Morphology

Simple Definition of morphology

• linguistics : the study and description of how words are formed in language
• biology : the study of the form and structure of animals and plants
• : the form and structure of a plant or animal or any of its parts

“(Merriam Webster)”

Full Definition of morphology

1. 1 a :  a branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of animals and plants b :  the form and structure of an organism or any of its parts
2. 2 a :  a study and description of word formation (as inflection, derivation, and compounding) in language b :  the system of word-forming elements and processes in a language
3. 3 a :  a study of structure or form b :  structure, form
4. 4 :  the external structure of rocks in relation to the development of erosional forms or topographic features

mor·pho·log·i·cal play \ˌmȯr-fə-ˈlä-ji-kəl\ also mor·pho·log·ic play \-ˈlä-jik\ adjective

mor·pho·log·i·cal·ly play \-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

mor·phol·o·gist play \mȯr-ˈfä-lə-jist\ noun

In linguistics, morphology /mɔːrˈfɒlədʒi/^[1] is the identification, analysis and description of the structure of a given language's morphemes and other linguistic units, such as root words, affixes, parts of speech, intonations and stresses, or implied context. In contrast, morphological typology is the classification of languages according to their use of morphemes, while lexicology is the study of those words forming a language's wordstock.
While words, along with clitics, are generally accepted as being the smallest units of syntax, in most languages, if not all, many words can be related to other words by rules that collectively describe the grammar for that language. For example, English speakers recognize that the words dog and dogs are closely related, differentiated only by the plurality morpheme "-s", only found bound to nouns. Speakers of English, a fusional language, recognize these relations from their tacit knowledge of English's rules of word formation. They infer intuitively that dog is to dogs as cat is to cats; and, in similar fashion, dog is to dog catcher as dish is to dishwasher. By contrast, Classical Chinese has very little morphology, using almost exclusively unbound morphemes ("free" morphemes) and depending on word order to convey meaning. (Most words in modern Standard Chinese ("Mandarin"), however, are compounds and most roots are bound.) These are understood as grammars that represent the morphology of the language. The rules understood by a speaker reflect specific patterns or regularities in the way words are formed from smaller units in the language they are using and how those smaller units interact in speech. In this way, morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies patterns of word formation within and across languages and attempts to formulate rules that model the knowledge of the speakers of those languages.
Polysynthetic languages, such as Chukchi, have words composed of many morphemes. The Chukchi word "təmeyŋəlevtpəγtərkən", for example, meaning "I have a fierce headache", is composed of eight morphemes t-ə-meyŋ-ə-levt-pəγt-ə-rkən that may be glossed. The morphology of such languages allows for each consonant and vowel to be understood as morphemes, while the grammar of the language indicates the usage and understanding of each morpheme.
The discipline that deals specifically with the sound changes occurring within morphemes is morphophonology.
Syntax is the grammar, structure, or order of the elements in a language statement. (Semantics is the meaning of these elements.) Syntax applies to computer languages as well as to natural languages. Usually, we think of syntax as "word order." However, syntax is also achieved in some languages such as Latin by inflectional case endings. In computer languages, syntax can be extremely rigid as in the case of most assembler languages or less rigid in languages that make use of "keyword" parameters that can be stated in any order.
C.W. Morris in his Foundations of the Theory of Signs (1938) organizes semiotics, the study of signs, into three areas: syntax (the study of the interrelation of the signs); semantics (the study of the relation between the signs and the objects to which they apply); and pragmatics (the relationship between the sign system and the user).

Simple Definition of syntax

linguistics : the way in which words are put together to form phrases, clauses, or sentence. “Merriam Webster”.

Full Definition of syntax

1. 1a :  the way in which linguistic elements (as words) are put together to form constituents (as phrases or clauses)b :  the part of grammar dealing with this
2. 2 :  a connected or orderly system :  harmonious arrangement of parts or elements <the syntax of classical architecture>
3. 3 :  syntactics especially as dealing with the formal properties of languages or calculi.