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Lecture №3. Productive and Non-productive Ways of Word-formation in Modern English

Productivity is the ability to form new words after existing patterns which are readily understood by the speakers of language. The most important and the most productive ways of word-formation are affixation, conversion, word-composition and abbreviation (contraction). In the course of time the productivity of this or that way of word-formation may change. Sound interchange or gradation (blood-to bleed, to abide-abode, to strike-stroke) was a productive way of word building in old English and is important for a diachronic study of the English language. It has lost its productivity in Modern English and no new word can be coined by means of sound gradation. Affixation on the contrary was productive in Old English and is still one of the most productive ways of word building in Modern English.

WORDBUILDING

Word-building is one of the main ways of enriching vocabulary. There are four main ways of word-building in modern English: affixation, composition, conversion, abbreviation. There are also secondary ways of word-building: sound interchange, stress interchange, sound imitation, blends, back formation.

AFFIXATION

Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout the history of English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a definite part of speech. Affixation is divided into suffixation and prefixation.

Suffixation

The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. (e.g. «educate» is a verb, «educator» is a noun, and music» is a noun, «musical» is also a noun or an adjective). There are different classifications of suffixes :

1. Part-of-speech classification. Suffixes which can form different parts of speech are given here :

a) noun-forming suffixes, such as: —er (criticizer), —dom (officialdom), —ism (ageism),

b) adjective-forming suffixes, such as: —able (breathable), less (symptomless), —ous (prestigious),

c) verb-forming suffixes, such as —ize (computerize) , —ify (minify),

d) adverb-forming suffixes , such as : —ly (singly), —ward (tableward),

e) numeral-forming suffixes, such as —teen (sixteen), —ty (seventy).

2. Semantic classification. Suffixes changing the lexical meaning of the stem can be subdivided into groups, e.g. noun-forming suffixes can denote:

a) the agent of the action, e.g. —er (experimenter), —ist (taxist), -ent (student),

b) nationality, e.g. —ian (Russian), —ese (Japanese), —ish (English),

c) collectivity, e.g. —dom (moviedom), —ry (peasantry, —ship (readership), —ati (literati),

d) diminutiveness, e.g. —ie (horsie), —let (booklet), —ling (gooseling), —ette (kitchenette),

e) quality, e.g. —ness (copelessness), —ity (answerability).

3. Lexico—grammatical character of the stem. Suffixes which can be added to certain groups of stems are subdivided into:

a) suffixes added to verbal stems, such as: —er (commuter), —ing (suffering), — able (flyable), —ment (involvement), —ation (computerization),

b) suffixes added to noun stems, such as: —less (smogless), —ful (roomful), —ism (adventurism), —ster (pollster), —nik (filmnik), —ish (childish),

c) suffixes added to adjective stems, such as: —en (weaken), —ly (pinkly), —ish (longish), —ness (clannishness).

4. Origin of suffixes. Here we can point out the following groups:

a) native (Germanic), such as —er,-ful, —less, —ly.

b) Romanic, such as : —tion, —ment, —able, —eer.

c) Greek, such as : —ist, —ism, -ize.

d) Russian, such as —nik.

5. Productivity. Here we can point out the following groups:

a) productive, such as: —er, —ize, —ly, —ness.

b) semi-productive, such as: —eer, —ette, —ward.

c) non-productive , such as: —ard (drunkard), —th (length).

Suffixes can be polysemantic, such as: —er can form nouns with the following meanings: agent, doer of the action expressed by the stem (speaker), profession, occupation (teacher), a device, a tool (transmitter). While speaking about suffixes we should also mention compound suffixes which are added to the stem at the same time, such as —ably, —ibly, (terribly, reasonably), —ation (adaptation from adapt). There are also disputable cases whether we have a suffix or a root morpheme in the structure of a word, in such cases we call such morphemes semi-suffixes, and words with such suffixes can be classified either as derived words or as compound words, e.g. —gate (Irangate), —burger (cheeseburger), —aholic (workaholic) etc.

Prefixation

Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they are used: prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g. un— (unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met in the language as words, e.g. over— (overhead) (cf. over the table). The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another (bebutton, interfamily, postcollege etc).

Prefixes can be classified according to different principles:

1. Semantic classification:

a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as: in— (invaluable), non— (nonformals), un— (unfree) etc,

b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de— (decolonize), re— (revegetation), dis— (disconnect),

c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as: inter— (interplanetary) , hyper— (hypertension), ex— (ex-student), pre— (pre-election), over— (overdrugging) etc.

2. Origin of prefixes:

a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under— etc.

b) Romanic, such as: in-, de-, ex-, re— etc.

c) Greek, such as: sym-, hyper— etc.

When we analyze such words as adverb, accompany where we can find the root of the word (verb, company) we may treat ad-, ac— as prefixes though they were never used as prefixes to form new words in English and were borrowed from Romanic languages together with words. In such cases we can treat them as derived words. But some scientists treat them as simple words. Another group of words with a disputable structure are such as: contain, retain, detain and conceive, receive, deceive where we can see that re-, de-, con— act as prefixes and —tain, —ceive can be understood as roots. But in English these combinations of sounds have no lexical meaning and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some scientists treat such words as simple words, others as derived ones. There are some prefixes which can be treated as root morphemes by some scientists, e.g. after— in the word afternoon. American lexicographers working on Webster dictionaries treat such words as compound words. British lexicographers treat such words as derived ones.

COMPOSITION

Composition is the way of word building when a word is formed by joining two or more stems to form one word. The structural unity of a compound word depends upon: a) the unity of stress, b) solid or hyphеnated spelling, c) semantic unity, d) unity of morphological and syntactical functioning. These are characteristic features of compound words in all languages. For English compounds some of these factors are not very reliable. As a rule English compounds have one uniting stress (usually on the first component), e.g. hard-cover, best—seller. We can also have a double stress in an English compound, with the main stress on the first component and with a secondary stress on the second component, e.g. blood—vessel. The third pattern of stresses is two level stresses, e.g. snow—white, sky—blue. The third pattern is easily mixed up with word-groups unless they have solid or hyphеnated spelling.

Spelling in English compounds is not very reliable as well because they can have different spelling even in the same text, e.g. war—ship, blood—vessel can be spelt through a hyphen and also with a break, insofar, underfoot can be spelt solidly and with a break. All the more so that there has appeared in Modern English a special type of compound words which are called block compounds, they have one uniting stress but are spelt with a break, e.g. air piracy, cargo module, coin change, penguin suit etc. The semantic unity of a compound word is often very strong. In such cases we have idiomatic compounds where the meaning of the whole is not a sum of meanings of its components, e.g. to ghostwrite, skinhead, brain—drain etc. In nonidiomatic compounds semantic unity is not strong, e. g., airbus, to bloodtransfuse, astrodynamics etc.

English compounds have the unity of morphological and syntactical functioning. They are used in a sentence as one part of it and only one component changes grammatically, e.g. These girls are chatter-boxes. «Chatter-boxes» is a predicative in the sentence and only the second component changes grammatically. There are two characteristic features of English compounds:

a) Both components in an English compound are free stems, that is they can be used as words with a distinctive meaning of their own. The sound pattern will be the same except for the stresses, e.g. «a green-house» and «a green house». Whereas for example in Russian compounds the stems are bound morphemes, as a rule.

b) English compounds have a two-stem pattern, with the exception of compound words which have form-word stems in their structure, e.g. middle-of-the-road, off—the—record, up—and—doing etc. The two-stem pattern distinguishes English compounds from German ones.

WAYS OF FORMING COMPOUND WORDS

Compound words in English can be formed not only by means of composition but also by means of:

a) reduplication, e.g. too—too, and also by means of reduplication combined with sound interchange , e.g. rope-ripe,

b) conversion from word-groups, e.g. to micky—mouse, can—do, makeup etc,

c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups, e.g. to bloodtransfuse, to fingerprint etc ,

d) analogy, e.g. lie—in (on the analogy with sit-in) and also phone—in, brawn—drain (on the analogy with brain—drain) etc.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF ENGLISH COMPOUNDS

1. According to the parts of speech compounds are subdivided into:

a) nouns, such as: baby-moon, globe-trotter,

b) adjectives, such as : free-for-all, power-happy,

c) verbs, such as : to honey-moon, to baby-sit, to henpeck,

d) adverbs, such as: downdeep, headfirst,

e) prepositions, such as: into, within,

f) numerals, such as : fifty—five.

2. According to the way components are joined together compounds are divided into: a) neutral, which are formed by joining together two stems without any joining morpheme, e.g. ball—point, to windowshop,

b) morphological where components are joined by a linking element: vowels «o» or «i» or the consonant «s», e.g. («astrospace», «handicraft», «sportsman»),

c) syntactical where the components are joined by means of form-word stems, e.g. here-and-now, free-for-all, do-or-die.

3. According to their structure compounds are subdivided into:

a) compound words proper which consist of two stems, e.g. to job-hunt, train-sick, go-go, tip-top,

b) derivational compounds, where besides the stems we have affixes, e.g. ear—minded, hydro-skimmer,

c) compound words consisting of three or more stems, e.g. cornflower—blue, eggshell—thin, singer—songwriter,

d) compound-shortened words, e.g. boatel, VJ—day, motocross, intervision, Eurodollar, Camford.

4. According to the relations between the components compound words are subdivided into:

a) subordinative compounds where one of the components is the semantic and the structural centre and the second component is subordinate; these subordinative relations can be different: with comparative relations, e.g. honey—sweet, eggshell—thin, with limiting relations, e.g. breast—high, knee—deep, with emphatic relations, e.g. dog—cheap, with objective relations, e.g. gold—rich, with cause relations, e.g. love—sick, with space relations, e.g. top—heavy, with time relations, e.g. spring—fresh, with subjective relations, e.g. foot—sore etc

b) coordinative compounds where both components are semantically independent. Here belong such compounds when one person (object) has two functions, e.g. secretary-stenographer, woman-doctor, Oxbridge etc. Such compounds are called additive. This group includes also compounds formed by means of reduplication, e.g. fifty-fifty, no-no, and also compounds formed with the help of rhythmic stems (reduplication combined with sound interchange) e.g. criss-cross, walkie-talkie.

5. According to the order of the components compounds are divided into compounds with direct order, e.g. kill—joy, and compounds with indirect order, e.g. nuclear—free, rope—ripe.

CONVERSION

Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English word-building system. It is also called affixless derivation or zero-suffixation. The term «conversion» first appeared in the book by Henry Sweet «New English Grammar» in 1891. Conversion is treated differently by different scientists, e.g. prof. A.I. Smirntitsky treats conversion as a morphological way of forming words when one part of speech is formed from another part of speech by changing its paradigm, e.g. to form the verb «to dial» from the noun «dial» we change the paradigm of the noun (a dial, dials) for the paradigm of a regular verb (I dial, he dials, dialed, dialing). A. Marchand in his book «The Categories and Types of Present-day English» treats conversion as a morphological-syntactical word-building because we have not only the change of the paradigm, but also the change of the syntactic function, e.g. I need some good paper for my room. (The noun «paper» is an object in the sentence). I paper my room every year. (The verb «paper» is the predicate in the sentence). Conversion is the main way of forming verbs in Modern English. Verbs can be formed from nouns of different semantic groups and have different meanings because of that, e.g.:

a) verbs have instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting parts of a human body e.g. to eye, to finger, to elbow, to shoulder etc. They have instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting tools, machines, instruments, weapons, e.g. to hammer, to machine-gun, to rifle, to nail,

b) verbs can denote an action characteristic of the living being denoted by the noun from which they have been converted, e.g. to crowd, to wolf, to ape,

c) verbs can denote acquisition, addition or deprivation if they are formed from nouns denoting an object, e.g. to fish, to dust, to peel, to paper,

d) verbs can denote an action performed at the place denoted by the noun from which they have been converted, e.g. to park, to garage, to bottle, to corner, to pocket,

e) verbs can denote an action performed at the time denoted by the noun from which they have been converted e.g. to winter, to week-end.

Verbs can be also converted from adjectives, in such cases they denote the change of the state, e.g. to tame (to become or make tame), to clean, to slim etc.

Nouns can also be formed by means of conversion from verbs. Converted nouns can denote: a) instant of an action e.g. a jump, a move,

b) process or state e.g. sleep, walk,

c) agent of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted, e.g. a help, a flirt, a scold,

d) object or result of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted, e.g. a burn, a find, a purchase,

e) place of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted, e.g. a drive, a stop, a walk.

Many nouns converted from verbs can be used only in the Singular form and denote momentaneous actions. In such cases we have partial conversion. Such deverbal nouns are often used with such verbs as: to have, to get, to take etc., e.g. to have a try, to give a push, to take a swim.

CRITERIA OF SEMANTIC DERIVATION

In cases of conversion the problem of criteria of semantic derivation arises: which of the converted pair is primary and which is converted from it. The problem was first analized by prof. A.I. Smirnitsky. Later on P.A. Soboleva developed his idea and worked out the following criteria:

1. If the lexical meaning of the root morpheme and the lexico-grammatical meaning of the stem coincide the word is primary, e.g. in cases pen — to pen, father — to father the nouns are names of an object and a living being. Therefore in the nouns «pen» and «father» the lexical meaning of the root and the lexico-grammatical meaning of the stem coincide. The verbs «to pen» and «to father» denote an action, a process therefore the lexico-grammatical meanings of the stems do not coincide with the lexical meanings of the roots. The verbs have a complex semantic structure and they were converted from nouns.

2. If we compare a converted pair with a synonymic word pair which was formed by means of suffixation we can find out which of the pair is primary. This criterion can be applied only to nouns converted from verbs, e.g. «chat» n. and «chat» v. can be compared with «conversation» – «converse».

3. The criterion based on derivational relations is of more universal character. In this case we must take a word-cluster of relative words to which the converted pair belongs. If the root stem of the word-cluster has suffixes added to a noun stem the noun is primary in the converted pair and vica versa, e.g. in the word-cluster: hand n., hand v., handy, handful the derived words have suffixes added to a noun stem, that is why the noun is primary and the verb is converted from it. In the word-cluster: dance n., dance v., dancer, dancing we see that the primary word is a verb and the noun is converted from it.

SUBSTANTIVIZATION OF ADJECTIVES

Some scientists (Yespersen, Kruisinga) refer substantivization of adjectives to conversion. But most scientists disagree with them because in cases of substantivization of adjectives we have quite different changes in the language. Substantivization is the result of ellipsis (syntactical shortening) when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute loses its semantically weak noun (man, person etc), e.g. «a grown-up person» is shortened to «a grown-up». In cases of perfect substantivization the attribute takes the paradigm of a countable noun, e.g. a criminal, criminals, a criminal’s (mistake), criminals’ (mistakes). Such words are used in a sentence in the same function as nouns, e.g. I am fond of musicals. (musical comedies). There are also two types of partly substantivized adjectives: 1) those which have only the plural form and have the meaning of collective nouns, such as: sweets, news, finals, greens; 2) those which have only the singular form and are used with the definite article. They also have the meaning of collective nouns and denote a class, a nationality, a group of people, e.g. the rich, the English, the dead.

«STONE WALL» COMBINATIONS

The problem whether adjectives can be formed by means of conversion from nouns is the subject of many discussions. In Modern English there are a lot of word combinations of the type, e.g. price rise, wage freeze, steel helmet, sand castle etc. If the first component of such units is an adjective converted from a noun, combinations of this type are free word-groups typical of English (adjective + noun). This point of view is proved by O. Yespersen by the following facts:

1. «Stone» denotes some quality of the noun «wall».

2. «Stone» stands before the word it modifies, as adjectives in the function of an attribute do in English.

3. «Stone» is used in the Singular though its meaning in most cases is plural, and adjectives in English have no plural form.

4. There are some cases when the first component is used in the Comparative or the Superlative degree, e.g. the bottomest end of the scale.

5. The first component can have an adverb which characterizes it, and adjectives are characterized by adverbs, e.g. a purely family gathering.

6. The first component can be used in the same syntactical function with a proper adjective to characterize the same noun, e.g. lonely bare stone houses.

7. After the first component the pronoun «one» can be used instead of a noun, e.g. I shall not put on a silk dress, I shall put on a cotton one.

However Henry Sweet and some other scientists say that these criteria are not characteristic of the majority of such units. They consider the first component of such units to be a noun in the function of an attribute because in Modern English almost all parts of speech and even word-groups and sentences can be used in the function of an attribute, e.g. the then president (an adverb), out-of-the-way villages (a word-group), a devil-may-care speed (a sentence). There are different semantic relations between the components of «stone wall» combinations. E.I. Chapnik classified them into the following groups:

1. time relations, e.g. evening paper,

2. space relations, e.g. top floor,

3. relations between the object and the material of which it is made, e.g. steel helmet,

4. cause relations, e.g. war orphan,

5. relations between a part and the whole, e.g. a crew member,

6. relations between the object and an action, e.g. arms production,

7. relations between the agent and an action e.g. government threat, price rise,

8. relations between the object and its designation, e.g. reception hall,

9. the first component denotes the head, organizer of the characterized object, e.g. Clinton government, Forsyte family,

10. the first component denotes the field of activity of the second component, e.g. language teacher, psychiatry doctor,

11. comparative relations, e.g. moon face,

12. qualitative relations, e.g. winter apples.

ABBREVIATION

In the process of communication words and word-groups can be shortened. The causes of shortening can be linguistic and extra-linguistic. By extra-linguistic causes changes in the life of people are meant. In Modern English many new abbreviations, acronyms, initials, blends are formed because the tempo of life is increasing and it becomes necessary to give more and more information in the shortest possible time. There are also linguistic causes of abbreviating words and word-groups, such as the demand of rhythm, which is satisfied in English by monosyllabic words. When borrowings from other languages are assimilated in English they are shortened. Here we have modification of form on the basis of analogy, e.g. the Latin borrowing «fanaticus» is shortened to «fan» on the analogy with native words: man, pan, tan etc. There are two main types of shortenings: graphical and lexical.

Graphical abbreviations

Graphical abbreviations are the result of shortening of words and word-groups only in written speech while orally the corresponding full forms are used. They are used for the economy of space and effort in writing. The oldest group of graphical abbreviations in English is of Latin origin. In Russian this type of abbreviation is not typical. In these abbreviations in the spelling Latin words are shortened, while orally the corresponding English equivalents are pronounced in the full form, e.g. for example (Latin exampli gratia), a.m. – in the morning (ante meridiem), No – number (numero), p.a. – a year (per annum), d – penny (dinarius), lb – pound (libra), i. e. – that is (id est) etc.

Some graphical abbreviations of Latin origin have different English equivalents in different contexts, e.g. p.m. can be pronounced «in the afternoon» (post meridiem) and «after death» (post mortem). There are also graphical abbreviations of native origin, where in the spelling we have abbreviations of words and word-groups of the corresponding English equivalents in the full form. We have several semantic groups of them: a) days of the week, e.g. Mon – Monday, Tue – Tuesday etc

b) names of months, e.g. Apr – April, Aug – August etc.

c) names of counties in UK, e.g. Yorks – Yorkshire, Berks – Berkshire etc

d) names of states in USA, e.g. Ala – Alabama, Alas – Alaska etc.

e) names of address, e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. etc.

f) military ranks, e.g. capt. – captain, col. – colonel, sgt – sergeant etc.

g) scientific degrees, e.g. B.A. – Bachelor of Arts, D.M. – Doctor of Medicine. (Sometimes in scientific degrees we have abbreviations of Latin origin, e.g., M.B. – Medicinae Baccalaurus).

h) units of time, length, weight, e.g. f./ft – foot/feet, sec. – second, in. – inch, mg. – milligram etc.

The reading of some graphical abbreviations depends on the context, e.g. «m» can be read as: male, married, masculine, metre, mile, million, minute, «l.p.» can be read as long-playing, low pressure.

Initial abbreviations

Initialisms are the bordering case between graphical and lexical abbreviations. When they appear in the language, as a rule, to denote some new offices they are closer to graphical abbreviations because orally full forms are used, e.g. J.V. – joint venture. When they are used for some duration of time they acquire the shortened form of pronouncing and become closer to lexical abbreviations, e.g. BBC is as a rule pronounced in the shortened form. In some cases the translation of initialisms is next to impossible without using special dictionaries. Initialisms are denoted in different ways. Very often they are expressed in the way they are pronounced in the language of their origin, e.g. ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) is given in Russian as АНЗУС, SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) was for a long time used in Russian as СОЛТ, now a translation variant is used (ОСВ – Договор об ограничении стратегических вооружений). This type of initialisms borrowed into other languages is preferable, e.g. UFO – НЛО, CП – JV etc. There are three types of initialisms in English:

a) initialisms with alphabetical reading, such as UK, BUP, CND etc

b) initialisms which are read as if they are words, e.g. UNESCO, UNO, NATO etc.

c) initialisms which coincide with English words in their sound form, such initialisms are called acronyms, e.g. CLASS (Computor-based Laboratory for Automated School System). Some scientists unite groups b) and c) into one group which they call acronyms. Some initialisms can form new words in which they act as root morphemes by different ways of wordbuilding:

a) affixation, e.g. AVALism, ex- POW, AIDSophobia etc.

b) conversion, e.g. to raff, to fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules),

c) composition, e.g. STOLport, USAFman etc.

d) there are also compound-shortened words where the first component is an initial abbreviation with the alphabetical reading and the second one is a complete word, e.g. A-bomb, U-pronunciation, V -day etc. In some cases the first component is a complete word and the second component is an initial abbreviation with the alphabetical pronunciation, e.g. Three -Ds (Three dimensions) – стереофильм.

Abbreviations of words

Abbreviation of words consists in clipping a part of a word. As a result we get a new lexical unit where either the lexical meaning or the style is different form the full form of the word. In such cases as «fantasy» and «fancy», «fence» and «defence» we have different lexical meanings. In such cases as «laboratory» and «lab», we have different styles. Abbreviation does not change the part-of-speech meaning, as we have it in the case of conversion or affixation, it produces words belonging to the same part of speech as the primary word, e.g. prof. is a noun and professor is also a noun. Mostly nouns undergo abbreviation, but we can also meet abbreviation of verbs, such as to rev. from to revolve, to tab from to tabulate etc. But mostly abbreviated forms of verbs are formed by means of conversion from abbreviated nouns, e.g. to taxi, to vac etc. Adjectives can be abbreviated but they are mostly used in school slang and are combined with suffixation, e.g. comfy, dilly etc. As a rule pronouns, numerals, interjections. conjunctions are not abbreviated. The exceptions are: fif (fifteen), teen-ager, in one’s teens (apheresis from numerals from 13 to 19). Lexical abbreviations are classified according to the part of the word which is clipped. Mostly the end of the word is clipped, because the beginning of the word in most cases is the root and expresses the lexical meaning of the word. This type of abbreviation is called apocope. Here we can mention a group of words ending in «o», such as disco (dicotheque), expo (exposition), intro (introduction) and many others. On the analogy with these words there developed in Modern English a number of words where «o» is added as a kind of a suffix to the shortened form of the word, e.g. combo (combination) – небольшой эстрадный ансамбль, Afro (African) – прическа под африканца etc. In other cases the beginning of the word is clipped. In such cases we have apheresis, e.g. chute (parachute), varsity (university), copter (helicopter), thuse (enthuse) etc. Sometimes the middle of the word is clipped, e.g. mart (market), fanzine (fan magazine) maths (mathematics). Such abbreviations are called syncope. Sometimes we have a combination of apocope with apheresis, when the beginning and the end of the word are clipped, e.g. tec (detective), van (vanguard) etc. Sometimes shortening influences the spelling of the word, e.g. «c» can be substituted by «k» before «e» to preserve pronunciation, e.g. mike (microphone), Coke (coca-cola) etc. The same rule is observed in the following cases: fax (facsimile), teck (technical college), trank (tranquilizer) etc. The final consonants in the shortened forms are substituded by letters characteristic of native English words.

NON-PRODUCTIVE WAYS OF WORDBUILDING

SOUND INTERCHANGE

Sound interchange is the way of word-building when some sounds are changed to form a new word. It is non-productive in Modern English, it was productive in Old English and can be met in other Indo-European languages. The causes of sound interchange can be different. It can be the result of Ancient Ablaut which cannot be explained by the phonetic laws during the period of the language development known to scientists, e.g. to strike – stroke, to sing – song etc. It can be also the result of Ancient Umlaut or vowel mutation which is the result of palatalizing the root vowel because of the front vowel in the syllable coming after the root (regressive assimilation), e.g. hot — to heat (hotian), blood — to bleed (blodian) etc. In many cases we have vowel and consonant interchange. In nouns we have voiceless consonants and in verbs we have corresponding voiced consonants because in Old English these consonants in nouns were at the end of the word and in verbs in the intervocalic position, e.g. bath – to bathe, life – to live, breath – to breathe etc.

STRESS INTERCHANGE

Stress interchange can be mostly met in verbs and nouns of Romanic origin: nouns have the stress on the first syllable and verbs on the last syllable, e.g. `accent — to ac`cent. This phenomenon is explained in the following way: French verbs and nouns had different structure when they were borrowed into English, verbs had one syllable more than the corresponding nouns. When these borrowings were assimilated in English the stress in them was shifted to the previous syllable (the second from the end). Later on the last unstressed syllable in verbs borrowed from French was dropped (the same as in native verbs) and after that the stress in verbs was on the last syllable while in nouns it was on the first syllable. As a result of it we have such pairs in English as: to af«fix -`affix, to con`flict- `conflict, to ex`port -`export, to ex`tract — `extract etc. As a result of stress interchange we have also vowel interchange in such words because vowels are pronounced differently in stressed and unstressed positions.

SOUND IMITATION

It is the way of word-building when a word is formed by imitating different sounds. There are some semantic groups of words formed by means of sound imitation:

a) sounds produced by human beings, such as : to whisper, to giggle, to mumble, to sneeze, to whistle etc.

b) sounds produced by animals, birds, insects, such as: to hiss, to buzz, to bark, to moo, to twitter etc.

c) sounds produced by nature and objects, such as: to splash, to rustle, to clatter, to bubble, to ding-dong, to tinkle etc.

The corresponding nouns are formed by means of conversion, e.g. clang (of a bell), chatter (of children) etc.

BLENDS

Blends are words formed from a word-group or two synonyms. In blends two ways of word-building are combined: abbreviation and composition. To form a blend we clip the end of the first component (apocope) and the beginning of the second component (apheresis) . As a result we have a compound- shortened word. One of the first blends in English was the word «smog» from two synonyms: smoke and fog which means smoke mixed with fog. From the first component the beginning is taken, from the second one the end, «o» is common for both of them. Blends formed from two synonyms are: slanguage, to hustle, gasohol etc. Mostly blends are formed from a word-group, such as: acromania (acronym mania), cinemaddict (cinema adict), chunnel (channel, canal), dramedy (drama comedy), detectifiction (detective fiction), faction (fact fiction) (fiction based on real facts), informecial (information commercial), Medicare (medical care), magalog (magazine catalogue) slimnastics (slimming gymnastics), sociolite (social elite), slanguist (slang linguist) etc.

BACK FORMATION

It is the way of word-building when a word is formed by dropping the final morpheme to form a new word. It is opposite to suffixation, that is why it is called back formation. At first it appeared in the language as a result of misunderstanding the structure of a borrowed word. Prof. Yartseva explains this mistake by the influence of the whole system of the language on separate words. E.g. it is typical of English to form nouns denoting the agent of the action by adding the suffix -er to a verb stem (speak- speaker). So when the French word «beggar» was borrowed into English the final syllable «ar» was pronounced in the same way as the English —er and Englishmen formed the verb «to beg» by dropping the end of the noun. Other examples of back formation are: to accreditate (from accreditation), to bach (from bachelor), to collocate (from collocation), to enthuse (from enthusiasm), to compute (from computer), to emote (from emotion), to televise (from television) etc.

As we can notice in cases of back formation the part-of-speech meaning of the primary word is changed, verbs are formed from nouns.

23

The
outline of the problem discussed

1.
The main types of words in English and their morphological structure.

2.
Affixation (or derivation).

3.
Compounding.

4.
Conversion.

5.
Abbreviation (shortening).

Word-formation
is the process of creating new words from the material

available
in the language.

Before
turning to various processes of word-building in English, it would be

useful
to analyze the main types of English words and their morphological
structure.

If
viewed structurally, words appear to be divisible into smaller units
which are

called
morphemes.
Morphemes
do not occur as free forms but only as constituents of

words.
Yet they possess meanings of their own.

All
morphemes are subdivided into two large classes: roots
(or
radicals)
and

affixes.
The
latter, in their turn, fall into prefixes
which
precede the root in the

structure
of the word (as in re-real,
mis-pronounce, un-well) and
suffixes
which

follow
the root (as in teach-er,
cur-able, dict-ate).

Words
which consist of a root and an affix (or several affixes) are called

derived
words or
derivatives
and
are produced by the process of word-building

known
as affixation
(or
derivation).

Derived
words are extremely numerous in the English vocabulary.

Successfully
competing with this structural type is the so-called root
word which
has

only
a root morpheme in its structure. This type is widely represented by
a great

number
of words belonging to the original English stock or to earlier
borrowings

(house,
room, book, work, port, street, table, etc.), and,
in Modern English, has been

greatly
enlarged by the type of word-building called conversion
(e.g.
to
hand, v.

formed
from the noun hand;
to can, v.
from can,
n.;
to
pale,
v. from pale,
adj.;
a
find,

n.
from to
find, v.;
etc.).

Another
wide-spread word-structure is a compound
word consisting
of two or

more
stems (e.g. dining-room,
bluebell, mother-in-law, good-for-nothing).
Words of

this
structural type are produced by the word-building process called
composition.

The
somewhat odd-looking words like flu,
lab, M.P., V-day, H-bomb are
called

curtailed
words and
are produced by the way of word-building called shortening

(abbreviation).

The
four types (root words, derived words, compounds, shortenings)
represent

the
main structural types of Modern English words, and affixation
(derivation),

conversion,
composition and shortening (abbreviation) — the most productive ways
of

word-building.

83

The
process of affixation
consists
in coining a new word by adding an affix or

several
affixes to some root morpheme. The role of the affix in this
procedure is very

important
and therefore it is necessary to consider certain facts about the
main types

of
affixes.

From
the etymological point of view affixes are classified into the same
two

large
groups as words: native and borrowed.

Some
Native Suffixes

-er
worker,
miner,
teacher,
painter,
etc.

-ness
coldness,
loneliness,
loveliness,
etc.

-ing
feeling,
meaning,
singing,
reading,
etc.

-dom
freedom,
wisdom,
kingdom,
etc.

-hood
childhood,
manhood,
motherhood,
etc.

-ship
friendship,
companionship,
mastership,
etc.

Noun-forming

-th
length,
breadth,
health,
truth,
etc.

-ful
careful,
joyful,
wonderful,
sinful,
skilful,
etc.

-less
careless,
sleepless,
cloudless,
senseless,
etc.

-y
cozy,
tidy,
merry,
snowy,
showy,
etc.

-ish
English,
Spanish,
reddish,
childish,
etc.

-ly
lonely,
lovely,
ugly,
likely,
lordly,
etc.

-en
wooden,
woollen,
silken,
golden,
etc.

Adjective-forming

-some
handsome, quarrelsome, tiresome, etc.

Verb-

forming

-en

widen,
redden,
darken,
sadden,
etc.

Adverb-

forming

-ly

warmly,
hardly,
simply,
carefully,
coldly,
etc.

Borrowed
affixes, especially of Romance origin are numerous in the English

vocabulary.
We can recognize words of Latin and French origin by certain suffixes
or

prefixes;
e. g. Latin
affixes:
-ion,
-tion, -ate,
-ute
,
-ct,
-d(e), dis-, -able, -ate,
-ant,
—

ent,
-or, -al, -ar in
such words as opinion,
union, relation, revolution, appreciate,

congratulate,
attribute, contribute, , act, collect, applaud, divide, disable,
disagree,

detestable,
curable, accurate, desperate, arrogant, constant, absent, convenient,

major,
minor, cordial, familiar;
French
affixes –ance,
—ewe,
-ment, -age, -ess, -ous,

en-
in
such words as arrogance,
intelligence, appointment, development, courage,

marriage,
tigress, actress, curious, dangerous, enable, enslaver.

Affixation
includes a) prefixation
–
derivation of words by adding a prefix to

full
words and b) suffixation
–
derivation of words by adding suffixes to bound

stems.

Prefixes
and suffixes have their own valency, that is they may be added not to

any
stem at random, but only to a particular type of stems:

84

Prefix
un-
is
prefixed to adjectives (as: unequal,
unhealthy), or
to adjectives

derived
from verb stems and the suffix -able
(as:
unachievable,
unadvisable), or
to

participial
adjectives (as: unbecoming,
unending, unstressed, unbound); the
suffix —

er
is
added to verbal stems (as: worker,
singer, or
cutter,
lighter), and
to substantive

stems
(as: glover,
needler); the
suffix -able
is
usually tacked on to verb stems (as:

eatable,
acceptable); the
suffix -ity
in
its turn is usually added to adjective stems

with
a passive meaning (as: saleability,
workability), but
the suffix —ness
is
tacked on

to
other adjectives, having the suffix -able
(as:
agreeableness.
profitableness).

Prefixes
and suffixes are semantically distinctive, they have their own

meaning,
while the root morpheme forms the semantic centre of a word. Affixes
play

a
dependent role in the meaning of the word. Suffixes have a
grammatical meaning,

they
indicate or derive a certain part of speech, hence we distinguish:
noun-forming

suffixes,
adjective-forming suffixes, verb-forming suffixes and adverb-forming

suffixes.
Prefixes change or concretize the meaning of the word, as: to
overdo (to
do

too
much),
to underdo (to
do less than one can or is proper),
to outdo (to
do more or

better
than),
to undo (to
unfasten, loosen, destroy the result, ruin),
to misdo (to
do

wrongly
or unproperly).

A
suffix indicates to what semantic group the word belongs. The suffix
-er

shows
that the word is a noun bearing the meaning of a doer of an action,
and the

action
is denoted by the root morpheme or morphemes, as: writer,
sleeper, dancer,

wood-pecker,
bomb-thrower, the
suffix -ion/-tion,
indicates
that it is a noun

signifying
an action or the result of an action, as: translation
‘a
rendering from one

language
into another’ (an
act, process) and
translation
‘the
product of such

rendering’;
nouns with the suffix -ism
signify
a system, doctrine, theory, adherence to

a
system, as: communism,
realism; coinages
from the stem of proper names are

common,.
as Darwinism.

Affixes
can also be classified into productive
and
non-productive
types.
By

productive
affixes we
mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in a

particular
period of language development. The best way to identify productive

affixes
is to look for them among neologisms
and
so-called nonce-words,
i.e.
words

coined
and used only for this particular occasion. The latter are usually
formed on the

level
of living speech and reflect the most productive and progressive
patterns in

word-building.
When a literary critic writes about a certain book that it is an

unputdownable
thriller, we
will seek in vain this strange and impressive adjective in

dictionaries,
for it is a nonce-word coined on the current pattern of Modern
English

and
is evidence of the high productivity of the adjective-forming
borrowed suffix –

able
and
the native prefix un-,
e.g.: Professor Pringle was a thinnish, baldish,

dyspeptic-lookingish
cove with an eye like a haddock.(From
Right-Ho, Jeeves by P.G.

Wodehouse)

The
adjectives thinnish
and
baldish
bring
to mind dozens of other adjectives

made
with the same suffix: oldish,
youngish, mannish, girlish, fattish, longish,

yellowish,
etc. But
dyspeptic-lookingish
is
the author’s creation aimed at a humorous

effect,
and, at the same time, providing beyond doubt that the suffix –ish
is
a live and

active
one.

85

The
same is well illustrated by the following popular statement: “I
don’t like

Sunday
evenings: I feel so Mondayish”. (Mondayish is
certainly a nonce-word.)

One
should not confuse the productivity of affixes with their frequency
of

occurrence
(use). There are quite a number of high-frequency affixes which,

nevertheless,
are no longer used in word-derivation (e.g. the adjective-forming
native

suffixes
–ful,
-ly; the
adjective-forming suffixes of Latin origin –ant,
-ent, -al which

are
quite frequent).

Some
Productive Affixes

Some
Non-Productive Affixes

Noun-forming

suffixes

-th,
-hood

Adjective-forming

suffixes

—ly,
-some, -en, -ous

Verb-forming
suffix -en

Compound
words are
words derived from two or more stems. It is a very old

word-formation
type and goes back to Old English. In Modern English compounds

are
coined by joining one stem to another by mere juxtaposition, as
raincoat,
keyhole,

pickpocket,
red-hot, writing-table. Each
component of a compound coincides

with
the word. Compounds are the commonest among nouns and adjectives.

Compound
verbs are few in number, as they are mostly the result of conversion
(as,

to
weekend) and
of back-formation (as, to
stagemanage).

From
the point of view of word-structure compounds consist of free stems
and

may
be of different structure: noun stems + noun stem (raincoat);
adjective
stem +

noun
stem (bluebell);
adjective
stem + adjective stem (dark-blue);
gerundial
stem +

noun
stem (writing-table);
verb
stem + post-positive stem (make-up);
adverb
stem +

adjective
stem (out-right);
two
noun stems connected by a preposition (man-of-war)

and
others. There are compounds that have a connecting vowel (as,
speedometer,

handicraft),
but
it is not characteristic of English compounds.

Compounds
may be idiomatic
and
non-idiomatic.
In idiomatic compounds the

meaning
of each component is either lost or weakened, as buttercup
(лютик),

chatter-box
(болтун).

These
are entirely
demotivated compounds. There
are also motivated

compounds,
as lifeboat
(спасательная
лодка). In non-idiomatic compounds the

Noun-forming

suffixes

—er,
-ing,
—ness,
-ism (materialism),
-ist

(impressionist),
-ance

Adjective-forming

suffixes

—y,
-ish, -ed (learned),
—able,
—less

Adverb-forming

suffix

—ly

Verb-forming

suffixes

—ize/-ise
(realize),

—ate

Prefixes
un-
(unhappy),re-
(reconstruct),
dis-
(disappoint)

86

meaning
of each component is retained, as apple-tree,
bedroom, sunlight. There
are

also
many border-line cases.

The
components of compounds may have different semantic relations; from

this
point of view we can roughly classify compounds into endocentric
and

exocentric
compounds.
In endocentric compounds the semantic centre is found

within
the compound and the first element determines the other, as
film-star,
bedroom,

writing-table.
In
exocentric compounds there is no semantic centre, as

scarecrow.
In
Modern English, however, linguists find it difficult to give criteria
for

compound
nouns; it is still a question of hot dispute. The following criteria
may be

offered.
A compound noun is characterized by a) one word or hyphenated
spelling, b)

one
stress, and by c) semantic integrity. These are the so-called
“classical

compounds”.

It
is possible that a compound has only two of these criteria, for
instance, the

compound
words headache,
railway have
one stress and hyphenated or one-word

spelling,
but do not present a semantic unity, whereas the compounds
motor-bike,

clasp-knife
have
hyphenated spelling and idiomatic meaning, but two even stresses

(‘motor-‘bike,
‘clasp-‘knife).
The word apple-tree
is
also a compound; it is spelt either

as
one word or is hyphenated, has one stress (‘apple-tree),
but it is not idiomatic. The

difficulty
of defining a compound lies in spelling which might be misleading, as
there

are
no hard and fast rules of spelling the compounds: three ways of
spelling are

possible:
(‘dockyard,
‘dock yard and
dock-yard).
The
same holds true for the stress

that
may differ from one reference-book to another.

Since
compounds may have two stresses and the stems may be written

separately,
it is difficult to draw the line between compounds proper and nominal

word-combinations
or syntactical combinations. In a combination of words each

element
is stressed and written separately. Compare the attributive
combination

‘black
‘board, a
board which is black (each element has its own meaning; the first

element
modifies the second) and the compound ‘blackboard’,
a
board or a sheet of

slate
used in schools for teaching purposes (the word has one stress and
presents a

semantic
unit). But it is not always easy as that to draw a distinction, as
there are

word-combinations
that may present a semantic unity, take for instance: green
room

(a
room in a theatre for actors and actresses).

Compound
derivatives are
words, usually nouns and adjectives, consisting of

a
compound stem and a suffix, the commonest type being such nouns as:
firstnighter,

type-writer,
bed-sitter, week-ender, house-keeping, well-wisher, threewheeler,

old-timer,
and
the adjectives: blue-eyed,
blond-haired, four-storied, mildhearted,

high-heeled.
The
structure of these nouns is the following: a compound stem

+
the suffix -er,
or
the suffix -ing.

Adjectives
have the structure: a compound stem, containing an adjective (noun,

numeral)
stem and a noun stem + the suffix -ed.
In
Modern English it is an extremely

productive
type of adjectives, e.g.: big-eyed,
long-legged, golden-haired.

In
Modern English it is common practice to distinguish also
semi-suffixes, that

is
word-formative elements that correspond to full words as to their
lexical meaning

and
spelling, as -man,
-proof, -like: seaman, railroadman, waterproof, kiss-proof,

ladylike,
businesslike. The
pronunciation may be the same (cp. proof
[pru:f]
and

87

waterproof
[‘wL:tq
pru:f],
or differ, as is the case with the morpheme -man
(cp.
man

[mxn]
and seaman
[‘si:mqn].

The
commonest is the semi-suffix -man
which
has a more general meaning —

‘a
person of trade or profession or carrying on some work’, as: airman,
radioman,

torpedoman,
postman, cameramen, chairman and
others. Many of them have

synonyms
of a different word structure, as seaman
— sailor, airman — flyer,

workman
— worker; if
not a man but a woman
of
the trade or profession, or a person

carrying
on some work is denoted by the word, the second element is woman,
as

chairwoman,
air-craftwoman, congresswoman, workwoman, airwoman.

Conversion
is
a very productive way of forming new words in English, chiefly

verbs
and not so often — nouns. This type of word formation presents one
of the

characteristic
features of Modern English. By conversion we mean derivation of a

new
word from the stem of a different part of speech without the addition
of any

formatives.
As a result the two words are homonymous, having the same

morphological
structure and belonging to different parts of speech.

Verbs
may be derived from the stem of almost any part of speech, but the

commonest
is the derivation from noun stems as: (a)
tube — (to) tube; (a) doctor —

(to)
doctor, (a) face—(to) face; (a) waltz—(to) waltz; (a) star—(to)
star; from

compound
noun stems as: (a)
buttonhole — (to) buttonhole; week-end — (to) weekend.

Derivations
from the stems of other parts of speech are less common: wrong—

(to)
wrong; up — (to) up; down — (to) down; encore — (to) encore.
Nouns
are

usually
derived from verb stems and may be instanced by such nouns as: (to)
make—

a
make; (to) cut—(a) cut; to bite — (a) bite, (to) drive — (a)
drive; to smoke — (a)

smoke;
(to) walk — (a) walk. Such
formations frequently make part of verb — noun

combinations
as: to
take a walk, to have a smoke, to have a drink, to take a drive, to

take
a bite, to give a smile and
others.

Nouns
may be also derived from verb-postpositive phrases. Such formations

are
very common in Modern English, as for instance: (to)
make up — (a) make-up;

(to)
call up — (a) call-up; (to) pull over — (a) pullover.

New
formations by conversion from simple or root stems are quite usual;

derivatives
from suffixed stems are rare. No verbal derivation from prefixed
stems is

found.

The
derived word and the deriving word are connected semantically. The

semantic
relations between the derived and the deriving word are varied and

sometimes
complicated. To mention only some of them: a) the verb signifies the
act

accomplished
by or by means of the thing denoted by the noun, as: to
finger means

‘to
touch with the finger, turn about in fingers’; to
hand means
‘to give or help with

the
hand, to deliver, transfer by hand’; b) the verb may have the meaning
‘to act as the

person
denoted by the noun does’, as: to
dog means
‘to follow closely’, to
cook — ‘to

prepare
food for the table, to do the work of a cook’; c) the derived verbs
may have

the
meaning ‘to go by’ or ‘to travel by the thing denoted by the noun’,
as, to
train

means
‘to go by train’, to
bus — ‘to
go by bus’, to
tube — ‘to
travel by tube’; d) ‘to

spend,
pass the time denoted by the noun’, as, to
winter ‘to pass
the winter’, to

weekend
— ‘to
spend the week-end’.

88

Derived
nouns denote: a) the act, as a
knock, a hiss, a smoke; or
b) the result of

an
action, as a
cut, a find, a call, a sip, a run.

A
characteristic feature of Modern English is the growing frequency of
new

formations
by conversion, especially among verbs.

Note.
A grammatical homonymy of two words of different parts of speech —
a

verb
and a noun, however, does not necessarily indicate conversion. It may
be the

result
of the loss of endings as well. For instance, if we take the
homonymic pair love

— to
love and
trace it back, we see that the noun love
comes
from Old English lufu,

whereas
the verb to
love—from
Old English lufian,
and
the noun answer
is
traced

back
to the Old English andswaru,
but
the verb to
answer to
Old English

andswarian;
so
that it is the loss of endings that gave rise to homonymy. In the
pair

bus
— (to) bus, weekend — (to) weekend homonymy
is the result of derivation by

conversion.

Shortenings
(abbreviations)
are words produced either by means of clipping

full
word or by shortening word combinations, but having the meaning of
the full

word
or combination. A distinction is to be observed between graphical
and
lexical

shortenings;
graphical abbreviations are signs or symbols that stand for the full

words
or combination of words only in written speech. The commonest form is
an

initial
letter or letters that stand for a word or combination of words. But
to prevent

ambiguity
one or two other letters may be added. For instance: p.
(page),
s.
(see),
b.

b.
(ball-bearing).
Mr
(mister),
Mrs
(missis),
MS
(manuscript),
fig.
(figure). In oral

speech
graphical abbreviations have the pronunciation of full words. To
indicate a

plural
or a superlative letters are often doubled, as: pp.
(pages). It is common practice

in
English to use graphical abbreviations of Latin words, and word
combinations, as:

e.
g. (exampli
gratia), etc.
(et cetera), i.
e. (id
est). In oral speech they are replaced by

their
English equivalents, ‘for
example’,
‘and
so on’,
‘namely‘,
‘that
is’,
‘respectively’.

Graphical
abbreviations are not words but signs or symbols that stand for the

corresponding
words. As for lexical
shortenings,
two main types of lexical

shortenings
may be distinguished: 1) abbreviations
or
clipped
words (clippings)

and
2) initial
words (initialisms).

Abbreviation
or
clipping
is
the result of reduction of a word to one of its

parts:
the meaning of the abbreviated word is that of the full word. There
are different

types
of clipping: 1) back-clipping—the
final part of the word is clipped, as: doc
—

from
doctor,
lab — from
laboratory,
mag — from
magazine,
math — from

mathematics,
prefab —
from prefabricated;
2) fore-clipping
—
the first part of the

word
is clipped as: plane
— from
aeroplane,
phone — from
telephone,
drome —

from
aerodrome.
Fore-clippings
are less numerous in Modern English; 3) the
fore

and
the back parts of the word are clipped and the middle of the word is

retained,
as: tec
— from
detective,
flu — from
influenza.
Words
of this type are few

in
Modern English. Back-clippings are most numerous in Modern English
and are

characterized
by the growing frequency. The original may be a simple word (as,

grad—from
graduate),
a
derivative (as, prep—from
preparation),
a
compound, (as,

foots
— from
footlights,
tails — from
tailcoat),
a
combination of words (as pub —

from
public
house, medico — from
medical
student). As
a result of clipping usually

nouns
are produced, as pram
— from
perambulator,
varsity — for
university.
In
some

89

rare
cases adjectives are abbreviated (as, imposs
—from
impossible,
pi — from

pious),
but
these are infrequent. Abbreviations or clippings are words of one
syllable

or
of two syllables, the final sound being a consonant or a vowel
(represented by the

letter
o), as, trig
(for
trigonometry),
Jap (for
Japanese),
demob (for
demobilized),
lino

(for
linoleum),
mo (for
moment).
Abbreviations
are made regardless of whether the

remaining
syllable bore the stress in the full word or not (cp. doc
from
doctor,
ad

from
advertisement).
The
pronunciation of abbreviations usually coincides with the

corresponding
syllable in the full word, if the syllable is stressed: as, doc
[‘dOk]
from

doctor
[‘dOktq];
if it is an unstressed syllable in the full word the pronunciation

differs,
as the abbreviation has a full pronunciation: as, ad
[xd],
but advertisement

[qd’vq:tismqnt].
There may be some differences in spelling connected with the

pronunciation
or with the rules of English orthoepy, as mike
— from
microphone,

bike
— from
bicycle,
phiz —
from physiognomy,
lube — from
lubrication.
The
plural

form
of the full word or combinations of words is retained in the
abbreviated word,

as,
pants
— from
pantaloons,
digs — from
diggings.

Abbreviations
do not differ from full words in functioning; they take the plural

ending
and that of the possessive case and make any part of a sentence.

New
words may be derived from the stems of abbreviated words by
conversion

(as
to
demob, to taxi, to perm) or
by affixation, chiefly by adding the suffix —y,
-ie,

deriving
diminutives and petnames (as, hanky
— from
handkerchief,
nighty (nightie)

— from
nightgown,
unkie — from
uncle,
baccy — from
tobacco,
aussie — from

Australians,
granny (ie)
— from grandmother).
In
this way adjectives also may be

derived
(as: comfy
— from
comfortable,
mizzy — from
miserable).
Adjectives
may be

derived
also by adding the suffix -ee,
as:
Portugee
— for
Portuguese,
Chinee — for

Chinese.

Abbreviations
do not always coincide in meaning with the original word, for

instance:
doc
and
doctor
have
the meaning ‘one who practises medicine’, but doctor
is

also
‘the highest degree given by a university to a scholar or scientist
and ‘a person

who
has received such a degree’ whereas doc
is
not used in these meanings. Among

abbreviations
there are homonyms, so that one and the same sound and graphical

complex
may represent different words, as vac
(vacation), vac (vacuum cleaner);

prep
(preparation), prep (preparatory school). Abbreviations
usually have synonyms

in
literary English, the latter being the corresponding full words. But
they are not

interchangeable,
as they are words of different styles of speech. Abbreviations are

highly
colloquial; in most cases they belong to slang. The moment the longer
word

disappears
from the language, the abbreviation loses its colloquial or slangy
character

and
becomes a literary word, for instance, the word taxi
is
the abbreviation of the

taxicab
which,
in its turn, goes back to taximeter
cab; both
words went out of use,

and
the word taxi
lost
its stylistic colouring.

Initial
abbreviations (initialisms)
are words — nouns — produced by

shortening
nominal combinations; each component of the nominal combination is

shortened
up to the initial letter and the initial letters of all the words of
the

combination
make a word, as: YCL — Young
Communist League, MP
—

Member
of Parliament. Initial
words are distinguished by their spelling in capital

letters
(often separated by full stops) and by their pronunciation — each
letter gets

90

its
full alphabetic pronunciation and a full stress, thus making a new
word as R.

A.
F. [‘a:r’ei’ef] — Royal
Air Force; TUC.
[‘ti:’ju:’si:] — Trades
Union Congress.

Some
of initial words may be pronounced in accordance with the’ rules of

orthoepy,
as N. A. T. O. [‘neitou], U. N. O. [‘ju:nou], with the stress on the
first

syllable.

The
meaning of the initial word is that of the nominal combination. In

speech
initial words function like nouns; they take the plural suffix, as
MPs, and

the
suffix of the possessive case, as MP’s, POW’s.

In
Modern English the commonest practice is to use a full combination
either

in
the heading or in the text and then quote this combination by giving
the first initial

of
each word. For instance, «Jack Bruce is giving UCS concert»
(the heading). «Jack

Bruce,
one of Britain’s leading rock-jazz musicians, will give a benefit
concert in

London
next week to raise money for the Upper Clyde shop stewards’ campaign»

(Morning
Star).

New
words may be derived from initial words by means of adding affixes,
as

YCL-er,
ex-PM, ex-POW; MP’ess, or adding the semi-suffix —man,
as
GI-man.
As

soon
as the corresponding combination goes out of use the initial word
takes its place

and
becomes fully established in the language and its spelling is in
small letters, as

radar
[‘reidq]
— radio detecting and ranging, laser
[‘leizq]
— light amplification by

stimulated
emission of radiation; maser
[‘meizq]
— microwave amplification by

stimulated
emission of radiation. There are also semi-shortenings, as, A-bomb
(atom

bomb),
H-bomber
(hydrogen
bomber), U-boat
(Untersee
boat) — German submarine.

The
first component of the nominal combination is shortened up to the
initial letter,

the
other component (or components) being full words.

4.7.
ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY: STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC

PECULIARITIES
OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS, THEIR CLASSIFICATION

The
outline of the problem discussed

1.
Main approaches to the definition of a phraseological unit in
linguistics.

2.
Different classifications of phraseological units.

3.
Grammatical and lexical modifications of phraseological units in
speech.

In
linguistics there are two main theoretical schools treating the
problems of

English
phraseology — that of N.N.Amosova and that of A. V. Kunin. We shall
not

dwell
upon these theories in detail, but we shall try to give the guiding
principles of

each
of the authors. According to the theory of N.N. Amosova. A
phraseological unit

is
a unit of constant context. It is a stable combination of words in
which either one of

the
components has a phraseologically bound meaning — a phraseme: white
lie –

невинная
ложь, husband
tea —
жидкий чай), or the meaning of each component is

weakened,
or entirely lost – (an idiom: red
tape —
бюрократия, mare’s
nest —

абсурд).
A. V. Kunin’s theory is based on the concept of specific stability at
the

phraseological
level; phraseological units are crtaracterized by a certain minimum
of

phraseological
stability. A.V. Kunin distinguishes stability of usage, structural
and

semantic
stability, stability of meaning and lexical constituents,
morphological

stability
and syntactical stability. The degree of stability may vary so that
there are

91

several
‘limits’ of stability. But whatever the degree of stability might
be, it is the

idiomatic
meaning that makes the characteristic feature of a phraseological
unit.

There
is one trend more worth mentioning in the theory of English
phraseology

that
of A. I. Smirnitsky. A.I. Smirnitsky takes as his guiding principle
the equivalence

of
a phraseological unit to a word. There are two characteristic
features that make a

phraseological
unit equivalent to a word, namely, the integrity of meaning and the

fact
that both the word and the phraseological unit are ready-made units
which are

reproduced
in speech and are not organized at the speaker’s will.

Whatever
the theory the term phraseology is applied to stable combinations of

words
characterized by the integrity of meaning which is completely or
partially

transferred,
e. g.: to
lead the dance проявлять
инициативу; to
take the cake

одержать
победу. Phraseological units are not to be mixed up with stable

combinations
of words that have their literal meaning, and are of non
phraseological

character,
e.g. the
back of the head, to come to an end.

Among
the phraseological units N.N.Amosova distinguishes idioms,
i.e.

phraseological
units characterized by the integral meaning of the whole, with the

meaning
of each component weakened or entirely lost. Hence, there are
motivated

and
demotivated
idioms.
In a motivated idiom the meaning of each component is

dependent
upon the transferred meaning of the whole idiom, e. g. to
look through

one’s
fingers (смотреть
сквозь пальцы); to
show one’s cards (раскрыть
свои

карты).
Phraseological units like these are homonymous to free syntactical

combinations.
Demotivated idioms are characterized by the integrity of meaning as a

whole,
with the meaning of each of the components entirely lost, e. g. white
elephant

(обременительное
или разорительное имущество), or to
show the white feather

(cтpycить).
But there are no hard and fast boundaries between them and there may
be

many
borderline cases. The second type of phraseological units in N.N.
Amosova’s

classification
is a phraseme.
It is a combination of words one element of which has a

phraseologically
bound meaning, e. g. small
years (детские
годы); small
beer

(слабое
пиво).

According
to A.I. Smirnitsky phraseological units may be classified in respect

to
their structure into one-summit
and
many-summit
phraseological units.
Onesummit

phraseological
units are composed of a notional and a form word, as, in
the

soup
—
быть в затруднительном положении, at
hand —
рядом, under
a cloud –
в

плохом
настроении, by
heart —
наизусть,
in the pink –
в расцвете. Many-summit

phraseological
units are composed of two or more notional words and form words as,

to
take the bull by the horns —
взять быка зарога,
to wear one’s heart on one’s

sleeve
—
выставлять свои чувства на показ, to
kill the goose that laid the golden

eggs
—
уничтожить источник благосостояния;
to
know on which side one’s bread

is
buttered —
быть себе на уме.

Academician
V.V.Vinogradov’s classification is based on the degree of

idiomaticity
and distinguishes three groups of phraseological units:
phraseological

fusions,
phraseological unities, phraseological collocations.

Phraseological
fusions are
completely non-motivated word-groups, e.g.: red

tape
– ‘bureaucratic
methods’; kick
the bucket – die,
etc. Phraseological
unities are

92

partially
non-motivated as their meaning can usually be understood through the

metaphoric
meaning of the whole phraseological unit, e.g.: to
show one’s teeth –

‘take
a threatening tone’; to
wash one’s dirty linen in public – ‘discuss
or make public

one’s
quarrels’.
Phraseological
collocations are
motivated but they are made up of

words
possessing specific lexical combinability which accounts for a
strictly limited

combinability
of member-words, e.g.: to
take a liking (fancy) but
not to
take hatred

(disgust).

There
are synonyms among phraseological units, as, through
thick and thin, by

hook
or by crook, for love or money —
во что бы то ни стало; to
pull one’s leg, to

make
a fool of somebody —
дурачить;
to hit the right nail on the head, to get the

right
sow by the ear —
попасть в точку.

Some
idioms have a variable component, though this variability is.
strictly

limited
as to the number and as to words themselves. The interchangeable

components
may be either synonymous, as
to fling (or throw) one’s (or the) cap over

the
mill (or windmill), to put (or set) one’s (or the) best foot first
(foremost, foreward)

or
different words, not connected semantically,
as to be (or sound, or read) like a

fairy
tale.

Some
of the idioms are polysemantic, as, at
large —
1) на свободе, 2) в

открытом
море, на большом пространстве, 3) без
определенной цели, 4) не

попавший
в цель, 5) свободный, без определенных
занятий, 6) имеющий

широкие
полномочия, 7) подробно, во всем объеме,
в целом, 9) вообще, не

конкретно.

It
is the context or speech situation that individualizes the meaning of
the

idiom
in each case.

When
functioning in speech, phraseological units form part of a sentence
and

consequently
may undergo grammatical and lexical changes. Grammatical changes

are
connected with the grammatical system of the language as a whole,
e.g.: He
didn’t

work,
and he spent a great deal of money, and he
painted the town red.
(W. S.

Maugham)
(to
paint the town red —
предаваться веселью). Here
the infinitive is

changed
into the Past Indefinite. Components of an idiom can be used in
different

clauses,
e.g.: …I
had to put up with, the
bricks they
dropped,
and their embarassment

when
they realized what they’d done.
(W. S. Maugham) (to
drop a brick —

допустить
бестактность).

Possessive
pronouns or nouns in the possessive case may be also added, as:

…the
apple of his uncle’s eye…(A.
Christie) (the
apple of one’s eye —
зеница ока).

But
there are phraseological units that do not undergo any changes, e.
g.: She

was
the friend in adversity; other people’s business was meat
and drink to her. (W.

S.
Maugham) (be)
meat and drink (to somebody)
— необходимо как воздух.

Thus,
we distinguish changeable and unchangeable phraseological units.

Lexical
changes are much more complicated and much more various. Lexical

modifications
of idioms achieve a stylistic and expressive effect. It is an
expressive

device
at the disposal of the writer or of the speaker. It is the integrity
of meaning that

makes
any modifications in idioms possible. Whatever modifications or
changes an

idiom
might’ undergo, the integrity of meaning is never broken. Idioms may
undergo

93

various
modifications. To take only some of them: a word or more may be
inserted to

intensify
and concretize the meaning, making it applicable to this particular
situation:

I
hate the idea of Larry making such
a mess of
his life.
(W. S. Maugham) Here the

word
such
intensifies
the meaning of the idiom. I
wasn’t keen on washing
this kind of

dirty
linen in
public. (C.
P. Snow) In this case the inserted this
kind makes
the

situation
concrete.

To
make the utterance more expressive one of the components of the idiom

may
be replaced by some other. Compare: You’re
a
dog in the manger,
aren’t you,

dear?
and: It was true enough: indeed she was a
bitch in the manger.
(A.
Christie)

The
word bitch
has
its own lexical meaning, which, however, makes part of the

meaning
of the whole idiom.

One
or more components of the idiom may be left out, but the integrity of

meaning
of the whole idiom is retained, e.g.: «I’ve
never spoken to you or anyone else

about
the last election. I suppose I’ve got to now. It’s better to
let it lie,»
said Brown.

(C.
P. Snow) In the idiom let
sleeping dogs lie two
of the elements are missing and it

refers
to the preceding text.

In
the following text the idiom to
have a card up one’s sleeve is
modified:

Bundle
wondered vaguely what it was that Bill had
or thought he had-up in his

sleeve.
(A, Christie) The component card
is
dropped and the word have
realizes
its

lexical
meaning. As a result an, allusive metaphor is achieved.

The
following text presents an interesting instance of modification: She
does

not
seem to think you are a
snake in the grass,
though she sees a good deal of grass

for
a snake to be in. (E.
Bowen) In the first part of the sentence the idiom a
snake in

the
grass is
used, and in the second part the words snake
and
grass
have
their own

lexical
meanings, which are, however, connected with the integral meaning of
the

idiom.

Lexical
modifications are made for stylistic purposes so as to create an

expressive
allusive metaphor.

LITERATURE

1.
Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М., 1986.

2.
Antrushina G.B. English Lexicology. – М., 1999.

3.
Ginzburg R.Z., Khidekel S.S. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – М.,

1975.

4.
Kashcheyeva M.A. Potapova I.A. Practical English lexicology. – L.,
1974.

5.
Raevskaya N.N. English Lexicology. – К., 1971.

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Описание презентации по отдельным слайдам:

• 

  1 слайд

  Ways of Word-Building

• 

  2 слайд

  Conversion
  I. Definition of conversion: a) different approaches to the phenomenon of conversion; b) conversion and convergence; c) semantic development of the resultant word.
  II. Types of conversion. Adjectivization and substantivation.
  III. Semantic relations in converted words.

• 

  3 слайд

  Definition of conversion
  Conversion is a non-affixal way of word-building: e.g. a book — to book
  Conversion consists in coining a new word from some existing one by changing the category of part of speech, the morphemic shape of the original word remaining unchanged: e.g. to head an army, to table a resolution, to smooth a dress.

• 

  4 слайд

  Definition of conversion
  The new word has a meaning, which differs from that of the original one though it can more or less be easily associated with it.
  It has also a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech: e.g. eye, n: an eye, (the) eyes; eye, v: eyes (3rd person singular), eyed (past indefinite), eying (participle 1).

• 

  5 слайд

  Productivity of conversion
  The productivity of conversion in the English language is encouraged by
  the analytical structure of this language,
  the simplicity of paradigms of English parts of speech,
  a great number of one-syllable words.

• 

  6 слайд

  Convergence and Conversion
  On the diachronic level conversion should be distinguished from convergence of sound forms of nouns and verbs, which took place as a result of the loss of endings in the 15-16th centuries:
  e.g. OE carian (v), caru (n) > MnE care (v, n);
  OE lufian (v), lufu (n) > MnE love (v, n);
  OE wyrcan (v), weorc (n) > MnE work.

• 

  7 слайд

  Types of conversion
  N > V (the most usual direction): a hand – to hand, a wolf – to wolf, a room – to room;
  V > N (a frequent direction): to make – a make; to show – a show, to walk – a walk;
  Adj > V: pale – to pale, yellow – to yellow, cool – to cool;

• 

  8 слайд

  Types of conversion
  N > Adj (adjectivization of nouns): “a stone wall”, “a village school”;
  Adj > N (substantivation of adjectives): partial (e.g. the blind, the unemployed, the wounded) or complete (e.g. a private, the private(s), the private’s);
  Prep / Conj > N: “ins”, “buts”, “ifs”.

• 

  9 слайд

  Semantic relations in converted words

• 

  10 слайд

  I. V < N (verbs converted from nouns, i.e. denominal verbs)
  verbs have instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting parts of the human body or from nouns denoting tools, machines, instruments, weapons: e.g. to eye, to finger, to elbow, to shoulder; to hammer, to machine-gun, to rifle, to nail;
  verbs can denote an action characteristic of the living being denoted by the noun from which they have been converted: e.g. to crowd, to nurse, to wolf, to ape;

• 

  11 слайд

  V < N
  verbs can denote acquisition or addition of an object denoted by the noun from which they have been converted: e.g. to fish, to paper;
  verbs can denote deprivation or removal of an object denoted by the noun from which they have been converted: e.g. to dust, to peel;

• 

  12 слайд

  V < N
  verbs can be locative if they are converted from nouns denoting places, buildings, containers: e.g. to park, to garage, to bottle, to corner, to pocket;
  verbs can denote an action performed at the time denoted by the noun from which they have been converted: e.g. to winter, to week-end.

• 

  13 слайд

  II. V < Adj (verbs converted from adjectives, i.e. deadjectival verbs).

  Verbs converted from adjectives denote change of state: e.g. to tame (to become or make tame), to clean, to slim, to calm etc.

• 

  14 слайд

  III. N < V (nouns converted from verbs, i.e. deverbal nouns)

  an agent of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted: e.g. a help, a flirt, a scold;
  instance of the action: e.g. a jump, a move;

• 

  15 слайд

  N < V

  place of the action: e.g. a drive, a stop, a walk;
  object or result of the action: e.g. a find, peel.
  process or state: e.g. sleep, walk.

• 

  16 слайд

  WORD-COMPOSITION

  I. Definition of compound words. Specific features of English compounds. Composition and other ways of forming compound words other ways of forming compound words. A compound and a phrase: the criteria of compounds.
  II. Diachronic approach to compounds: simplification, demotivation, semi-affixes.
  III. Classification of compounds.

• 

  17 слайд

  I. Definition
  Composition is one of the most productive types of word-building in Modern English, in which compound words are produced.
  Compound words are words consisting of at least two stems, which occur in the language as free forms.

• 

  18 слайд

  The criteria of compounds
  Structural cohesion:
  1) the unity of stress (e.g. a `blackboard vs a `black `board),
  But: Double stress: e.g. ‘snow-’white, ‘sky-’blue
  2) solid or hyphenated spelling (e.g. homework, exercise-book),
  But: Different spelling (e.g. blood-vessel / blood vessel ); block compounds (one uniting stress but spelt with a break): e.g. air piracy, cargo module, coin change, etc.

• 

  19 слайд

  The criteria of compounds
  3) semantic unity (the meaning of the whole compound is not a sum of meanings of its components): e.g. to ghostwrite, skinhead, brain-drain, etc.
  But: In non-idiomatic compounds semantic unity is not strong: e.g. airbus, to bloodtransfuse, etc.

• 

  20 слайд

  The criteria of compounds
  4) the unity of morphologic and syntactic functioning, i.e. they are used in a sentence as one part of it and only one component changes grammatically (e.g. These girls are chatter-boxes.),
  5) indivisibility, i.e. the impossibility of inserting another word or word-group between its components.

• 

  21 слайд

  Specific features of English compounds
  1) Both components in an English compound are free stems, i.e. they can be used as words with a distinctive meaning of their own: e.g. «a green-house» and «a green house».
  2) English compounds have a two-stem pattern, with the exception of compound words which have form-word stems in their structure: e.g. middle-of-the-road, off-the-record, up-and-coming, etc.

• 

  22 слайд

  Other ways of forming compound words

  reduplication (e.g. too-too), reduplication + sound interchange (ablaut): e.g. rope-ripe;
  conversion from word-groups: e.g. to mickey-mouse, makeup, etc;

• 

  23 слайд

  Other ways of forming compound words

  back formation from compound nouns or word-groups: e.g. to bloodtransfuse, to fingerprint, etc.;
  analogy: e.g. lie-in, phone-in (on the analogy with “sit-in”), brawn-drain (on the analogy with brain-drain), etc.

• 

  24 слайд

  II. Diachronic approach to compounds

• 

  25 слайд

  Simplification of stems

  the morphological structure of a compound may undergo certain changes and it turns into a root word: e.g. husband < OE husbonda “master of the house”

• 

  26 слайд

  Demotivation
  Due to etymological isolation a compound may lose its ties with formerly correlated words: e.g. breakfast (literally means “to interrupt going without food / прервать пост”), kidnap (literally means “to seize a young goat”).

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  Semi-affixes
  Some compounds look very much like derivatives due to semi-affixes “man”, “berry”, “land”, “proof”, “like”, “worthy”, “monger”, etc.: e.g. mainland, waterproof, praiseworthy, businesslike, fishmonger.

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  28 слайд

  III. Classification of compounds

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  29 слайд

  I. The means of joining the components:

  1) neutral, i.e. words with a mere juxtaposition of components without connecting elements: e.g. headache, film-star, blockbuster;
  2) morphological, i.e. words whose components are joined together with a vowel or a consonant as a linking element: e.g. speedometer, handicraft, statesman;
  3) syntactical, i.e. words with linking elements represented by form-word stems: e.g. down-and-out, sister-in-law.

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  30 слайд

  II.The morphologic structure of components
  1) compounds consisting of simple stems (compounds proper): e.g. bookcase, blackbird;
  2) compounds where at least one of the components is a derived stem (derived, or derivational compounds): e.g. long-legged, chain-smoker;

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  31 слайд

  II.The morphologic structure of components
  3) compounds where at least one of the components is a shortened stem (contracted compounds): e.g. H-bag, math-mistress;
  4) compounds where at least one of the components is a compound stem: e.g. wastepaper-basket, aircraft-carrier, singer-songwriter.

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  32 слайд

  III.The part of speech of a compound
  compound nouns (e.g. sunbeam, pickpocket);
  compound adjectives (e.g. lifelong, red-hot, hard-working);
  compound verbs formed either by means of conversion from compound nouns (e.g. “to weekend” from “a weekend”) or by back-derivation from compound nouns (e.g. “to baby-sit” from “a baby-sitter”);

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  33 слайд

  III.The part of speech of a compound
  compound pronouns (e.g. somebody, nothing);
  compound adverbs (e.g. somewhere, inside, headfirst),
  compound prepositions (e.g. into, without),
  compound conjunctions (e.g. insofar as),
  compound numerals (e.g. fifty-five),

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  34 слайд

  IV. The degree of motivation of compounds
  1) non-idiomatic compounds (with a perfectly clear motivation): e.g. “a seaman – a man professionally connected with the sea”;
  2) idiomatic compounds (the motivation is vague): e.g. a chatterbox, to blackmail;

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  V. The relations between the components
  1) subordinative compounds where one of the components is the semantic and structural centre and the second component is subordinate: e.g. custom-house, coast-line
  2) coordinative compounds where both components are semantically independent: e.g. secretary-stenographer, woman-doctor, fifty-fifty, no-no, criss-cross, walkie-talkie

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  36 слайд

  Subordinative relations
  purpose or function relations (e.g. bathrobe, classroom, textbook)
  local relations (e.g. dockyard, garden-party, sea-front)
  comparison (e.g. snow-white)
  the material the thing is made of (e.g. silverware, tin-hat)

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  37 слайд

  Subordinative relations
  temporal relations (e.g. summer-house, night-club, day-train)
  the first element denoting gender (e.g. she-dog, tom-cat)
  the first element pointing out the agent (e.g. cock-crowing)
  the first element pointing out the instrument (e.g. pinprick)

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  38 слайд

  Subordinative relations
  limiting relations (e.g. breast-high, knee-deep)
  emphatic relations (e.g. dog-cheap)
  cause relations (e.g. love-sick)
  space relations (e.g. top-heavy), etc.

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  39 слайд

  VI. The order of the components
  direct order (e.g. kill-joy)

  indirect order (e.g. nuclear-free, rope-ripe)

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Lecture 3.
Word-building: affixation, conversion, composition, abbreviation.
THE WORD-BUILDING SYSTEM OF ENGLISH
1.
Word-derivation
2.
Affixation
3.
Conversion
4.
Word-composition
5.
Shortening
6.
Blending
7.
Acronymy
8.
Sound interchange
9.
Sound imitation
10. Distinctive stress
11. Back-formation
Word-formation is a branch of Lexicology which studies the process of building new
words, derivative structures and patterns of existing words. Two principle types of wordformation are distinguished: word-derivation and word-composition. It is evident that wordformation proper can deal only with words which can be analyzed both structurally and
semantically. Simple words are closely connected with word-formation because they serve as the
foundation of derived and compound words. Therefore, words like writer, displease, sugar free,
etc. make the subject matter of study in word-formation, but words like to write, to please, atom,
free are irrelevant to it.
WORD-FORMATION
WORD-DERIVATION
AFFIXATION
WORD-COMPOSITION
CONVERSION
1. Word-derivation.
Speaking about word-derivation we deal with the derivational structure of words which
basic elementary units are derivational bases, derivational affixes and derivational patterns.
A derivational base is the part of the word which establishes connection with the lexical
unit that motivates the derivative and determines its individual lexical meaning describing the
difference between words in one and the same derivative set. For example, the individual lexical
meaning of the words singer, writer, teacher which denote active doers of the action is signaled by
the lexical meaning of the derivational bases: sing-, write-, teach-.
Structurally derivational bases fall into 3 classes:
1. Bases that coincide with morphological stems of different degrees оf complexity, i.e.,
with words functioning independently in modern English e.g., dutiful, day-dreamer. Bases are
functionally and semantically distinct from morphological stems. Functionally the morphological
stem is a part of the word which is the starting point for its forms: heart – hearts; it is the part
which presents the entire grammatical paradigm. The stem remains unchanged throughout all
word-forms; it keeps them together preserving the identity of the word. A derivational base is the
starting point for different words (heart – heartless – hearty) and its derivational potential
outlines the type and scope of existing words and new creations. Semantically the stem stands for
the whole semantic structure of the word; it represents all its lexical meanings. A base represents,
as a rule, only one meaning of the source word.
2. Bases that coincide with word-forms, e.g., unsmiling, unknown. The base is usually
represented by verbal forms: the present and the past participles.
3. Bases that coincide with word-groups of different degrees of stability, e.g., blue-eyed,
empty-handed. Bases of this class allow a rather limited range of collocability, they are most
active with derivational affixes in the class of adjectives and nouns (long-fingered, blue-eyed).
Derivational affixes are Immediate Constituents of derived words in all parts of speech.
Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to
different types of bases. Affixation is subdivided into suffixation and prefixation. In Modern
English suffixation is mostly characteristic of nouns and adjectives coining, while prefixation is
mostly typical of verb formation.
A derivational pattern is a regular meaningful arrangement, a structure that imposes
rigid rules on the order and the nature of the derivational base and affixes that may be brought
together to make up a word. Derivational patterns are studied with the help of distributional
analysis at different levels. Patterns are usually represented in a generalized way in terms of
conventional symbols: small letters v, n, a, d which stand for the bases coinciding with the stems
of the respective parts of speech: verbs, etc. Derivational patterns may represent derivative
structure at different levels of generalization:
- at the level of structural types. The patterns of this type are known as structural
formulas, all words may be classified into 4 classes: suffixal derivatives (friendship) n + -sf →
N, prefixal derivatives (rewrite), conversions (a cut, to parrot) v → N, compound words (musiclover).
- at the level of structural patterns. Structural patterns specify the base classes and
individual affixes thus indicating the lexical-grammatical and lexical classes of derivatives
within certain structural classes of words. The suffixes refer derivatives to specific parts of
speech and lexical subsets. V + -er = N (a semantic set of active agents, denoting both animate
and inanimate objects - reader, singer); n + -er = N (agents denoting residents or occupations Londoner, gardener). We distinguish a structural semantic derivationa1 pattern.
- at the level of structural-semantic patterns. Derivational patterns may specify semantic
features of bases and individual meaning of affixes: N + -y = A (nominal bases denoting living
beings are collocated with the suffix meaning "resemblance" - birdy, catty; but nominal bases
denoting material, parts of the body attract another meaning "considerable amount" - grassy,
leggy).
The basic ways of forming new words in word-derivation are affixation and conversion.
Affixation is the formation of a new word with the help of affixes (heartless, overdo).
Conversion is the formation of a new word by bringing a stem of this word into a different
paradigm (a fall from to fall).
2. Affixation
Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes
to different types of bases. Affixation includes suffixation and prefixation. Distinction between
suffixal and prefixal derivates is made according to the last stage of derivation, for example,
from the point of view of derivational analysis the word unreasonable – un + (reason- + -able) is
qualified as a prefixal derivate, while the word discouragement – (dis- + -courage) + -ment is
defined as a suffixal derivative.
Suffixation is the formation of words with the help of suffixes. Suffixes usually modify
the lexical meaning of the base and transfer words to a different part of speech.
Suffixes can be classified into different types in accordance with different principles.
According to the lexico-grammatical character suffixes may be: deverbal suffixes, e.d.,
those added to the verbal base (agreement); denominal (endless); deadjectival (widen,
brightness).
According to the part of speech formed suffixes fall into several groups: noun-forming
suffixes (assistance), adjective-forming suffixes (unbearable), numeral-forming suffixes
(fourteen), verb-forming suffixes (facilitate), adverb-forming suffixes (quickly, likewise).
Semantically suffixes may be monosemantic, e.g. the suffix –ess has only one meaning
“female” – goddess, heiress; polysemantic, e.g. the suffix –hood has two meanings “condition or
quality” falsehood and “collection or group” brotherhood.
According to their generalizing denotational meaning suffixes may fall into several
groups: the agent of the action (baker, assistant); collectivity (peasantry); appurtenance
(Victorian, Chinese); diminutiveness (booklet).
Prefixation is the formation of words with the help of prefixes. Two types of prefixes can
be distinguished: 1) those not correlated with any independent word (un-, post-, dis-); 2) those
correlated with functional words (prepositions or preposition-like adverbs: out-, up-, under-).
Diachronically distinction is made between prefixes of native and foreign origin.
Prefixes can be classified according to different principles.
According to the lexico-grammatical character of the base prefixes are usually added to,
they may be: deverbal prefixes, e.d., those added to the verbal base (overdo); denominal
(unbutton); deadjectival (biannual).
According to the part of speech formed prefixes fall into several groups: noun-forming
prefixes (ex-husband), adjective-forming prefixes (unfair), verb-forming prefixes (dethrone),
adverb-forming prefixes (uphill).
Semantically prefixes may be monosemantic, e.g. the prefix –ex has only one meaning
“former” – ex-boxer; polysemantic, e.g. the prefix –dis has four meanings “not” disadvantage
and “removal of” to disbrunch.
According to their generalizing denotational meaning prefixes may fall into several
groups: negative prefixes – un, non, dis, a, in (ungrateful, nonpolitical, disloyal, amoral,
incorrect); reversative prefixes - un, de, dis (untie, decentralize, disconnect); pejorative prefixes
– mis, mal, pseudo (mispronounce, maltreat, pseudo-scientific); prefix of repetition (redo),
locative prefixes – super, sub, inter, trans (superstructure, subway, intercontinental,
transatlantic).
3. Conversion
Conversion is a process which allows us to create additional lexical terms out of those
that already exist, e.g., to saw, to spy, to snoop, to flirt. This process is not limited to one syllable
words, e.g., to bottle, to butter, nor is the process limited to the creation of verbs from nouns, e.g.,
to up the prices. Converted words are extremely colloquial: "I'll microwave the chicken", "Let's
flee our dog", "We will of course quiche and perrier you".
Conversion came into being in the early Middle English period as a result of the leveling
and further loss of endings.
In Modern English conversion is a highly-productive type of word-building. Conversion
is a specifically English type of word formation which is determined by its analytical character,
by its scarcity of inflections and abundance of mono-and-de-syllabic words in different parts of
speech. Conversion is coining new words in a different part of speech and with a different
distribution but without adding any derivative elements, so that the original and the converted
words are homonyms.
Structural Characteristics of Conversion: Mostly monosyllabic words are converted,
e.g., to horn, to box, to eye. In Modern English there is a marked tendency to convert
polysyllabic words of a complex morphological structure, e.g., to e-mail, to X-ray. Most converted
words are verbs which may be formed from different parts of speech from nouns, adjectives,
adverbs, interjections.
Nouns from verbs - a try, a go, a find, a loss
From adjectives - a daily, a periodical
From adverbs - up and down
From conjunctions - but me no buts
From interjection - to encore
Semantic Associations / Relations of Conversion:
The noun is the name of a tool or implement, the verb denotes an action performed by the
tool, e.g., to nail, to pin, to comb, to brush, to pencil;
The noun is the name of an animal, the verb denotes an action or aspect of behavior
considered typical of this animal, e.g., to monkey, to rat, to dog, to fox;
When the noun is the name of a part of a human body, the verb denotes an action
performed by it, e.g., to hand, to nose, to eye;
When the noun is the name of a profession or occupation, the verb denotes the activity
typical of it, e.g., to cook, to maid, to nurse;
When the noun is the name of a place, the verb will denote the process of occupying the
place or by putting something into it, e.g., to room, to house, to cage;
When the word is the name of a container, the verb will denote the act of putting
something within the container, e.g., to can, to pocket, to bottle;
When the word is the name of a meal, the verb means the process of taking it, e.g., to
lunch, to supper, to dine, to wine;
If an adjective is converted into a verb, the verb may have a generalized meaning "to be
in a state", e.g., to yellow;
When nouns are converted from verbs, they denote an act or a process, or the result, e.g.,
a try, a go, a find, a catch.
4. Word-composition
Compound words are words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language
as free forms.
Most compounds in English have the primary stress on the first syllable. For example,
income tax has the primary stress on the in of income, not on the tax.
Compounds have a rather simple, regular set of properties. First, they are binary in
structure. They always consist of two or more constituent lexemes. A compound which has three
or more constituents must have them in pairs, e.g., washingmachine manufacturer consists of
washingmachine and manufacturer, while washingmachine in turn consists of washing and
machine. Compound words also usually have a head constituent. By a head constituent we mean
one which determines the syntactic properties of the whole lexeme, e.g., the compound lexeme
longboat consists of an adjective, long and a noun, boat. The compound lexeme longboat is a
noun, and it is а noun because boat is a noun, that is, boat is the head constituent of longboat.
Compound words can belong to all the major syntactic categories:
• Nouns: signpost, sunlight, bluebird, redwood, swearword, outhouse;
• Verbs: window shop, stargaze, outlive, undertake;
• Adjectives: ice-cold, hell-bent, undersized;
• Prepositions: into, onto, upon.
From the morphological point of view compound words are classified according to the
structure of immediate constituents:
• Compounds consisting of simple stems - heartache, blackbird;
• Compounds where at least one of the constituents is a derived stem -chainsmoker,
maid-servant, mill-owner, shop-assistant;
• Compounds where one of the constituents is a clipped stem - V-day, A-bomb, Xmas,
H-bag;
• Compounds where one of the constituents is a compound stem - wastes paper basket,
postmaster general.
Compounds are the commonest among nouns and adjectives. Compound verbs are few in
number, as they are mostly the result of conversion, e.g., to blackmail, to honeymoon, to
nickname, to safeguard, to whitewash. The 20th century created some more converted verbs, e.g.,
to weekend, to streamline,, to spotlight. Such converted compounds are particularly common in
colloquial speech of American English. Converted verbs can be also the result of backformation.
Among the earliest coinages are to backbite, to browbeat, to illtreat, to housekeep. The 20th
century gave more examples to hitch-hike, to proof-read, to mass-produce, to vacuumclean.
One more structural characteristic of compound words is classification of compounds
according to the type of composition. According to this principle two groups can be singled out:

words which are formed by a mere juxtaposition without any connecting elements,
e.g., classroom, schoolboy, heartbreak, sunshine;

composition with a vowel or a consonant placed between the two stems. e.g.,
salesman, handicraft.
Semantically compounds may be idiomatic and non-idiomatic. Compound words may be
motivated morphologically and in this case they are non-idiomatic. Sunshine - the meaning here
is a mere meaning of the elements of a compound word (the meaning of each component is
retained). When the compound word is not motivated morphologically, it is idiomatic. In
idiomatic compounds the meaning of each component is either lost or weakened. Idiomatic
compounds have a transferred meaning. Chatterbox - is not a box, it is a person who talks a great
deal without saying anything important; the combination is used only figuratively. The same
metaphorical character is observed in the compound slowcoach - a person who acts and thinks
slowly.
The components of compounds may have different semantic relations. From this point of
view we can roughly classify compounds into endocentric and exocentric. In endocentric
compounds the semantic centre is found within the compound and the first element determines
the other as in the words filmstar, bedroom, writing-table. Here the semantic centres are star,
room, table. These stems serve as a generic name of the object and the determinants film, bed,
writing give some specific, additional information about the objects. In exocentric compound
there is no semantic centre. It is placed outside the word and can be found only in the course of
lexical transformation, e.g., pickpocket - a person who picks pockets of other people, scarecrow an object made to look like a person that a farmer puts in a field to frighten birds.
The Criteria of Compounds
As English compounds consist of free forms, it's difficult to distinguish them from
phrases, because there are no reliable criteria for that. There exist three approaches to distinguish
compounds from corresponding phrases:
Formal unity implies the unity of spelling

solid spelling, e.g., headmaster;

with a hyphen, e.g., head-master;

with a break between two components, e.g., head master.
Different dictionaries and different authors give different spelling variants.
Phonic principal of stress
Many compounds in English have only one primary stress. All compound nouns are
stressed according to this pattern, e.g., ice-cream, ice cream. The rule doesn't hold with
adjectives. Compound adjectives are double-stressed, e.g., easy-going, new-born, sky-blue.
Stress cannot help to distinguish compounds from phrases because word stress may depend on
phrasal stress or upon the syntactic function of a compound.
Semantic unity
Semantic unity means that a compound word expresses one separate notion and phrases
express more than one notion. Notions in their turn can't be measured. That's why it is hard to
say whether one or more notions are expressed. The problem of distinguishing between
compound words and phrases is still open to discussion.
According to the type of bases that form compounds they can be of :
1.
compounds proper – they are formed by joining together bases built on the stems
or on the ford-forms with or without linking element, e.g., door-step;
2.
derivational compounds – by joining affixes to the bases built on the word-groups
or by converting the bases built on the word-groups into the other parts of speech, e.g., longlegged → (long legs) + -ed, a turnkey → (to turn key) + conversion. More examples: do-gooder,
week-ender, first-nighter, house-keeping, baby-sitting, blue-eyed blond-haired, four-storied. The
suffixes refer to both of the stems combined, but not to the final stem only. Such stems as nighter,
gooder, eyed do not exist.
Compound Neologisms
In the last two decades the role of composition in the word-building system of English has
increased. In the 60th and 70th composition was not so productive as affixation. In the 80th
composition exceeded affixation and comprised 29.5 % of the total number of neologisms in
English vocabulary. Among compound neologisms the two-component units prevail. The main
patterns of coining the two-component neologisms are Noun stem + Noun stem = Noun;
Adjective stem + Noun stem = Noun.
There appeared a tendency to coin compound nouns where:
 The first component is a proper noun, e.g., Kirlian photograph - biological field of
humans.
 The first component is a geographical place, e.g., Afro-rock.
 The two components are joined with the help of the linking vowel –o- e.g.,
bacteriophobia, suggestopedia.
 The number of derivational compounds increases. The main productive suffix to coin
such compound is the suffix -er - e.g., baby-boomer, all nighter.
 Many compound words are formed according to the pattern Participle 2 + Adv =
Adjective, e.g., laid-back, spaced-out, switched-off, tapped-out.
 The examples of verbs formed with the help of a post-positive -in -work-in, die-in,
sleep-in, write-in.
Many compounds formed by the word-building pattern Verb + postpositive are numerous
in colloquial speech or slang, e.g., bliss out, fall about/horse around, pig-out.
ATTENTION: Apart from the principle types there are some minor types of modern wordformation, i.d., shortening, blending, acronymy, sound interchange, sound imitation, distinctive
stress, back-formation, and reduplicaton.
5. Shortening
Shortening is the formation of a word by cutting off a part of the word. They can be
coined in two different ways. The first is to cut off the initial/ middle/ final part:
 Aphaeresis – initial part of the word is clipped, e.g., history-story, telephone-phone;
 Syncope – the middle part of the word is clipped, e.g., madam- ma 'am; specs
spectacles
 Apocope – the final part of the word is clipped, e.g., professor-prof, editored, vampirevamp;
 Both initial and final, e.g., influenza-flu, detective-tec.
Polysemantic words are usually clipped in one meaning only, e.g., doc and doctor have
the meaning "one who practices medicine", but doctor is also "the highest degree given by a
university to a scholar or scientist".
Among shortenings there are homonyms, so that one and the same sound and graphical
complex may represent different words, e.g., vac - vacation/vacuum, prep —
preparation/preparatory school, vet — veterinary surgeon/veteran.
6. Blending
Blending is a particular type of shortening which combines the features of both clipping
and composition, e.g., motel (motor + hotel), brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog),
telethon (television + marathon), modem , (modulator + demodulator), Spanglish (Spanish +
English). There are several structural types of blends:

Initial part of the word + final part of the word, e.g., electrocute (electricity +
execute);

initial part of the word + initial part of the word, e.g., lib-lab (liberal+labour);

Initial part of the word + full word, e.g., paratroops (parachute+troops);

Full word + final part of the word, e.g., slimnastics (slim+gymnastics).
7. Acronymy
Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of parts of a word or phrase,
commonly the names of institutions and organizations. No full stops are placed between the
letters. All acronyms are divided into two groups. The first group is composed of the acronyms
which are often pronounced as series of letters: EEC (European Economic Community), ID
(identity or identification card), UN (United Nations), VCR (videocassette recorder), FBI
(Federal Bureau of Investigation), LA (Los Angeles), TV (television), PC (personal computer),
GP (General Practitioner), ТВ (tuberculosis). The second group of acronyms is composed by the
words which are pronounced according to the rules of reading in English: UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome), ASH (Action on Smoking and Health). Some of these pronounceable words are
written without capital letters and therefore are no longer recognized as acronyms: laser (light
amplification by stimulated emissions of radiation), radar (radio detection and ranging).
Some abbreviations have become so common and normal as words that people do not think
of them as abbreviations any longer. They are not written in capital letters, e.g., radar (radio
detection and ranging), laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) yuppie,
gruppie, sinbads, dinkies.
Some abbreviations are only written forms but they are pronounced as full words, e.g.,
Mr, Mrs, Dr. Some abbreviations are from Latin. They are used as part of the language etc. - et
cetera, e.g., (for example) — exampli gratia, that is - id est.
Acromymy is widely used in the press, for the names of institutions, organizations,
movements, countries. It is common to colloquial speech, too. Some acronyms turned into
regular words, e.g., jeep -came from the expression general purpose car.
There are a lot of homonyms among acronyms:
MP - Member of Parliament/Military Police/Municipal Police
PC - Personal Computer/Politically correct
8. Sound-interchange
Sound-interchange is the formation of a new word due to an alteration in the phonemic
composition of its root. Sound-interchange falls into two groups: 1) vowel-interchange, e.g., food
– feed; in some cases vowel-interchange is combined with suffixation, e.g., strong – strength; 2)
consonant-interchange e.g., advice – to advise. Consonant-interchange and vowel-interchange
may be combined together, e.g., life – to live.
This type of word-formation is greatly facilitated in Modern English by the vast number
of monosyllabic words. Most words made by reduplication represent informal groups:
colloquialisms and slang, hurdy-gurdy, walkie-talkie, riff-raff, chi-chi girl. In reduplication new
words are coined by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes as in bye-bye or with a
variation of the root-vowel or consonant as in ping-pong, chit-chat.
9. Sound imitation or (onomatopoeia)
It is the naming of an action or a thing by more or less exact reproduction of the sound
associated with it, cf.: cock-a-do-doodle-do – ку-ка-ре-ку.
Semantically, according to the source sound, many onomatopoeic words fall into the
following definitive groups: 1) words denoting sounds produced by human beings in the process of
communication or expressing their feelings, e.g., chatter; 2) words denoting sounds produced by
animals, birds, insects, e.g., moo, buzz; 3) words imitating the sounds of water, the noise of metallic
things, movements, e.g., splash, whip, swing.
10. Distinctive stress
Distinctive stress is the formation of a word by means of the shift of the stress in the
source word, e.g., increase – increase.
11. Back-formation
Backformation is coining new words by subtracting a real or supposed suffix, as a result
of misinterpretation of the structure of the existing word. This type of word-formation is not
highly productive in Modern English and it is built on the analogy, e.g., beggar-to beg, cobbler to cobble, blood transfusion — to blood transfuse, babysitter - to baby-sit.