Morphology: Structured Meaning in Words

1
What It Means to Know a Word
To know a word, we need at least four kinds of information:
1. Phonological information the sounds of a word and their sequencing
2. Semantic information the meanings of the word
3. Morphological information the formations of words
4. Syntactic information .- what category the word elongs to and how to use it in a
sentence.
Word-Class categories (Parts of Speech)
Vers
!ers can ha"e the following forms, for e#am$le:
look looks looking looked
sing sings singing sang sung
!ers are found in the "er slot in a sentence %usually after a su&ect or o&ect noun'.
!ouns
(ouns can ha"e the following forms, for e#am$le:
school schools school)s schools)
girl girls girl)s girls)
(ouns are found in the noun slot, in the su&ect $osition, at the eginning of a sentence,
or in the o&ect $osition.
*nly nouns can take determiners like a/an/the/this/that/some .
"d#ecti$es
+d&ecti"es can ha"e the following forms, for e#am$le:
clear clearer clearest
e#$ensi"e more e#$ensi"e most e#$ensi"e
good etter est
+decti"es are usually found in the ad&ecti"e slot, that is, efore nouns.
Morphe%es
,ome nouns ha"e two meaningful elements:
beautiful churches supermarkets bookshelves television
+ set of words can e uilt u$ y adding certain meaningful elements to a core element:
truer untrue truthfully
truest truth untruthfully
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truly truthful untruthfulness
The meaningful elements of a word are called %orphe%es& ,o, true is a single
mor$heme5 untrue and truly ha"e 2 mor$hemes each5 and untruthfulness contains 6
%7( 8 T97. 8T1 8 -7: 8 (.,,'.
'ree Morphe%es - ,ome mor$hemes can stand alone %T97., ;*T1.9, *9+(<.'.
They are called free %orphe%es.
(ound Morpehe%es - ,ome mor$hemes cannot stand alone %7(-, T.:.-, -(.,,,
-.9'. They are called ound %orphe%es.
)eri$ational Morphe%es - =ertain ound mor$hemes change the $art of s$eech of the
word to which they are affi#ed: truthful; establishment; darken; frighten; teacher.
hey are usually added to end of !ords, as in the follo!ing rules"
(oun 8 #ful +d&ecti"e %doutful, eautiful'
+d&ecti"e 8 -ly +d"er %eautifully, truly'
!er 8 -ment (oun %estalishment, ama>ement'
!er 8 -er (oun %teacher, rider, thriller'
+d&ecti"e 8 #en !er %sweeten, righten, harden'
(oun 8 -en !er %frighten, darken'
Those are called deri$ational %orphe%es& ?eri"ational mor$hemes can $roduce new
words from e#isting words y 1, changing the meaning of a word: true, untrue; paint,
repaint; or y changing the $art of s$eech: true; truly; truth.
Inflectional Morphe%es ,ome mor$hemes alter the form of a word without
changing, generally s$eaking, either its $art of s$eech or its meaning %cats, collected,
slee$s, louder'. These inflectional %orphe%es create "ariant forms of the word to
function differently in a sentence or discourse:
Word Class Category *+a%ples
(oun @lural cars, churches
@ossessi"e car)s children)s
!er Third @erson %she' swims, %it' seems
@ast Tense wanted, showed
@ast @artici$le wanted, shown
@resent @artici$le wanting, showing
+d&ecti"e =om$arati"e taller, sweeter
,u$erlati"e tallest, sweetest
,inear -rdering of Morphe%es
"ffi+es . ;or$hemes which are attached to the eginning of a word are called prefi+es&
%untrue, distrust, coo$erate'. Those attached to the end are called suffi+es
%?isa$$oint%ent, greenish, truly':
Prefixes
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+ prefi+ is $laced at the eginning of a word to modify or change its meaning. This is a
list of the most common $refi#es in .nglish, together with their asic meaning and
some e#am$les. Aou can find more detail or $recision for each $refi# in any good
dictionary. The origins of words are e#tremely com$licated. Aou should use this list as a
guide only, to hel$ you understand $ossile meanings. 0ut e "ery careful, ecause
often what a$$ears to e a $refi# is not a $refi# at all. (ote also that this list does not
include elements like Bauto-B or B io-B, ecause these are Bcomining formsB, not
$refi#es.
Prefi+ Meaning *+a%ples
a- also an- not, without atheist, anaemic
a- to, towards aside, aack
in the $rocess of, in a
$articular state
a-hunting, aglow
a- of anew
com$letely aashed
a- also as- away, from adicate, astract
ad- also a-, ac-,
af-, ag- al-,
an-, a$-, at-
as-, at-
mo"ement to, change
into, addition or
increase
ad"ance, adulterate, ad&unct, ascend,
affiliate, affirm, aggra"ate, alle"iate,
annotate, a$$rehend, arri"e, assemle,
attend
ante- efore, $receding antecedent, ante-room
anti- also ant- o$$osing, against, the
o$$osite
anti-aircraft, antiiotic, anticlima#,
+ntarctic
e- all o"er, all around es$atter, eset
com$letely ewitch, emuse
ha"ing, co"ered with e&ewelled
affect with %added to efog
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nouns'
cause to e %added to
ad&ecti"es'
ecalm
com- also co-, col-,
con-, cor-
with, &ointly,
com$letely
comat, codri"er, collude, confide,
corrode
contra- against, o$$osite contrace$ti"e
counter- o$$osition, o$$osite
direction
counter-attack, counteract
de- down, away descend, des$air, de$end, deduct
com$letely denude, denigrate
remo"al, re"ersal de-ice, decam$
dia- also di- through, across diagonal
dis- also di- negation, remo"al,
e#$ulsion
disad"antage, dismount, disud, disar
en- also em- $ut into or on engulf, enmesh
ring into the
condition of
enlighten, emitter
intensification entangle, enrage
e#- also e-, ef- out e#it, e#clude, e#$and
u$ward e#alt, e#tol
com$letely e#cruciate, e#as$erate
$re"ious e#-wife
e#tra- outside, eyond e#tracurricular
hemi- half hemis$here
hy$er- eyond, more than,
more than normal
hy$ersonic, hy$eracti"e
hy$o- under hy$odermic, hy$othermia
in- also il-, im- not, without infertile, ina$$ro$riate, im$ossile
also il-, im-,
ir-
in, into, towards,
inside
influence, influ#, imie
infra- elow infrared, infrastructure
inter- etween, among interact, interchange
intra- inside, within intramural, intra"enous
non- asence, negation non-smoker, non-alcoholic
o- also oc-, of-,
o$-
locking, against,
concealing
ostruct, occult, offend, o$$ose
out- sur$assing, e#ceeding out$erform
e#ternal, away from outuilding, outoard
o"er- e#cessi"ely,
com$letely
o"erconfident, o"erurdened, o"er&oyed
u$$er, outer, o"er,
ao"e
o"ercoat, o"ercast
$eri- round, aout $erimeter
$ost- after in time or order $ost$one
$re- efore in time, $lace,
order or im$ortance
$re-adolescent, $relude, $recondition
$ro- fa"ouring, in su$$ort
of
$ro-+frican
acting for $roconsul
motion forwards or
away
$ro$ulsion
efore in time, $lace
or order
$rologue
re- again re$aint, rea$$raise, reawake
semi- half, $artly semicircle, semi-conscious
su- also suc-,
suf-, sug-,
at a lower $osition sumarine, susoil
lower in rank su-lieutenant
su$-, sur-,
nearly, a$$ro#imately su-tro$ical
syn- also sym- in union, acting
together
synchroni>e, symmetry
trans- across, eyond transnational, transatlantic
into a different state translate
ultra- eyond ultra"iolet, ultrasonic
e#treme ultramicrosco$ic
un- not unacce$tale, unreal, unha$$y,
unmanned
re"ersal or
cancellation of action
or state
un$lug, unmask
under- eneath, elow underarm, undercarriage
lower in rank undersecretary
not enough underde"elo$ed

List of English Suffixes
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A suffix is an affix that is added to the end of a word that conditions its usage or meaning.
The opposite of suffix is prefix.
suffix
Meaning
Samples
Suffix General Meaning Example
-agogy leading pedagogy , demagogy
-archy rule, leadership gynarchy , anarchy
-cide murder, killing agent suicide , vespacide, regicide
-cracy rule, government
kakistocracy , democracy ,
androcracy
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-cycle circle, cycle, unit of radio frequency epicycle , hydrocycle
-ectomy surgical removal laryngectomy , vasectomy
-ess female
actress , waitress ,
stewardess
-esthesis,
-esthesia
sensation, feeling synesthesia, kinesthesis
-ful full of, having some or much hopeful , useful
-holic love , addiction alcoholic
-ism doctrine, act, practice, condition
rotestantism , alcoholism ,
!uddhism , southernism
-ist person dentist
-itis disease, inflammation hepatitis , gingivitis
-itude attitude , certitude
-less lack of homeless , useless
-ly
-like, having the attri"utes of# $n modern %nglish,
primarily changes ad&ectives to adver"s# also
changes some nouns to ad&ectives and some
'past-tense( ver"s to adver"s
quick'ad&( ) quickly'adv(,
state'n( ) stately'ad&(,
a"ashed'v( ) a"ashedly'adv(
-mania
an irrational "ut irresisti"le motive for a "elief or
action
kleptomania , megalomania ,
mythomania
-ography or
-ogram
writing, description
stenography , geography ,
ideogram
-oid resem"ling solenoid , hominoid
-ology study, science
planetology , thyroidology ,
phthisiology
-onomy knowledge of astronomy
-osis process, action mitosis , osmosis
-osis formation ostosis
-osis diseased condition psychosis
-pho"ia fear acropho"ia , mysopho"ia
-phone sound, audio telephone , homophone
-science knowing omniscience
-scope
from *reek skopos , view# instrument for viewing
and o"serving spaces
microscope , telescope
-ship circle, state of "eing friendship , relationship
-ward direction southward
-wise direction