BASE, STEAM, ROOT

 Base

A base is any part of a word that you can add inflections to, or that you can add prefixes/suffixes that change the meaning/part of speech. So "walk" is also a base, because it can have inflections (walking) and can be turned into different words walker is a noun. Walker is also a base, because you can modify it inflectional walkers is plural, and because it can have things added to derive new words dog-walker.

Stem

A stem is the form of a word that inflections get added onto. Most of the time this will be the root. "Walk" is the form that all the inflections grammar-affecting changes gets added to, when you add ~ing to it, it turns into a progressive verb or a gerund. ~ed turns it perfect. ~s makes it a plural noun, or makes it agree with a singular subject.

Root

A root is the part of a word that cannot be changed, and when added to creates different forms of the word:

"Walk" is a root, and can be changed in many ways: walking, walker, walkie-talkie, sidewalk, walk-light, walks etc. You will never have a word related to walking where the "walk" part gets changed, so it is a root.

MORPHEME

 Morphemes has two types : free morpheme  and bound morpheme:

 

Free morpheme 

A free morpheme is a morpheme or word element that can stand alone as a word. It is also called an unbound morpheme or a free-standing morpheme. In this morpheme there are two types which are lexical and functional morphemes.

Examples: girls, teach, book, class

Lexical morpheme: has lexical meaning; new examples can be freely added.

Examples: N, Verb, Adj, Adv( content words )

Functional morpheme: new examples are rarely added ( but not impossible to add ).

Examples: pro, prep, conj, art ( function words )

Bound morpheme

A bound morpheme tends to be a word element that due to its complexity cannot be accompanied by a single word here are included prefixes and suffixes. 

Inflectional morpheme: An inflection morpheme is a suffix that is added to a word either noun, verb, adjective, or adverb to assign a particular grammatical property to that word, such as its time, number, possession, or comparison. Inflectional morphemes include united morphemes -s (or -es ); 's (or s' ); -ed ; -en ; -er ; -est ; and -ing .

Examples:

-s        plural cats    Nouns

-’s       possessive      brother’s         Nouns

-er      comparative   taller  faster Adjectives

-est    superlative     tallest fastest  Adjectives

-s        third person singular present tense     (she) walks (he) eats   Verbs

-ed     past tense       walked called Verbs

-ing    progressive    walking giving Verbs

-en     past participle (have) given (have) eaten  Verbs

 

Derivational morphemes: are considered lexical because they influence the base word according to its grammatical and lexical class, resulting in a larger change to the base. Derivational morphemes include suffixes like "-ish," "-ous," and "-y," as well as prefixes like "un-," "im-," and "re-."

Examples:

good(adj) + ness= goodness(noun) 

care(noun or verb) + less= careless(adj)

friend(noun) + ship= friendship(noun)

d o(verb) + un= undo(verb)

WORDS

The word is the smallest unit in language also it is a speech sound or a combination sound that represent in writing that symbolizes and communicates a meaning 

Types of words 

In this case there are two types of words: content words and function words.

Content words

Content words are words that have meaning. They can be compared to grammatical words, which are structural. Nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs are usually content words. Auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, and prepositions are usually grammatical words.

• Noun = person, place or thing

• Verb = action, state

• Adjective = describes an object, person, place or thing

• Adverb = tells us how, where or when something happens

 

Examples: 

Nouns	Verbs
house	enjoy
computer	purchase
student	visit
lake	understand
Peter	believe
science	look forward to

 

Adjectives	Adverbs
heavy	slowly
difficult	carefully
careful	sometimes
expensive	thoughtfully
soft	often
fast	suddenly

 

 Function words

These words are helpful when connecting important information in turn are important for understanding, but add little meaning beyond the definition of the relationship between two words. Functional words include auxiliary verbs, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, and pronouns. Auxiliary verbs are used to establish time, prepositions show relationships in time and space, articles show us something that is specific or one of many, and pronouns refer to other nouns.

• Auxiliary verbs = do, be, have (help with conjugation of tense)

• Prepositions = show relationships in time and space

• Articles = used to indicate specific or non-specific nouns

• Conjunctions = words that connect

• Pronouns = refer to other nouns

Examples:

Auxiliary Verbs	Prepositions
do	in
has	at
will	though
is	over
has been	between
did	under

 

Articles	Conjunctions	Pronouns
a	and	I
an	but	you
the	for	him
	so	us
	since	ours
	as	she

 

WHAT IS MORPHOLOGY?

Morphology studies the internal structure of words, whether simple or complex, containing grammatical information or having a purely lexical character to delimit, define and classify their units, the types of words to which they give rise and the formation of new words.

Why Is Morphology Important?

Understanding morphology can help children with spelling strategies. For example, knowing that ‘medicine’, ‘medical’ and ‘paramedic’ all share a common root.

Facts About Morphology

• The term morphology was coined by August Schleicher in 1859.
• Morphology originates from Greek. 'Morph' means 'shape' or 'form,' and '-ology' is the study of a topic.
• Morphological analysis dates back to ancient Indian linguist Pāṇini, who developed the 3,959 rules of Sanskrit - a language of ancient India.