Inflectional morphemes of English

Inflectional morphemes of English

A.           Root, derivational, and inflectional morphemes

Besides being bound or free, morphemes can also be classified as root, derivational,or inflectional. A root morpheme is the basic form to which othermorphemes are attached. It provides the basic meaning of the word.Themorpheme {saw} is the root of sawers.

Derivational morphemes are addedto forms to create separate words: {‑er} is a derivational suffix whose additionturns a verb into a noun, usually meaning the person or thing thatperforms the action denoted by the verb. For example, {paint}+{-er} createspainter, one of whose meanings is “someone who paints.”

Inflectional morphemes do not create separate words. They merelymodify the word in which they occur in order to indicate grammatical propertiessuch as plurality, as the {-s} of magazines does, or past tense, as the {ed}of babecued does.

B.            Classification of Inflectional morphemes

Inflectional morphemes can be classified into eight kinds :

nouns:                            {-s}     plural                                                   (the birds)

noun phrases:                 {-s}     genitive/possessive                              (the bird’s song)

adjectives/adverbs:        {-er}    comparative                                         (faster)

{-est} superlative                                           (fastest)

verbs:                             {-s}     3rd person singular present tense        (proves)

{-ed}   past tense                                            (proved)

{-ing}  progressive/present participle              (is proving)

{-en}   past participle                                      (has proven)

(was proven)

1.        Plural

Plural nounds are repsented as root + {PLU}, whether or not {-s} isactually added to the root. Example : apples, books, pencils, etc.

2.        Possesive

Possessive nounds are root + {poss}, whether or not {-s} is added. It’s ahistorical accident that both these affixes sound the same. Example : ana’s book.

3.        Comparative

Comparative and superlative adjectives. happier = {happy}+ {COMP};

4.        Superlative

happiest = {happy} + {SUP}. Arguably, most beautiful = {beautiful} + {SUP}

5.        3rd person singular present tense

Present tense forms are root + {PRES}. But there is only a surface affixwhen there is a 3rd person singular subject. That’s to say:

John loves Mary = {love} + {PRES} = {love} + {-s}

6.        Past Tense

Past tense verb forms.

John walked = {walk} + {PAST}.

drove ={drive} + {PAST}

7.        Present Participle

{PRES PART} drinking = {drink} + {PRES PART}                               

Present participles always occur with an -ing suffix. In a simple active sentence,the present participle always follows a form of the auxiliary verb to be, as in Theywere laughing.

If both the auxiliary have and the auxiliary be occur in the same sentence, theform of be always follows the form of have: We have been eating, not *We are haveeating.

8.        Past Participle

{PAST PART} driven = {drive} + {PAST PART}

A past participle always follows a form of the auxiliary verb have (in a simpleactive sentence). (And if both a modal and the auxiliary have occur in the samesentence, have follows the modal: We may have gone.They have walked home, but not They walked home. [past tense]Gone, come, hit, walked are all past participles.

NOTE :

{PLU}               : Plural

{POS}               : Possesive

{COMP}           : Comparative

{SUP}               : Superlative

{PRES}             : Present

However, because of its long and complex history, English (like all languages)has many irregular forms, which may be irregular in a variety ofways. First, irregular words may use different inflections than regular ones:for example, the modern past participle inflection of a regular verb is {-ed},but the past participle of freeze is frozen and the past participle of breakis broken.

Second, irregular forms may involve internal vowel changes, asin man/men, woman/women, grow/grew, ring/rang/rung.

Third, some formsderive from historically unrelated forms: went, the past tense of go, historicallywas the past tense of a different verb, wend. This sort of realignmentis known as suppletion. Other examples of suppletion include good, better,and best, and bad, worse, and worst. (As an exercise, you might look up be,am, and is in a dictionary that provides etymological information, such asthe American Heritage.)

Fourth, some words show no inflectional change:sheep is both singular and plural; hit is both present and past tense, as wellas past participle.

Fifth, many borrowed words, especially nouns, have irregularinflected forms: alumnae and cherubim are the plurals of alumna and

Irregular forms demonstrate the abstract status of morphemes. Thus theword men realizes (represents, makes real) the two morphemes {man} and{plural}; women realizes {woman} and {plural}; went realizes {go} and {pasttense}. Most grammar and writing textbooks contain long lists of these exceptions.