Download Derivational Morphemes

Morphology: The Study of Morphemes
Purpose:
1. to identify parts of speech (form) of language
2. to understand the inflectional sentence so as to recognize what words are doing in a sentence (function)
3. to bring tacit knowledge of English grammar to a conscious level so as to be able to analyze and explain
it to others
Morpheme
 the smallest unit of meaning in a language
 all words are made up of one or more morphemes
 prototypical morphemes are visible parts of a word, as in oldest = {old} + {-est}
 morphemes may be hard to sort out of the word, as is ran = {run} + {-ed}, in which the past tense
inflectional morpheme indicated by the prototypical {-ed} is apparent only in the vowel change
 units of meaning that are pronounced or spelled similarly but not exactly alike in two words but which
have the same meaning in the word may be allomorphs, or variants, of the same morpheme
 linguists use braces are used to distinguish morphemes from words and syllables, as in {-est}
 two kinds of morphemes: derivational and inflectional
Derivational Morphemes
 used to make new words
 often used to change one part of speech to another, as in seeker, in which the verb seek is changed by the
derivational morpheme {-er} to become one who seeks, a noun
 the meaning of a derivational morpheme may often be guessed at by considering other words that appear
to use the same morpheme—for example, to analyze the {-pli} in duplicate, one might consider
application and pliable.
 often derived from words in the languages from which English developed—or from words in the
languages from which those languages developed. As such, the meaning of derivational morphemes, if
not immediately apparent, may often be discovered by consulting the etymological breakdown in a
dictionary entry.
In class: Break down autobiographical into its derivational morphemes, then analyze the function of each
one within the word. What is the meaning of the derivational morpheme? Does the morpheme change a
certain part of speech to another?
autobiographical = {auto} + {bio-} + {-graph} + {-ic} + {-al}
{auto}
{bio-}
{-graph}
{-ic}
{-al}
Practice exercises 3.7 and 3.8, pp 50-1.
Inflectional Morphemes
 used to show grammatical relationships
 There are only eight in English: two for noun inflection [{-s1}, {-s2}], four for verb inflection [{-s3}, {ed}, {-en}, {-ing}], and two for adjective inflection [{-er}, and {-est}.
 Many languages—including the European languages from which English is primarily derived—have
many more than eight, and some, such as Chinese, have, arguably, none. In highly inflected languages,
such as Latin, syntax is not as important as it is in a less inflected language.

Noun inflection:
{-s1} = noun plural morpheme. Prototypically, one adds -s or -es to a noun to
make it plural, but the -ren in children would also be calssified as {-s1}.
Similarly, sheep in the plural sense = {sheep}+ {-s1}; an invisible allomorph like this is
sometimes called a zero allomorph, or {Ø}.
{-s2} = noun possessive morpheme, prototypically formed by adding -’s to the
word, but also merely -’, depending on the phonology of the word in question.
A quick course in apostrophe usage for noun possessives [not pronoun possessives, which do not use
apostrophes, a rule that should help you and your students remember that its, the possessive case pronoun,
has no apostrophe]. Apostrophe usage in English is governed by sound, not by some arbitrary rule of
prescriptive grammar. The following method works in all situations and makes more sense than any you
will find elsewhere.
Write down the word, whether plural or singular, doing the possessing:
Sam
people
the girls
Jesus
Arkansas
Place an apostrophe at the end of the word doing the possessing:
Sam’
people’
the girls’
Jesus’
Arkansas’
Put the item(s) possessed after the possessor, pronounce the two words, and listen for whether you are
adding an -s sound not represented in the possessor. If you do add an -s sound, add an additional -s after the
apostrophe:
Sam’ ? hat
= Sam’s hat
people’ ? attitudes = people’s attitudes
the girls’ ? rooms
= the girls’ rooms
Jesus’ ? friends
= Jesus’ friends or Jesus’s friends,
depending on how you pronounce it. [Note: computers, which have
no brains, are not able to make choices by themselves, so their
grammar check programs have been set one way or the other. Some
grammar books do this too, but it is a pernicious and arrogant practice
and contrary to everything critical thinking is about.]
Arkansas’ ? colleges = Arkansas’s colleges

Verb inflection:
{-s3} = present tense morpheme. As -s is prototypically added to the infinitive form of
the verb to form the third person singular, present tense, it is thus taken to represent the
present tense for all verbs. In other person and number form of the verb, the {-s3} is
actually a zero allomorph added to the infinitive form of the verb.
{-ing} = present participle morpheme. Very regular. The present participle is used to
create the progressive tenses. It is also used for verbal constructions called participial
phrases, which are used as modifiers.
{-ed} = past tense morpheme. Most verbs add -ed to form the simple past,
but there are many irregular verbs.
{-en} = past participle morpheme. Used to form the perfect tenses (with a form of have),
passive voice (with a form of be), and participial phrases functioning as modifiers. Some
verbs add -en to form the past participle, as in I have written, but there are probably more
that add -ed. As with the past tense morpheme, there are also many irregular past
participle forms. {-en} is nevertheless the inflectional designation to distinguish it from
{-ed}.
How to recognize or figure out how to make a past participle a verb: Remembering that the
perfect tenses are formed by adding the past participle of a verb to the present, past, or future of
the verb have, select a form of have and insert after it the form of the verb that sounds right.
Example: write → has/have/had ____?___ → past participle = written
Note: It is common in social and regional dialects of English to use different forms for the simple
past as well as the past participle or to switch the two. If a past participle or simple past form of a
verb you are using sounds strange or iffy, consult a dictionary, which, as we have seen, lists the
parts in an order that is described in the introductory notes of the dictionary. There are often two
or more alternative but equally acceptable standard forms for problem verbs such as these. Also,
if your idiolect is one that uses nonstandard forms of these forms, be aware of this, and, if you
wish to use the standard form in written or spoken English, first use a dictionary to find a
standard form, then make a note of your ideolect’s deviance from the standard for future
reference.

Adjective/Adverb inflection:
{-er} = comparative morpheme. Quite regular. Prototypically, to form the comparative
of one or two syllable adjectives. Longer words usually use more before the word rather
than the inflectional suffix -er.
{-est} = superlative morpheme. Quite regular. Prototypically, to form the superlative of
one or two syllable adjectives. Longer words usually use most before the adjective rather
than the inflectional suffix -est.