1. Lesson 7 Morphology 2 (Analysing morphemes)
LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo A/B Introduction to English Linguistics prof. Hugo Bowles
Lesson 7
Morphology 2 (Analysing morphemes)

2. Two methods Two methods can be used to represent morpheme analysis: -
- Using a tree diagram
Dividing by hyphens

3. Mehtod 1 – Dividing by hyphens
Dividing by hyphens (trattini) is the simplest and easiest method for doing morphological analysis.
How do you do it?

4. Step 1 – Find the root !
The root of the word is the base form to which other bound morphemes are attached.
Where is the root in:
- teacher
- paper
- truthfulness
teach
no root (it’s a base form)
truth

5. Find the roots the following words
unwholesome
whole
rulership
rule
underdeveloped
develop
overachiever
achieve
operational
operate
indispensable
dispense

6. STEP 2 – Divide the bound morphemes from the root with a hyphen
e.g. truthfulness
truth
truth
-ful
truth-ful
-ness
truthful
truth-ful-ness
Answer = truth-ful-ness

7. Can you divide these words with hyphens?
colourful
happiness
unbelievable
teacher
monster
rattlesnake
colour-ful
happi-ness
un-believ-able
teach-er
monster
rattle-snake

8. Method 2 – tree diagram
This involves dividing the word in terms of the grammatical functions of the morphemes and representing it as a tree.
This is more difficult !

9. step 1 – divide the word using hyphens
truthfulness
truth-ful-ness

10. step 2 – extract the words that are created by the morphemes
In the single word truthfulness we have actually found three words:
truthfulness
truthful
truth (root)
What is the grammatical function of these words?

11. step 3 – analyse the grammar of each word
In the single word truthfulness we have actually found three words:
truthfulness
truthful
truth (root)
What is the grammatical function of these words?
noun (N)
adjective (A)
noun (N)

12. step 4 – start the tree from the root-
Write the word at the bottom
Attach the grammatical category of the root to the root N
truth-ful-ness

13. step 5 – attach the grammatical category of the next word
truth – ful - ness A N

14. step 6 – attach the grammatical category of the next word
truth – ful - ness A N

15. Another example specification
Step 1 – divide the word using hyphens
specification specif-ic-ation

16. step 2 – extract the words
specification
specific
specify (root)

17. step 2 – extract the words
specification
specific
specify (root)

18. step 3 – analyse the grammar
specification (N)
specific (A)
specify (root) (V)

19. step 4 – start from the root
specif - ic - ation V

20. step 5 – add the next category
specif - ic - ation A V

21. Step 6 – add the next category
specif - ic - ation A V

22. The structure is not always like this
The structure of the tree will depend on how the word has been morphologically constructed. Sometimes the root is in the middle of the word or at the end of the word. This will change the structure of the tree.
Let’s try unwholesome

23. step 1 – divide the word
un-whole-some

24. step 2 – extract the words
unwholesome
wholesome
whole (root)

25. step 3 – analyse the grammar
unwholesome (A)
wholesome (A)
whole (root) (A)

26. step 4 – start from the root
un – whole - some A

27. step 5 – add the next category
un – whole - some A A

28. step 6 – add the next category
un–whole - some A A A

29. Draw tree diagrams for the following words
rul-er-ship
under-develop-ed
over-achiev-er
operat-ion-al
in-dispens-able