French Language Morphology Quiz

Morphemes and Affixation

• 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).

Types of Morphemes

• 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)

Affixation

• 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

• 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.

Comparison between French and English

• 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.