Morphology (Word Formation)

Introduction to Morphology

Morphology is the branch of linguistics that deals with the structure and formation of words. It examines how
words are formed and the relationships between words and their meaningful parts, called morphemes.
Morphemes are the smallest units of language that carry meaning.

Complex Words and Morphemes

A complex word is made up of two or more morphemes. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of
language. It can be a whole word or a part of a word, such as prefixes, suffixes, or roots, that carries a distinct
meaning. These morphemes can be classified into two types:

1. Free Morphemes: These are morphemes that can stand alone as words with their own meanings. For example,
in the word "playful," both "play" and "ful" are free morphemes.

2. Bound Morphemes: These are morphemes that can't stand alone and need to be attached to free morphemes.
They modify the meaning of the free morphemes. For instance, in the word "unhappiness," both "un-" and "-ness"
are bound morphemes.

Classification of Morphemes

Morphemes can also be classified based on their grammatical roles:

• Inflectional Morphemes: These morphemes don't change the word's fundamental meaning but indicate
grammatical information, such as tense, number, or gender. Examples include "-s" for plural and "-ed" for past
tense.

• Derivational Morphemes: These morphemes change the word's meaning or part of speech. They can create
new words from existing ones. For example, adding "-ly" to "quick" forms "quickly."

How Words are Created

Words can be created through various methods, including:

• Affixation: Adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes to base words to modify their meaning or form.

• Compounding: Combining two or more words to create a new one, such as "toothbrush."

• Blending: Merging parts of two words to create a new one, like "smog" (from "smoke" and "fog").
• Clipping: Shortening a longer word, e.g., "phone" from "telephone."

• Conversion: Changing the grammatical category of a word without changing its form, as in "to Google" (verb)
and "a Google" (noun).

Methods of Forming New Words

1. Affixation: Adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes.

2. Reduplication: Repeating a morpheme or part of it for emphasis, e.g., "bye-bye."

3. Acronym: Creating a word from the initial letters of a phrase, like "NASA" (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration).

4. Initialism: Forming a word from the initial letters of a phrase but pronouncing each letter, e.g., "FBI" (Federal
Bureau of Investigation).

Morphological Analysis: Word Formulation Rules

Morphological analysis involves breaking down words into their constituent morphemes and understanding how
they interact. This analysis follows certain rules:

• Identify bound and free morphemes in a word.

• Determine the order of morphemes within the word.

• Understand the grammatical and semantic roles of each morpheme.

Problematic Aspects of Morphological Analysis

Morphological analysis can be challenging due to:

• Irregular Morphology: Irregular morphology refers to the phenomenon where some words in a language do not
follow the usual morphological patterns for forming tenses, plurals, or other grammatical forms. Irregular verbs,
for example, don't follow the typical "-ed" pattern for forming the past tense.

Examples: English verbs like "go" (went), "eat" (ate), and "sing" (sang) have irregular forms for their past tense.

• Homonymy: Homonymy occurs when two or more words have the same spelling or pronunciation but different
meanings. These words are unrelated in meaning and are coincidental in their similarity.
Examples: "Bat" (the flying mammal) and "bat" (the sports equipment used in baseball) are homonyms. Another
example is "bank" (financial institution) and "bank" (river bank).

• Polysemy: Polysemy refers to the phenomenon where a single word has multiple related meanings that have
developed over time due to various semantic shifts or extensions.

Examples: "Bank" can mean a financial institution or the edge of a river. "Mouse" can refer to a small rodent or a
computer device. These meanings are connected by a common underlying concept.

Variation in Morphology

Languages and dialects can vary in their morphological rules and patterns. This variation includes differences in
affixation, word formation methods, and morpheme order. Such differences can reflect cultural, historical, and
regional influences.

1. Affixation Variation: Different languages may use different prefixes, suffixes, or infixes to convey similar
meanings. This can lead to variations in how words are formed and how grammatical information is expressed.

Example: In English, "un-" is used as a prefix to indicate negation ("unhappy"), while in Spanish, "in-" is used
("infeliz").

2. Word Formation Variation: Languages can have varying methods for creating new words. Some languages
heavily rely on compounding, while others might prefer derivation through affixation.

Example: In German, compound words are common, like "Fernseher" (television), formed by combining "Fern"
(distant) and "Seher" (viewer).

3. Morpheme Order Variation: The order in which morphemes are arranged within a word can vary across
languages. Some languages have fixed word orders, while others are more flexible.

Example: In Turkish, the order of subject, object, and verb can differ from English, reflecting the different
morphological structures of the two languages

Morphological Theories

Linguists have proposed various theories to explain how morphemes function and how words are formed. Some
prominent theories include:

• Item and Arrangement Theory: This theory suggests that morphemes are individual and distinct units arranged
in a particular order to form words. Morphemes themselves hold no inherent meaning; rather, their significance
emerges from their specific arrangement.
Example: In the word "unhappiness," the morphemes "un-" and "happy" are separate items arranged in a specific
order.

• Morpheme Structure Grammar: This theory posits that morphemes are not linear, but rather are represented
by hierarchical structures of features and subfeatures. Morphemes are analyzed based on their underlying
structure, which helps to explain the relationship between different morphemes.

Example: In the word "untouchable," the morphemes "un-" and "-able" are represented by their features in a
hierarchical structure.

• Word-and-Paradigm Approach: This theory views words as members of paradigms or patterns. Words are linked
by common rules that govern changes in form based on grammatical properties. It emphasizes the importance of
inflectional morphology and how words transform within specific contexts.

Example: In English verbs like "run," "ran," and "running," the variations in form exemplify the changes in a word's
paradigm based on tense.
 MORPHOLOGY

(Word Formation)

Submitted by:

ARPON, MARISOL M.

BABULA, ALTHEA P.

BOLO, DANA YZABELLE B.

CABALLERA, KEVIN C.

CAÑEDO, JORFE A.

CASAKIT MA. MAY

CASILAG , MAEBELYN E .

CAONES, AIRONE R.

CORAÑES, REBECCA B.

ESCANO, REYNALDO B.

BSED-ENGLISH (1A)