Morpheme: Morphemes are the minimal unit of meaning.

They are also the most elemental

unit of grammatical form. For example, the word undesirable consists of two words un
and desirable. Similarly, in the word unknown the combined words would be un and
known. In each of the above examples, the word un has a negative meaning. It means
not. Similarly, the meaning of such words as impossible, imposter, imprudent etc.
means that which is not achievable or possible; the second, one who is not honest or is a
fraud, and the final word would mean one who is not careful or prudent. In each of the
above mentioned sentences, the word im has a similar negative idea. From here it is
possible to define morphology as the internal structure of words or the rule that come
together to form words. It has to be mentioned that a morpheme then is a short segment of
language that meets three basic criteria(a) it is a word or part of a word that has meaning(b) it
cannot be further divided into meaningful segments(c) it has the same stable meaning in
different verbal environments.

A word may be made up of one, two, there, four and even a greater number of morphemes.

One morpheme: man,

Two morphemes: manly (man +ly)

Three morphemes: manliness (man +li+ ness)

Four morphemes: gentlemanliness (gentle +man+ li+ ness)

Greater than four: Ungentlimanliness(Un +gentle +man +li +ness).

Free and Bound Morphemes: Morphemes are of two kinds: free and bound. Free
morphemes can stand by themselves, examples include such words as boy, child, desire etc.
Bound morphemes on the other hand require the help of base morphemes to be formed. For
example in the word boyish, boy is free morpheme, while ish is an example of bound
morpheme. Similar such bound morpheme include im as in impossible, ly as in
manly etc. it has to be noted that the bound morpheme are never words by themselves but
are parts of words. When these bound morphemes are attached before the base or free
morpheme, they produce what is called as prefix. Examples of prefix are un as in undue,
pre as in prejudge etc. When morphemes follow the word they are called suffix.
Examples of suffix include morphemes like-ing as in (sleeping, eating, running, and
climbing), Prefix and suffix together are called affix.

Many languages have prefixes and suffixes, but languages may differ in how they deploy
these morphemes. A morpheme that is a prefix in one language may be a suffix in another and
vice versa. In English the plural morphemes -s and -es are suffixes (boys, lasses). In Isthmus
Zapotec, spoken in Mexico, the plural morpheme ka- is a prefix:

zigi chin kazigi chins

zike shoulder kazike shoulders

 diaga ear kadiaga ears

English we do not add an affix to derive a noun from a verb. We have the verb dance as in I
like to dance, and we have the noun dance as in Theres a dance or two in the old dame
yet. The form is the same in both cases. In Turkish, you derive a noun from a verb with the
suffix -ak, as in the following examples:

dur to stop durak stopping place

bat to sink batak sinking place or marsh/swamp

Infixes
Some languages also have infixes, morphemes that are inserted into other morphemes.
Bontoc, spoken in the Philippines, is such a language, as illustrated by the following:
Nouns/Adjectives Verbs

fikas strong fumikas to be strong

kilad red kumilad to be red
fusul enemy fumusul to be an enemy

In this language, the infix -um- is inserted after the first consonant of the noun or adjective.
Thus, a speaker of Bontoc who knows that pusi means poor would understand the meaning
of pumusi, to be poor, on hearing the word for the first time.

The connection between morphology and phonetics or Morphophonemics:

Morphophonemics studies the connections between morphology and phonetics or rather

phonetic shapes. Morphemes as has been described before are abstract units of grammatical
analysis which appear in various phonological shapes. Morphophonemics enumerates
analyses and classifies such phonological shapes so as to better understand how morphemes
operate at the level of phonology. The British term for the word morphophonemics is
morphophonology and even sometimes morphonology.

The Plural Morpheme in English:

1. If a noun ends in a voiceless sound other than /s/, / / or //, the plural morpheme at
the end of that noun is realized as /s/.

cap caps[-s] /kps/

top tops[-s] /'tps/

cuff cuffs[-s]

2. If a noun ends in a voiced sound other than /z/, //, or //, the plural morpheme is
realized as /z/.
cobs /kbz/
pins /'pnz/
 wings /'wz/
teas /'ti:z/

3. If a noun ends in /s/, /z/, //, //, // or //, the plural morpheme at the end of that noun
is realized as /z/.

horses /h:sz/
brushes /brz/
prizes /prazz/

The four types of exceptions to these pluralization rules can be illustrated as below:

1. There are nouns in which the consonant at the end of the base is changed efore the
rule regarding the plural morpheme is applied
a) //// +/z/

bath /b/ baths /b:z/

mouth /m/ mouths /maz/
path /p/ paths /pa:z/

(b) /f//v/ +/z/

half /ha:f/ halves /h:vz/

knife /naif/ knives /vz/
thief /i:f/ thieves /i:vz/

(c) /s/ /z/ + /z/

house /haz/ houses /haziz/

2. There are nouns where the plural form is realized through a change in vowels

foot-------feet
mouse ----mice
tooth------teeth
man-----men

3. There are nouns in which the plural morpheme is realized in the form of a zero
morph.
Deer, salmon, Japanese, Lebanese.

4. There are nouns in which the plural morpheme is realized as /n/ or /n/ with or
without a change in the base.

Ox: oxen, child: children

The Past tense Morpheme or the Past Participle Morpheme

 1. If a verb ends in a voiceless ound other than /t/, the past tense morpheme or past
participle morpheme in that verb is realized as /t/

hoped /hpt/
stopped /stpt/
talked /t:kt/

2. If a verb ends in a voiced sound other than /d/, the past tense morpheme or the past
perticiple morpheme in that verb is realized as /d/

played /pled/
hugged /hgd/
bombed /bmd/

3. If a verb ends in a /t/ or /d/, the past tense morpheme or the past participle morpheme
is realized as //d/

part /p:tid/
wanted /wntd/
decided /dsadd/

The following four types of irregular verbs are exceptions to these rules.

a) Verbs in which all the three forms are the same

burst burst burst

cost cost cost
cut cut cut

b) Verbs in which the tree forms are different from one another

Begin began begun

Choose chose chosen
Do did done

c) Verbs in which the past tense form is the same as the past participle form
Bring brought brought
Find found found
Keep kept kept
Sit sat sat

d) Verbs in which the base form is the same as the past participle form

Come came come

Run ran run