A word consists of one or more morphemes.
Lexical categories
Lexical categories
Words fall into lexical categories which determine what affixes they can take.
- Verb: verb can take affixes (e.g., :
/-ɪŋ/(in progress), /-s/(third-person singular present), /-əd/(past))- Noun: can take affixes (e.g.,
/-laɪk/(similar to), /-s/(plural), /-s/(possessive))- Adjective: can take affixes. (e.g.,
/-nɛs/(the property of), /-əst/(most))- Adverbs: The morpheme
/-li/transforms an adjective into an adverb. (e.g., happily, quickly)- Prepositions: (e.g., of, for, to)
- Determiners: (e.g., the, this, that, a, your, my)
- Pronouns: (e.g., he, she, it, they, them)
- Conjunctions: (e.g., and, or, but)
Open Categories (Content Words)
Lexical categories that often allow new words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverb).
Closed Categories
Lexical categories that very rarely allow new words (preposition, determiners, pronouns, conjunctions).
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