Understanding Morphology: The Structure and Formation of Words

Morphology is the study of the structure and formation of words. It examines how words are formed from smaller units called morphemes, which are the basic building blocks of language. Morphology looks at how these morphemes are combined to create words, and how the order of the morphemes can change the meaning of a word.
For example, in English, the word "unhappiness" is made up of three morphemes: "un-", "happy", and "-ness". The prefix "un-" changes the meaning of the word "happy" to mean the opposite, and the suffix "-ness" indicates the state of being. So, the word "unhappiness" means a state of being unhappy.
Morphology also studies how words are inflected, or changed, to indicate grammatical information such as tense, number, or gender. For example, the verb "to go" changes form to "went" in the past tense, and "goes" in the present tense third person singular.
In summary, morphology is the study of the structure and formation of words, and how they are inflected to indicate grammatical information.