Nominal Morphology

Seminar 1
MORPHEMES AND SYLLABLES
The traditional term for the most elemental unit of grammatical form is morpheme. A single word may be
composed of one or more morphemes. (V. Fromkin, R. Rodman, An Introduction to Language, 1!"#
$orphemes could be shown in writing, for instance by using hyphens%
The tradition&al term for the most element&al unit of gramma&tic&al form is morph&eme. A
single word may be compos&ed of one or more morph&eme&s.
but it is not con'entional to do so. The smallest grammatical unit which has meaning and which
is marked in writing is the word.
inflectional morphemes ( show a grammatical function% past tense e! (worked#, the
plural s (girls#.
!eri"ational morphemes ( change the grammatical category of a word% by adding
al the nouns element and tradition become the ad)ecti'es elemental, traditional. A
morpheme at the end of words is called a s#ffi$.
A morpheme like #n%, meaning not, placed in front of the word to make untraditional,
unconditional, is called a prefi$. The general term which includes both suffi*es and
prefi*es is affi$.
+entral to a syllable is a "o&el sound, either on its own ( e.g. I ,ai- ( or opened and.or closed
with a consonant ( e.g. tie ,tai-.
syllable ( a unit of sound
morpheme ( a unit of grammar which has meaning
e.g. singer ,si/-0,1- ( two syllables 2 two morphemes ( (sing#0(er#%
sing ( free morpheme (it can stand alone as a 'erb#
-er ( 'o#n! morpheme (it is always a suffi*, ne'er a word, and its meaning is to create a
noun from a 'erb, to signify a person who performs the action of the 'erb ( singer is the one who
sings.
1( Mar) the sylla'les in the follo&ing &or!s* #sing the +nternational Phonetic Alpha'et* e.g.
pitifully ( ,pi.ti.ful.ly-3" syllables. Mar) the morphemes in the same &or!s* e.g. piti.ful.ly 3 4
morphemes.
restless assert familiar departure irregularities wildest
exactly chorus casual appearances understatement
reddening performer premonitions undiminished disobedient appealing
,( State &hich of the s#ffi$es 'elo& are pro!#cti"e( -i"e e$amples of &or!s forme! &ith
each s#ffi$(
1. noun&forming suffi*es%
&age, &ant, &dom, &ee, &ence, &er, &ese, &ess, &hood, &ism, &ist, &ite, &i'e, &ling, &ment, &or, &ry,
&ship, &th, &tion.
5. ad)ecti'e&forming suffi*es%
&ed, &es6ue, &fold, &ful, &ish, &less, &like, &ly, &y.
4. 'erb&forming suffi*es%
&ate, &en, &fy, &i7e.
". ad'erb&forming suffi*es%
&long, &ly, &ward, &wise.
.( /se negati"e prefi$es to form antonyms0
ability, accuracy, beha'iour, combatant, conduct, content, courage, grateful, infection,
interprete, legibility, like, literacy, merit, personal, precision, regular, rest, truth.
1( 2omment on the #se 3meaning4 of the prefi$es in the follo&ing sentences0
1. The knight kissed softly the 'e5e&elle! hand of the 8ady.
5. The protesters 'esiege! the building.
4. The sunset 'eto)ene! the end of her suffering.
". The e'idence went astray rendering the case more difficult.
9. :t;s 6uite rela*ing to cycle a'reast of your son along the coast.
<. ='erybody was taken a'ac) by her death.
!. The party was o"ersha!o&e! by the bad news.
>. The office is o"erstaffe!.
. The )udge o"err#le! the ob)ection.
Labelled bracketing
,the- ,man- ,lit- ,a- ,cigarette-
?et. @ V ?et @
@A @A
VA B