Re: greater language units

Mitko Sabev wrote:

>
> Hi.

Thank you for you answer

>
> {BE} and {CRAN} are morphemes for they do have meaning.
>

Be- and cran- mediate meaning in the same sense that phonemes mediate
meaning and etymological cran- and be- [coming from the German
preposition bei- I think] also has a meaning in a wider sense,
so if morpheme is just a phonologically unit greater than phoneme
or an etymological relation between expression and meaning you are
right. But morpheme is used in so many different senses and I don't
know which is the correct or usual one. Can you tell me what a
morpheme is to you?

> 'be-' is a prefix and it has a variety of meanings; 'cran-' is
> related to 'crane' and is one of the roots in a compound noun.
>
> What might have made you assume they "aren't meaning-carrying" is the
> fact that they are BOUND morphemes (as opposed to free morphemes),
> i.e. they cannot be used on their own.

Well not exactly, plural-s carry the plural meaning but what is
the meaning in English today of be- in words like beset, bewitch
and besiege?

Regards Anders