Morphology Terminology (paper1sectiona) Flashcards
Morpheme
The smallest unit of meaning in language. It can be a word, prefix or suffix. E.G: “Cats” has two morphemes: “cat” (free morpheme) and “-s” (bound morpheme indicating plural)
Free Morpheme
A morpheme that can stand alone as a word
Bound Morpheme
A morpheme that cannot stand alone and must be attached to a free morpheme EG: “-ed” (walked), “un-“ (unhappy).
Prefix
A bound morpheme that is added to the beginning of a word EG: “un-“ (undo) “dis-“ (disagree)
Suffix
A bound morpheme that is added to the end of a word EG: “-ed” (jumped)
Infix
A bound morpheme inserted within a word EG:-in- (unbelieveable)
Derivation
Creating a new word by adding a prefix or suffix to a base words EG: “Happy” to “Unhappy” (prefix is un-)
Inflection
The modification of a word to indicate tense, number, case etc . EG: “walk” (verb) becomes “walks” (3rd person singular), or “cat” becomes “cats” (plural)
Root
The core morpheme that carries the main meaning of a word EG: in “replay”, “play” is the root morpheme
Compound Word
A word formed by combining two or more free morphemes EG: “Basketball” (basket + ball), “Toothbrush” (tooth + brush)
Affix
A general term for prefixes, suffixes or infixes that are attached to a root word to change it’s meaning or grammatical function EG: “-ing” (walking)
Clipping
The process of shortening a word by removing part of it EG: “telephone” becomes “phone”
Blending
Combining parts of two words to form a new one EG: “Brunch” (breakfast + lunch), “Smog” (smoke + fog)
Acronym
A word formed from the initial letters of a phrase EG: “NASA” (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
Neologism
A newly coined word or expression EG: “Selfie” or “Google”
