What is an independent morpheme

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Let's see next what is an independent morpheme. In the lesson that begins here in a PROFESSOR we will know what it consists of, since traditionally the morpheme is known as the unit with smaller meaning of the language, although this definition does not finish establishing its real meaning and the relevance of these units. Once we have clarified what it consists of, we will also know the types of morphemes that we can find, why they are like this and what each one of them is for.

Do not forget that these small units are the variable part of the words of flexible languages, have grammatical value, are associated with the lexeme and have semantic value, hence they can be decomposed into units minors. But let's not anticipate events. We go little by little with the beginning of the lesson. Aim!

Index

1. What is a morpheme
2. What is an independent morpheme?
3. Examples of the use of the independent morpheme
4. Other types of morphemes

Before establishing and knowing what an independent morpheme is, let's see what is a morpheme, since independence is only one typology of this particular unit. We understand by morpheme an independent moneme, that is, the minimum fragment that is capable of expressing meaning, and that, if it is found attached to a lexeme, it modifies the definition.

In this video we discover the structure of the words talking about the morphemes and lexemes so that you can better understand this lesson.

Now that we know what a morpheme is, it is time to know what is an independent morpheme in particular. An independent morpheme, which is also known as free or clitic, is a morpheme that does not need the union of any lexeme, since it forms by itself a word with its own meaning.

Furthermore, in them we find two basic qualities or properties that are necessary to know to understand its meaning:

1. Independent morphemes always admit an insertion between themselves and the lexemes of any other morpheme.

2. We understand that the independent morphemes are:

• Prepositions: before, to, with, from, in ...
• Determinants: she, he, that, one, one ...
• Pronouns: he, she, tell him ...
• Conjunctions: although, but, and, and ...

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Let's see in an example how we extract independent morphemes, so you will be perfectly clear what they consist of:

"The man has taken a car for a walk"

What is the number of independent morphemes that you find in this sentence? If your answer has been four, you are correct. Let's see, the only ones that have meaning on their own without the need for the addition of a lexeme are: He has a to.

Let's look at other examples so you can practice:

"The boy is throwing stones out the window"

Here we can only extract three, which are the, by, the.

"They are very happy in the morning"

In this case we extract a total of four: they, very, by, the.

We can check that it is quite easy to differentiate these types of morphemes of others.

Now, as we have already commented, the independents are not the only ones that we find in our language. Actually, there are other kinds of morphemes, as we see below:

• Dependent morphemes: also known as bound, join with other monemes to complete the meaning. In this way, there are cases in which they end up causing changes in stress or phonetics. They only appear in a very specific sequential order and the interposition of other elements between the root and them is not allowed.
• Inflectional morpheme: another type of dependent morpheme that is constitutive. That is, it marks a grammatical relationship. In general, it does not usually involve a change of basic meaning, and it is usual that it goes with the interleaving of other basic lexemes or even derivative morphemes. He is known as the person in charge of marking gender and number in name and adjective and grammatical time, person, mode or number in the verb. In this other lesson we will discover the differences between inflectional and derivative morpheme.
• Derivative morphemes: is a type of dependent morpheme known as optional, since it adds nuances to the meaning of a lexeme. In this way it acts in various semantic fields, and is close to the root.

What's more, derivative morphemes are classified on:

• Prefixes, when the meaning takes precedence over the lexeme.
• Suffixes when the meaning is postponed.
• Interfixes, when they become unstressed elements without semantic content, and only join the suffix and the lexeme in some derivatives.

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