Assignment -2
Explain the difference between Inflectional
and Derivational Morphemes.
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Inflectional and Derivational
Morphemes
Morphology
is a branch of linguistics that deals with the study of morphemes.
Depending upon their properties, morphemes are classified into various types.
Some such classes are Bound and Free morphemes
and Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes.
Inflectional Morpheme Definition
An
inflectional morpheme is generally a bound morpheme which when added to the
root or stem of a word does not result into a change in the grammatical
category of that word. Grammatical category is nothing but the part of speech of
that word. In most cases, inflectional morphemes mark the number, person and gender features on the nouns, and their agreement
on verbs, adjectives, etc. in a language.
Inflectional Morpheme Examples
Let us look at an example to
understand this better. In English, the number feature on the nouns is marked
by the plural -s suffix. This is basically an inflectional morpheme in the
language.
table + -s–> tables
pen + s–> pens
cat + -s–> cats
Similarly, we have the person
agreement on verbs marked by the third person singular -s inflectional morpheme
in English:
You eat bananas. (Second
Person singular and plural)
She eats bananas. (Third Person singular)
Here, the word class does not
change.
Cat/cats-noun eat/eats-verb
Many such examples are given below.
child /children mango/mangoes country/countries etc
Derivational Morpheme Definition
Let
us now shift to Derivational Morphemes in Linguistics. A derivational morpheme
can also exist as a bound morpheme like Inflectional Morphemes. However, when
it is added to the root or stem of a word, it can result into a change in
the part of speech or
grammatical category of that word. Of course, this is not to say that it always results into such a change. But in a lot of
cases it does. Derivational morphemes exhibit complex patterns of
affixation and can be very irregular in a language.
Derivational Morpheme Examples
Let us see a few examples of
derivational morphemes in English:
electric + -ity –> electricity
(Here, an adjective becomes a noun, that means the word class changes.)
nation + -al –> national (Here, a
noun becomes a an adjective) word class changes.
Note that the word “nation” is a
noun. However, the addition of the -al suffix makes it “national” which is an
adjective or noun modifier. So it can now describe a flower, a song, a bird,
etc.
social + -ism —> socialism
Similary, in the above example, the word
“social” is an adjective, and addition of the -ism suffix makes it noun.
Major differences between Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes
I will now list some of the major
differences between Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes:
The first key difference:
The addition of an inflectional
morpheme to the stem or root of the word NEVER results into a change in the
grammatical category or Part-of-Speech of the word. On the other hand,
affixation of a derivational morpheme to the stem or root of the word CAN bring
about a change in the grammatical category of the word.
Of course, there will be cases when
even derivational affixation does not lead to change in grammatical category.
But with inflectional morphemes, the possibility is zero.
The second key difference:
Inflectional Morphemes are always
added in the end of the affixation process. In other words, they are the final
step in affixation. Derivational morphemes are generally the penultimate step.
A derivational morpheme cannot be added after addition of an inflectional
morpheme. However, an inflectional morpheme can be added after a derivational
affix has been added.
The third key difference:
There is generally a fixed, finite
set of Inflectional morphemes in a language. Their affixation process is also
very regular. However, the set of derivational morphemes in a language can be
dynamic and irregular.
The forth key difference:
In terms of the morphological
structure of the word, the derivational morphemes are generally closer to the
root of the word than the inflectional morphemes. The inflectional morphemes
lie more towards the periphery.
The fifth key difference:
Let us come to the last difference
between Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes that I would like to mention
here. Inflectional morphemes are thought to have a more grammatical or
functional role to play in a language. On the other hand, Derivational
morphemes have less to do with syntax than to the semantics of language. In a
way, derivational affixes change the meaning of the word, unlike inflectional
affixes that at max change the category. We can say that the derivational
affixes generally have some meaning associated with them. That meaning,
however, can be very vague and abstract in many cases, and, hence, difficult to
define.
A word can have both Inflectional
and Derivational Morphemes. It is important to understand which morpheme gets
attached before the others. As we know, inflectional morphemes get added after
the derivational morphemes. However, in many cases, there can be more than one
derivational morpheme in the word.
Let
is consider the word categorizations in
English. Have you thought of how it is derived? Let us derive it!
category + -ize –> categorize
categorize + -ation –>
categorization
categorization + -s –> categorizations
In the above example, the first two
affixes are derivational. And the last one is inflectional. Interestingly,
there can be even more complex words with many derivational steps.
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Rajarata University
21.04.2020
