What is Morphology in Linguistics? - Definition & Examples

Examples · Firehouse · Doghouse · Bathroom · Chairlift. forTeachers forSchools forWorkingScholars® forCollegeCredit LogIn SignUp Menu forWorkingScholars® forCollegeCredit Plans Plans Courses Courses FindCoursesbySubject Science Math Business Psychology History English SocialScience Humanities Spanish ProfessionalDevelopment ByEducationLevel College HighSchool MiddleSchool TestPrep PopularTests… PopularTests SAT ACT TOEFL GMAT GRE CLEP GED ASVAB RealEstate TeacherCertification… TeacherCertification AEPA CEOE CSET/CBEST FTCE GACE ILTS MTEL MTLE MTTC MoGEA/MEGA NES NYSTCE OAE Praxis RICA TExES VCLA WEST Nursing… NursingTests HESI TEAS NCLEX PAXRN CNE OtherTests… OtherTests AP ASCP ASWB Accuplacer CHSPE CTEL DSST Finance FSA HSPT ISEE MBLEx NCE PERT PHR SHSAT TASC TECEP UExcel Exploreover 4,600 videocourses BrowseAllCourses SAT ACT TOEFL GMAT GRE CLEP GED ASVAB RealEstate AEPA CEOE CSET/CBEST FTCE GACE ILTS MTEL MTLE MTTC MoGEA/MEGA NES NYSTCE OAE Praxis RICA TExES VCLA WEST HESI TEAS NCLEX PAXRN CNE AP ASCP ASWB Accuplacer CHSPE CTEL DSST Finance FSA HSPT ISEE MBLEx NCE PERT PHR SHSAT TASC TECEP UExcel Credit Credit CreditOptions CreditOptions OnlineCollegeCredit HighSchool&GED CertificatesofCompletion HowitWorks TransferCredit TransferCredit AllTransferCredit FindYourSchool CollegeCoursesforCredit TransferringCredit HowItWorks EarnTransferableCredit&GetyourDegreefast Learnmore ContactSupport LessonTranscript Instructor: AngelaJanovsky Showbio AngelahastaughtmiddleandhighschoolEnglish,BusinessEnglishandSpeechfornineyears.Shehasabachelor'sdegreeinpsychologyandhasearnedherteachinglicense. Morphologyreferstothewaywordsareformedandarranged.Explorethedefinitionandexamplesofmorphologytounderstanditsroleinlinguistics.Considerboundvs.freemorphemes,andlearnaboutotheraspectsofmorphologytoappreciateitsimportanceinlanguage. Updated:12/27/2021 Createanaccount LinguisticsWhatmakeshumansdifferentfromeveryotherspeciesontheplanet?Answersvaryfromouruseoftools,ourcreationofasociety,orouradvancedtechnologicaldevelopment.However,oneessentialfactorunderliesalltherest:theabilitytocommunicate.Humansaretheonlyspeciesthathavealanguage.Sure,animalsdocommunicate:Dolphinsclickmessagesthroughthewater,wolveshowlinpacks,anddeerflicktheirtailstowarnofdanger.However,noneoftheseexamplesareevenclosetotheadvancedverbalcommunicationfoundinhumans.Thisbringsustolinguistics,orthestudyoflanguageanditsstructure.Manyscientistshavedevotedtheirlivestounderstandinghowlanguagedeveloped,howit'scurrentlychanging,andwhatitmightbecomeinthefuture.Therearemanyaspectsoflanguagetostudy,buttodaywefocusonmorphology. Anerroroccurredtryingtoloadthisvideo. Tryrefreshingthepage,orcontactcustomersupport. YoumustcCreateanaccounttocontinue watching Registertoviewthislesson Areyouastudentorateacher? Iamastudent Iamateacher CreateYourAccountToContinueWatching Asamember,you'llalsogetunlimitedaccesstoover84,000 lessonsinmath,English,science,history,andmore.Plus,getpracticetests,quizzes,andpersonalizedcoachingtohelpyou succeed. Getunlimitedaccesstoover84,000lessons. Tryitnow Itonlytakesafewminutestosetupandyoucancancelanytime. Alreadyregistered?Loginherefor access  Back WhatteachersaresayingaboutStudy.com Tryitnow Alreadyregistered? Loginhereforaccess Comingupnext: MorphologyofEnglish:Definition&Studies You'reonaroll.Keepupthegoodwork! TakeQuiz Watch NextLesson  Replay Justcheckingin.Areyoustillwatching? Yes!Keepplaying. Yournextlessonwillplayin 10seconds 0:05Linguistics 1:01Morphology 1:45Examples 2:52BoundVsFreeMorphemes 4:24OtherAspectsofMorphology 6:13LessonSummary Save Save Save Wanttowatchthisagainlater? LoginorsignuptoaddthislessontoaCustomCourse. LoginorSignup Timeline Autoplay Autoplay Speed Speed 172Kviews Video Quiz Course 172K views MorphologyMorphologyisthearrangementandrelationshipsofthesmallestmeaningfulunitsinalanguage.Sowhatdoesthisreallymean?Everyhumanlanguagedependsonsounds.Whenspecificsoundsareputtogetherinaspecificway,words,phrases,andfinallysentencescanbecreated.Thisishowmessagesaresentandreceived.Inordertounderstandmorphology,youneedtoknowthetermmorpheme,whichisthesmallestunitofawordwithmeaning.Thatmeaningishowlanguageconveysmessages.Morphemesaremorethanjustletters.Whenanumberoflettersareputtogetherintoawordpartthatnowhasmeaning,thenyouhaveamorpheme.Morphologystudieshowtheseunitsofmeaning,orwordparts,canbearrangedinalanguage.ExamplesLet'sillustratetheroleofmorphemesthroughsomeexamples.Lookatthefollowinglistofwords: Firehouse Doghouse Bathroom Chairlift Eachofthesewordshasseveralphonemes,ordistinctsounds.Firehousebeginswithan-fsoundandendswiththe-ssound.However,thosesoundsalonedon'thavemeaning.Breakingthefirstwordintosmallerpartsshowsthemorphemesfireandhouse.Thesearemorphemesastheycontaininherentmeaning.Firemeansbrightlight,heat,andsmoke,whilehousemeansadwellingforhumanbeings.Puttingthesetogethercreatesacompletelynewword.Theotherexamplesinthatlistworkthesameway.Twomorphemes,ormeaningfulelements,areputtogetherinordertoformatotallynewword.Thinkofmorphemesasthepiecesthatcometogethertobuildalanguage,justlikethepiecesofahouse.Youmayhaveabunchofpiecesofwood(letters),butyoudon'tgetawall(morphemes)untilyoustartnailingthemtogether.Thenwhenallthewallsaretogether,youfinallyhaveacompletehouse,orinlanguage,ameaningfulsentence.Boundvs.FreeMorphemesAnimportantaspectofmorphologyishowmorphemesconnect.Thisiswhereboundandfreemorphemescomein.Aboundmorphemeisonethatmustbeattachedtoanothermorphemeinordertoformaword.Ontheotherhand,afreemorphemecanstandasanindependentword.Lookatthislistofwords: Runs Joyous Unsightly Rerun Eachofthesewordshasmorethanonemorpheme;however,someofthemorphemesareboundandsomearefree.Lookatthefirstword.Thebasewordisrun,whichisamorpheme,meaningmovingfasterthanawalk.Whataboutthe-sthen?Itismorethanaphonemebecauseitcontainsmeaning.Attachedtoaverb,the-sindicatesthethird-personsingularpresenttense.Eventhoughit'sjustoneletter,ithasinherentmeaningandsoisamorpheme.Nowlookatthesecondword.Bynowyoushouldrealizejoyisafreemorpheme,sinceitcanstandaloneandhasmeaning.The-ousisasuffixthatchangesthenounintoanadjective.Thismeansthat-ousisalsoaboundmorpheme.Remember,asuffixisawordpartaddedtotheendofaword.Prefixes,orwordpartsaddedtothebeginningofwords,arealsomorphemes.Thefinaltwowordsinthislistcontaintheprefixesun-andre-,whichareboundmorphemes.Allprefixesandsuffixesareboundmorphemes.Herearesomemoreexamples: ed or pre re un ly OtherAspectsofMorphologyBesidesfreeandbound,therearetwoothertypesofmorphemesinourlanguage.Thefirstarelexicalmorphemes,whicharecontentwordsthatrefertotherealworld.Nouns,adjectives,andverbsarelexicalmorphemes.Thewordrun,then,isalexicalmorpheme.Otherexamplesincludetable,kind,andjump.Anothertypeisfunctionmorphemes,whichindicaterelationshipswithinalanguage.Conjunctions,pronouns,demonstratives,articles,andprepositionsareallfunctionmorphemes.Examplesincludeand,those,an,andthrough.Anothersignificantnoteisthatamorphemeisnotthesameasasyllable.Inotherwords,thenumberofsyllablesdoesnotalwaysequalthenumberofmorphemes.Wesawthisintheaboveexamplewiththewordruns,whichhasonesyllablebuttwomorphemes.Anotherexampleistheworddon't,whichhasthetwomorphemesdoandnot.Onthesametoken,manynamewordswillhavemultiplesyllables,butonlyonemorpheme.OneexampleisthewordMichigan.Ithasthreesyllables,butonlyonemorpheme.Thewholewordcontainsthemeaningofastateinourcountry.Finally,whydowebothertostudymorphology?What'sthepointofunderstandinghowthesmallestunitsofmeaningcanbearrangedinourlanguage?Well,anotherremarkableaspectofhumandevelopmentisjustthat:It'sconstantlydeveloping.Asasociety,wedecidewhatwordsmean,and,naturally,wedecidewhatmorphemesexist.Duetothis,morphologyhaschangeddrasticallythroughoutthedevelopmentofmankind.Itwillcontinuetoadapttotheevergrowingworldwehavecreated.Understandinghowwecommunicateisjustasmallsteptounderstandingourworldandourselves.LessonSummaryToreview,linguisticsisthestudyoflanguageanditsstructure.Oneaspectoflinguisticsismorphology,orthearrangementofthesmallestmeaningfulunitsinalanguage,whicharecalledmorphemes.Thereareseveraltypesofmorphemes.Aboundmorphememustbeattachedtoanothermorpheme,whileafreemorphemecanstandasanindependentword.Inaddition,lexicalmorphemesarecontentwordsthatrefertotherealworld,whereasfunctionmorphemesindicaterelationshipswithinthelanguage.Overall,studyingmorphologywillallowonetounderstandtheintricateandcomplexnatureofhumanlanguage.TheTypesofMorphemes Free:canstandasanindependentword(run) Bound:mustbeattachedtoanothermorpheme(the's'inruns) Lexical:contentwordsthatrefertotherealworld(nouns,adjectives,verbs) Function:indicatesrelationshipswithinthelanguage(conjunctions,pronouns,prepositions) LearningOutcomesOnceyouaredonestudyingthislessononmorphologyinlinguistics,measureyourabilityto: Comparelinguisticsandthemorphology Realizewhatamorphemeisandunderstandhowitdiffersfromasyllable Namethefourtypesofmorphemes TounlockthislessonyoumustbeaStudy.comMember. Createyouraccount Registertoviewthislesson Areyouastudentorateacher? Iamastudent Iamateacher UnlockYourEducation Seeforyourselfwhy30millionpeopleuseStudy.com BecomeaStudy.commemberandstartlearningnow. BecomeaMember Alreadyamember?LogIn  Back WhatteachersaresayingaboutStudy.com Tryitnow Alreadyregistered? Loginhereforaccess Createanaccount WhatisMorphologyinLinguistics?-Definition&Examples Starttoday.Tryitnow English / LanguageArts:LessonPlans&Games LanguageArts:LessonPlans&Games 15chapters| 252lessons {{courseNav.course.topics.length}}chapters| {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}}lessons |{{course.flashcardSetCount}} flashcardset{{course.flashcardSetCoun>1?'s':''}} Ch1. DialogueLessonPlans&... Goto DialogueLessonPlans&Activities Ch2. PunctuationLessonPlans&... Goto PunctuationLessonPlans&Resources Ch3. LinguisticsLessonPlans&Resources LinguisticsLessonPlan MorphemesLessonPlan MorphologyinLinguisticsLessonPlan WhatisMorphologyinLinguistics?-Definition&Examples 6:56 4:50 NextLesson MorphologyofEnglish:Definition&Studies OrthographyinLinguisticsLessonPlan OrthographyinLinguistics:Definition&Examples 5:55 EtymologyLessonPlan TheEtymologyofWords 7:31 RootWordsLessonPlan Spelling&WordPatterns:Prefixes,Suffixes&RootWords 5:49 PrefixLessonPlan Prefixes:Definition&Examples 4:40 EnglishSpellingRulesforPrefixes 2:21 SuffixLessonPlan SuffixesLessonforKids:Definition&Examples 3:13 Prefixes&SuffixesGames&Activities AlphabeticPrinciplevs.PhonemicAwareness Sapir-WhorfHypothesisLessonPlan Chomsky'sLanguageAcquisitionDeviceLessonPlan Chomsky'sTheoryofLanguageLessonPlan EtymologyGames WordAnalysisLessonPlan Goto LinguisticsLessonPlans&Resources Ch4. Compare&ContrastLessonPlans&... Goto Compare&ContrastLessonPlans&Activities Ch5. LanguageArtsLessonPlans Goto LanguageArtsLessonPlans Ch6. Phonics&SpellingLessonPlans Goto Phonics&SpellingLessonPlans Ch7. VocabularyLessonPlans&... Goto VocabularyLessonPlans&Activities Ch8. LanguageArtsGamesfor1st... Goto LanguageArtsGamesfor1stGrade Ch9. LanguageArtsGamesfor2nd... Goto LanguageArtsGamesfor2ndGrade Ch10. LanguageArtsGamesfor3rd... Goto LanguageArtsGamesfor3rdGrade Ch11. LanguageArtsGamesfor4th... Goto LanguageArtsGamesfor4thGrade Ch12. LanguageArtsGamesfor5th... Goto LanguageArtsGamesfor5thGrade Ch13. LanguageArtsGamesfor6th... Goto LanguageArtsGamesfor6thGrade Ch14. LanguageArtsGamesfor7th... Goto LanguageArtsGamesfor7thGrade Ch15. LanguageArtsGamesfor8th... Goto LanguageArtsGamesfor8thGrade WhatisMorphologyinLinguistics?-Definition&ExamplesRelatedStudyMaterials RecommendedLessonsandCoursesforYou RelatedLessons RelatedCourses RelatedLessons MorphologyofEnglish:Definition&Studies SyntaxRules&Types|WhatisSyntaxinLinguistics? PhonologyExamples&Rules|WhatisPhonology? 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