Morphemes

Morphemes

by Geraldine Quitalig

​What is morphemes?

​-According to Merriam-Webster, It is a morphological element considered with respect to its functional relations in a linguistic sign

Morpheme is from Greek: morphe means “form”

According to Lieber, 2009, “Morphemes is the minimal units of meaning or grammatical function that are used to form words”

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​Four criteria of Morpheme

​A "morpheme" is a short segment of language that meets four basic criteria:

1. They cannot be subdivided.

2. They add meaning to a word

3. They can appear in many different words

4. They can have any number of syllables. Morphemes can vary in size: neither the number of syllables nor the length of a word can indicate what a morpheme is and what isn’t.

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​Examples of Morphemes

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​Example 1. The words car and pet are independent morphemes in themselves, but the word carpet has nothing to do with the meanings of car and pet. Carpet is a single meaningful unit by itself”. Consequently, morphemes “are the smallest units of language that combine both a form and a meaning.

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​Example 2, Linguists say that the word buyers is made up of three morphemes {buy}+{er}+{s}. The evidence for this is that each can occur in other combinations of morphemes without changing its meaning. We can find {buy} in buying, buys, and {er} in seller, fisher, as well as buyer. And {s} can be found in boys, girls, and dogs. The more combinations a morpheme is found in, the more productive it is said to be.

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​There are two types of morphemes

​ 1. Free morphemes which can stand alone with a specific meaning, for example, eat, date, weak.

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2. Bound morphemes which cannot stand alone with meaning. For ex. un-, -ly

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​Function of Morpheme

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​The basic function of a morpheme is to give meaning to a word. It may or may not stand alone. When it stands alone, it is thought to be a root. However, when it depends upon other morphemes to complete an idea, then it becomes an affix and plays a grammatical function. Besides, bound morphemes can transform meanings and functions of the words respectively adding richness and beauty to a text.

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THANK YOU !!!!!!

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