Morphology

Morphology is the study of the smallest units of a language that have meaning. Those
units are called morphemes, and they are used to create new meaning. To apply this concept to
something I am familiar I have chosen to carry over the topic of skiing from my phonology
application, with some alterations to focus on morphology. I will be using the concept of
competitive skiing to demonstrate free versus bound morphemes, indicating verbs, and
lexicalized fingerspelling.
In applying bound and free morphemes to competitive skiing I immediately think of
racing equipment; some are bound, some are free. Free morphemes can occur by themselves and
cannot be reduced. The equipment that can relate is the ski. It has its own purpose and meaning;
the skis alone hold meaning to many, and that meaning can be altered depending what you add to
it; the style, size, etc. In racing, the ski holds a meaning on its own because it determines certain
aspects of the sport that the other equipment does not: the speed, style of the skier, the size of the
skier, etc. Each adjustment could be considered the prefix or suffix of the ski, which are added to
the root of the meaning. Bound morphemes have meaning but they cannot occur on their own.
With competitive skiing, I see this in equipment like the racing bib. It has meaning yes, but it
needs to be with the other pieces of the puzzle. With racing bibs, they have meaning in the sense
of it is a symbol of racing and the identifying number of the racer, but it must be worn by the
racer to bring together the concept. All of the equipment pieces have a role and meaning, but
some cannot be the only unit.
Next, I want to discuss indicating verbs. Indicating verbs offer information about the
subject/object, and things such as palm orientation include meaning as well. Since grammatical
information is already stated within the verb, it does not need to be added. When a ski racer or

competitor arrives on race day there are certain behaviors or factors that tell viewers what is
happening. For example, assuming familiarity with the sport, if a skier is getting on the chairlift
to the top of the downhill course, that action indicates that the skier has not yet done his or her
run. However, if the skier is standing to the side of the fence holding their skis it tells us that they
have already finished. No one has to point to either of those skiers and say whether or not they
have finished there run, because their behavior and actions offer that information.
There are other aspects of competitive skiing that have an impact on either the unit or the
meaning, similar to what happens with lexicalized fingerspelling. Lexicalized fingerspelling is
when a fingerspelled word becomes its own sign. Fingerspelled letters are free morphemes, but
are put together to become a fingerspelled word. To become lexicalized the word must go
through some changes, and there are eight different changes that are possible. With ski clothing
in relation to competitive park skiing, there are some changes that make an outfit the park rat
look. Originally, the outfit was just another combination of clothing, but as soon as the pants are
pulled down to their knees, the shirts are three sizes too big, and you wear your helmet
unstrapped it creates a whole new meaning: park rat. It is something that was originally one of
many clothing options, but through popularity and association to a specific sport a new name for
that concept was built.
Morphology may have meaning where phonology does not, but it can still be broken
down to the smallest possible unit. These units are arranged, adjusted, and placed to build, and
rebuild, new concept and meanings to be used within the same language. These pieces that I have
introduced are the meaningful units of the language of competitive skiing, one that I grew up
learning. Knowing English, and learning American Sign Language (ASL), it is a tool used to

analyze the tiny aspects of the language. Just as when I became familiar with skiing, knowing
how to break down the units helps me to better understand both English and ASL.