Kind of word building

Word-building
is the process of producing new words from the resources of this
particular lang. for the purpose of enlarging and enriching its
vocabulary. Here are the means of word-building. Affixation
is realized by adding affixes to some root morpheme. There are
productive
(taking part in deriving new words in this particular period of lang.
development) and non-productive
affixes. Noun
forming aff.: -er,
-ness,
—ing,
-dom,
—hood,
-ship,
-th; adjective
forming aff.: —ful,
—less,
—y,
—ish,
—ly,
—en,
-some; verb
form. aff.:
-en, -ize, -afe. Conversion
is
an affixless way of word building and particularly English one. It
consists of making new words from some existing ones by changing the
category of a part of speech, the morphemic shape of the original
word remaining unchanged. (a work-to work; a fox-to fox; a
shoulder-to shoulder; a cook-to cook, a room-to room, a pocket-to
pocket, a lunch-to lunch). Composition
may be of three aspects. In neutral
composition the process of compounding is realized by a
mere-juxtaposition of two stems: blackbird, bedroom. Compositions
which have affixes in their structures are called derived
(golden-hared) and comparatively recent formations: teenager,
baby-sitter. Numerous nonce-words are coined on this pattern:
luncher-out, goose-fleshier (murder story). The 3^rd
subtype is called contracted compositions. They have a shortened stem
in their structures: TV-set, G-man, T-shirt. Shortening
(Contraction) is
a comparatively new kind of word-building,
produced
in
two different ways. The first is to make a new word from a syllable
of the original word during of which it can lose its beginning
(phone–telephone), ending (vac-vacation)
or both of them (fridge-refrigerator).
The second way forms the new word from the initial letters of a word
group (UNO,
BBC, g,f. – girl-friend).
These both types of shortening are characteristic for informal speech
in general and uncultivated speech particularly. Sound
imitation (Onomatopoeia). Words
coined by this kind of word-building are made by imitating different
kinds of sounds that may be produced by animals, birds, insects,
human beings and inanimate objects. (bark-лаять,
cock-a-doodle-doo-ку—ка—рe-ку,
mew-мяу).
In sound imitation through their sound form words may imitate certain
special features and qualities (fluffy
kitten–пушистый
котик).
In
Reduplication new
words are made by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic
changes (bye-bye)
or with a variation of root-vowel or consonant (ping-pong,
chit-chat)
– gradational reduplication. Stylistically speaking, most words
made by reduplication represent informal groups: colloquialisms and
slang (riff-raff-
отбросы, хлам, chi-chi girl-шикарная
девушка).
Back-formation
(Reversion). The
earliest examples of this type of word-building are the verbs to
beg
made from French borrowing beggar,
to burgle from burglar
, to
cobble
from cobbler
. In all these cases the verb was made from the noun by subtracting
with what was mistakenly associated with the English suffix –er,
which all the nouns denoting professions are supposed to have. But in
the above-mentioned verbs the process was reversed: a verb was
produced from a noun by subtraction. (to
baby-sit from bay-sitter; to force-land from forced landing).

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Описание презентации по отдельным слайдам:

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  Word-building in Modern English

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  By word-building are understood processes of producing new words from the resources of this particular language. Together with borrowing, word-building provides for enlarging and enriching the vocabulary of the language.

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  Morpheme is the smallest recurrent unit of language directly related to meaning

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  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-read, mispronounce, unwell) and suffixes which follow the root (as in teach-er, cur-able, diet-ate).

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  5 слайд

  We can distinguish words due to a morphological structure

  Words which consist of a root are called root words:
  house, room, book, work, port, street, table, etc.

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  We can distinguish words due to a morphological structure

  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):
  re-read, mis-pronounce, un-well, teach-er.

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  7 слайд

  We can distinguish words due to a morphological structure

  A compound word is made when two words are joined to form a new word:
  dining-room, bluebell (колокольчик), mother-in-law, good-for-nothing(бездельник)

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  8 слайд

  We can distinguish words due to a morphological structure
  Сompound-derivatives are words in which the structural integrity of the two free stems is ensured by a suffix referring to the combination as a whole, not to one of its elements:
  kind-hearted, old-timer, schoolboyishness, teenager.

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  9 слайд

  There are the following ways of word-building:
  Affixation
  Composition
  Conversion
  Shortening (Contraction)
  Non-productive types of word-building:
  A) Sound-Imitation
  B) Reduplication
  C) Back-Formation (Reversion)

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  10 слайд

  Affixation

  The process of affixation consists in coining a new word by adding an affix or several affixes to some root morpheme.

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  11 слайд

  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.

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  15 слайд

  An affix of foreign origin can be regarded as borrowed only after it has begun an independent and active life in the recipient language and it is taking part in the word-making processes of that language. This can only occur when the total of words with this affix is so great in the recipient language as to affect the native speakers’ subconscious to the extent that they no longer realize its foreign flavour and accept it as their own.

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  16 слайд

  By productive affixes we mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development. The best way to identify productive affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called nonce-words.
  The adjectives thinnish (жидковатый) and baldish (лысоватый) bring to mind dozens of other adjectives made with the same suffix: oldish (староватый), youngish (моложавый), mannish (мужеподобная), girlish (женоподобный), longish (длинноватый), yellowish (желтоватый), etc.

  The same is well illustrated by the following popular statement: «/ don’t like Sunday evenings: I feel so Mondayish». (Чу́вствующий лень по́сле воскре́сного о́тдыха)

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  17 слайд

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

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  19 слайд

  Some Non-Productive Affixes

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  20 слайд

  Composition

  Composition is a type of word-building, in which new words are produced by combining two or more stems

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  21 слайд

  Compounds are not homogeneous in structure. Traditionally three types are distinguished:
  neutral
  morphological
  syntactic

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  22 слайд

  Neutral

  In neutral compounds the process of compounding is realised without any linking elements, by a mere juxtaposition of two stems, as in
  blackbird(дрозд)
  shopwindow(витрина) sunflower(подсолнух) bedroom(спальня) etc.

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  23 слайд

  There are three subtypes of neutral compounds depending on the structure of the constituent stems.

  The examples: shopwindow(витрина), sunflower(подсолнух), bedroom(спальня) represent the subtype which may be described as simple neutral compounds: they consist of simple affixless stems.

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  24 слайд

  Compounds which have affixes in their structure are called derived or derivational compounds.

  E.g. blue-eyed(голубоглазый),
  broad-shouldered(широкоплечий)

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  25 слайд

  The third subtype of neutral compounds is called contracted compounds. These words have a shortened (contracted) stem in their structure:
  V-day (день победы) (Victory day), G-man (агент ФБР) (Government man «FBI agent»), H-bag (сумочка) (handbag), T-shirt(футболка), etc.

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  26 слайд

  Morphological

  Morphological compounds are few in number. This type is non-productive. It is represented by words in which two compounding stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant:
  e. g. Anglo-Saxon, Franko-Prussian, handiwork(изделие ручной работы), statesman (политический деятель/политик)

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  27 слайд

  Syntactic

  These words are formed from segments of speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech: articles, prepositions, adverbs.
  e.g. father-in-law, mother-in-law etc.

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  28 слайд

  Conversion

  Conversion consists in making a new word from some existing word by changing the category of a part of speech, the morphemic shape of the original word remaining unchanged.

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  29 слайд

  It has also a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech. Conversion is a convenient and «easy» way of enriching the vocabulary with new words. The two categories of parts of speech especially affected by conversion are nouns and verbs.

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  30 слайд

  Verbs made from nouns are the most numerous amongst the words produced by conversion:
  e. g. to hand(передавать)
  to back(поддерживать)
  to face(стоять лицом к кому-либо)
  to eye(рассматривать)
  to nose(разнюхивать)
  to dog(выслеживать)

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  31 слайд

  Nouns are frequently made from verbs:
  e.g. make(марка)
  run(бег)
  find(находка)
  walk(прогулка)
  worry(тревога)
  show(демонстрация)
  move(движение)

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  32 слайд

  Verbs can also be made from adjectives:
  e. g. to pale(побледнеть)
  to yellow(желтеть)
  to cool(охлаждать)

  Other parts of speech are not entirely unsusceptible to conversion.

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  33 слайд

  Shortening (Contraction)

  This comparatively new way of word-building has achieved a high degree of productivity nowadays, especially in American English.
  Shortenings (or contracted words) are produced in two different ways.

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  34 слайд

  The first way
  The first is to make a new word from a syllable (rarer, two) of the original word.
  The latter may lose its beginning (as in phone made from telephone, fence from defence), its ending (as in hols from holidays, vac from vacation, props from properties, ad from advertisement) or both the beginning and ending (as in flu from influenza, fridge from refrigerator)

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  35 слайд

  The second way
  The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial letters of a word group:
  U.N.O. from the United Nations Organisation, B.B.C. from the British Broadcasting Corporation, M.P. from Member of Parliament. This type is called initial shortenings.

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  36 слайд

  Both types of shortenings are characteristic of informal speech in general and of uncultivated speech particularly:
  E. g. Movie (from moving-picture), gent (from gentleman), specs (from spectacles), circs (from circumstances, e. g. under the circs), I. O. Y. (from I owe you), lib (from liberty), cert (from certainty), exhibish (from exhibition), posish (from position)

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  37 слайд

  Non-productive types of word-building
  Sound-Imitation
  Words coined by this interesting type of word-building are made by imitating different kinds of sounds that may be produced by
  human beings: to whisper (шептать), to whistle (свистеть), to sneeze (чихать), to giggle (хихикать);

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  38 слайд

  animals, birds, insects: to hiss (шипеть), to buzz (жужжать), to bark (лаять), to moo (мычать);
  inanimate objects: to boom (гудеть), to ding-dong (звенеть), to splash (брызгать);

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  39 слайд

  Reduplication
  In reduplication new words are made by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes as in bye-bye (coll, for good-bye)
  or with a variation of the root-vowel or consonant as in ping-pong, chit-chat (this second type is called gradational reduplication).

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  40 слайд

  This type of word-building is greatly facilitated in Modern English by the vast number of monosyllables. Stylistically speaking, most words made by reduplication represent informal groups: colloquialisms and slang. E. g. walkie-talkie («a portable radio»), riff-raff («the worthless or disreputable element of society»; «the dregs of society»), chi-chi (sl. for chic as in a chi-chi girl)

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  In a modern novel an angry father accuses his teenager son of doing nothing but dilly-dallying all over the town. (dilly-dallying — wasting time, doing nothing)

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  42 слайд

  Another example of a word made by reduplication may be found in the following quotation from “The Importance of Being Earnest” by O. Wilde:
  Lady Bracknell: I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd. (shilly-shallying — irresolution, indecision)

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  Back-formation

  Forming the allegedly original stem from a supposed derivative on the analogy of the existing pairs, i. e. the singling-out of a stem from a word which is wrongly regarded as a derivative.

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  The earliest examples of this type of word-building are the verb to beg (попрошайничать) that was made from the French borrowing beggar (нищий, бедняк), to burgle (незаконно проникать в помещение) from burglar (вор-домушник).
  In all these cases the verb was made from the noun by subtracting what was mistakenly associated with the English suffix -er.

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  45 слайд

  Later examples of back-formation are to blood-transfuse (делать переливание крови) from blood-transfuing, to force-land (совершать вынужденную посадку) from forced landing, to baby-sit (присматривать за ребенком) from baby-sitter.

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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.

Chapter 6 how english words are made. word-building (continued)

Composition

This type of word-building, in which new words are produced by combining two or more stems, is one of the three most productive types in Modern English, the other two are conversion and affixation. Compounds, though certainly fewer in quantity than derived or root words, still represent one of the most typical and specific features of English word-structure.

There are at least three aspects of composition that present special interest.

The first is the structural aspect. Compounds are not homogeneous in structure. Traditionally three types are distinguished: neutral, morphological and syntactic.

In neutral compounds the process of compounding is realized without any linking elements, by a mere juxtaposition of two stems, as in blackbird, shop-window, sunflower, bedroom, tallboy, etc. There are three subtypes of neutral compounds depending on the structure of the constituent stems.

The examples above represent the subtype which may be described as simple neutral compounds: they consist of simple affixless stems.

Compounds which have affixes in their structure are called derived or derivational compounds. E. g. absent-mindedness, blue-eyed, golden-haired, broad-shouldered, lady-killer, film-goer, music-lover, honey-mooner, first-nighter, late-comer, newcomer, early-riser, evil-doer. The productivity of this type is confirmed by a considerable number of comparatively recent formations, such as teenager, babysitter, strap-hanger, four-seater («car or boat with four seats»), doubledecker («a ship or bus with two decks»). Numerous nonce-words are coined on this pattern which is another proof of its high productivity: e. g. luncher-out («a person who habitually takes his lunch in restaurants and not at Home»), goose-flesher («murder story») or attention getter in the following fragment:

«Dad,» I began … «I’m going to lose my job.» That should be an attention getter, I figured.

(From A Five-Colour Buick by P. Anderson Wood)

The third subtype of neutral compounds is called contracted compounds. These words have a shortened (contracted) stem in their structure: TV-set (-program, -show, -canal, etc.), V-day {Victory day), G-man (Government man «FBI agent»), H-bag (handbag), T-shirt, etc.

Morphological compounds are few in number. This 5type is non-productive. It is represented by words in which two compounding stems are combined by a linking vowel or consonant, e. g. Anglo-Saxon, Franko-Prussian, handiwork, handicraft, craftsmanship, Spokesman, statesman (see also p. 115). . In syntactic compounds (the term is arbitrary) we once more find a feature of specifically English word-structure. These words are formed from segments of speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relations typical of speech: articles, prepositions; adverbs, as in the nouns lily-of-the-valley, Jack-o f-all-trades, good-for-nothing, mother-in-law, sit-at-home. Syntactical relations and grammatical patterns current in present-day English can be clearly traced in the structures of such compound nouns as pick-me-up, know-all, know-nothing, go-between, get-together, whodunit. The last word (meaning «a detective story») was obviously coined from the ungrammatical variant of the word-group who (has} done it.

In this group of compounds, once more, we find a great number of neologisms, and whodunit is one of them. Consider, also, the two following fragments which make rich use of modern city traffic terms.

Randy managed to weave through a maze of one-way-streets, no-left-turns, and no-stopping-zones …

(From A Five-Colour Buick by P. Anderson Wood)

«… you go down to the Department of Motor Vehicles tomorrow and take your behind-the-wheel test.»

(Ibid.)

The structure of most compounds is transparent, as it were, and clearly betrays the origin of these words from word-combinations. The fragments below illustrate admirably the very process of coining nonce-words after the productive patterns of composition.

«Is all this really true?» he asked. «Or are you pulling my leg?»

… Charlie looked slowly around at each of the four old faces… They were quite serious. There was no sign of joking or leg-pulling on any of them.

(From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by R. Dahl)

«I have decided that you are up to no good. I am well aware -that that is your natural condition. But I prefer you to be up to no good in London. Which is more used to up-to-no-gooders.»

(From The French Lieutenant’s Woman by J. Fowles)

«What if they capture us?» said Mrs. Bucket. «What if they shoot us?» said Grandma Georgina. «What if my beard were made of green spinach?» cried Mr. Wonka. «Bunkum and tommyrot! You’ll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that. …We want no what-iffers around, right, Charlie?»

(From Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by R. Dahl)

The first of the examples presents the nonce-word leg-pulling coined on the pattern of neutral derivational compounds. The what-iffing and what-iffers of the third extract seem to represent the same type, though there is something about the words clearly resembling syntactic compounds: their what-if-nucleus is one of frequent patterns of living speech. As to the up-to-no-gooders of the second example, it is certainly a combination of syntactic and derivational types, as it is made from a segment of speech which is held together by the -er suffix. A similar formation is represented by the nonce-word break fast-in-the-bedder («a person who prefers to have his breakfast in bed»).

* * *

Another focus of interest is the semantic aspect of compound words, that is, the question of correlations of the separate meanings of the constituent parts and the actual meaning of the compound. Or, to put it in easier terms: can the meaning of a compound word be regarded as the sum of its constituent meanings?

To try and answer this question, let us consider the following groups of examples.

(1) Classroom, bedroom, working-man, evening-gown, dining-room, sleeping-car,

reading-room, dancing-hall.

This group seems to represent compounds whose meanings can really be described as the sum of their constituent meanings. Yet, in the last four words we can distinctly detect a slight shift of meaning. The first component in these words, if taken as a free form, denotes an action or state of whatever or whoever is characterized by the word. Yet, a sleeping-car is not a car that sleeps (cf. a sleeping child), nor is a dancing-hail actually dancing (cf. dancing pairs).

The shift of meaning becomes much more pronounced in the second group of examples.

(2) Blackboard, blackbird, football, lady-killer, pick pocket, good-for-nothing, lazybones, chatterbox.

In these compounds one of the components (or both) has changed its meaning: a blackboard is neither a board nor necessarily black, football is not a ball but a game, a chatterbox not a box but a person, and a lady killer kills no one but is merely a man who fascinates women. It is clear that in all these compounds the meaning of the whole word cannot be defined as the sum of the constituent meanings. The process of change of meaning in some such words has gone so far that the meaning of one or both constituents is no longer in the least associated with the current meaning of the corresponding free form, and yet the speech community quite calmly accepts such seemingly illogical word groups as a white blackbird, pink bluebells or an entirely confusing statement like: Blackberries are red when they are green.

Yet, despite a certain readjustment in the semantic structure of the word, the meanings of the constituents of the compounds of this second group are still transparent: you can see through them the meaning of the whole complex. Knowing the meanings of the constituents a student of English can get a fairly clear idea of what the whole word means even if he comes across it for the first time. At least, it is clear that a blackbird is some kind of bird and that a good-for-nothing is not meant as a compliment.

(3) In the third group of compounds the process of deducing the meaning of the whole from those of the constituents is impossible. The key to meaning seems to have been irretrievably lost: ladybird is not a bird, but an insect, tallboy not a boy but a piece of furniture, bluestocking, on the contrary, is a person, whereas bluebottle may denote both a flower and an insect but never a bottle.

Similar enigmas are encoded in such words as man-of-war («warship»), merry-to-round («carousel»), mother-of-pearl («irridescent substance forming the inner layer of certain shells»), horse-marine («a person who is unsuitable for his job or position»), butter-fingers («clumsy person; one who is apt to drop things»), wall-flower «a girl who is not invited to dance at a party»), whodunit («detective story»), straphanger (1. «a passenger who stands in a crowded bus or underground train and holds onto a strap or other support suspended from above»; 2. «a book of light genre, trash; the kind of book one is likely to read when travelling in buses or trains»).

The compounds whose meanings do not correspond to the separate meanings of their constituent parts (2nd and 3rd group listed above) are called idiomatic compounds, in contrast to the first group known as non-idiomatic compounds.

The suggested subdivision into three groups is based on the degree of semantic cohesion of the constituent parts, the third group representing the extreme case of cohesion where the constituent meanings blend to produce an entirely new meaning.

The following joke rather vividly shows what happens if an idiomatic compound is misunderstood as non-idiomatic.

Patient: They tell me, doctor, you are a perfect lady-killer.

Dосtоr: Oh, no, no! I assure you, my dear madam, I make no distinction between the sexes.

In this joke, while the woman patient means to compliment the doctor on his being a handsome and irresistible man, he takes or pretends to take the word lady-killer literally, as a sum of the direct meanings of its constituents.

The structural type of compound words and the word-building type of composition have certain advantages for communication purposes.

Composition is not quite so flexible a way of coining new words as conversion but flexible enough as is convincingly shown by the examples of nonce-words given above. Among compounds are found numerous expressive and colourful words. They are also comparatively laconic, absorbing into one word an idea that otherwise would have required a whole phrase (cf. The hotel was full of week-enders and The hotel was full of people spending the week-end there).

Both the laconic and the expressive value of compounds can be well illustrated by English compound adjectives denoting colours (cf. snow-white — as white as snow).

In the following extract a family are discussing which colour to paint their new car.

«Hey,» Sally yelled, «could you paint it canary yellow, Fred?»

«Turtle green,» shouted my mother, quickly getting into the spirit of the thing. «Mouse grey,» Randy suggested. «Dove white, maybe?» my mother asked. «Rattlesnake brown,» my father said with a dead-pan look…

«Forget it, all of you,» I announced. «My Buick is going to be peacock blue.»

(From A Five-Colour Buick by P. Anderson Wood)

It is obvious that the meaning of all these «multi-coloured» adjectives is based on comparison: the second constituent of the adjective is the name of a colour used in its actual sense and the first is the name of an object (animal, flower, etc.) with which the comparison is drawn. The pattern immensely extends the possibilities of denoting all imaginable shades of each colour, the more so that the pattern is productive and a great number of nonce-words are created after it. You can actually coin an adjective comparing the colour of a defined object with almost anything on earth: the pattern allows for vast creative experiments. This is well shown in the fragment given above. If canary yellow, peacock blue, dove white are quite «normal» in the language and registered by dictionaries, turtle green and rattlesnake brown1 are certainly typical nonce-words, amusing inventions of the author aimed at a humorous effect.

Sometimes it is pointed out, as a disadvantage, that the English language has only one word blue for two different colours denoted in Russian by синий and голубой.

But this seeming inadequacy is compensated by a large number of adjectives coined on the pattern of comparison such as navy blue, cornflower blue, peacock blue, chicory blue, sapphire blue, china blue, sky-blue, turquoise blue, forget-me-not blue, heliotrope blue, powder-blue. This list can be supplemented by compound adjectives which also denote different shades of blue, but are not built on comparison: dark blue, light blue, pale blue, electric blue, Oxford blue, Cambridge blue.

* * *

A further theoretical aspect of composition is the criteria for distinguishing between a compound and a word-combination.

This question has a direct bearing on the specific feature of the structure of most English compounds which has already been mentioned: with the exception of the rare morphological type, they originate directly from word-combinations and are often homonymous to them: cf. a tall boy — a tallboy.

In this case the graphic criterion of distinguishing between a word and a word-group seems to be sufficiently convincing, yet in many cases it cannot wholly be relied on. The spelling of many compounds, tallboy among them, can be varied even within the same book. In the case of tallboy the semantic criterion seems more reliable, for the striking difference in the meanings of the word and the word-group certainly points to the highest degree of semantic cohesion in the word: tallboy does not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture, a chest of drawers supported by a low stand.

Moreover, the word-group a tall boy conveys two concepts (1. a young male person; 2. big in size), whereas the word tallboy expresses one concept.

Yet the semantic criterion alone cannot prove anything as phraseological units also convey a single concept and some of them are characterized by a high degree of semantic cohesion (see Ch. 12).

The phonetic criterion for compounds may be treated as that of a single stress. The criterion is convincingly applicable to many compound nouns, yet does not work with compound adjectives:

cf. ‘slowcoach, ‘blackbird, ‘tallboy,

but: ‘blue-‘eyed, ‘absent-‘minded, ‘ill’mannered.

Still, it is true that the morphological structure of these adjectives and their hyphenated spelling leave no doubt about their status as words and not word-groups.

Morphological and syntactic criteria can also be applied to compound words in order to distinguish them from word-groups.

In the word-group a tall boy each of the constituents is independently open to grammatical changes peculiar to its own category as a part of speech: They were the tallest boys in their form.

Between the constituent parts of the word-group other words can be inserted: a tall handsome boy.

The compound tallboy — and, in actual fact, any other compound — is not subject to such changes. The first component is grammatically invariable; the plural form ending is added to the whole unit: tallboys. No word can be inserted between the components, even with the compounds which have a traditional separate graphic form.

All this leads us to the conclusion that, in most cases, only several criteria (semantic, morphological, syntactic, phonetic, graphic) can convincingly classify a lexical unit as either a compound word or a word group.

Semi-Affixes

Consider the following examples.

«… The Great Glass Elevator is shockproof, waterproof, bombproof, bulletproof, and Knidproof1…»

(From Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by R. Dahl)

Lady Malvern tried to freeze him with a look, but you can’t do that sort of thing to Jeeves. He is look-proof.

(From Carry on, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse)

Better sorts of lip-stick are frequently described in advertisements as kissproof. Some building materials may be advertised as fireproof. Certain technical devices are foolproof meaning that they are safe even in a fool’s hands.

 All these words, with -proof for the second component, stand between compounds and derived words in their characteristics. On the one hand, the second component seems to bear all the features of a stem and preserves certain semantic associations with the free form proof. On the other hand, the meaning of -proof in all the numerous words built on this pattern has become so generalized that it is certainly approaching that of a suffix. The high productivity of the pattern is proved, once more, by the possibility of coining nonce-words after this pattern: look-proof and Knidproof, the second produced from the non-existent stem Knid.

The component -proof, standing thus between a stem and an affix, is regarded by some scholars as a semi-affix.

Another example of semi-affix is -man in a vast group of English nouns denoting people: sportsman, gentleman, nobleman, salesman, seaman, fisherman, countryman, statesman, policeman, chairman, etc.

Semantically, the constituent -man in these words approaches the generalized meaning of such noun-forming suffixes as -er, -or, -ist (e. g. artist), -ite (e. g. hypocrite). It has moved so far in its meaning from the corresponding free form man, that such word-groups as woman policeman or Mrs. Chairman are quite usual. Nor does the statement Lady, you are no gentleman sound eccentric or illogical for the speaker uses the word gentleman in its general sense of a noble upright person, regardless of sex. It must be added though that this is only an occasional usage and that gentleman is normally applied to men.

Other examples of semi-affixes are -land (e. g. Ireland, Scotland, fatherland, wonderland), -like (e. g. ladylike, unladylike, businesslike, unbusinesslike, starlike, flowerlike, etc.), -worthy (e. g. seaworthy, trustworthy, praiseworthy).

Shortening (Contraction)

This comparatively new way of word-building has achieved a high degree of productivity nowadays, especially in American English.

Shortenings (or contracted/curtailed words) are produced in two different ways. The first is to make a new word from a syllable (rarer, two) of the original word. The latter may lose its beginning (as in phone .made from telephone, fence from defence), its ending (as in hols from holidays, vac from vacation, props from properties, ad from advertisement) or both the beginning and ending (as in flu from influenza, fridge from refrigerator).

The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial letters of a word group: U.N.O. Падай] from the United Nations Organization, B.B.C. from the British Broadcasting Corporation, M.P. from Member of Parliament. This type is called initial shortenings. They are found not only among formal words, such as the ones above, but also among colloquialisms and slang. So, g. f. is a shortened word made from the compound girl-friend. The word, though, seems to be somewhat ambiguous as the following conversation between two undergraduates clearly shows:

— Who’s the letter from?

— My g. f.

— Didn’t know you had girl-friends. A nice girl?

— Idiot! It’s from my grandfather!

It is commonly believed that the preference for shortenings can be explained by their brevity and is due to the ever-increasing tempo of modern life. Yet, in the conversation given above the use of an ambiguous contraction does not in the least contribute to the brevity of the communication: on the contrary, it takes the speakers some time to clarify the misunderstanding. Confusion and ambiguousness are quite natural consequences of the modern overabundance of shortened words, and initial shortenings are often especially enigmatic and misleading.

Both types of shortenings are characteristic of informal speech in general and of uncultivated speech particularly. The history of the American okay seems to be rather typical. Originally this initial shortening was spelt O.K. and was supposed to stand for all correct. The purely oral manner in which sounds were recorded for letters resulted in O.K. whereas it should have been A.C. or aysee. Indeed, the ways of words are full of surprises.

Here are some more examples of informal shortenings. Movie (from moving-picture), gent (from gentleman), specs (from spectacles), circs (from circumstances, e. g. under the circs), I. 0. Y. (a written acknowledgement of debt, made from I owe you), lib (from liberty, as in May I take the lib of saying something to you?), cert (from certainty, as in This enterprise is a cert if you have a bit of capital), metrop (from metropoly, e. g. Paris is a gay metrop), exhibish (from exhibition), posish (from position).

Undergraduates’ informal speech abounds in words of the type: exam, lab, prof, vac, hoi, co-ed (a girl student at a coeducational school or college).

Some of the Minor Types of Modern Word-Building.

Sound-Imitation (Onomatopoeia1)

Words coined by this interesting type of word-building are made by imitating different kinds of sounds that may be produced by animals, birds, insects, human beings and inanimate objects.

It is of some interest that sounds produced by the same kind of animal are frequently represented by quite different sound groups in different languages. For instance, English dogs bark (cf. the R. лаять) or howl (cf. the R. выть). The English cock cries cock-a-doodle-doo (cf. the R. ку-ка-ре-ку). In England ducks quack and frogs croak (cf. the R. крякать said about ducks and квакать said about frogs). It is only English and Russian cats who seem capable of mutual understanding when they meet, for English cats mew or miaow (meow). The same can be said about cows: they moo (but also low).

Some names of animals and especially of birds and insects are also produced by sound-imitation: crow, cuckoo, humming-bird, whip-poor-will, cricket.

The following desperate letter contains a great number of sound-imitation words reproducing sounds made by modern machinery:

The Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Co.,

Pittsburg, Pa.

Gentlemen:

Why is it that your switch engine has to ding and fizz and spit and pant and grate and grind and puff and bump and chug and hoot and toot and whistle and wheeze and howl and clang and growl and thump and clash and boom and jolt and screech and snarl and snort and slam and throb and soar and rattle and hiss and yell and smoke and shriek all night long when I come home from a hard day at the boiler works and have to keep the dog quiet and the baby quiet so my wife can squawk at me for snoring in my sleep?

Yours

(From Language and Humour by G. G. Pocheptsov.)

There is a hypothesis that sound-imitation as a way of word-formation should be viewed as something much wider than just the production of words by the imitation of purely acoustic phenomena. Some scholars suggest that words may imitate through their sound form certain unacoustic features and qualities of inanimate objects, actions and processes or that the meaning of the word can be regarded as the immediate relation of the sound group to the object. If a young chicken or kitten is described as fluffy there seems to be something in the sound of the adjective that conveys the softness and the downy quality of its plumage or its fur. Such verbs as to glance, to glide, to slide, to slip axe supposed to convey by their very sound the nature of the smooth, easy movement over a slippery surface. The sound form of the words shimmer, glimmer, glitter seems to reproduce the wavering, tremulous nature of the faint light. The sound of the verbs to rush, to dash, to flash may be said to reflect the brevity, swiftness and energetic nature of their corresponding actions. The word thrill has something in the quality of its sound that very aptly conveys the tremulous, tingling sensation it expresses.

Some scholars have given serious consideration to this theory. However, it has not yet been properly developed.

Reduplication

In reduplication new words are made by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes as in bye-bye (coil, for good-bye} or with a variation of the root-vowel or consonant as in ping-pong, chit-chat (this second type is called gradational reduplication).

This type of word-building is greatly facilitated in Modern English by the vast number of monosyllables. Stylistically speaking, most words made by reduplication represent informal groups: colloquialisms and slang. E. g. walkie-talkie («a portable radio»), riff-raff («the worthless or disreputable element of society»; «the dregs of society»), chi-chi (sl. for chic as in a chi-chi girl).

In a modern novel an angry father accuses his teenager son of doing nothing but dilly-dallying all over the town.

(dilly-dallying — wasting time, doing nothing, loitering)

Another example of a word made by reduplication may be found in the following quotation from The Importance of Being Earnest by O. Wilde:

Lady Bracknell. I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd.

(shilly-shallying — irresolution, indecision)

Back-Formation (Reversion)

The earliest examples of this type of word-building are the verb to beg that was made from the French borrowing beggar, to burgle from burglar, to cobble from cobbler. In all these cases the verb was made from the noun by subtracting what was mistakenly associated with the English suffix -er. The pattern of the type to work — worker was firmly established in the subconscious of English-speaking people at the time when these formations appeared, and it was taken for granted that any noun denoting profession or occupation is certain to have a corresponding verb of the same root. So, in the case of the verbs to beg, to burgle, to cobble the process was reversed: instead of a noun made from a verb by affixation (as in painter from to paint), a verb was produced from a noun by subtraction. That is why this type of word-building received the name of back-formation or reversion.

Later examples of back-formation are to butle from butler, to baby-sit from baby-sitter, to force-land from forced landing, to blood-transfuse from blood-transfusion, to fingerprint from. finger printings, to straphang from straphanger.

Exercises

I. Consider your answers to the following.

1. What is understood by composition? What do we call words made by this type of word-building?

2. Into what groups and subgroups can compounds be subdivided structurally? Illustrate your answer with examples.

3. Which types of composition are productive in Modern English? How can this be demonstrated?

4. What are the interrelationships between the meaning of a compound word and the meanings of its constituent parts? Point out the principal cases and give examples.

5. What are the criteria for distinguishing between a compound and a word-combination?

6. What are the italicized elements in the words given below? What makes them different from affixes? from stems?

statesman, waterproof, cat-like, trustworthy.

7. What are the two processes of making shortenings? Explain the productivity of this way of word-building and stylistic characteristics of shortened words. Give examples.

8. What minor processes of word-building do you know? Describe them and illustrate your answer with examples.

II. Find compounds in the following jokes and extracts and write them out in three columns: A. Neutral compounds. B. Morphological compounds. C. Syntactic compounds.

1. Pat and Jack were in London for the first time. During a tour of the shops in the West End they came to an expensive-looking barber’s. «Razors!» exclaimed Pat. «You want one, don’t you? There’s a beauty there for twenty-five bob,1 and there’s another for thirty bob. Which would you sooner have?» «A beard,» said Jack, walking off.

2. The children were in the midst of a free-for-all.2 «Richard, who started this?» asked the father as he came into the room. «Well, it all started when David hit me back.»

3. That night, as they cold-suppered together, Barmy cleared his throat and looked across at Pongo with a sad sweet smile. «I mean to say, it’s no good worrying and trying to look ahead and plan and scheme and weigh your every action, because you never can tell when doing such-and-such won’t make so-and-so happen — while, on the other hand, if you do so-and-so it may just as easily lead to such-and-such.»

4. When Conan Doyle arrived in Boston, he was at once recognized by the cabman whose cab he engaged. When he was about to pay his fare, the cabman said:

«If you please, sir, I should prefer a ticket to your lecture.»

Conan Doyle laughed. «Tell me,» he said, «how you knew who I was and I’ll give you tickets for your whole family.»

«Thank you, sir,» was the answer. «On the side of your travelling-bag is your name.»

5. An old tramp sailed up to the back door of a little English tavern called The George and Dragon and beckoned to the landlady.

«I’ve had nothing to eat for three days,» he said. «Would you spare an old man a bite of dinner?»

«I should say not, you good-for-nothing loafer,» said the landlady and slammed the door in his face.

The tramp’s face reappeared at the kitchen window. «I was just wonderin’,» he said, «if I could ‘ave a word or two with George.»

6. «Where are you living. Grumpy?» «In the Park. The fresh-air treatment is all the thing nowadays.»

7. Arriving home one evening a man found the house locked up. After trying to get in at the various windows on the first floor he finally climbed upon the shed roof and with much difficulty entered through a second-story window. On the dining-room table he found a note from his absent-minded wife: «I have gone out. You’ll find the key under the door mat.»

8. One balmy, blue-and-white morning the old woman stood in her long, tidy garden and looked up at her small neat cottage. The thatch on its tip-tilted roof was new and its well-fitting doors had been painted blue. Its newly-hung curtains were gay… Bird-early next morning Mother Farthing went into the dew-drenched garden. With billhook and fork she soon set to work clearing a path to the apple tree.

(From Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by R. Dahl)

III. Identify the neutral compounds in the word combinations given below and write them out in 3 columns:

A. Simple neutral compounds. B. Neutral derived compounds. C. Neutral contracted compounds.

An air-conditioned hall; a glass-walled room; to fight against H-bomb; a loud revolver-shot; a high-pitched voice; a heavy topcoat; a car’s windshield; a snow-white handkerchief; big A. A. guns; a radio-equipped car; thousands of gold-seekers; a big hunting-knife; a lightish-coloured man; to howl long and wolf-like; to go into frantic U-turns;1 to fix M-Day2.

IV. Arrange the italicized compounds in the following extracts into two groups: A. Idiomatic compounds. B. Non-idiomatic compounds. Define the structural type of the compounds under study.

1. The mammal1 husband originates from a man in love. Love is only a temporary transient state, which is lost altogether when the man in love turns into a husband. All this is very much the same as the spring love-singing with blackbirds. In the morning, scarcely out of bed, the husband is surprised at being served very hot tea. This proves that his knowledge of the elementary laws of physics is very poor, for he is obviously unaware of the fact that water boils at 100 °C, irrespective of one’s being or not being, in a hurry to get to work. Then he shows his annoyance if he has not got a fresh handkerchief. At such moments he is venomous, and it is better to keep out of his way. 2. We’ve some plain, blunt things to say and we expect the same kind of answers, not a lot of double-talk. 3. Picture the dining-room of the John Grier Home with its oil-cloth-covered tables, and wooden-handed knives and forks. 4. Being a matchmaker is one thing. A match-breaker is something other. 5. She could imagine the polite, disinterested tone, the closed-down, non-giving thin expression on the thin, handsome lady-killer face, still tan with the mountain sun. 6. Crane’s brother had played fullback on the football team, but the brothers had rarely been seen together, and the fact that the huge, graceful athlete and the scarecrow bookworm were members of the same family seemed like a freak of eugenics to the students who knew them both. 7. On a giant poster above the entrance, a gigantic girl in a nightgown pointed a pistol the size of a cannon at a thirty-foot-tall man in a dinner jacket. 8. So the fellow took Barmy out, and there was the girl sitting in a two-seater. The girl stared at him, dropping a slice of bread-and-butter in her emotion.

V. Arrange the compounds given below into two groups;

A. Idiomatic. B. Non-idiomatie. Say whether the semantic change within idiomatic compounds is partial or total. Consult the dictionary if necessary.

Light-hearted, adj.; butterfly, n.; homebody, n.; cabman, п.; medium-sized, adj.; blackberry, п.; bluebell, п.; good-for-nothing, adj.; wolf-dog, п.; highway, n.; dragonfly, n.; looking-glass, n.; greengrocer, n.; bluestocking, n.; gooseberry, n.; necklace, n.; earthquake, n.; lazy-bones, n.

VI. Identify the compounds in the word-groups below. Say as much as you can about their structure and semantics.

Emily, our late maid-of-all-work; a heavy snowfall; an automobile salesman; corn-coloured chiffon; vehicle searchlights, little tidbit2 in The Afro-American;3 German A. A. fire;4 a born troubleshooter; to disembark a stowaway,5 an old schoolmate; a cagelike crate; a slightly stoop-shouldered man; a somewhat matter-of-fact manner; a fur-lined boot; to pick forget-me-nots and lilies-of-the-valley; a small T-shirt; a sportscar agency.

VII. Say whether the following lexical units are word-groups or compounds. Apply the criteria outlined in the foregoing text to motivate your answer.

Railway platform, snowman, light dress, traffic light, railway station, landing field, film star, white man, hungry dog, medical man, landing plane, top hat, distant star, small house, green light, evening dress, top student, bluecoat,1 roughhouse,2 booby trap;3 black skirt, medical student, hot dog, blue dress, U-shaped trap, black shirt4.

VIII. Find shortenings in the jokes and extracts given below and specify the method of their formation.

1. Brown: But, Doc, I got bad eyes! Doctor: Don’t worry. We’ll put you up front.5 You won’t miss a thing.

2. «How was your guard duty yesterday, Tom?»

«О. К. I was remarkably vigilant.»

«Were you?»

«Oh, yes. I was so vigilant that I heard at once the relief sergeant approaching my post though I was fast asleep.»

3. «Excuse me, but I’m in a hurry! You’ve had that phone 20 minutes and not said a word!» «Sir, I’m talking to my wife.»

4. Two training planes piloted by air cadets collided in mid-air. The pilots who had safely tailed out were interrogated about the accident:

«Why didn’t you take any evasive action to avoid hitting the other plane?»

«I did,» the first pilot explained, «I tried to zigzag. But he was zigzagging, too, and zagged when I thought he was going to zig.»

5. Any pro6 will tell you that the worst thing possible is to overrehearse.

6. Hedy cut a giant birthday cake and kissed six GIs7 whose birthday it was.

7. A few minutes later the adjutant and the O. D.1 and a disagreeable master sergeant were in a jeep tearing down the highway in pursuit of the coloured convoy.

IX. What is the type of word-building by which the italicized words in the following extracts were made?

1. If they’d anything to say to each other, they could hob-nob2 over beef-tea in a perfectly casual and natural manner. 2. No sooner had he departed than we were surrounded by cats, six of them, all miaowing piteously at once. 3. A man who has permitted himself to be made a thorough fool of is not anxious to broadcast the fact. 4. «He must be a very handsome fellow,» said Sir Eustace. «Some young whipper-snapper3 in Durban.» 5. In South Africa you at once begin to talk about a stoep — I do know what a stoep is — it’s the thing round a house and you sit on it. In various other parts of the world you call it a veranda, a piazza, and a ha-ha4 6. All about him black metal pots were boiling and bubbling on huge stoves, and kettles were hissing, and pans were sizzling, and strange iron machines were clanking and spluttering. 7.1 took the lib of barging in. 8. I’d work for him, slave for him, steal for him, even beg or borrow for him. 9. I’ve been meaning to go to the good old exhibish for a long time. 10. Twenty years of bulling had trained him to wear a mask.

X. Define the particular type of word-building process by which the following words were made and say as much as you can about them.

A mike; to babysit; to buzz; a torchlight; homelike; theatrical; old-fashioned; to book; unreasonable; SALT;5 Anglo-American; to murmur; a pub; to dillydally; okay; eatable; a make; a greenhorn;6 posish; a dress coat;7 to bang; merry-go-round; H-bag; B.B.C.; thinnish; to blood-transfuse; a go; to quack; M.P.; to thunder; earthquake; D-region8; fatalism; a find.

XI. Read the following extract. Consider the italicized words in respect of a) word-building, b) etymology and say everything you know about each of them.

Dear Kind-Trustee-Who-Sends-Orphans-to-College,9

Here I am! I travelled yesterday for four hours in a train. It’s a funny sensation, isn’t it? I never rode in one before.

College is the biggest, most bewildering place. I get lost whenever I leave my room.

I love college and I love you for sending me — I’m very, very happy, and so excited every moment of the time, that I can hardly sleep. You can’t imagine how different it is from the John Grier Home. I never dreamed there was such a place in the world. I’m feeling sorry for everybody who isn’t a girl and who can’t come here, I am sure the college you attended when you were a boy couldn’t have been so nice.

My room is up in a tower. There are three other girls on the same floor of the tower — a Senior who wears spectacles and is always asking us please to be a little more quiet, and two Freshmen named Sallie McBride and Julia Rutledge Pendleton. Sallie has red hair and a turn-up nose and is quite friendly; Julia comes from one of the first families in New York and hasn’t noticed me yet. They room together and the Senior and I have singles.

Usually Freshmen can’t get singles; they are very few, but I got one without even asking. I suppose the register didn’t think it would be right to ask a. properly brought up girl to room with a foundling. You see there are advantages.

(From Daddy-Long-Legs by J. Webster)

СЛОВООБРАЗОВАНИЕ (WORD-BUILDING)

В английском языке имеется несколько способов словообразования:

1) конверсия (образование новых слов без изменения их написания и произношения)

2) словосложение (образование нового слова путем сложения двух слов в одно)

3) изменение ударения в слове (и получение нового слова другой части речи).

4) аффиксация (прибавление к корню суффикса или префикса)

Конверсия. Словосложение. Изменение ударения.

Иногда слово может менять свое значение и выполнять новую синтаксическую функцию в предложении, не изменяя при этом написания и произношения (конверсия). Наиболее распространенным является образование глаголов от существительных: master (хозяин) — to master (управлять), house (дом) — to house (размещать), water (вода) — to water (поливать). Но глаголы могут быть образованы и от прилагательных: empty (пустой) — to empty (опустошать) white (белый) — to white (белить).

Словосложение — это объединение полнозначных слов или их основ в сложное слово. Вновь образованное сложное слово пишется слитно или через дефис: airfield — аэродром (air — воздух, field — поле), air-base — авиабаза (air — воздух, base — база), airman — авиатор (air — воздух, man — мужчина), schoolday — школьный день (school — школа, day — день), birthplace — место рождения (birth — рождение, place — место).

Сложные слова могут состоять из двух существительных, первое из которых приобретает значение прилагательного. В этом случае слова пишутся отдельно. Например: service dress — форменная одежда, одежда для службы (service — служба, dress — платье), shop window — витрина (shop — магазин, window — окно), skim milk — снятое молоко (to skim — снимать (накипь и т.д.), milk — молоко).

Многие существительные совпадают по форме с глаголами, но отличаются ударением. Как правило, в существительных ударение падает на первый слог, а в соответствующих глаголах — на второй: export (экспорт) — to export (экспортировать) present (подарок) — to present (дарить).

Словообразование с помощью аффиксации.

Образование новых слов может происходить при помощи присоединения к основе слова суффиксов или префиксов (приставок). Префиксы присоединяются к корню слова в начале, а суффиксы — в конце. Слова, образованные с помощью префиксов или суффиксов, в отличие от простых слов, называются производными.

Префиксы, как и суффиксы, могут присоединяться к различным частям речи, изменяя при этом значение основы слова, например: happy (счастливый) — unhappy (несчастный) — happiness (счастье) — happily (счастливо); help (помощь) — helper (помощник) — helpful (полезный) — helpless (беспомощный).

Наиболее употребительные приставки (префиксы) и их значения:

1. Префикс со значением “снова”, “заново”, “вновь”, “пере”:

re-	to construct (строить) — to reconstruct (перестроить), to read (читать) — to reread (перечитать), to write (писать) — to rewrite (переписать)

2. Префиксы, которые придают слову противоположное значение или обозначают противоположное действие:

un-       dis-       de-       anti-     counter- contra-

to dress (одеваться) — to undress (раздеваться), to tie (связывать) — to untie (развязывать)  to appear (появляться) — to disappear (исчезать) formation (формирование) — deformation (деформация) fascist (фашист) — anti-fascist (антифашист) attack (атака) — counterattack (контратака) to  contradict (противоречить, возражать)

3. Префиксы, имеющие отрицательное значение:

a- ab- un-         im-        in-         ir-         il-    dis-       mis-      non-

amoral (аморальный, безнравственный) absent (отсутствующий),  abnormal (ненормальный) kind (добрый) — unkind (недобрый) possible (возможный) — impossible (невозможный) ability (способность) — inability (неспособность) regular (регулярный) — irregular (нерегулярный)  legal (легальный) — illegal (нелегальный)  honest (честный) — dishonest (нечестный), to understand (понимать) — to misunderstand (неправильно понять) interference (вмешательство) — non-interference (невмешательство)

! NOTE ! Приставка, которая начинается на “i” изменяется в зависимости от того, какая за ней стоит буква: il + l, ir + r, im + b, m, p.

4. Префиксы, имеющие значение “сверх”, “пере”, “чрезмерно”:

over- super-  ultra- extra-

to pay (платить) — to overpay (переплатить) human (человеческий) — superhuman (сверхчеловеческий)  short (короткий) — ultra-short (ультракороткий) extraordinary (необычный)

5.        Префиксы со значением “между”, “взаимно”:

со-       inter-

existence (существование) — co-existence (сосуществование) national (национальный) — international (интернациональный)

6.        Префиксы, которые переводятся как

а)        “перед”:

рге- fore-

war (война) — pre-war (довоенный), historic (исторический) — prehistoric (доисторический) to foresee (предвидеть)

б)        “после”:

post-

war (война,) — post-war (послевоенный), revolutionary (революционный) — post-revolutionary (послереволюционный)

в)        “недостаточно”, “недо-“:

under-

to pay (платить) — to underpay (оплачивать низко, т.е. недостаточно оплачивать, недоплачивать), production (производство)  —  underproduction (недопроизводство)

г)        “под”:

sub-	division (разделение) — subdivision (подразделение), committee (комиссия, комитет) —   subcommittee (подкомиссия)

д)        “экс”, “бывший”:

ex-	champion (чемпион) — ex-champion (бывший чемпион)

е)        само-, авто-

auto-

autobiography (автобиография), automatic (автоматический)

ж)        полу-

semi-

semifinal (полуфинал), semicircle (полукруг)

з)        через-, транс-

trans-

transatlantic (трансатлантический)

и)        вверх, кверху, наверху

up-	upstairs (вверх по лестнице), upside (верхняя часть), to uproot (вырывать с корнем)

к)        двойной, два, дважды

bi-	bilingual (двуязычный), bi-monthly (выходящий два раза в месяц)

л)        имеющий дело с книгами

bibli(o)-

bibliography (библиография)

м)        относящийся к жизни

bio-	biography (биография)

н)        второстепенное значение

by-	by-street (переулок, улочка)

о)        много-, мульти-, поли-

multi- poly-

multicolored (многоцветный), multimillionaire (мультимиллионер) polyglot (полиглот), polytechnic (политехнический)

п)        второстепенное значение

by-	by-street (переулок, улочка)

7. Префикс глагола, имеющий значение “делать”:

en-	large (большой) — to enlarge (увеличивать, делать больше), danger (опасность) — to endanger (подвергать опасности), force (сила) — to enforce (принуждать, настаивать)

Основные суффиксы существительных:

1. Суффиксы, обозначающие принадлежность к

а)        политическому направлению профессии или нации:

-ist   -an, -ian

Communist (коммунист), Marxist (марксист}, materialist (материалист);  artist (художник), typist (машинистка), pianist (пианист), historian (историк), librarian (библиотекарь), musician (музыкант); Russian (русский), Bulgarian (болгарин)

2. Суффикс, обозначающий учение, теорию, качество:

-ism	marxism (марксизм), heroism (героизм)

3. Суффиксы, обозначающие действующее лицо, его занятие или должность:

-ег, -or -ee, -eer

to teach (учить) — teacher (учитель), to direct (руководить) — director (руководитель) employee (служащий), refugee (беженец, эмигрант), auctioneer (аукционер),

 4.        Суффикс, обозначающий результат действия:

-ment -ade

achievement (достижение), agreement (согласие), government (правительство) lemonade (лимонад), blockade (блокада)

5.        Суффиксы, обозначающие

а)        состояние:

-hood -ship -cy, -acy

brotherhood (братство), childhood (детство), manhood (мужественность) dictatorship (диктатура), friendship (дружба), leadership (руководство) accuracy (точность), infancy (младенчество), supremacy (превосходство)

б)        действие, состояние:

-age       -ing     -ence     -ance   -ion, -tion     -ition, -ation -sion     -al

shortage (нехватка), marriage (брак, супружество), voyage (путешествие)  hunting (охота),  crossing (пересечение,  перекресток),  living (житье)  silence (молчание), difference (различие) importance (важность), resistance (сопротивление) collection (собрание, коллекция), dictation (диктант, диктовка) competition (соревнование), hesitation (сомнение, колебание) decision (решение)  removal ( удаление), arrival (прибытие), refusal (отказ), approval (одобрение)

в) качество или состояние:

-dom   -ness   -ty

freedom (свобода), kingdom (королевство), wisdom (мудрость)  coldness (холод),  darkness  (темнота),  kindness (доброта), weakness (слабость)  activity (активность), safety (безопасность)

г) место действия, занятие или состояние

-ery	bakery (булочная), surgery (кабинет хирурга), cookery (кулинария), slavery (рабство)

д) род занятий, отрасль науки

-ics	physics (физика), politics (политика)

Основные суффиксы прилагательных:

1.        Суффикс, образующий прилагательные от существительных и обозначающий национальную принадлежность или слабую степень качества:

-ese -ish

Chinese (китаец, китайский), Japanese (японец, японский) Pole (поляк) — Polish (польский), Scott (шотландец) — Scottish (шотландский) red (красный) — reddish (красноватый), child (ребенок) — childish (ребячливый, детский)

2.        Суффиксы, образующие прилагательные от глаголов и обозначающие наличие качества:

-ive -ent -ant

to act (действовать) — active (активный), to talk (разговаривать) – talkative (разговорчивый)  to differ (различать) — different (различный), to insist (настаивать) — insistent (настойчивый) to observe (наблюдать, замечать) — observant (наблюдательный, внимательный)

3.        Суффиксы, образующие прилагательные от существительных
и обозначающие наличие качества, свойства:

-ic     -al -ful -ous   -у

base (основа) — basic (основной), economy (экономика) — economic (экономический) centre (центр) — central (центральный) culture (культура) — cultural (культурный), beauty (красота) — beautiful (красивый) peace (мир) — peaceful (мирный), fame (слава) — famous (знаменитый) cloud (облако) — cloudy (облачный), sun (солнце) — sunny (солнечный)

4.        Суффиксы, образующие прилагательные от различных частей
речи и обозначающие

а)        качество, свойство:

-аrу -огу

element (элемент) — elementary (элементарный) illusion (иллюзия) — illusory (обманчивый, иллюзорный)

б)        способность что-либо сделать, состояние, качество:

-able   — ible

to change (изменить) — changeable (изменчивый) to eat (есть) — eatable (съедобный), reason (разум) — reasonable (разумный)

в)        отсутствие качества:

-less

useless (бесполезный), windless (безветренный)

Основные суффиксы глаголов:

-ate -en       -fy, -ify -ize, -ise

active (активный) — to activate (активизировать) short (короткий) — to shorten (укоротить) pure (чистый) — to purify (очищать), simple (простой) — to simplify (упрощать) character (характер) — to characterize (характеризовать)

Основные суффиксы наречий

Суффиксы, образующие наречия от

а) прилагательных, иногда — существительных, порядковых числительных и причастий:

-ly	bad (плохой) — badly (плохо), part (часть) — partly (частично), first (первый) — firstly (во-первых)

б) существительных и наречий и обозначающие направление (или направленность):

-wards -ward

North (север) — northward(s) (к северу, на север), after (после) — afterwards (впоследствии, позже, потом), back (обратно, назад) — backward(s) (назад, в обратном направлении) home (дом, домой) — homeward (к дому, по направлению к дому)

NOTE! В английском языке большое место занимают слова, заимствованные из других языков. Такие слова называются интернациональными. По корню этих слов легко догадаться об их значении. Например: telegram (телеграмма), orchestra (оркестр), concert (концерт) и др. Умение подмечать интернациональные слова в значительной степени облегчает работу по переводу текста.

WORD-BUILDING (exercises)

Ex. 1. Переведите следующие слова, выделите в них суффиксы и префиксы:

Untrue, prehistoric, ultramodern, postwar, ex-champion, anti-body, decompose, decode, deform, depart, discover, disappearance, reread, reconstruct, coauthor, unequal, misunderstand, undress, disarm, anti-fascist, cooperation, co-existence, interaction, superhuman, ultra-violet.

Ex. 2. Определите, к какой части речи относятся следующие слова. Переведите их:

Achievement — achieve, resistance — resistant, assistance — assist — assistant, celebration — celebrate, difference — different, city — citizen, nation — national — nationality, measure — measurement, develop — development, act — active — activity, contain — container, discover — discovery — discoverer, literature — literary, graduate — graduation — undergraduate — post-graduate, educate — education, progress — progressive, act — action — activity — active, govern — governor — government.

Ex. З. Образуйте от данных глаголов существительные с помощью суффикса -ег или -or. Переведите на русский язык:

To lead, to write, to read, to visit, to speak, to sleep, to act, to direct, to conduct, to drive, to fight, to mine, to report, to sing, to skate, to swim, to teach, to travel, to sail, to invent, to found, to compose.

Ex. 4. Образуйте от данных слов существительные с помощью суффикса -ist, -ism, -ian. Переведите на русский язык:

Special, social, art, capital, economy, international, piano, technic, mathematics, statistics, politics, music, electric, Russia, Hungary, Canada, India.

Ex. 5. Образуйте от данных глаголов существительные с помощью суффикса -ment. Переведите на русский язык:

Develop, achieve, move, arrange, treat, state, improve, agree, equip, govern, require, measure, announce, pave.

Ex. 6. Образуйте прилагательные с помощью суффиксов -ful и -less, переведите их на русский язык:

Beauty, thank, hope, doubt, care, aim, use, shape, fruit, power, thought, harm, colour.

Ex. 7. Образуйте прилагательные с помощью суффиксов -able, -ible, переведите их на русский язык:

Change, convert, prevent, break, compare, desire, profit, read, comfort, respect, expect.

Ex. 8. Найдите и выделите суффиксы в данных словах и определите, к какой части речи эти слова относятся:

British, foolish, understandable, heartless, pitiless, successful, experiment, function, musician, socialist, artist, capitalism, professional, fundamental, industrial, doubtful, useful, different, treatment, creative, attractive, peaceful, dangerous, elementary, childish, active, economic, director, worker, passage, marriage, silence, freedom, kingdom.

Ex. 9. Образуйте глаголы с помощью суффикса -en:

Red, tight, soft, deep, short, dark, bright, weak, black, white, sweet, sharp, strength.

Ex. 10. Образуйте наречия с помощью суффикса -1у и переведите их:

Bad, first, part, quick, strong, short, silent, rapid, wide, extreme, cruel, kind, happy.

Ex. 11. Образуйте глаголы от данных существительных. Переведите их:

Turn, smile, smoke, snow, start, stay, step, stop, study, talk, visit, rest, air, paper, cover, handle, cause, watch, act, address, answer, brush, clean, cross, crowd, wave, wish, work, dance, doubt, dress, end, fight, help, hope, joke, laugh, lift, light, love, mind, paper, pencil, place, plan, play, post, reply, report, return, sail, show.

Ex. 12. Переведите на русский язык. Выделите словообразующие элементы. Определите, к какой части речи относятся данные слова:

React, reaction, reactor, reactivity; science, scientific, scientist; industry, industrial, industrious; cold, coldly, coldness; dark, darkness, darken; happy, happily, happiness, unhappy; equal, equally, unequal, equality; free, freedom, freely; attention, attentive, attentively; sun, sunny, sunless; care, careful, careless, carefully, carelessness; to differ, different, difference, indifferent; England, English, Englishman; fame, famous.

Ex. 13. Переведите следующие сложные слова:

Airport, armchair, bathroom, bedroom, bookcase, bookshelf, classroom, custom-house, dining-room, drawing-room, fireplace, folksong, gentleman, hairbrush, icebox, newspaper, notebook, postcard, post-office, raincoat, sportsman, sunshine, writing-table.

Ex. 14. Прочтите следующие пары слов, соблюдая ударения. Переведите их:

An accent — to accent, a contract — to contract, a content — to content, a contest — to contest, a convoy — to convoy, a convict — to convict, a perfect — to perfect, a record — to record.

Ex. 15. Определите, к каким частям речи относятся выделенные слова:

1. Не works as a teacher. 2. I saw one of his works at the exhibition. 3. I was waiting for your report. 4. They report the results of their experiment every Monday. 5. His report contains some of his thoughts about the experiment. 6. You’ll make progress if you work hard. 7. He thought about his new work. 8. I have a present for you. 9. I am busy at present. 10. He presented me with a book.

Ex. 16. Проанализируйте состав следующих слов. Определите части речи. Дайте начальную форму. Переведите слова:

Powerful, inventor, high-quality, network, demoralize, profitable, dislike, disagree, movement, shorten, incorrect, electricity, fruitful, fruitless, happiness, dangerous, noisy, sunny, rainy, badly, strongly, reading, teaching, rebuild, retell, leader, teacher, unhappy, unusual, translation, cooperation, schoolboy, icebreaker.

Ex. 17. Напишите сложные существительные, исходя из объяснений.

Например: A machine for drying hair – hair drier.

1. A thing for opening tins — … . 2. A machine for playing records — … . 3. A machine for mixing food — … . 4. A thing that times eggs (when they are boiling) — … . 5. Things for warming people’s legs — … . 6. Stuff that kills flies — … . 7. A liquid that removes paint — … . 8. A tool that opens bottles — … . 9. A thing for peeling potatoes — … . 10. A liquid for removing eye makeup — … . 11. Stuff for freshening the air — … .

Ex. 18. Напишите  словосочетания по модели число+ существительное+существительное (! не забывайте что число и первое существительное соединяется дефисом и что это существительное обычно стоит в единственном числе)

Например: a walk lasting for three miles – a three-mile walk.

1. A girl who has just celebrated her sixteenth birthday — … . 2. A flight lasting for ten hours — … . 3. A note that is worth twenty pounds — … . 4. A language course that lasts four weeks — … . 5. A drive that takes three hours — … .  6. A meal that consists of three courses — … . 7. A holiday that lasts two weeks — … . 8. A delay at the airport that went on for two hours — … . 9. A letter that goes on for ten pages — … . 10. A university course that takes three years — … . 11. A prison sentence of ten years — … . 12. A hotel with five stars — … . 13. A speed limit of 30 miles an hour — … . 14. A house that was built two hundred years ago — … .

Ex. 19. Распределите прилагательные по трем группам: 1) люди, 2) места, 3) вещи:

Obstinate, unspoilt, hand-made, waterproof, easy-going, breathtaking, aggressive, deserted, overgrown, overcrowded, cunning, picturesque, arrogant, long-lasting, spoilt, automatic, accurate, artificial.

Ex. 20. Выберите слово с нужным по смыслу префиксом  или суффиксом.

1. I know Jim Kerry is very popular but I find him totally childish / childlike. 2. I couldn’t work out whom the letter was from. The signature was childish / childlike. 3. Sarah is so childish / childlike. She always plays trick on her friends. 4. It was wonderful to watch the tiny lambs playing. I got such childish / childlike pleasure from the experience. 5. Sophie is extremely sensitive / sensible at the moment. Anything you say seems to upset her. 6. Karen is not a very sensitive / sensible person. She wore high-heeled shoes for our four-mile walk. 7. I’ve never known her to tell a lie. She’s a very true / truthful person. 8. I can never watch sad films that are based on true / truthful a story. They always make me cry. 9. Susan is so intolerable / intolerant of other people. She never accepts anyone else’s opinion, and she always thinks she knows best. 10. I find Mark’s behaviour intolerable / intolerant. It’s unfair to be so selfish. 11. We’re having an economic / economical crisis at the moment. James has lost his job and I don’t know how we are going to pay the rent. 12. It’s more economic  / economical to drive slowly. You can do a lot more miles to the gallop.

Ex. 21. Подберите к каждой тройке слов такое, чтобы с его помощью образовать составные существительные, используйте слова: board, green, paper, book, birthday, blood, rain, site, road, sports, ice, water, day, night, hand, case, sun, bag.

Например: camp…, building…, bomb… – campsite, building site, bomb-site.

1. …test, …pressure, …donor. 2. …fall, …melon, …skiing. 3. …house, …grocer, …salad. 4. …club, …mare, …shift. 5. brief…, suit…, book… . 6. paper…, plastic…, shoulder… . 7. …bow, …coat, …drop. 8. …shine, …rise, …set. 9. …works, …sign, …rage. 10. black…, floor…, notice… . 11. …light, …break, …dream. 12. …shake, …writing, …book. 13. …cube, …berg, …rink. 14. …cake, …present, …card. 15. …scape, …lady, …slide. 16. …car, …center, …ground. 17. address…, visitor’s…, note… .

Ex. 22. Дополните предложения сложными существительными в скобках (это могут быть и составные существительные, и существительные в притяжательном падеже в простой или аналитической форме).

1. Your coat is on the … (back, chair). 2. You’ve just spilt the … (milk, cat). 3. Can you buy some … (paper, toilet). 4. I never listened to my … (advise, parents). 5. Can you buy a … (wine, bottle) to have with supper? 6. What did that … (road, sigh) say? Did you see it? 7. It’s such a mess in here. There are empty … (wine, bottles) everywhere. 8. The … (Prime Minister, duties) include entertaining heads of the state. 9. The … (my shoe, heel) has come off. 10. Can I borrow your … (brush, hair)? 11. What happened at the … (film, end)? 12. Here is … (today, news). 13. Where is the nearest … (Metro, station)? 14. It’s my … (anniversary, parents, wedding) next week. 15. The … (company, success) is due to its efficiency. 16. I’ve got a … (fortnight, holiday) next month. 17. The … (government, economic policy) is confusing. 18. My children go to the local … (school, state). 19. The annual … (rate, inflation) is about 4 percent. 20. Are there any … (coffee, cups) in your bedroom? There are none in the kitchen. 21. Do you want a … (coffee, cup)?

Ex. 22. Заполните пропуски глаголом или существительным: advice – to advise, use – to use, abuse – to abuse, belief – to believe, relief – to relieve, grief – grieve, excuse – to excuse, breath – to breathe, half – to halve, house – to house, safe – to save, bath – to bathe.

1. It is my personal … that this man is innocent. 2. Let me listen to your chest. Take a deep … and say “Ah”. 3. You should put your valuables in the … .  4. Drug … is a terrible problem all over the world. 5. I know it isn’t good for my skin, but I love sun … . 6. I’ve been so worried about you! It’s such a … to see you at last! 7. “What are we going to do with this cake?” “Cut it in two. You take … and I’ll take … .” 8. Can you show me how to … this new coffee machine? 9. The refugees are … in temporary accommodation. 10. She apologizes for her behavior, and said it was because she’d had a busy day, but that’s no … for breaking all the plates. 11. People need time to … after the death of someone they love. 12. Take my … . Never marry for money. Marry for love.

Ex. 22. Напишите слово противоположное по значению, используя префикс

Kind, honest, credible, appear, fair, equal, pleased, continue, fasten, normal, employed, friendly, trust, professional, known, cover, safe, use, probable, important, emotional.

WORD-BUILDING (Test)

1. Определите, к какой части речи относятся данные слова. Переведите их:

Beautiful, function, artist, musician, heartless, economic, worker, badly, act, action, active, basic, fruitless, population, movement, historic, democratic, work, daily, literature, picture, organization, friendship, highly, leader, fight, fighter, national, impressive, hopeful, hopeless, beautiful, special, specialist, define, definition, humanism, humanist, humanistic, use, useful, useless.

2. Переведите слова на русский язык. Определите префикс и его значение:

Coauthor, undress, disarm, postwar, illegal, unkind, reconstruct, deformation, prewar, antibody, ex-champion, superhuman, ultrashort.

3. Образуйте прилагательные от существительных при  помощи следующих  суффиксов: -al, -ful, -ous, -у,  -able, -ible, -ic, -less, -ish. Переведите пары слов.

Reason, beauty, hope, doubt, care, aim, use, desire, boy, success, heart, experiment, form, office, danger, fame, electron, base, nature, cloud, sun, child, Scott, history, home.

4. Переведите предложения. Определите, к каким частям речи относятся выделенные слова. Назовите сложные слова:

1. Many pupils study English. 2. My grandfather has a large study. 3. Who ruled this country? 4. All sportsmen must obey the rules of the game. 5. The Soviet Union is tied by friendship with India in their work for peace. 6. All peace-loving people work for peace for the whole of mankind.

5. Назовите глаголы, от которых образованы следующие существительные:

Protection, show, writer, worker, movement, investigation, achievement, statement, reader, department, equipment, construction, organization, reporter, arrival, improvement, conductor, establishment, development, education, definition, regulation, assistance, agreement.

6. Переведите без словаря. Определите, к какой части речи относятся слова:

a) Specialist, institute, university, culture, central, national, nation, international, organization, Soviet, minister, nature, natural, traditional, progressive, moral, social, socialist, public, programmer, popular, modern, revolution, revolutionary, final, talent, continent, festival, political, experiment, experimentation, electricity, technical, transformation, system, systematically, practice, practical, seminar, lecture, lecturer, period, historic, history, professor, complex, form, acceleration, instrument, philosopher, idea, basic, fundamental, conceptions, mass, class, element, motor, method, problem, energy, radio, text, material, temperature, progress, television.

b) 1. France and England are European countries. 2. In the evening we like to listen to classical music. 3. We saw a comedy at the Drama Theatre last night. 4. Your train leaves from platform two. 5. This jazz orchestra gave several concerts in our town. 6. In 1610 Galileo constructed the first telescope in the world. 7. This was a dangerous experiment.

7. Проанализируйте следующие слова, какие они? Определите их составляющие. Переведите на русский язык:

Ice-hockey, world-wide, bedroom, newspaper, long-term, birthplace, sportsman, apple-pie, peace-loving, schoolchildren, football, highland, television, underground, north-west, sometimes, lowland, landscape, well-known, multinational, network, vice-president.

8. Поставьте слово, указанное в скобках, в нужную форму.

1. My father is very … (act) even though he’s seventy. 2. I’ve always wanted to work in the theatre, but … (act) it isn’t a very secure profession. 3. I … (hope), we’ll soon find a solution to the problem. 4. Look … (care) to the left and to the right before crossing the road. 5. It was very … (care) of you to lose my watch. 6. I take two … (day) newspapers and three Sunday papers. 7. You’ve broken my camera! Look at it! It’s … (use)! 8. Thanks for the advice. It was really … (use). 9. I have some very … (noise) neighbours. 10. She became … (fame) as a result of her invention.