atic+al prefix+noun+suffix+suffix
word un+system+atic+al+ly prefix+noun+suffix+
suffix+suffix
Affixes Phonetic Pronunciation
a afraid
able drinkable
age package
al normal
be behold
bi bicycle
com commit
con confess
de deport
dis dismiss
er hotter
est saddest
 ex expand
ful helpful
im imperfect
in inside
ing dusting
ion action
ish punish
ive captive
less restless
ly friendly
ment shipment
mid midterm
mono monorail
ness goodness
 ous monstrous
out outlast
post postseason
pre pretend
pro provide
re resell
semi semicircle
ship friendship
teen fifteen
un unhappy
uni uniform
ward seaward
y muddy
 Words like:
 ( conceive, perceive, deceive, receive,)
 ( cranberry, huckleberry, boysenberry,)
 ( remit, permit, submit, transmit.)
 ( bastard, coward, drunkard,)
 ( twilight ) and ( lukewarm )
 Words that have definition but present
problems for linguistic analysis. Words
that cannot be analyzed into simpler
elements
Form when bound morphemes are added to a base
to form new words with a new meaning.
Examples:
PURE “free of any contamination”
Pure + ify purify “ to make pure ”

SIMPLE “presenting no difficulty”.

Simple + ify simplify “ to make simple ”
 Adding affixes to adjective forms a verb.
Example:
Adjective + ify ----------- verb “ to make”.
Simple + ify -------------- simplify
Pure + ify ---------------- purify

 Adding affixes to verb forms a noun.

Example:
Verb + cation ------------ noun “the process of making”
Simplify + cation -------- simplification
Purify + cation ---------- purification
 Word is not a simple sequence of morphemes, it has
an internal structure.
Example: system
1 morpheme system
2 morphemes system+atic
3 morphemes system+atic+cal
4 morphemes system+atic+cal+ly
More than 4 un+system+atic+cal+ly
un+gentle+man+li+ness
anti+dis+establish+ment+ari+an+ism
Adjective this tree represent
the application of
un adjetive two morphological
rules
noun atic

system
 Unsystematic

1. noun + atic adjective ( systematic )

2. un + adjective adjective (unsystematic)

 Rule 1. attaches the derivational suffixes – atic to the

root noun, forming an adjective.

 Rule 2. takes the adjective formed of Rule 1. and

attaches the derivational prefix –un.
 The diagram shows that the entire word is
“unsystematic “ is an adjective that is composed
of an adjective “systematic” plus –un but not with
“unsystem “ to form an adjective “unsystematic
“ because unsystem is not a word.
 The adjective is itself composed of a noun
“system” plus the suffix –atic.
Note: there is no rule of English that allows –un to be
added to nouns because the result is a not possible
word or non word.
 Adverb

adjective + ly

adjective + al

un + adjective

noun + atic

system
 Unlockable - “not able to be locked”
adjective

un adjective

verb able

lock
 Unlockable - “able to be unlocked”

adjective

verb able

un verb

lock
Examples:

 Unlockable “ not able to be locked “ or

able to be unlocked”

 Unlossen “ loosen” or “let lossen”

 Undo “ reverse doing”

 Unrip “ rip” or “undo by ripping”

1.) The addition of a suffixes triggers subtle
changes in pronunciation
Examples:
Suffixes: ity, y, ive, and ize:

In: specific ------- specificity,

sane-----------sanity,
deduce---------deductive
critic-----------criticize
2.) the addition of a suffix without affecting
pronunciation:
Examples:
Suffixes: er, ful, ish, ly, and ness

In: bake---------baker
use----------useful
child---------childish
common------commonly
sad----------sadness
Noun to adjective Verb to noun
boy + ish acquitt + al
virtu + ous clear + rance
picture + esque accus + ation
affection + ate confer + ence
health + ful sing + er
alcohol + ic conform + ist
life + like free + dom
Adjective to adverb noun to verb
exact + ly moral + ize
Quitely + ly vaccin + ate
brand + ish
Adjective to noun verb to adjective
tall + ness read + able
specific + ity creat + ive
feudal + ism migrat + ory
abstract + ion run + (n)y
 Noun to noun: ( friendly + ship )
( human + ity )

 Verb to verb: ( un + do and re + cover )

 Adjective to adjective: ( pink + ish _

(in + flammable )
 a + moral
 mono + theism

 re + paint
 auto + biography
 ex + wife

 semi + animal
 super + human
 sub + minimal
When a new word enters the lexicon by the
application of morphological rules other complex
derivation may blocked.
Ex: Communist
Blocked: communite & communian

Accidental gap – lexical gap/possible words or a

well formed but non existing words.
Ex: blick, slarm, krobe
Like the word bnick – there’s no possible English
word that start in “bn” as silent b.
 Morphemes that can be use freely to form a
new word from the list of free and bound
morphemes.
Ex: the suffix “ able”, and “er”
 Antonyms/negative morpheme –
morpheme that is opposite to the meaning of
another word by adding affixes.
 Ex: the suffix “ il”, “un”, “im” and “in”.
 In: illegal, untold, impossible, and
incorrect.
There are 6 ways to form new words.
1. Compounds are a combination of words,
acronyms are derived from the initials of
words,
2. Back-formations are created from removing
what is mistakenly considered to be an affix,
3. Abbreviations or clippings are shortening
longer words,
4. Eponyms are created from proper nouns
(names),
5. Blending is combining parts of words into
one.
6. Coinage - words that created outright to fit
some purpose as in advertising industry.
1. Compounds – words that joined together to
form a new word.

Ex: blackboard, headstrong, and lifelong etc.

Head – the right most part of a word or phrase
determines its broad or grammatical category.
1st category: noun + noun = noun
Ex: (girl+friend), (land+lord) and (mail+man)

2nd category: adjective +adjective = adjective

Ex: (icy+cold), (red+hot) and (worthy+wise)

3rd category: preposition + non-preposition

Ex: overtake, undertake, sundown, afterbirth and
downfall.
Closed compound words are formed when two
unique words are joined together.
Ex: blackboard, girlfriend, landlord

Open compound words have a space between the

words but when they are read together a new
meaning is formed
Ex: common sense, high school and bottled water.

 Hyphenated compound words are connected by a

hyphen.
 Ex: clean-cut, close-up, follow-up.
2. Back-formations – a mistaken
assumption that the ‘er’ was the agentive
suffix.

 Ex: (edit-editor), (stoke-stoker), (peddle-peddler).

Speakers use to abbreviate to shorten the message
they convey.
3. Abbreviate or Clipping
Ex: gymnasium - gym and professor – prof.
 Acronyms – derive from the initials of several
words.
 NASA – ( National Aeronautics and Space
Administration).
 RAM – ( Random Access Memory )
 LASER – ( Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation)
4. Eponyms are created from proper nouns
(names).

For Example:
Sandwich from Earl of Sandwich
Similar to compounds in that they are produced by
combining 2 words but parts of the words that are
combined are deleted.
Examples:
 Smoke + fog = smog
 breakfast + lunch = brunch
 motor + hotel = motel
 urine + analysis = urinalysis
 info + commercial = infomercial
6. Coinage - words that created outright to fit some
purpose as in advertising industry.
 Ex: kodak, nylon, xerox, jell-o, vaseline etc.
 Medical/Sciencetific terms:
 Thermometer- “greek thermos “hot” metron
“measure”
Phobia:
Logizomechanophobia (fear of reckoning machine)
Greek ”logizomai” to reckon or compute+
“mekhane” -device + “phobia”- fear.
Pornophobia (fear of prostitutes) Greek “porne”-
harlot/promiscuous woman + “phobia”- fear
 is a suffix that's added to a word to assign
a particular grammatical property to that
word.
 It modifies a verb’s tense, aspect, mood,
person, or number.
 It modifies a noun’s, pronoun’s, and
adjective’s number, gender, or case,
 Without affecting the word’s meaning or
class( part of speech)
Rules: add or change if:
1. -s noun plural
2. -'s noun possessive
3. -s verb present tense third personsingular
4. -ing verb present participle/gerund
5. -ed verb simple past tense
6. -en verb past perfect participle
7. -er adjective comparative
8. -est adjective superlative
 Rule is not applicable for irregular verbs.
 All verbs, whether regular or irregular,
have five forms [often called principal
parts]. These forms are the infinitive, simple
present, simple past, past participle, and
present participle.
 The difference between a regular and
an irregular verb is the formation of the
simple past and past participle.
 Simple Simple Past Present
Infinitive
Present Past Participle Participle

to laugh laugh(s) laughed laughed laughing

to start start(s) started started starting

to wash wash(es) washed washed washing

to wink wink(s) winked winked winking

 Simple Simple Past Present
Infinitive
Present Past Participle Participle

to drive drive(s) drove driven driving

to feel feel(s) felt felt feeling

to put put(s) put put putting

swimmin
to swim swim(s) swam swum
g
  (ENGLISH) MORPHEMES

BOUND FREE

AFFIX ROOT CONTENT FUNCTION

DERIVATIONAL INFLECTIONAL

PREFIX SUFFIX SUFFIX