MORPHOLOGY & SYNTAX

“MORPHEME FORMS”

INTRODUCTION

A. Background
As scientists have studied composition of the universe, they have
determined that the smallest unit for measuring an element is the atom.. if we
think of the Periodic Table of Elements, atoms are what comprise elements, such
as hydrogen, carbon, silver, gold, calcium, and so on. Scientists utilize this
classification system for uniformity, so that they are on the same page in the
terminology of their studies.

Similarly, linguists, or those who study language, its history, and

development, have devised a category for the smallest unit of grammar, namely
morphemes. Morphemes function as the foundation of language and syntax, the
arrangement of words and sentences to create meaning.

Morpheme is defined as the smallest meaningful unit of a language. Words

are made up of morphemes. The word teachers, for example, consists of three
meaningful units or morphemes, teach, –er,  and –s. The morpheme teach
forming the word teachers has the lexical meaning; the morpheme –er means the
doer of teaching; the morpheme –s has plural meaning. We can identify the
meaning of the morpheme teach although it stands alone but we cannot identify
the meaning of morphemes –er and –s in isolation. We can identify the meaning
of the morpheme –er and –s after they combine to the morpheme teach. The
morphemes which can meaningfully stand alone are called free morphemes
while the morphemes such as –er and –s, which cannot meaningfully stand alone
are called bound morphemes. Bound morphemes must be attached to free
morphemes. Bound morphemes are also called affixes which can be classified
into prefix, infix, and suffix. English only has two kinds of bound morphemes
namely prefixes and suffixes. There are not infixes in English. Bound
morphemes are classified into two namely derivational and inflectional
morphemes. .

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A. Derivation Morpheme
A derivational morpheme is the morpheme which produces a new lexeme
from a base. Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes which derive
(create) new words by either changing the meaning or the part of speech or both.
In the word happiness, the bound morpheme –ness creates a new word by
changing both the meaning and the part of speech. Happy is an adjective but the
derived word happiness is a noun. Some derivational morphemes create new
meaning but do not change the syntactic category or part of speech. The word
unhappy, for example, consists of the base happy and the derivational morpheme
(prefix) un-. Happy is an adjective and the derived word unhappy is also an
adjective.1
In English, derivational morphemes can be prefixes or suffixes. All prefixes
in English are derivational. All prefixes in English modify the meaning although
they do not modify the syntactic category. For examples, the derivational prefix
in- in inefficient, un- in undo, re- in rewrite, dis- in dislike and a- in amoral
modify the positive meaning to the negative meaning but do not change the
syntactic category of the derived words; efficient is an adjective and the derived
word inefficient is also an adjective; do is a verb and the derived word undo is
also a verb; write is a verb and the derived word rewrite is also a verb; moral is
an adjective and the derived word amoral is also and adjective. All the
derivational prefixes explained above have the meaning ‘not’. Most derivational
suffixes change both the syntactic category and the meaning. Only a few of them
do not change the syntactic category. The derivational suffixes which change the
syntactic category can be noun-forming suffixes, verb-forming suffixes,
adjective-forming suffixes, and adverb-forming suffixes.2

a) Types of English Derivational Morphemes

In English, derivational morphemes can be both the prefixes and suffixes.
The further description can be seen below:

 Derivational Prefixes
All prefixes in English are derivational so that all the prefixes in
English create new meaning or create new words. The creation of new
meaning can be accompanied by the change part of speech or not. Most
prefixes do not change part of speech. The  prefix which changes the part
of speech, for example, is the prefix en-. The prefix en- changes the bases
into verbs. The word enlarge for example, consists of the prefix en- and
the base large. The prefix en- changes the adjective large to the new verb
enlarge. The prefix en-in the word endanger changes the noun to verb.
The prefix a- in aside changes the noun side to the adverb aside. The other
prefixes which do not change part of speech are explained as follows:3

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 Prefix Base Derived Word Meaning
Able
un- Unable (adjective) Not able
(adjective)
in- Balance (noun) Inbalance (noun) Absence of balance
re- Write (verb) Rewrite (verb) Write again
dis- Connect (verb) Disconnect (verb) Take apart
Understand Misunderstand
mis- Understand wrongly
(verb) (verb)
pre- Cook (verb) Precook (verb) Cook before
Moral
a- Amoral (adjective) Not concerned with
(adjective)

 Derivational Suffixes
Most of the derivational suffixes in English change the part of speech.
The derivational suffixes which do not change the part of speech are not as
many as the derivational prefixes. The derivational suffixes which do not
change the part of speech are –ist in artist and dentist; -ian in musician and
librarian; and -hood in childhood, neighborhood, brotherhood, and
motherhood.4 The following is the description of derivational affixes
which change the part of speech.

 Noun-Forming Suffix
Noun-forming suffixes are the derivational suffixes which change
the words or morphemes to nouns. The following is the explanation of
derivational suffixes which form nouns:5

 Suffix –er, the suffix –er attached to a verb is a derivational

morpheme which change   verbs to a noun. The suffix creates a
new meaning ‘a person who performs an action’. The following is
the example of the suffix –er attached to verb:

Derived Word
Base (Verb) Suffix
(Noun)
write -er writer

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  Suffix –ment, the suffix –ment  is the derivational morphemes
which can be attached to some verbs to form nouns . This suffix
brings the new meaning ‘abstract noun’. The following is the
example of the suffix –ment  attached to verb:

Derived Word
Base (Verb) Suffix
(Noun)
agree -ment agreement

 Suffix –ness, the suffix –ness  is the derivational morphemes

which can be attached to adjectives to form nouns expressing  a
state or a condition. The following is the example of the suffix –
ness  attached to adjective:

Derived Word
Base (Adjective) Suffix
(Noun)
bright -nes brightness

 Suffix –ion, The suffix –ion  is the derivational morpheme which
can be attached to verbs to form nouns. The followingis the
example of the suffix –ion  attached to verb:

Derived Word
Base (Verb) Suffix
(Noun)
educate -ion education

 Adjective-Forming Suffixe
Adjective-forming suffixes are the derivational suffixes which
change the words or morphemes to adjectives. The following is the
explanation of derivational suffixes which form adjectives.

 Suffixe –able, The suffix –able is the derivational morpheme

which changes the bases to adjective. In this case, the bases can
be either verbs or nouns. The following is the example:

Derived Word
Base (Verb) Suffix
(Adjective)
eat -able eatable

 Suffix –ful, The suffix –ful is the derivational morpheme which

changes the bases to adjective. In this case, the bases are nouns.
The following is the example:

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 Derived Word
Base (Noun) Suffix
(Adjective)
care -ful careful

 Suffix –less, Like suffix –ful, the suffix –less is the derivational
morpheme which changes the bases to adjective. In this case, the
bases are nouns. The following is the example:

Derived Word
Base (Noun) Suffix
(Adjective)
home -less homeless

 Verb-Forming Suffixes
Verb-forming suffixes are the derivational suffixes which change the
words or morphemes to verbs. The following is the explanation of
derivational suffixes which form verb:
 Suffix –en

Derived Word
Base (Adjective) Suffix
(Verb)
wide -en widen

 Suffix –ify, The suffix –ify is the derivational morphemes which

change the base to verb. The base can be adjective and noun. The
example is as follow:

Derived Word
Base (Adjective) Suffix
(Verb)
Clear -ify clarify

 Suffix –ize, The suffix –ize is the derivational morphemes which

change the base to verb.  The base can be nouns and adjective The
example is as follows:

Derived Word
Base (Noun) Suffix
(Verb)
apology -ize apologize

 Adverb-Forming Suffixes
Adverb-forming suffixes are the derivational suffixes which change
the words or morphemes to adverbs. The following is the example of
derivational suffixes which form adverb:

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 Derived Word
Base (Adjective) Suffix
(Adverb)
loud -ly loudly

B. Inflectional Morphology
Inflectional morphemes are bound morphemes that tell tense, number,
gender, possession, and so on. Unlike derivational morphemes, inflectional
morphemes don't change the grammar category of the words they're attached
to.6 An inflection is a change that signals the grammatical function of nouns,
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns (e.g., noun plurals, verb tenses). An
inflectional morpheme is used to create a variant form of a word in order to
signal grammatical information. For example, the suffix [-ed] signals that a verb
is past tense: walk-ed.7

English has only eight inflectional affixes:8

 noun plural {-s} – “He has three desserts.”

 noun possessive {-s} – “This is Betty’s dessert.”
 verb present tense {-s} – “Bill usually eats dessert.”
 verb past tense {-ed} – “He baked the dessert yesterday.”
 verb past participle {-en} – “He has always eaten dessert.”
 verb present participle {-ing} – “He is eating the dessert now.”
 adjective comparative {-er} – “His dessert is larger than mine.”
 adjective superlative {-est} – “Her dessert is the largest.”

Nouns take two inflectional morphemes, plural and possessive.

Plural, -s: book + -s = books; -es: glass + -es = glasses

Some plurals take a different morpheme:

 datum --> data

 medium --> media
 ox --> oxen
 moose --> moose

Possessive –s: Barbara + -s = Barbara’s

6
Professor Pat Kamalani Hurley, Rules Of Word Formation: Inflectional Morpheme,
accessed from http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/hurley/Ling102web/mod4-
1_morphology/4mod4.1.4_inflectional.htm, on October 12, 2015 at 20:04 WIT

7
Handout PDF, Morphology, accessed from
http://www.mathcs.duq.edu/~packer/Courses/Psy598/Ling-Morphology.pdf, on October 14,
2015, at 18:14 WIT
8
Ibid.,

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When a singular possessive noun ends in –s or –z, it still takes the ‘s. The
pronunciation of the ‘s just changes from the [s] sound to the [z] sound:

 bass --> bass’s

 maze --> maze’s

The possessive of a plural noun ending in –s is pronounced just like the plural
form. It’s spelled with a simple apostrophe and no additional –s:

 five days’ work

 the taxpayers’ burden

English has a relatively simple system of verb inflections. Every verb has an
uninflected, or infinitive, form. There are only four inflectional morphemes that
can attach to the infinitive form:9

Inflection Morphem Function Example Note that…

e
present- -s Used when subject She usually Verbs ending in –s take -es,
tense is third-person sits here. e.g. toss à tosses.
inflections singular noun or The house
pronoun stays cool at
night.
past-tense -ed Used to indicate past We rowed Irregular verbs can inflect by
inflection tense of a regular down the changing their vowel (ride à
verb. river. rode) or take no change (cut
The inside of à cut).  Some change more
the canoe than a vowel (go à went).
got pretty
wet.
past- -en Used with the I have For most regular verbs, the
participle helping verb have to already past-participle inflection is –
inflection form the present eaten. ed, just like the past-tense
perfect and past I had wanted inflection.
perfect. a salad.
present- -ing Used with the I am walking The present-participle
participle helping verb be to to the store. inflection also often occurs
inflection form the present You are as a noun modifer (e.g. the
progressive. taking a sleeping baby; a rolling
class. stone).

In English, adjectives only take two inflections: the comparative and superlative.

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Comparative: -er: taller, smarter, thicker, crazier.

Superlative: -est: tallest, smartest, thickest, craziest.

Some adverbs can take the same comparative and superlative inflections (-
er; -est) that adjectives take:

 drove longer
 ran faster
 played harder

Many adverbs cannot take these inflections, however. Notice the

awkwardness of the following phrases:

 He said slylier.
 She danced awkwardliest.

Like some adjective, these same examples can use more and most to create
comparatives and superlatives:

 He said more slyly.

 She danced most awkwardly.

C. The Differences Between Derivation Morpheme and Inflection Morpheme

There are three other important differences between inflection and
derivation. The first difference refers to productivity; inflectional morphology is
very productive; while derivational morphology is usually not productive. This
means that if we take a derivational suffix which usually occurs with verbs, then
we can add it to the words that are newly formed or borrowed. On the other
hand, derivational affixes cannot be used like this. Really, derivational affixes
often cannot be used even to words that have been in that language for centuries.
Of course there are some derivational affixes which are more productive than the
others. The suffix –er, for example, in English is relatively productive.10

Another difference is that the derivational affixes often have lexical

meanings, while inflection suffixes usually have grammatical meanings. For
example, the meaning –er in English can be stated as ‘someone who ...’, but the
meaning of –ed must be stated with the technical term past tense. The third
difference between inflection and derivation is that inflection is usually arranged
in paradigm, while derivation is not. Consider the following example from
Spanish:11

Singular Plural
The first person ando andames
10

11

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 The second person andas andais
The third person anda andan

There are two grammatical categories in this paradigm, namely, person

and number. Because every form is stated with the combination of person and
number, then the two grammatical categories enable us to classify the six forms
in a systematic way. This is the nature of paradigm: consisting of a set of forms
cross-classified through a set of grammatical categories.12

Here is some of the evidence for the distinction between inflectional and
derivational affixes:13

Inflectional Affixes Derivational Affixes

All are suffixes May be either suffixes or prefixes
Have a wide range of application. E.g. May have a wide or narrow range
most English nouns can be made
plural.
All native to English (since Old Many were adopted from Latin, Greek,
English was spoken around 500-1000 or other languages. (Though others,
AD) especially the suffixes, are native,
including {ful}, {like}, and {ly}.

Conclusion
1. Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes which derive (create)
new words by either changing the meaning or the part of speech or both.
In English, derivational morphemes can be prefixes or suffixes. All
prefixes in English are derivational. All prefixes in English modify the
meaning although they do not modify the syntactic category. The
derivational suffixes which change the syntactic category can be noun-
forming suffixes, verb-forming suffixes, adjective-forming suffixes, and
adverb-forming suffixes.
2. Inflectional morphemes are bound morphemes that tell tense, number,
gender, possession, and so on. Unlike derivational morphemes,
inflectional morphemes don't change the grammar category of the words
they're attached to. An inflection is a change that signals the grammatical
function of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns (e.g., noun
plurals, verb tenses). An inflectional morpheme is used to create a variant
form of a word in order to signal grammatical information.
3. There are three other important differences between inflection and
derivation. The first, difference refers to productivity; inflectional
morphology is very productive; while derivational morphology is usually

12

13

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not productive. The second, difference is that the derivational affixes
often have lexical meanings, while inflection suffixes usually have
grammatical meanings. The third, is that inflection is usually arranged in
paradigm, while derivation is not.

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