Stem (definition)

Stems are the structures that affixes attach to. Not to be confused with roots, stems can be internal complex. For example, given the word sing-ers the verb sing is the root, and –er is the derivational affix, which changes the word into a noun. The complex structure singer is the stem for the plural affix -s.

See Also

• Affix (definition)
• Root (definition)

External Links

The links below takes you away from the Gaelic Wiki to Wikipedia. Since wikipedia pages can be edited by anyone, they often contain inaccurate information. So be careful!

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_(linguistics)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_stem

References

• Crystal, D. (2008) Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 6th Edition. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Matthews, P. H. (1997) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.