Morphology

is the study of word structure. Word structure is a useful tool for figuring out the grammatical categories of words. Grammatical categories refer to the parts of speech (Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Prepositions, Interjections, Determiners).

morpheme - is the smallest meaningful unit of a language

Some morphemes are words such as rice, cake, pattern, orange. When you read these words they convey specific meanings.

Two types of morphemes:

Free morphemes - the words can occur by themselves in a phrase or sentence

Example:

write - I write poems.

Bound morphemes - are units attached to the free morphemes

Examples: ly, s, re, ion, in, im, un,etc (affixes)

So, bound morphemes are also known as affixes (Prefix,suffix)

write - free morpheme and its grammatical category is verb

Now when we add s to the free morpheme "write" it becomes "writes" which its grammatical category is still verb so this is what we called as inflection. Inflection means no change of the grammatical category of a free morpheme even if we added a bound morpheme or affix.

On the other hand, let us take this other example. When we add a bound morpheme specifically a suffix er to the free morpheme "write" it becomes "writer" and the grammatical category of "writer" is no longer a verb rather a noun this time it is called a derivative. Derivative means a change of the free morpheme's grammatical category after a bound morpheme is added.

Further examples:

beautiful (adj. free morpheme) + ly (suffix) = beautifully (adv.)- derivative

color (n. free morpheme) + ful (suffix)= colorful (adj.) - derivative

walk (v. free morpheme) + ed (suffix) = walked (v.) - inflection

wild (adj. free morpheme) + est (suffix) = wildest (adj.) - inflection

Refs

• LeTourneau, M.S.(2001). English Grammar. USA: Earl McPeek

grammar, 14-03-20 22:50, 14-03-20 22:55, Marz