Definition & Bedeutung von "functional morpheme"

What is a "functional morpheme"?

A functional morpheme is a type of morpheme that serves a grammatical purpose rather than conveying a specific meaning by itself. These morphemes help to express relationships between words or indicate aspects such as tense, mood, number, or case. Examples of functional morphemes include articles like "the" or "a", conjunctions such as "and" or "but", and prepositions like "in" or "on". Additionally, inflectional endings, like "-s" for plural forms or "-ed" for past tense, are also considered functional morphemes. They are essential for the structure and organization of sentences, allowing for clear communication and understanding of grammatical relationships within a language.