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Session 1: The Word

• Definition of a Word:

  • Smallest unit of grammar that stands alone as a complete utterance.

  • Can exist in both spoken and written forms.

• Types of Words:

  • Orthographic Word: Defined by spaces in written language.

  • Phonological Word: Defined by pauses in spoken language.

• Abstract Level of a Word:

  • A grammatical unit consisting of morphemes which form phrases, clauses, and sentences.

  • Lexeme: An abstract unit of meaning representing a set of forms from a single root word.

    • Example: drink, drank, drunk, drinking all represent the lexeme drink.

    • Different realizations such as record, records, recording also exemplify lexeme.

• Grammatical Word:

  • Realization of a lexeme with morphological and syntactic properties (noun, verb tense, etc.).

  • Example:

    • Present: "I cut the bread on the table."

    • Past: "Yesterday, I cut the bread in the sink."

    • Noun form: "I have a cut on my finger."

    • Distinction made between lexeme forms in dictionary (noun vs. verb).

Session 2: The Morpheme

• Definition of a Morpheme:

  • Smallest unit of meaning; can be a whole word or part of a word that conveys meaning.

  • Important in morphology (study of word structure).

• Types of Morphemes:

  • Free Morphemes: Stand-alone words (e.g., the desk).

  • Bound Morphemes: Attach to another word (e.g., spoons -> spoon + plural).

  • Lexical Morphemes: Open class words (e.g., look, walk).

  • Functional Morphemes: Closed class words (e.g., articles: a, the).

• Affixes: All are bound morphemes; include prefixes and suffixes (e.g., unhappy).

• Stem: Contains a root plus any attached bound morphemes.

  • Example: In worker, work is the root.

Session 3: Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes

• Derivational Morphemes:

  • Bound morphemes that create new words or change the grammatical category.

    • Example: encourage (verb) becomes encouragement (noun) with the suffix -ment.

• Inflectional Morphemes:

  • Modify existing words for grammatical function without creating new words.

    • Example: cat becomes cats (plural).

• Bound Stem: Includes prefixes with non-free morphemes (e.g., re- in receive, reduce).

Session 4: Roots, Stems, and Their Functions

• Root:

  • Core part of a word that cannot be broken down into smaller units.

  • Can be a free or bound morpheme (e.g., run in running).

• Distinctions:

  • Base refers to the core of the word.

  • Stem is the whole part of a word before inflectional morphemes are added (e.g., cats, workers).

• Key Definitions:

  • Semantics: Meaning of a word.

  • Morphology: Structure and form of words.

  • Syntax: How words fit into sentences.

  • Inflectional Morphemes: Show grammatical functions such as tense, plurality, etc.