Morphology

Morphology as a subfield of linguistics studies the internal structure of words. It to describe which meaningful pieces of language can be combined to form words and the consequences of such combinations are on the meaning

or the grammatical function of the resulting word. For example, the addition of re-to wind modifies the meaning of wind. In  a certain way, and in fact, it does so in the same way when added to unite (reunite), or play· (replay).

Morphemes is the minimal unit of grammatical analysis/function.

The word “happy” is the original morpheme, with its grammatical function as an adjective. Taking the word ”unhappy” we know that it is made up of  “un+happy”, where “un” has the grammatical function of “not” (showing negation), whilst “happy” has the grammatical function of an adjective( a describing function). “happy” is the basic morpheme which can occur on its own but “un” is the added morpheme which cannot stand on its own. Such morphemes are called free and bound morphemes respectively.” Happy, live, please, and man” are free morphemes, whereas all others, “un, ness, ly,hood,dis, and ant” are all bound morphemes.

§  Allomorphs

morphemes having the same function but different form. Unlike the

synonyms they usually cannot be replaced one by the other.

(1) a. indefinite article: an orange

      a building

      b. plural morpheme: cat-s[s] , dog-s[z],  judg-es [@s]

(2) a. matk-a `mothernom’   - matek `mothersgen'  - matc-e`motherdat' - matc-in`mother's'.

·        Zero allomorphs

Zero allomorphs is the term given to the unit involved when a morpheme changes status from one type of morpheme to another without any addition or subtraction of any of its parts. Zero allomorphs is spoken of, therefore, in situation where there is no overt change in the item. It is indicated by the sign Ø. For example:

Sheep(singular)               sheep(plural)

Sheep( singular) +Ø                  sheep(plural)

A.   Inflectional and derivational morphology.

1.Inflectional is the term an affix used to change form and function only from the grammatical point with no change in part of speech of the word as seen in the paradigms below.

Walk(s)       ring(s)                   sing(s)         talk(s)

Walk(ed)      rang(‘            )      sang (‘  )      talk(ed)

Walk(ing)     ring(ing)      sing(ing)      talk(ing)

All morphemes in brackets () are bound morphemes which only have separate grammatical functions but which do not change the meaning of the original morpheme(the root). Likewise, the part of speech too remains the same (verb remains a verb,etc) the examples: “ring’!rang” and “sing’!sang” undergo what is known as suppletion.

Other common examples of inflections in English are:

Part of speech	Morpheme	function	Example
Verb:	(s) (ed) (en) (ing)	3rd person singular Present tense Past tense Past participle Progressive aspect	Proves Proved Was proving
Noun:	(s) (s)	Plural Possessive	Boys Girls
Adjective:	(er) (est)	Comparative superlative	Bigger Biggest

2.Derivations(derivational morphology)

A derivation is an affix used to change form and meaning from a lexical point with a change in part of speech sometimes as seen bin the paradigms below:

Universe (noun)              ambition(noun)                          protect(verb)

Universal(adjective)        ambitious(adjective)                  protective(adjective)

Universality(noun)           ambitiousness(noun)                 protection(noun)

University(noun)                                                              protectiveness(noun)

Other examples of derivations are:

Mis- (wrong)- misjudge, misconstrue, and misbehave

Let-(small)- booklet,rivulet

Ish-(like)- mannish, bookish

Un-(reverse,not)- undo,untrue.

Reference: A linguistic primer for Malaysian book.