Fundamentals Of SHS Practice Test

Morpheme is the smallest unit of language that carries meaning. It can be a root word or a bound or free affix that changes meaning or grammatical function. For example, in cats, there are two morphemes: cat (the core meaning) and -s (the plural marker). In unhappiness, there are three morphemes: un- (not), happy (the core meaning), and -ness (a state or condition). Some morphemes must be attached to others (bound morphemes), like prefixes and suffixes, while others can stand alone as words (free morphemes) like book or run. Phoneme, by contrast, is the smallest sound unit that can distinguish words, but it doesn’t carry meaning by itself. Allophones are variant pronunciations of a phoneme that don’t change meaning, and graphemes are written symbols representing sounds or letters, which may or may not align with morphemes.