Introduction to Morphology
The word “morphology” comes from the Greek words morph (form) and logy
(study). Therefore, morphology literally means “the study of forms.”
Morphology focuses on morphemes, which are the smallest meaningful units
of language.
Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the internal structure of
words. It explains how words are formed and how smaller units of meaning
combine to create larger words.
Morpheme
A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning or grammatical function in a
language.
Unlike syllables, morphemes always carry meaning.
Examples:
Book → one morpheme
Books → two morphemes (book + -s)
Unhappy → two morphemes (un- + happy)
So, morphemes can be whole words or parts of words.
Types of Morphemes:
Morphemes are mainly divided into two types:
1. Free Morphemes
2. Bound Morphemes
1. Free Morphemes
Free morphemes are morphemes that can stand alone as independent
words.
They have complete meaning by themselves.
Examples:
Book
, Girl
Run
Happy
Lexical Morphemes (Content Words)
These are the main meaning words of a sentence.
They carry real-world meaning.
Think of them as the “dictionary words.”
Examples:
Book
Girl
Run
Happy
Teacher
Car
Sentence example:
The girl runs to the school.
“Girl” and “school” are lexical morphemes because they give real meaning.
They include:
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
These words can be added to (new words can be created in language).
B) Functional Morphemes (Grammar Words)
These do NOT give main meaning.
They only show grammatical relationships.
They help the sentence structure.
Examples:
The
And
But
The word “morphology” comes from the Greek words morph (form) and logy
(study). Therefore, morphology literally means “the study of forms.”
Morphology focuses on morphemes, which are the smallest meaningful units
of language.
Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the internal structure of
words. It explains how words are formed and how smaller units of meaning
combine to create larger words.
Morpheme
A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning or grammatical function in a
language.
Unlike syllables, morphemes always carry meaning.
Examples:
Book → one morpheme
Books → two morphemes (book + -s)
Unhappy → two morphemes (un- + happy)
So, morphemes can be whole words or parts of words.
Types of Morphemes:
Morphemes are mainly divided into two types:
1. Free Morphemes
2. Bound Morphemes
1. Free Morphemes
Free morphemes are morphemes that can stand alone as independent
words.
They have complete meaning by themselves.
Examples:
Book
, Girl
Run
Happy
Lexical Morphemes (Content Words)
These are the main meaning words of a sentence.
They carry real-world meaning.
Think of them as the “dictionary words.”
Examples:
Book
Girl
Run
Happy
Teacher
Car
Sentence example:
The girl runs to the school.
“Girl” and “school” are lexical morphemes because they give real meaning.
They include:
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
These words can be added to (new words can be created in language).
B) Functional Morphemes (Grammar Words)
These do NOT give main meaning.
They only show grammatical relationships.
They help the sentence structure.
Examples:
The
And
But
