MORPHOLOGY

1. Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the internal structure of words to define, identify and classify their units, the kinds of words that gives rise and the formation of new words. (http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-morphology.htm)

2. It is a study and description of word formation (as inflection, derivation, and compounding) in language. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morphology)

3. Morphology is the study of word formation in a particular language. It focuses especially on the internal structure of the words and their alteration through the addition of prefixes and suffixes. (http://www.sltinfo.com/morphology.html).

                                                               
                  * FORMATION OF WORDS                    * STRUCTURE OF WORDS

                  * PREFIXES                                              * SUFFIXES

                  *FORM OF WORDS                                 * MORPHEME

Word	Definition	Example
Morpheme	the smallest unit of linguistic meaning.	un+system+atic+al+ly, this word can be analyzed into 5 separate morphemes
Free Morpheme	Morphemes which can be used as a word on its own (without the need for further elements, i.e, affixes)	girl, system, desire, hope, act,
Bound Morpheme	Morphemes which cannot occur on its own as an independent (or separate) word	inflectional (e.g.-s, est, -ing)and derivational (ful,like,ly,un
Prefix	Bound morphemes which occur only before other morphemes.	uncover, undo, displeased, disconnect,predetermine
Suffix	Bound morphemes which occur following other morphemes.	singer, performer, typist,pianist,manly,friendly
Infix	Bound morphemes which are inserted into other morphemes.	langoy-lumangoy, kain-kumain
Affix	(prefix, suffix, infix and circumfix) are all bound morphemes.	richer, intense, intensive, intensively,nation-national
Derivational Morpheme	Derivational morphemes derive a new word by being attached to root or stems	unhappy,impossible,recover
Inflectional Morpheme	Inflectional morphemes signal grammatical information such as number possesion and so on. They are called bound grammatical

Word	Number of Syllables	Number of Morphemes
Unlikely	3	3
Happiness	3	2
Loves	1	2
Morphology	4	2
syntax	2	1