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Note
There are 1 vowel letters and 3 consonant letters in the word word. W is 23rd, O is 15th, R is 18th, D is 4th, Letter of Alphabet series.
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It’s
a process of creating new words from material available in the
language after a certain structural and semantic formulas and
pattern, forming words by combining root & affix morphemes.
2 Types of word formation:
1)
Compounding (словосложение)
2)
Word – derivation
Within
the types further distinction may be made between the ways of forming
words. The basic way of forming words is word-derivation affixation
and conversion apart from this shortening and a number of minor ways
of formal words such as back-forming, blending, sound imitation are
traditionally referred to formation.
Different types of word
formation:
Affixation
is
the formation of new words by means of suffixes and prefixes to
stemsbasis.
Affixes may be grouped
1) according to their
linguistic origin. We distinguish affixes of Germanic origin (full,
less), of Romanic origin (ion), of Greek origin (ise, izm);
2) according to the parts of
speech. We distinguish noun forming, adj. forming and verb forming
affixes;
3)
according to semantic functions. They may denote persons, quality,
negation. Many suffixes originated from separate words: hood
originated for the noun hood, which meant state or condition; full –
полный
(adj. In O.E) now it is suffix. Suffixes may change the part of
speech: critic (al).
All
suffixes are divided into lexical
and grammatical.
Lexical
suffixes build new word. Productive
affixes. For
ex: read-readable, happy-happiness, act-actor.
Grammatical
suffixes change the grammatical form of a word. Often used to create
neologisms and nonce-words (I
don’t like Sunday evenings: I feel so mondayish).
For ex: finish-finished, say-says, rose-roses.
Some
productive suffixes:
Noun
forming – er,
ing, is, ist, ance
Adj
– forming – y,
ish, ed, able, less
Adv
– forming – ly
Verb – forming — Ize, /ise,
ate
Prefixies
—
Un, die, re
Conversion
(zero derivation) it is one of the major ways of enriching EV &
referrers to the numerous cases of phonetic identity of word forms of
2 words belonging to different part of speech.. The new word has a
meaning which differs from that of original one though it can ><
be associated with it. nurse
(noun) to nurse – to feed
A certain stem is used for the
formation of a categorically different word without a derivative
element being added.
Bag
– to bag, Back – to back , Bottle – to bottle This
specific pattern is very productive in English
The
most popular types are noun →verb or verb→noun To
take off – a take off
Conversion
can be total
or partial.
Partial: the then
president (тогдашний).
An adverb is used as an adjective, only in this particular context.
Total: work
– to work
Conversion
may be the result of shading of English endings. The historical
changes may be briefly outlined as follows: in O.E. a verb and a noun
of the same root were distinguished by their endings. For ex: the
verb ‘to love’ had a form (Old Eng.) ‘lufian’. This verb had
personal conjunctions. The noun ‘love’ had the form ‘lufu’
with different case endings. But in the course of time, the personal
and case endings were lost. There are numerous pairs of words (e. g.
love, n. — to love, v.; work, n. — to work, v.; drink, n. — to
drink, v., etc.) which did, not occur due to conversion but coincided
as a result of certain historical processes (dropping of endings,
simplification of stems) when before that they had different forms
(e. g. O. E. lufu, n. — lufian, v.).
The
two categories of parts of speech especially affected by conversion
are nouns and verbs. Verbs made from nouns are the most numerous
amongst the words produced by conversion: e. g. to
hand, to back, to face, to eye, to mouth, to nose, to dog, to wolf,
to monkey, to can, to coal, to stage, to screen, to room, to floor,
to blackmail, to blacklist, to honeymoon,
and very many others.
Nouns
are frequently made from verbs: do (e. g. This
is the queerest do I»ve ever come across.
Do — event, incident), go (e. g. He
has still plenty of go at his age.
Go — energy), make,
run, find, catch, cut, walk, worry, show, move,
etc. Verbs can also be made from adjectives: to
pale, to yellow, to cool, to grey, to rough
(e. g. We
decided to rough it in the tents as the weather was warm),
etc.
Other
parts of speech are not entirely unsusceptible to conversion as the
following examples show: to
down, to out (as in a newspaper heading Diplomatist Outed from
Budapest), the ups and downs, the ins and outs, like, n, (as in the
like of me and the like of you).
Compounding
& word comparison. Compound
words are made of 2 derivational stems. The types of structure of CW:
neutral,
morphological &syntactic.
In
neutral
compound
the process is released without any linking elements sunflower.
There
are three types of neutral compounds simple compounds went a compound
consist of a simple affixes stems.
Derivate/
derivational compound
— has affixes babysitter.
Contracted
–
has a shorten stems. TV-set
Morphological
C –
few
in number. This type is non productive. Represented by words, where 2
stems are combined by a linking vowel/ consonant Anglo-Saxon,
statesman, craftsmanship.
Syntactic
C
– formed of segments of speech preserving articles, prepositions,
adverbs. Mother-in-law
Reduplication.
New
word are made by stem ether without any phonetic changes Bye-Bye
or variation of a root vowel or consonant ping-pong
Shortening.
There
are 2 ways of producing them:
1.
The word is formed from the syllable of the original word which in
term may loose its beginning –phone,
its ending vac
(vacation) or
both
fridge.
2.
The word is formed from the initial letter of a word group BB,
bf – boyfriend. Acronyms are
shorten words but read as one UNO
[ju:nou]
TYPES OF WF
Sound
imitation – words
are made by imitating different links of sounds that may be produced
by animals, birds…bark
– лаять,
mew – мяукать…some
names of animals, birds & insects are made by SI coo-coo
– кукушка,
crow – ворона.
To
glide, to slip are
supposed to convey the very sound of the smooth easy movement over a
slippery surface.
Back
formation a
verb is produced from a noun by subtraction (вычитание)
bagger
– to bag, babysitter – to babysit
Blending
— Is
blending part of two words to form one word (merging into one word),
combining letters/sounds they have in common as a connecting element.
Smoke
+ fog = smog, Breakfast + lunch = brunch, Smoke + haze = smaze
(дымка)
—
addictive type: they are transformable into a phrase consisting of
two words combined by a conjunction “and” smog
→ smoke & fog
—
blending of restrictive type: transformable into an attributive
phrase, where the first element serves as modifier of a second.
Positron
– positive electron,
Medicare
– medical care
Borrowings.
Contemporary
English is a unique mixture of Germanic & Romanic elements. This
mixing has resulted in the international character of the vocabulary.
In the comparison with other languages English possesses great
richness of vocabulary.
All languages are mixtures to
a greater or lesser extent, but the present day English vocabulary is
unique in this respect.
A brief look on various
historical strata of the English vocabulary:
1) through cultural contacts
with Romans partly already on the continent and all through the
influence of Christianity a very early stratum of Latin-Greek words
entered the language.
Their origin is no longer felt
by the normal speaker today in such word: pound, mint, mustard,
school, dish, chin, cleric, cheese, devil, pepper, street, gospel,
bishop.
The
same can be said about some Scandinavian words (from about the 10th
century) that today belong to the central core of the vocabulary.
It
means that their frequency is very high. They,
their, them, sky, skin, skill, skirt, ill, dies, take… They
partly supersede the number of OE words OE
heofon – heaven (sky) Niman – take
Steorfan – die
A
more radical change & profound influence on the English
vocabulary occurred on 1066 (Norman Conquest). Until the 15th
cent., a great number of French words were adopted. They belong to
the areas of court,
church, law, state.
Virtue, religion,
parliament, justice, noble, beauty, preach, honour…
The
influx of the words was the strongest up to the 15th
cent., but continued up to the 17th
cent.
Many French borrowings
retained their original pronunciation & stress
Champagne,
ballet, machine, garage…
Separate, attitude,
constitute, introduce…
Adjectives in English –
arrogant, important, patient
Sometimes with their
derivatives:
Demonstrative –
demonstration
Separate – separation
17-18 cc. due to the
establishing of cultural, trade relations many words were borrowed
from Italian, Spanish, Dutch, French.
Italian:
libretto,
violin, opera
Spanish:
hurricane, tomato, tobacco
Dutch:
yacht,
dog, landscape
French:
bouquet,
buffet
From the point of view of
their etymology formal words are normally of classical Romanic
origin, informal – Anglo-Saxon.
Nowadays many Americanisms
become familiar due to the increase of transatlantic travel & the
influence of broadcast media.
Even
in London (Heathrow airport) “baggage”
instead of “luggage”
The present day English
vocabulary is from being homogeneous.
6.
Neologisms new
word expressions are created for new things irrespective of their
scale of importance. They may be all important and concern some
social relationships (new form/ state)
People’s republic. Or
smth threatening the very existence of humanity nuclear
war
or the thing may be short lived. N
is
a newly coined word, phrase/ a new meaning for an existing word / a
word borrowed from another language.
The
development of science and industry technology: black
hole, internet, supermarket.
The
adaptive lexical system isn’t only adding new units but readjust
the ways & means of word formation radio
detection and ranging – RADAR
The
lex. System may adopt itself by combining several word-building
processes face-out
(noun) – the radioactive dust descending through the air after an
anatomic explosion. This
word was coined by composition/ compounding & conversion.
Teach
–in (n) –a student conference/ series of seminars on some burning
issue of the day, meaning some demonstration on protest. This
pattern is very frequent lis–in
, due-in
means protest demonstration when fluking traffic. Bionies
– the
combination of bio & electron.
Back
formation:
air-condion
– air-conditioner – air-conditioning
Semi-affixes
(могут
быть
как
самостоятельные
слова)
chairman
used
to be not numerous and might be treated as exceptions now, evolving
into separate set.
Some
N abscessed with smth and containing the elements mad
& happy: powermad, moneymad, auto-happy.
Conversion, composition,
semantic change are in constant use when coining N
The
change of meaning rather an introduction of a new additional meaning
may be illustrated by the word NETWORK
– stations for simultaneous broadcast of the same program.
Once
accepted N may become a basis for further word formation. ZIP
– to zip – zipper –
zippy.
The
lex. System is unadaptive system, developing for many centuries and
reflecting the changing needs, servicing only in special context.
Archaism
& historisms.
Archaism
–
once common but are now replaced by synonyms. Mostly they are poetic:
morn
– arch, morning – new word, hapless – arch, unlucky – modern.
Historism
– when
the causes of the word’s disappearance are extralinguistic, eg. The
thing named is no longer used. They are very numerous as names for
social relations, institutions, objects of material culture of the
past, eg. many types of sailing craft belong to the past: caravels,
galleons.A
great many of
H
denotes various types of weapons in historical novels: blunderbuss
— мушкетер,
breastplate. Many
of them are in Voc in some figurative meaning: shiel
– щит,
sword. – меч.
7.
Homonymy.
Different
in meaning, but identical in sound or spelling form
Sources:
1.
The result of split of polysemy capital
– столица,
заглавная
буква
Homonymy
differs from polysemy because there is no semantic bond (связь)
between homonyms; it has been lost & doesn’t exist.
2.
as the result of leveling of grammar in flections, when different
parts of speech become identical in their forms. Care
(in OE) — caru(n), care (OE) – carian (v)
3.
By conversion
slim – to slim, water – to water
4.
With the help of the same suffix fro the same stem. Reader
– the person who reads/a book for reading.
5.
Accidentally. Native words can coincide in their form beran
– to bear, bera (animal) – to bear
6.
Shortening of different words. Cab
(cabriolet, cabbage, cabin)
Homonyms can be of 3 kinds:
1.
Homonyms proper (the sound & the spelling are identical)
bat – bat
— flying
animal (летучая
мышь)
— cricket bat (бита,
back — part of body, away from the front, go to back
2.
Homophones (the same sound form but different spelling)
flower – flour, sole – soul, rain – reign, bye-by-buy
3.
Homographs (the same spelling)
tear [iə] – tear [εə, lead [i:] – lead [e]
Homonyms in English are very
numerous. Oxford English Dictionary registers 2540 homonyms, of which
89% are monosyllabic words and 9,1% are two-syllable words.
So,
most homonyms are monosyllabic words. The trend towards
monosyllabism, greatly increased by the loss of inflections and
shortening, must have contributed much toward increasing the number
of homonyms in English.
Among the other ways of
creating homonyms the following processes must be mentioned:
From
the viewpoint of their origin homonyms are sometimes divided into
historical and etymological. Historical
homonyms are those which result from the breaking up of polysemy;
then one polysemantic word will split up into two or more separate
words. Etymo1ogiсal
homonyms are words of different origin which come to be alike in
sound or in spelling (and may be both written and pronounced alike).
Borrowed
and native words can coincide in form, thus producing homonyms (as in
the above given examples). In other cases homonyms are a result of
borrowing when several different words become identical in sound or
spelling. E.g. the Latin vitim — «wrong», «an immoral
habit» has given the English vice — вада
«evil conduct»; the Latin vitis -«spiral» has
given the English »vice» — тиски
«apparatus with strong jaws in which things can be hold
tightly»; the Latin vice — «instead of», «in
place of» will be found in vice — president.
8.
Synonymy.
A
synonym – a word of similar or identical meaning to one or more
words in the same language. All languages contain synonyms but in
English they exist in superabundance. There no two absolutely
identical words because connotations, ways of usage, frequency of an
occurrence are different. Senses of synonyms are identical in respect
of central semantic trades (denotational meaning) but differ in
respect of minor semantic trades (connotational). In each group of S
there’s a word with the most general meaning, with can substitute
any word of the group. TO
LOOK AT — to glance – to stare
Classification:
Weather the different in
denotational/ connotational component
1.
Ideographic
synonyms. They
bear the same idea but not identical in their referential content,
different shades of meaning or degree. BEAUTIFUL
– fine, handsome – pretty,
to
ascent – to mount – to climb.
2.
Stylistic
synonyms. Different
in emotive and stylistic sphere.
|
child girl happiness |
Infant maid
bliss |
Kid |
|
neutral |
elevated |
colloquial |
|
To |
To |
Eat
— Devour (degradation),
Face
— muzzle
(морда)
Synonymic condensation is
typical of the English language.
It
refers to situations when writers or speakers bring together several
words with one & the same meaning to add more conviction, to
description more vivid. Ex.:
Lord & master, First & foremost, Safe & secure,
Stress & strain, by force & violence
Among
synonyms there’s a special group of words –
euphemism used
to substitute some unpleasant or offensive words. Drunk
– marry
According to interchangability
context S are classified
3.
Total
synonyms
An extremely rare occurrence. Ulman: “a luxury that language
can hardly afford.” M. Breal spoke about a law of distribution in
the language (words should be synonyms, were synonyms in the past
usually acquire different meanings and are no longer
interchangeable). Ex.: fatherland
— motherland
4.
Contextual
synonyms.
Context can emphasize some certain semantic trades & suppress
other semantic trades; words with different meaning can become
synonyms in a certain context. Ex.: tasteless
– dull, Active – curious, Curious – responsive
Synonyms can reflect social
conventions.
Ex.:
|
clever |
bright |
brainy |
intelligent |
Dever-clever |
|
neutral |
Only speaking about younger |
Is not used by the higher |
Positive connotation |
Stylistically remarked |
5.
Dialectical
synonyms.
Ex.:
lift – elevator, Queue – line, autumn – fall
6.
Relative
some
authors classify group like:
like – love – adore, famous- celebrated – eminentthey
denote different degree of the same notion or different shades of
meanings and can be substituted only in some context.
Antonymy.
Words
belonging to the same part of speech identical in speech expressing
contrary or contradictory notion.
Комиссаров
В.Н.
classify them into absolute/
root (late/early)they
have different roots
,
derivational (to
please-to
displease) the
same root but different affixes. In most cases “-“ prefixes from
antonyms an,
dis, non.
Sometimes they are formed by suffixes full
& less.
But they do not always substitute each other selfless
– selfish, successful – unsuccessful .the
same with “-“ prefixes
to appoint – to disappoint.
The
difference is not only in structure but in semantic. The DA
express
contradictory notions, one of then excludes the other active
– inactive. The
AA
express
contrary notion: ugly
–
plain – good-looking – pretty –
beautiful
Antonimy
is
distinguished from complementarily
by being based on different logical relationshipd for pairs of
antonyms like
good – bad, big – small.
He
is good (not bad). He is not good (doesn’t imply he is bad).
The negation (отрицание)
of one term doesn’t implies the assertion of the other.
John
Lines suggests proper
hot-warm
– tapped – cold &
complementary antonyms only
2 words negative and assertion not
male — female.
There’s
also one type of semantic opposition conversives
words
denote one reference as viewed from different points of view that of
the subject & that of the object.
Bye
– sell, give — receive
Conversness
is
minor image relations of functions husband
– wife, pupil – teacher, above – below, before — after
9.
Phraseology.
Phrasiological units/ idioms – motivated word group. They are
reproduced as readymade units. Express a singe notion, used in
sentence as one part of it.
Idiomaticy
—
PU when the meaning of the whole
is
not deducible from the sum of the meanings of the parts. Stability
of PU implies that it exist as a readymade linguistic unit, which
doesn’t allow of any variability of its lexical component of gr.
Structure.
In
ling. literature the term
Phraseology is
used for the expressions where the meaning of one element is depended
on the other. Vinogradov: “irrespective of structure and properties
of the units”. Smernitsky: “it denotes only such set expressions
which do not possess expressiveness or emotional coloring”. Arnold:
“it says that only denotes such set expressions that are
imaginative, expressive and emotional”. Ammosova call them fixed
context units – we
can’t substitute an element without changing the meaning of the
whole. Ahmanova insists on the semantic intearity of such phrases:
“prevailing over the structural separates of their element”.
Kuning lays stress on the structural separatness of the elements in
the PU on the change of meaning in the whole as compared with its
elements taken separately with its elements and on a certain minimum
stability.
Phraseology
(Webster’s
dictionary) mode of expression peculiarities of diction. That is
choice and arrangement of words and phrases characteristic of some
author.there are difficult terms. Idioms word equivalents & these
difficult units or terminology reflects certain differences in the
main criteria used to distinguish.
The
features: 1.
lack of semantic motivation 2. Lexical & grammatical stability
Semantic
classification:2
criteria: 1). The degree of semantic isolation 2). The degree of
disinformation
1.
Opaque in meaning (трудный
для
понимания)
the meaning of the individual words can’t be summed together to
produce the meaning of the whole.to
kick the bucket = to die It
contains no clue to the idiomatic meaning of this expression.The
degree of semantic isolation is the highest.
The 3 typesof PU:
1.
Phraseological fusions. The degree of motivation is very low. one
component preserves its direct meaning Ex.:
to pass the buck = to pass responsibility – свалить
ответственность,
2.
Phraseological unities. Clearly motivated. Transparent both
components in their direct meaning but the combination acquires
figurative sense to
see the light = to understand, old salt — морской
волк
3.
Phraseological combinations. There is a component used in its
direct meaning. There are lots of idioms (proverbs, saying). To
be good at smth.:
Curiosity
killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back
Idioms institutionalized formulas of politeness:How
do you do?Good-bye (God be with you) How about a drink?
Structural classification
of PU
Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky worked
out structural classification of phraseological units, comparing them
with words. He points out one-top units which he compares with
derived words because derived words have only one root morpheme. He
points out two-top units which he compares with compound words
because in compound words we usually have two root morphemes.
Among
one-top units he
points out three structural types;
a)
units of the type «to give up» (verb + postposition type), e.g. to
art up, to back up, to drop out, to nose out, to buy into, to
sandwich in etc.;
b)
units of the type «to be tired» . Some of these units remind the
Passive Voice in their structure but they have different prepositions
with them, while in the Passive Voice we can have only prepositions
«by» or «with», e.g. to
be tired of, to be interested in, to be surprised at etc.
There are also units in this type which remind free word-groups of
the type «to be young», e.g. to be akin to, to be aware of etc.
The difference between them is that the adjective «young» can be
used as an attribute and as a predicative in a sentence, while the
nominal component in such units can act only as a predicative. In
these units the verb is the grammar centre and the second component
is the semantic centre;
c)
Prepositional- nominal phraseological units. These units are
equivalents of unchangeable words: prepositions, conjunctions,
adverbs, that is why they have no grammar centre, their semantic
centre is the nominal part, e.g.
On the doorstep (quite near), on the nose (exactly), in the course
of, on the stroke of, in time, on the point of
etc. In the course of time such units can become words, e.g.
tomorrow,
instead etc.
Among
two-top units
A.I. Smirnitsky points out the following structural types:
a) attributive-nominal such
as: a month of Sundays, grey matter, a millstone round one’s neck
and many others. Units of this type are noun equivalents and can be
partly or perfectly idiomatic. In partly idiomatic units (phrasisms)
sometimes the first component is idiomatic, e.g. high road, in other
cases the second component is idiomatic, e.g. first night. In many
cases both components are idiomatic, e.g. red tape, blind alley, bed
of nail, shot in the arm and many others.
b) verb-nominal phraseological
units, e.g. to read between the lines , to speak BBC, to sweep under
the carpet etc. The grammar centre of such units is the verb, the
semantic centre in many cases is the nominal component, e.g. to fall
in love. In some units the verb is both the grammar and the semantic
centre, e.g. not to know the ropes. These units can be perfectly
idiomatic as well, e.g. to burn one’s boats,to vote with one’s
feet, to take to the cleaners’ etc.
Very close to such units are
word-groups of the type to have a glance, to have a smoke. These
units are not idiomatic and are treated in grammar as a special
syntactical combination, a kind of aspect.
c) phraseological repetitions,
such as : now or never, part and parcel , country and western etc.
Such units can be built on antonyms, e.g. ups and downs , back and
forth; often they are formed by means of alliteration, e.g cakes and
ale, as busy as a bee. Components in repetitions are joined by means
of conjunctions. These units are equivalents of adverbs or adjectives
and have no grammar centre. They can also be partly or perfectly
idiomatic, e.g. cool as a cucumber (partly), bread and butter
(perfectly).
Phraseological units the same
as compound words can have more than two tops (stems in compound
words), e.g. to take a back seat, a peg to hang a thing on, lock,
stock and barrel, to be a shaddow of one’s own self, at one’s own
sweet will.
Syntactical classification
of PU
Phraseological
units can be classified as parts of speech. This classification was
suggested by I.V. Arnold. Here we have the following groups:
a) noun phraseologisms
denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g. bullet train,
latchkey child, redbrick university, Green Berets,
b) verb phraseologisms
denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g. to break the log-jam, to
get on somebody’s coattails, to be on the beam, to nose out , to
make headlines,
c) adjective phraseologisms
denoting a quality, e.g. loose as a goose, dull as lead ,
d) adverb phraseological
units, such as : with a bump, in the soup, like a dream , like a dog
with two tails,
e) preposition phraseological
units, e.g. in the course of, on the stroke of ,
f) interjection phraseological
units, e.g. «Catch me!», «Well, I never!» etc.
In I.V.Arnold’s
classification there are also sentence equivalents, proverbs, sayings
and quatations, e.g. «The sky is the limit», «What makes him
tick», » I am easy». Proverbs are usually metaphorical, e.g. «Too
many cooks spoil the broth», while sayings are as a rule
non-metaphorical, e.g. «Where there is a will there is a way».
Form As Many Words
Read the given word. Jumble up all the letters in the spelling of this word. Rearrange these letters & try to form a totally new word with a different spelling & meaning altogether.
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Example:Paper Answer: reap, ape, pear, are, ear, pea, par, rap! |
| Country |
The ‘Word Formation Process’ is regarded as the branch of Morphology, and it has a significant role in expanding the vocabulary that helps us communicate very smoothly. The main objectives of the word-formation process are to form new words with the same root by deploying different rules or processes.
In other words, we can say that the word-formation process is a process in which new words are formed by modifying the existing terms or completely changing those words.
Let us see the fundamental word-formation processes in linguistics:
Derivation
‘Derivation’ is a significant word-formation process that attaches derivation affixes to the main form to create a new word. Affixes (prefixes or suffixes) are regarded as bound morphemes.
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful syntactical or grammar unit of a language that cannot be divided without changing its meaning. In contrast to the free morpheme, a bound morpheme doesn’t have any independent meaning, and it needs the help of a free morpheme to form a new word.
Let us see some examples of derivation in the below table:
| Base Forms | New Words |
| Appear | Disappear |
| Justice | Injustice |
| Lighten | Enlighten |
| Friend | Friendship |
| Happy | Happiness |
Back Formation
‘Back-Formation’ is a word-formation process that eliminates the actual derivational affix from the main form to create a new word. However, Back-Formation is contrary to derivation in terms of forming new words. Let us see some examples of Back-Formation in the below table:
| Base Forms | Back Formation |
| Insertion | Insert |
| Donation | Donate |
| Precession | Process |
| Obsessive | Obsess |
| Resurrection | Resurrect |
Conversion
In conversion, a word of one grammatical form converts into another without changing spelling or pronunciation. For example, the term ‘Google’ originated as a noun before the verb.
A few years ago, we only used the term as a noun (search it on Google), but now we say ‘Google it. Let us see some examples of conversion in the below table:
| Noun | To Verb |
| Access | – to access |
| – to google | |
| – to email | |
| Name | – to name |
| Host | – to host |
| Verb | To Noun |
| To hope | Hope |
| To cover | Cover |
| To increase | Increase |
| To attack | Attack |
Compounding
‘Compounding’ is a word-formation process that allows words to combine to make a new word. Compounding words can be formed as two words joined with a hyphen. Let us see some examples in the below table:
| Words | Compounding Words |
| Class+room | Classroom |
| Note+book | Notebook |
| Break+up | Breakup |
| Brother+in+law | Brother in law |
| High+light | Highlight |
Clipping
‘Clipping’ is another essential word-formation process that reduces or shortens a word without changing the exact meaning. In contrast to the back-formation process, it reserves the original meaning.
Clipping is divided into four types. They are:
- Back Clipping
- Fore Clipping
- Middle Clipping
- Complex Clipping
Every Clipping has different roles in words when they are assigned. Back Clipping removes the end part of a word; Fore Clipping removes the beginning part of a word; Middle Clipping reserves the middle position. Finally, Complex Clipping removes multiple pieces from multiple words.
Let us see some examples in the below table:
| Words | Clippings |
| Advertisement | Ad |
| Photograph | Photo |
| Telephone | Phone |
| Influenza | Flue |
| Cabletelegram | Cablegram |
Blending
In the ‘Blending’ word-formation method, the parts of two or more words combine to form a new word. Let us see some examples in the below table:
| Words | Blendings |
| Breakfast+lunch | Brunch |
| Biographical+picture | Biopic |
| Motor+hotel | Motel |
| Spanish+English | Spanglish |
| Telephone+marathon | Telethon |
Abbreviation
‘Abbreviation’ is another famous and widely used word-formation method used to shorten a word or phrase. In the modern era, ‘Abbreviation is becoming more popular. Nowadays, people used to use it everywhere. Let us see some examples in the below table:
| Words/Phrases | Abbreviation |
| Junior | Jr. |
| Mister | Mr. |
| Mistress | Miss. |
| Doctor | Dr. |
| Department | Dept. |
| Bachelor of Arts | B.A. |
| Master of Arts | M.A. |
| Master of Business Administration | MBA |
Acronyms
An Acronym is a popular word-formation process in which an initialism is pronounced as a word. It forms from the first letter of each word in a phrase, and the newly formed letters create a new word that helps us speedy communication. For example, ‘PIN’ is an initialism for Personal Identification Number used as the word ‘pin.’
However, let us see some other famous examples of acronyms in the below table for a better understanding:
| Acronyms | Words/Phrases |
| HIV | Human Immunodeficiency Virus |
| AIDS | Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| ASAP | As Soon As Possible |
| AWOL | Absent Without Leave |
Borrowing
‘Borrowing’ is another word-formation process in which a word from one language is borrowed directly into another language. Let us see some English words which are borrowed from another language:
| Algebra | Arabic |
| Cherub | Hebrew |
| Murder | French |
| Pizza | Italian |
| Tamale | Spanish |
Conclusion
Now we know that Word-Formation Processes are the methods by which words are formed by deploying different types of rules. We can create new words by following the above word-formation methods.
We need to do one thing: we have to follow the fundamental rules or processes of word formation.
Azizul Hakim is the founder & CEO of englishfinders.com. He is a passionate writer, English instructor, and content creator. He has completed his graduation and post-graduation in English language and literature.
A compound is a word or word group that consists of two or more parts that work together as a unit to express a specific concept. Examples are double-check, cost-effective, around-the-clock, hand-to-hand, forward-thinking, eyeliner, and iced tea. They might also be formed from prefixes or suffixes, as in ex-president, supermicro, presorted, shirtless, or unforgivable.
Basically, compounds are written in one of three ways: solid (teapot), hyphenated (player-manager), or open (which ranges from phrases such as off and on or little by little to combinations like washing machine—have a field day finding more). Because of the variety in formation, the choice among the styles for a given compound represents one of the most vexing of all style issues writers—and lexicographers—encounter.
For some terms, it is often acceptable to choose freely among open, hyphenated, and solid alternatives, even though the term has been used in English for an extended period (for instance, lifestyle, life–style, or life style). Although the styling that ultimately takes hold for a compound may be determined by nothing more than editorial and writerly preference, there are patterns of new compounds as they become established in the English language. Compound nouns, for instance, are usually written as one word; compound verbs are generally written as two; compound adjectives are often written with a hyphen. But note that we added «usually,» «generally,» and «often»—we’re hedging. (Be advised that we’ll be using noncommittal terms throughout, and, essentially, that’s the point of the following articles: there aren’t fast rules to forming compounds, but there are patterns.)
Compound adjectives are combinations of words that work together to modify a noun—technically, they work as unit modifiers. As unit modifiers, they are distinguished from other strings of adjectives that may also precede a noun. For instance, in the constructions «a low, level tract of land» or «that long, lonesome highway,» the two adjectives each modify the noun separately. We are talking about a tract of land that is both low and level and about a highway that is both long and lonesome. These are regarded as coordinate modifiers.
In the examples «a low monthly fee» and «a wrinkled red shirt,» the first adjective modifies the noun plus the second adjective. In other words, we mean that the monthly fee is low and the red shirt is wrinkled. These are noncoordinate modifiers. In the example «low-level radiation,» we do not mean radiation that is low and level or level radiation that is low; we mean radiation that is at a low level. Both words are working as a unit to modify the noun—thus, they are unit modifiers.
Unit modifiers are mostly hyphenated. Hyphens not only make it easier for readers to grasp the relationship of the words but also aid in avoiding confusion. For example, the hyphen in «a call for a more-specialized curriculum» removes any ambiguity as to which the word more modifies, and the hyphen in re-sign distinguishes it from resign. Other examples are co-ed and coed, shell-like and shelllike, over-react and overreact, co-worker and coworker, which have either consecutive vowels, doubled consonants, or simply an odd combination of letters and which the inclusion of a hyphen aids in their readability.
Preposition/adverb (particles) + noun compounds are styled solid, especially when they are short and the first syllable is accented followed by a syllable with falling stress (as in afterthought, crossbones, download, offhand, upstairs, outfield, onstage, overseas, underhand). There are also hyphenated particle compounds, like in-house, off-the-cuff, off-line (or offline), and on-line (or online).
The styling of Internet (internet?)–related compounds (e-mail/email, website/web site) remains in flux, with the same compound styled different ways in different publications. We continue to be eagle-eyed lexicographers in our Western Massachusetts-based aerie.
Compounds—new, permanent, and temporary—are formed by adding word elements to existing words or by combining word elements. In English, there are three basic word elements: the prefix (such as anti-, non-, pre-, post-, re-, super-), the suffix (as -er, -ism, -ist, -less, -ful, -ness), and the combining form (mini-, macro-, psuedo-, -graphy, -logy). Prefixes and suffixes are usually attached to existing words; combining forms are usually combined to form new words (photomicrograph).
For the most part, compounds formed from a prefix and a word are usually written solid (superhero). However, if the prefix ends with a vowel and the word it is attached to begins with a vowel, the compound is usually hyphenated (de-escalate, co-organizer, pre-engineered). But there are exceptions: reelection, cooperate, for example. In addition, usage calls for hyphenation between a prefix and a capitalized word or number (post-Colonial, pre-19th century).
A prefixed compound that would be identical with another word, if written solid, is usually hyphenated to prevent misreading (re-creation, co-op, multi-ply). Prefixed compounds that might otherwise be solid are often hyphenated in order to clarify their formation, meaning, or pronunciation (non-news, de-iced, tri-city). Also, such compounds formed from combining forms like Anglo-, Judeo-, or Sino- are hyphenated when the second element is an independent word and solid when it is a combining form (Judeo-Christian, Sino-Japanese, Anglophile).
Some prefixes, and initial combining forms, have related independent adjectives or adverbs that may be used where the prefix might be expected. A temporary compound with quasi(-) or pseudo(-), therefore, might be written open as modifier + noun or hyphenated as combining form + noun. Thus, the writer must decide which style to follow (quasi intellectual or quasi-intellectual; pseudo liberal or pseudo-liberal).
Compounds formed by adding a suffix to a word are usually written solid (yellowish, characterless), except those having a base word that has a suffix beginning with the same letter or is a proper name (jewel-like, American-ness). Then, there are unique formations such as president-elect and heir apparent. Additionally, when a word is used as a modifier of a proper name, it is usually attached by a hyphen («a Los Angeles-based company,» «a Pulitzer Prize-winning author»).
Most two-word permanent and temporary compounds (unit modifiers) are hyphenated when placed before a noun («one-way street,» «a risk-free investment,» «East-West trade agreements,» «blue-gray/bluish-gray paint») but are often open when following a noun («The author is well known»).
Permanent compounds are those that are so commonly used that they have become—need we say—permanent parts of the language. Temporary compounds are created to meet a writer’s need at a particular moment, and they are often formed of an adverb (such as well, more, less, still) followed by a participle, and hyphenated when placed before a noun («a still-growing company,» «a more-specialized operating system,» «a now-vulnerable opponent»). Temporary compounds, often formed from an adverb ending in the suffix -ly followed by a participle, may sometimes be hyphenated but may also be open because adverb + adjective + noun is a normal word order («an internationally-known artist,» «a beautifully illustrated book»).
Temporary adjectival compounds may also be formed by using a compound noun. If the compound noun is an open compound, it is usually hyphenated so that the relationship of the words to form an adjective is immediately apparent to the reader («a tax-law case,» «a minor-league pitcher,» «problem-solving abilities»). If readily recognizable, the units may occur without a hyphen («a high school diploma» or «a high-school diploma»; «an income tax refund» or «an income-tax refund»). Also, if the words that make up a compound adjective follow the noun they modify, they fall in normal word order and are, therefore, no longer considered unit modifiers that require hyphenation («The decisions were made on the spur of the moment»; «They were ill prepared for the journey»; «The comments were made off the record»; «I prefer the paint that is blue gray»).
Open or Close the Compound?
When a noun + noun compound is short, and established in the English language and pronounced with equal stress on both nouns, the styling is likely to be open (bean sprouts, fuel cell, fire drill). Many short noun + noun compounds, however, that begin as temporary open ones and have the first word accented tend to become solid (database, football, paycheck, hairbrush); this is also the case for some adjectives (shortcut, drywall—but then there’s red tape and red-hot). There are also compounds formed from a verb followed by a noun that is its object, and they tend to be styled as solid (carryall, pickpocket). Vice versa, there are noun compounds consisting of a verb form preceded by a noun that is its object (fish fry, eye-opener, roadblock), and adjective + noun compounds that are written open (genetic code, minor league).
Writers also use a hyphen to make the «unit» relationships of nouns immediately apparent (English-speakers, Spanish-speaking students, fund-raiser, gene-splicing), but compounds in which a noun is the object of a following verb-derived word tend to be written open (problem solver, air conditioning).
Finally, when the nouns in a noun + noun compound describe a double title or function, the compound is hyphenated (city-state, secretary-treasurer, hunter-gatherer, bar-restaurant). And compounds formed from a noun or adjective followed by man, woman, person, or people, as well as denoting an occupation, are regularly solid (congresswoman, salespeople). We’re pretty sure about those guidelines.
These compounds may be hyphenated or solid. The compounds with two-letter particles (such as by, to, in, up, on) are most frequently hyphenated since the hyphen aids in quick comprehension (lean-to, trade-in, add-on, start-up). Compounds with three-letter particles (off, out, through) are hyphenated or solid with about equal frequency (spin-off, payoff, time-out, follow-through, giveaway).
And then there are the verb + -er + particle compounds and verb + -ing + particle compounds. Except for established words like passerby, these compounds are hyphenated (hanger-on, runner-up, listener-in, falling-out, goings-on, talking-to). There are also the two-word established forms consisting of a verb followed by an adverb or a preposition, which is styled open: set to, strike out. Then we have words composed of a particle followed by a verb that are usually styled solid (upgrade, bypass).
The verb form of a compound noun (whether open or hyphenated) most often is spelled with a hyphen (field-test, water-ski, rubber-stamp), whereas a verb derived from a solid noun is written solid (mastermind, brainstorm, sideline). That one’s simple enough. Phew.
To Hyphenate or not to Hyphenate?
That is the question, especially when it comes down to adverb and adjective compounds. And the stickler’s answer is to hyphenate when the modifier is before the word it modifies and to write the compound in open form when it follows it (since there is little or no risk of ambiguity). For example, a journalist might publish a word-for-word quotation or a person might be quoted word for word by the journalist, or a writer might be told that what is said is off the record, and any off-the-record information is to remain confidential. However, usage evidence shows that this formula is not closely followed: a team could play back-to-back games or play two games back-to-back; a boss and employee might have a face-to-face discussion or talk face-to-face; a candidate’s position might be middle-of-the-road; a child could be accident-prone like his or her accident-prone parent. The point is: many permanent and temporary compounds keep their hyphens after the noun in a sentence if they continue to function as unit modifiers.
But compound adjectives composed of foreign words are not hyphenated when placed before a noun unless they are always hyphenated («per diem expenses,» «the a cappella chorus,» but «a ci-devant professor»). Also, chemical names used as modifiers before a noun are not hyphenated («a citric acid solution»). And a compound noun having three or more words may be either hyphenated or open, depending on preference and usage evidence: editor in chief, base on balls, give-and-take, good-for-nothing, know-it-all, justice of the peace, jack-of-all-trades, pick-me-up, sick-to-itiveness.
The Hyphen as Apostrophe
Hyphens are sometimes used to produce inflected forms of verbs that are made of individually pronounced letters or to add an -er ending to an abbreviation—although apostrophes are more commonly used for the purpose (x-ed vs. x’d, you decide).
From the time the American League first allowed designated hitters in 1973, another 41 years passed before the first DH was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Frank Thomas will finally get some company this weekend when Edgar Martinez and Harold Baines join him in Cooperstown, New York. Three Hall of Famers in 46 years is a powerful testament to the challenge of DH-ing.
— J. P. Hoornstra, The Orange County Register, 17 July 2019His continued growth as a player will be key to NU’s secondary growing into one of the league’s best, and Jackson has the right kind of coach, former NFL-er Travis Fisher, to push him toward it.
— Sam McKewon, The Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald, 2 Aug. 2019
The Hyphen in Chemical Compounds
A hyphen separates prefixes composed of single letters, numerals, or letter-numeral combinations from the rest of a chemical term. In addition, italicized prefixes are followed by a hyphen. The hyphen is also used to separate units of certain chemically complex terms:
α-amino-β-(p-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid
2-methyl-3-ethylpentane
6H-1,2,5-thiadiazine
In amino acid sequences, hyphens are used to separate the abbreviations («Ala-Lys-Pro-Thr-Tyr-Phe-Gly-Arg-Glu-Gly»).
It should be noted, however, that most chemical names used as modifiers are not hyphenated («the amino acid sequence,» «sodium hypochlorite bleach»).
Hyphenated Numbers
Numbers that form the first part of a compound modifier that express measurement are followed by a hyphen («a 28-mile trip,» «a 10-pound weight,» «a nine-pound baby»), or that are used in a ratio («a fifty-fifty chance,» «60-40 chance»). An adjective that is composed of a number followed by a noun in the possessive is not hyphenated («two weeks’ notice,» «a four blocks’ walk»). Also, when the modifier follows a noun, it is usually not hyphenated («The teacher required an essay that was five pages»; «Children who are twelve years old and under can order from the menu»; «The fence is 12 feet high»).
Hyphens are used in fractions (e.g., two-thirds), and they join the parts of whole numbers (twenty-one). The hyphen is also found in serial numbers, and social security or engine numbers. If you’re measuring something, you might also use the hyphen (foot-pound, kilowatt-hour, column-inch, light-year), or if you are talking about periods of time («pre-2000» or «post-2000,» or «post-20th/twentieth century»).
Compounds that are formed by reduplication, and so consist of two similar-sounding elements (such as hush-hush, razzle-dazzle, or hugger-mugger), are usually hyphenated if each of the elements is made up of more than one syllable, but the solid styling for such words is also common (crisscross, knickknack, singsong). For very short words (such as no-no, so-so), words in which both elements may have primary stress (tip-top), and for injections (tsk-tsk), the hyphenated styling is more common.
What is Word Formation?
Word formation process is subject of morphology where we learn how new words are formed. In linguistics, word formation process is the creation of a new word by making changes in existing words or by creating new words. In other words, it refers to the ways in which new words are made on the basis of other words.
Different Forms of Word Formation
Word Formation process is achieved by different ways to create a new word that includes; coinage, compounding, borrowing, blending, acronym, clipping, contraction, backformation, affixation and conversion.
Compounding
Compounding is a type of word formation where we join two words side by side to create a new word. It is very common type of word formation in a language. Some time we write a compound word with a hyphen between two words and some time we keep a space and sometime we write them jointly. All these three forms are common in all languages.
Common examples of word compounding are:
· Part + time = part-time
· Book + case = bookcase
· Low + paid = low-paid
· Door + knob = doorknob
· Finger + print = fingerprint
· Wall + paper = wallpaper
· Sun + burn = sunburn
· Text + book = textbook
· Good + looking = good-looking
· Ice + cream = Ice-cream
Borrowing
In word formation process, borrowing is the process by which a word from one language is adapted for use in another language. The word that is borrowed is called a borrowing, a loanword, or a borrowed word. It is also known as lexical borrowing. It is the most common source of new words in all languages.
Common Examples of borrowed words in English language are:
· Dope (Dutch)
· Croissant (French)
· Zebra (Bantu)
· Lilac (Persian)
· Pretzel (German)
· Yogurt (Turkish)
· Piano (Italian)
· Sofa (Arabic)
· Tattoo (Tahitian)
· Tycoon (Japanese)
Blending
Blending is the combination of two separate words to form a single new word. It is different from compounding where we add two words side by side to make a new word but in blending we do not use both words in complete sense but new/derived word has part of both words e.g. word smog and fog are different words and when we blend them to make a new word, we use a part of each word to make a new word that is smog. We took first two letters from first word (sm) from smoke and last two (og) from fog to derive a new word smog.
Some more examples of blending are:
· Smoke + murk=smurk
· Smoke + haze= smaze
· Motel (hotel + motor)
· Brunch (breakfast + lunch )
· Infotainment ( information + entertainment)
· Franglais ( French + English)
· Spanglish (Spanish + English )
.
Abbreviations
Abbreviation is a process where we create a new word by making a change in lexical form of a word keeping same meaning. There are three main types of abbreviations.
1. Clipping / Shortening / Truncation
2. Acronyms / Initialism
3. Contraction
Clipping / Shortening / Truncation
Clipping is the type of word formation where we use a part of word instead of whole word. This form of word formation is used where there is a long/multi-syllable word and to save time we use a short one instead of that long word e.g. the word advertisement is a long word and we use its short form ad (ads for plural form) instead of whole word.
Here are some examples of clipping:
· Ad from advertisement
· Gas from gasoline
· Exam from examination
· Cab from cabriolet
· Fax from facsimile
· Condo from condominium
· Fan from fanatic
· Flu from Influenza
· Edu from education
· Gym from gymnasium
· Lab from laboratory
Acronyms / Initialism
An acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation from the initial letters in a phrase or a multi syllable word (as in Benelux). The initials are pronounced as new single words. Commonly derived word are written in upper case e.g. NATO.
Some common examples of acronyms are:
· CD is acronym of compact disk
· VCR is acronym of video cassette recorder
· NATO is acronym of North Atlantic Treaty Organization
· NASA is acronym of National Aeronautics and Space Administration
· ATM is acronym of Automatic Teller Machine
· PIN is acronym of Personal Identification Number
Some time the word is written in lower case (Initial letter capital when at start of sentence)
· Laser is acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
· Scuba is acronym of Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
· Radar is acronym of Radio Detecting And Ranging
Contraction
A contraction is a word formed as an abbreviation from a word. Contractions are abbreviations in which we omit letters from the middle of a word or more than one words.
Some common contractions are below:
· Dr is from Doctor.
· St is from Saint.
· He’s from He is.
· I’ve is from I have.
Affixation
Affixation is the word formation process where a new word is created by adding suffix or prefix to a root word. The affixation may involve prefixes, suffixes, infixes. In prefixes, we add extra letters before root word e.g. re+right to make a new word rewrite. In suffix, we add some extra letters with a base/root word e.g. read+able. In infixes, the base word is changed in its form e.g. the plural of woman is women that creates new word “women”.
1. Prefixes: un+ plug = unplug
2. Suffixes: cut + ie = cutie
3. Infixes: man + plural = men
Zero-derivation (Conversion)
Zero-derivation, or conversion, is a derivational process that forms new words from existing words. Zero derivation, is a kind of word formation involving the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form, which is to say, derivation using only zero. Zero-derivation or conversion changes the lexical category of a word without changing its phonological shape. For example, the word ship is a noun and we use it also as a verb. See below sentences to understand it.
1. Beach hotel has a ship to enjoy honeymoon.
2. Beach hotel will ship your luggage in two days.
In first sentence, the word ship is a noun and in second sentence the word ship (verb) is derived from the action of ship (noun) that transports luggage, so the word ship (verb) has meaning of transportation.
Backformation
Backformation is the word formation process where a new word is derived by removing what appears to be an affix. When we remove last part of word (that looks like suffix but not a suffix in real) from a word it creates a new word.
Some very familiar words are below:
· Peddle from peddler
· Edit from editor
· Pea from pease
Coinage / Neologism
It is also a process of word formation where new words (either deliberately or accidentally) are invented. This is a very rare process to create new words, but in the media and industry, people and companies try to surpass others with unique words to name their services or products.
Some common examples of coinage are: Kodak, Google, Bing, Nylon etc.
Eponyms
In word formation process, sometime new words are derives by based on the name of a person or a place. Some time these words have attribution to a place and sometime the words are attributes to the things/terms who discover/invent them. For example, the word volt is electric term that is after the name of Italian scientist Alessandro Volta.
Some common examples of eponyms are:
· Hoover: after the person who marketed it
· Jeans: after a city of Italy Genoa
· Spangle: after the person who invented it
· Watt: after the name of scientist James Watt
· Fahrenheit: after the name of German scientist Gabriel Fahrenheit
Definition
Word Formation Process (also called Morphological Process) is a means by which new words are produced either by modification of existing words or by complete innovation, which in turn become a part of the language.
Types of Word Formation Processes
Different types of word formation processes are employed to create new words. However, all word formation processes basically bring either inflectional or derivational changes. Therefore, inflection (also called inflexion) and derivation are the two core processes of word formation. Inflection differs from derivation to the following extent:
| Inflection | Derivation |
| Produces grammatical variants of the same word. | Produces a new word on the basis of an existing word. |
| Modifies a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case. | Changes the word class (also called parts of speech; form class; lexical class; syntactic category). |
| Does not change the meaning of a word. For example: determine→ determines, determining, determined. | Modifies the meaning of the root. For example: modern → modernize (to make modern). |
The major word formation processes include but are not limited to the following:
Affixation
It is a word formation process wherein an affix is attached to a root (also called stem; base) to form a new word. A root is a free morpheme (also called unbound morpheme) that can appear alone. On the other hand, an Affix is a bound morpheme which never occurs by itself, but is always attached to some free morpheme and can be either inflectional or derivational. An Inflectional affix modifies the form/grammatical category of a word, i.e., tense, person, number, gender, case, etc. For example: rat → rats. Contrariwise, a derivational affix modifies the parts of speech of the root, while leaving the grammatical category unchanged. In this way, there is a change of meaning of the root. For example: write → writer.
In English there are two types of affixations:
- Prefixation: In this morphological process words are formed by adding an affix to the front of a root. The type of affix used in this process is referred to as prefix. For example: un + tidy → untidy
- Suffixation: In this morphological process words are formed by adding an affix to the end of a root. The type of affix used in this process is referred to as suffix. For example: fear + less → fearless
Conversion
This refers to the change of function or parts of speech of a word without adding an affix. Conversion is also called zero derivation or null derivation since the functional change is brought about by supplementing an invisible affix. Sometimes it is also called functional shift. Typically conversion is made from “noun to verb” and from “verb to noun”. Less frequently, conversion is also done from “adjective to verb” and “adjective to noun”. For instance:
Noun to Verb:
- access
- film
- name
- shape
Verb to Noun:
- attack
- alert
- hope
- increase
- visit
- cover
Adjective to Verb:
- brown
- black
- slow
Adjective to Noun:
- crazy
- nasty
Back-formation
Back-formation is a morphological process in which new word is created by extracting affixes from another word. In this way, it is the reverse of affixation, in which affixes are added. Back-formation is also different from clipping since it brings a change in the parts of speech or the word’s meaning. For example: the noun insertion has been back-formed into verb insert by removing the suffix ion.
Clipping
As the name suggests, clipping is the word formation process in which a word is reduced to a shorter form. With a sharp contrast to back-formation, clipping keeps the original word meaning intact. These words are very common in everyday speech. For instance: lab is the clipped form of laboratory. . There are four types of clippings:
- Back clipping: (also called final clipping; apocope) it involves the truncation of end of a word as in ad from advertisement.
- Fore-clipping: (also called initial clipping; apheresis) it is the removal of the beginning of a word as in phone from telephone.
- Middle clipping: (also medial clipping; syncope) it is the extraction of the beginning and end of a word as in flu from influenza.
- Complex clipping: is removing multiple parts from multiple words as in cablegram from cabletelegram.
Compounding
Also called composition, by this process two or more than two words are combined together to create a single word, having a single idea and function. In English, there are compound nouns, compound adjectives, and compound verbs. Customarily compound words are spelt as a single word, or as two or more hyphenated words, and even as two or more separate words. For example:
- life + style → lifestyle
- mother + in + law → mother-in-law
- shopping + mall → shopping mall
There are no specific rules for hyphenated compounds. Generally, some new and original compound nouns are hyphenated, but the hyphen is ignored when they become more familiar. However, there are some compound adjectives that are always hyphenated. For instance: state-of-the-art. The hyphen is often retained when two vowels come together, such as: Co-operation. Hyphens are often used to tell the ages of people and things, for example: 10-year-old. The general rule is that words are combined with hyphens to avoid confusion.
Borrowing
This refers to the words adopted from other languages. There are two types of borrowings:
- Loan-word: By this process, a word is borrowed from another language without translating it into the target language. For example: the phrase tour-de-force is borrowed directly from French, which means a masterly or brilliant feat.
- Loan-translation: Also known as calque, a morphological process wherein a word or phrase from another language is borrowed by literally translating it into the target language. For example: the phrase point of view has been translated into English from the French phrase point de vue.
Coinage
Also called invention, is a morphological process by which new words are invented. Sometimes popular trademark names of various products are adopted by people so extensively that they ultimately become the everyday words of language. For example:
- Heroin
- Aspirin
- Escalator
- Xerox
- Kerosene
- Nylon
- Band-Aid
- Vaseline
- Margarine
- Videotape
Again, some words are being invented due to rapid cultural changes and the spread of information technology, mass media, internet, etc. For example:
- Blog
- Hotspot
- Netbook
- Tablet
- Tweet
- Emoticon
- Smartphone
Blending
Blending (also called portmanteau) is a morphological process in which the parts of two or more words are combined together to form a new word. Usually, the parts consist of the beginning of one word and the end of the other word(s). Typically, the meaning of the blended word reverberates with the meanings of the original words. For example:
- breakfast + lunch → brunch
- motor+hotel → motel
However, blending should not be confused with compounding, which combines two words without truncation of parts of the roots of the blended words.
Acronyms
These words are formed with the initial letters or each of the major parts of a word or a longer phrase. With a few exceptions, acronyms are usually capitalized. Some linguists confuse acronyms with initialisms, which are also abbreviations formed in the similar manner as the former. In essence, there is a sharp difference between the two. In language, an acronym is pronounced as a single word rather than just a sequence of individual letters, which is characteristic of initialisms. For example:
Acronyms:
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization → UNESCO
- Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation → Laser
- International Criminal Police Organization → Interpol
Initialisms:
- Personal Computer → PC
- Asian Development Bank → ADB
- Liquid Crystal Display → LCD
Reduplication
Reduplication (also called cloning; doubling; duplication; repetition; tautonym) is a word formation process in which a new word is created by repeating all or part of a root or a stem, often with a change of vowel or initial consonant. Reduplication is not a major means of creating lexemes in English, but it is perhaps the most unusual one. Based on their usage, the techniques of reduplication could be classified in the following manner:
- Repetition without Change: bye-bye, tick-tick
- Rhyming Reduplication: ding-dong, super-duper, bow-wow
- Repetition with Change of Vowel: tiptop, chitchat, flip-flop, ping-pong, dilly-dally, wishy-washy
- Repetition with Change of Initial Consonant: teeny-weeny
References
“English Word Formation Processes.” Really Learn English. 2016. Really-Learn-English.com.
14 July 2016 <http://www.really-learn-english.com/word-formation-processes.html>.
“Inflection.” Wikipedia. 2016. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 14 July 2016
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflection>.
“Morphological Derivation.” Wikipedia. 2016. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 14 July 2016
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphological_derivation>.
Yule, George. The Study of Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: CUP, 1996.
“Word Formation.” Wikipedia. 2016. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 14 July 2016
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_formation>.
