THE CONCEPT OF WORD FORMATION IN ENGLISH (PART I) || HM-HU201 || ENGLISH || WBUT || MAKAUT

THE CONCEPT OF WORD FORMATION IN ENGLISH

Hi everyone! This is Rajdeep Banerjee. Welcome to 'ENGLISH IS EASY WITH RB!' MAKAUT has introduced HM-HU201 (English) in the second semester. I can assure you that you are going to come across some of the most interesting topics 😃😃 in the field of English language studies. First, have a look at the syllabus.

Today, the topic of discussion is 'The Concept of Word Formation'. Are you familiar with the term, MORPHOLOGY? It means "the study of the form of words and phrases." (MORPHOLOGY can also refer to
Biology.) MORPH means "form" and the suffix, -OLOGY means "the study of...". Remember, the symbol, -, suggests to the reader that -OLOGY is an affix (which, in this case, is a suffix). 

Both MORPH and -OLOGY are called MORPHEMES. Now, what is a morpheme? A morpheme is the smallest unit (i.e. It cannot be divided into smaller constituents.) of language that has its own meaning. It is either a word, or a part of a word. For example, in the word, SINGERS, there are three morphemes. They are sing, -er, and -s. You can try! But, I think that you will not be able to divide these three units into smaller constituents. 😃😃😃😃😃

Let's have another example. In the word, REPRODUCTION, you have three units once again.
They are re-, product, and -ion. Did you get me? Don't be shy! You can always ask me if you have queries. Just leave a comment. 

Anyhow, we need to know two more things before we finish this introductory lesson. As you might have noticed that there are two kinds of morphemes in the examples cited above. There is a group of constituents which cannot stand alone and is always attached to some other morpheme. These units are called BOUND MORPHEMES (e.g. re-, -ion, -er, -s, etc.). There is, however, another group of units which can stand alone or can be used with other BOUND MORPHEMES. These units/constituents are called FREE MORPHEMES (e.g. morph, product, sing, etc.).   

In this regard, I must tell you that CARPETS has two morphemes. They are CARPET and -S. PLEASE DON'T CARRY ON DIVIDING CARPET INTO CAR AND PET. 😃😃😃😃

Now, would you do something for me? Could you please divide the following words into bound and free morphemes?

1) disinterested, 2) books, 3) pleasurable, 4) impossible, 5) antidisestablishmentarianism

Just answer it in the comment section. I promise I'll respond to your answers. I hope you got to learn something new. I will be back with the second lesson on the same topic.

Until next time, this is RB, signing off!

So long!