3. Objectives:
• Discuss morphemes, their classification and identification;
• Explain the relationship between morphemes and word-
formation
Teaching focus:
• Definition of morphemes
• Definition of allomorphs
• Types of Types of morphemes
free morpheme
bound morpheme
• Definitions of root, stem and base
4. 1. Morpheme
What is a morpheme ？
It is the minimal meaningful unit of language.
Or it is the smallest functioning unit in the
composition of words.
语素是最小的有意义的单位。它是语言
中最小的构词单位
5. 2. Morph and allomorph
The definition of morphs ：
The phonetic or orthographic strings or
segments which realize morphemes are
termed ‘morphs’.
语素的语音或拼写法的体现叫形素
。
Morphs are actual spoken, minimal
carriers of meaning.
形素是口语中最小的意义载体。
6. What is an allomorph?
An allomorph is one of the variants of the same
morpheme.
语素 / 形位变体是同一个语素的不同形式
。
For example
7. When the plural marker {s} is added to cat, dog,
and horse, it is pronounced differently as /-s, -z,
-iz/ and thus has three phonological forms; the
three forms are just the variants of the same
morpheme {s}, i.e. the allomorphs of morpheme
{s}.
8. 3. Classifications of morphemes
Free vs. bound morphemes in terms of their
capacity of occurring alone
Derivational vs. inflectional morphemes
applying to affixes only
Content / lexical vs. grammatical morpheme
on a semantic and syntactic basis
9. Free vs. bound morphemes
自由语素与粘着语素
Morphemes which are independent of other
morphemes are free. Free morphemes have
complete meanings in themselves and can be
used as free grammatical units in sentences.
自由语素是能独立运用的语素，它有完整
的意义，在句中充当一个自由的语法单位
。
E.g., man, wind, open, tour
10. Morphemes which cannot occur as separate
words are bound. They are bound to other
morphemes to form words or to perform a
particular grammatical function.
粘着语素不能独立成词，只能依附于其他语素
上以构成词或担当一定的语法功能。
11. Free morphemes are all roots /free roots, which
are capable of being used as words or as word-
building elements to form new words.
自由语素都是词根 , 也叫自由词根 , 能用作词
或作为构成新词的构词要素。
Bound morphemes consist of either roots (bound
roots) or affixes.
粘着语素包括词根（粘着词根）和词缀。
E.g., bound root: -dict-, -ced-
affix: -ion, -ist, -ic
12. A multitude of words made up of merely
bound morphemes, eg: ante-ced-ent.
-ced- 是词根，‘接近’，
ante- 是前缀，‘在…前’，
-ent 是后缀，‘人，物’，
14. Derivational morphemes are used to derive
new words when they are added to another
morpheme. In English derivatives and
compounds are all formed by such morphemes.
派生语素附着于其它语素可派生出新词。
英语中派生词和合成词都是由这样的语素构成
的。
15. Inflectional morphemes indicate the syntactic
relationships between words and function as
grammatical markers. Inflectional morphemes
are confined to suffixes.
屈折语素作为语法标记表示词的语法意义，
屈折语素只限于词缀。
16. What’s the difference between them?
Inflectional Derivational
Doesn’t change meaning or Changes meaning or part of
part of speech of the stem. speech of the stem.( like--
(work—works) dislike, sleep—asleep)
Indicates syntactic relations Indicates semantic relations
between different words in a within the word.
sentence. ( grammatical (specific lexical meaning ，
meaning) e.g., un-)
Occurs with all members of Occurs with only some
some large class of members of a class of
morphemes. morphemes
Occurs at margins of words. Occurs before any
(radio—radios) inflectional suffixes added.
17. Content / lexical vs. grammatical morphemes
Lexical 词汇 / content 实义 morphemes are
morphemes used for the construction of new words as
in compound words (blackbird is coined on the basis
of 2 lexical morphemes: black and bird.), and
derivational morphemes such as –ship, -ize.
Grammatical morphemes function primarily as
grammatical markers. They encompass both
inflectional affixes(-books) and free morphemes ( in,
and, do, have, they…functional words)
18. 3.4 Identifying Morphemes
How to identify morphemes?
They should be identifiable by their forms, meaning
and distribution.
e.g.,
mono-morphemic: sky
double-morphemic: chill + y, boy + ish
triple-morphemic: un+dress+ed, care+less+ness
four-morphemic: un+fruit+ful+ness
over-four-morphemic: un+gentle+man+li+ness
19. In what situation do morphemes mismatch
between form and meaning?
1) Inconsistent in form and meaning:
singer ( one who)
er clearer ( the comparative degree)
eraser (one object)
2) Meaningless in isolation but meaningful in some
words
cran-
huckle- berry
boysen-
3) Difficult to define the meaning
-ceive in conceive/perceive/receive
20. 3.5 Morpheme and Word-formation
In word-formation, morphemes are labeled
root, stem, base and affix.
在构词法中 , 语素被分为词根、词干、词基和
词缀。
21. Affix
Affixes are forms that are attached to words or
word elements to modify meaning or function. All
affixes are bound morphemes.
词缀都是粘着语素，依附在词根上构成新词或
表示词的语法意义。
Two types of affixes:
Inflectional affixes and Derivational affixes
屈折词缀和派生词缀
22. Inflectional affixes (or inflectional
morphemes) serve to indicate the syntactic
relationships between words and function as
grammatical markers. 表示词的语法意义的
是屈折词缀。
They express the following meanings:
23. Plurality 名词复数 e.g. -s in chairs, pens;
-es in boxes, tomatoes;
-en in oxen
The genitive case e.g. ’s in boy’s,
名词所有格 children’s
The comparative and
superlative degrees
e.g. -er in words like
形容词 / 副词比较级 smaller; -est in words like
、最高级 smallest.
The verbal endings
a. -(e)s in words like eats,
teaches shows the third
动词词尾变化 person singular present tense.
b. -ing in words like eating,
shows the present participle
or gerund.
c. -(e)d in words like
worked shows the past tense
or past participle.
24. Derivational affixes or derivational
morphemes
They can be further divided into prefixes and
suffixes.
25. (1) Prefixes are affixes before the root.
e.g. ， unjust, rewrite.
As a rule, most prefixes modify the meaning of
roots, but not their parts of speech.
(2) Suffixes are affixes after the root
By the addition of the suffix, the word is
usually changed from one part of speech into
another, e.g. liberation, modernize.
26. Root, stem, base
词根、词干、词基
A root is that part of a word form that
remains when all inflectional and
derivational affixes have been removed.
词根是所有屈折词缀和派生词缀被去掉后所
剩余的那部分。
27. A stem is that part of the word-form which
remains when all inflectional affixes have
been removed.
词干是所有屈折词缀被去掉后所剩余的那部分
。
28. A base refers to a form to which affixes of any
kind (both derivational and inflectional) can be
added. It can be a root or a stem.
词基是任何一种词缀都可加在上面的形式。
30. Task: Analyse the word in terms of root, stem and base.
e.g., (root/base) (derivational suffix)
desire able
(derivational prefix) ( base)
un desirable (a.)
(stem/base) (inflectional suffix)
undesirable (n.) s
(root/stem/base) (inflectional suffix)
desire (v.) d
32. Assignment
Answer the question:
What is the difference between grammtical
and lexical morphemes, and inflectional and
derivational morphemes? Give examples to
illustrate their relationships.
