Morphology and Etymology Flashcards

Which term describes a morpheme that carries lexical meaning and can stand alone, such as 'run' or 'tree'?

Answer: Free morpheme

Free morphemes are independent units of meaning that can stand alone as words, unlike bound morphemes which must attach to a base.

A CALT practitioner asks a student to find the base word in 'prehistoric.' What is the correct answer?

Answer: history

The base word is 'history,' with the prefix 'pre-' (before) and the suffix '-ic' (relating to) added to it.

Which of the following is an example of a zero-derivation (conversion) in English morphology?

Answer: Using 'run' as both a verb and a noun without changing its form

Zero-derivation (conversion) occurs when a word changes its grammatical category without any morphological change, as in 'run' used as both a verb and a noun.

The suffix '-ology' appearing in words like 'biology' and 'psychology' derives from which Greek root meaning 'word' or 'study'?

Answer: logos

The Greek root 'logos' means word, reason, or study, making '-ology' the study of a particular subject.

In the word 'international,' which morpheme signals a grammatical relationship rather than adding new lexical meaning?

Answer: -al

The suffix '-al' is a derivational morpheme that converts the noun 'nation' to an adjective, functioning as a grammatical marker.

Which of the following words contains a Latin root meaning 'to write'?

Answer: Manuscript

Manuscript contains 'manu' (hand) + 'script' (write) from the Latin 'scribere,' meaning something written by hand.

When teaching morpheme families, a CALT practitioner groups 'dictate,' 'predict,' and 'verdict' together. What Latin root do they share?

Answer: dict (to say/speak)

All three words share the Latin root 'dict' from 'dicere,' meaning to say or speak, which is central to their meaning.