Four Kinds of Morpheme

Four Kinds of Morpheme Four Kinds of Morpheme Four Kinds of Morpheme By Maeve Maddox A useful definition of morphemegood enough for most purposesis â€Å"a minimal and indivisible morphological unit that cannot be analyzed into smaller units.† This broad definition is adequate for most general discussions, but it’s possible to get more specific. Just for fun, here are four different kinds of morpheme. allomorph or morph: any part of a word we want to talk about. A morph can be a whole word, like dog, a meaningful affix, like un- or -ness, or a part that has no meaning, but is separable, like the o in kissogram (a telegram delivered with a kiss, intended to amuse or embarrass the recipient.) portmanteau morph: a single form which consists of two or more morphemes, but which cannot be divided neatly. For example, the verb crashed can be separated into the morphemes crash and -ed, but a word like sang, which consists of the stem sing and a past tense marker (the changed vowel), cannot be so divided. empty morph: a piece of a word that does not contribute to its meaning, but is necessary to make it easily pronounceable. For example, the o in kissogram. (Linguists argue about something called a â€Å"null morpheme,† but as I’m not writing for linguists, I won’t go there.) cranberry morpheme: a morpheme that occurs in only one word, like the cran in cranberry, the twi in twilight, and the -art in braggart. Note on cran-, twi-, and -art: cran- The Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association explains the cran in cranberry this way: The name cranberry derives from the Pilgrim name for the fruit, craneberry, so called because the small, pink blossoms that appear in the spring resemble the head and bill of a Sandhill crane. The OED entry tells us that the word cranberry was unknown to herbalists writing in the 16th and 17th centuries. They knew about cranberries, but they called them other names, such as marsh-whorts and fen-berries. The North American cranberry growers may have adopted the name from German immigrants. Low German has the forms krà ´nbere, krones- or kronsbere, krà ´nsbr, kranebere; all translate as â€Å"crane-berry.† British speakers adopted the word cranberry in the 18th century. twi- This allomorph may also derive from German. Both High German and Low German have words that mean what twilight does. Middle High German has zwischenliecht, â€Å"tweenlight†; Low German has twà ªdustern, twà ªdunkern, literally â€Å"twi-dark.† -art This affix belongs to class of suffixes that turn a verb into a noun doer of the action. The spelling s of words in which –ard conveys the discreditable connotation include drunkard, laggard, and sluggard. Braggart is the only -art survivor in common use. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar 101 category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Arrive To vs. Arrive AtWhenever vs. When EverEpidemic vs. Pandemic vs. Endemic