ALTA National Registration Practice Exam

Morphology is a branch of linguistics that focuses specifically on the structure and formation of words. It examines how words are built from smaller units called morphemes, which are the smallest meaningful units of language. This includes exploring how roots, prefixes, suffixes, and inflections combine to create various word forms and meanings.

Understanding morphology is crucial for grasping how words can change based on grammatical rules and contexts, such as tense and plurality. This aspect of language structure is fundamental for analyzing word formation patterns and their meanings within different languages, making it an essential component of linguistic studies.

While the other options address important areas of linguistics—such as syntax (the arrangement of words in a sentence), semantics (the context in which language is used), and phonology (the sound patterns of languages)—they do not pertain specifically to the structural and formative aspects of words that morphology encompasses.