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MORPHOLOGY AS THE STUDY OF INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF WORDS
Zakhro Mamadaliyeva
Teacher of Ferghana State University
Islomjonova Gulruxsor
Student of Ferghana State University
Annotation.
This article discusses the significance of morphology and its role
in language. Morphology, stemming from the Greek words "morphe" (form) and
"logos" (science or word), constitutes a segment of grammar dedicated to the
examination of words within the context of their parts of speech. In essence,
morphology scrutinizes the broad meanings and alterations of words.
Key words:
morpheme, logos, morphology, speech, meaning, word, form,
grammar.
Introduction
Morphology
(from Greek
morphe
meaning "form" and
logos
meaning "word")
is a branch of grammar focused on the internal structure of words, their grammatical
categories, and their meanings.
The study of modern English morphology encompasses four main areas:
1.
General analysis of morphemes and types of word formation.
2.
The classification system of parts of speech.
3.
The detailed examination of each part of speech, including its grammatical
categories and syntactical functions.
A
morpheme
is defined as the smallest meaningful unit of a word. Comprised
of phonemes, it cannot be divided into smaller units without losing its significative
function.
Example:
The word "writers" can be broken down into three morphemes:
1.
writ-
(root morpheme) conveys the core lexical meaning.
2.
-er-
(agent morpheme) denotes someone who performs the action of writing.
3.
-s
(plural morpheme) indicates that the noun is plural.
Some morphemes may sound identical but have different meanings, known as
homonyms
. For instance, the morpheme
-er
in "writer" (indicating an agent) has a
homonym
-er
in "longer" (indicating comparative degree).
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There are also
zero morphemes
, where the absence of a morpheme conveys a specific
meaning. For example, in the comparison between "book" and "books," the plural
"books" includes the
-s
morpheme, whereas the singular "book" includes a zero
morpheme indicating it is singular.
Traditional Classification of Morphemes:
Morphemes are classified based on
two main criteria:
1.
Positional
: The placement of marginal morphemes relative to central ones.
2.
Semantic/Functional
: The relative contribution of the morphemes to the overall
meaning of the word.
Based on these criteria, morphemes are divided into:
•
Root Morphemes (Roots)
: Convey the concrete, material meaning of the word.
They are the core lexical components of content words.
•
Affixal Morphemes (Affixes)
: Specify additional aspects of the word's
meaning, which can be lexical or grammatical.
Affixal morphemes include:
1.
Prefixes
2.
Suffixes
Prefixes and lexical suffixes serve a word-building function and, together with
the root, form the word stem.
3.
Inflexions (Grammatical Suffixes)
: These morphemes form grammatical
variations of words and do not have independent lexical meanings but express
different morphological categories.
The general structure of an English word can be represented as: prefix + root +
lexical suffix + inflection/grammatical suffix.
The Concept of Distribution in Linguistics
The
distribution
of a linguistic unit refers to the totality of its environments,
essentially its context within different classes or categories.
Distributional analysis
aims to identify and study language units based on their
textual environments, i.e., the elements adjacent to them in text.
Examples:
1.
The/boat/s/were/gain/ing/speed
o
This sentence is divided into
morphs
, which are combinations of phonemes that
convey meaning and cannot be subdivided further.
2.
un-pardon-able
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o
In this word, the root
pardon
has a left environment (the prefix
un-
) and a right
environment (the suffix
-able
). Conversely,
pardon
is the right environment for
the prefix and the left environment for the suffix.
Types of Distribution:
1.
Contrastive Distribution
:
o
Morphs with different meanings or functions are in contrastive distribution and
form different morphemes.
o
Example
: The suffixes
-(e)d
and
-ing
in "returned" and "returning".
2.
Non-Contrastive Distribution
:
o
Morphs with the same meaning or function are in non-contrastive distribution
and are called
free alternants
or
free variants
of the same morpheme.
o
Example
: The suffixes
-(e)d
and
-t
in "learned" and "learnt".
3.
Complementary Distribution
:
o
Formally different morphs with the same function in different environments are
in complementary distribution and are
allomorphs
of the same morpheme.
o
Examples
:
▪
The plural morpheme
-s
has allomorphs /-s/, /-z/, /-iz/ depending on the
phonological environment.
▪
The past tense morpheme
-ed
has allomorphs /-id/, /-t/, /-d/.
▪
The plural allomorph
-en
in "oxen" and "children", and the zero suffix in
"sheep".
Complementary distribution helps identify grammatical elements.
Types of Morphemes Based on Self-Dependence:
1.
Free Morphemes
:
o
Can form words independently.
o
Example
: In "handful,"
hand
is a free morpheme.
2.
Bound Morphemes
:
o
Cannot form words by themselves and are identified as part of words.
o
Example
: In "handful,"
-ful
is a bound morpheme.
There are few productive bound morphemes in English, most of which are
homonymous:
1.
-(e)s
[plural of nouns, possessive case of nouns, third person singular present of
verbs]
2.
-(e)d
[past and past participle of verbs]
3.
-ing
[gerund and present participle]
4.
-er
,
-est
[comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs]
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Semi-bound morphemes
include auxiliary word-morphemes (
do
,
be
,
have
,
will
,
shall
,
would
,
should
), adverbial elements (
more
,
most
), the infinitive particle (
to
), and
articles. These function as separate elements in speech but form categorical unities with
their stem-words.
Conclusion
Morphology is a vital subfield of linguistics that delves into the intricacies of
word formation and structure. By understanding morphology, linguists gain insights
into the fundamental processes that shape languages. Whether through inflection,
derivation, compounding, or other morphological processes, the study of morphemes
and their distribution provides a deeper understanding of how language conveys
meaning and adapts to various grammatical and contextual needs.
References:
1. ru.m.wiki.versity.org wiki
2. en.m.wikipedia.org> wiki
3. Quora Inc 2024 quora.com what are the functions of morphology
4. Cogent Education volume 5 2018 issue – 1.
5. Warner, N. O."In Search of Literary Science the Russian Formalist Tradition."
Pacific Coast Philology 17.Pp. 69-71; 1982.
