A root is the basic part always present in a lexeme. It is that part of word-form that remains when all inflectional and derivational affixes have been removed. ‘Root’, ‘stem’ and ‘base’ are all terms used in the literature to designate that part of a word that remains when all affixes have been removed.Ī root is a form which is not further analysable, either in terms of derivational or inflectional morphology. Taken from: English ord-ormation by Laurie Bauer, 1983 (published by Cambridge University Press). The 2 suffices now produce lexical meaning = stem spelling changes are required for suffixes. ⟹ re- + friger + -ate + -tor = prefix + root + 2 suffixes. ⟹ refrigerāre = Latin prefix + root + suffix, with no meaning in English of its own yet. The Latin root is frīg, which has no meaning in English on its own, and which requires a change in spelling for suffixes. They differ in how they are applied during discourse (stem, base) and whether, on their own, they have any lexical meaning (stem, base) or no lexical meaning whatsoever (root).Īn example of root, base and stem joined together is the word "refrigerator": In many words in our language, a word can be all three: a root, base, and stem (eg: "deer"). It is important to differentiate it from a root, because the root alone cannot be applied in discourse, whereas the stem exists precisely to be applied to discourse.Ī base is the same as a root except that the root has no lexical meaning while the base does: "to act" is the infinitive of "act" and is structured with the base "act". Hence a stem is a form to which affixes (prefixes or suffixes) have been added. The stem occurs after affixes have been added to the root, for example: Now let's look at what is a stem and a base and apply them to the root "act" so that you can see how they differ and interconnect to transform a lexical word altogether. Such affixes do not have a lexical meaning on their own. If you take the root away, all that you have left is affixes either before or after it. Without the root, the word would not have any meaning. Keep in mind that the root is mono-morphemic, or made of just one "chunk", or morpheme. It is also the primary unit of the family of the same word. It is the morpheme that comprises the most important part of the word. In linguistics, the words "roots" is the core of the word. The first quote is written with plainer and simpler diction and so ought to be read before the second with more formal diction.īases, stems, and roots are the main components of words, just like cells, atoms, and protons are the main components of matter. I thought to quote from two websites that aided me, but to facilitate reading, I edit slightly and eschew blockquotes (>). More details are available here and here.
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