Morphology

Morphology

The study of the internal structure of words and how they are formed from smaller units called morphemes.

Morpheme

The smallest meaningful unit of a language that cannot be further divided.

Example: habl-amos (root + ending)

Root

Core meaning of a word.
Example: habl- in hablar

Affix

A bound morpheme added to a root.
Example: -ito in perrito

Prefix

Affix added before a root.
Example: in- in invisible

Suffix

Affix added after a root.
Example: -ción in educación

Inflection

Changing a word to express grammar (tense, number, etc.).
Example: hablo, hablas, hablamos

Derivation

Creating a new word.
Example: feliz → felicidad

Clitic

A weak pronoun attached to a verb. A morpheme that behaves like a word syntactically but depends phonologically on a neighbouring word, which is called its host.
Example: dámelo

Clitic doubling/pronominal reduplication

Occurs when a clitic pronoun appears alongside a full noun phrase (NP) that it refers to.

Example: "Lo vi a Juan" (I saw Juan), where "lo" is the clitic that doubles the NP "Juan."