Morphological Typology Languages can be classified into groups based on a number of different linguistic criteria. One such way to categorize languages is by the type and extent of morphology that they use. For example, some languages string many morphemes together while others languages tend to realize most words as independent or mono-morphemic segments. The latter type of language is … [Read more...]

This tutorial will introduce you to the basic concept of how a certain class of words are constructed in Standard English. What is a Morpheme? A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning. It can be expressed in three different ways: as a word, whether monosyllabic, e.g., coat, love, or polysyllabic, e.g., pillow, avocado, as a syllable, e.g., un- as in unforgiving, or re- as in refocus, or … [Read more...]

Verbal Morphology - Tense, Mood, Aspect, and Voice In many languages, a number of different features are marked on the verb and serve to situate and contextualize its usage. Tense, mood, aspect, and voice are some of the most common of these types of features. Tense locates an event in time, while aspect refers to the way in which the event unfolds within a time frame. Mood signals the … [Read more...]

Affixation is the morphological process in by which bound morphemes are attached to a roots or stems to mark changes in meaning, part of speech, or grammatical relationships.  Affixes take on several forms and serve different functions.  In this tutorial, we will be looking specifically at affixation in Standard English. Affixes An affix is a bound morpheme that attaches to a root or stem to … [Read more...]

Grammar or Meaning Morphological processes serve different functions. Some occur to alter meaning and/or part of speech (derivational), others show grammatical relationships between words (inflectional). In English, the attachment of ‘-ness’ to an adjective such as ‘faithful’ derives the noun ‘faithfulness’. Likewise, when ‘un-‘ is attached to ‘happy’, meaning is reversed (unhappy).   In French, … [Read more...]

Words are units of sound, meaning, and grammar that human beings use to communicate everything from basic needs to intricate explanations about the solar system.  Babies start using them around nine months of age.  Most adults know tens of thousands of them.  We keep our words neatly classified and organized in our lexicon (mental dictionary) for easy access (word retrieval).   Words can be … [Read more...]