Athena Alderman

ENG 487

Project 2: Morphology
1. “On rainy ​afternoons​, embroidering with a group of friends on the begonia porch, she
would lose the thread of the conversation and a tear of nostalgia would salt her palate
when she saw the strips of damp earth and the piles of mud that the ​earthworms​ had
pushed up in the garden. Those secret tastes, defeated in the past by oranges and rhubarb,
broke out into an irrepressible urge when she began to weep. She went back to eating
earth. The first time she did it almost out of ​curiosity​, sure that the bad taste would be the
best cure for the ​temptation​. And, in fact, she could not bear the earth in her mouth. But
she persevered, ​overcome​ by the growing anxiety, and little by little she was getting back
her ancestral appetite, the taste of primary minerals, the ​unbridled​ ​satisfaction​ of what
was the ​original​ food. She would put handfuls of earth in her pockets, and ate them in
small bits without being seen, with a confused feeling of pleasure and rage, as she
instructed​ her girlfriends in the most difficult ​needlepoint​ and spoke about other men,
who did not deserve the ​sacrifice​ of having one eat the ​whitewash​ on the walls because of
them. The ​handfuls​ of earth made the only man who deserved that show of ​degradation
less remote and more certain, as if the ground that he walked on with his fine patent
leather boots in another part of the world were transmitting to her the weight and the
temperature​ of his blood in a mineral savor that left a harsh ​aftertaste​ in her mouth and a
sediment of peace in her heart.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
Function Words: Content Words:

On, with, a, of, the, would, and, saw,
when, that, had, those, in, by, out, into, an,
began, to, went, back, did, it, almost, sure,
best, for, could, not, bear, but, was, put,
them, small, without, being, seen, most,
about, other, who, having, because, made,
only, less, his, another, part, were, left.
Rainy, afternoons, embroidering, friends,
begonia porch, thread, conversation, tear,
nostalgia, salt, palate, strips, damp, earth,
piles, earth, earthworms, pushed, garden,
secret, tastes, defeated, oranges, rhubarb,
irrepressible, urge, weep, eating, curiosity,
bad, temptation, mouth, persevered,
overcome, growing, anxiety, little,
ancestral, appetite, primary, minerals,
unbridled, satisfaction, original, handfuls,
pockets, ate, confused, feeling, pleasure,
rage, instructed, difficult, needlepoint,
spoke, deserved, show, degradation,
remote, certain, ground, fine, patent,
transmitting, weight, temperature, savor,
harsh, aftertaste, sediment, peace, heart.

3. Compound Words: ​Over-come, after-taste, needle-point, white-wash, earth-worms,

after-noon, girl-friends.
Complex Words: ​Rainy, curiosity, anxiety, defeated, embroidering, strips, piles, feeling,
handfuls, pockets, instructed, transmitting, friends, earthworms, irrepressible, eating,
persevered, growing, getting, unbridled, confused, deserved, walked.

Inflectional Derivational
Friends, strips, piles, pockets, earthworms, Conversation, persevered, curiosity,
handfuls, earthworms, transmitting, irrepressible, instructed, deserved
feeling, embroidering, eating, growing,
getting
 4. Stem Derivation
Converse (V) Conversation (ADJ)
Persevere (V) Persevered (ADV)
Curious (ADJ) Curiosity (ADV)
Instruct (V) Instructed (ADV)
Deserve (ADJ) Deserved (V)
Defeat (V) Defeated (ADV)
Transmit (V) Transmitting (ADV)
Confuse (ADJ) Confused (V)
Degrade (V) Degradation (ADV)
Embroider (N) Embroidering (V)
Prime (N) Primary (ADJ)
Differ (V) Difficult (ADJ)

5.
Word Origin Root Affix (es)
Conversation Latin Verse – “turned” Con – “with,
together”
Instructed Latin Stere – “to spread” In – “on”, verb
formative
Irrepressible Latin Repress – “to check, Assimilated form of
restrain” In – “Not, opposite
of”, verb formative
Confused Latin Confus – “perplexed” Ed – verb forming
Deserved Latin Servire – “to serve” De – “completely”
Temptation Latin Tempt – “draw, -ation – noun-making
entice, to evil or sin” suffix
Degradation Latin Des – “down” -ation – noun-making
Gradi – “to walk, go, suffix
step” noun of action from
past participle stem of
degradare
 6. Morpheme Tree

Converse
Conversed
Conversely
Converser
Diverse Reverse
Diversely Reversed
Diverseness Reversely
Diverseness’s Reverser

Perverse
Perversely
Adverse
Perverseness Adversely
Adverseness
Adverseness’s
Morpheme Matrix
Prefix Latin Root Sample Word
Con – Together Congregate
Ad – Toward Verse – to turn Addition
Per – by Percent
Di – twice, double Dissect
Re - Again Reborn