M orphemics is a branch of the science of language that studies the composition of words. Without knowledge of the composition of words, it is impossible to learn how to determine word formation methods and solve spelling problems.

Words consist of significant parts: prefixes, roots, suffixes and endings. These parts are called the common word morphemes. The main part of the word is the root. Before the root there may be one or several consoles, and after the root – one or several suffixes. At the end of the words being modified there is ending(sometimes it is zero). Immutable words have no endings. The ability to see the structure of a word and understand the meaning of its parts helps to write words correctly. Now let's talk in more detail about all morphemes.

The stem of the word and the ending.

To highlight ending, you need to change the word, i.e. decline (names) or conjugate (verbs). For example: green Forest, green forest(endings of m.r., singular, name and gender cases); I live, we live(endings of 1st unit and plural, present time).

Endings serve to connect words in phrases and sentences. In the phrase green Forest the -y ending of the adjective green indicates its connection with the noun forest.

Ending words called it variable part, which serves to connect words and expresses the meanings of gender, number, case, person.

Ending may be null. It is not expressed by sound and is not indicated by a letter in writing, but when the word is changed, it is zero ending appears. Null endings are detected:

1) for nouns in the form named after. p.m.r. units: house - houses

2) for nouns in the form p. p.m. h.: mountains - mountains

3) for short adjectives in the masculine form: beautiful - beautiful

4) for verbs in the form of m.p. etc. time: sang - sang

5) for possessive adjectives with the suffix – й: fox - fox

The part of a word without ending is called basis. Base word contains it main lexical meaning.

Pay attention to the composition of words such as nation, army, in which the letter I denotes two sounds [ya]. The sound [th] is included in basis, [A] - ending.

Morphemic, word-formation, etymological analysis to understand the internal form of a word, observe historical processes.

Morphemics: Morpheme. Types of morphemes. Base and ending.

Morphemics is the totality of morphemes of a given language and the branch of linguistics in which morphemes are studied.

Within morphemics, the following sections are distinguished: 1) classification of morphemes by place in the word; 2) classification of morphemes by types of meaning; 3) the doctrine of morphemes and their speech representatives.

1) Classification of morphemes by place in the word.

Morphemes are divided into root And official. The latter are called by the generic term affix. Affixes include prefix, suffix, postfix, interfix, infix, confix, inflection, ambifix, transfix, etc.

Root carries the main semantic load. It contains the main content of the lexical meaning, which is specified by affixes. Service morphemes are much less informative than the root: cf. -outside- (white) or -it(whitewash). If we know the root, then this is much more than if we know all the affixes.

Prefix(lat. prae'before', fixus‘attached’) is the part of the word before the root that has a derivational form ( do - redo) or formative meaning (species pair do – do). The Russian language, like the North American Haida language, has 70 prefixes.

Suffix(lat. sub‘under’) is the part of the word that follows immediately after the root and has a derivational form ( tea - teapot) or formative meaning ( teach taught) meaning.

Flexion(lat. flehio‘bending’) is an inflected part of a word, usually expressing an inflectional meaning and linking words into a syntactic structure. The word-formation function of inflection is less frequent: mathematician - mathematics, slave - slave(a woman subordinated to some passion - slave of love), blue – blue, go out - exit. The ending does not lose its inflectional meaning if it serves as a means of word formation. In any case, the part of a word without an ending is called inflectional basis.

Internal inflection– alternation of vowels of the root, expressing inflectional, word-forming or grammatical meaning: English. goose'goose' - geese‘geese’. Sometimes such a morpheme is described as a transfix (see below). The concept of internal inflection arose in the description of German dialects, where vowel alternation is widespread. For example, the Germanic root meaning ‘to break’ contains all eight possible vowels for the German language: Bruch‘fracture’, gebrochen'broken', brach'broke', brache – ‘would break’, brechen'break', brich'break', brüchig'brittle', abbröckeln'break off'. In Russian linguistics the term is more often used alternation: I'll collect – collect – collect. Strictly speaking, the root is here -br-, but not - bir- / -ber-, as they say at school.

Postfix– part of the word after the ending: xia-, anyone, where is the root To-, ending -That(somebody,to someone) and postfix someday.

Ambifix- a morpheme that can be attached to the root from any side without changing its meaning: English. come-out And outcome'Exodus'.

Infix– morpheme inserted inside the root: Tagalog. sulat'letter' - s-um-ulat‘write, write’ – s-in-ulat'was written'; lit. jutau‘felt’ – juntu‘I feel’; lat. vici'won' - vinco‘I win’.

Confix(lat. con– a prefix with the meaning of compatibility), or circumfix(lat. circulus‘circle’) is a two- or three-component (“broken”) morpheme, which is a combination of a prefix and a suffix (postfix). Its first part is located before the root, and the second after it: German. machen - gemacht, Dutch maken-gemaakt(from a transitive verb - passive participle: do – done), wonen – gewond(from an intransitive verb - active participle: live - lived); Hungarian legnagyobb‘the largest’ – the superlative is formed by the circumfix leg- -bb(root of the word nagy'big'). Some linguists do not use the term confix, describing the formation of such forms as the addition of two morphemes. In Russian studies, for example, this method of word formation is called prefix-suffix: for-speech-j-e, underground.

Transfix(lat. trans‘through, through’) – a broken infix, or intra-root confix. The transfix, representing vowel sounds, passes through the root morpheme. At the same time, he breaks the root, and the root breaks him. There are several options for transfixation. Vowels surround a central root consonant: Arabic. katib‘writer, scribe’, kitab‘letter, book’. Another option is to have vowels surrounding the first two consonants: Arabic. qtl‘kill’ – uqtul'kill', iqtal‘forcing to kill’; Wed qatala'he killed' qutila'he was killed', qutilu'they were killed', uqtul'kill', qatil'killer', iqtal‘forcing to kill’.

2) Classification of morphemes by types of meaning.

Morphemes are inflectional (syntactic), formative (grammatical, morphological) and word-formative. Inflectional morphemes are sometimes called lexical, which creates ambiguity. One might think that morphemes with lexical meaning are roots, which is certainly not true. Lexical meaning is expressed by the whole word, i.e. a set of morphemes, and not just a root.

3) The doctrine of morphemes and their speech representatives - morphs. Morpheme is an abstract linguistic invariant. It is realized by specific (material) speech options - morphs. Morpheme - Friend- can be represented by the following morphs: [friend] ( friend), [friend] ( Friend), [drush] ( girlfriend), [friend, ] ( Friends), [friend]( be friends).

On the one hand, morphemes can be homonomic: weeding– objectified action; student– indicator of feminine gender. On the other hand, there may be no phonetic similarity between the morphs of the same morpheme: tale- To-a >tale- very good-k-a.

Morphemics (from the Greek morph - ‘form’) is a branch of the science of language that studies the composition (structure) of a word. In morphemics two main questions are resolved:
1) how morphemes of the Russian language are classified,
2) how a word is divided into morphemes, that is, what is the algorithm for morphemic division.

The basic unit of morphemics is the morpheme. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful part of a word. Among the morphemes there are prefixes, roots, suffixes, interfixes (connecting vowels), postfixes, and endings.

In this definition, both definitions are equally important - minimal and significant; A morpheme is the smallest unit of language that has meaning.

The minimum unit of sound flow is sound. Sounds in a strong position can distinguish between the words: pond and twig. But sounds do not designate concepts, objects, or their signs, that is, they have no meaning.

In the course of lexicology, words are studied - grammatically formed meaningful units that serve to name objects of reality. Phrases, like words, serve to name objects of reality, but they do it more precisely, dismembered (cf.: table and desk).

Another significant unit is supply. Its difference from morphemes and words lies, firstly, in the fact that it is a larger unit consisting of words, and secondly, in the fact that the sentence, having a target and intonation design, serves as a unit of communication.

A morpheme differs from units of all other linguistic levels: a morpheme differs from sounds in that it has meaning; from words - in that it is not a grammatically formed unit of name (it is not characterized as a unit of vocabulary belonging to a certain part of speech); from sentences - in that it is not a communicative unit.

A morpheme is a minimal two-sided unit, that is, a unit that has both sound and meaning. It is not divided into smaller meaningful parts of the word. Words are built from morphemes, which, in turn, are the “building material” for sentences.

In the Russian language, the letter and sound composition of morphemes is not unchanged: non-phonetic (i.e., not caused by phonetic conditions - position in relation to stress, the end of a phonetic word and other sounds) alternations of vowels and consonants are widely represented in morphemes. These alternations are not random, they are explained by historical processes that took place in the language in ancient times, therefore the alternations are systemic in nature.

Studying the Russian language at school or college is always fraught with many difficulties. You have to delve into a huge amount of terminology, master a variety of analyzes and analyses.

Everything that people say or write can be defined as certain elements. For example, there are texts, paragraphs, sentences, words, etc. The morpheme is the smallest similar unit, which, however, has some meaning. Only a phoneme can be smaller than a morpheme, but when it exists on its own, it is hardly possible to identify any meaning in it.

The concept of "morpheme" was first introduced by Ivan Aleksandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay, a linguist who to some extent belonged to both Russia and Poland. The word received its frequently used interpretation much later. It was created by Leonard Bloomfield, a linguist from the United States of America.

A morpheme is a certain abstract manifestation of it. When it is found in a specific text, it is called a morph or morph. Situations often occur where the same morpheme changes somewhat due to its environment, in particular from a phonetic point of view. These are called allomorphs.

The easiest way to understand what an allomorph is is with the classic example of the verb to run. “I run, you run, he doesn’t run.” In this sentence, the morpheme “run” looks different. In particular, it has two allomorphs - running and beige.

However, in speech (and even scientific literature) people often use the words morpheme instead of morphe.

Types of morphemes

In order to understand what a word morpheme means, you need to consider the main existing types of this linguistic unit.

First of all, when finding morphemes, people pay attention to the root. This is the most important part of the word, which, as a rule, contains its entire meaning. Without a root there cannot be a word itself - this mandatory part. Sometimes words have only one morpheme - the root itself. However, in most cases, others are also present.

They are affixes. During school years, it is unlikely that you will be able to hear this particular concept, especially considering that, most often, it is used in other languages. Affixes are any part of a word that is attached to a root. With its help, new concepts are formed. The main difference between this morpheme is that it cannot exist on its own. Although it has some meaning, it is only when attached to the root that the affix acquires its meaning.

This morpheme can have a fairly extensive classification of its own. For example, it is divided into prefix-roots or suffix-roots, however, as a rule, all this is used in English.

Among the affixes, prefixes, suffixes and endings are mainly considered. Interestingly, the endings are called inflections, but this name has not become traditional.

Prefixes, suffixes and endings

Depending on where a particular affix is ​​located, it is called a prefix or postfix. It is not difficult to guess the meaning of these terms. Prefixes are placed before the main part of the word, that is, the root, and postfixes are placed after it.

There may be prefixes before the root. They complement or slightly change the meaning of the word. Very often, prefixes come from prepositions, and therefore give the root the meaning that the original preposition contained. In total, there are approximately 70 prefixes in the Russian language. Interestingly, not all languages ​​have prefixes. For example, the grammar of the Turkic language is based on postfixes.

Suffixes are a morpheme that comes after the root. It is defined as a postfix that is not a ending. In languages ​​similar to Indo-European, linguistics often focuses on key differences between suffix and inflection. In Russian, this morpheme is very often used to change the part of speech of a word.

At the very end of almost any term there are endings. With their help, you can find out about the connection of a word with some other member of the sentence, as well as clarify its meaning.

There are also several rather highly specialized morphemes, such as interfixes and infixes. They are considered auxiliary, do not have any meaning of their own, and are very often added to the middle of a word, right at the root.

Morphemics. Definition of morpheme. Types of morphemes.

I. Word formation is a relatively new independent branch of the science of language.

Information on word formation has been appearing for a long time, but until the 19th century it did not have its own object and merged with either morphology or etymology.

As a special branch of linguistics, it began to take shape in the 40–50s of the twentieth century.

In the 60–80s, the science of CO, having separated from morphology and lexicology, became an independent linguistic discipline, having its own object of study, its own method of analysis and system of concepts.

The term “word formation” in linguistics is used in two meanings: on the one hand, it is the very process of formation of new words and forms of words, on the other hand, it is a branch of the science of language in which the word formation system of the Russian language is studied.

The word-formation system refers to the elements from which words are composed (roots, prefixes, suffixes, endings), their role in word production, the very structure of words used in the language, as well as the laws by which some words are motivated by others, methods of word formation and word-formation types who actively participate in the formation of new words.

Like lexicology and phonetics, the object of word formation is the word. Let us remember that in lexicology a word is considered primarily from the aspect of its subject content, and in phonetics - from the aspect of its sound.

Word formation studies words between which there is a double connection - a commonality of subject content and phonetic design. Moreover, CO is interested in such parts of words that, being formally close, at the same time have a substantive generality.

Thus, the basic unit of CO is smaller than a word, it represents only part of a word, but is larger than a sound. Unlike sound, the basic CO unit has meaning and cannot be divided into smaller meaningful units. A word, in contrast to its constituent meaningful units, is usually morphologically characterized and capable of independent use.

Consequently, CO is closely related to lexicology, phonetics, and morphology.

By identifying repeating parts (in form and meaning) in various words, SO answers the question of how words are structured in the Russian language, what smaller significant parts they consist of.

However, CO allows not only to isolate smaller parts from the whole, it also establishes the rules by which one word is formed from another. And having established such rules, it allows not only to determine how words are structured, but also shows how new words can be formed.

Consequently, CO as a special section of the science of language includes two main parts - morphemics (the study of significant parts of a word - morphemes (gr. morphe - form), i.e., the study of the structure, structure of a word) and CO itself, which studies the word-formation role of morphemes , methods of word formation, patterns of modern word formation.

II. Studying the word-formation system of the modern Russian language presupposes knowledge of Russian morphemics - the study of morphemes (minimal, then indivisible, significant parts of a word: root, prefix, suffix, ending).

All words in the Russian language consist of morphemes: some words (metro, cafe, today) consist of one root morpheme; others from two, three, four morphemes (hand-a, letter-o, beautiful-ee - from two, na-pi-a-t, pro-be-k-a - from four), etc.

Each minimal significant part of a word has a specific meaning. For example, the word reread contains four morphemes: the root -chit- carries the main lexical meaning - it denotes a certain action; the prefix re-denotes the repetition of the action “once again” (cf.: re-write, re-do, etc.); The suffix –yva- has the meaning of nonsense. type (cf.: redistribution, scattering, etc.); -т – indicator of the infinitive form.

A morpheme realizes its meaning only as part of a specific word; Outside of a word, it can be difficult to determine not only the meaning of a morpheme, but even its belonging to roots or affixes (cf.: plaintiff, radiant, taxi driver; other, poplar, ice floe, etc.).

Like other units of language, a morpheme is a generalized unit, which in specific words is represented by its varieties - morphs. A morph is related to a morpheme in the same way that a sound is related to a phoneme, and a word form is related to a word. For example, the words wear and burden represent two morphs of the same root morpheme nose-; in the words throw, throw, throw - three morphs of the same suffixal morpheme -ok.

When classifying morphemes, such features as the position of the morpheme in a word, the function and meaning of the morpheme, the features of its compatibility with other types of morphemes, and the nature of the formal expression are taken into account.

III. According to their position in a word, two main types of morphemes are contrasted: root, or denominator, and affixal (from the Latin affixus - attached), or auxiliary. Root morphemes include the roots of words, and affixal morphemes include prefixes, suffixes and endings. Affixes are grouped in a word around the root, forming the peripheral elements of the word.

Therefore, affix is ​​a general term for all morphemes attached to a root.

The next level of classification distinguishes between specific types of roots and affixes.

The semantic (meaning) and structural core of a word is the root.

The root is a central and obligatory element of the morphemic structure of a word; there is not a single word without a root.

The root contains the main meaning of the word, and affixes (suffixes and prefixes) only specify its meaning. Thus, in the same-root (related) words water, water, water, underwater, submariner, water, watery, the main meaning lies in the root -vod-, and the suffixes -ichk-, -n-, -nik-, -yan-, -ist - and the prefix only specify the meaning of the root: the suffix –ichk- adds a diminutive meaning to the word; -n- in the words aquatic, underwater indicates a relationship to a place (on or under water); the suffix -nik together with the prefix pod- in the word submariner denotes a profession, etc.

But it is not always easy to find the root in a word, since it can change. This is due to the fact that various alternations occur in the roots. (The basic alternations of vowels and consonants in the roots of words need to be known and taken into account when finding the root.) For example: The words vodit, vozhu, driving, driver have the same root, but the root in them has a different form – vod-, -vozh-, vozh-; in cognate words plant, grew, shoots, grown roots grow-, grow-, grow-, grow-; in the words I burn, burnt, burned the roots, burnt, burnt, burned.

In modern Russian, free and bound roots are distinguished.

Free roots can be used in combination with word-forming affixes (adopt-t, perepe-t, sinish-y) and without them (daughter-, pe-t, sin-y).

Bound roots are used only in combination with word-forming affixes (add, subtract; finger, fingerless; street, alley, etc.).

Depending on what function function morphemes perform in a word, they are distinguished:

1. Word-forming affixes that form new words: city - city+sk(oi), near+city.

These affixes have a specific word-formation meaning. Thus, the suffix -sk- in the adjective urban means “relating to or characteristic of what is named by the generating word.” The prefix of the noun suburb means “close to the city.”

2. Formative affixes that form different grammatical forms of the same word. Thus, the present tense forms of the verb are formed using personal endings: run - run-u, run-ish, run-it, run-im, run-ite, run-ut.

In terms of position in a word, location relative to the root, affixes are divided into:

a) prefixes (from Latin praefixus - attached in front), or prefixes, are service morphemes that stand before the root (to run) or another prefix (to think) and serve to form new words or new forms of words. For example, in the words silent, movement, push, awkward - word-forming prefixes. All these words are formed by attaching a prefix to the whole word. In this case, the meaning of the word changes, but the grammatical form of the word remains the same. Sometimes adding a prefix to a word changes not only its meaning, but also the grammatical form of the word. Such prefixes simultaneously perform two roles: word-building and formative. Thus, the paired verbs chop - cut down, play - play along, draw - sketch, write - write off differ not only in meaning, but also in form (with the addition of the prefix, a new word was formed and the form of the verb changed: imperfect became perfect).

b) Suffixes (from Latin suffixus - attached) - service morphemes located after the root (publisher) or another suffix (publisher-nits-a) and expressing word-formation or grammatical meanings. For example: Let’s compare the words teach – taught – teacher. From the base of the infinitive uchi-, with the help of the suffix -l, a new form of the verb is formed - the past tense form. This means that the suffix -l is formative. From the same base, with the help of the suffix -tel, a new word with a new meaning is formed. Therefore, the suffix -tel is word-forming.

c) Endings, or inflections (from the Latin flexio - bending, transition), are service morphemes located after the root (id-u) or suffix (push-u), expressing different grammatical meanings and serving to connect words in a phrase and sentence (new book, new book, new book, new book, etc.).

To find the ending, you need to change the word: decline or conjugate. The part of the word that will change will be its ending.

d) Postfixes (from Latin post - after + fixus - attached) are service morphemes that express word-formation or grammatical meaning and are located, as a rule, after the ending (learning, something, etc.).

Postfixal morphemes have recently been identified as a special type of affixes. In modern linguistics, according to established tradition, they are often called suffixes. In the Russian language, such postfixes are distinguished as 1) the verbal reflexive postfix -sya (-s), which performs a dual function: word-building and formative (wash - wash, see - see, the formative role of the postfix -sya comes to the fore - the formation of the reflexive form of the verb; in the words draw - show off, finish off - achieve, crush - choke with the help of a postfix - new words are formed, etc.); 2) verbal postfix -te, forming the plural form of the imperative mood (go, read, etc.); 3) postfixes -to, -or, -something (someone, someone's, somewhere, etc.); 4) postfixes -taki, -ka, used in colloquial speech (again, let me, etc.).

e) Interfixes (from Latin inter - between + fixus - attached) - structural elements that do not express any meaning in words, perform connecting and structural functions and are located between two roots (forest park, loving, five-year-old, two-story, etc.) or on the border of a root and a suffix (sing - singer, highway - highway; Yalta - Yalta, etc.).

Thus, in the Russian language, prefixes and interfixes are never independent means of inflection, while endings always perform an inflectional function. Suffixes and postfixes can be used both in inflection and in word formation.

By the nature of the formal expression, the following are fundamentally opposed: a) affixal morphemes, materially expressed by one or another sequence of sounds or one sound (high-y, sister-a, read-a); b) zero affixes, not materially expressed, i.e. certain grammatical and word-formation meanings are expressed by the absence of any sounds or sound combinations in the word (high-, sisters-, read-, fifth-Ø-y, jumping, carrying, etc.). Endings and suffixes can be zero.

A null suffix or ending is highlighted in words where there is a meaning component that has no formal expression, but in other words with the same meaning component it can be expressed using a suffix or ending.

In accordance with the characteristics of compatibility, affixes are distinguished between regular and irregular, productive and unproductive.

The regularity of affixes is associated with their repetition, reproducibility in a number of words or word forms; such, for example, are the affixes -ost (speed, capacity), -k- (pianist, acrobat), -tel (writer, teacher), prii- (lie down, add), -v (writing, seeing), etc.

Irregular affixes occur only in individual words; such affixes are often called unifixes (mu- in the trash: cf. rubbish; -adj- in the priesthood: cf. pop; su- in the dusk: cf. darkness; unok- in the drawing, etc.).

Productive are those affixes that form new words and grammatical forms: dieter, laser, agitate, etc.

Unproductive affixes in modern Russian do not form new words. Thus, with the help of the suffix -ey-, new nouns are currently not created with the designation of a person such as literate, richer. Some endings are unproductive (dv + uh, tr + eh, yes + m, yes + sh, etc.), single prefixes, suffixes that are distinguished only in one word (ra + arc, rice + unok, love + ov, black+l(a), white+l(a), etc.).

The concepts of productivity/unproductivity and regularity/irregularity do not coincide. But, as a rule, all irregular word-forming affixes are unproductive. Regular affixes can be productive or unproductive. Thus, the regular suffix -izn(a), which stands out in a number of words (whiteness, novelty, etc.) in modern Russian, is unproductive, since it is not used in the formation of new words, but stands out only in existing words. Regular but unproductive affixes also include the suffix -at in the meaning of “face” in the words addressee, Asian, scholarship holder or –ush-, -ash- in verbal adjectives such as envious, raking, overloading, hard-working.

Regular and at the same time productive affixes include, for example, the adjective suffix -n- and the verbal prefix re-, used in the formation of a huge number of words, including neologisms: elevator, podvozochny; re-recruit, re-order, turn over, etc.

Questions:

1. What does the term “word formation” mean?

2. What does morphemics study?

3. What is a morpheme?

4. What types of morphemes are distinguished in modern Russian?

5. What is the root of a word? How do free roots differ from bound roots?

6. What functions do affixes perform?

7. What is a prefix?

8. What is a suffix?

9. What is postfix?

10. How do zero morphemes differ from materially expressed ones?

11. What is interfix? Where do they meet?

12. Which affixes are called productive and which are called unproductive?

13. Which affixes are regular and which are irregular?

Key words and phrases: word formation; morphemics; morpheme; types of morphemes: root and auxiliary, or affixal; free and bound roots; morphemes prefixal, suffixal, postfixal; interfix; zero morphemes; affixes are productive and unproductive, regular and irregular.

Literature:

1. Valgina N.S. Modern Russian language. M., 2003.

2. Russian grammar. M., 1991 t I, II.

3. Rosenthal D. E., Golub I. B. Modern Russian language. M., 2002.

4. Lekant P. A. Modern Russian language. M., 2003.

5. Modern Russian language in 3 parts. Edited by N.M. Shansky. M., 1981, 1988. Part 2.