Morphology

Question

I want a real and large definition of  MORPHOLOGY

Mike in Japan · Accepted Answer

The Mirriam-Webster site may be of help.
http://www.m-w.com/
Cheers

Wumanfu · Answer

Hi, this is just a cut & paste job from various internet resources:
1 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
2 The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar
3 Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
4 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics (7 parts)
5 Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage
6 Merriam-Webster Unabridged
References
1 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
morpho- comb. form of Gr. morph shape, form, as in morphology (XIX).
2 The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar
morphology The study of word formation. Traditionally Morphology (concerned with the internal rules of words) contrasts with SYNTAX (concerned with the rules governing the way words are put together in sentences). Morphology itself covers two main types of word formation: INFLECTION, concerned with changes to an individual lexeme (which remains ‘the same word’) for grammatical reasons (e.g. showing number or tense) and DERIVATION, which is concerned with the formation of one word from another (e.g. by the addition of an affix). • morphological, morphologically.
3 Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
MORPHOLOGY. In LINGUISTICS, the study of the structure of words, as opposed to SYNTAX, the study of the arrangement of words in the higher units of phrases, clauses, and sentences. The two major branches are inflectional morphology (the study of inflections) and lexical morphology (the study of WORD-FORMATION). See ACCIDENCE, INFLECTION, LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY, MORPHEME.
4a The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
morphology. The study of the grammatical structure of words and the categories realized by them. Thus a morphological analysis will divide girls into girl and -s, which realizes ‘plural’; singer into sing and -er, which marks it as a noun denoting an agent. A category is ‘morphological’ if it is realized within words. Thus morphological case is case as realized by different elements within nouns or words of other classes, as opposed to case roles realized by independent words or word order; a morphological causative is a causative form of a verb as opposed to a causative construction, and so on.
4b The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
‘split morphology hypothesis’. The view, held widely but challenged within Lexical Morphology, that inflectional and derivational morphology are in principle separate.
4c The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
Non-Catenative Morphology. Account of morphology developed by J. J. McCarthy in the early 1980s by analogy with Autosegmental Phonology. Basically a technique for representing systems such as that of Arabic, in which, e.g. the word for ‘book’ (Egyptian Arabic [kita:b]) and the word for ‘he wrote’ [katab] have the same consonantal root (k…t…b) but two different patterns of vowels. In the representation proposed the root is assigned to one tier, analogous to those of Autosegmental Phonology, and the vowel pattern to another; both units will then be realized discontinuously.
4d The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
Natural Morphology. A broad approach to morphology, developed especially in Germany and Austria from the early 1980s, in which both the structural tendencies of languages in general, and the specific processes of change in individual languages, are explained in part by the operation of hypothetically universal laws of naturalness. Thus it is easier to understand words if their morphological structure is transparent: hence, in particular, if categories are realized by affixes (English bake-d or hen-s) rather than e.g. by vowel change (English took or men). In that sense affixation is more natural: hence, in languages generally, it is the commonest process and, as specific languages change, the tendency, all else being equal, is for its scope to increase. E.g. in the history of English, plurals with affixes, like cows, have tended to replace ones that are less transparent, like kine. By other proposed laws, it is natural e.g. that a plural, which is marked (1) in opposition to a singular, should be realized by the presence rather than the absence of an affix: plural hen-s vs. singular hen, not plural hen vs. singular hen-s. Hence, again, this pattern is found more widely across languages, and, again, specific changes will tend towards it. Laws such as these reduce to a general principle of iconicity. But one law may conflict with another, and conflicts may be resolved in different ways in different types of language. Moreover, any law may conflict with structures inherent in a specific system. Hence all apply, as above, ‘all else being equal’.
4e The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
Lexical Morphology. View of morphology current especially in the USA, within a broadly generative framework. The basic unit is the morpheme; words have a constituency structure of which morphemes are the minimal elements; and, in the extreme version, the entire construction of words, including those aspects that are traditionally called inflectional, belongs to an account of the lexicon. The belief that this version is correct is the Strong (or Strict) Lexicalist Hypothesis.
4f The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
inflectional morphology. Branch of morphology concerned with inflections: hence especially with both the semantic and the formal structure of paradigms. An inflectional affix is similarly an affix described as an inflection, a process by which e.g. such an affix is added is an inflectional formation, and so on. Opp. derivational morphology. But the distinction has often been challenged, e.g. in Lexical Morphology.
4g The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
derivational morphology. Branch of morphology concerned with the derivation of one word in the lexicon from another: e.g. that of hanger from hang, or of countess from count. In these examples, -er and -ess are derivational affixes, and the processes of which they are part are derivational formations. Traditionally distinguished from inflectional morphology ; also from the formation of compounds.
5 Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage
morphology is the study of the structure and form of words. It includes both inflection (how words change their forms according to grammatical function, e.g. come, comes, came, etc.) and derivation (how one word is formed from another, e.g. unhelpful from helpful and helpful in turn from help).
6 Merriam-Webster Unabridged
morphology
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): -es
Etymology: German morphologie, from Greek morph- (from morph
emacron form) + German -logie -logy – [more at]
FORM
1 a : a branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of animals and plants : a study of the forms, relations, metamorphoses, and phylogenetic
development of organs apart from their functions – [see
ANATOMY]
; compare
PHYSIOLOGY
b : the features comprised in the form and structure of an organism or any of its parts
2 a : a study and description of word-formation in a language including inflection, derivation, and compounding -- distinguished from syntax b : the system
of word-forming elements and processes in a language
3 a : a study of the structure or form of something
b : the structure or form of something :
MAKEUP
settlements bore a strong resemblance to those of New England -- G.T.Trewartha>
4 : the external structure of rocks in relation to the development of erosional forms or topographic features :
GEOMORPHOLOGY
5 a : the study of the development of the forms of crystals b : the assemblage of forms on a crystal

Anonymous · Answer

what is the meaning of morphology...???and what is the example of structure and form of organisms....???

Morphology

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions