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ShaNap Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Bound OR Free morpheme?
Hi,
In words like careless and fearlessly, should I treat -less as a bound or as a free morpheme?
Thanks
In words like careless and fearlessly, should I treat -less as a bound or as a free morpheme?
Thanks
Top answer
Affixes are always bound in English. htm
- Affixes are always bound in English.
- htm
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4 Answers
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Affixes are always bound in English.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bound_morpheme
and
http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/boundmorphterm.htm
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bound_morpheme
and
http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/boundmorphterm.htm
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Yes, but 'less' can stand on its on as an independent word, no?
And in such a case, a word like careless was created by combining two free morphemes and not one free (care-lexical) and another bound (and derivational). Don't you think?
And in such a case, a word like careless was created by combining two free morphemes and not one free (care-lexical) and another bound (and derivational). Don't you think?
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ShaNapbut 'less' can stand on its on as an independent word, no?Yes, but not with the same meaning. careless means 'without care', not 'less care'.
proof can also stand on its own, but it's still a bound morpheme in waterproof according to the technical definition.
CJ
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