Classification of word formation

Plan

  1. Word-formation.
    General notes.

  2. Affixation.

  3. Compounding
    (Composition).

  4. Reduplication.

  5. Phrasal
    verbs.

  6. Conversion

  7. Substantivation.

  8. Adjectivization.

  9. Phrasal
    nouns.

  10. Shortening.

  11. Abbreviation.

  12. Back-formation
    (Reversion).

  13. Blending.

  14. Minor
    types of word-formation: change of stress.

  15. Sound
    interchange (Gradation).

  16. Sound
    imitation (Onomatopoeia).

  17. Lexicalization
    of the plural of nouns.

1. Word-formation

Word-formation
is the process of creating new words from the material available in
the word-stock according to certain structural and semantic patterns
specific for the given language.

Various
types of word-formation in Modern English possess different degrees
of productivity. Some of them are highly-productive
(affixation,
conversion, substantivation, compounding, shortening, forming phrasal
verbs); others are semi-productive
(back-forming,
blending, reduplication, lexicalization of the plural of nouns,
sound-imitation), and non-productive
(sound
interchange, change of stress).

2. Affixation

Affixation
is a word-formative process in which words are created by adding
word-building affixes to stems. Affixation includes preftxation,
i.e.
forming
new words with the help of prefixes, and suffixation,
i.e.
forming new words with the help of suffixes.

From
etymological point of view affixes are classified according to their
origin into native
(e.g.
-er, -nese, -ing, un-, mis-, etc.) and borrowed
(Romanic,
e.g. -tion, -ment, -ance, -re-, sub-, etc.; Greek, e,g. -ist, -ism,
anti-, etc.).

Affixes
can also be classified into
productive
(e.g.-er,
-ness, -able, -y, -ize, un- re-, dis- etc.) and non-productive
(e.g.
-th, -hood, -en, -ous, etc.).

Affixes
and a root constitute the meaning of the word, the root morpheme
forming its semantic centre, affixes playing a dependent role in the
meaning
of the word.

Prefixes
and suffixes are semantically distinctive,
they
have their own
meaning.
Affixes
and a root constitute the meaning of the word, the root morpheme
forming its semantic centre, affixes playing a dependent role in the
meaning of the word.

Prefixes
change
or concretize the meaning of the word. The main
word-building
prefixes are:

  1. prefixes
    with a negative
    meaning
    (e.g.
    un-, in-, il-, ir-, im-, dis-, de-, non-);

  2. prefixes
    with different
    meanings
    (e.g.
    anti-, co-, counter-, inter-, mis-, over-, en-, post-, pre-, re-,
    self, semi-, sub-, ultra-, super-, undre-).

    Suffixes
    have
    a grammatical meaning they indicate or derive a certain part of
    speech. Most of frequently used suffixes are:

  1. noun-forming:
    -er,
    (-or), -tion (-sion), -ity, -ance, -ence, -ment, -ness, -ics, -ture,
    -sure, -age, -ing;

  2. verb-forming:
    -ize,
    (-ise), -fy (-ify), -en, -ate;

  3. adjective-forming:
    -able,
    -ible, -al, (-ial), -fill, -less, -ive;

  4. adverb-forming:
    -ly;
    -ward (-wards).

3. Compounding
(Composition)

Compounds
are
words produced by combining two or more stems, which occur in the
language as free forms. They may be classified proceeding
from different criteria:

-according
to the parts of speech to which they belong (e.g. cut-throat,
shoe-maker-
compound
nouns, watch
making , tooth-picker-
verbal
compound
nouns; bring
up, sit down

compound verbs, life-giving,
long-tailed

compound adjectives, etc.);

-according
to the means of composition used to link their ICs (immediate
constituents) together (e.g. classroom,
timetable, H-bomb, grey-green,

etc);

-according
to the structure of their ICs (e.g. gasometre,
handicraft, Anglo-Saxon,
etc.);

-according
to their semantic characteristics (e.g forget-me-not,
up-to-date, son-in-law,
etc).

The
classification of compounds according to the means of joining their
ICs together distinguishes between the following structural types:

  1. juxtapositional
    (neutral) compounds
    whose
    ICs are merely placed one after another: classroom,
    timetable, heartache, whitewash, hunting-knife, weekend, grey-green,
    deep-blue, U-turn,
    etc.;

  2. morphological
    compounds
    whose
    ICs joined together with a vowel or a consonant as a linking
    element, e.g. gasometre,
    sportsman,
    saleswoman,
    electromotive, postman,
    etc.;

  3. syntactic
    compounds (integrated phrases)
    which
    are the result of the process of semantic isolation and structural
    integration of free word-groups, e.g. blackboard
    (>black
    board), highway
    (>high
    way), forget-me-not
    (>forget
    me not), bull’s
    eye, go-between, known-all, brother-in-law, upside-down,
    etc.

The
classification of compounds according to the structure of their ICs
includes the following groups:

Group
1. Compounds consisting of simple stems: railway, key-board,
snow-white, bookshelf, scarecrow, browbeat, etc.

Group
2. Compounds where at least one of the ICs is a derived stem:
chain-smoker, shoe-maker, pen-holder, snow-covered, moon-tit,
price-reduction,
etc.

Group
3, Compounds where at least one of the ICs is a clipped stem:
photo-intelligence, bacco-box, maths- mistress, T-shirt, TV-set,
X-mas, etc.

Group
4. Compounds where at least one of the ICs is a compound stem:
wastepaper-basket, newspaper-ownership, etc.

Note:
Compounds of Group 2 should not be mixed with derivational compounds
(Group 5) in which the second component doesn’t occur as a free
form. Derivational compounds are built by adding a suffix to phrases
of the A+N, N+N, Num+N type.

Cf:
chain-smoker (N + (V = -er)):: slim-waisted ((A + N) + -ed).

In
many English words one can find unstressed stems approaching the
status of derivational affixes. They have generalized meaning and
their combining
capacity is very great. Such morphemes are called semi-affixes.

Semi-affixes
can be used in preposition (semi-prefixes,
e.g.:
half-, ill-, mini-, midi-, maxi-, self-) and in postposition
(semi-suffixes,
e.g.
-man, -land,
-monger, -wright, -worthy, -proof, -like, -way(s)).

4. Reduplication

In
reduplication compounds are made by doubling a stem (often a
pseudomorpheme). Reduplicative compounds fall into three main
subgroups:

  1. Reduplicative
    compounds proper whose ICs are identical in their form, e.g.:
    murmur, bye-bye, blah-blah, pooh-pooh, goody-goody, etc.

  2. Ablaut
    (gradational) compounds whose ICs have different root-vowels, e.g:
    riff-raff, dilly-dally, ping-pong, chit-chat, singsong, etc.

  3. Rhyme
    compounds whose ICs are joined to rhyme, e.g.: willy-nilly,
    helter-skelter, hoity-toity, namby-pamby, walkie-talkie, etc.

5. Phrasal
verbs.

Phrasal
verbs are combinations of a verb and adverb or a verb and preposition
(or verb with both adverb and preposition).

Phrasal
verbs may be either non-idiomatic or idiomatic. Non-idiomatic phrasal
verbs can retain their primary local meaning, e.g.: come in, come
out, come out of, take off, put down, etc. They may also have a kind
of perfective colouring, e.g. add up, eat up, drink up, swallow up,
rise up, etc.

In
idiomatic compounds meaning cannot be derived from ICs, e.g.: bring
up — виховувати,
bear out — підтверджувати,
give in – піддаватися,
fall
out — сваритися,
take in — обманювати,
etc.

In
modern English fiction one can often come across verbs which denote
an action and at the same time modify it in occasional colligations
with prepositions
or adverbs e.g. He
then tiptoed down to dinner. We forced our way into the buffet.

6. Conversion

Conversion
is a special type of affixless derivation where a newly-formed word
acquires a paradigm and syntactic functions different from those of
the original word (by conversion we mean derivation of a new word
from the stem of a different part of speech without the adding of any
formatives).

A
s
a result the two words are homonymous, having the same morphological
structure and belonging to different parts of speech. As
a matter of fact, all parts of speech can be drawn into the
wordbuilding process of conversion to a certain extent. Its
derivational patterns are varied,
the most widespread among them being N —► V, V
N,
A —► V.

For
example: N+V:
a face-to face, a walk-to walk, a
tube — to tube, a pen — to pen. V—>N:
to make-a make, to bite-a bite,
to
smoke — a smoke, to talk — a talk.

A—>V:
narrow-to narrow, empty-to empty, cool-to
cool.

7. Substantiation

Substantivation
is the process in which adjectives (or participles) acquire the
paradigm and syntactic functions of nouns. One should distinguish two
main types of substantivation: complete
and partial.

C

ompletely
substantivized adjectives
have
the full paradigm of a noun, i.e. singular and plural case forms.
They may be associated with various determiners (definite, indefinite
and zero articles, demonstrative and possessive pronouns, etc.), e.g.
an
official, the official, officials, the officials, official’s,
officials this official, our officials,
etc.
Complete substantivation is often regarded as a pattern of conversion
(A N), though it may be argued, since, as a rule, it is the
result of ellipsis in an attributive phrase: a conservative
politician
—► a
conservative,
a
convertible
car
a convertible.

In
the case of partial
substantivation
adjectives
do not acquire the full paradigm of a noun. They fall into several
structural-semantic
groups:

  1. partially
    substantivized adjectives (PSA) or participles
    which
    are singular in form though plural in meaning. They are used with
    the definite article and denote a group or a class of people, e.g.
    the
    rich, the accused, the English, the blind, the twing,
    etc.;

  2. PSA
    used
    mostly in the plural and denoting a group or a class of people, e.g.
    reds,
    greens, buffs, blues,
    etc.

  3. PSA
    used
    mostly in plural and denoting inanimate things, e.g. sweets,
    ancients, eatables,
    etc.

  4. PSA
    presenting
    properties as substantive abstract notions, e.g. the
    good, the evil, the beautiful, the singular,
    etc.

  5. PSA
    denoting
    languages, e.g. English,
    German, Ukrainian, Italian,
    etc.

8. Adjectivization

Premodification
of nouns by nouns is highly frequent in Modern English. Non-adjuncts
should not be considered as adjectives produced by means
of conversion. Nevertheless, some nouns may undergo the process of
adjectivization and function as attributes with idiomatic meanings,
e.g.: coffee-table
(n.) —> coffee-table (adj.) — «Of a large size and richly
illustrated.»

9. Phrasal
nouns

Phrasal
nouns
are
built from phrasal verbs as a result of a combined effect of
compounding, conversion, and change of stress. They consist of ICs
identical to those of the corresponding phrasal verbs, but obtain, as
a rule, the single-stress pattern and either solid or hyphenated
spelling, e.g.: to
break
down —>
a
breakdown (a break-down).

10. Shortenings

There
exist two main ways of shortening: contraction
(clipping)
and
abbreviation
(initial shortening).

Contraction.
One
should distinguish between four types of contraction:

  1. Final
    clipping (apocope), i.e. omission of the final part of the word,
    e.g.: doc (< doctor), lab (< laboratory), mag -(<
    magazine), prefab (< prefabricated),
    vegs (< vegetables), Al (< Albert), Nick (< Nickolas), Phil
    (< Philip), etc.

  2. Initial
    clipping (apheresis), i.e. omission of the fore part of the word,
    e.g.: phone (< telephone), plane (< aeroplane), story (<
    history), van (< caravan), drome (< airdrome), Dora (<
    Theodora), Fred (< Alfred), etc.

  1. Medial
    clipping (syncope), i.e. omission of the middle part of the word,
    e.g.: maths (< mathematics), fancy (< fantasy), specs -(<
    spectacles), binocs
    (< binoculars), through (<thorough), etc.

  2. Mixed
    clipping, where the fore and the final parts of the word are dipped,
    e.g.: tec (< detective), flu (<influenza), fridge (<
    refrigerator), stach (< moustache), Liz (< Elizabeth), etc.

Contractions
may be combined with affixation, i,e. by adding the suffixes -y, -ie,
-o, to clippings, e.g.: hanky (<handkerchief), comfy
(<comfortable),
unkie (<uncle), ammo (< Ammunition), etc.

11. Abbreviation

Abbreviations
(initial shortenings) are words produced by shortening the ICs of
phrasal terms up to their initial letters. Abbreviations are
subdivided
into 5 groups:

  1. Acronyms
    which are read in accordance with the rules of orthoepy as though
    they were ordinary words, e.g.: UNO /’ju:nou/ (< United Nations
    Organization), UNESCO /’ju:’neskou/ (< United Nations Educational
    Scientific and Cultural Organization), NATO /’neitou/ (< North
    Atlantic
    Treaty Organization), SALT /so:lt/ (<Strategic Arms Limitation
    Talks), STEM /stem/ (< scanning transmission electron
    microscope), radar /reida/ (< radio detecting and ranging), etc.

  2. Alphabetic
    abbreviation
    in
    which letters get their full alphabetic pronunciation and a full
    stress, e.g.: USA /’ju:es’ei/ (< the United States ofAmerica),
    B.B.C. /’bi:’bi:’si:/ (< the British Broadcasting Corporation),
    M.P. /’em’pi:/ {<
    Member
    of Parliament), F.B.I. /’efbir’ai/ (< FederalBureau
    of Investigation), etc.

Alphabetic
abbreviations are sometimes used for famous persons’ names, eg.: B.B.
(< Brigitte Bardot), FDR (< Franklin Delano Roosevelt), G.B.S.
(< George Bernard Shaw), etc.

3)Compound
abbreviations

in which the first IC is a letter (letters) and the second a complete
word, e.g.: A-bomb (<
atomic
bomb), V-day (<

Victory
day), Z-hour (< zero hour), L-driver (< learner-driver), ACD
solution (<acid citrate dextrose solution), etc.

One
or both ICs of compound abbreviations may be clipped, e.g.:
mid-August, Interpol (< International police), hi-fi (< high
fidelity), sci-fic (< science
fiction), etc.

4) Graphic
abbreviations
which
are used in texts for economy of space. They are pronounced as the
corresponding unabbreviated words,
e.g.:
Mr.
(< Mister), m. (< mile), fl. (< foot/feet), v. (< verb),
ltd. (< limited), govt. (< government), usu. (< usually),
pp. (< pages, Co (< Company), X-mas
(< Christmas), etc.

5) Latin
abbreviations
which
sometimes are not read as Latin words but as separate letters or are
substituted by their English equivalents, e.g.:

i.e.
/ai’i:/-that is, a.m. /ei’em/-before midday, in the morning, e.g.
-for example, Id. -in the same place, cf. -compare, etc.

12. Back-formation
(Reversion)

Back-formation
is the derivation of new words (mostly verbs) by means of subtracting
a suffix or other element resembling it, e.g.: butle < butler,
combust
< combustion, greed < greedy, lase < laser, luminisce <
luminiscent, sculpt < sculptor, etc.

13. Blending

Blending
is the formation of new lexical units by means of merging fragments
of words into one new word, or combining the elements of one word
with
a notional word, e.g.: smog (< smoke+fog), radiotrician
(radio+electrician), drunch (drinks+lunch), cinemagnate
(cinema+magnate), etc.

14. Minor
types of word-formation: change of stress

Several
nouns and verbs of Romanic origin have a distinctive stress pattern.
Such nouns, as a rule, are forestressed, and verbs have a stress on
the second
syllable, e.g. ‘accent (a):: ac’cent (v.), ‘contest (n.):: ‘con’test
(v.), ‘record (n.):: re’cord (v.), etc.

The
same distinctive stress pattern is observed in some pairs of
adjectives and verbs, e.g.: ‘absent (a):: ab’sent (v.) ‘abstract (a)
::ab’stract(v.), etc.

15.
Sound
interchange (Gradation)

Words
belonging to different parts of speech may be differentiated due to
the sound interchange in the root, e.g.: food (a):: feed (v.), gold
(a):: gild (v,), strong (a):: strength (n), etc.

16. Sound
imitation (Onomatopoeia)

Sound-imitative
(onomatopoeic) words are made by imitating sounds produced by living
beings and inanimate objects, e.g.: babble, bang, buzz, crash,
giggle, hiss, moo, purr, rustle, etc.

17. Lexicalization
of the plural of the nouns

There
are cases when the grammatical form of the plural of nouns becomes
isolated from the paradigm and acquires a new lexical meaning. This
leads to the appearance of new lexical units, cf: look “погляд”
::
looks «зовнішність».

REVISION
MATERIAL

  1. Be
    ready to discuss the subject matter of word-formation

  2. Tell
    about affixation

  3. What
    do you know about compounding (composition)?

  4. Give
    examples of reduplication

  5. What
    are phrasal verbs and phrasal nouns?

  6. What
    can you tell about conversion?

  7. Comment
    on the substantivation and adjectivization.

  8. Tell
    about shortening: contractions and abbreviations.

  9. What
    is back-formation?

  10. Give
    examples of blending.

  11. Comment
    on the minor types of word-formation.

  12. What
    is the difference between gradation and onomatopoeia?

  13. What
    does «lexicalization of the plural of nouns» stand for ?

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How are words formed? Are there any rules by which words are formed? Let’s find out. This article will walk you through what word formation is, the various types of word formation and the rules to be adhered to when forming words. The number of examples given will make your learning process more effective and easier. Check it out.

Table of Contents

  • What Is Word Formation?
  • Types of Word Formation with Examples
  • Rules to be Followed When Forming Words
  • Test Your Understanding of Word Formation
  • Frequently Asked Questions on Word Formation in English

The English language is known for its wonderful quality of the way in which words and sentences are formed and used. Formation of new words from an existing root word by adding a syllable or another word is the general process; however, there are multiple ways in which it can be done.

Types of Word Formation with Examples

The formation of words is classified into four types based on how the process of formation is carried out. They are:

  • By adding prefixes
  • By adding suffixes
  • Converting from one word class to another
  • Forming compound words

Let us look at each type of word formation in detail.

Adding Prefixes

The term ‘prefix’ refers to one or more alphabets added to the stem of a word, mostly to make it negative. The most commonly used prefixes include ‘in-’, ‘un-’, ‘dis-’, ‘im-’, ‘ir-’, etc. Look at the examples given below for a clearer understanding of how prefixes are used to form new words.

Examples of Word Formation by the Addition of Prefixes

  • Discipline – indiscipline
  • Just – unjust
  • Tidy – untidy
  • Respect – disrespect
  • Understand – misunderstand
  • Comfortable – uncomfortable
  • Comfort – discomfort
  • Responsible – irresponsible
  • Honest – dishonest
  • Happy – unhappy
  • Polite – impolite
  • Experience – inexperience
  • Practical – impractical
  • Important – unimportant
  • Legal – illegal
  • Ethical – unethical
  • Potent – impotent

Adding Suffixes

A suffix is a short syllable added at the end of a base word. The addition of suffixes usually changes the word class of the particular word. The most common suffixes include ‘-ment’, ‘-ness’, ‘-ity’, ‘-ous’, ‘-tion’, ‘-sion’, ‘-al’, ‘-able’, ‘-ible’, ‘-ive’, ‘-ly’, ‘-ate’, ‘-er’, ‘-or’, etc. Check out the following examples to see how suffixes are added.

Examples of Word Formation by the Addition of Suffixes

  • Comprehend (verb) – comprehension (noun) – comprehensible (adjective)
  • Inform (verb) – information (noun) – informative (adjective)
  • Invest (verb) – Investment (noun) – Investor (noun)
  • Write (verb) – writer (noun)
  • Authorise (verb) – authorisation (noun)
  • Move (verb) – movement (noun)
  • Add (verb) – addition (noun)
  • Happy (adjective) – happiness (noun)
  • Conserve (verb) – conservation (noun)
  • Wide (Adjective) – widen (verb)
  • Manage (verb) – manageable (adjective) – manager (noun)
  • Courage (noun) – courageous (adjective)
  • Brave (adjective) – bravery (noun)
  • Profit (noun) – profitable (adjective)
  • Quick (adjective) – quickly (adverb)
  • Happy (adjective) – happily (adverb)
  • Sad (adjective) – sadness (noun)

Conversion

The process of conversion focuses solely on changing the word class of the particular word. If you have noticed, you would have seen how some nouns are used to perform the role of a verb or an adjective acting like a noun just by the addition of another word or slightly altering the spelling of the actual word.

Examples of Word Formation by Conversion

  • The rich should help the poor.

Adjectives such as ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ are used as nouns by using them with the article ‘the’.

  • Everyone is talented.

‘Talented’ – a past participle is used as an adjective in the above sentence. The word is formed by adding the suffix ‘ed’ to the end of the noun ‘talent’.

  • There will definitely be a lot of ups and downs in life.

Prepositions ‘up’ and ‘down’ are used as nouns by adding ‘s’ to the end of it.

  • He texted me about the meeting only at the last minute.

The noun ‘text’ used to refer to a text message sent on a phone is used as a verb in the sentence by adding an ‘ed’ to the end of the word.

  • The financial aid had to be approved before we could make a decision.

The noun ‘finance’ is used as an adjective by adding ‘ial’ to the end of it and the verb ‘decide’ is used as a noun by removing ‘de’ and adding ‘sion’ to the word.

Forming Compound Words

Compound words are formed by combining one part of speech with another to form a specific word class. There are many ways in which compound words are formed. Verbs are combined with adjectives to form compound verbs, a present participle is combined with a noun to form a compound noun, two nouns are combined to form a compound noun, an adjective and a noun are combined to form a compound noun, an adverb is combined with a noun to form a compound noun, an adjective is combined with a past participle to form a compound adjective and so on. Take a look at the following examples and go through the articles on compound nouns, compound words and compound adjectives to understand how they work.

Examples of Word Formation by Compounding

  • Over (adverb) + load (noun) – Overload
  • White (adjective) + wash (verb) – Whitewash
  • Black (adjective) + board (noun ) – Blackboard
  • Cup (noun) + board (noun) – Cupboard
  • Short (adjective) + hand (noun) – Shorthand
  • Swimming (present participle) + pool (noun) – Swimming pool
  • Three (adjective) + legged (past participle) – Three-legged
  • Break (verb) + Down (preposition) – Breakdown
  • Up (preposition) + town (noun) – Uptown
  • Copy (verb) + writer (noun) – Copywriter
  • Sun (noun) + rise (verb) – Sunrise
  • Count (verb) + down (preposition) – Countdown
  • Flash (verb) + mob (noun) – Flash mob
  • Master (noun) + piece (noun) – Masterpiece
  • Round (adjective) + table (noun) – Round-table

Rules to be Followed When Forming Words

Formation of words can be a very interesting exercise, but you have to be really careful when you are adding inflections or affixes. There are a few things you will need to bear in mind when you are forming words. Take a look at the following points to learn what they are.

  • Before making any change to the stem of the word, try to analyse what is the kind of meaning you want the word to convey and what role the word will have to play in the sentence.
  • In most cases, the beginning of the base word remains the same. Only when prefixes are added the word has a syllable added to the beginning of it. Notice that even in this case, the word is retained as such.
  • When suffixes are added, there are many instances where you will have to remove the last one or more alphabets of the word and add the suffix. However, there are words like ‘movement’ where the suffix is just added without any change in the spelling of the base word.
  • Here is one way to easily know which suffix has to be added to form a particular word class – most often, nouns end in ‘er’, ‘or’, ‘ist’, ‘ian’, ‘ion’, ‘ment’, ‘ness’, and ‘ity’; verbs end in ‘ise’, ‘ate’ and ‘en’; adjectives end in ‘able’, ‘ible’, ‘ive’, ‘ic’, ‘ed’, ‘ing’ and ‘al’; and adverbs normally end in ‘ly’.
  • When words are formed by conversion, be very careful. Make sure you know that you are converting them accurately and using them in the sentence properly.
  • When forming compound words, see to it that you hyphenate them if necessary, use the right combination of words and do not just mix and match any word.
  • Changing from one tense to another also can also be considered a type of word formation, as the word is inflected to indicate the twelve different tenses in the English language.
  • Forming degrees of comparison can also be put under word formation. In this case, the comparative and superlative degrees are formed by adding ‘er’ and ‘est’ to the end of the adjective. The comparative and superlative degrees of polysyllabic words are formed by using ‘more’ and ‘most’, respectively, along with the adjective.

Test Your Understanding of Word Formation

Exercise 1 – Add Prefixes and Suffixes

Add prefixes and suffixes to the following words.

1. Passion____

2. Remember____

3. ____conscious

4. Sense____

5. ____acceptable

6. Entertain____

7. ____representation

8. Neat____

9. Invent____

10. ____interpret

Answers for Exercise 1

1. Passionate

2. Remembrance

3. Unconscious/Subconscious

4. Sensible/Senseless

5. Unacceptable

6. Entertainment

7. Misrepresentation

8. Neatly/Neatness

9. Invention

10. Misinterpret

Exercise 2 – Conversion of Words

Go through the following words and convert them as directed.

1. Money (convert into adjective)

2. Brave (convert into noun)

3. Clean (convert into noun)

4. Prayer (convert into adjective)

5. Resemblance (convert into verb)

6. Slow (convert into adverb)

7. Treat (convert into noun)

8. Confession (convert into verb)

9. Vary (convert into adjective)

10. Beauty (convert into verb)

Answers for Exercise 2

1. Monetary

2. Bravery

3. Cleanliness

4. Prayerful

5. Resemble

6. Slowly

7. Treatment

8. Confess

9. Various/variable

10. Beautify

Exercise 3 – Form Compound Words

Go through the words in the box given below and use them to form ten compound words.

up, table, spend, load, green, machine, case, make, estimate, over, self

1. _______ confident

2. Washing _______

3. Time _______

4. Under _______

5. _______sufficient

6. Up_______

7. _______set

8. Suit_______

9. _______over

10. _______thrift

Answers for Exercise 3

1. Overconfident

2. Washing machine

3. Timetable

4. Underestimate

5. Self-sufficient

6. Upload

7. Upset

8. Suitcase

9. Makeover

10. Spendthrift

Frequently Asked Questions on Word Formation in English

What is word formation?

Word formation is the process by which new words are formed by adding an affix, another word or converting from one word class to another by removing and adding alphabets.

What are the four types of word formation?

The four types of word formation include:

  • Addition of prefix
  • Addition of suffix
  • Conversion from one word class to another
  • Forming compound words

Give some examples of word formation.

Here are some examples of the various types of word formation for your reference:

  • Practical – impractical (prefix)
  • Purpose – purposeful (suffix)
  • Silent – silence (conversion)
  • Dining + room – Dining room (compound word)
  • Small – smaller – smallest (degrees of comparison)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the geological formation, see Word Formation. For the study of the origin and historical development of words, see Etymology.

In linguistics, word formation is an ambiguous term[1] that can refer to either:

  • the processes through which words can change[2] (i.e. morphology), or
  • the creation of new lexemes in a particular language

Morphological[edit]

A common method of word formation is the attachment of inflectional or derivational affixes.

Derivation[edit]

Examples include:

  • the words governor, government, governable, misgovern, ex-governor, and ungovernable are all derived from the base word (to) govern[3]

Inflection[edit]

Inflection is modifying a word for the purpose of fitting it into the grammatical structure of a sentence.[4] For example:

  • manages and managed are inflected from the base word (to) manage[1]
  • worked is inflected from the verb (to) work
  • talks, talked, and talking are inflected from the base (to) talk[3]

Nonmorphological[edit]

Abbreviation[edit]

Examples includes:

  • etc. from et caetera

Acronyms & Initialisms[edit]

An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of other words.[5] For example:

  • NASA is the acronym for National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • IJAL (pronounced /aidʒæl/) is the acronym for International Journal of American Linguistics

Acronyms are usually written entirely in capital letters, though some words originating as acronyms, like radar, are now treated as common nouns.[6]

Initialisms are similar to acronyms, but where the letters are pronounced as a series of letters. For example:

  • ATM for Automated Teller Machine
  • SIA for Singapore International Airlines[1]

Back-formation[edit]

In linguistics, back-formation is the process of forming a new word by removing actual affixes, or parts of the word that is re-analyzed as an affix, from other words to create a base.[3] Examples include:

  • the verb headhunt is a back-formation of headhunter
  • the verb edit is formed from the noun editor[3]
  • the word televise is a back-formation of television

The process is motivated by analogy: edit is to editor as act is to actor. This process leads to a lot of denominal verbs.

The productivity of back-formation is limited, with the most productive forms of back-formation being hypocoristics.[3]

Blending[edit]

A lexical blend is a complex word typically made of two word fragments. For example:

  • smog is a blend of smoke and fog
  • brunch is a blend of breakfast and lunch.[5]
  • stagflation is a blend of stagnation and inflation[1]
  • chunnel is a blend of channel and tunnel,[1] referring to the Channel Tunnel

Although blending is listed under the Nonmorphological heading, there are debates as to how far blending is a matter of morphology.[1]

Compounding[edit]

Compounding is the processing of combining two bases, where each base may be a fully-fledged word. For example:

  • desktop is formed by combining desk and top
  • railway is formed by combining rail and way
  • firefighter is formed by combining fire and fighter[3]

Compounding is a topic relevant to syntax, semantics, and morphology.[2]

Word formation vs. Semantic change[edit]

There are processes for forming new dictionary items which are not considered under the umbrella of word formation.[1] One specific example is semantic change, which is a change in a single word’s meaning. The boundary between word formation and semantic change can be difficult to define as a new use of an old word can be seen as a new word derived from an old one and identical to it in form.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Bauer, L. (1 January 2006). «Word Formation». Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition). Elsevier: 632–633. doi:10.1016/b0-08-044854-2/04235-8. ISBN 9780080448541. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b Baker, Anne; Hengeveld, Kees (2012). Linguistics. Malden, MA.: John Wiley & Sons. p. 23. ISBN 978-0631230366.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Katamba, F. (1 January 2006). «Back-Formation». Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition): 642–645. doi:10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00108-5. ISBN 9780080448541.
  4. ^ Linguistics : the basics. Anne, July 8- Baker, Kees Hengeveld. Malden, MA.: John Wiley & Sons. 2012. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-631-23035-9. OCLC 748812931.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ a b Aronoff, Mark (1983). «A Decade of Morphology and Word Formation». Annual Review of Anthropology. 12: 360. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.12.100183.002035.
  6. ^ Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew (2018). An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4744-2896-5.

See also[edit]

  • Neologism

Содержание

Словообразование (word formation [wəːrd fɔ:r’meɪʃ(ə)n]) — образование нового слова от другого слова.

Словообразование и словоизменение (Word Formation and Inflection)

Словообразование противопоставляется словоизменению: Словоизменение — это процесс изменения слова, выражающий грамматическое значение (например, спряжение глагола или образование множественного числа существительного), но при словоизменении слово не приобретает нового лексического значения т.е. это то же самое слово (лексема) в отличных грамматических формах:

  • He is an actor. – Он (есть) актёр.

  • They are actors. – Они (есть) актёры.

В приведённых примерах «is», «are» и «actor», «actors» — это разные грамматические формы тех же слов, эти формы не образуют нового лексического значения.

Способы словообразования (Types of Word Formation)

Деривация (Derivation)

Деривация (derivation [ˌdeɹɪˈveɪʃ(ə)n]) — процесс образования нового слова от другого слова за счет различных аффиксов (приставок и суффиксов).

Различают два вида деривации:

  1. Новое образованное слово (дериватив) переходит в другой класс слов:

    • write → writer (писать → писатель)

  2. Новое слово не переходит в другой класс слов, а только изменяет лексическое значение исходного слова:

    • friend → friendship (друг → дружба)

    • like → dislike (нравиться, любить → испытывать неприязнь)

В английском языке, деривация, а именно переход слова в другой класс также происходит без изменения исходной формы слова. Данный процесс называется нулевая деривация (zero derivation) или конверсия (см. ниже):

  • I love you and I can’t live without your love. – Я люблю тебя и не могу жить без твоей любви.

Слово­сло­же­ние (Compounding)

Словосложение (compounding [kəm’paundɪŋ] / composition [ˌkɔmpə’zɪʃ(ə)n]) — это один из способов образования сложных слов (compound words) , состоящий в морфологическом соединении двух или более слов.

Проблемой в лингвистике английского языка является разграничение некоторых сложных слов и словосочетаний, образуя общий термин композиты (Термин «композит» получил распространение только в русскоязычных грамматиках, в том числе и грамматиках по английскому языку):

  • stay-at-home (домосед)

  • dos and don’ts (правила, нормы)

  • I’m reading the how-to-get-anything-you-want guide. – Я читаю книгу о том, как получить всё, что захочешь.

Раздельное или слитное написание композитов не является основанием, используемым при различении сложных слов и словосочетаний. Основным критерием различия между сложным словом и словосочетанием является обособление лексического значения производного сложного слова от исходного словосочетания.

Вторичное словообразование (Back-formation)

Вторичное словообразование / обратное словообразование[1] / редеривация[2] (back-formation) —

Конверсия (Conversion)

Конверсия (conversion [kənˈvə:rʒ(ə)n]) разновидность словообразования, при котором от одной части речи образуется другая без каких-либо изменений в самой форме слова (безаффиксальное образование слова). Наиболее распространенной моделью конверсии является: [существительное ↔ глагол], например: an e-mail (электронная почта) → to e-mail (написать или отправить электронное письмо); to drink (пить) → a drink (глоток; стакан (вина, воды)):

  • I heard her name his name. – Я слышал, как она назвала его имя. (в первом случае «name» — глагол «назвала», а во втором — существительное со значением «имя»),

  • I love you and I can’t live without your love. – Я люблю тебя и не могу жить без твоей любви.

  • Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk. – «Не говори того, чего не можешь сделать.»

  • He is my best friend. – Он мой лучший друг.

  • I can best them. – Я могу их превзойти (провести / одержать верх).

  • Love betters what is best.[3]Любовь улучшает лучшее.

  • She lives one floor up. – Она живёт этажом выше.

  • They up the minimum requirements! – Они подняли минимальные требования!

Конверсия прилагательных в существительные может происходить в результате эллипсиса:

  • He’s a good worker but he’s not a very intellectual (person). – Он хороший работник, но не очень умный (человек).

  • The native residents are very hospitable. → The natives are very hospitable. – Местные (жители) очень гостеприимны.

В некоторых случаях происходит временная конверсия прилагательных в существительные. В таких случаях существительное не полностью получает самостоятельное лексическое значение и его полное значение явствует из контекста:

  • Fuel is carried in four tanks, two main tanks and two auxiliariy tanks. → Fuel is carried in four tanks, two main and two auxiliaries. – Топливо перевозится в четырех резервуарах, двух основных и двух вспомогательных.

Употребление прилагательных вместо существительных возможно и без конверсии. Например, некоторые прилагательные могут употребляться вместо существительных, означающих людей и согласуются с глаголом во множественном числе, при этом, прилагательные не принимают формы множественного числа и употребляются с определенным артиклем, например: the rich (богатые), the unemployed (безработные) (см. Субстантивация).

Усечение (Clipping)

Усечение / сокращение (clipping [‘klɪpɪŋ] / truncation [tɹʌŋ’keɪʃ(ə)n] / shortening [‘ʃɔ:ɹtnɪŋ])

  • Инициальное усечение (initial clipping / fore-clipping / apheresis) — усечение начальной части слова:

    • helicopter → copter

    • telephone → phone

    • airplane → plane

    • website → site

  • Финальное усечение (final clipping / back clipping / apocope):

    • demonstration → demo

    • doctor → doc

    • examination → exam

    • gasoline → gas

  • Срединное усечение (medial clipping / syncope):

    • madam → ma’am

    • mathematics → maths

  • Двустороннее усечение (усечение крайних частей слова):

    • influenza → flu

    • refrigerator → fridge

  • ???:

    • tobacco → baccy

    • reconnaissance → reccy

  • Слияние усечений (complex clipping / clipped compound):

    • sci-fi (science fiction)

    • motel (motor hotel)

    • modem (modulator demodulator)

Blending

Abbreviations

Acronyms

Eponyms

Coinages

Nonce words

Borrowing

Calquing


1]

Краткий понятийно-терминологический справочник по этимологии и исторической лексикологии. — Российская академия наук, Институт русского языка им. В. В. Виноградова РАН, Этимология и история слов русского языка . Ж. Ж. Варбот, А. Ф. Журавлев . 1998.

2]

Словарь-справочник лингвистических терминов. Изд. 2-е. — М.: Просвещение Розенталь Д. Э., Теленкова М. А. 1976

3]

William Wordsworth. From The Same.

CC BY-SA Если не указано иное, содержание ESL.Wiki предоставляется на условиях лицензии «Creative Commons «Attribution-ShareAlike» (Атрибуция — На тех же условиях) 4.0 Всемирная» (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The vocabulary of any language is constantlyExpanding at the expense of new lexical units. Word formation is the main way to replenish it. This process has its own characteristics and types. The basic ways of word formation are individual for each specific language. It depends on the structure, characteristics and compatibility of parts of speech.

basic ways of word formation

The concept of

By word formation is understood the emergence of newlexical units by means of suffixation, prefixation, and also other methods. A person who knows the ways of word formation in languages ​​can quickly replenish his lexical stock, and also read and understand phrases without having to use a dictionary.

There are several classifications of methodsword formation. Some linguists use the concept of synchrony and diachrony to typologize, but the most common variant is the distribution of this process to morphemic and non-morphogenic subspecies. Classification also depends on the language where word formation takes place. The table below illustrates the features of this process for the Russian language.

Morphemic

Nemorfemny

Affixation

Suffixing

Prefixing

Prefix-suffix and its combinations

Abbreviation

Addition

Morphological-syntactic

Lexico-syntactic

Lexico-Semantic

Each subspecies has its own characteristics and characteristics.

word formation of nouns

Word formation with the help of morphemes

Morphemic way is characterized by the fact that newwords in the language appear due to the use of already existing lexical units and specific affixes. This type has its own basic ways of word formation:

  • The suffix.
  • Prefix.
  • Different combinations of prefix, suffix and postfix types.
  • Addition.
  • Abbreviation.

Each variant has distinctive characteristics, features and certain rules of education.

word derivation of adjectives

Suffix type

The basic way of word formation for Russianlanguage is the process of suffixation. In this case, new lexical units appear by adding to the basis of the word suffix of the word-formative type. For example, learn, teacher. Suffixation covers almost all parts of speech, but the most common word formation is nouns, adverbs and adjectives.

This process is accompanied by a variety of morphemic changes, which are divided into several subspecies:

  • Alternation of morphemes: friend — to be friends (Ms).
  • Truncation of the producing morpheme: high — height.
  • The imposition of several morphemes: pink — pinkish.
  • Change of stress: green — greens.

This is not a complete list of changes that word formation can lead to. The suffixes also affect other morphemic characteristics. The level of change depends on the specific language.

word formation of verbs

Prefix Type

If a new word is formed by addingto the basis of the corresponding prefix, then we are talking about the process of prefixation. Unlike the suffix, the prefix usually forms new lexical units within one part of the speech. For the Russian language, the word-formation of verbs is traditional with the help of this method. For example: cook — cook — prepare; write — sign — unsubscribe, etc.

Despite the sufficient prevalence of this type, most often prefixation is used in parallel with other types of word formation. Quite often this is suffixation, postfixation, etc.

The combination of suffixing, prefixing and postfixation

Modern word formation is characterized bypresence of words with simultaneous use of suffixation, prefixation and other similar options, as well as a variety of their combination. In Russian, the following methods are distinguished:

  • Prefix-suffix. A new word is formed simultaneously with the help of a prefix and a suffix. For example, the road is plantain; border — foreign.
  • Postfixical. The emergence of a new word by adding postfix: -sa, -or-, -tow, -a, etc. For example, who is — anyone — anyone.
  • Prefix-postfix. In this case, a new word is formed using the prefix and the postfix at the same time. Most often, such a variant is present in the same part of the speech. Accordingly, in this way, the word formation of adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc. is possible. For example, to call — to call; sleep — get enough sleep, etc.
  • Suffix-postfix. The word appears simultaneously with the help of the suffix and postfix. For example, fuss — fuss; the crowd is crowded. Word formation of verbs is the only sphere in the Russian language where this method is used.
  • Prefix-suffix-postfix. This option is characterized by the formation of a new word with the help of simultaneous suffixation, prefixation and postfixation. For example, whispering — whispering; talk — talk.

These types of word formation are very active not only in Russian, but also in many other languages.

word formation in the English language table

Addition

Quite common for the Russian languageis the presence of addition as a way of word formation. In this case, a new lexical unit appears as a result of combining two or more separate words into one whole. Depending on which words are combined and in which way, the following basic ways of word formation are distinguished by addition:

  • The basis. New lexical units appear after the addition of two or more words with the application of the interfix. The main component is the last component of the combination. For example, fertilize, everyday, etc.
  • Addition of two or more words, which is characterized by the presence of meaningful equality. For example, a sofa bed, a prime minister, etc.

Addition is actively used in Russian and other languages ​​and is most often responsible for the word formation of nouns and verbs.

Abbreviation

The method of formation, which isthe construction of new tokens by splicing parts of other words is called an abbreviation. Depending on the method of combination and features of the parts of the word used, the following abbreviations are distinguished:

  • Initsialnaya. In this case, new words appear by using separate sounds or letters. Accordingly, the initial abbreviation can be sound (for example, MKhAT, high school) or alphabetic (for example, UFO, CIS, etc.).
  • Syllable. This type involves the use of separate parts of different words (for example, department store, trade union committee, etc.).
  • Mixed. This type is a combination of the initial part of one lexical unit and the other unit completely (for example, salary, trade union, etc.).

The abbreviation is especially relevant in modern lexicology, as there is a worldwide trend towards ensuring maximum accuracy and shortness of the language.

 Ways of word formation in languages

Nemorfemnye word formation

As for the construction of new lexical units without the use of morphemes, the following basic ways of word formation are distinguished:

  • Lexico-syntactic.
  • Morphological-syntactic.
  • Lexico-semantic.

In such cases new words appear due to the transition of one part of speech to another, the splicing or dismemberment of the lexical meaning of the word into separate components.

The lexico-syntactic method

This option is also called fusion,Since new words in this case are formed by merging a specific word combination. This leads to the fact that not only the lexical meaning of the word changes, but also its syntactic role. For example, forever green — evergreen: crazy — crazy, etc.

Most often a dependent lexical unitspeaks an adverb, and the fusion itself is often the word-formation of adjectives or participles. From synonyms, such lexical units differ in that they have an accent and a strict order of arrangement of all their parts.

word building table

Morphological-syntactic method

This option is characterized by the formation of new words by moving one part of the speech to another. There are the following subspecies of this method:

  • Substantivization. The transition of one part of speech into a noun. For example, a leading specialist and host show, a wounded fighter and a silent wounded, etc.
  • Adjectivation. The transition of parts of speech into an adjective. For example, a novice singer, a painted table, etc.
  • Adverbialization. The transition of a noun into an adverb. For example, in the winter morning — come in the morning.

There are also other variants of the morphological-syntactic method. Each language has its own characteristics, variants of compatibility and distinctive features.

Lexical and semantic method

In this case, the new lexical unitsappear after a particular word splits its base value and receives additional ones. For example, the satellite — as a companion and as a heavenly body; titanium — a mythical giant and metal and many others. Thus, the composition of the vocabulary of the language varies due to the variation of the semantics of the word.

For word-formation in a similar way, certain conditions and the similarity of two phenomena or objects are necessary. This often requires a fairly large amount of time.

Word formation in English

Construction of new words in Englishis carried out in different ways. Traditionally, linguists distinguish composing and word-production as word formation in English. The table below illustrates this:

Synthesis

Derivation

Noun + noun (toothpaste)

Adjective + noun (high way)

Preposition + noun (underworld)

Noun + verb (to babysit)

Adverb + noun (to downgrade)

Conversion

Change stress

Alternating sounds

Affixation

As for the composition, this methodis also characteristic of the Russian language. Similarly, in English almost any part of speech is formed. For example, to blackmail, girlfriend, dark-blue, somebody, etc. Word-production is characterized by the formation of some lexical units from others. This can be done by converting one part of the speech into another (answer-to answer), changing the place of stress (conflict-to conflict), alternating sounds (advice-to advise) or affixing using suffixes and prefixes. Combination and transition is the foundation that word formation in English has. This table demonstrates.

The main way to expand the dictionary is toword formation, which has its own types, as well as features, depending on the part of speech. The process of formation of new lexical units never stops and has its own distinctive features in different languages.

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