Lecture 3

Morphology

Presented by Duong Minh Hoang

1. Research areas

 Morphology is a branch of linguistics that studies the structure or forms of words.

 Morphology is generally divided into two fields:

▪ Inflectional morphology: the study of inflections;

▪ Derivational morphology: the study of word-formation.

2. Basic concepts
2.1. Morpheme
 A morpheme is the smallest component of a word (minimal linguistic sign) that carries meaning.

 A morpheme that can stand as a word is a free morpheme, while a morpheme that cannot is a bound
morpheme.

E.g.

Language Word Free morpheme Bound morpheme

English teacher teach -er

Italian felicemente “happily” felice “happy” -mente

 A word that consists of one morpheme is morphologically simple or monomorphemic, otherwise it

is morphologically complex or polymorphemic.
2.2. Root
 Root: usually but not always a free morpheme that serves as a building block for a word and carries the
core meaning of that word.

E.g. Language Word Root

homelessness home
English
linguist ling-
gilingan giling
Ilokano
“grinder” “grind”

 Roots that only occur in combination with some other bound morpheme are called bound roots.

E.g. circul- (in circulate, circulation, circular); simul- (in simulant, simulate, simulation).
2.3. Affix
 Affix: a bound morpheme that can be added to another morpheme or a group of morphemes to express a
grammatical contrast or form a new word.

E.g. Language Word Affix(es)

-less
homelessness
-ness
English unhappy un-
un-
unlocking
-ing
tagaamianan taga-
Ilokano
“Northerner” “a person from…”
batak
“sinking place/swap” -ak
Turkish
durak “place”
“stopping place/station”
 Based on position, affixes can be classified into:

▪ Prefix: an affix that stands before the morpheme(s) to which it is added.

E.g. Language Word Prefix

impossible im-
English
endanger en-
Ilokano tagaamerika “American” taga- “a person from…”
kazigi “chins” ka-
Isthmus Zapotec
kadiaga “ears” (plural)

▪ Suffix: an affix that stands after the morpheme(s) to which it is added.

E.g. Language Word Suffix

English beautiful -ful

bankaya “to the bank” -ya “to…”

Turkish
bankalar “banks” -lar (plural)
▪ Infix: an affix that is inserted into other morphemes.

E.g. Language Word Infix

fumikas “to be strong” -um-
Bontoc
kumilad “to be red” “to be…”
lbeun “speed” (leun “fast”) -b-
Khmer
lbong “trial” (long “to test”) (nominalization)

▪ Circumfix (discontinuous morphemes): a set of affixes that wrap around other morphemes.

E.g. Language Word Circumfix

pagragsaken “make sb happy” (ragsak “happy”) pag-…-en
Ilokano
pagurayen “make sb wait” (uray “wait”) “make sb…”

ikchokmo “he isn’t good” (chokma “he is good”) ik-…-o

Chickasaw
ikpallo “it isn’t hot” (palli “it is hot”) “not…”
 Based on function, affixes can be classified into:

▪ Derivational affix: an affix that changes the lexical meaning of the morpheme(s) and usually but not
always changes the part of speech of the morpheme(s) to which it is added, creating a derivative.

E.g. Language Word Derivational affix

happily -ly (Adj → Adv)
English
happiness -ness (Adj → N)
Italian parlamento “parliament” (parlare “speak”) -mento (V → N)
Bontoc kumilad “to be red” (kilad “red”) -um- (Adj → V)

▪ Inflectional affix: an affix that signals grammatical relationships without changing the part of speech of
the morpheme(s) to which it is added.

E.g. Language Word Inflectional affix

cats -s (plural)
English
wanted -ed (past)
parlo “I speak” (parlare “speak”) -o (1st per., sing., present)
Italian parliamo “we speak” -iamo (1st per., plu., present)
parla “he/she speaks” -a (3rd per., sing., present)
2.4. Stem and base
 Stem: a root plus at least one morpheme.

E.g.

rely → root;

reliable → stem (root + der. suffix -able);

unreliable → stem (der. prefix un- + root + der. suffix –able);

unreliability → word (der. prefix un- + root + der. suffix –able + der. suffix –ity).

 Base: any form of a word to which an affix is added.

E.g. rely, reliable, unreliable are bases.

→ All roots are bases but not all bases are roots.
2.5. Allomorph
 Allomorph: any of the different forms of a morpheme.

E.g.

1. English

▪ [ɪz], [s], and [z] are allomorphs of the inflectional suffixes –s/-es to form the plural form of a noun.

▪ [ɪd], [t], and [d] are allomorphs of the inflectional suffix –ed/-d to form the past tense of a verb.
2. Ilokano (Mithun, 2014)

Root Stem
sakmol “inside of mouth” isakmol “put st into the mouth”
ruar “outside” iruar “take st outside”
ditoy “here” iditoy “put st here”
ngato “high, up” ingato “put st up”
baba “down, below” ibaba “put st down”
abut “hole” yabut “put st in a hole”
uneg “inside” yuneg “put st inside”
abay “side” yabay “place beside, compare”

→ Hypothesis:
▪ Prefix i- turns words into verbs;
▪ i- has two allomorphs: i- before consonants and y- [j] before vowels.

 Like allophones, allomorphs of a morpheme are in complementary distribution.

 A root can have different allomorphs (changes in pronunciation).

E.g.

▪ [liːf] in leaf and [liːv] in leaves are two allomorphic variations of the root leaf.

▪ [prɪˈfɜː] in prefer and [ˈprɛfə] in preferable are two allomorphic variations of the root prefer.
2.6. Lexeme, word form, and grammatical word
 Lexeme: a minimal distinctive unit in the semantic system of a language.

E.g. love, loves, loved, loving are four different word forms of the lexeme LOVE.

 Lexemes are the units that are conventionally listed in dictionaries as separate entries.

 If two distinct grammatical meanings are expressed with one word form, each meaning is expressed
with a grammatical word or morphosyntactic word.

E.g. The single word form loved corresponds to two grammatical words – (1) the past tense form of
LOVE and (2) the past participle form of LOVE.
3. Morphological analysis
 Morphological analysis (MA) is done to identify the morphological structure (roots, stems,
morphemes, affixes and how they interact) of a language.

 MA is usually done by comparing sets of words; if two similar words differ in only a particular
part, it can be hypothesized that the part in question is a morpheme and has a particular meaning.

 The process is very much similar to phonemic analysis.

E.g.
1. English
tall – taller; long – longer; short – shorter → -er is a recurring form, meaning “more”.
tall – tallest; long – longest; short – shortest → -est is a recurring form, meaning “most”.
→ Hypothesis:
▪ tall, long, short root morphemes
▪ -er bound morpheme (inflectional suffix) with comparative meaning
▪ -est bound morpheme (inflectional suffix) with superlative meaning

2. Karo (Gabas, 1999 as cited in Mithun, 2014)

kə “walk” – takə “make sb walk while walking alongside of him/her”
ket “sleep” – taket “put sb to sleep and sleep alongside him/her”
noga “eat” – taonga “feed sb while eating with him/her”
→ Hypothesis:
▪ ta- bound morpheme (derivational prefix) with comitative, causative meaning
3. Michoacan Aztec (Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams, 2017)

nokali “my house” – nokalimes “my houses” – mokali “your house” – ikali “his house”

nopelo “my dog” – mopelo “your dog” – mopelomes “your dogs”

ikwahmili “his cornfield” – nokwahmili “my cornfield” – mokwahmili “your cornfield”

→ Hypothesis:

▪ kali root morpheme meaning house

▪ pelo root morpheme meaning dog

▪ kwahmili root morpheme meaning cornfield

▪ no- bound morpheme (inflectional prefix) meaning my

▪ mo- bound morpheme (inflectional prefix) meaning your

▪ i- bound morpheme (inflectional prefix) meaning his

▪ -mes bound morpheme (inflectional suffix) to form plural

4. Analyzing morphological structure
4.1. Labelled bracketing
 Labelled bracketing is a way to represent the structure of a word by using brackets to enclose the
constituents that group together into larger units.

 Subscript labels are used to indicate the type of constituent and larger unit.

E.g. 1. [V rely] rely

2. [A [V rely] able ] reliable

3. [A un [A [V rely] able ] ] unreliable

4. [N [ A un [A [V rely] able ] ] ity] unreliability

4.2. Tree diagram

 Tree diagrams can be used to represent the morphological structure of a word; it is more widely
adopted than labelled bracketing.

E.g.

1. V 3. A 4. N
A

A
rely
V A
2. A
un rely able V
V

rely able
un rely able ity
5. Morphological processes
 Morphological processes include:

▪ Inflection: the process of creating different word forms of a lexeme;

▪ Word-formation: the process of creating a new lexeme.

 Different languages make use of different methods for inflection and word-formation.
5.1. Inflection
 Inflection refers to how words (lexemes) are modified to express a grammatical contrast (in terms
of tense, aspect, voice, case, person, etc.).

 World languages use different methods for inflection, including affixation (the most common
one), reduplication, internal sound change, suprasegmental variation and suppletion.

 The inflection of verbs is called conjugation, while the inflection of other word classes is referred
to as declension.
5.1.1. Affixation
 Affixation: the process that involves the use of affixes to indicate a grammatical contrast.
 Languages that add inflectional morphemes to words are called inflectional languages.
E.g.

Language Base Inflected form Explanation

work worked -ed: present → past

English cat cats -s: singular → plural

fast faster -er: comparative

parlo “I speak”
parli “you speak”
parla “he/she speaks” suffixes -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate and
Italian parlare parliamo “we speak” –ano are used to indicate person,
parlate “you speak” number and tense
parlano “they speak”
5.1.2. Internal change

 Internal change: a process that substitutes one nonmorphemic segment for another to mark a
grammatical contrast.

E.g.

Before change After change Explanation Notes

sing sang
This phenomenon is called
sink sank present → past
ablaut
drive drove
foot feet
This was caused by a
goose geese singular → plural
process known as umlaut
tooth teeth
5.1.3. Suppletion

 Suppletion: a process that replaces a morpheme with an entirely different morpheme to indicate a
grammatical contrast.

E.g.

Language Basic form Suppletive form Notes

French aller “to go” ira “he/she will go”

Spanish ir “to go” fue “he/she went”

German ist “is” sind “are” total suppletion

Russian xorofo “good” lutffe “better”

go went
English
bring brought partial suppletion
5.1.4. Reduplication

 Reduplication: a process in which all or part of the base is repeated to mark a grammatical
contrast.

E.g.

Language Base Reduplicated form Notes

anak “child” anak anak “children”

Indonesian
oraŋ “man” oraŋ oraŋ “men”

người người người total reduplication

Vietnamese
nhà nhà nhà

takbo “run” tatakbo “will run”

Tagalog
lakad “walk” lalakad “will walk” partial reduplication
5.1.5. Suprasegmental variation

 Suprasegmental variation: a process that involves changes in suprasegmental features (most often
tone) to indicate a grammatical contrast.

E.g.

Language Before change After change Explanation

English He’s a \doctor. He’s a /doctor? statement → question

dá “spanked” dà “will spank”

Mono past → future
wó “killed” wò “will kill”

Maasai èlʊ̀kʊ̀nyá “head” èlʊ́kʊ́nyá “head” nominative → accusative

5.2. Word-formation
 Word-formation is a generic term for a wide range of morphological processes that result in new lexemes.

 Different languages use different methods to form new words, but the most common ones are affixation
and compounding.

 The general term for a newly created lexeme is a coinage. The coinage may be just a nonce word – a
lexeme created for temporary use and afterwards used little or not at all, or may become a neologism – a
newly coined lexeme adopted by the community.
5.2.1. Affixation

 Affixation: a process in which derivational affixes are added to a base to form a new word.
E.g.

Language Base Derived word Notes

nation national -al (N → Adj)

national nationality -ity (Adj → N)

English
danger endanger en- (N → V)
un- “not”
happy unhappiness
-ness (Adj → N)
cambiare “to change” cambiamento “change”
-mento (V → N)
Italian versare “to pour” versamento “pouring”

possibile “possible” impossibile “impossible” im- “not”

5.2.2. Compounding

 Compounding: a process in which two or more lexemes (either a root or a word) are used to form a
new word.

E.g.

Language Compound Explanation Notes

greenhouse green + house

retrospect retro- “back” + spect “look”

English morphology + textbook

morphology textbook morphology: morpho- “form” + -logy “study”
textbook: text + book recursive

English morphology textbook English + morphology + textbook

5.2.3. Reduplication

 Reduplication: a process in which a process in which all or part of the base is repeated to form a
new word.

E.g.

Language Example of reduplication Notes

teen → teeny-weeny Rhyming reduplication

English bye → bye-bye Exact reduplication

chat → chit-chat Ablaut reduplication

nhảm → lảm nhảm Rhyming reduplication

Vietnamese
nâu → nâu nâu Exact reduplication
5.2.4. Conversion (Functional shift)

 Conversion (or Functional shift): a process in which a form changes its word class without the
addition of an affix or other alteration in the word form such as changes in vowel, vowel length or
tone.

E.g.

Language Original word Converted word

hammer (N) to hammer (V)

to guess (V) a guess (N)

English
empty (Adj) to empty (V)

poor (Adj) the poor (N)

Language Original word Converted word

của (N) của (Prep)

về (V) về (Adv)
Vietnamese
ra (V) ra (Adv)

liên minh (N) liên minh (V)

5.2.5. Blending

 Blending: a process in which a word (blend) is formed by blending the first part of one word and
the last part of another.

E.g.

Language First element Second element Blend

breakfast lunch brunch

English
motor hotel motel

giao thông liên lạc giao liên

Vietnamese
nhân dân vận động dân vận
5.2.6. Back-formation

 Back-formation: a type of word-formation where a shorter word is derived by deleting an imagined

affix from a longer form already present in the language.

E.g.

Language Original word Back-formed word

editor (N) edit (V)

English television (N) televise (V)

beggar (N) beg (V)

5.2.7. Suprasegmental variation

 Suprasegmental variation: a process that involves changes in suprasegmental features (most often
tone) to form new words.

E.g.

Language Examples of words formed from changes in tone Notes

ma – mà – mả – mã – má – mạ

Vietnamese ban – bàn – bản – bán – bạn contour tones

no – nỏ – nó – nọ

Margi [ʃú] “to dry” – [ʃù] “tail”

level tones
(register tones)
Yoruba [wá] “to come” – [wa] “to look” – [wà] “to exist”
5.2.8. Shortening
5.2.8.1. Clipping

 Clipping: a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables.

E.g.

Language Original word Clipped form Notes

advertisement ad final clipping

caravan van initial clipping

English mathematics maths medial clipping

influenza flu final-initial clipping

complex clipping
cable telegram cablegram
(clipping compound)
5.2.8.2. Acronym

 Acronym: a word formed by taking the initial letters of (some or all) the words in a phrase or title
and pronouncing them as a word.

E.g.
Language Original phrase Acronym
United Nations International Children’s
UNICEF
Emergency Fund

English North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO

Radio detecting and ranging radar

Vietnamese Ghen ăn tức ở gato

5.2.8.3. Initialism

 Initialism: similar to acronym in the formation process but the initials are pronounced as a series of
letters rather than a word.

E.g.
Language Original phrase Acronym

District of Columbia DC

English United States of America USA

Compact disc CD
5.2.9. Sound imitation (Onomatopoeia)

 Onomatopoeia: a word which imitates or echoes the sound produced by some process or creature.

E.g.

The sound made by… Language Onomatopoeic word

English woof woof

Vietnamese gâu gâu

a dog
German wau wau

Czech haf haf

English rustle
leaves moving in the wind
Russian shurshat
5.2.10. Eponym

 Eponym: a word created from the name of a person.

E.g.

Language Name of the person Word

James Watt watt (N)

Marie and Pierre Curie curie (N)

English Charles Boycott boycott (V)

Earl of Sandwich sandwich (N)

Earl of Cardigan cardigan (n)

Oshin (from Japanese) ô sin
Vietnamese
Chí Phèo chí phèo (N, V)
5.2.11. Borrowing

 Borrowing: the process in which one language takes lexical items (loan words or borrowings) from
another.

E.g.
Language Loan word Language of origin
feng shui Chinese
pizza Italian
English
pho Vietnamese
kiwi New Zealand
laptop English
Vietnamese sếp French (chef)
Xô-Viết Russian (Совет)
hotel English
Italian
computer English
5.2.12. Clitic
 Clitic: a grammatical form that is neither a clearly a word nor clearly an affix (Brown & Miller, 2013).
E.g.

Language Clitic

’ll in he’ll be there.

English ’s in he’s a doctor.
’s in John’s friends are nice.
Italian l’ in L’ho veduta ieri “I saw it yesterday”.

 The word that a clitic leans on is called the host.

 Clitics that appear before the host are called proclitics, while those that appear after the host are enclitics.

 Different from affixes, a clitic may attach to words or whole phrases.

E.g. John’s book; the man who John met’s book; the girl I’m speaking to’s hat.
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Brown, K., & Miller, J. (2013). The Cambridge dictionary of linguistics. Cambridge University Press.

Meyer, C. F. (2009). Introducing English linguistics. Cambridge University Press.

Mithun, M. (2014). Morphology: what’s in a word?. In Genetti (Ed.), How languages work – an
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Nghieu, V. D., & Hiep, N. V. (2009). Dẫn luận ngôn ngữ học. National University Press.

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