root: 1. the most basic, indivisible part of a word which carries meaning; 2. an earlier word from which others are derived
stem: the unit of a word to which inflectional endings are added, typically a root (1) followed by a suffix
characterization: the addition of any morphological marker to a root
thematic vowel: any vowel occurring in the stem immediately before the ending, especially the ablauting o/e vowel
ending: the final morpheme of a word
primary and secondary: primary endings are those used for the non-past tenses; secondary endings are used for the past tenses and despite their name are actually the underived endings
deponent: a verb lacking active voice forms
suppletion: the use of a non-cognate root (1) or not obviously cognate root (1) to derive the inflected form of another word
augment: a prefix added to past-tense verbs in the indicative mood
principle parts: the forms of a verb (typically given in the first person singular) necessary to derive the verb's complete paradigm
Using a few of these terms, we can analyze the morphology of a Latin word and a Greek word as follows:
Code: Select all
root: liqu-
⸢⁻⁻⁻⁻⁻⁻⁻⸣
linquo 'I leave'
⸤⸥
primary ending: -o
⸤⸥
characterization: -n-
⸤____⸥
characterized stem: linqu-
Code: Select all
root & uncharacterized stem: πι-
⸢⁻⸣
ἔπιον (épion) 'I drank'
⸤⸥
secondary ending: -ν
⸤⸥
thematic vowel: -ο-
⸤⸥
augment: ἐ-
If I've made any errors or need to clarify something better, please let me know. As I said before, I hope to expand the scope of this post beyond these few verb-related terms based on what other posters are most interested in or confused by. From here, I figure people should just discuss whatever they want concerning the morphology of Indo-European natlangs or conlangs.