Which term describes the structure and formation of words, including roots and affixes?

Which term describes the structure and formation of words, including roots and affixes?

• A. Phonology
• B. Inflection
• C. Morphology
• D. Linguistic Knowledge

Answer: (C)

Morphology focuses on the structure and formation of words. It looks at how words are built from smaller units called morphemes—the root or base word along with prefixes and suffixes—and how attaching these morphemes changes meaning or grammatical function. For example, cat plus -s makes cats, and un- plus happy plus -ness creates unhappiness. Phonology deals with sound patterns rather than word formation, while inflection is a specific type of morphological change that marks tense, number, or case. So the term that describes the structure and formation of words, including roots and affixes, is morphology.

Morphology focuses on the structure and formation of words. It looks at how words are built from smaller units called morphemes—the root or base word along with prefixes and suffixes—and how attaching these morphemes changes meaning or grammatical function. For example, cat plus -s makes cats, and un- plus happy plus -ness creates unhappiness. Phonology deals with sound patterns rather than word formation, while inflection is a specific type of morphological change that marks tense, number, or case. So the term that describes the structure and formation of words, including roots and affixes, is morphology.