Words

HierarchiesWhen we examine words composed of several morphemes, we implicitly know several facts about the ways in which affixes join with their stems:

  • the inherent properties of the affixes involved
    (turn a basic form into noun, make negative, etc.)
  • the properties of the basic form
    (word class, meaning, etc.)
Furthermore, we have a precise idea about the steps according to which complex words are built. Look at the following examples: 

destructions

dispiritedly

unacceptability

In other words, complex words formed by affixational operations involve a hierarchical structure which can best be visualized by means of a morphological tree. 

(The full version adds a database with > 65 morphological trees).