Unique morpheme
A unique morpheme is a component of a complex word (a morpheme ) which (in today's language) occurs only in a single connection with another word component and which remains as a “remainder” when the corresponding word is broken down (segmented). It is always a bound morpheme .
Examples
Well-known candidates for unique morphemes in German are:
- -last- in -hurt- [en] ,
- -lier- in -los- [en] ,
- Chimney in chimney ,
- Raspberries in raspberry or
- Bromine in blackberry .
A word like blackberry is broken down because it apparently contains the element -berry , which occurs with the same meaning in the simplex berry and in the clearly separable words strawberry , gooseberry , currant , etc. Brom- must then be a morpheme that modifies the meaning of berry to the special one of blackberry : a blackberry is a certain type of berry. But bromine only occurs together with -berry , so it is unique. It is less clear whether one should regard chimney- as a unique morpheme that only occurs together with -stein , because a chimney can hardly be described as a certain type of stone. Therefore one can advocate not to segment the chimney . It is even less convincing to break down injuries or lose , because here ver has no clear meaning and nothing is actually gained by assuming unique morphemes -last- and -lier- . Derivatives and compounds that contain unique morphemes and words that are similar to derivatives or compounds but can hardly be broken down in a meaningful way are typically based on real derivatives and compounds to which the simplex that was still present in earlier language stages has been lost. Such was blackberry originally a compound to the still existing in Middle High German brame 'thistle' and the verb last of the brothers Grimm is cited nor with the meaning 'damage' in the dictionary.
literature
- Helmut Glück (Ed.), With the collaboration of Friederike Schmöe : Metzler Lexikon Sprache . 4th edition; Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart, 2010; ISBN 3-476-02335-4
- Hadumod Bußmann (Ed.) With the collaboration of Hartmut Lauffer: Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft. 4th, revised and bibliographically supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-520-45204-7 .
- Duden : The Grammar, 8th edition; Duden Verlag, Mannheim, 2009; ISBN 3-411-04048-3
