> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://linguistics-course.gitbook.io/linguistics-course/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://linguistics-course.gitbook.io/linguistics-course/04-words-versus-morphemes.md). # Words versus morphemes ## Relevance of words and morphemes Words and morphemes are the building blocks of sentences In order to analyse sentence structure we need to know about words and morphemes Language-impaired individuals, in particular children, tend to have morphological difficulties ## Definitions Both words and morphemes are 'symbolic', meaning that there is an *arbitrary* relationship between form and function. ### MORPHEME = smallest unit of meaning How many 'units of meaning' in the following words: 1. Dogs 2. Laughed 3. Working 4. Believe 5. Unbelievable 6. Sang ### WORD = smallest *standalone* unit of meaning (or minimal standalone symbolic unit) Words can stand alone, e.g. 1. A: What was he doing? B: Working 2. B: How would you describe the experience? B: Unbelievable 3. Shark!!!!!!!! 4. Run!!!!!!!!! ## Categorising morphemes Morphemes can be **free** or **bound**. If a morpheme is *free* it can also be classified as a word (because it can 'stand alone'). In the following sentence, we have examples of both *free* and *bound* closed-class morphemes 1. Jack **is** (really) try-**ing** to run fast-**er** Bound morphemes can be **prefixes** or **suffixes** (which are both kinds of **affixes**). Another type of bound morpheme is the **infix**, which comes in the middle of the word. English rarely uses infixes, and when they are used they sound "marked" (odd), e.g. fan-*bloody*-tastic). Other languages use infixes productively, e.g. Arabic Morphemes are divided into two categories, ***inflectional*** and ***derivational***. While *inflectional* morphemes make minor modifications to a word's meaning, *derivational* morphemes are used to *derive* a new word, either by substantially changing meaning or altering word class. Words containing multiple morphemes are described as **morphologically complex**. ## The difference between inflectional and derivational morphemes (1) Identify the prefixes / suffixes in these words. Which of these morphemes is inflectional / deriviational? 1. Dogs 2. Laughed 3. Unbelievable 4. Reconsider 5. Working 6. Smaller 7. Outmaneouvre 8. Careless 9. Intensify 10. Manageress 11. Slept (2) Can you correct the following sentences? What is wrong with them? 1. He see the cat eats the food. 2. My house is big than yours. (3) How does the pronunciation of the past tense vary across the following sentences? 1. He dropped the book 2. He turned the corner 3. She skidded on the mat (4) What's the problem with the following sentences? 1. He is uneducated and untolerant 2. While Jack is a sporty person, Anna is more booky 3. While Mary embraced motherhood, she wasn't so keen on wifehood 4. Jane quickly realised the falseness of the information. Now complete the following statements about the two types of morpheme, citing the examples above (answers provided). 1. While INFLECTIONAL morphemes are involved in syntactic processes, DERIVATIONAL morphemes are not. 2. INFLECTIONAL morphemes participate in phonological processes to a greater extent than DERIVATIONAL morphemes 3. While INFLECTIONAL morphemes are very productive (we can add them to many words), DERIVATIONAL morphemes are less productive. 4. While DERIVATIONAL morphemes can come at the beginning and ends of words (prefixes and suffixes), INFLECTIONAL morphemes can only come at the end (suffix) Other differences: (1) Derivational morphemes are longer (2) Derivational morphemes have more specific meanings, e.g. *out* in *outmaneouvre* means "to do something better than a competitor" (3) Derivational morphemes are more language-specific, e.g. *out-* prefix is not found in Spanish, and *-ito/-illo* diminutive suffixes are not used productively in English. ## Word-building processes There are three ways to form morphologically complex words using morphological processes 1. Inflection (adding inflectional morphemes), e.g. *laugh-ed* 2. Derivation (adding derivational morphemes), e.g. *un-do* 3. Compounding (taking two words and "squishing" them together), e.g. *fire man*, *book seller* Generally the last two are described as **word-building processes** as they can be used to coin new words, e.g. *skypeable*, or *red jacket man/woman* (a mysterious handsome stranger you see on the Metro every morning) When we build morphologically-complex words, we tend follow a particular order 1. We start out with the root 2. We add deriviational affixes 3. We add an inflectional affix This gives the impression that we build up the words in a series of steps. ## Morphemes and language impairment Individuals with language impairment struggle with inflectional morphemes. In particular, children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often miss out tense morphemes, e.g. regular past tense. Many studies quantify children's language abilities using the Mean Length of Utterance in Morphemes. Language-impaired individuals tend to have difficulties using derivational morphemes. It is worthwhile teaching these morphemes in clinic as they can be used to build words. ## 5 minute exercise Look at these examples. What does the suffix 'mouth' mean? How do you pronounce it in each word? 1. Portsmouth 2. Plymouth 3. Tynemouth 4. Grangemouth 5. Cockermouth --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. 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