İnsanoğlunun XVIII. asrı idrak etmesi ile birlikte, geleneğin dünyasından ve onun yönlendirici otoritesinden kopartılarak veya kurtarılarak özgür bir dünyaya çekildiğinden bahsedilir ki bu dünyanın adı günümüzde “modern dünya” olarak nitelenmektedir. Bu manada modern dönemin başlaması ile geleneksel dönem sona erdirilmiş; son üç asır da gelenek ve modern dünyaların çekişmesine ve mücadelesine terk edilmiştir. Kabul ettiğimiz bir gerçektir ki, son üç asır bütün dünyada büyük değişimlerin yaşandığı asırlar olmuştur. Tarım toplumundan sanayi toplumuna, köyden şehir hayatına, imparatorluktan ulus-devlet sistemine, halktan millete, ülkeden vatan anlayışına, kuldan vatandaşa, emperyalizmden kapitalizme, oligarşiden cumhuriyete ve daha niceleri bu son üç asırlık süreçte cereyen etmişlerdir. Ancak şu da unutulmamalıdır ki gelenek sınırlandırılamaz. En modern dönem bile insanın üretme geleneğinin ürünüdür.

La morphologie, visant à étudier spécialement la structure interne des mots, se divise traditionnellement en deux branches : morphologie dérivationnelle (ou lexicale), s’intéressant à l’aspect formationnel (dérivationnel) des mots complexes (dérivés ou construits) et morphologie flexionnelle, s’occupant spécifiquement de l’aspect flexionnel. C’est ce deuxième aspect qui est adopté dans cet ouvrage, qui essaie de rendre cette matière quelque peu complexe, même pour un public averti, plus accessible par tous, notamment par les apprenants étrangers, en sélectionnant une méthodologie « distributionnelle ». En effet, les travaux existants en la matière sont purement descriptifs et souvent assez complexes et, par conséquent, ne conviennent guère au public méconnaissant le domaine et encore moins aux étudiants qui tâchent d’appréhender le fonctionnement morphologique d’une langue étrangère.

Il s’agit, donc, d’un ouvrage d’initiation, de nature pédagogique, spécialement conçu pour l’enseignement et l’apprentissage de la morphologie du français. Ainsi, tout en apprenant les techniques d’analyses morphologiques, ces derniers saisiront plus facilement les fondements de la flexion des mots français. D’où, l’autre caractéristique de l’ouvrage, qui se veut, autant que possible, d’une simplicité, aussi bien sur les plans du contenu, du corpus, de la méthode d’analyse et de la description qu’au niveau métalinguistique.

There are, first of all, two kinds of authors: those who write for the subject’s sake, and those who write for writing’s sake. While the one have had thoughts or experiences which seem to them worth communicating, the others want money; and so they write, for money. Their thinking is part of the business of writing. They may be recognized by the way in which they spin out their thoughts to the greatest possible length; then, too, by the very nature of their thoughts, which are only half-true, perverse, forced, vacillating; again, by the aversion they generally show to saying anything straight out, so that they may seem other than they are. Hence their writing is deficient in clearness and definiteness, and it is not long before they betray that their only object in writing at all is to cover paper. This sometimes happens with the best authors; now and then, for example, with Lessing in his Dramaturgie, and even in many of Jean Paul’s romances. As soon as the reader perceives this, let him throw the book away; for time is precious. The truth is that when an author begins to write for the sake of covering paper, he is cheating the reader; because he writes under the pretext that he has something to say.