French Language Morphology Quiz

Study Notes

Morphemes are the smallest units of language that convey meaning.
There are two types of morphemes: free morphemes (words) and bound morphemes ( prefixes, suffixes, infixes).

Prefixes: bound morphemes added at the beginning of a word, often carrying semantic meaning.
- Examples: a-lun-ir, a-douc-ir, em-bell-ir
- Many prefixes come from Greek and Latin, introduced indirectly through Latin or directly in the 19th century.
Suffixes: bound morphemes added at the end of a word, often changing the grammatical category.
- Examples: Résolu-ment, Nettoy-age, Continu-el
Infixes: bound morphemes inserted within a word, used in parasynthetic derivation.
- Examples: maison, fleur, intelligent, rapide, Pierre
Suprafixes/Superfixes: prosodic elements like tone, intonation, stress, and accentuation.
- Examples: import (noun), im’port (verb), ex’tract (verb)

Derivational Affixation: process of creating a new lexeme by adding a derivational affix, changing the meaning or function of the word.
Flexional Affixation: process of adding a flexional affix to indicate grammatical features like tense, number, or possession.

Flexion is nominal or verbal in French, meaning that nouns and verbs carry the marks of flexion.
In English, nouns, pronouns, articles, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are marked by flexional derivation to indicate number, case, or gender.
Flexion is used to indicate grammatical features, but does not change the basic meaning of the word.

French has a more complex system of prefixes, with many coming from Greek and Latin.
English uses stress and intonation to distinguish between nouns and verbs.
French and English both use derivation and flexion to create new words and indicate grammatical features.