CSP
Morphology
Morphology is an important part of linguistics. It studies the internal structure of words. It helps us understand how words are formed and how they carry meaning. The word morphology comes from the Greek words morphē (form) and logos (study). So, morphology means the study of forms of words.
Every language uses words to express meaning. Words are made up of smaller meaningful parts. These smallest units of meaning are called morphemes. A morpheme cannot be divided further without losing meaning.
What is a Morpheme?
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful part of a word. It carries meaning or a grammatical function.
For instance, in the word teacher, there are two morphemes:
- teach (meaning: to instruct)
- -er (meaning: the person who does something)
When we join them, we get teacher, meaning “one who teaches.”
As the linguist Bloomfield said,
“A morpheme is a linguistic form which bears meaning and cannot be divided further.”
Classification of Morphemes
Morphemes can be classified in different ways. The main types are free morphemes and bound morphemes.
1. Free Morphemes
A free morpheme can stand alone as a word. It has a meaning by itself.
Words like book, run, happy, tree are free morphemes.
Free morphemes are of two kinds:
- Lexical morphemes
- Functional morphemes
a) Lexical Morphemes
These carry main meaning. They are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Examples: boy, jump, kind, softly
As linguist Fromkin said,
“Lexical morphemes are content words that carry the real meaning of a sentence.”
b) Functional Morphemes
These are words that connect or relate other words. They include prepositions, articles, conjunctions, and pronouns.
Examples: in, on, and, the, he, she
2. Bound Morphemes
A bound morpheme cannot stand alone. It must attach to another morpheme.
In cats, the morpheme cat is free, but -s is bound because it shows plural.
Bound morphemes are also of two types:
- Derivational morphemes
- Inflectional morphemes
a) Derivational Morphemes
Derivational morphemes create new words. They can change the part of speech or meaning of a word.
For instance:
- happy → unhappy (prefix un- changes meaning)
- teach → teacher (suffix -er makes a noun)
Derivational morphemes help build vocabulary. They give new forms to a base word.
b) Inflectional Morphemes
Inflectional morphemes do not create new words. They only add grammatical meaning like tense, number, person, or comparison.
English has only eight inflectional morphemes:
| Function | Morpheme | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Plural | -s | cats |
| Possessive | -‘s | boy’s |
| Third person singular | -s | runs |
| Past tense | -ed | walked |
| Present participle | -ing | walking |
| Past participle | -en | taken |
| Comparative | -er | taller |
| Superlative | -est | tallest |
Inflectional endings do not change the class of the word.
3. Allomorphs
Sometimes, the same morpheme appears in different forms depending on sound or spelling. These forms are called allomorphs.
For instance:
The plural morpheme -s has three allomorphs:
- /s/ as in cats
- /z/ as in dogs
- /ɪz/ as in boxes
All three have the same meaning (plural), but their forms differ.
4. Root, Base, and Affix
Every word has a root, which is the main part. The root carries the core meaning.
A base is any form to which an affix is added.
An affix is a bound morpheme that attaches to a root or base.
Affixes are of three kinds:
- Prefix – added before the base (*un-*happy)
- Suffix – added after the base (teach*-er*)
- Infix – placed inside the base (rare in English)
Importance of Morphology
Morphology helps learners understand how words are built. It improves vocabulary, grammar, and language analysis. It also helps in language teaching and translation.
As the linguist Katamba said,
“Morphology is central to our understanding of how language works. It shows the relation between form and meaning.”
Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the formation and structure of words. It deals with morphemes — the smallest meaningful units. Morphemes can be free or bound, and bound morphemes can be derivational or inflectional. Understanding morphology helps us see how words are formed, how meanings change, and how grammar works in a language.
In short:
- Morphology = study of word structure
- Morpheme = smallest unit of meaning
- Free morpheme = can stand alone
- Bound morpheme = needs attachment
- Derivational = makes new words
- Inflectional = adds grammatical meaning
This knowledge helps students learn how words grow and connect meaningfully within sentences.