What is Morphology?

The study of words and word partsThe SMALLEST UNIT of MEANING or

GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION in any language

Morphology

We have the ability to understand words we have never seen before based on their structure.

EX: cartoonification

Morphemes

• Just like syllables, words have different parts too.

• For example, the word teacher has 2 parts – “teach” + “er”. The word students also has 2 parts – “student” + “s”.

• These parts are called morphemes

How many morphemes are in the following words?

1. Untied2. United3. Nonsmoker4. Preschooler5. Reassessment6. Purified7. Functional8. Ladder9. Lovingness10.Inconsiderate

Morphemes, cont.• What does each additional morpheme do?

• What does “-s” tell us? What about “-er”?

Each morpheme gives us grammatical information.

Two kinds of morphemes

• Free morpheme – a morpheme that can stand alone.

• Bound morpheme – a morpheme that must be attached to another morpheme.

Bound morphemes

Bound morphemes HAVE TO be connected to a STEM; they cannot stand alone.

EX: mis-communicat-ionBOUND---FREE (stem)---BOUND

Take a look at page 63-64 in your book.– Do you agree with the repeat example?

• Does “-peat” carry any meaning?• Maybe we don’t know enough about the ETYMOLOGY of “-peat”• Look at page 66 under “Problems in Morphology”

Kinds of free morphemes

Free morphemes can occur in two types

• Consider the words: tree, near, kind, think

• Now, consider these: of, but, however, she, away

What is the difference?

Lexical vs. Functional

• Lexical morphemes give us meaning and content (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, gerunds, etc.)

• Functional morphemes have a job or function in a sentence (prepositions, conjunctions, transitions, etc.)

Kinds of bound morphemes

• There are also 2 kinds of bound morphemes.

• Look at these bound morphemes: -able, re-, -ment, -ize, -less, anti-, -ish.

• Now consider these: -s, -en/-ed, -ing, -er, -est.

Do you see a difference?

Derivational vs. Inflectional

• Derivational morphemes change a words meaning by changing the word category (nouns become verbs, verbs become adverbs, etc.)

• Inflectional morphemes change a words grammatical purpose. (words become plural, past tense, or can be used to compare)

Morphemes

Free Bound

Lexical Functional Derivational Inflectional

Allomorphs

Remember ALLOPHONES?What were they?

What do you think ALLOMORPHS are?

Allomorphs, Cont.

“a” and “an” are allomorphs

The use of either “a” or “an” depends on the sound following it, but they still serve the

same purpose.

Allomorphs, Cont.

allomorphs for /-s/

[s] = cats

[z] = dogs

[Iz] = horses

Allomorphs, Cont.

allomorphs for /-ed/

[t] = stopped

[d] = played

[Id] = counted

The Morphophonemic Rules

• [-s] allomorphs– [-s] after voiceless sounds– [-z] after voiced sounds– [-iz] after sibilants ([ch], [dg], [z], [sh])

• [-ed] allomorphs– [-t] after voiceless sounds– [-d] after voiced sounds– [-Id] or [-ed] after [t] or [d] sound; after alveolar stops

Allomorphs, Cont.• The /-s/ and /-ed/ allomorphs are the trickiest

for ELLs and also the most common.

• Knowing those two will be enough for helping your students.

But why is it important to teach the different allomorphs?

So what…the kid pronounces the /-ed/ awkwardly. What difference does it make?

Any questions about morphemes?And now it’s time for…

a YouTube Video!YIPEE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT4-sxU7ewI