Morphology

What is Morphology?
LINGUISTICS TOPICS 
 

Morphology is the study of words. Morphemes are the minimal units of words that
have a meaning and cannot be subdivided further. There are two main types: free and
bound. Free morphemes can occur alone and bound morphemes must occur with
another morpheme. An example of a free morpheme is "bad", and an example of a
bound morpheme is "ly." It is bound because although it has meaning, it cannot stand
alone. It must be attached to another morpheme to produce a word.

Free morpheme: bad

Bound morpheme: -ly
Word: badly

When we talk about words, there are two groups: lexical (or content) and function (or
grammatical) words. Lexical words are called open class words and include nouns,
verbs, adjectives and adverbs. New words can regularly be added to this group.
Function words, or closed class words, are conjunctions, prepositions, articles and
pronouns; and new words cannot be (or are very rarely) added to this class.

Affixes are often the bound morpheme. This group includes prefixes, suffixes, infixes,
and circumfixes. Prefixes are added to the beginning of another morpheme, suffixes
are added to the end, infixes are inserted into other morphemes, and circumfixes are
attached to another morpheme at the beginning and end. Following are examples of
each of these:

Prefix: re- added to do produces redo

Suffix: -or added to edit produces editor
Infix: -um- added to fikas (strong) produces fumikas (to be strong) in Bontoc
Circumfix: ge- and -t to lieb (love) produces geliebt (loved) in German

There are two categories of affixes: derivational and inflectional. The main difference
between the two is that derivational affixes are added to morphemes to form new
words that may or may not be the same part of speech and inflectional affixes are
added to the end of an existing word for purely grammatical reasons. In English there
are only eight total inflectional affixes:

-s 3rd person singular present she waits

-ed past tense he walked

-ing progressive she's watching

 -en past participle she has eaten

-s plural three tables

-'s possessive Holly's cat

-er comparative you are taller

-est superlative you are the tallest

The other type of bound morphemes are called bound roots. These are morphemes
(and not affixes) that must be attached to another morpheme and do not have a
meaning of their own. Some examples are ceive in perceive and mit in submit.

English Morphemes

A. Free
1. Open Class
2. Closed Class
B. Bound
1. Affix

a. Derivational
b. Inflectional
2. Root

There are six ways to form new words. Compounds are a combination of words,
acronyms are derived from the initials of words, back-formations are created from
removing what is mistakenly considered to be an affix, abbreviations or clippings are
shortening longer words, eponyms are created from proper nouns (names), and
blending is combining parts of words into one.

Compound: doghouse
Acronym: NBA (National Basketball Association) or scuba (self-contained underwater
breathing apparatus)
Back-formation: edit from editor
Abbreviation: phone from telephone
Eponym: sandwich from Earl of Sandwich
Blending: smog from smoke and fog
Historical Fiction
Does reading about the past interest you? What if it was a make-believe past? If you are
interested in a re-imagined history, historical fiction is probably for you. A genre in
literature, historical fiction is a work of writing that reconstructs the past. Often inspired by
history, writers of this genre will incorporate past events or people into their fictitious stories. In
order to do this successfully, the story's details need to feel authentic.
If you were reading a story that takes place in the 16th century, what would you think if one of
the characters picks up a cell phone? The story would lose its believability because we, as
readers, know that cell phones did not exist during that time. In order to avoid losing the story's
believability, writers of historical fiction need to research the story's time period. The writer
should know things like what the people ate and wore, and how they talked, so readers are
willing to believe in the story and keep reading.
Now, some works of historical fiction mean to be incredible, in which case the improbable or
absurd details would be used purposefully. For example, in Seth Grahame-Smith's parody
novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) the story takes place in the 19th century, and
while the characters sound and read as authentic for the time, the casual interjections of man-
eating zombies, while not historically accurate, are written in for the incredible effect.
In literature, historical fiction's purpose can be both to entertain and to help readers reevaluate a
past society. There is some debate, however, about how much distance is needed to make the
story historical fiction. Some consider it to be anything written at least 50 years after the story's
events, while others say 25 years. Regardless, the idea is the same - that there needs to be
noticeable distance between the time the story is written and the events written about in order for
it to be considered historical.
Historical fiction will have one of three techniques. First, some will use real events, but with
fictional people. A good example would be a novel about World War II, with fictitious military
leaders as characters and invented scenes and dialogues. Second, some historical fiction will use
fictional events, but with real people. A good example would be a novel about President George
Washington that explores a fictitious affair he had with a Native American. Finally, a story may
include both real events and real people. In this case, the writer must make up the scenes,
dialogue, and overall plot; otherwise, the story would become nonfiction.

Quality Characteristics of historical fiction

 There is a mixture of real and fictional events. Significant historical events are
historically accurate, but minor events and/or characters may be added or modified.

 Characters are involved in a conflict or problem that is real (or mirrors life) for that time
period

 Uses descriptive writing that digs into characters making them interesting and are easy to
identify with.

 Intriguing plot that creates some sort of suspense.

 Plot makes sense and has a solution.

 Historically authentic setting that sets the tone for the story.
 Is in a real place and a definite period of time in history that the reader wants to know
more about.
Story Element descriptions for historical fiction
Characterization
 Characters are ordinary real people who did or could have lived in the historical
setting.
 Characters are usually shaped by the setting.
 Characters usually change as a result of the problem and must to be able to resolve
it.
Setting
 Place is a particular historical geographical location.
 Time is a particular historical period.
Plot
 Must be plausible and believable.
 Usually problem or puzzling event is a result of the time or place in history for
characters to resolve.
 Reader/listener usually feel that the story really happened or could have happened.
Theme
 Themes usually fit with a historical context or can have conflicting contexts
between historically different views.
 Themes are related to life, people, social, political events as well as good versus
bad/evil and other universal timeless themes.
Style
 Author usually uses foreshadowing or clues to tease the reader/listener's curiosity.
 Some events include historical events, dialogue, period thoughts, historical
accurate, but not all information is authentic. Characters and dialog if made up
needs to fit the historical aspects.
 Dialog, artifacts, feelings, are from the real world and described accurately for the
time period and other essential elements of the story.
 The story must be told with significant detail to place the reader/listener in the
historical setting
Tone
 Feel that it really happened. Children will often ask if it was real and be
disappointed when told, no.
 The reader/listener feels he or she experienced the historical setting and situation.
 Reflects the values and spirit of the time and culture.
 Relates information without distortion of know events, attitudes, to include
different points of view represented during the historical time.
Point of View
 Could be any. Often third person narrative.

6 Tips for Writing Historical Fiction

As you write your historical fiction novel, remember the following:

1. Free write to brainstorm ideas. If you’re interested in writing historical fiction
but don’t know where to start, spend 15 minutes writing in your notebook about a
period or historical event you’re interested in rendering in fiction. Note any
assumptions you have about the period, cultural depictions of it in other books and
films, and what specifically interests you about this moment in history.
2. Find an interesting way into a time period. Consider using a historical time
period as a backdrop and placing fictional characters and events within that world.
Or, choose a historical event and create fictional characters who experienced it and
whose lives were affected by it
3. Do your research. In addition to getting the historical facts correct, the smaller
details are important, too. Write an inventory of the details in your work that you
haven’t researched but should check. Likely, these will be small things—for
example, the color of refrigerators—whose accuracy will keep a reader interested
and make your story more credible.
4. Build a world. World-building makes a historical fiction books more authentic and
gives readers a reason to keep coming back. Include details about the world in
which your story takes place to give readers historical context and balance those
exotic details with familiar, relatable ones to keep the story grounded. However,
don’t add information just to add it; make sure every part of your
world-building advances the story.
5. Don’t get bogged down in dialogue. Different historical eras have different
vocabulary and grammatical structures. Include occasional words and phrases to
reinforce the historical setting, but don’t include so many that the novel becomes
difficult to read and less enjoyable.
6. Add fictional characters. Even if you’re writing about true events, you can take
some creative liberties. Introducing fictional characters to complement those based
on actual historical figures can help you move the story along, inject personality,
and keep it entertaining.