Which system governs the structure of words and the construction of word forms?

• A. Morphology
• B. Syntax
• C. Semantics
• D. Pragmatics

Answer: (A)

Morphology is the system that governs the structure of words and how word forms are built from smaller meaningful units called morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning, like the base word and the bits added to it—think of cat, cats, go, going, happier, happiness, or the endings -s, -ed, -ing, and prefixes like un-. Morphology covers inflectional changes that signal grammatical information (such as plural markers, tense, or comparisons) and derivational changes that create new words or shift a word’s part of speech. It also accounts for irregular forms and the way sounds change when affixes are added (morphophonology). This is distinct from syntax, which deals with how words combine into phrases and sentences; semantics, which concerns meaning; and pragmatics, which covers language use in context. So, the structure and form of words are explained by morphology.