What does morphology study?

Morphology is the branch of linguistics that focuses on the structure and formation of words. It examines how words are composed of smaller meaningful units called morphemes, which include roots, prefixes, and suffixes. This study involves analyzing how these parts combine to create new words, understand their meanings, and apply grammatical rules.

The correct choice highlights this function of morphology, explaining that it deals with the combination of parts of words to form new words. Understanding morphology is essential for grasping how language evolves and how complex expressions are constructed from simpler components.

The other choices relate to different aspects of linguistics. The study of the relationships between sentences and their meanings pertains to semantics, while the sounds made in communication are the focus of phonetics or phonology. The contextual use of language in society deals with sociolinguistics, which looks at how language varies and functions in social contexts. Each of these areas is distinct, underlining the specialized nature of morphology in the landscape of language study.