Introduction to Linguistics

Sir. Darwin Guianan

● Foundation Course 2. Despite this enormous complexity, every language is
● All language is enormously complex systematic, often in ways that are hidden and surprising.
○ It is systematic because there are different (General statements of the systematic relationships in a
areas: language an called rules.)
■ Word System 3. Not only is language systematic, but it is systematic on
■ Meaning System many levels, from the system of sounds to the
■ Discoursal System organization of discourses.
● Language Varies 4. This systematicity is sometimes hard to see, for at least
○ Person to person two reasons:
○ Area to area a. the very complexity of language obscures the
○ Situation to situation patterns and regularities; and
b. in actual speech, there are hesitations, errors,
Characteristics of Language changes in midstream, interruptions,
Based on the definitions of a language above, we can state some confusions, and misunderstandings.
characteristics of human language, as follows: 5. Language varies systematically from person to person,
area to area, situation to situation. There is variation at
1. A language is a system. every level of structure. Speakers are not consciously
2. A language is said to be arbitrary aware of most of this variation.
3. A language is social. 6. Languages are diverse, often astonishingly so. There are
4. A language is spoken. surprising differences in the way individual languages are
5. A language is productive or creative. organized.
6. A language is complete for its native speakers. 7. Despite this diversity, there are a great many universal
properties of languages; that is, there are characteristics
The thing we want you to draw from this course is a broad shared by all languages as well as characteristics no
understanding of human language, what it is, what it’s used for, language can have.
and how it works. The purpose of this course is not to teach you 8. Some properties of a language are arbitrary, in the sense
to speak or wis better, but the course should enable you to that they cannot be predicted from other properties or
recognize an uninformed statement about language when you from general principles.
hear it. Five years after this course is over, after you may have 9. It is not easy for speakers of a language to reflect on their
forgotten all the definitions and phonetic symbols you will have speech; although a great many complex rules govern our
learned in it, we hope the course will have left you with a sharper speech, we are no more aware of them than we are of
e for language, a deeper understanding of its nature, and a livelier the principles that govern ball throwing or bicycle riding
interest in all its manifestations. The more immediate objectives of 10. The attitudes that people hold about their language and
this course are: other languages, or about their own speech and other
1. To lead you to examine your own linguistic beliefs and people’s, can be very different from the facts about them.
attitudes. These attitudes are often based on nonlinguistic factors
2. To make you aware of both the diversity of language and make an important field of study on their own.
systems and their fundamental similarities. 11. Speech is the primary manifestation of language, and
3. To give you a reasonable taste of most of the subfields of writing is only a secondary one
linguistics: phonetics, phonology morphology, semantics, 12. Although children learn their first language, they cannot
syntax, pragmatics, historical linguistics, really be said to be taught it. They intuit the rules of their
psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. language from what they hear, guided by certain implicit
4. To equip you with some tools techniques for linguistic assumptions about what language is like.
analysis and to give you some practice in using these to 13. All languages change as time passes, whether speakers
discover the organizing principles of a language. desire change or not, often they are not aware of it.
5. To acquaint you with the basic concepts necessary to 14. Linguists try to give accounts of the properties of a
further pursue linguistic studies, if you wish to. language that are both as precise and as complete as
possible.
General Conceptual Goals 15. Linguists try to determine the ways in which all languages
Below is a list of some very general principles of human language are alike and the ways in which they differ.
that will be explained and illustrated throughout this course.
Though the full significance of these characteristics won’t be Therapeutic Goals
apparent to you at the beginning of the course, they are the People have all sorts of beliefs about language, only some of
underlying themes of many of the lectures you will hear and the which have been supported by the re- search of linguists. One of
assignments you will read. the incidental functions of this course is to correct misconceptions
1. Every language is enormously complex. about particular languages and about language in general. Some
of these misconceptions are harmless, while others are not; some
of these beliefs could lead you to spend a great deal of time trying Phonetics - The study of speech sounds; how they are produced
to change things that can’t be changed or don’t need fixing, and in the vocal tract (articulatory phonetics), their physical properties
some can be used as instruments of prejudice against various (acoustic phonetics), and how they are perceived (auditory
groups. Here is a random list of misconceptions. Look the list over phonetics).
carefully. Some of the items you will readily perceive as
misconceptions and will be able to explain why they’re Phonology - The study of the sound system of language; how the
misconceptions. Others you may recognize as misconceptions particular sounds used in each language form an integrated
without really being able to explain why. And still others you’ll system for encoding information and how such systems differ from
probably agree with. You may wish to refer to this list as the course one language to another.
progresses. At the end of this course, we hope you’ll be able to
look at this list and provide a cogent explanation of why these are Pragmatics - The study of how the meaning conveyed by a word
misconceptions. or sentence depends on aspects of the context in which it is used
● Writing is more perfect than speech. (such as time, place, social relationship between speaker and
● Women generally speak better than men. hearer, and speaker’s assumptions about the hearer’s beliefs),
● There are “primitive” languages with only a few hundred
words. Psycholinguistics - The study of the interrelationship of language
● French is a clearer and more logical language than and cognitive structures; the acquisition of language.
English or German.
● People from the East Coast talk nasally. Semantics - The study of meaning; how words and sentences are
● Homosexuals lisp related to the (real or imaginary) objects they refer to and the
● People who say Nobody ain’t done nothin’ can’t think situations they describe.
logically. Sociolinguistics - The study of the interrelationships of language
● Swearing degrades a language. and social structure, of linguistic variation, and of attitudes toward
● Kids need to study for years in school to learn to speak language.
their language properly.
● Some people can pick up a language in a couple of Syntax - The study of the way in which sentences are constructed;
weeks. how sentences are related each other.
● It’s easier to learn Chinese if your ancestry is Chinese.
● Native Americans all speak dialects of the same LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE
language - How well do you know the Language?
● Some words, like sapphire, are naturally more beautiful
than others, like runt or stupid. LINGUISTIC PERFORMANCE
● The only reasonable way to arrange words in a sentence - How do you use the language?
is to start with the subject and follow with the verb.
● English is a simpler language than Latin or Greek PHONETICS
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds, which are
Major Subfields of Linguistics
known more technically as phones. This study highlights,
Listed below are some of the major subfields of linguistics and the
especially, how the speech sounds produced by using speech
aspects of language with which each is especially concerned.
organs. It shows mechanisms of how to produce the speech
sounds.
Anthropological Linguistics - The study of the interrelationship
between language and culture (particularly in the context of non-
Western cultures and societies)

Applied Linguistics - The application of the methods and results

of linguistics to such areas as language teaching, national
language policies, lexicography, translation, language in politics,
advertising, classrooms, and courts, and the like

Historical Linguistics - The study of how languages change

through time and the relationships among languages.

Morphology - The study of the ways in which words are

constructed out of smaller units that have a meaning or
grammatical function.
VOICED SOUND
Neurolinguistics - The study of the brain and how it functions in - Produced with vibration
the production, perception, and acquisition of language.
VOICELESS SOUND
- Produces without vibration
 If you are not pronouncing a consonant correctly, it’s
Major aspects of speech production: usually because you are not articulating the consonant in the
● the airstream mechanism – where the air used in correct location. Sometimes it’s important to go back to basics and
speech starts from, and which direction it is travelling in make sure that your tongue, teeth, and lips are in the right shape
● the state of the vocal cords – whether or not the vocal and location in order to produce the sound you want to make.
cords are vibrating, which determines voicing
● the state of the velum – whether it is raised or lowered, Bilabials
which determines whether a sound is oral or nasal Formed with two (bi-) lips (labials)
● the place and manner of articulation – the horizontal /p/ – pop
and vertical positions of the tongue and lips. /b/ – Bob
/m/ – mom
Place of articulation refers to the horizontal relationship
between the articulators. It specifies the position of the highest Labiodentals
point of the active articulator (usually some part of the tongue, but Formed with the bottom lip (labio-) and top teeth (dentals)
the lower lip may also be the active articulator) in relation to the /f/ – fish
passive articulator. The passive articulator involved typically gives /v/ – very
its name to the place of articulation.
Interdentals
Most consonant sounds are produced by using the Formed by putting the tongue between (inter-) the teeth (dentals)
tongue and other parts of the mouth to constrict, in some way, the /θ/ – thick
shape of the oral cavity through which the air is passing. The terms /ð/ – though
used to describe many sounds are those which denote the place
of articulation of the sound, that is, the location, inside the mouth, Alveolars
at which the constriction takes place. Formed by putting the tongue on the alveolar ridge, which is the
gum line above the top teeth
To describe the place of articulation of most consonant /t/ – Tom
sounds, we can start at the front of the mouth and work back. We /d/ – dad
can also keep the voiced – voiceless distinction in mind and /n/ – none
begin using the symbols of the phonetic alphabet to denote /s/ – sit
specific sounds. These symbols will be en-closed within square /z/ – zoo
brackets [ ]. /l/ – lamp
/ɹ/ – run

Palatals
Formed by touching the sides of the tongue to the roof of the mouth
/ʃ/ – ship
/ʒ/ – pleasure
/tʃ/ – cheap
/dʒ/ – jump
/j/ – yogurt

Velars
Formed by putting the back part of the tongue against the soft
palate
/k/ – curl
/g/ – girl
/ŋ/ – song

Glottal
• labials – lips The glottis is actually two vocal folds (i.e. vocal cords). It acts as a
• dentals – teeth sort of bottle cap to your windpipe.
• tongue
• palate – roof of the mouth; the hard palate is the harder Inhale and then hold your breath for a few seconds while keeping
(firmer) part of the roof of the mouth, in the front half of your mouth open. What you are actually doing to keep the air from
the mouth; the soft palate is farther back, near the rear of expelling out of your lungs by closing your glottis.
the mouth. If you read
Glottal consonants aren’t actually consonants; they just play
• alveolar ridge – the gums behind your top teeth
consonant roles in the language. In English, the following things
happen at the glottis:
/h/ as in “hi” and “Bahamas.” Say these words and notice how 2) Fricative
you’re not actually constricting or blocking airflow for this /h/ sound. We stop part of the air so it can’t come through everywhere. It is a stream
You’re just exhaling a little bit harder than you would for a normal of air. Imagine a river of water flowing. Then imagine putting a large
rock in the center of the river. The flow of the water would change
vowel sound in transition to the following vowel sound.
because of the large rock, but the water would still flow around it. This
/?/ – This is actually the culprit behind many of the “silent syllables” is a strong description of what a fricative sound is formed. There is a
we discussed in the first lesson. For example, in the phrase “wha(t) flowing river of air, and you partially block it with your tongue, teeth, or
time is it?” the /t/ in “what” is dropped and the vowel sound before lips.
it is closed at the glottis.
Sounds include: /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/ /h/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /ð/ /θ/

Initial Sounds
/f/ – four
/v/ – van
/s/ – sun
/z/ – zip
/h/ – hello
/ʃ/ – ship
/ʒ/ – This sound does not occur at the beginning of words in English. It
usually occurs in the middle of English words.
/ð/ – these
/θ/ – thin

Final Sounds
/f/ – half
/v/ – have
/s/ – pass
/z/ – has
/h/ – This sound does not occur at the end of words in English. It occurs
in the beginning or middle of English words.
/ʃ/ – wash
/ʒ/ – rouge – This sound at the final position is rare. It usually occurs in
the middle of English words.
/ð/ – bathe
/θ/ – bath

3) Affricate
We combine stops and fricatives to form affricates. Examples include:
/tʃ/ and /dʒ/. Affricates start with a stop and then transitions into a
fricative.

Initial Sounds
/tʃ/ – chip
/dʒ/ – just

Final Sounds
/tʃ/ – catch
/dʒ/ – badge

Manner of Articulation 4) Nasal

Besides stating whether a sound is voiced or voiceless and giving We close our palate and let air stream through the nose. Examples
the sound’s point of articulation, it is necessary to describe its include: /m/ /n/ /ŋ/
manner of articulation, that is, how the airstreams are modified by
Initial Sounds
the vocal tract to produce the sound. The manner of articulation of
/m/ – moon
a sound depends on the degree of closure of the articulators (how /n/ – nap
close together or far apart they are). /ŋ/ – This sound does not occur at the beginning of words in English.

1) Stop or Plosive 5) Liquid

We build pressure of air and then release it. This is a sudden burst of air. We let air stream on the sides of our tongue. Examples include: /ɹ/ /l/
Examples of stops include: /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/
Initial Sounds
/p/ – pig /ɹ/ – red
/b/ – bag /l/ – light
/t/ – tall
/d/ – dad Final Sounds
/k/ kick /ɹ/ – dear
/g/ – girl /l/ – fill
6) Glide Tongue Height
We move our mouth constantly from a articulation to a vowel sound. If we repeat to ourselves the vowel sounds of seat, set, sat-transcribed [i].
Examples include: /w/ and /j/ [å], [æ] – we will find that we open our mouth a little wider as we change
from [i] to [å], and then a little wider still as we change from [å] to [æ
Initial Sounds These varying degrees of openness correspond to different degrees of
/w/ – win tongue height: high for [i], mid for [å], and low for [æ].
/y/ – yellow High vowels like [i] are made with the front of the mouth less open
because the tongue body is raised, or high. The high vowels of English
Final Sounds are [I, I, u, U], as in leak, lick, Luke, look. Conversely, low vowels like
/w/ – This sound does not usually occur at the end of a word in English. the [æ] in sat are pronounced with the front of the mouth open and the
When you see a w at the end of a word, it usually means you bring your tongue low- ered. [æ, a], as in cat and cot, are the low vowels of English.
lips together in a small circle near the end of the vowel sound that comes Mid vowels like the [å] of set are produced with an intermediate tongue
before it, but the /w/ sound is not produced. height; in English, these mid vowels are [e, å, A., o] as in bait, bet, but,
/y/ – This sound does not usually occur at the end of a word in English. bought, boat.

Vowels In many American dialects, words like caught and cot, or dawn and Don,
While the consonant sounds are mostly articulated via closure or are pronounced differently, with an [5] and [a], respectively. In other
obstruction in the vocal tract, vowel sounds are produced with a American dialects, these words are pronounced the same. If we
pronounce these pairs the same, we probably use the unrounded vowel
relatively free flow of air. To describe vowel sounds, we consider [a] in these words. For most speakers of English, however, the vowel [3]
the way in which the tongue influences the ‘shape’ through which appears in words such as hall, ball, and tall.
the airflow must pass. Be- cause these sounds are not so easily
defined In terms of place and manner of articulation, we use labels Tongue Advancement
which serve to indicate how each vowel sounds in relation to the Beside being held high or mid or low, the tongue can also be pushed for-
others. ward or pulled back within the oral cavity. For example, in the high front
vowel [i] as in beat, the body of the tongue is raised and pushed forward
so it is just under the hard palate. The high back vowel [u] of boot, on the
other hand, is made by raising the body of the tongue in the back of the
mouth, toward the velum. The tongue is advanced or pushed forward for
all the front vowels, [I, I, e, å, æ] as in seek, sick, sake, sec, sack, and
retracted or pulled back for the back vowels, [u, U, o, 3, a], as in ooze,
look, road, paw, dot. The central vowels, [A] as in luck or [E] as the first
vowel in the word another, require neither fronting nor retraction of the
tongue.

Lip Rounding
Vowel quality also depends on lip position. When we say the [u] in two,
our lips are rounded. For the [i] in tea, they are unrounded. English has
four rounded vowels: [u, U, o, ], as in loop, foot, soap, caught. All other
vowels in English are unrounded. In the vowel chart, the rounded vowels
are enclosed in a dotted line forming a rectangle.

Vocal fold vibration is the sound source for vowels. The vocal tract above Tenseness
the glottis acts as a resonator affecting the sound made by the vocal folds. Vowels that are called tenses have more extreme positions of the tongue
The shape of this resonator determines the quality of the vowel – [i] vs or the lips than vowels that are lax. The production of tense vowels
[u] vs [a], for example. involves

There are several ways in which speakers can change the shape of the Bigger changes from a mid central position in the mouth. On the vowel
vocal tract and thus change vowel quality. They do this by chart we can clearly see that the distance between the tense vowels [i]
and [u] is bigger than the distance between the lax vowels [I] and [U].
1. Raising or lowering the body of the tongue For ex- ample, tense vowels are made with a more extreme tongue
2. Advancing or retracting the body of the tongue gesture to reach the outer peripherals of the vowel space. What this means
3. Rounding or not rounding the lips is that the tongue position for the tense high front vowel [i] is higher and
4. Making these movements with a tense or a lax gesture fronter than for the lax high front vowel [I]. Lax vowels are not
peripheral, on the outer edge of the possible vowel space. Compare tense
Therefore, when describing a vowel, it is necessary to provide [i] in meet with lax [I] in mitt, or tense [u] in boot with lax [U] in put. In
information about these four aspects of the articulation of the vowel. the latter case we will find that the tense round vowel [u] is also produced
Refer to the chart in figure 4 as each aspect is discussed. with more and tighter lip round- ing than the lax counterpart [U].

Front - the tongue is lowered We can consider some sample descriptions of English vowels:
Central - the tongue is centered
Back - the tongue is lifted [i], as in beat, is high, front, unrounded, and tense vowel [5], as in caught,
is mid, back, rounded, and lax vowel
Low -
Mid - the tongue is either in forward or backward position [a], as in cot, is low, back, unrounded, and lax vowel
Back -
[A], as in cut, is mid, central, unrounded, and lax vowel (Note that ALLOPHONES
“central” and “mid” refer to the same position in the vocal tract but on An allophone is a term used to describe the group of phones
different dimensions) represented by a single phoneme in a particular language.
[e], as in cake, is mid, front, unrounded, and tense vowel
For example, In English, the phones [tʰ] (aspirated), [t]
Diphthongs (unaspirated), and [tʃ] (affricated) are all represented by the single
a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in phoneme /t/ - this makes them all allophones for the phoneme /t/.
which the sound begins as one vowel and moves toward another (as in
coin, loud, and side ). Look at the following words: Trick, Tack, Stack. Each word
contains one of the previous allophones for phoneme /t/. Can you
TENSE VOWELS are enunciated with more prominent strong exertion,
figure out which word has which allophone?
marginally higher tongue positions, and longer terms than careless
vowels. … specialists use terms, for example, tense and careless to depict
the level of pressure in the tongue muscles, especially those muscles Trick = [tʃ] (africated - T makes a ‘CH’ sound)
liable for the grouping up of the tongue length-ways. Tack = [tʰ] (aspirated - an exhalation of air after the T)
Stack = [t] (unaspirated)
LAX VOWELS are likewise called short vowels: as a rule, they are more
limited than tense (long) vowels. … Another quality of remiss vowels is This makes the examples above the ALLOPHONES OF THE
that they are constantly checked: that is, they don’t happen alone at the
SAME PHONEME which is non-contrastive sounds and are
closures of words, however consistently need an after a consonant.
complimentary distribution. Means that even if we change how
SEGMENTALS are concerned with the individual speech sounds the /t/ sound the meaning will still be the same, it compliments.
(consonants and vowels) and their distinctive features, while
SUPRASEGMENTALS focus on the broader aspects of speech While on the other hand, we have ALLOPHONES OF THE
patterns, including rhythm, melody, and intonation, which convey DIFFERENT PHONEME which is contrastive sounds and are
expressive, pragmatic, and interpretive information in spoken language. overlapping distribution that is why they are called minimal
pairs.
PHONOLOGY - sound organization Example.
Phonology, on the other hand, is essentially the
In Hindi language
description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a
language. It is, in effect, based on the theory of what every speaker
[kʰal] - wicked person (/k/ is aspirated)
of a language unconsciously knows about the sound patterns of
[kal] - tomorrow/yesterday
that language. This study regards the speech sounds as having
functions to differentiate meanings.
[mæd] - Made
[mæt] - Mate
PHONE vs PHONEME
A phoneme is the smallest unit of meaningful sound in a
[sꞮp] - Sip
specific language. In the English language, there are 44 different
[lꞮp] - Lip
phonemes (20 distinct vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds).
If we interchange the sound the meaning will be different which is
Example.
why it’s not a complimentary distribution because it does not
The phonemic transcription of the word book is /bʊk/. As you can
compliment each other.
see, the word book has three distinct phonemes (b, ʊ, and k).
Minimal Pairs and Sets
Whereas phones are not necessarily critical to understanding the
When two words such as pat and bat are identical in form
meaning of words, phonemes are! If one phoneme is exchanged
except for a contrast in one phoneme occurring in the same
for another, it could change the word's meaning completely. Take
position. The two words are described as a minimal pair. More
the words sheep and sheet, for example. The ending phonemes
accurately, they would be classified as a minimal pair in the
are different (/p/ and /t/), resulting in two completely different
phonology of English since Arabic, for example, does not have this
words!
contrast between the two sounds. Other examples of English
minimal pairs are fan – van, bet – bat, site – side. Such pairs have
Phone - sound
been used frequently in tests of English as a second language to
Phoneme - meaningful sounds
determine non-native speakers’ ability to understand the contrast
in meaning resulting from the minimal sound contrast.
You can tell whether transcription is phonetic or phonemic by
looking at the brackets it's encased in. Phonetic transcriptions
When a group of words are differentiated each one from
go within square brackets ( [ ] ) and phonemic transcriptions
the others by changing one phoneme (always in the same
go within slashes ( / / ).
position), then we have a minimal set. Thus, a minimal set based
on the vowel phonemes of English would include feat, fit, fat, fate,
fought, foot, and one based on consonants could have big, pig, rig,
fig, dig, wig.
 One insight provided by this type of exercise with Derivational Morphemes - carries grammatical meaning in it
phonemes is that we can see that there are indeed definite content
patterns to the types of sound combinations permitted in a
language. In English, the minimal set we have just listed does not NATION+[AL] - [al] as adjective forming derivational suffix
include forms such as lig or vig. As far as we know, these are not NATIONAL+[IZE] - [ize] as verb forming derivational suffix
English words, but they can be viewed as possible English words. NA+[TION] - [tion] as noun forming derivation suffix
That is, our phonological knowledge of the pattern of sounds in [INTER]+NATIONAL - [inter] as a noun forming derivation prefix
English words would allow us to treat these forms as acceptable NATION+[S] - [s] as pluralizer
if, at some future time, they came into use. They represent
‘accidental’ gaps in the vocabulary of English. It is, however, no In French: Beau+x =Beaux - [x] as pluralizer
accident that forms such as [fsig] or [hig] do not exist or are unlikely
ever to exist, since they break what must be phonological rules Inflectional Morphemes - Function (All suffixes)
about the sequence or position of English phonemes.
Tall[er] - Tense marking morpheme
Phonological Rules Cook[ing]
Cook[ed] - Possessive forming morpheme
Phonemic Form allows us to translate or rather transcribe the
phonemes into actual sound speech “Frech language is a Gender language”

Phonetic Form represents abstractness, these are the Ell est sportive Female
meaningful sound distinctions in a language using a simplified set Il est sportif Male
of symbols. Generally, word with “e” in its end are usually for female

“Phonetics, as we learned in the previous section, is More examples:

more specifically the study of how speech sounds are produced, La Chine - Female
their physical properties, and how they are interpreted. Le Japon - Male
Phonology, on the other hand, investigates the organization of Les Philippines - Plural
speech sounds in a particular language.” L’ India - if it starts with vowel

MORPHOLOGY - word formation Je vais au pave - I’ll go to the bar

Morphology studies how words are formed and varied. It studies Je suis alle au pave - I went to the bar
the relationship between morphemes, and how morphemes can
be put together to create new words, or new forms of the stem “Duplication is very common in Filipino Language”
word.
ALLOMORPHS WITH THE SAME MORPHEME which are
What is morphology and its types? complimentary distribution. Means that even if we change how
There are two types of morphological relations: inflectional and a particular sound sounds, the meaning will still be the same, it
derivational. compliments.

Inflectional Morphemes - Function Cats [s]

When an inflectional affix is added to a stem word, a new form of Loves [z]
the stem word is produced. Roses [iz]

Derivational Morphemes - Content Talked [d]

When a derivational affix is added to a stem word, a new word with Grabbed [d]
new meaning is produced. Planted [id]

Bound Morpheme While on the other hand, we have ALLOMORPHS OF THE

Affixes, such as prefixes and suffixes, are bound morphemes, and DIFFERENT MORPHEMES which is contrastive sounds and are
are different from free morphemes. overlapping distribution

Free Morpheme Kutme - to play

Free morphemes are lexical units, and when two free morphemes Kume - love
are put together, a compound word is produced.
[ku] [ku]
INTERNATIONALIZATION [kut] [kut]

Stem word
Allomorphs
A morpheme can have one or more allomorphs, and these
allomorphs might be represented by the same or different
spellings.

Given a morpheme,
Can it stand alone as a word?
Yes - it’s a free morpheme (e.g., bubble, orange)
No - it’s a bound morpheme (e.g., -er in beater, -s in oranges)

Does it have the principal meaning of the word it’s in?

Yes - it’s the stem (e.g., happy in unhappiness)
No - it’s the affix (e.g., -or in contributor, pre- in preview)

Does it create a new word by changing the meaning or part

of speech, or both?
Yes - it’s a derivational affix (e.g., re- in rewind, -ist in artist)
No - it’s an inflectional affix (e.g.,-est in smartest)

Does it have a meaning or cause a change in meaning when

added to a word?
Yes - it’s a content morpheme (e.g., un- in untrue)
No - it’s a function morpheme (e.g., -s in books)