'Un-friend-ly' clicks together from three meaningful pieces, and words click into sentences by rules too. Morphology studies how words are built from parts, syntax how those words assemble into grammatical sentences.
Structure above the sound
Morphology studies the internal structure of words. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning: 'cats' contains two — 'cat' (free, stands alone) and '-s' (bound, must attach). Syntax studies how words combine into phrases and sentences following hierarchical rules, not just left-to-right order.
'The old dog barked' groups into [the old dog] + [barked]. Structure is nested — which is why 'colorless green ideas sleep furiously' is grammatical yet meaningless.
- Take the word 'unhappiness'.
- Split it into meaningful pieces.
- Label each as free or bound.
What you should see: 'unhappiness' = un- (bound prefix) + happy (free root) + -ness (bound suffix): three morphemes, one free and two bound.