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Morphology and Syntax: Unhappiness / Un-Happi-Ness. Sheep Dog. Sheepdog "Sheepdogs"

Morphology is the study of word structure and the formation of words through combining morphemes. There are three types of affixation used to form new words: prefixation, suffixation, and infixation. Syntax is the study of sentence structure and grammar. The basic sentence structure in English follows a subject-verb-object order. Both morphology and syntax are important for teaching English language learners as they learn the structural rules and components of the English language. Teachers must explicitly teach vocabulary, word parts, and sentence structure while being aware of differences from students' native languages.

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284 views3 pages

Morphology and Syntax: Unhappiness / Un-Happi-Ness. Sheep Dog. Sheepdog "Sheepdogs"

Morphology is the study of word structure and the formation of words through combining morphemes. There are three types of affixation used to form new words: prefixation, suffixation, and infixation. Syntax is the study of sentence structure and grammar. The basic sentence structure in English follows a subject-verb-object order. Both morphology and syntax are important for teaching English language learners as they learn the structural rules and components of the English language. Teachers must explicitly teach vocabulary, word parts, and sentence structure while being aware of differences from students' native languages.

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Zumrad Kh
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Morphology and Syntax

Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of words. In English and many
other languages, many words can be broken down into parts. For example: unhappiness / un-
happi-ness. The smallest unit which has a meaning or grammatical function that words can be
broken down into are known as morphemes. So, “un” is a morpheme. Morphemes are the
smallest unit of linguistic meaning or function. We combine morphemes to create words. For
example: consider the words sheep and dog. Each one of these words is a single morpheme but
we can put them together and create another word which is sheepdog. We can then say that this
new word consists of 2 different morphemes. We can also take it to another level and pluralize it
which gives us “sheepdogs”. Now this word contains 3 different morphemes because the “s” is
considered a morpheme as well. 
One of the most productive ways to form new words is through affixation, which is forming new
words by the combination of bound affixes and free morphemes. There are three types of
affixation:
Prefixation: where an affix is placed before the base of the word.
Suffixation: where an affix is placed after the base of the word.
Infixation: where an affix is placed within a stem;  mothers-in-law and (abso-blooming-lutely)
While English uses primarily prefixation and suffixation, many other languages use infixes.
Inflection; combination of a word stem with a grammatical morpheme
-same word class, e.g. clean (verb), clean-ing (verb)
Derivation; combination of a word stem with a grammatical morpheme 
-Yields different word class, e.g. clean (verb), clean-ing (noun)
Compounding; combination of multiple word stems (cow+boy= cowboy).

 Teaching Phonology and Syntax to ELLs:


English Language Learners have unique challenges to learn content in new language. We
must use strategies for developing vocabulary to promote acquisition of academic English.T here
are several recommended classroom activities that will help with the learning of morphology.
Specifically these activities relate to the structural components of words plus relationships
among words. Many of these issues related to word-formation cause difficulties for ELLs. 
Morphology is helpful for all students because it provides an entry point into language and has
the potential to give students access to words that they would not know as a whole. When
students encounter an unknown word in text, they can use words and parts of words that they
know to figure out what the unknown word means. Examples: When you see or hear the prefix
re- it most likely means to do again. Therefore, it is crucial to teach students
prefixes,suffixes,root words, word derivation and all the elements of morphology to
give them a leg up so ELL students will not  lag behind than their English speaking
classmates.
Educators suggest that general educators, special educators, and speech language pathologists all
share the responsibility for teaching the following:
_Explicit instruction of vocabularies. Explicit instruction will teach students the definitions of
words in student friendly language. When using explicit instruction to teach vocabulary, teachers
have to remember to make sure the definitions are understandable to students.
_We can breakdown words and find not only their roots or stems but also other morphemes that
help students form new words.The word disorganization is a good example. We can
breakdown it into dis-organ-iz-ation.
For more information on morphology and syntax go to:
Vocabulogic: Bridging the Verbal Divide 

The Importance of Teacher Knowledge of First Language 


Given that English morphological processes differ from other languages in a variety of ways, it is
imperative that teachers acquire morphological information about the home languages of their
students. When providing morphological instruction for English learners, teachers must be
explicit and clear about how morphemes function and behave in English. Understandings about
morphology that may be common knowledge for English native students may be new to
or confusing for linguistically diverse students. Teachers can support English learners by
providing comprehensible demonstrations of the ways in which English is different from the
students’ home languages.

Syntax is most related to grammar, sentences and their structure.


The English language has a certain word order we have to follow if we want to create useful
language. The basic sentence in English consists of subject, verb, and object (SVO) as is
represented in this simple sentence: I eat breakfast. This sentence is grammatically correct
because the words are presented in the right order.
 English has nouns, verbs, adjective, and adverbs. We also have articles (determiners, the, a, an), 
prepositions (in, on, up, near, at, …), conjunctions (and, but, or, etc.), and pronouns . Then we
have phrasal categories which include noun phrases (the smart girl…), verb phrases, and
prepositional phrases (… in the park). Often times, a sentence will include many of these
different parts of speech. (Example: The teacher taught a new lesson on Tuesday).
This component of language is important because the basic sentence structure becomes a part of
a complex sentence which has to be formed correctly in order to make sense.
A sentence can be complex in English which results in confusion if ELLs are still in the
beginning stages of language acquisition. The confusion could also be caused by ambiguity of
sentences created by native speakers of English which could have more than one meaning.
We must simplify sentences whenever possible. We can use complex sentences but
we encouraged to follow them with simplified language particularly when they relate to
key topics.
Many languages follow different sentence structures. In English we have SVO but some other
languages follow Verb Subject Object (VSO) and so on. This means that we need to be aware of
the time it will take a learner to adapt to following a new word order in the new language. And to
be prepared to  work with these learners until they get used to the new sentence structure in
English. 

The difference between syntax and morphology is that syntax deals with the structure of
sentences and morphology deals with the structure of words. In any language, rules exist that
guide the way that words are put together. These are the rules of syntax. Morphology is the study
of how words are formed and understood within a language. Both syntax and morphology are
related to how meaning is produced with language. The order in which words are put together
has a bearing on the meaning of a sentence as a whole. Syntax rules must be followed in order
for a sentence to be grammatically correct and to make sense to speakers of a language. It is what
dictates things such as the order of the subject and verb, and how adjectives and adverbs are
used. This component of language focuses on the internal structure of words.  

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