Morphology and Syntax The Study of Word Formation and Structure
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Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure and formation of words, including how morphemes (the smallest meaning-carrying units) combine to create words. Syntax is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of sentences, focusing on how words and phrases are arranged to form grammatically correct sentences.
![Note on Pronunciation and Symbolization
Note: The morph is just how you pronounce the
morpheme, the allomorph is the variation in
pronunciation.
The plural morpheme is symbolized by {plural} rather
than {-s} to keep it distinct from the possessive and third-
person, singular morphemes, which also involve adding
/s/ to words.
Examples of Different Morphemes with Similar
Pronunciation:
Plural: cat s [cats] - /s/
Possessive: cat 's [the cat's toy] - /s/
3rd Person Singular: run s [he runs] - /s/
Morphemes are typically represented using curly](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/morphologyandsyntax-250724163848-ff1a1f32/85/Morphology-and-Syntax-The-Study-of-Word-Formation-and-Structure-11-320.jpg)
Morphology and Syntax The Study of Word Formation and Structure
- 1. Morphology and Syntax The Study of Word Formation and Structure Presented by: Dr. Mostafa Mohammad Shalaby Assistant Professor at King Saud University Linguistics Department July 2025
- 2. Introduction to Morphology Morphology is a term for a branch of linguistics concerned with the "forms of words" in different uses and constructions. It is the study of: The internal structure of words The rules by which words are formed Etymology of "Morphology": morph- means "form" (Greek word) -ology means "science of" or "branch of knowledge concerning" Dr. Mostafa Mohammad Shalaby | King Saud University 2
- 3. Learning Objectives Understand the concept of morphemes as the smallest meaningful units in language Differentiate between morphs , morphemes , and allomorphs Analyze words using morphological principles and identify their components Apply knowledge of morphological processes to understand word formation across languages Dr. Mostafa Mohammad Shalaby | King Saud University 3
- 4. Examples of Plural Morpheme Allomorphs The best example of this is the plural morpheme in English '- s'. '-s' is the morpheme, but the morph changes in different words: Cats - '-s' morpheme is pronounced /s/ Occurs after voiceless consonants (p, t, k, f, etc.) Dogs - '-s' morpheme is pronounced /z/ Occurs after voiced consonants (b, d, g, v, m, n, etc.) and vowels Houses - '-s' morpheme is pronounced /əz/ Occurs after sibilants (s, z, sh, ch, j, etc.) These various pronunciations are the allomorphs of the morpheme '-s'. Definition: If two or more morphs of the same morpheme are distinct in pronunciation, they are called allomorphs . Allomorphs are phonologically determined variants of a morpheme.
- 5. More Examples of Allomorphs An allomorph is a variant form of a morpheme. When two or more morphs of the same morpheme are distinct in pronunciation, they are called allomorphs. Plural Morpheme {plural} /s/ after voiceless consonants: cats, books /z/ after voiced consonants and vowels: dogs, bees /əz/ after sibilants: horses, buses Past Tense Morpheme {past} /t/ after voiceless consonants: walked, stopped /d/ after voiced consonants and vowels: played, showed /ɪd/ after /t/ or /d/: wanted, needed Why Do Allomorphs Exist? Allomorphs exist due to phonological conditioning - the surrounding sounds influence how a morpheme is pronounced for ease of articulation.
- 6. Representation of Morphemes A morpheme may be represented by: A single sound Example: the morpheme 'a-' meaning "without" amoral asexual A single syllable Examples: 'child' (noun) '-ish' (adjective suffix) More than one syllable Examples: 'camel' (2 syllables)
- 7. Composition of Words with Morphemes A single word may be composed of one or more morphemes: One: boy desire Two: boy ish desire able Three: boy ish ness desire able ity Four: gentle man li ness un desire able ity > Four: un gentle man li ness anti dis establish ment ari an ism Dr. Mostafa Mohammad Shalaby | King Saud University 12
- 8. Free vs. Bound Morphemes Free Morphemes Morphemes that can stand alone as words. They have meaning by themselves and do not need to be attached to other morphemes. Examples: cat, happy, run, book, table, green Bound Morphemes Morphemes that cannot stand alone and must be attached to other morphemes. They include prefixes, suffixes, and other affixes that modify meaning. Examples: un-, -ing, -ed, -s, re-, -ment, -ity
- 9. Root, Stem, and Affix Root The root is the core morpheme that carries the main meaning of a word. It cannot be broken down further into smaller meaningful parts. Examples: play in "playing", read in "reader" Stem The stem is the part of a word to which inflectional affixes are added. It may consist of just a root or a root plus derivational affixes. Examples: "teach" is the stem in "teaches" Affix An affix is a bound morpheme that attaches to a stem. Word Structure Hierarchy: Word = (Prefix) + Root + (Suffix)
- 10. Notation for Morphemes and Allomorphs Morpheme Notation To differentiate between morphs and morphemes in print, morphemes are enclosed in curly brackets: {cat} This notation indicates we're referring to the abstract morpheme, not its specific pronunciation. Allomorph Definition If two or more morphs of the same morpheme are distinct in pronunciation, they are called allomorphs . Example: /s/ , /z/ and /əz/ are phonologically determined allomorphs of the plural suffix, occurring respectively in cats, dogs and horses. Notation Examples: Morpheme: {plural} Allomorphs: /s/ , /z/ , /əz/ Word with allomorph: cats = {cat} + {plural} realized as /s/
- 11. Note on Pronunciation and Symbolization Note: The morph is just how you pronounce the morpheme, the allomorph is the variation in pronunciation. The plural morpheme is symbolized by {plural} rather than {-s} to keep it distinct from the possessive and third- person, singular morphemes, which also involve adding /s/ to words. Examples of Different Morphemes with Similar Pronunciation: Plural: cat s [cats] - /s/ Possessive: cat 's [the cat's toy] - /s/ 3rd Person Singular: run s [he runs] - /s/ Morphemes are typically represented using curly
- 12. Difficulty in Distinguishing Morphs Not all morphs are easy to distinguish. Example: In the word woman , are there two morphs, man and wo? Key Principle: Every morph must, by definition, contain meaning. Analysis: Historically, "woman" comes from Old English "wīfmann" (wife-person) In modern English, most speakers don't recognize "wo-" as a meaningful unit Therefore, "woman" is typically treated as a single morpheme in synchronic analysis Other challenging examples: Criteria for Identifying Morphemes: Must carry meaning or grammatical function Must be a minimal unit (cannot be further divided) Must recur in other words with similar meaning
- 13. Morphological Analysis Process Morphological analysis is the process of breaking down words into their constituent morphemes. Follow these steps: 1 Identify the word and determine its part of speech and meaning 2 Identify potential morpheme boundaries by looking for recognizable affixes and roots 3 Determine morpheme types (free vs. bound, root vs. affix, etc.) 4 Verify each morpheme carries meaning or grammatical function Example Analysis: unhappiness → un- + happy + -ness Common Challenges in Morphological Analysis: Identifying morpheme boundaries in complex words
- 14. Common Morphological Processes Affixation Adding bound morphemes (affixes) to a base form Examples: un-happy, play-ing, re-write-able Compounding Combining two or more free morphemes to create a new word Examples: blackboard, sunflower, keyboard Reduplication Repeating all or part of a word to create a new form Examples: bye-bye, tick-tock, wishy-washy Other Morphological Processes:
- 15. Morphological Distinctions in English Nouns The most basic morphological distinctions among English nouns include: Number Singular : Refers to one entity (e.g., cat, book, child) Plural : Refers to more than one entity (e.g., cats, books, children) Regular vs. Irregular Plurals: Regular : cat cats, book books → → Irregular : child children, foot feet, mouse mice → → → Case Nominative : Subject form Personal Pronouns: Personal pronouns in English maintain more extensive morphological
- 16. Morphological Distinctions in English Verbs Person and Number First, second, and third person Singular and plural Only marked in third-person singular present tense: -s Example: I/you/we/they walk vs. he/she/it walks Tense and Aspect Present tense: unmarked or -s (3rd person) Past tense: -ed or irregular forms Progressive aspect: -ing Perfect aspect: -en/-ed (with auxiliary) Infinitives Bare infinitive: walk, run Comparative Inflections in Adverbs and Adjectives: Comparative: -er (faster, bigger) or more + adjective Superlative: -est (fastest, biggest) or most + adjective
- 17. Morphological Distinctions in Other Languages Agglutinative Languages Languages that form words by stringing together morphemes without changing them. Turkish: ev-ler-im-de (house-plural-my-in) = "in my houses" Fusional Languages Languages where a single morpheme can express multiple grammatical meanings. Latin: amo, amas, amat (I love, you love, he/she loves) Isolating Languages Languages with very little morphology, where most words contain only one morpheme. Mandarin Chinese: wǒ huì shuō zhōngwén (I can speak Chinese) Polysynthetic Languages Languages like Inuktitut can express an entire sentence in a single word. Example: qannialaaqtunga = "I'll get sick soon" Dr. Mostafa Mohammad Shalaby | King Saud University 22
- 18. Morphology and Syntax Interface Morphology and syntax are closely interconnected linguistic systems: Morphosyntax The area where morphology and syntax overlap, dealing with how morphological processes affect syntactic structures. Example: Agreement morphology in "She walks" vs. "They walk" The -s suffix affects the syntactic relationship between subject and verb. Inflectional vs. Derivational Effects Inflectional morphology : Preserves word class but affects syntactic
- 19. Universal Laws of Morphology Universal Principles All languages have two fundamental morphological principles: All languages have words All languages have morphemes These are formal principles as they concern the basic form of a language. Morphological Typology Languages vary in how they use morphology: Isolating languages : Few morphemes per word Synthetic languages : Multiple morphemes per word Polysynthetic languages : Many morphemes per word Implications for Language Study Understanding morphology is essential for language learning Morphological awareness aids in vocabulary acquisition Morphological typology helps in language classification
- 20. References Books & Textbooks Aronoff, M., & Fudeman, K. (2011). What is morphology? (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. Bauer, L. (2019). Rethinking morphology . Edinburgh University Press. Haspelmath, M., & Sims, A. D. (2013). Understanding morphology (2nd ed.). Routledge. Lieber, R. (2015). Introducing morphology (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. Journal Articles Booij, G. (2012). The grammar of words: An introduction to linguistic morphology. Language , 88(1), 170-173. Embick, D., & Noyer, R. (2007). Distributed morphology and the syntax-morphology interface. The Oxford handbook of linguistic interfaces , 289-324. Online Resources Linguistic Society of America. (2022). Morphology: The study of word structure . https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/morphology SIL International. (2021). Glossary of linguistic terms: Morphology . https://glossary.sil.org/term/morphology University of California, Berkeley. (2023). Morphology: Introduction to linguistics . https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~syntax-circle/morphology Image Credits Diagram illustrations adapted from Haspelmath, M., & Sims, A. D. (2013). Understanding morphology (2nd ed.). Alice in Wonderland illustrations by John Tenniel (1865), public domain.