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What Is Morphology?

Morphology is the study of the structure and formation of words in a language. It is concerned with the internal structure of words and how they are formed by combining smaller units of meaning called morphemes.

What Are Morphemes?

Morphemes can be divided into three categories: prefixes, suffixes, and roots (also called bases).

A prefix is a morpheme that is added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning. For example, the prefix “un-” can indicate negation, as in “happy” and “unhappy”.

A suffix is a morpheme that is added to the end of a word to change its meaning. For example, the suffix “-ness” can indicate a state or quality, as in “happy” and “happiness”.

A root or base is the core of a word that carries its main meaning. It is not always a stand-alone word, but it is the part of the word to which prefixes and suffixes can be added. For example, the root “govern” can be transformed into “government” by adding the suffix “-ment”.

Types of Morphemes

In English, there are two main types of morphemes: inflectional and derivational.

Inflectional morphemes are small units of meaning that are added to the end of a word to indicate grammatical information, such as tense, plurality, or possessiveness (ownership).

These morphemes do not change the core meaning of the word, but rather indicate grammatical relationships between words.

For example:

  • The -s at the end of “dogs” indicates plurality, as in “one dog” vs “many dogs”.
  • The -ed at the end of “walked” indicates past tense, as in “I walk” vs “I walked”.
  • The -s at the end of “boy‘s” indicates possessiveness, as in “the book of the boy” vs “the book of the boy’s”.

Derivational morphemes are morphemes that are added to a base (also called root or stem) word to create a new word or change the word’s grammatical category or meaning.

For example, the derivational morpheme “-ize” can be added to a verb to create a new verb with a related meaning, such as “modernize”. Modernize is formed by adding the morpheme -ize to the verb “modern” and it means to make something modern.

Another example is the derivational morpheme “un-” which can be added to an adjective to create a new adjective with a negated meaning, such as “happy” and “unhappy”.

Common Morphemes in English and Their Meanings:

  • -s: indicates plurality, as in “dog” => “dogs”
  • -ed: indicates past tense, as in “walk” => “walked”
  • -ing: indicates present participle, as in “walk” => “walking”
  • -ly: indicates adverb, as in “quick” => “quickly”
  • -ment: indicates the result of an action, as in “govern” => “government”
  • -ness: indicates a state or quality, as in “happy” => “happiness”
  • -ful: indicates having a certain quality, as in “beauty” => “beautiful”
  • -less: indicates lack of a certain quality, as in “hope” => “hopeless”
  • -ish: indicates a slight or moderate degree of a quality, as in “green” => “greenish”
  • -able: indicates ability or possibility, as in “comfort” => “comfortable”
  • -ible: indicates ability or causation, as in “possible” and “horrible”
  • -ation: indicates the result of an action, as in “inform” => “information”
  • -ize: indicates the action or process of, as in “modern” => “modernize”
  • -ism: indicates a belief or system, as in “human” => “humanism”
  • -ity: indicates a state or quality, as in “equal” => “equality”
  • un-: negation, opposite of, as in “unhappy” (not happy)
  • dis-: negation, as in “dislike” (not like)
  • in-: negation, as in “inactive” (not active)
  • im-: negation, as in “impossible” (not possible)
  • ir-: negation, as in “irresponsible” (not responsible)
  • non-: negation, as in “non-fiction” (not fiction)
  • re-: repetition, back, as in “return” (to go back)
  • pre-: before, as in “preview” (to see before)
  • post-: after, as in “postgraduate” (after graduation)
  • over-: more than, as in “overcook” (cook more than necessary)
  • super-: more than, as in “superman” (more than man)
  • out-: more than, as in “outperform” (perform more than)
  • ex-: former, as in “ex-wife” (former wife)

Example Sentence

"(At) (first), (the) dis(interested) (dog)s (play)ed (with) (no) (enjoy)ment. (But) (sudden)ly (every)(thing) (change)d! (They) (start)ed (feel)ing (more) (comfort)able (and) (quick)ly (start)ed (enjoy)ing (the) (game)."
  • “At” is a preposition
  • “first” is an adjective and the base form of the word
  • “the” is an article
  • “dis” is a prefix indicating negation
  • “interested” is an adjective formed by the derivational suffix -ed, indicating a state
  • “dog” is a noun and the base form of the word
  • “s” is an inflectional suffix indicating plurality
  • “play” is a verb and the base form of the word
  • “ed” is an inflectional suffix indicating past tense
  • “with” is a preposition
  • “no” is an adverb indicating negation
  • “enjoy” is a verb and the base form of the word
  • “ment” is a derivational suffix indicating the result of an action
  • “But” is a conjunction
  • “sudden” is an adjective and the base form of the word
  • “ly” is an inflectional suffix indicating an adverb
  • “every” is an adjective and the base form of the word
  • “thing” is a noun and the base form of the word
  • “change” is a verb and the base form of the word
  • “d” is an inflectional suffix indicating past tense
  • “They” is a pronoun
  • “start” is a verb and the base form of the word
  • “ed” is an inflectional suffix indicating past tense
  • “feel” is a verb and the base form of the word
  • “ing” is an inflectional suffix indicating the present participle
  • “more” is an adverb and the base form of the word
  • “comfort” is a noun and the base form of the word
  • “able” is a derivational suffix indicating ability or possibility
  • “and” is a conjunction
  • “quick” is an adjective and the base form of the word
  • “ly” is an inflectional suffix indicating an adverb
  • “start” is a verb and the base form of the word
  • “ed” is an inflectional suffix indicating the past tense
  • “enjoying” is the present participle form of the root verb enjoy
  • “the” is an article
  • “game” is a noun and the base form of the word

This sentence illustrates how words are constructed by combining different morphemes, and how each morpheme can contribute to the meaning of the word.

Practice Morphemes

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