Morphology 21
Chapter 5: Morphology
Chapter Overview and Objectives
This chapter introduces students to concepts related to the structure and formation of
words, including the distinctions among various types of morphemes and the processes used
to create new words. After completing this chapter, students should be able to
٪ Understand the differences among syllables, morphemes, and words.
٪ Use the criteria of “more or less constant meaning and form” to determine if an item
is a morpheme.
٪ Analyze the component morphemes of a word.
Key Terms and Concepts
morpheme
lexical morpheme
grammatical morpheme
free morpheme
{POSS}
{COMP}
{SUP}
{PRES}
compound
root creation
clipped form
blend
Commentary on Chapter 5
Like Chapter 4, Chapter 5 deals with structure rather than meaning. The basic questions it
addresses are the following: What are the parts of words? What are the patterns of verb
morphology in English? and How are new words introduced into English? While the concepts
in the chapter are not particularly difficult, the chapter does introduce a great deal of
Suggested Answers to Exercises
Exercise A, p. 80
1. ‘made/sold by McDonalds’
22 Morphology
Exercise B, p. 80
1. a. F (cf. friendly, which is an adjective)
Exercise C, p. 81
1. a. †
d. three
g. two
Exercise D, p. 82
1. a. †
b. {strong} + {SUP}
Exercise E, pp. 83
1. a. †
b. lexical, bound (Note: Students should realize that this is a different morpheme from
Morphology 23
Exercise F, p. 87–88
1. †
2. b. The verb following a form of auxiliary have should be inflected for {PAST PART}.
Exercise G, p. 88
Exercise H, p. 93
1. a. {PLU} (an inflectional morpheme) must attach to the right of {ful} (a derivational
morpheme).
Exercise I, pp. 94–95
24 Morphology
Supplementary Exercises, pp. 96–98
1. {tí} = ‘parent’s sibling’
{muchach} = ‘young human]
Morphology 25
Exploratory Exercises, p. 98.
1. a. Each italicized term is a compound.
b. Each contains a morpheme that has an irregular inflection (eat/ate, see/saw, foot/feet).