Re: THEORY: Roots and stems
| From: | Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, June 24, 2004, 20:51 |
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Hallo!
On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 16:19:03 -0400,
Trebor Jung <treborjung@...> wrote:
> Is there a difference between the terms 'root' and 'stem'? I seem to
> remember there being a discussion about it not too long ago, but I don't
> recall the answer...
A root is a lexeme that consists of a single morpheme, with no
derivational elements. That means that it cannot be broken up
into smaller units without losing the meaning completely.
A stem is what remains of a word if all inflectional elements
are removed, but it may still contain derivations.
For example, in the English word form _players_, the stem is
_player_, but the root is _play_.
Hope this helps.
Greetings,
Jörg.