Introduction to Linguistics - Unit 2: Morphology

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes on morphology.

Morphological Structure

The study of the structure and form of words in a language.

Compounding

A morphological process that combines two units each containing a root to create a new compound word.

Morpheme

The smallest grammatical unit in a language; a morpheme may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix or suffix).

Affixation

The process of adding an affix to a root to create a complex word.

Endocentric Compound

A compound where the meaning follows from its head, which is a member of the same category.

Exocentric Compound

A compound where the meaning does not follow from its head, often referring to a different concept.

Ambiguity

A situation where a word, phrase, or sentence has multiple meanings or interpretations.

Head (in compounding)

The more important unit in a compound that determines the core meaning and the category of the resulting compound.

Stress (in compounds)

A feature of compounds where there is typically one primary stress, as opposed to phrases where multiple stresses may occur.