angel-girl1
Junior Member
- Joined
- May 22, 2012
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Arabic
- Home Country
- Morocco
- Current Location
- Morocco
Hi,
My textbook states,
"If we consider the word morbid, we will immediately notice that we cannot break it down into mor and bid because although bid has a constant meaning in a variety of contexts, it does not have that meaning in morbid. Further, mor in the word in question does not have any meaning of its own although it recurs in words like moral and mordant."
According to the explanation above, the word 'morbid' has one morph, so it is a free morpheme.
However,
"Roots are also occasionally bound morphs. These are called bound roots. Bound roots are often foreign borrowings that were free in the source language, but not free in English. For example, in the following sets of words, we would all intuitively identify the root {-vert}, {-mit}, or {-ceive} (in part because it occurs in a number of words, as do the prefixes). However -vert, -mit, and -ceive cannot stand alone as independent words, and we would also find it very difficult to state the meaning of any of these roots, unless we know Latin, from
which these words derive."
The structure of modern language, Laurel J. Brinton.
According to the explanation above, the word conceive has two morphs.
I am confused. Should I follow my textbook or the the other book?
Thanks.
My textbook states,
"If we consider the word morbid, we will immediately notice that we cannot break it down into mor and bid because although bid has a constant meaning in a variety of contexts, it does not have that meaning in morbid. Further, mor in the word in question does not have any meaning of its own although it recurs in words like moral and mordant."
According to the explanation above, the word 'morbid' has one morph, so it is a free morpheme.
However,
"Roots are also occasionally bound morphs. These are called bound roots. Bound roots are often foreign borrowings that were free in the source language, but not free in English. For example, in the following sets of words, we would all intuitively identify the root {-vert}, {-mit}, or {-ceive} (in part because it occurs in a number of words, as do the prefixes). However -vert, -mit, and -ceive cannot stand alone as independent words, and we would also find it very difficult to state the meaning of any of these roots, unless we know Latin, from
which these words derive."
The structure of modern language, Laurel J. Brinton.
According to the explanation above, the word conceive has two morphs.
I am confused. Should I follow my textbook or the the other book?
Thanks.