Morphology
The word “morphology originated from the Greek words ‘morph’, meaning from, and ‘-ology’, which means study. It literally means the study of forms. It is used in both linguistics and other scientific disciplines, but this paper focuses on its use in linguistics (Fudeman, 2011). It has proved to be a very important area in linguistics that it is not only a basis of linguistics study, but also as a branch of linguistics. A German linguist August Schleicher first brought it to light in mid-19thcentury, and its development since then has given meaning to the internal structuring of words.
In simple terms, morphology is the study of forms exhibited by things. In linguistics, it refers to the formation of words for use by a certain language. Morphological knowledge involves the description of word formation process via derivation, inflation and compounding techniques of language (Bowers, 2012). In morphology, ‘Morphemes’ are the building blocks used in words structuring. They are simple words that do not consist of complex internal structures. A good example of a morpheme is the word ‘blog’. Conversely, there are complex words that entail structuring of two or more building blocks. An example is the word blogger; this word has an addition of ‘er’ to the original word ‘blog’. Its meaning has changed to someone who repeatedly posts blogs. The added piece ‘er’ is what is referred to as a morpheme.
Morphemes exist as either inflectional or derivational. In case of inflectional morphemes, the words in question are modified according to the present grammatical context. Explicitly, they have suffixes added to them with an aim of agreeing with the relevant tense, person or number to which the word is referring. Examples include walking, fastest, blogged just to mention but a few.
Derivational morphemes, by contrast, have addition of affixes (either prefixes or suffixes) in order to bring specific semantic changes to the word (Tompkins, 2013). This means that new words are derived from the original words, and in most cases, the changes affect the word class. Examples include expend-expendable, sense-nonsense, approve-disapprove, civil-civilized.
Morphemic Analysis
Morphemic analysis refers to a process employed by learners to familiarize and decipher meaning of words (Krumdiek, 2007). It primarily examines parts of a word to establish its meaning, mostly in cases where the learner lacks a tutor or a dictionary for that matter. It is undoubtedly an important tool for understanding of unfamiliar vocabulary. It utilizes the understanding of the understanding of complex derived words while making use of prefixed and suffixes.
Morphemic analysis focuses on the root meanings of words to infer explanations in cases where intricate vocabulary is used in passage by taking advantage of clues that can be found in predominant contexts (Talerico, 2007). It is a linguistic strategy to be used by learners outside of their learning environments such as schools and classrooms. It is also relevant in the various professions where the words used are explicit to a certain industry like medicine, engineering and administration. The process meticulously considers word construction and how it is done. In so doing, it enables intellectuals to acquire a revelation of the patterns exhibited in different words.
References
Baumann, E. J. (2012). Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Bowers, J. R. (2012). Morphology Works. Research into Practice, pp. 1-4.
Fudeman, M. A. (2011). What is Morphology. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Graves, M. F. (2009). Essential Readings on Vocabulary Instruction. Birmingham: International Reading Association.
Krumdiek, C. (2007). The morpheme - An approach to its meaning and function. Koln: GRIN Verlag.
Lesaux, M. J. (2007). Breaking Down Words to Build Meaning: Morphology, Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension in the Urban Classroom. The Reading Teacher, 61, 134-144.
O’Callaghan, P. A. (2012). Promoting Literacy Development: 50 Research-Based Strategies for K-8 Learners. New York: SAGE.
Talerico, D. M. (2007). A Comparison of Morphemic Analysis and Whole Word Meaning Instruction on Sixth-grade Students' Knowledge of Prefixes, Taught Words, and Transfer Words. Ann Arbor: ProQuest.
Tompkins, G. E. (2013). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson.
