Morphological processes shape words, altering their form and meaning. Inflectional morphology tweaks words for grammar, while derivational morphology creates new words with distinct meanings or parts of speech. These processes are crucial for understanding language structure and word formation.

Inflectional affixes mark tense, number, case, and more, preserving core meaning. Derivational affixes, like prefixes and suffixes, change word class or add semantic content. Analyzing these processes helps us break down words and understand their components.

Morphological Processes

Inflectional vs derivational morphology

• Inflectional morphology modifies words to express grammatical relationships without changing word class preserves core meaning creates grammatical variants (cats, walked)
• Derivational morphology forms new words with distinct meanings or parts of speech alters lexical category adds semantic content to base (unhappy, simplify)

Functions of inflectional affixes

• Tense markers indicate time of action -ed signals past (walked, jumped) -ing denotes ongoing action (walking, jumping)
• Number markers show quantity -s/-es form regular plurals (cats, boxes) irregular plurals change word structure (children, mice)
• Case markers indicate grammatical function 's shows possession (John's book)
• Person markers specify subject -s marks third-person singular (he walks)
• Comparative/superlative express degree -er compares two items (faster) -est indicates highest degree (fastest)
• Aspect markers convey action completeness -en/-ed signals perfect aspect (eaten, walked)

Role of derivational affixes

• Prefixes attach to word beginnings modify meaning un- negates (unhappy) re- means again (rewrite) dis- reverses or negates (dislike)
• Suffixes changing part of speech transform word class -tion verb to noun (create → creation) -ous noun to adjective (danger → dangerous) -ify noun/adjective to verb (simple → simplify)
• Suffixes modifying meaning alter semantic content -able means capable of (readable) -ism denotes belief system (capitalism) -hood indicates state or condition (childhood)

Analysis of morphological processes

• Inflectional analysis identifies base word recognizes grammatical changes cats = cat (base) + -s (plural)
• Derivational analysis pinpoints root/base notes meaning/class changes unhappiness = un- + happy + -ness
• Combined analysis spots inflectional and derivational elements unhappiest = un- (derivational) + happy + -est (inflectional)
• Considerations include word structure complexity potential for multiple affixes recognition of irregular forms