Chapter 3 Word Formation I

Morpheme(语素):the minimal meaningful unit(the smallest functioning unit in the composition of words)

Allomorph(语素变体): is a different variant form of a morpheme，differ in phonological and spelling form, but at the same in function and meaning

Type of Morpheme

Free Morpheme: A free morpheme is one that can stand by itself. (independent)

Bound Morpheme(粘着语素): A bound morpheme is one that cannot stand by itself.

Bound Morpheme includes two types: (1) bound root  (2)Affix(词缀)

1)Inflectional affixes (屈折词缀)(inflectional morphemes):

affixes attached to the end of words to indicate grammatical relationships are inflectional

2)Derivational affixes(派生词缀) A) prefix: A prefix comes before words. B)suffix

An adjective suffix（形容词后缀） that is added to the stem, whatever classis belongs to , the result will be an adjective.

free=free root（自由词根）

Root and stem（词根和词干）

1) Root 2) Stem

The differences between root and stem:

A root is the basic form of a word which cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity.

A stem is the surplus part after the cutting of inflectional morpheme in a word with inflectional morphemes,can be further analyzed, it sometimes could be a root.

Individualistic                                Undesirables

Individualist (stem)                           undesirable (stem)

Individual (stem)                              desirable (stem)

dividual (stem)                                desire (root, stem)

divide(root, stem)