Branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study. Lexicology – ‘the science of the word’ Lexicon

Structural classification of morphemes:

free morphemes are morphemes which coincide with a word-form of an independently functioning word; they can be found only among roots, e.g. hero- as in heroism, event- as in eventful;

bound morphemes are morphemes which do not coincide with a separate word-form; they include all affixes, e.g. de- as in decode, -less as in fearless, -s as in girls; some root-morphemes, e.g. docu- as in document, horr- as in horrible, theor- as in theory etc;

semi-bound (semi-free) morphemes are morphemes which stand midway between a root and an affix; they can function as an independent full-meaning word and an affix at the same time, e.g. to speak ill of sb – to be ill-dressed / ill-bred / ill-fed;

Semi-prefixes: half-, mini-, midi-, maxi-, self-, by- etc.;

Semi-suffixes: -man, -like, -proof, -friendly, -oriented, -ware etc