3.7 Morphemes: Summary

Morphemes:

The minimal/smallest, meaningful, morphological units that cannot be further divided/analyzed.

According to the level of freedom, morphemes can be either free or bound.

1) Free morphemes: can stand by themselves; can be uttered alone with meaning. An (uninflected) simple word contains a single free morpheme.

2) Bound morphemes: cannot stand by themselves or be uttered alone with meaning; must be attached to a free morpheme to form a word.

Based on their grammatical functions, bound morphemes can be

1) an affix

a) Inflectional morphemes: add grammatical information to nouns (s, ‘s), adjectives and adverbs (-er, -est), and verbs (-ing, -ed, en, -s).

b) Derivational morphemes: can change meanings, word classes, or both of the root words.

2) a bound root

• receive, conceive, perceive, and deceive' (Latin origin)

• benevolent, benefit, beneficiary, benefactor

• bounty, bountiful, bonjour, bonus

Base vs. root vs. stem:

When we are analyzing an inflected or derivative word, we call its core part that bound morpheme(s) can be attached to the base.

A base is any form to which affixations can be added. It refers to both roots and stems.

• word: untouchable'

• bases: 'touch', 'touchable'

Sometimes, we also hear about the terms - root or stem. They have slightly different usage.

A root is a form that is not further analyzable. When all inflectional and derivational morphemes are removed from a complex word, what remains is a root.

• word: 'untouchable', 'wheel' and 'chair' in).

• root: touch'

• word: 'wheelchair'

• roots: 'wheel', 'chair'

A stem is only of concern when dealing with inflectional morphemes.

• word: speaks'

• stem: 'speak'