LINGUIST 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Part Of Speech, Affix, Morpheme
20 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Morpheme: smallest unit of language that can be associated with meaning or grammatical function. The root expresses the fundamental meaning of the word. Every word contains at least one root morpheme. The root usually belongs to a lexical category: noun (n), verb (v), adjective (a), preposition (p). Affixation adds a grammatical function, but does not result in a change of the basic meaning. Affixation creates a new meaning (based on the meaning of the parts). We need to first determine what lexical categories the affixes involved combine with. Mis-: attaches to a v and yields a v; e. g. , misinterpret, misunderstand, mislead Ment: attaches to a v and yields a n; e. g. , statement, arrangement, appointment . Exception: it appears that mis- can attach to ns in limited context: mis-fortune, misadventure. Old and middle english had an affix mis- that attached to vs. Old french had an affix mes- that attached to ns. This mes- morpheme got assimilated into the english mis-.
