Week3- morphology Dr. Monira I. Al-Mohizea

Word Structure (affix, prefix, suffix)

• Starting off with the base ‘write’, we can add –ing = writing
• -re +writing (base) + rewriting, etc.
• A base is a unit to which elements can be added in word-formation processes.
• Affix: is a bound morpheme (suffix/prefix) that must be attached to a base. i.e. a morpheme that is not a root?; it is always bound.
• a prefix precedes the base (e.g. prewash)
• if it follows the base it is called a suffix (e.g. writer)

Infix & Circumfix

• Infix: common in Austronesian and Austroasiatic languages (e.g. Tagalog, Khmer)

In Tagalog: basa = ‘read’=> b·um·asa ‘read-past’

very rare in English:

• E.g. ‘abso·bloody·lutely’
• Circumfix: morphemes having two parts that are placed around a root.

In Dutch:

Berg = ’mountain’ => ge·berg·te ‘mountains’.

The base vs. the root

• The base is also referred to as a root.
• But, the root is the rump ‘remainder’ of a word that remains when all the affixes have been stripped away (i.e. it is a nucleus of the word that affixes attach too).
• A base doesn't have to be a bare root. In many cases the base contains a root and one or more affixes; (e.g. rewrite)
• We can form a compound word by combining two bases (words in their own right)
• E.g. Ear+ witness = earwitness

What is a stem?

• In forming a word, a lexical base to which inflectional morphemes are attached (e.g. sleep=sleep-s) is called a stem.

Lexical vs. functional morphemes

Two broad types of Morphemes:

• Lexical morphemes

vs.

• functional morphemes

Lexical morphs

• Lexical morphemes:
• (Known as ‘content words‘)
• Lexical morphemes are nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs (NAVA words).
• This has an important consequences for morphology because lexical morphemes belong to an open class which can expand.
• Discuss??