They are of two types of Inflectional morphemes:
i. Derivational morphemes
ii. Inflectional morphemes.
Derivational morphemes, as the name suggests, are morphemes that, when they are added to a base/root word, another word can be derived. How? They will change the class (part of speech) of the word that they are added to. A derivational morpheme can, for instance, change a verb to a noun. For example:
i. pray (verb) + er = prayer (noun)
ii. prayer (noun) + ful = prayerful (adjective)
iii. prayerful (adjective) + ly = prayerfully (adverb)
From the examples above, the derivational morpheme 'er' when added to the base/root word 'pray' which is a verb, changes it to 'prayer' a noun. And when another derivative morpheme 'ful' was added to 'prayer' which is a noun, it changes to prayerful, an adjective.
Do not forget that what makes a morpheme a derivational morpheme is that when it is added to a word, it changes the class (part of speech) of that word. Or as the name suggests, a new word is derived! Other examples include:
i. play (verb) + er = player (noun)
ii. play (verb) + ful = playful (adjective)
iii. educate (verb) + ion = education (noun)
iv. educate (verb) + ive = educative (adjective)
v. em + power (noun) = empower (verb)
v. em + power (noun) = empower (verb)
On the other hand, there are inflectional morphemes. On like derivational morphemes, when inflectional morphemes are added to a base/root word, they do not change the class of the word; they merely perform grammatical functions such as person, number and tense. This therefore implies that they are makers of plurality, singularity (third person), tenses (present, continuous, past, past participle), comparativeness, superlativeness, possessive (noun). For example:
i. pray ( plural verb) + s = prays (singular verb)
ii. pray (plural verb) + ing = praying (continuous tense)
iii. pray (plural verb) + ed = prayed (past tense)
iv. pray (plural verb) + ed + ed = prayed (past participle tense)
iv. pray (plural verb) + ed + ed = prayed (past participle tense)
v. go (plural verb) + es = goes (singular verb)
vi. boy (singular noun) + s = boys (plural noun)
vii. big (adjective) + er = bigger (comparative adjective)
viii. big (adjective) + est = biggest (superlative adjective)
ix. boy (singular noun) + 's = boy's (singular possessive noun)
x. boy (singular noun) + s' = boys' (plural possessive noun)
You will observe in example (1) above that the (inflectional) morpheme 's' added to pray (plural verb) merely changes it to a variant (another form) of the verb itself, that is a singular verb (prays). A new word has not been derived as it is the case when derivational morphemes are added to a word. It is only a variant (another form) of the word that we have. Observe the other examples too. Please note that the inflectional morphemes in examples (i to v) are markers of tense, while those in examples (i & v) are markers of number. Number in English means, singular of plural. If for instance, you are asked what is the number of the noun boy, it is singular. However, if you are asked the number of the noun boys, it is plural.
Please note that inflectional and derivational morphemes can be otherwise referred to as prefixes and suffixes.
Questions
1. Citing copious examples, how are derivative morphemes different from inflectional morphemes?
2. Inflectional morphemes are markers of tense, number and person. Explain.
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