Morphological structure of words Plan What is morphology.? 2

Plurality inflection

Singular

computer

judge

country

dress

fox

buzz

fly

Plural

computer+s

judge+s

countr+ies

dresses

foxes

buzzes

flies

Tense Inflection

Present

play

rule

cry

fix

kiss

dress

Past

played

ruled

cried

fixed

kissed

dressed

Inflection of Derived or Compound Words

Derived Form

kingdom+s

professor+s

achievement+s

hospitalize+d

activate+d

clean+ed

Compound Form

baseball+s

blackboard+s

brother+s-in-law

passer+sby

babysit+s

manhandle+d

The difference between functional and derivational affixes is the following: derivational affixes serve to supply the stem with components of lexical and lexico-grammatical meaning, and thus form different words, whereas a functional affix does not change either the grammatical category or the type of meaning found in the word to which it belongs.

The word to which the suffix –s is attached is still a noun and still has the same type of meaning. Similarly, the past tense suffix –ed, attached to the verb, does not change the grammatical category: played is still a verb, and it still retains its meaning; played still denotes an action, regardless of the tense of the verb.

In contrast, derivational affixes change the category and the meaning of the form. Derivational affixes serve to supply the stem with components of lexical and lexico-grammatical meaning, thus forming different words (derivational affixes will be discussed more in depth in the word-formation section). Consider the following examples:

Cliticization

Some morphemes act like words in terms of their meaning or function; however, they are unable to stand alone by themselves. These morphemes are called clitics. These elements should be attached to another word, which is called a host word. A good example in English is the contracted forms, e.g., I’m, he’s, we’ve, they’re, and others. Clitics which are attached to the end of the host are called enclitics, as the examples show. Clitics which are attached to the beginning of the host are called proclitics; they are not observed in the English language but are characteristic of French: Suzanne les voit (Suzanne them- sees). Clitics act like affixes because they cannot stand alone; however, they are members of a lexical category such as verbs, pronouns, or nouns.