Morphology - உருபனியல்
October 6, 2025•302 words
Morphology - உருபனியல்
linguistics #language #words
generallinguistics
lexicology
Author: Prasanth Karuppasamy
Content Index
- What is : Morphology
- Etymology: Morpho+logy
- What is: Morpheme
- Differ From: Syllable
- Differ From: Lexeme
- Classifications of: Morpheme
- Word Formation
- References
What is : Morphology
Form and Structure.
How structure interacts with sound and with meaning.
Etymology: Morpho+logy
Morpho: Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form”).
-logy: From λόγος (lógos, “explanation”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, abstract noun suffix).
What is: Morpheme
any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word.
The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry a meaning. It may be a letter, a syllable, or otherwise.
Example:
Word: Uniform
Morphemes: uni, form
Differ From: Lexeme
indicate set of words, so it is abstract
abstract dictionary unit
A lexical item corresponding to the set of all words (or of all multi-word expressions) that are semantically related through inflection of a particular shared basic form.
Example: FORM:{form, forms, formed, forming}→ all belong to the lexeme FORM
Lexeme = FORM (covers only its inflected forms).
Derivatives = separate lexemes, even though they are morphologically related.
How Lexeme Written
Lexeme(UPPERCASE): FORM
Implies(lowercase): form, forms, formed, forming
Lexeme: RUN
Word forms (inflections): run, runs, ran, running
And:
Lexeme: CHILD
Word forms (inflections): child, children
Classifications of: Morpheme
Morpheme
├── By Independence
│ ├── Free Morpheme
│ └── Bound Morpheme
│
├── By Function
│ ├── Lexical Morpheme
│ └── Grammatical / Functional Morpheme
│
├── By Position / Role
│ ├── Root Morpheme
│ └── Affix Morpheme
│ ├── Prefix
│ ├── Suffix
│ ├── Infix
│ └── Circumfix
│
└── By Meaning Change
├── Inflectional Morpheme
└── Derivational Morpheme