Free Morphemes

Definition

These[1] are morphemes that can stand alone as independent words and carry meaning on their own.

Example

In the word "book," the morpheme book is a free morpheme because it is a complete word with its own meaning.

Fundamental

Free morphemes can be further divided into two categories:

  • Lexical morphemes: These are content words that carry concrete meaning, such as nouns (e.g., dog), verbs (e.g., run), adjectives (e.g., happy), and adverbs (e.g., quickly).

  • Functional morphemes: These are function words that serve grammatical purposes, such as conjunctions (e.g., and), prepositions (e.g., in), articles (e.g., the), and pronouns (e.g., she).

Example

  • Lexical morphemes: nouns (dog), verbs (run), adjectives (happy), and adverbs (quickly).

  • Functional morphemes: conjunctions (and), prepositions (in), articles (the), and pronouns (she).