Morphology (linguistics)

**Morphology** is part of linguistics. It looks at the way words are put together using small pieces called **morphemes**.  A morpheme is the smallest part of a word that has meaning.  Different languages have different morphemes and have different rules for how morphemes are combined.

## Free and bound morphemes

Word<nowiki/>s are the smallest pieces of a sentence. Some words only have one morpheme. For example the English words _thank,_ _dog,_ and _slow_ are all words made up of only one morpheme. A morpheme that can stand alone as a word is called a _free morpheme_.

Words can also be made up of more than one morpheme.  English speakers know that one can add the plural(more than one) morpheme, _-s,_ to the end of _dog,_ and create the word _dogs_.  The new word combines the meanings of the two morphemes, so the meaning of the new word, _dogs_ is _more than one dog._  _Dog_ is a free morpheme, but the plural morpheme _-s_ is not. It must attach to a word (no native English speaker would use _-s_ as a stand alone word).  Morphemes which must be attached to a word are called _bound morphemes_.  Morphemes attached to the front of a word are called _prefixes_. Those attached to the end are called _suffixes_. Some morphemes can attach in the middle of a word and are called _infixes_. An example of this in English would be _abso-freaking-lutley._ Where _freaking_ acts as an infix.

## Inflectional and derivational morphemes

There are two types of bound morphemes: derivational and inflectional. Inflectional morphemes give a listener or reader information about how the word is used in a sentence.  English does not have a lot of inflectional morphemes. An example of an inflectional morpheme in English is the _-ed_ suffix for verbs.  This morpheme at the end of a verb lets the speaker know that the action happened in the past.  Another example is the _-s_ suffix for nouns to show that there is more than one of the noun.

Derivational morphemes change the part of speech or somehow change the basic meaning of the word they attach to.  Most bound morphemes in English are derivational.

## Examples

_English Word: "unthankful"_

Morphemes:
|"un-"|"thank"|"-ful"|
| --- | --- | --- |
|derivational bound morpheme|free morpheme|derivational bound morpheme|
|makes the word it attaches to have the opposite meaning|a verb that means: "to tell (someone) that you are grateful for something that he or she has done or given"|must attach to a noun, changes the word it attaches to into an adjective.|

_English Word: "songwriter"_

Morphemes:
|"song"|"write"|"-er"|
| --- | --- | --- |
|free morpheme|free morpheme|derivational bound morpheme|
|a noun that means: "a short piece of music with words that are sung"|a verb that means: "to form letters or numbers on a surface with a pen, pencil, etc."|must attach to a verb, changes the word it attaches to into a noun with the meaning "one who does (verb)"|

_English Word: "modernized"_

Morphemes:
|"modern"|"-ize"|"-ed"|
| --- | --- | --- |
|free morpheme|derivational bound morpheme|inflectional bound morpheme|
|adjective meaning "of or relating to the present time or the recent past"|must attach to an adjective, changes the word it attaches to into a verb with the meaning "to make something (adjective)"|must attach to a verb, shows that the verb is in past tense|