2.1 Morphemes: Free and bound morphemes

Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in language. They come in two types: free morphemes, which can stand alone, and bound morphemes, which must attach to others. Understanding these building blocks helps us analyze words and their structures.

Identifying morphemes involves breaking words into meaningful parts. This skill aids in decoding unfamiliar words and grasping their meanings. By recognizing common prefixes, suffixes, and roots, we can better understand word formation and relationships between words.

Morpheme Types and Analysis

Free vs bound morphemes

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• Free morphemes stand alone as independent words carrying meaning by themselves (cat, run, happy, the, in)
• Bound morphemes attach to other morphemes unable to function independently (-s plural marker, -ed past tense marker, un- negation prefix, -ness noun-forming suffix)
• Free morphemes operate as independent units while bound morphemes depend on other morphemes for meaning and function

Morpheme identification in words

• Isolate each meaningful unit in a word and determine if it can stand alone
• Analyze words by breaking them down: unhappiness = un- (bound) + happy (free) + -ness (bound)
• Recognize common bound morphemes: prefixes (re-, pre-, dis-, mis-) and suffixes (-ly, -ful, -able, -tion)

Morphemes as meaningful units

• Function as fundamental building blocks of language conveying lexical meaning or expressing grammatical relationships
• Allow for word formation, modification, and creation of new words from existing elements
• Aid in deducing meanings of unfamiliar words and facilitate vocabulary acquisition

Morphological structure of words

1. Identify the root or base morpheme
2. Recognize any affixes (prefixes or suffixes)
3. Determine the function of each morpheme

• Simple words contain a single free morpheme
• Complex words combine free morpheme(s) with bound morpheme(s)
• Compound words join multiple free morphemes (snowfall = snow + fall)
• Morphological analysis reveals word formation patterns and enhances understanding of word meanings and relationships