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Language Development MODULE 13 213phonemes: w, a, t, and r (the written e has no sound of its own in this word). Sometimes a morpheme is a word, but sometimes it is a part of a word that carries meaning: every time you add a prefix or suffix to a word (like un- in unwindor -less in motionless), you%u2019ve added a morpheme.Words often have more than one morpheme. Waterfall, for example, has two: water, the liquid that fills lakes and rivers, and fall, the idea that the water is going over an edge and cascading downward (Figure 13.1). How many morphemes do you think there are in watered? If you said two, you%u2019re right. In this case, the second morpheme is the -ed suffix, indicating an event that happened in the past.The thing to remember is that these two building blocks%u2014phonemes and morphemes%u2014allow almost infinite flexibility in language. In spoken English, for example, we use our 40 phonemes to construct an estimated 100,000 morphemes. With those building blocks of meaning, we can generate hundreds of thousands of words. From here, the estimates almost seem silly, with literally trillions of possible unique sentences (Figure 13.2). The level of complexity that can be generated from simple building blocks is the distinguishing feature of language.5As you know, just stringing several words together does not create a sentence. To have a sentence, you must follow the rules of grammar%u2014a system of rules that govern how we can combine phonemes, morphemes, and words to produce meaningful communication. Despite these elaborate rules, language can still be hopelessly, and sometimes humorously, unclear. Consider the phrase %u201cThe artist painted me on the porch.%u201d This sentence has perfect grammar, but you still can%u2019t tell which of the three possible meanings the speaker intended (Figure 13.3).The grammar we%u2019ve been talking about is not the system of rules you learn in your English or writing classes. Those classes do teach some rules of English grammar, but you were able to put sentences together long before you ever entered a classroom. Written language is a separate topic because it%u2019s a system in which we use symbols (in a visual representation or code) to represent spoken sounds. Even people who live in remote areas of the world W7 phonemes2 morphemesA T E R F A L LFIGURE 13.1 Phonemes and MorphemesThe word waterfall has seven distinct sounds, or phonemes. There are two morphemes, one to represent that wet stuff and one to indicate that it%u2019s cascading over a ledge.40 phonemes100,000 morphemesHundreds of thousandsof wordsTrillions ofsentences26 lettersFIGURE 13.2 Flexibility in LanguageThe phonemes and morphemes of the English language can be combined in countless ways to produce an almost infinite number of meaningful sentences, which we write using an alphabet of only 26 characters.FIGURE 13.3 Grammar Isn%u2019t EverythingDespite being grammatically correct, this sentence is open to several interpretations: %u201cThe artist painted me on the front porch.%u201d%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.