free morpheme

[singsing]

Hey guys I have a couple of questions ,so I'm studying morpheme now , I know the free morpheme of reopened is "open" and the bound morphemes are "re" and "ed" .The free morpheme of unhappy is "happy" and the bound morpheme is "un" , but there are 2 words that really confused me , the words are "important" and "represent" .Now I've been wondering,what is the free morpheme of those 2 words?does "important" even have a free morpheme? and i'm really confused with "represent" word , does the free morpheme is present? please help me I'm so confused

 

[probus]

In my opinion, in represent sent is free and re and pre and bound, while in important port is free and im and ant are bound.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Probus, is this important for learners to know?

 

[probus]

Probus, is this important for learners to know?

Well, no, but we do branch out from time to time, and we do have a forum entitled linguistics. I am currently studying the subject myself, and I thought I would try to help a fellow budding scholar.

Were my answers correct, prof? Both singsing and I would be glad to know. Thank you.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I have no idea. You would know more than I do about morphemes.

 

[Raymott]

Represent: I would have guessed that 'present' is the basic (free) morpheme, since 'present' doesn't mean pre-sent (sent before). However, the entry below indicates that 'sent' is a conjugation of 'esse'. prae- + sens.

present v. to be before
represent v. - to be before again.

So I agree with probus.

C13:fromLatinpraesens, from praeesse to be in front of, from prae- before, in front + esse to be]
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/present

 

[probus]

A morpheme is a generalization of the concept of syllable. An English syllable is an example of a morpheme. Morphemes are used to study how words can be made up from "syllables", or actually morphemes. The Chinese languages have the simplest possible rule: each word is exactly one morpheme. I am still a beginner, so I won't go on, except to say that "present" cannot be a morpheme, as it has two syllables.

 

[MikeNewYork]

If the learner has asked about this, then presumably it is important for the learner to know the answer.

My question was about learners in general. My guess is that most educated accomplished native speakers couldn't tell a morpheme from morphine. ;-)

 

[Raymott]

I believe that's quite wrong, probus. 'Dogs' has two morphemes but one syllable - the free morpheme 'dog', and the plural-making morpheme 's'. 'Icon' has two syllables and one morpheme. 'iconify' has two morphemes, but four syllables.
It's a different concept from syllables.