Knowra Inflection Inflection Inflection changes a word’s form to express grammatical information while preserving its lexeme. It contrasts with word formation that creates a new lexeme.
Morpheme : A minimal unit of language that carries meaning or grammatical function. Inflectional endings and other markers are morphemes attached to word forms.
Affix : A bound morpheme attached to a stem or root. Many inflections are expressed by prefixes or suffixes attached to stems.
Derivation : Word formation that creates a lexeme, often changing meaning or grammatical category. Unlike inflection, derivation can create a new lexeme, as teach becomes teacher.
Grammatical case : A grammatical system that marks a noun phrase’s role or relation in a sentence. Case inflection can distinguish subjects, objects, and other nominal roles.
Lexeme : An abstract vocabulary unit encompassing a word’s inflected forms. Inflection changes a lexeme’s form without replacing its identity.
Suffix : An affix placed after a stem or root. English commonly marks inflection with suffixes such as plural -s and past -ed.
Compounding : Word formation that combines two or more lexical bases into a compound. Compounding creates lexical units rather than grammatical forms of one lexeme.
Grammatical number : A grammatical distinction such as singular, dual, or plural. Number is commonly expressed through inflection on nouns, pronouns, and verbs.
Grammatical category : A class of grammatical distinctions, such as number, tense, case, or person. Inflection expresses values of grammatical categories on word forms.
Ablaut : A systematic vowel change within related forms of a word. Vowel alternations such as sing–sang can mark grammatical differences without an added ending.
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