The study of morphology is one of the oldest branches of linguistics. Languages also differ in the devices that are used to form complex words and the functions that this complexity serves. At one extreme, such languages as Vietnamese have very few ways to form complex words, while at the other, languages such as Chukchi (spoken in Siberia) may have very long words, constructed by adding many affixes one after another, that are equivalent in meaning to entire sentences. The world’s languages differ greatly in the complexity of their morphology. Linguists distinguish between simple words, such as soon, which have no internal structure apart from sound, and complex words, such as sooner, which can be analyzed into meaningful parts (in this case soon and the English comparative suffix –er). The term was first used in linguistics by August Schleicher in 1859. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.Morphology, the study of forms, is the branch of linguistics that deals with the internal structure of complex words. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. An Introduction to Language and Linguistics. The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology. Morphology trees show the internal structure of a word. There are two types as outlined below:īelow is a step-by-step guide to drawing a morphology tree: These are also called affixes as they are attached to the stem. UN- and -NESS are the bound morphemes, requiring the root KIND to form the word.They are words in themselves.īound morpheme: morphemes that must be attached to another morpheme to receive meaning. FREE VS BOUND MORPHEMESįree morpheme: a simple word, consisting of one morpheme e.g., house, work, high, chair, wrap. Morphemes are the smallest meaning-bearing units of language. COMPLEX WORDS: Have internal structure (consist of two or more morphemes) e.g., worker: affix -er added to the root work to form a noun. They can’t be split into smaller parts which carry meaning or function.
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