The study of the internal structure of words Morphology The study of the internal structure of words

What is Morphology? Morphology is the study of word formation Morphologists identify different classes of morphemes, and study the patterns that occur in the combination of morphemes Ex: {re-} only comes before verbs

The smallest meaningful unit What does it mean to be the smallest meaningful unit in a language? Divide the following sentence into the smallest meaningful unit: I have two dogs. I / have / two / dogs I / have / two / dog / -s

Morphemes Meaningful units “I have two cats” “She wants to leave soon” “He walked across the room” “Her behavior was unbelievable”

Morphemes Free Bound Can stand alone {eye, think, run, apple} Can’t stand alone Has to be attached to a free morpheme {-able, un-, -s, -tion, -ly}

Morpheme Types Root Affixes Base The morpheme that is the semantic core “unthinkable” “realization” “distrust” Affixes Bound morpheme that attaches to roots {-s, un-, de-, -en, -able, -ize, -hood} Base Anything to which an affix is attached root {un.think.able} base

Affixes The most common way to build new words Prefix Suffix Infix

Prefixes Prefix An affix that attaches to the front of a root {un-, dis-, de-, mis-} Example: {in-} indecent

Prefixes Karok [pasip] “Shoot!” [nipasip] “I shoot” [/upasip] “She/he shoots” {pasip} “shoot {ni-} “1st person singular” {/u-} “3rd person singular”

Suffixes Suffix An affix that attaches to the end of a root {-able, -ing, -ed, -s} Most common affix Example: {-ful} careful

Suffixes Mende [pElE] “house” [pElEi] “the house” [mEmE] “glass” [mEmEi] “the glass” {-i} “the”

Infix Infix An affix that attaches within the root No English example

Infix Bontoc [fikas] “strong” [fumikas] “she is becoming strong” [fusul] “enemy” [fumusal] “she is becoming an enemy” {-um-} “becoming”

Affix Affix General term to cover all the previous terms Affixes can attach to other affixes boy . ish . ness dis . en . tangle

Group Work Identify and isolate the morphemes Decide if it is Free or Bound Decide what kind of affix is involved (if any)