Content morpheme


A content morpheme or contentive morpheme is a root that forms the semantic core of a major class word. Content morphemes have lexical denotations that are not dependent on the context or on other morphemes. For instance, in English, the abstract noun beauty may mean 'pleasing quality'. Adding the causative verbal suffix -fy produces the verb beautify 'to make pleasing'. By adding the suffix -ful, the adjective beautiful is formed. Further adding the adverbializer -ly produces the adverb beautifully. The various functional morphemes surrounding the semantic core are able to modify the use of the root through derivation, but do not alter the lexical denotation of the root as somehow 'pleasing' or 'satisfying'.
Most or all major class words include at least one content morpheme; compounds may contain two or more content morphemes. In addition to content morphemes, major class words frequently include one or more functional morphemes affixed to the root.
Some languages, such as Kharia, can be analyzed as having a single major word class composed of semantic bases or content morphemes. Thus, the distinction between nouns, verbs, and adjectives in such languages is entirely morphological, rather than lexical.