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Morphology
Morphology studies word structure: stems, affixes, alternations and the categories they express. A paradigm is more than a table to memorize; it is a claim about which forms belong together and which cells the evidence actually supplies.
Morphology
Morphemes
A morpheme is a recurring form associated with a function or meaning. A root or stem carries a lexical base; affixes attach before, after or within it. A word need not divide neatly into one piece per meaning: some categories are expressed by tone, vowel change or reduplication. To propose a boundary, compare multiple forms in the same language and period, not only a familiar-looking sequence in one word.
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A reading check
Worked question
A noun has five attested singular forms but no plural in the surviving corpus. How should a study table show the plural?
Show the analysis
Leave the cells as unattested. If a published grammar offers analogical or comparative forms, put them in a clearly labelled reconstructed or predicted layer with a citation.