Word-Formation
is the system of derivative types of words and the process of
creating new words from the material available in the language after
certain structural and semantic formulas and patterns. For instance,
the noun driver
is
formed after the pattern v+-er,
i.e.
a verbal stem +-the noun-forming suffix -er. The meaning of the
derived noun driver
is
related to the meaning of the stem drive-
‘to
direct the course of a vehicle’ and the suffix -er
meaning
‘an active agent’: a driver
is
‘one who drives’ (a carriage, motorcar, railway engine, etc.).
Likewise compounds resulting from two or more stems joined together
to form a new word are also built on quite definite structural and
semantic patterns and formulas, for instance adjectives of the
snow-white
type
are built according to the formula п+а,
etc.
It can easily be observed that the meaning of the whole compound is
also related to the meanings of the component parts. The structural
patterns with the semantic relations they signal give rise to regular
new creations of derivatives, e.g. sleeper,
giver, smiler or soat—blасk,
tax-free,
etc.
In
conformity with structural types of words described above1
the
following two types of word-formation may be distinguished,
word-derivation and word-composition (or compounding). Words created
by word-derivation have in terms of word-formation analysis only one
derivational base and one derivational affix, e.g. cleanness (from
clean),
to overestimate
(from
to
estimate), chairmanship (from
chairman),
openhandedness (from
openhanded),
etc.
Some derived words have no derivational affixes, because derivation
is achieved through conversion 2,
e.g. to
paper (from
paper),
a
fall
(from
to
fall), etc.
Words created by word-composition have at least two bases, e.g.
lamp-shade,
ice-cold, looking-glass,” daydream, hotbed, speedometer, etc.
Within
the types, further distinction may be made between the ways of
forming words. The basic ways of forming words in
word-derivatiоn,
for instance, are affixation
and conversion.
It
should be noted that the understanding of word-formation as expounded
here excludes semantic word-building as well as shortening, sound-
and stress-interchange which traditionally are referred, as has been
mentioned above, to minor ways of word-formation. By semantic
word-building some linguists understand any change in word-meaning,
e.g. stock
— ‘the
lower part of the trunk of a tree’; ’something lifeless or
stupid’; ‘the part of an instrument that serves as a base’,
etc.; bench
— ‘a
long seat of wood or stone’; ‘a carpenter’s table’, etc. The
majority of linguists, however, understand this process only as a
change in the meaning 3
of a word that may result in the appearance of homonyms, as is the
case with flower
— ‘a
blossom’ and flour
— ‘the
fine meal’, ‘powder made from wheat and used for making bread’;
magazine
— ‘a
publication’ and magazine
— ‘the
chamber for cartridges in a gun or rifle’, etc.
2. Minor types of word-formation (back-formation, sound-interchange, distinctive stress, sound imitation, blending, clipping, acronymy).
Apart
from these a number of minor ways of forming words such as
back-formation, sound interchange, distinctive stress, sound
imitation, blending, clipping and acronymy are traditionally referred
to Word-Formation.
Back-derivation
as a re-interpretation of the derivational structure is now growing
in productivity but it functions only within the framework of highly
productive patterns with regular and transparent derivative relations
associated formally with a certain suffix. Many new backderived verbs
are often stylistically marked as colloquial, e.g. enthuse
from
enthusiasm,
playact from
play-acting,
tongue-tie from
tongue-tied,
sight-see from
sight-seeing.
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What is Word Formation?
Word formation process is subject of morphology where we learn how new words are formed. In linguistics, word formation process is the creation of a new word by making changes in existing words or by creating new words. In other words, it refers to the ways in which new words are made on the basis of other words.
Different Forms of Word Formation
Word Formation process is achieved by different ways to create a new word that includes; coinage, compounding, borrowing, blending, acronym, clipping, contraction, backformation, affixation and conversion.
Compounding
Compounding is a type of word formation where we join two words side by side to create a new word. It is very common type of word formation in a language. Some time we write a compound word with a hyphen between two words and some time we keep a space and sometime we write them jointly. All these three forms are common in all languages.
Common examples of word compounding are:
· Part + time = part-time
· Book + case = bookcase
· Low + paid = low-paid
· Door + knob = doorknob
· Finger + print = fingerprint
· Wall + paper = wallpaper
· Sun + burn = sunburn
· Text + book = textbook
· Good + looking = good-looking
· Ice + cream = Ice-cream
Borrowing
In word formation process, borrowing is the process by which a word from one language is adapted for use in another language. The word that is borrowed is called a borrowing, a loanword, or a borrowed word. It is also known as lexical borrowing. It is the most common source of new words in all languages.
Common Examples of borrowed words in English language are:
· Dope (Dutch)
· Croissant (French)
· Zebra (Bantu)
· Lilac (Persian)
· Pretzel (German)
· Yogurt (Turkish)
· Piano (Italian)
· Sofa (Arabic)
· Tattoo (Tahitian)
· Tycoon (Japanese)
Blending
Blending is the combination of two separate words to form a single new word. It is different from compounding where we add two words side by side to make a new word but in blending we do not use both words in complete sense but new/derived word has part of both words e.g. word smog and fog are different words and when we blend them to make a new word, we use a part of each word to make a new word that is smog. We took first two letters from first word (sm) from smoke and last two (og) from fog to derive a new word smog.
Some more examples of blending are:
· Smoke + murk=smurk
· Smoke + haze= smaze
· Motel (hotel + motor)
· Brunch (breakfast + lunch )
· Infotainment ( information + entertainment)
· Franglais ( French + English)
· Spanglish (Spanish + English )
.
Abbreviations
Abbreviation is a process where we create a new word by making a change in lexical form of a word keeping same meaning. There are three main types of abbreviations.
1. Clipping / Shortening / Truncation
2. Acronyms / Initialism
3. Contraction
Clipping / Shortening / Truncation
Clipping is the type of word formation where we use a part of word instead of whole word. This form of word formation is used where there is a long/multi-syllable word and to save time we use a short one instead of that long word e.g. the word advertisement is a long word and we use its short form ad (ads for plural form) instead of whole word.
Here are some examples of clipping:
· Ad from advertisement
· Gas from gasoline
· Exam from examination
· Cab from cabriolet
· Fax from facsimile
· Condo from condominium
· Fan from fanatic
· Flu from Influenza
· Edu from education
· Gym from gymnasium
· Lab from laboratory
Acronyms / Initialism
An acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation from the initial letters in a phrase or a multi syllable word (as in Benelux). The initials are pronounced as new single words. Commonly derived word are written in upper case e.g. NATO.
Some common examples of acronyms are:
· CD is acronym of compact disk
· VCR is acronym of video cassette recorder
· NATO is acronym of North Atlantic Treaty Organization
· NASA is acronym of National Aeronautics and Space Administration
· ATM is acronym of Automatic Teller Machine
· PIN is acronym of Personal Identification Number
Some time the word is written in lower case (Initial letter capital when at start of sentence)
· Laser is acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
· Scuba is acronym of Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
· Radar is acronym of Radio Detecting And Ranging
Contraction
A contraction is a word formed as an abbreviation from a word. Contractions are abbreviations in which we omit letters from the middle of a word or more than one words.
Some common contractions are below:
· Dr is from Doctor.
· St is from Saint.
· He’s from He is.
· I’ve is from I have.
Affixation
Affixation is the word formation process where a new word is created by adding suffix or prefix to a root word. The affixation may involve prefixes, suffixes, infixes. In prefixes, we add extra letters before root word e.g. re+right to make a new word rewrite. In suffix, we add some extra letters with a base/root word e.g. read+able. In infixes, the base word is changed in its form e.g. the plural of woman is women that creates new word “women”.
1. Prefixes: un+ plug = unplug
2. Suffixes: cut + ie = cutie
3. Infixes: man + plural = men
Zero-derivation (Conversion)
Zero-derivation, or conversion, is a derivational process that forms new words from existing words. Zero derivation, is a kind of word formation involving the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form, which is to say, derivation using only zero. Zero-derivation or conversion changes the lexical category of a word without changing its phonological shape. For example, the word ship is a noun and we use it also as a verb. See below sentences to understand it.
1. Beach hotel has a ship to enjoy honeymoon.
2. Beach hotel will ship your luggage in two days.
In first sentence, the word ship is a noun and in second sentence the word ship (verb) is derived from the action of ship (noun) that transports luggage, so the word ship (verb) has meaning of transportation.
Backformation
Backformation is the word formation process where a new word is derived by removing what appears to be an affix. When we remove last part of word (that looks like suffix but not a suffix in real) from a word it creates a new word.
Some very familiar words are below:
· Peddle from peddler
· Edit from editor
· Pea from pease
Coinage / Neologism
It is also a process of word formation where new words (either deliberately or accidentally) are invented. This is a very rare process to create new words, but in the media and industry, people and companies try to surpass others with unique words to name their services or products.
Some common examples of coinage are: Kodak, Google, Bing, Nylon etc.
Eponyms
In word formation process, sometime new words are derives by based on the name of a person or a place. Some time these words have attribution to a place and sometime the words are attributes to the things/terms who discover/invent them. For example, the word volt is electric term that is after the name of Italian scientist Alessandro Volta.
Some common examples of eponyms are:
· Hoover: after the person who marketed it
· Jeans: after a city of Italy Genoa
· Spangle: after the person who invented it
· Watt: after the name of scientist James Watt
· Fahrenheit: after the name of German scientist Gabriel Fahrenheit
Words in English public website
Ling 216
Rice University
Prof. S. Kemmer
Types of Word Formation Processes
Compounding
Compounding forms a word out of two or more root morphemes. The words
are called compounds or compound words.
In Linguistics, compounds can be either native or borrowed.
Native English roots are
typically free morphemes, so that means native compounds are made out of
independent words that can occur by themselves. Examples:
mailman (composed of free root mail and free root man)
mail carrier
dog house
fireplace
fireplug (a regional word for ‘fire hydrant’)
fire hydrant
dry run
cupcake
cup holder
email
e-ticket
pick-up truck
talking-to
Some compounds have a preposition as one of the component words as in the
last 2 examples.
In Greek and Latin, in contrast to English, roots do not typically stand
alone. So compounds are composed of bound roots. Compounds formed in
English from borrowed Latin and Greek morphemes preserve this
characteristic. Examples include photograph,
iatrogenic, and many thousands of other classical words.
Note that compounds are written in various ways in English:
with a space between the elements; with a hyphen between the
elements; or simply with the two roots run together with no separation.
The way the word is written does not affect its status as a
compound. Over time, the convention for writing compounds can change,
usually in the direction from separate words (e.g. email used to be written with a hyphen.
In the 19th century, today and tomorrow were sometimes still written to-day and to-morrow. The to originally was the preposition to with an older meaning ‘at [a particular period of time]’.
Clock work changed
to clock-work and finally to one word with no break
(clockwork). If you read older literature you might see some
compound words that are now written as one word appearing
with unfamiliar spaces or hyphens between the components.
Another thing to note about compounds is that they can combine words
of different parts of speech. The list above shows mostly noun-noun
compounds, which is probably the most common part of speech
combination, but there are others, such as adjective-noun (dry
run, blackbird, hard drive), verb-noun (pick-pocket,
cut-purse, lick-spittle) and even verb-particle (where
‘particle’ means a word basically designating spatial expression that
functions to complete a literal or metaphorical path), as in
run-through, hold-over. Sometimes these compounds are
different in the part of speech of the whole compound vs. the part of
speech of its components. Note that the last two are actually nouns,
despite their components.
Some compounds have more than two component words. These are formed
by successively combining words into compounds, e.g. pick-up truck,
formed from pick-up and truck , where the first component,
pick-up is itself a compound formed from
pick and up. Other examples are ice-cream
cone, no-fault insurance and even more complex compounds like
top-rack dishwasher safe.
There are a number of subtypes of compounds that do not have to do
with part of speech, but rather the sound characteristics of the
words. These subtypes are not mutually exclusive.
Rhyming compounds (subtype of compounds)
These words are compounded from two rhyming words. Examples:
lovey-dovey
chiller-killer
There are words that are formally very similar to rhyming compounds,
but are not quite compounds in English because the second element is
not really a word—it is just a nonsense item added to a root word to
form a rhyme. Examples:
higgledy-piggledy
tootsie-wootsie
This formation
process is associated in English with child talk (and talk addressed
to children), technically called hypocoristic language. Examples:
bunnie-wunnie
Henny Penny
snuggly-wuggly
Georgie Porgie
Piggie-Wiggie
Another word type that looks a bit like rhyming compounds
comprises words that are formed of
two elements that almost match, but differ in their vowels.
Again, the second element is typically a nonsense form:
pitter-patter
zigzag
tick-tock
riffraff
flipflop
Derivation
Derivation is the creation of words by modification of a root without
the addition of other roots. Often the effect is a change in part of
speech.
Affixation (Subtype of Derivation)
The most common type of derivation is the addition of one or more affixes to a
root, as in the word derivation itself. This process is called
affixation, a term which covers both prefixation and suffixation.
Blending
Blending is one of the most beloved of word formation processes in
English. It is especially creative in that speakers take two words
and merge them based not on morpheme structure but on sound structure.
The resulting words are called blends.
Usually in word formation we combine roots or affixes along their
edges: one morpheme comes to an end before the next one starts. For example, we
form derivation out of the sequence of morphemes
de+riv+at(e)+ion. One morpheme follows the next and each one has
identifiable
boundaries. The morphemes do not overlap.
But in
blending, part of one word is stitched onto another word, without any
regard for where one morpheme ends and another begins. For example,
the word swooshtika ‘Nike swoosh as a logo symbolizing
corporate power and hegemony’
was formed from swoosh and swastika. The swoosh
part remains whole and recognizable in the blend, but the tika part is
not a morpheme, either in the word swastika or
in the blend. The blend is a perfect merger of form, and also of
content. The meaning contains an implicit analogy between the
swastika and the swoosh, and thus conceptually blends them into one
new kind of thing having properties of both, but also combined
properties of neither source. Other examples include glitterati (blending
glitter and literati) ‘Hollywood social set’, mockumentary (mock and
documentary) ‘spoof documentary’.
The earliest blends in English only go back to the 19th century, with
wordplay coinages by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky. For example, he
introduced to the language slithy, formed from lithe and
slimy, and galumph, (from gallop and
triumph. Interestingly galumph has survived as a word in
English, but it now seems to mean ‘walk in a stomping, ungainly way’.
Some blends that have been around for quite a while include brunch
(breakfast and lunch), motel (motor hotel), electrocute (electric and
execute), smog (smoke and
fog) and cheeseburger (cheese and hamburger).
These go back to the first half of the twentieth
century. Others, such as stagflation (stagnation and inflation),
spork (spoon and fork), and carjacking (car and hijacking) arose
since the 1970s.
Here are some more recent blends I have run across:
mocktail (mock and cocktail) ‘cocktail with no alcohol’
splog (spam and blog) ‘fake blog designed to attract hits and
raise Google-ranking’
Britpoperati (Britpop and literati) ‘those knowledgable about current British pop music’
Clipping
Clipping is a type of abbreviation of a word in which one part is
‘clipped’ off the rest, and the remaining word now means essentially the same
thing as what the whole word means or meant. For example, the word
rifle is a fairly modern clipping of an earlier compound
rifle gun, meaning a gun with a rifled barrel. (Rifled means
having a spiral groove causing the bullet to spin, and thus making it
more accurate.) Another clipping is burger, formed by clipping
off the beginning of the word hamburger. (This clipping could
only come about once hamburg+er was reanalyzed as ham+burger.)
Acronyms
Acronyms are formed by taking the initial letters of a phrase
and making a word out of it. Acronyms provide a way of turning a phrase into a word. The classical acronym is also
pronounced as a word. Scuba was formed
from self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. The
word snafu was originally WW2 army slang for Situation
Normal All Fucked Up. Acronyms were being used more and more by
military bureaucrats, and soldiers coined snafu in an
apparent parody of this overused device. Sometimes an acronym uses not just the first letter, but the first syllable of a component word, for example radar, RAdio Detection And Ranging and sonar, SOund Navigation and Ranging. Radar forms an analogical model for both sonar and lidar, a technology that measures distance to a target and and maps its surface by
bouncing a laser off it. There is some evidence that lidar was not coined as an acronym, but instead as a blend of light and radar. Based on the word itself, either etymology appears to work, so many speakers assume that lidar is an acronym rather than a blend.
A German example that strings together the initial syllables of the
words in the phrase, is Gestapo , from GEheime STAats POlizei
‘Sectret State Police’. Another is Stasi, from STAats
SIcherheit ‘State Security’.
Acronyms are a subtype of initialism. Initialisms also include words made from the initial letters of a Phrase but NOT pronounced as a normal word — it is instead pronounced as a string of letters. Organzation names aroften initialisms of his type. Examples:
NOW (National Organization of Women)
US or U.S., USA or U.S.A. (United States)
UN or U.N. (United Nations)
IMF (International Monetary Fund)
Some organizations ARE pronounced as a word:
UNICEF
MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)
The last example incorporates a meaning into the word that fits the nature of the organization. Sometimes this type is called a Reverse Acronym or a Backronym.
These can be thought of as a special case of acronyms.
Memos, email, and text messaging (text-speak) are modes of communication
that give rise to both clippings and acronyms, since these
word formation methods are designed to abbreviate.
Some acronyms:
NB — Nota bene, literally ‘note well’. Used by scholars making notes
on texts. (A large number of other scholarly acronyms from Latin are
used, probably most invented in the medieval period or Renaissance,
not originally in Latin)
BRB — be right back (from 1980s, 90s)
FYI — for your information (from mid 20th century)
LOL — laughing
out loud (early 21st century) — now pronounced either /lol/ or /el o
el/; has spawned compounds like Lolcats).
ROFL — rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLMAO — rolling on the floor laughing my ass off
Reanalysis
Sometimes speakers unconsciously change the morphological boundaries of a word, creating a new morph or making an old one unrecognizable. This happened in hamburger, which was originally Hamburger steak ‘chopped and formed steak in the Hamburg style, then hamburger (hamburg + er), then ham + burger
Folk etymology
A popular idea of a word’s origin that is not in accordance with its real origin.
Many folk etymologies are cases of reanalysis in which the word is not only reanalysis but it changes under the influence of the new understanding of its morphemes. The result is that speakers think it has a different origin than it does.
Analogy
Sometimes speakers take an existing word as a model and form other words using some of its morphemes as a fixed part, and changing one of them to something new, with an analogically similar meaning. Cheeseburger was formed on the analogy of hamburger, replacing a perceived morpheme ham with cheese.
carjack and skyjack were also formed by analogy.
Novel creation
In novel creation, a speaker or writer forms a word without starting
from other morphemes. It is as if the word if formed out of ‘whole
cloth’, without reusing any parts.
Some examples of now-conventionalized words that were novel creations
include blimp, googol (the mathematical term),
bling, and possibly slang, which emerged in the last 200
years with no obvious etymology. Some novel creations seem to display
‘sound symbolism’, in which a word’s phonological form suggests its
meaning in some way. For example, the sound of the word bling
seems to evoke heavy jewelry making noise. Another novel creation whose sound seems
to relate to its meaning is badonkadonk, ‘female rear end’, a
reduplicated word which can remind English speakers of the repetitive
movement of the rear end while walking.
Creative respelling
Sometimes words are formed by simply changing the spelling of a word
that the speaker wants to relate to the new word. Product names
often involve creative respelling, such as Mr. Kleen.
© Suzanne Kemmer
Main types of word-formation: compounding and conversion Lecture 8.
§ 1. Compounding is joining together two or more stems to form one compound word. Compound words are words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free forms. The structural cohesion (unity) of a compound may depend upon: n unity of stress, n solid or hyphenated spelling, n semantic unity, n unity of morphological and syntactic functioning
Compounds are made up of a determining and a determined part. sunbeam determining part the basic part determined part (head element) • serves to differentiate it from other beams • undergoes inflection brothers in law, passers by
1. 1. Criteria of compounds Phonological criterion Usually there is a heavy stress on the first element in nouns (the only exception — nouns with all and self ): ‘self con’trol Compound adjectives are double stressed: ‘gray ‘green, ‘easy ‘going, ‘new ‘born NB! Stress may have a distinctive function: ‘overwork ‘extra work‘ vs. ‘over’work ‘hard work injuring one’s health’ ‘bookcase ‘a piece of furniture with shelves for books‘ vs. ‘book’case ‘a paper cover for books’ , man’kind ‘the human race‘ vs. ‘mankind ‘men’ (contrasted with women)
Graphic criterion No consistency in the language airline, air line; matchbox, match box; break up, breakup; loudspeaker, loud speaker Morphological criterion n formal integrity – having a structure non-existent in a phrase shipwreck (the) wreck of (a) ship n connective elements are a sign of a compound rather than a phrase Anglo Saxon, craftsman, beeswax, salesman, (they are few) n difference in paradigm: still lifes (not still lives)
Semantic criterion a combination forming a unit expressing a single idea which is not identical in meaning to the sum of the meanings of its components in a free phrase dirty work with the figurative meaning ‘dishonorable proceedings‘ (they are few in English) (to rain) cats and dogs? , to pay through the nose? Syntactic criterion Starlit does not follow the syntactic patterns of English as particles can’t be modified by nouns a stone wall can be transformed into the phrase a wall of stone, but a toothpick cannot be replaced by a pick for teeth NB! none is reliable, only a combination
“The stone wall problem» rose garden life story book review crime report office management steel production language teacher stone wall Phrases and not words? The first element a noun used as an attribute or an adjective? English nouns are regularly used to form nominal phrases that are semantically derivable from their components but in most cases develop some unity of referential meaning
1. 2. Peculiarities of English compounds Both immediate constituents of an English compound are free forms n The regular pattern for the English language is a two-stem compound If more, the determining element is a compound rather than the determined part aircraft carrier Words waste paper basket n baby outfit village schoolmaster Phrases night watch man n Phrases easily turn into compounds four year course last minute changes the let sleeping dogs lie approach He wasn’t working class enough The man I saw yesterday’s daughter
1. 3. Compounds are usually characterized by: 1) the relation of the whole to its members (idiomatic & non-idiomatic), 2) the relations of the members to each other (subordinative & coordinative), and 3) correlation with equivalent free phrases (syntactic & asyntactic; endocentric &exосentric)
1) Parts to the whole relations: non-idiomatic, if the meaning of the whole is the sum total of the meanings of the components. They can be easily transformed into free phrases: flower bed, homeland; night flight—’flying at night’ n idiomatic compounds are different in meaning from the corresponding free phrases (have petrified meaning): a night cap «a drink taken before going to bed at night» , butterfingers «a person who is likely to let things fall or slip through his fingers» . blackboard wheel chair (for invalids) and push chair (for infants) n
2) According to degree of semantic independence of components (element-toelement relations): subordinate compounds (one of the components is the semantic and structural centre and the second component is subordinate) Types of subordinative relations: comparative (world wide, snow white); instrumental or agentive relations (sunrise, dogbite); relations of purpose (bookshelf); emphatic relations (dead-cheap); functional relations (bathrobe, textbook); sex relations (he goat); various relations of adverbial type (colour blind), etc. a)
coordinative compounds (both components are semantically independent): n reduplicative compounds made up by the repetition of the same base: goody, go go; n compounds formed with the help of rhythmic stems: a walkie talkie, boogie woogie, chit chat; n additive compounds are built on stems of the independently functioning words of the same part of speech Afro American, a secretary stenographer; b)
3) Compound-to-free phrase relations 3. 1. According to the order of l. Cs : syntactic — formed by merely placing components in direct order that resembles the order of words in free phrases: blacklist, handcuffs, a turnkey; n asyntactic are compounds with indirect order (the order of bases runs counter to the order in which the motivating words can be brought together): oil rich, rain driven; n
3. 2. According to the clarity of functional roles of the elements: endocentric compounds Ashtray= a tray for ashes Hairbrush= a brush for hair Paperknife= a knife for paper n exосentric compounds (the determined part is not expressed but implied) A killjoy ‘a person who throws gloom over social enjoyment‘; it is neither ‘joy’ nor ‘kill’ cut throat, dare devil, scarecrow n
According to the means of composition used to link the two ICs together: neutral-formed by joining together two stems without connecting elements: scarecrow, goldfish, crybaby; 2. morphological — components are joined by a linking element, i. e. vowels “o” and “I” or the consonant “s”: videophone, tragicomic, handicraft, craftsman, microchip; 3. syntactical — the components are joined by means of form-word stems: man of war, forget me not, bread and butter, face to face; 1.
According to their structure: compounds proper are formed by joining together two stems: film star, earthquake; n compound-derived words (stem + affixes): long legged, broad minded, globe trotter, a two seater; n compound-shortened words: h bag, A bomb; n compounds where at least one of the constituents is a compound stem: wastepaper basket; n
Types of compound words According to the parts of speech compound words represent: 1. nouns: night gown, waterfall, looking glass; 2. verbs: to honeymoon, to outgrow; 3. adjectives: peace loving, hard working, pennywise; 4. adverbs: downstairs, ankle deep; 5. prepositions: within; 6. numerals: thirty seven;
§ 2. Conversion n n He was knocked out in the first round (noun). Round (verb) the number off to the nearest tenth. The neighbors gathered round (preposition) our barbecue. The moon was bright and round (adjective). People came from all the country round (adverb). Conversion is the type of word-formation which results in phonetic identity of initial wordforms of two words belonging to different parts of speech
Causes and characteristics 1) The English words lack formal signs marking the part of speech to which the word belongs. 2) Many affixes are homonymous and the general sound pattern does not contain any information as to the possible part of speech (maiden, whiten, wooden, often) n n Conversion is regular with monosyllabic words of a simple morphological structure It is a predominant method of English verbformation
Terms used and their implications n n Conversion (but the original word continues its existence alongside the new one) Zero derivation (but it does not permit us to distinguish this type from sound interchange) Root formation (but the process can involve not only root words, but also words containing affixes and compounds) Transposition or functional change (but it implies that the process in question concerns usage, not word-formation)
Opinions on the means of formation of conversion word- I. Smimitsky: formation of a new word through changes in its paradigm B. H. Marchand, V. N. Yartseva: a combined morphological and syntactic way of wordbuilding (change of paradigm and syntactic function) C. Derivation by adding a zero-morpheme I goø; we goø – functional zero morphemes To look → look +ø(derivational) = a look A.
Semantic groups of converted words The items mainly produced in this way are verbs and nouns. 1. Verbs converted from nouns (denominal verbs) may denote: a) instrumental use of the object: screw → to screw, eye → to eye; to hammer, to knife, to machine gun, to pivot, to pump b) action characteristic of the object: ape → to ape; с) acquisition: fish → to fish; d) deprivation of the object dust → to dust.
2. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal substantives) denote: a) an instance of an action: to move → a move; b) an agent of an action: to bore → a bore; bore, cheat, flirt, scold (mostly derogatory) c) a place of an action: to walk → a walk; d) result of the action: to cut → a cut burn, catch
Practical task # 7 Define the type of the compound, using the following oppositions idiomatic vs. non-idiomatic subordinative vs. coordinative syntactic vs. asyntactic endocentric vs. exосentric a) a wall flower (a shy person who remains unnoticed at social events, especially a woman without a dance partner) b) a waterfall 1.
2. State the type of semantic relation in the case of conversion used to coin a word in the phrase from a label on a bottle of wine “bottled in France” 3. What is “garden stone wall” a compound or a phrase?
4. Give a TRUE or FALSE answer a) “To milk” was derived from the noun “milk” and not vice versa. b) Conversion mostly affects polysyllabic words. c) “Blackboard” is a good example of an idiomatic compound. d) Conversion is more common in English than in Russian, because in the former there are no morphological part-of-speech markers. e) Compounds are mostly double-stressed.
How are words formed? Are there any rules by which words are formed? Let’s find out. This article will walk you through what word formation is, the various types of word formation and the rules to be adhered to when forming words. The number of examples given will make your learning process more effective and easier. Check it out.
Table of Contents
- What Is Word Formation?
- Types of Word Formation with Examples
- Rules to be Followed When Forming Words
- Test Your Understanding of Word Formation
- Frequently Asked Questions on Word Formation in English
The English language is known for its wonderful quality of the way in which words and sentences are formed and used. Formation of new words from an existing root word by adding a syllable or another word is the general process; however, there are multiple ways in which it can be done.
Types of Word Formation with Examples
The formation of words is classified into four types based on how the process of formation is carried out. They are:
- By adding prefixes
- By adding suffixes
- Converting from one word class to another
- Forming compound words
Let us look at each type of word formation in detail.
Adding Prefixes
The term ‘prefix’ refers to one or more alphabets added to the stem of a word, mostly to make it negative. The most commonly used prefixes include ‘in-’, ‘un-’, ‘dis-’, ‘im-’, ‘ir-’, etc. Look at the examples given below for a clearer understanding of how prefixes are used to form new words.
Examples of Word Formation by the Addition of Prefixes
- Discipline – indiscipline
- Just – unjust
- Tidy – untidy
- Respect – disrespect
- Understand – misunderstand
- Comfortable – uncomfortable
- Comfort – discomfort
- Responsible – irresponsible
- Honest – dishonest
- Happy – unhappy
- Polite – impolite
- Experience – inexperience
- Practical – impractical
- Important – unimportant
- Legal – illegal
- Ethical – unethical
- Potent – impotent
Adding Suffixes
A suffix is a short syllable added at the end of a base word. The addition of suffixes usually changes the word class of the particular word. The most common suffixes include ‘-ment’, ‘-ness’, ‘-ity’, ‘-ous’, ‘-tion’, ‘-sion’, ‘-al’, ‘-able’, ‘-ible’, ‘-ive’, ‘-ly’, ‘-ate’, ‘-er’, ‘-or’, etc. Check out the following examples to see how suffixes are added.
Examples of Word Formation by the Addition of Suffixes
- Comprehend (verb) – comprehension (noun) – comprehensible (adjective)
- Inform (verb) – information (noun) – informative (adjective)
- Invest (verb) – Investment (noun) – Investor (noun)
- Write (verb) – writer (noun)
- Authorise (verb) – authorisation (noun)
- Move (verb) – movement (noun)
- Add (verb) – addition (noun)
- Happy (adjective) – happiness (noun)
- Conserve (verb) – conservation (noun)
- Wide (Adjective) – widen (verb)
- Manage (verb) – manageable (adjective) – manager (noun)
- Courage (noun) – courageous (adjective)
- Brave (adjective) – bravery (noun)
- Profit (noun) – profitable (adjective)
- Quick (adjective) – quickly (adverb)
- Happy (adjective) – happily (adverb)
- Sad (adjective) – sadness (noun)
Conversion
The process of conversion focuses solely on changing the word class of the particular word. If you have noticed, you would have seen how some nouns are used to perform the role of a verb or an adjective acting like a noun just by the addition of another word or slightly altering the spelling of the actual word.
Examples of Word Formation by Conversion
- The rich should help the poor.
Adjectives such as ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ are used as nouns by using them with the article ‘the’.
- Everyone is talented.
‘Talented’ – a past participle is used as an adjective in the above sentence. The word is formed by adding the suffix ‘ed’ to the end of the noun ‘talent’.
- There will definitely be a lot of ups and downs in life.
Prepositions ‘up’ and ‘down’ are used as nouns by adding ‘s’ to the end of it.
- He texted me about the meeting only at the last minute.
The noun ‘text’ used to refer to a text message sent on a phone is used as a verb in the sentence by adding an ‘ed’ to the end of the word.
- The financial aid had to be approved before we could make a decision.
The noun ‘finance’ is used as an adjective by adding ‘ial’ to the end of it and the verb ‘decide’ is used as a noun by removing ‘de’ and adding ‘sion’ to the word.
Forming Compound Words
Compound words are formed by combining one part of speech with another to form a specific word class. There are many ways in which compound words are formed. Verbs are combined with adjectives to form compound verbs, a present participle is combined with a noun to form a compound noun, two nouns are combined to form a compound noun, an adjective and a noun are combined to form a compound noun, an adverb is combined with a noun to form a compound noun, an adjective is combined with a past participle to form a compound adjective and so on. Take a look at the following examples and go through the articles on compound nouns, compound words and compound adjectives to understand how they work.
Examples of Word Formation by Compounding
- Over (adverb) + load (noun) – Overload
- White (adjective) + wash (verb) – Whitewash
- Black (adjective) + board (noun ) – Blackboard
- Cup (noun) + board (noun) – Cupboard
- Short (adjective) + hand (noun) – Shorthand
- Swimming (present participle) + pool (noun) – Swimming pool
- Three (adjective) + legged (past participle) – Three-legged
- Break (verb) + Down (preposition) – Breakdown
- Up (preposition) + town (noun) – Uptown
- Copy (verb) + writer (noun) – Copywriter
- Sun (noun) + rise (verb) – Sunrise
- Count (verb) + down (preposition) – Countdown
- Flash (verb) + mob (noun) – Flash mob
- Master (noun) + piece (noun) – Masterpiece
- Round (adjective) + table (noun) – Round-table
Rules to be Followed When Forming Words
Formation of words can be a very interesting exercise, but you have to be really careful when you are adding inflections or affixes. There are a few things you will need to bear in mind when you are forming words. Take a look at the following points to learn what they are.
- Before making any change to the stem of the word, try to analyse what is the kind of meaning you want the word to convey and what role the word will have to play in the sentence.
- In most cases, the beginning of the base word remains the same. Only when prefixes are added the word has a syllable added to the beginning of it. Notice that even in this case, the word is retained as such.
- When suffixes are added, there are many instances where you will have to remove the last one or more alphabets of the word and add the suffix. However, there are words like ‘movement’ where the suffix is just added without any change in the spelling of the base word.
- Here is one way to easily know which suffix has to be added to form a particular word class – most often, nouns end in ‘er’, ‘or’, ‘ist’, ‘ian’, ‘ion’, ‘ment’, ‘ness’, and ‘ity’; verbs end in ‘ise’, ‘ate’ and ‘en’; adjectives end in ‘able’, ‘ible’, ‘ive’, ‘ic’, ‘ed’, ‘ing’ and ‘al’; and adverbs normally end in ‘ly’.
- When words are formed by conversion, be very careful. Make sure you know that you are converting them accurately and using them in the sentence properly.
- When forming compound words, see to it that you hyphenate them if necessary, use the right combination of words and do not just mix and match any word.
- Changing from one tense to another also can also be considered a type of word formation, as the word is inflected to indicate the twelve different tenses in the English language.
- Forming degrees of comparison can also be put under word formation. In this case, the comparative and superlative degrees are formed by adding ‘er’ and ‘est’ to the end of the adjective. The comparative and superlative degrees of polysyllabic words are formed by using ‘more’ and ‘most’, respectively, along with the adjective.
Test Your Understanding of Word Formation
Exercise 1 – Add Prefixes and Suffixes
Add prefixes and suffixes to the following words.
1. Passion____
2. Remember____
3. ____conscious
4. Sense____
5. ____acceptable
6. Entertain____
7. ____representation
8. Neat____
9. Invent____
10. ____interpret
Answers for Exercise 1
1. Passionate
2. Remembrance
3. Unconscious/Subconscious
4. Sensible/Senseless
5. Unacceptable
6. Entertainment
7. Misrepresentation
8. Neatly/Neatness
9. Invention
10. Misinterpret
Exercise 2 – Conversion of Words
Go through the following words and convert them as directed.
1. Money (convert into adjective)
2. Brave (convert into noun)
3. Clean (convert into noun)
4. Prayer (convert into adjective)
5. Resemblance (convert into verb)
6. Slow (convert into adverb)
7. Treat (convert into noun)
8. Confession (convert into verb)
9. Vary (convert into adjective)
10. Beauty (convert into verb)
Answers for Exercise 2
1. Monetary
2. Bravery
3. Cleanliness
4. Prayerful
5. Resemble
6. Slowly
7. Treatment
8. Confess
9. Various/variable
10. Beautify
Exercise 3 – Form Compound Words
Go through the words in the box given below and use them to form ten compound words.
up, table, spend, load, green, machine, case, make, estimate, over, self
1. _______ confident
2. Washing _______
3. Time _______
4. Under _______
5. _______sufficient
6. Up_______
7. _______set
8. Suit_______
9. _______over
10. _______thrift
Answers for Exercise 3
1. Overconfident
2. Washing machine
3. Timetable
4. Underestimate
5. Self-sufficient
6. Upload
7. Upset
8. Suitcase
9. Makeover
10. Spendthrift
Frequently Asked Questions on Word Formation in English
Q1
What is word formation?
Word formation is the process by which new words are formed by adding an affix, another word or converting from one word class to another by removing and adding alphabets.
Q2
What are the four types of word formation?
The four types of word formation include:
- Addition of prefix
- Addition of suffix
- Conversion from one word class to another
- Forming compound words
Q3
Give some examples of word formation.
Here are some examples of the various types of word formation for your reference:
- Practical – impractical (prefix)
- Purpose – purposeful (suffix)
- Silent – silence (conversion)
- Dining + room – Dining room (compound word)
- Small – smaller – smallest (degrees of comparison)