Root, stem and base by BUSUNGU JOSEPH

 

Root, stem and base

Root

Ø A root is the irreducible core of a word, with absolutely nothing else attached to it.

Ø It is a pure lexeme which appears in the set of word-forms

Ø Word-forms are different forms of the same word or root. For example, “play” is a root which has various forms like play, plays, plying and played. Hence, PLAY is a lexeme and each inflected form of a lexeme is a word form of that particular lexeme.

Stem

Ø A stem is a part of the word which exists before the addition of any inflectional affixes or morphemes.

Ø Stem is divided into two types namely;

i.       Simple stem

ii. Complex stem

Ø Simple stem is a bare root without any affixes. Thus, simple stem can be a root. Examples of simple stems

Noun simple stem         plural          output

Dog                                -s                 dogs

Cow                               -s                 cows

Mango                           -es               mangoes

 

Ø Complex stem is a word with affixes but capable of carrying other inflectional morphemes. Remember, any affix is added after the inflectional morpheme. For example,

Noun stem           plural          output

Teacher                -s                 teachers

Worker                -s                 workers

Ø In the above examples, the verb roots are added with –er which derives them to noun since –er is a derivational morpheme.

Ø Hence, stem are only added with inflectional morphemes.

Base

Ø A base is any unit to which affixes of any kind can be added i.e both inflectional and derivational affixes.

Ø So, if a word is able to receive either an inflectional morpheme or a derivational morpheme is termed as a base. For example a word “boy” is a base since it can be added an inflectional morpheme –s to form a plural noun ‘boys’ or a derivational morpheme –ish to form an adjective ‘boyish’.

Ø In other words, all roots are bases

Ø More examples,

Base           inflected base      derivate base

Child          children               childish

Work          works                   worker

Nation        nations                 national

Speak          speaks                  speaker

 

Stem extenders

Ø These are word building elements that are added to the stem before the addition of some inflections.

Ø Look at the following examples

Stem           stem extender      inflection    output

Child          -r-                         -en              children

Breathe       -r-                         -en              brethren

Begin          -n-                        -ing             beginning

 

Ø Hence, -r- and -n- are stem extenders