Definition of Morphemes
In linguistics, morphemes are the smallest units of language that carry meaning or grammatical function. They cannot be further divided into smaller meaningful parts and form the building blocks of words. Unlike phonemes, which are sounds, morphemes convey semantic or syntactic information.
Types of Morphemes
Morphemes are classified as free or bound. Free morphemes can stand alone as words, such as 'book' or 'run.' Bound morphemes must attach to other morphemes, including prefixes like 'un-' in 'unhappy' and suffixes like '-s' in 'books' for plurality. Further distinctions include derivational morphemes, which change word class, and inflectional morphemes, which modify grammatical features.
Practical Examples
Consider the word 'unhappiness.' It consists of three morphemes: 'un-' (bound, meaning 'not'), 'happy' (free, meaning joy), and '-ness' (bound, forming a noun). Another example is 'cats,' where 'cat' is a free morpheme and '-s' is a bound inflectional morpheme indicating plural.
Importance in Linguistics
Morphemes are fundamental to morphological analysis, helping linguists understand word formation, language evolution, and syntax. They reveal how languages build complexity from simple units, aiding in language teaching, computational linguistics, and studies of language disorders like aphasia.