What is a phoneme, a morpheme and a syntax?
In: Other
Language can be understood through three key concepts: phoneme, morpheme, and syntax. Phonemes are the smallest distinct units of sound in a language, like “p” and “b” in English. They differentiate words, such as “pat” and “bat.” Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning, like “un-” and “-ness” in “unhappiness,” which modify or create words. Syntax refers to the rules governing how words are combined to form meaningful sentences, such as word order and agreement (e.g., subject-verb agreement). Together, these elements form the structural foundation of language, from sounds and meanings to sentence construction.
Phonemes are the sounds that a language uses, which can be assigned meaning. As an example for English, the way that [Stewie says “cool hwip”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfVEvgWd4ek) is called an *aspirated W*. In English, it might sound a little weird to use an aspirated W, but it doesn’t change the meaning of the word. It still means Cool Whip whether you say “wip” or “hwip”.
Compare that to the difference between an English B and P. Both are bilabial stops/plosives, meaning you touch both lips together in order to stop air from flowing. If they’re at the beginning of a word, they’re a *plosive*, meaning you give them a little burst of air to start. If they’re at the end, they’re probably a stop – the air just…stops. The *only* difference between them is that B is voiced and P is not. When you pronounce B, you tighten your vocal cords to produce sound.
Despite being so similar, B and P will change the meaning of a word. “Bat” and “pat” are totally different words that are completely unrelated. You cannot exchange them and maintain the meaning.
So, in English, an aspirated W is *not* a phoneme (or, aspirated W and regular W are the same phoneme), but B and P are different phonemes. In Japanese, L and R are the same phoneme. The pronunciation is very similar and they do not change the meaning of the word. As a result, native Japanese speakers often struggle to pronounce the difference, because in their native language there is no difference.
Morphemes are the smallest unit of sound that has meaning. Phonemes are the units of sound that a language uses, but that doesn’t mean they automatically do have meaning. Going back to “bat” and “pat” – the first letter changes the meaning of the word, but “b” has no meaning on its own. It’s a phoneme, not a morpheme. On the other hand, -s, as in making something a plural, *does* have meaning. It means that the thing is a plural. However, it can’t have meaning unless it’s attached to another word. It needs to be *bound*, making it a *bound morpheme*.
Another bound morpheme is -ing, as in runn*ing*, jump*ing*, etc. The letters i, n, and g don’t mean anything at all, but together as -ing, they mean *progressive tense*. Like -s, though, this morpheme only has meaning if it’s attached to a verb, which makes it a bound morpheme.
A morpheme that doesn’t need to be bound to anything is a *free morpheme*. Any word that isn’t a compound word is a free morpheme. The letter a can be a free morpheme when it’s the article, as in “*a* word”. Some free morphemes can stick to other free morphemes, which is how we get compound words. German [is *very* good at sticking free morphemes together.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRCYK5gfLo0) English is descended from the same Germanic ancestor as modern German, so English is pretty good at it, too. English does have bound morphemes, but it’s mostly free morphemes that don’t stick to each other, but just go next to each other. That makes English (mostly) an [analytic language.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytic_language) Japanese, on the other hand, has a huge amount of bound morphemes that it must stick together, which is a [synthetic language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_language) (not to be confused with a [constructed language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language), which is a language that is “made up” or artificially constructed).
Syntax is the order that words go in so that they make sense. English is a strict Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) language. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, words *must* go in that order, or else the sentence will not make sense. Many languages go in other orders. We also have a less well-known (and certainly unconscious) [order that we put adjectives in](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/adjectives-order). We also require that adjectives go in front of the noun they describe (compare that to, say, Spanish which puts the adjectives behind the noun).
Latest Answers