Morphology (part 1)

Hello everyone, welcome--thanks for joining us. Today we'll be discussing the concept

of morphology, or the study or forms in linguistics. More specifically, morphology is the study

of the internal structure of words in a language. So this is part 1 of a multiple part series

in morphology and in this video we will be discussing the concept of a morpheme, as well

as distinguishing between different types of morphemes--difference between free morphemes

and bound morphemes, lexical morphemes and functional morphemes, as well as the difference

between derivational and inflectional morphemes. So before we do any of that, let's talk about

the fundamental concept in morphology: the morpheme. So, a morpheme is the smallest meaningful

unit in a language. A morpheme cannot be broken down into any smaller meaningful bits--just

individual sounds or sound sequences, which, in and of themselves, are meaningless. Now

you might think that the word is the smallest meaningful unit in a language, but any given

word may be composed of more than one meaningful element. For example, consider the word "cats".

Now "cats" is clearly one word in English, but it has 2 morphemes: "cat" plus "-s". So

we all know what a "cat" means; it's furry, it has paws, whiskers, it meows, it vomits

on the carpet, but there is this "-s" suffix, which is also meaningful because it denotes

"plural" or "more than one". Therefore, "cats" has 2 morphemes. Let's take another word--how

about "category". Now "category" has just one morpheme. Don't be fooled by the size

of the word. "Category" cannot be broken down into any smaller meaningful bits. Now you

might say, "wait a minute, doesn't the word 'category' have the word 'cat' in it?" And

it does--that's a good observation. However, the meaning of the word "cat" has nothing

to do with the meaning of the word "category" in English; therefore, we conclude that "category"

has just 1 morpheme. Similarly, you might notice that "category" has the word "gory"

in it, but, again, the meaning of the word "gory" has nothing to do with the meaning

of "category", so, again, we must say that "category" has just 1 morpheme. Here's a tip:

anytime you're looking at a word in a language and you're trying to determine how many morphemes

are present in that word, ask yourself, "does the sum of the parts equal the meaning of

the whole?" If the answer is yes, then there is likely more than 1 morpheme. If the answer

is no, there's probably just 1 morpheme. Let's take another word. How about "categorize".

Now this word has 2 morphemes. We've already determined that "category" is a word, but

it's also just 1 morpheme, but in addition we have this "-ize" suffix, and that suffix

is meaningful because it helps to form a verb from a noun, so "categorize" has 2 morphemes.

Let's take another word. How about "categorized". Now "categorized" is 1 word but it has 3 morphemes.

So we have "category", plus the "-ize" suffix, but also that "-d" suffix at the end is meaningful

because it denotes "past tense". Sometimes it's spelled "d", sometimes it's spelled "-ed",

but, as another tip, try to forget about how a word is spelled in a language. Instead,

try to determine are the sounds present in that word meaningful? If they are, you must

look at them as morphemes. Alright, so let's do some more practice here. Take a look at

the words on your screen and try to determine how many morphemes are present in each of

these words. Now, while you're working, you'll want to pause the video. Take as much time