The Morpheme

Its Nature and Use

Bibliographic Data

ID5783748
AuthorsStephen R Anderson (0000-0003-4477-1635, corresponding author)
EditorsMatthew Baerman (0000-0002-3060-0643)
Year2015
Pages10-34
Publication date2015-07-30
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueOxford Handbook of Inflection (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199591428.013.2
OpenAlexW4230589667
ISBN9780199591428
LanguageEN
Citations received6

This chapter considers the nature and history of the notion of the morpheme in linguistic analysis, and the suitability of that concept to linguistic analysis. The historical origins of the term are traced, especially as it was used in American Structuralist work, and a range of problems with the literal application of the traditional concept to actual languages sketched. The role played by a notion of morpheme in a range of recent theories is then outlined. It is argued that although the re-emergence of an interest in morphology in the 1970s brought with it an assumption that morphemes of a classical sort are the fundamental building blocks of the structure of words, the facts of actual languages argue for a rather different conception of the relation between the form and content of words from that grounded in their division into units of this sort

Literal (mathematical logic · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis

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