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Bound root morphemes

I'm learning morphology. And I still confused about this topic.

Bound root morpheme : a morpheme that contain core meaning, but never appear on their own.

 

What does "core meaning" mean?

 

Then we take an example : cranberry.

We know that berry has meaning.

How about "cran"?

Why does it doesnt has meaning? I mean where does it can appear to attach to the word berry? 

 

Anyone, please help.

 

Aug 31, 2015 4:45 AM
Comments · 2
1

The morpheme 'cran' is a bound morpheme because it doesn't have an independent existence in the language. 'Cran' isn't a word, and there is no such thing as a 'cran'. This morpheme only occurs as part of the word 'cranberry'. 'Cran' contains core meaning because that's the part of the word 'cranberry' that disintinguishes this berry from other types of berries, even though it has no meaning of its own.

Now, I'm as confused as Phil is about why you are learning all this. <em></em>I hope you won't mind my saying this... but don't you think that it would be better use of your time to learn the basics of ordinary English grammar? You've made a lot of fairly elementary mistakes in your post ( 'I still confused' , 'a morpheme that contain', 'Why does it doesnt has meaning?' 'Where does it can..?').

If you are studying English, it is important for you to be able to <em>use </em>the language accurately. Even an elementary student should know that 'Why does it doesnt has meaning?' is not correct English.

There are some things - such as how to structure a simple question - that are essential for any learner of English. And there are some things that are really rather useless. Please believe us - <em>nobody</em> needs to know about bound morphemes. Perhaps you should think about switching courses, if that's possible. Surely it would be more useful for you learn to write and speak English accurately, before you start worrying about complex and irrelevant terminology such as this?

 

 

August 31, 2015
1

Imagine you’d like to buy some cranberries, so you go to the farmers market and ask for “berries.” Depending on your location, you’ll probably get strawberries, maybe raspberries, conceivably even blueberries or grapes. Who knows, you may actually get cranberries, but I wouldn’t count on it.

On the other hand, imagine you ask for “cran.” Now, “cran” isn’t even a legitimate word — it’s a “bound” morpheme, so you’re not supposed to use it by itself. Assuming that cranberries are normally sold at the market, you’ll most likely get them, because “cran” has the “core meaning” of cranberries, even though it’s not a word by itself.

Btw, I’ve seen this question from you and another Indonesian today, and I believe that such bound morphemes are ubiquitous in, for example, Chinese, but I have to tell you that English is very different, and this point of grammar is not very common in English, is not normally studied by native speakers, and has no practical value to ESL learners. Are you studying English morphology, or simply using an English textbook to study the morphology of some unrelated language?

Of course, it is kind of cool for language nerds like myself, so it’d be really awesome if you would let me know why you’re so interested in this particular grammar point.

If you are truly interested in the subject, there is a really fun example from French: “aujourd’hui” — I’d say it has about a half dozen morphemes, depending on how much Latin you know.

August 31, 2015