Morph: The smallest unit of a word

Morpheme : The smallest unit of a morph

An allomorph is a variation of a morpheme that has a unique set of grammatical or

lexical features. Each morpheme may have a different set of allomorphs. For
example, the English word “a” has two allomorphs: “a” and “an”. The choice
between the two depends on the sound that follows it. If the following sound is a
vowel, “an” is used; otherwise, “a” is used 1.

Another example of allomorphs in English is the plural form of nouns. The plural
form can be created by adding “-s”, “-es”, or “-ies” to the end of the noun,
depending on the noun’s spelling and pronunciation. For example, “cat” becomes
“cats”, “box” becomes “boxes”, and “baby” becomes “babies” 2.

In morphology, a root is a morpheme that carries the core meaning of a word and
cannot be further divided into smaller units. It is the foundation upon which other
morphemes are added to create new words 123.

For example, in the word “unhappiness”, “happy” is the root, and “un-” and “-
ness” are affixes that modify the meaning of the root 1.

Another example is the word “untouchable”, where “touch” is the root, and “un-”
and “-able” are affixes that modify its meaning 2.

A stem is a base form of a word to which affixes can be added to create new
words. It is the part of the word that remains after all inflectional affixes have been
removed 12. For example, in the word “unhappiness”, “happy” is the root, and
“un-” and “-ness” are affixes that modify the meaning of the root. The stem of
“unhappiness” is “happi” 1.

A base is a morpheme to which other morphemes can be added to create new words. It can
be either a root or a stem. A base can stand alone as a word or can be modified by adding
prefixes or suffixes 34. For example, in the word “kindness”, “kind” is the base, and “-ness” is
an affix that modifies its meaning.

Morphology is a branch of linguistics that studies the structure of words and how
they are formed. It deals with the smallest units of meaning in a language, called
morphemes, and how they combine to form words. For example, the word
“unhappiness” consists of three morphemes: “un-”, “happy”, and “-ness”.
Morphology is important for understanding how words are created and how they
can be modified to change their meaning.

Here’s an example of how morphology works: the word “unbelievable” consists of

two morphemes: “un-” and “believable”. The prefix “un-” means “not”, while
“believable” means “able to be believed”. By adding the prefix “un-”, we create a
new word with the opposite meaning of “believable”. This is just one example of
how morphology can help us understand the structure of words and how they are
formed.

Derivation is a process of creating new words by adding affixes to existing words.

It is a type of word formation that creates new lexemes, either by changing
syntactic category or by adding substantial new meaning (or both) to a free or
bound base 1. Derivation can be contrasted with inflection on the one hand or with
compounding on the other. The distinctions between derivation and inflection and
between derivation and compounding, however, are not always clear-cut 1.

New words may be derived by a variety of formal means including affixation,

reduplication, internal modification of various sorts, subtraction, and conversion 1.
Affixation is best attested cross-linguistically, especially prefixation and
suffixation. Reduplication is also widely found, with various internal changes like
ablaut and root and pattern derivation less common 1. Derived words may fit into a
number of semantic categories. For nouns, event and result, personal and
participant, collective and abstract noun are frequent. For verbs, causative and
applicative categories are well-attested, as are relational and qualitative derivations
for adjectives 1.

Here are some examples of how derivation works:

 Noun to Adjective: “sun” (noun) becomes “sunny” (adjective) by adding the suffix “-
y”.
 Adjective to Noun: “happy” (adjective) becomes “happiness” (noun) by adding the
suffix “-ness”.
 Verb to Noun: “act” (verb) becomes “actor” (noun) by adding the suffix “-or”.
 Noun to Verb: “friend” (noun) becomes “befriend” (verb) by adding the prefix “be-”.

Inflection is a process of modifying words to fit into different grammatical

contexts. It is a type of word formation that does not create new words but rather
changes the form of existing words to indicate tense, number, gender, case, or
comparison. For example, the verb “walk” can be inflected to indicate the past
tense by adding “-ed” at the end, resulting in “walked”. Inflection is different from
derivation in that it does not change the meaning or category of a word 12.

Here are some examples of how inflection works:

 Noun Pluralization: “cat” becomes “cats” by adding the suffix “-s”.

 Verb Tense: “walk” becomes “walked” to indicate past tense by adding the
suffix “-ed”.
 Adjective Comparison: “big” becomes “bigger” to indicate comparative
degree by adding the suffix “-er”.
  Noun Possession: “book” becomes “book’s” to indicate possession by
adding an apostrophe and an “s”.

A free morpheme is a morpheme that can stand alone as a word. It is also called
an unbound morpheme or a free-standing morpheme 1. Examples of free
morphemes in English include “sun”, “hen”, “listen”, and “luck” 2.

Here’s an example of how free morphemes work: the word “sunflower” consists of
two morphemes: “sun” and “flower”. The first morpheme, “sun”, is a free
morpheme because it can stand alone as a word. The second morpheme, “flower”,
is a bound morpheme because it cannot stand alone as a word 2.

A bound morpheme is a morpheme that cannot stand alone as a word and must be
attached to another morpheme to form a word 1. In English, bound morphemes are
typically affixes, which are added to the beginning (prefix) or end (suffix) of a
word. For example, the word “unhappy” consists of two morphemes: “un-” and
“happy”. The prefix “un-” is a bound morpheme because it cannot stand alone as a
word and must be attached to another morpheme to form a word 1.

Here are some examples of bound morphemes:

 Prefixes: “dis-” in “dislike”, “pre-” in “preview”, “re-” in “reheat”.

 Suffixes: “-able” in “likable”, “-ful” in “helpful”, “-ness” in “happiness”.

In morphology, affixes are morphemes that are added to a root word to change its
meaning or grammatical properties. Affixes can be divided into two types:
prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes are affixes that come at the beginning of a word,
while suffixes come at the end of a word 1.

Here are some examples of how affixes work:

 Prefix: “dis-” in “dislike” changes the meaning of the root word “like” to
mean “not like”.
 Suffix: “-able” in “likable” changes the meaning of the root word “like” to
mean “able to be liked”.

Affixes are a type of morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning in a

language. They can be used to create new words or modify existing ones 2.

Infixes are morphemes that are inserted into the middle of a word to create a new
word or intensify meaning. They are a type of affix, which is a morpheme that is added to a
root word to change its meaning or grammatical properties 1. Infixes are not commonly used
in English, but they are found in some other languages, such as Tagalog and Waray-Waray 2.
Here’s an example of how infixes work in Tagalog: the infix “-um-” is inserted after the first
consonant of the base to which it attaches. This infix expresses perfective aspect for verbs 3.
Infixes can also be used to pluralize hyphenated compound words. For example, “fathers-in-
law” can be created by infixing “-s-” into “father” and “in-law”
prefixes and suffixes are two types of affixes that are added to a root word to change its
meaning or grammatical properties. Prefixes are affixes that come at the beginning of a word,
while suffixes come at the end of a word 12.
Here are some examples of how prefixes and suffixes work:

 Prefix: “dis-” in “dislike” changes the meaning of the root word “like” to mean “not like”.
 Suffix: “-able” in “likable” changes the meaning of the root word “like” to mean “able to be
liked”.

Affixes are a type of morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. They
can be used to create new words or modify existing ones

Reduplication is a morphological process that involves repeating all or part of a

word to create a new word with a similar or intensified meaning 1. Reduplication
can be full, where the entire word is repeated, or partial, where only part of the
word is repeated 2.

Here are some examples of reduplication in English:

 Full Reduplication: “bye-bye”, “night-night”, “no-no”.

 Partial Reduplication: “tick-tock”, “flip-flop”, “ping-pong”.

Reduplication is also found in other languages, such as Tagalog and Waray-Waray

3
. In Tagalog, for example, the infix “-um-” is inserted after the first consonant of
the base to which it attaches to express perfective aspect for verbs 3.

In morphology, compounding is a word formation process that involves

combining two or more words to create a new word with a distinct meaning 1.
Compounds can be formed in many ways, including by combining two nouns (e.g.,
“toothbrush”), a noun and an adjective (e.g., “blackboard”), or a verb and a noun
(e.g., “sunflower”) 1.

Here are some examples of compounds:

 Noun-Noun: “toothbrush”, “bookshelf”, “sunglasses”.

 Adjective-Noun: “blackboard”, “redhead”, “greenhouse”.
 Verb-Noun: “sunflower”, “raincoat”, “firefighter”.

Compounding is an important process in many languages, and it can be used to

create new words that are not found in the lexicon 2.
In morphology, suppletion is the use of two or more phonetically distinct roots for
different forms of the same word 1. It is a type of morphological irregularity that
occurs when a word’s inflected forms are not derived from a common root 1.

Here are some examples of suppletion:

 Good, Better, Best: The forms “good”, “better”, and “best” are suppletive
because the relationship between the morphs representing the root
morpheme is phonologically arbitrary 1.
 Go, Went: The past tense of “go” is “went”, which is a suppletive form
because it is not derived from the root morpheme of “go” 2.
 Be, Am, Is, Are, Was, Were: The forms of “be” are suppletive because they
have completely different phonological shapes and are not predictable on
the basis of the paradigms of other English verbs 3.

Internal change is a type of morphological process that involves changing the

internal structure of a word to create a new form. It is also known as ablaut, vowel
gradation, or stem alternation 1. Internal change can affect the vowel quality or
consonant structure of a word, and it is often used to create new forms of verbs or
nouns 2.

Here are some examples of internal change in English:

 Sing, Sang, Sung: The past tense forms of “sing” involve internal change,
where the vowel changes from “i” to “a” to “u”.
 Foot, Feet: The plural form of “foot” involves internal change, where the
vowel changes from “oo” to “ee”.
 Goose, Geese: The plural form of “goose” involves internal change, where
the vowel changes from “oo” to “ee”.

Internal change is also found in other languages, such as Finnish and Arabic 3. In
Finnish, for example, internal change is used to create different forms of verbs by
changing the vowel quality or consonant structure .

In morphology, a zero morpheme is a morpheme that has no phonetic form and is

also referred to as an invisible affix, null morpheme, or ghost morpheme 1. It is
used to indicate grammatical features such as tense, aspect, and number without
adding any phonetic material to the word 2.

Here are some examples of zero morphemes:

 English Plural Nouns: In English, the plural form of many nouns is indicated
by a zero morpheme. For example, “cat” becomes “cats” by adding a zero
morpheme to indicate plurality 1.
  Japanese Verb Conjugation: In Japanese, the present tense of verbs is
indicated by a zero morpheme. For example, “taberu” means “to eat”,
while “tabemasu” means “is eating” 3.
 Russian Noun Declension: In Russian, the accusative case of some nouns is
indicated by a zero morpheme. For example, “kniga” means “book”, while
“knigu” means “book” in the accusative case .

lexeme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language that can stand alone as a word. It is a
basic unit of lexical analysis, and it includes all the inflected forms of a word 1. For example,
the lexeme “walk” includes variations such as “walks,” “walked,” and “walking.” Lexemes
are always free morphemes, but a lexeme is not necessarily the same thing as a morpheme 1.
Here are some examples of lexemes:

 Noun: “book”, “dog”, “table”.

 Verb: “run”, “swim”, “dance”.
 Adjective: “happy”, “tall”, “red”.

Morphophonemics is a branch of linguistics that studies the relationship

between morphology and phonology. It involves an investigation of the
phonological variations within morphemes, usually marking different
grammatical functions 1.

 Here’s an example of how morphophonemics works: the English verb

“sleep” has two forms in the past tense: “slept” and “sleeped”. The vowel
change from “ee” to “e” is an example of morphophonemic variation 1.
 Another example is the English plural morpheme “-s”, which can be
pronounced as /s/, /z/, or /ɪz/ depending on the final sound of the noun it
attaches to 2.

In morphology, abbreviation is a process of creating a new word by making a

change in the lexical form of a word while keeping the same meaning. There are
three main types of abbreviations: clipping, acronyms, and contraction 1.

Here are some examples of abbreviations:

 Clipping: “phone” from “telephone”, “exam” from “examination”, “ad” from

“advertisement”.
 Acronyms: “NASA” from “National Aeronautics and Space Administration”,
“AIDS” from “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome”, “NATO” from “North
Atlantic Treaty Organization”.
 Contraction: “can’t” from “cannot”, “I’m” from “I am”, “he’ll” from “he will”.