What is Morpheme?
A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. It cannot be further divided without losing or altering its meaning. Morphemes are essential in the study of linguistics as they form the building blocks of words.
3 Definitions of Morpheme
- Definition 1 A morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that carries meaning or serves a grammatical function in a word.
- Definition 2: In linguistics, a morpheme is a unit of language that cannot be further divided without changing its meaning or grammatical function.
- Definition 3: A morpheme is a fundamental component of words, consisting of sounds or symbols that convey meaning independently or in combination with other morphemes.
5 Characteristics of Morpheme
- Smallest Meaningful Unit: Morphemes are the smallest units in language that carry meaning or perform a grammatical role.
- Cannot Be Subdivided: A morpheme cannot be broken down into smaller parts without losing its meaning.
- Either Free or Bound: Morphemes can either stand alone as words (free) or need attachment to other morphemes (bound).
- Contributes to Word Formation: Morphemes combine to create words, influencing meaning, part of speech, or grammatical tense.
- Modifies Meaning Without Altering the Word: Morphemes can modify a word’s meaning or structure without changing the word entirely, as seen in inflectional morphemes.
Types of Morphemes
Free Morphemes
- These morphemes can stand alone as words with specific meanings.
- Examples: "book," "run," "happy."
Bound Morphemes
- These cannot stand alone and must attach to other morphemes to convey meaning.
- Examples include prefixes and suffixes like "un-" in "unhappy" or "-ed" in "walked."
Lexical Morphemes
- A subtype of free morphemes, these carry the main content or meaning of a sentence.
- Examples: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs.
Functional Morphemes
- These are also free morphemes but serve grammatical functions rather than carrying specific meanings.
- Examples: conjunctions (and, or), prepositions (in, on), articles (the, a).
Derivational Morphemes
- Bound morphemes that change the meaning or part of speech of a base word.
- Examples: "happy" (adjective) + "-ness" = "happiness" (noun), "write" + "-er" = "writer."
Inflectional Morphemes
- Bound morphemes that modify a word to express different grammatical features like tense, number, or comparison.
- Examples: "play" + "-s" = "plays," "fast" + "-er" = "faster."
Each type of morpheme plays a distinct role in language structure, either by adding content or serving a grammatical purpose.
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