Exploring the Building Blocks: A Simple Guide to Morphemes in Nepali

In this post, we will explore morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning in language. Words in Nepali can be comprised of: 1) a free morpheme; 2) one or more bound morphemes attached to a free morpheme; or 3) two or more bound morphemes. The process by which a bound morpheme attaches to a free morpheme or another bound morpheme to form a word can be categorized into inflection (रुपायन) and derivation (व्युत्पादन), resulting in two types of bound morphemes: inflectional and derivational.

Note: A free morpheme is a standalone word and has a meaning of its own. However, a bound morpheme by itself cannot be considered a word even though it may carry some meaning.

Inflections v/s Derivations

• Inflectional morphemes encode grammatical meaning, hence inflectional forms of a word have the same meaning as the root.

• Inflectional morphemes have a transparent and regular function such that they do not change the lexical category.

• Since inflection encode grammatical meaning, they do not precede derivational morphemes.

• In Nepali, there are only inflectional suffixes.

स्कुल (school) + हरु (haru) = स्कुलहरु (school-haru) # Plural Form
स्कुल (school) + को (ko) = स्कुलको (school-ko) # Genetive Form

• Derivational morphemes carry lexical meaning, hence when such morphemes combine with free morphemes they form new words.

• Derivational morphemes may also change the lexical category of the root.

• In Nepali, there are derivational prefixes and suffixes.

# Prefix
अनु (anu) + रुप (rup) = अनुरुप (anu-rup)
अभि (abhi) + योग (yog) = अभियोग (abhi-yog)

# Suffix
बच् (bach) + अत (ata) = बचत (bach-ata) # Verb to Noun
ठग् (thag) + आहा (aahaa) = ठगाहा (thag-aahaa) # Verb to Adjective

NOTE: There are no derivational/inflectional infixes and circumfixes in Nepali.

Form and Structure Classes

In addition to inflection and derivation, it's crucial to understand the concept of form and structure classes in Nepali. Form classes refer to words that primarily convey content and carry meaning, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. These words usually undergo inflectional and derivational processes.

Structure classes, on the other hand, include function words like articles, conjunctions, prepositions, and pronouns. They contribute to the grammatical structure and organization of sentences but do not typically undergo inflectional or derivational changes.