Answer:

What is morphology/morpheme?
Morphology is the study of how words are structured in a language. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language, which can be a word on its own or a part of a word (prefix, suffix, root). It helps us understand how words are formed and how they convey meaning.

Classifications of morphemes:
Morphemes can be classified into two primary categories: free morphemes and bound morphemes. Free morphemes can stand alone as meaningful words, while bound morphemes must attach to other morphemes to convey meaning. Additionally, some morphemes maintain distinct classes, while others do not.

1. Free Morphemes – can be categorized into two main types: content morphemes and function morphemes. 
   • Content morphemes, also called lexical morphemes, encompass – nouns (e.g., “cat”), adjectives (e.g., “good”), main verbs (e.g., “read”), and adverbs (e.g., “quickly”). These morphemes have specific meanings and belong to the open class of words, which can grow with new additions. 
     
   • In contrast, function morphemes, or grammatical morphemes, are limited in number and often lack individual meanings. They include – auxiliary verbs (e.g., “is”), determiners (e.g., “the”), prepositions (e.g., “on”), and conjunctions (e.g., “and”), primarily serving grammatical functions within sentences. 

Additionally, there are roots, which are standalone morphemes conveying a word’s core meaning, and stems, which are more versatile and can take on additional morphemes to create new words.

2. Bound Morphemes are morphemes that cannot stand alone and are added to root words. They come in two types: 
   • Bound roots, which have meaning when combined with other bound morphemes to form content words, like -ceive in receive, and -tain in retain.
   • Affixes, which are attached to words and modify their meaning or function, such as: -ment in development, and -en in enlarge. 

Affixes can be classified in two distinct ways: (i) based on their position within a word, and (ii) based on their function within a phrase or sentence.

In terms of their position within a word (or the side of the word to which they are affixed), affixes are divided into three main types: prefixes, suffixes, and infixes.

• Prefixes: These are morphemes that are added to the beginning of a root word, altering its meaning. For instance, the prefix “un-” in “undo” reverses the word’s meaning.
• Suffixes: These suffixes attach to the end of a word, often changing its part of speech. In “happiness,” “-ness” transforms “happy” into a noun.
• Infixes: While quite rare in English, infixes are bound morphemes inserted within a word. However, it’s essential to note that English mostly lacks infixes; they are more prevalent in languages like Tagalog and Bontoc in the Philippines.

Inflectional morphemes – in English are suffixes that convey grammatical information without changing a word’s core meaning or category. They indicate tense, number, possession, and comparison. English has eight inflectional morphemes: -s, ‘s, -ed, -en, -er, -est, and -ing, used for various purposes in verbs and adjectives. Unlike derivational morphemes, inflectional ones Unlike derivational morphemes, they don’t change a word’s essential meaning or grammatical category.

Derivational Morphemes – are linguistic building blocks that alter word meanings and parts of speech. They can be prefixes or suffixes, creating new words, or changing word categories. Examples include “unhappy” (adding “un-” to “happy”) and “teacher” (adding “-er” to “teach”). They are categorized as class-maintaining (e.g., “-hood”) or class-changing (e.g., “-er”). Derivational morphemes, both prefixes and suffixes, are essential for constructing English words, allowing us to convey nuanced meanings and create new vocabulary.

In conclusion, morphology is essential for unraveling the structure and significance of words within the English language. Through the process of breaking down words into their fundamental morphemes, we gain a deeper understanding of how words are constructed and how they convey intricate and subtle meanings.