What is a discontinuous morpheme?

Definition
	A discontinuous morpheme is a morpheme that is interrupted by the insertion of another morphological unit.

Examples (Philippines)
	A root containing an infix from Tagalog (Philippines): bili: root ‘buy’ -um- : infix ‘AGT’ bumili: word ‘bought’ A circumfix surrounding a root from Tuwali Ifugao (Philippines): baddang: root ‘help’v. ka--an: circumfix ‘NOMR’ kabaddangan: word ‘helpfulness’

Context for this page:

Concept module: discontinuous morpheme
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): D
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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