Morphology

• Morphology: the study of word formation and meaningful changes in the forms of words   * meaningful changes in syntax often have morphological changes   * morphemes: smallest meaningful units of words
• Basic Terminology   * Simplex / Monomorphic word: word cannot be broken down further and still have meaning   * Complex / Polymorphic word: can be broken down further (sunset, background, jumping)   * Parse: break down a complex word into its simplest element   * Lexical Morpheme: carries syntactic meaning, roots   * Grammatical Morpheme: carries syntactic meaning. specifies lexical category (noun, verb, etc.)   * ex: childish. child = lexical. ish = grammatical   * root: structural center. morpheme which other bound morphemes latch onto   * stems: root that has already been modified by a bound morpheme and is modified by a further morpheme   * prefix and suffix   * affixes: any added elements (prefixes, circumfixes, suffixes)     * circumfixes: adding both prefix and suffix in order to change the meaning   * inflexion: changing conjugate forms of the same word     * ex: dance - dances - danced - dancing     * lexeme: speakers are aware of inflectionally related forms of lexemes   * derivation: a new word form is created from an existing word     * usually in different lexical category       * you’re my friend (n) ➝ friend (v) me on insta
• other processes   * prefixation   * suffixation   * infixation: morpheme inserted in the middle of a complex root   * compounding: the formation of new words through two independent words   * reduplication: repetition of all or part of a morpheme to create a new word of a different meaning     * pingan (dish) ➝ pingan pingan (dishes)     * talon (field) ➝ tal-talon (fields)   * stem alterations: nothing is added or subtracted from the word - there’s an internal alteration to the root     * man ➝ men     * tooth ➝ teeth     * zero derivation: shift in lexical class w/out a change in phonological or morphological form       * ex: fish (animal) and fish (go fishing)   * suppletion: when a morpheme has a completely unrelated root as part of its set of forms     * kind kinder kindest     * good gooder goodest*     * good better best

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