In the linguistic minor, Morphology and Syntax are a part of Microlinguistics. Every word and sentence is constructed carefully as the smallest meaningful units are built up to the most intricate expressions of thought. 

Morphology: The Study of Word Structure

From childhood, we recognize words as the basic building blocks of language. A child’s first utterance is called the “first word,” not the “first sentence.” In Morphology, words are the atoms of communication as each of them carries meaning and potential for combination. But what makes something a word? Morphology, the study of word structure, explains that words are not always inseparable. Many words are formed from smaller units called morphemes—the minimal elements of meaning or grammatical function. Take the word “helpfulness” as an example, it contains three morphemes: help, -ful, and -ness. Each of the morphemes contributes to the overall meaning and the combination follows a systematic pattern. Some morphemes can stand alone (free morphemes), while others, such as prefixes and suffixes (affixes), must attach to a base. 

However, not all words are created equal. Some words that are predictable in meaning and formation are hardly listed in the dictionary. Some words are larger than words and carry meaning that cannot be deduced from their parts, such as idioms and proverbs. Therefore, the difference between words as grammatical units and lexical items becomes crucial, guiding us to a nuanced understanding of what deserves a place in our mental lexicon. 

Syntax: The Study of Sentence Structure

Words are combined together into phrases, clauses, then sentences. Syntax is a study of the rules and patterns that control how words are arranged to convey meaning. In a sentence, words are organized into hierarchical structures, with each group playing a specific role. Phrases are the first level, acting as units within a sentence. A noun phrase like “The large dog” has “dog” as its head, with “the” and “large” modifiers. Clauses can stand alone or be included within larger structures. Syntax examines how these units interact, how word order affects meaning, and how grammatical relationships are signalled. 

The Interaction of Morphology and Syntax

Morphology and Syntax are two sides of the same coin. Morphology provides us the building blocks which are words and their internal structure, while syntax tells us how to arrange those blocks into meaningful sentences. Morphology also provides inflectional endings that signal grammatical relationships within a sentence. For example, the “-s” at the end tells us that a noun is plural and “-ed” at the end of a verb signals a past tense. Syntax relies on these marks to interpret the roles words play in a sentence. 

In agreement, Syntax often requires words to agree in features like number, gender, or case. In the sentence “She walks,” the verb carries the “-s” which agrees with the third-person singular subject “she.” This agreement is a product of both morphological rules on how to form the verb and syntactic rules on which form to use in context. 

In word formation and sentence patterns, morphology allows us to create new words (through derivation) which can then be slotted into different syntactic features. Lastly, sometimes what looks like a single word might actually be a phrase in disguise (e.g., “mother-in-law”). Morphology and Syntax must work together to determine how such forms behave in sentences.

Why Is This Course Important?

This course is essential to deepen your language awareness into how your own language works, and why certain forms and structures are possible or impossible. Knowing that every language has its own morphological and syntactic complexity, studying their interaction helps you appreciate linguistic diversity and prepares you for learning new languages or analyzing unfamiliar ones. This course lays the  groundwork for more advanced study in linguistics such as semantics, pragmatics, etc. 

References:

Carstairs-Mccarthy, Andrew. “An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure,” 2002.

Miller, Jim. An Introduction to English Syntax. Edinburgh University Press, 2002.