Lecture VIII.

13.12.2012

Introduction to Linguistics with Elements of History of English

MORPHOLOGY the study of forms (morphemes).

MORPHEME an abstract minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function.

talks, talker, talked, talking adds information

The police reopened the investigation. re + open + ed

Morpheme analyzes basic elements used in language which carry out certain information.

FREE MORPHEMES forms in language which can stand on their own. open, tour, at, a , an, the, girl:

• LEXICAL MORPHEMES forms which carry out the content of the message that we convey:

• Verbs

• Nouns

• Adjectives

• Adverbs

• FUNCTIONAL MORPHEMES forms which do not carry out meaning, but perform functions:

• Conjunctions

• Prepositions

• Articles

• Pronouns

BOUND MORPHEMES forms in language which cannot stand on their own, they have to be attached to free morphemes or other bound morphemes re-, -ist, -ed, -er:

• DERIVATIOBAL MORPHEMES forms that change grammatical category or create new word:

• -ness

• -less

• -full

• -ish

• -ment

• INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES forms used to indicate various grammatical aspects (aspects of grammatical function of the word):

• NOUNS -`s, -s

• VERBS -s, -ing, -ed, -en

• ADJECTIVES -est, -er

undressed un- (bound morpheme, prefix) + -dress- (free morpheme, stem) + -ed (bound morpheme- suffix)

carelessness care- (free morpheme, stem) + -less- (bound morpheme, suffix) + -ness (bound morpheme, suffix)

STEM the basic form to which affixes are attached.

The child's wildness shocked the teachers.

↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

6. l. i. l. d. l. i. f. l. d. i.

TYPOLOGY OF MORPHEMES:

/t/ :

[t] talked

[t­] take

[(t)] cat allophones of /t/

[r] better

MORPH physical realization of abstract morpheme.

If one morpheme is realized by many morphs, they are called ALLOMORPHS.

e.g. : -s, -es one plural morpheme

MORPHEMES

FREE

MORPHEMES

LEXICAL

MORPHEMES

BOUND MORPHEMES

FUNCTIONAL

MORPHEMES

DERIVATIONAL

MORPHEMES

INFLECTIONAL

MORPHEMES

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