Processes of word making

What is Word Formation?

Word formation process is subject of morphology where we learn how new words are formed. In linguistics, word formation process is the creation of a new word by making changes in existing words or by creating new words. In other words, it refers to the ways in which new words are made on the basis of other words.

Different Forms of Word Formation

Word Formation process is achieved by different ways to create a new word that includes; coinage, compounding, borrowing, blending, acronym, clipping, contraction, backformation, affixation and conversion.

Compounding

Compounding is a type of word formation where we join two words side by side to create a new word. It is very common type of word formation in a language. Some time we write a compound word with a hyphen between two words and some time we keep a space and sometime we write them jointly. All these three forms are common in all languages.

Common examples of word compounding are:

·         Part + time = part-time

·         Book + case = bookcase

·         Low + paid = low-paid

·         Door + knob = doorknob

·         Finger + print = fingerprint

·         Wall + paper = wallpaper

·         Sun + burn = sunburn

·         Text + book = textbook

·         Good + looking = good-looking

·         Ice + cream = Ice-cream

Borrowing

In word formation process, borrowing is the process by which a word from one language is adapted for use in another language. The word that is borrowed is called a borrowing, a loanword, or a borrowed word. It is also known as lexical borrowing. It is the most common source of new words in all languages.

Common Examples of borrowed words in English language are:

·         Dope (Dutch)

·         Croissant (French)

·         Zebra (Bantu)

·         Lilac (Persian)

·         Pretzel (German)

·         Yogurt (Turkish)

·         Piano (Italian)

·         Sofa (Arabic)

·         Tattoo (Tahitian)

·         Tycoon (Japanese)

Blending

Blending is the combination of two separate words to form a single new word. It is different from compounding where we add two words side by side to make a new word but in blending we do not use both words in complete sense but new/derived word has part of both words e.g. word smog and fog are different words and when we blend them to make a new word, we use a part of each word to make a new word that is smog. We took first two letters from first word (sm) from smoke and last two (og) from fog to derive a new word smog.

Some more examples of blending are:

·         Smoke + murk=smurk

·         Smoke + haze= smaze

·         Motel (hotel + motor)

·         Brunch (breakfast + lunch )

·         Infotainment ( information + entertainment)

·         Franglais ( French + English)

·         Spanglish (Spanish + English )

.

Abbreviations

Abbreviation is a process where we create a new word by making a change in lexical form of a word keeping same meaning. There are three main types of abbreviations.

1.    Clipping / Shortening / Truncation

2.    Acronyms / Initialism

3.    Contraction

Clipping / Shortening / Truncation

Clipping is the type of word formation where we use a part of word instead of whole word. This form of word formation is used where there is a long/multi-syllable word and to save time we use a short one instead of that long word e.g. the word advertisement is a long word and we use its short form ad (ads for plural form) instead of whole word.

Here are some examples of clipping:

·         Ad from advertisement

·         Gas from gasoline

·         Exam from examination

·         Cab from cabriolet

·         Fax from facsimile

·         Condo from condominium

·         Fan from fanatic

·         Flu from Influenza

·         Edu from education

·         Gym from gymnasium

·         Lab from laboratory

Acronyms / Initialism

An acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation from the initial letters in a phrase or a multi syllable word (as in Benelux). The initials are pronounced as new single words. Commonly derived word are written in upper case e.g. NATO.

Some common examples of acronyms are:

·         CD is acronym of compact disk

·         VCR is acronym of  video cassette recorder

·         NATO is acronym of North Atlantic Treaty Organization

·         NASA is acronym of National Aeronautics and Space Administration

·         ATM is acronym of  Automatic Teller Machine

·         PIN is acronym of Personal Identification Number

Some time the word is written in lower case (Initial letter capital when at start of sentence)

·         Laser is acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

·         Scuba is acronym of  Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

·         Radar  is acronym of Radio Detecting And Ranging

Contraction

A contraction is a word formed as an abbreviation from a word. Contractions are abbreviations in which we omit letters from the middle of a word or more than one words.

Some common contractions are below:

·         Dr is from Doctor.

·         St is from Saint.

·         He’s from He is.

·         I’ve is from I have.

Affixation

Affixation is the word formation process where a new word is created by adding suffix or prefix to a root word. The affixation may involve prefixes, suffixes, infixes. In prefixes, we add extra letters before root word e.g. re+right to make a new word rewrite. In suffix, we add some extra letters with a base/root word e.g. read+able. In infixes, the base word is changed in its form e.g. the plural of woman is women that creates new word “women”.

1.    Prefixes: un+ plug = unplug

2.    Suffixes: cut + ie = cutie

3.    Infixes: man + plural = men

Zero-derivation (Conversion)

Zero-derivation, or conversion, is a derivational process that forms new words from existing words. Zero derivation, is a kind of word formation involving the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form, which is to say, derivation using only zero. Zero-derivation or conversion changes the lexical category of a word without changing its phonological shape. For example, the word ship is a noun and we use it also as a verb. See below sentences to understand it.

1.    Beach hotel has a ship to enjoy honeymoon.

2.    Beach hotel will ship your luggage in two days.

In first sentence, the word ship is a noun and in second sentence the word ship (verb) is derived from the action of ship (noun) that transports luggage, so the word ship (verb) has meaning of transportation.

Backformation

Backformation is the word formation process where a new word is derived by removing what appears to be an affix. When we remove last part of word (that looks like suffix but not a suffix in real) from a word it creates a new word.

Some very familiar words are below:

·         Peddle from peddler

·         Edit from editor

·         Pea from pease

Coinage / Neologism

It is also a process of word formation where new words (either deliberately or accidentally) are invented. This is a very rare process to create new words, but in the media and industry, people and companies try to surpass others with unique words to name their services or products.

Some common examples of coinage are: Kodak, Google, Bing, Nylon etc.

Eponyms

In word formation process, sometime new words are derives by based on the name of a person or a place. Some time these words have attribution to a place and sometime the words are attributes to the things/terms who discover/invent them. For example, the word volt is electric term that is after the name of Italian scientist Alessandro Volta.

Some common examples of eponyms are:

·         Hoover: after the person who marketed it

·         Jeans: after a city of Italy Genoa

·         Spangle: after the person who invented it

·         Watt: after the name of scientist James Watt

·         Fahrenheit:  after the name of German scientist Gabriel Fahrenheit

Definition

Word Formation Process (also called Morphological Process) is a means by which new words are produced either by modification of existing words or by complete innovation, which in turn become a part of the language.

Types of Word Formation Processes

Different types of word formation processes are employed to create new words. However, all word formation processes basically bring either inflectional or derivational changes. Therefore, inflection (also called inflexion) and derivation are the two core processes of word formation. Inflection differs from derivation to the following extent:

Inflection	Derivation
Produces grammatical variants of the same word.	Produces a new word on the basis of an existing word.
Modifies a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case.	Changes the word class (also called parts of speech; form class; lexical class; syntactic category).
Does not change the meaning of a word. For example: determine→ determines, determining, determined.	Modifies the meaning of the root. For example: modern → modernize (to make modern).

The major word formation processes include but are not limited to the following:

Affixation

It is a word formation process wherein an affix is attached to a root (also called stem; base) to form a new word. A root is a free morpheme (also called unbound morpheme) that can appear alone. On the other hand, an Affix is a bound morpheme which never occurs by itself, but is always attached to some free morpheme and can be either inflectional or derivational. An Inflectional affix modifies the form/grammatical category of a word, i.e., tense, person, number, gender, case, etc. For example: rat → rats. Contrariwise, a derivational affix modifies the parts of speech of the root, while leaving the grammatical category unchanged. In this way, there is a change of meaning of the root. For example: write → writer.

In English there are two types of affixations:

1. Prefixation: In this morphological process words are formed by adding an affix to the front of a root. The type of affix used in this process is referred to as prefix. For example: un + tidy → untidy
2. Suffixation: In this morphological process words are formed by adding an affix to the end of a root. The type of affix used in this process is referred to as suffix. For example: fear + less → fearless

Conversion

This refers to the change of function or parts of speech of a word without adding an affix. Conversion is also called zero derivation or null derivation since the functional change is brought about by supplementing an invisible affix. Sometimes it is also called functional shift. Typically conversion is made from “noun to verb” and from “verb to noun”. Less frequently, conversion is also done from “adjective to verb” and “adjective to noun”. For instance:

 Noun to Verb:  

• access
• email
• film
• name
• shape

Verb to Noun:

• attack
• alert
• hope
• increase
• visit
• cover

Adjective to Verb:

• brown
• black
• slow

Adjective to Noun:

• crazy
• nasty

Back-formation

Back-formation is a morphological process in which new word is created by extracting affixes from another word. In this way, it is the reverse of affixation, in which affixes are added. Back-formation is also different from clipping since it brings a change in the parts of speech or the word’s meaning. For example: the noun insertion has been back-formed into verb insert by removing the suffix ion.

Clipping

As the name suggests, clipping is the word formation process in which a word is reduced to a shorter form. With a sharp contrast to back-formation, clipping keeps the original word meaning intact. These words are very common in everyday speech. For instance: lab is the clipped form of laboratory. . There are four types of clippings:

1. Back clipping: (also called final clipping; apocope) it involves the truncation of end of a word as in ad from advertisement.
2. Fore-clipping: (also called initial clipping; apheresis) it is the removal of the beginning of a word as in phone from telephone.
3. Middle clipping: (also medial clipping; syncope) it is the extraction of the beginning and end of a word as in flu from influenza.
4. Complex clipping: is removing multiple parts from multiple words as in cablegram from cabletelegram.

Compounding

Also called composition, by this process two or more than two words are combined together to create a single word, having a single idea and function. In English, there are compound nouns, compound adjectives, and compound verbs. Customarily compound words are spelt as a single word, or as two or more hyphenated words, and even as two or more separate words. For example:

• life + style → lifestyle
• mother + in + law → mother-in-law
• shopping + mall → shopping mall

There are no specific rules for hyphenated compounds. Generally, some new and original compound nouns are hyphenated, but the hyphen is ignored when they become more familiar. However, there are some compound adjectives that are always hyphenated. For instance: state-of-the-art. The hyphen is often retained when two vowels come together, such as: Co-operation. Hyphens are often used to tell the ages of people and things, for example: 10-year-old. The general rule is that words are combined with hyphens to avoid confusion.

Borrowing

This refers to the words adopted from other languages. There are two types of borrowings:

1. Loan-word: By this process, a word is borrowed from another language without translating it into the target language. For example: the phrase tour-de-force is borrowed directly from French, which means a masterly or brilliant feat.
2. Loan-translation: Also known as calque, a morphological process wherein a word or phrase from another language is borrowed by literally translating it into the target language. For example: the phrase point of view has been translated into English from the French phrase point de vue.

Coinage

Also called invention, is a morphological process by which new words are invented. Sometimes popular trademark names of various products are adopted by people so extensively that they ultimately become the everyday words of language. For example:

• Heroin
• Aspirin
• Escalator
• Xerox
• Kerosene
• Nylon
• Band-Aid
• Vaseline
• Margarine
• Videotape

Again, some words are being invented due to rapid cultural changes and the spread of information technology, mass media, internet, etc. For example:

• Google
• Blog
• Hotspot
• Netbook
• Tablet
• Tweet
• Emoticon
• Smartphone

Blending

Blending (also called portmanteau) is a morphological process in which the parts of two or more words are combined together to form a new word. Usually, the parts consist of the beginning of one word and the end of the other word(s). Typically, the meaning of the blended word reverberates with the meanings of the original words. For example:

• breakfast + lunch → brunch
• motor+hotel → motel

However, blending should not be confused with compounding, which combines two words without truncation of parts of the roots of the blended words.

Acronyms

These words are formed with the initial letters or each of the major parts of a word or a longer phrase. With a few exceptions, acronyms are usually capitalized. Some linguists confuse acronyms with initialisms, which are also abbreviations formed in the similar manner as the former. In essence, there is a sharp difference between the two. In language, an acronym is pronounced as a single word rather than just a sequence of individual letters, which is characteristic of initialisms. For example:
Acronyms:

• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization → UNESCO
• Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation → Laser
• International Criminal Police Organization → Interpol

Initialisms:

• Personal Computer → PC
• Asian Development Bank → ADB
• Liquid Crystal Display → LCD

Reduplication

Reduplication (also called cloning; doubling; duplication; repetition; tautonym) is a word formation process in which a new word is created by repeating all or part of a root or a stem, often with a change of vowel or initial consonant. Reduplication is not a major means of creating lexemes in English, but it is perhaps the most unusual one. Based on their usage, the techniques of reduplication could be classified in the following manner:

1. Repetition without Change: bye-bye, tick-tick
2. Rhyming Reduplication: ding-dong, super-duper, bow-wow
3. Repetition with Change of Vowel: tiptop, chitchat, flip-flop, ping-pong, dilly-dally, wishy-washy
4. Repetition with Change of Initial Consonant: teeny-weeny

 

 

 

References

“English Word Formation Processes.” Really Learn English. 2016. Really-Learn-English.com.

14 July 2016 <http://www.really-learn-english.com/word-formation-processes.html>.

 “Inflection.” Wikipedia. 2016. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 14 July 2016

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflection>.

“Morphological Derivation.” Wikipedia. 2016. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 14 July 2016

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphological_derivation>.

Yule, George. The Study of Language. 2^nd ed. Cambridge: CUP, 1996.

“Word Formation.” Wikipedia. 2016. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 14 July 2016

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_formation>.

People in general have no difficulty coping the new words. We can very quickly understand a new word in our language (a neologism) and accept the use of different forms of that new word. This ability must derive in part from the fact that there is a lot of regularity in the word-formation process in our language.

In some aspects the study of the processes whereby new words come into being language like English seems relatively straightforward. This apparent simplicity however masks a number of controversial issues. Despite the disagreement of scholars in the area, there don´t seem to be a regular process involved.

These processes have been at work in the language for some time and many words in daily use today were, at one time, considered barbaric misuses of the language.

What is Coinage?

Coinage is a common process of word-formation in English and it is the invention of totally new terms. The most typical sources are invented trade names for one company´s product which become general terms (without initial capital letters) for any version of that product.

For example: aspirin, nylon, zipper and the more recent examples kleenex, teflon.

This words tend to become everyday words in our language.

What is Borrowing?

Borrowing is one of the most common sources of getting new words in English. That is the taking over of words from other languages. Throughout history the English language has adopted a vast number of loan words from other languages. For example:

• Alcohol (Arabic)
• Boss (Dutch)
• Croissant (French)
• Piano (Italian)
• Pretzel (German)
• Robot (Czech)
• Zebra (Bantu)

Etc…

A special type of borrowing is the loan translation or calque. In this process, there is a direct translation of the elements of a word into the borrowing language. For example: Superman, Loan Translation of Übermensch, German.

What is Compounding?

The combining process of words is technically known as compounding, which is very common in English and German. Obvious English examples would be:

• Bookcase
• Fingerprint
• Sunburn
• Wallpaper
• Textbook
• Wastebasket
• Waterbed

What is Blending?

The combining separate forms to produce a single new term, is also present in the process of blending. Blending, takes only the beginning of one word and joining it to the end of the other word.  For instance, if you wish to refer to the combined effects of smoke and fog, there´s the term smog. The recent phenomenon of fund rising on television that feels like a marathon, is typically called a telethon, and if you´re extremely crazy about video, you may be called a videot.

What is Clipping?

Clipping is the process in which the element of reduction which is noticeable in blending is even more apparent. This occurs when a word of more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form, often in casual speech. For example, the term gasoline is still in use but the term gas, the clipped form is used more frequently. Examples

• Chem.
• Gym
• Math
• Prof
• Typo

What is Backformation?

Backformation is a very specialized type of reduction process. Typically a word of one type, usually noun, is reduced to form another word of a different type, usually verb. A good example of backformation is the process whereby the noun television first came into ude and then the term televise is created form it.

More examples:

• Donation – Donate
• Option – Opt
• Emotion – Emote
• Enthusiasm – Enthuse
• Babysit – Babysitter

What is Conversion?

Conversion is a change in the function of a word, as for example, when a noun comes to be used as a verb without any reduction. Other labels of this very common process are “category change” and “functional shift”. A number of nouns such as paper, butter, bottle, vacation and so on, can via the process of conversion come to be used as verbs as in the following examples:

• My brother is papering my bedroom.
• Did you buttered this toast?
• We bottled the home brew last night.

What is an Acronym?

Some new words known as acronyms are formed with the initial letters of a set of other words. Examples:

• Compact Disk – CD
• Video Cassette Recorder – VCR
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration – NASA
• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – UNESCO
• Personal Identification Number –PIN
• Women against rape – WAR

What is Derivation?

Derivation is the most common word formation process and it accomplished by means of a large number of small bits of the English language which are not usually given separate listings in dictionaries. These small bits are called affixes. Examples:

• Unhappy
• Misrepresent
• Prejudge
• Joyful
• Careless
• Happiness

Prefixes and Suffixes

In the preceding group of words, it should be obvious that some affixes have to be added to the beginning of a word. These are called prefixes: unreliable. The other affix forms are called suffixes and are added at the end of the word: foolishness.

Infixes

One of the characteristics of English words is that any modifications to them occur at the beginning or the end; mix can have something added at the beginning re-mix or at the end, mixes, mixer, but never in the middle, called infixes.

Activities – WORDS AND WORD FORMATION PROCESSES

Activity 1

Identify the word formation process involved in the following sentences:

1. My little cousin wants to be a footballer
2. Rebecca parties every weekend
3. I will have a croissant for breakfast.
4. Does somebody know where is my bra?
5. My family is vacationing in New Zealand
6. I will babysit my little sister this weekend
7. Would you give me your blackberry PIN?
8. She seems really unhappy about her parents’ decision.
9. I always have kleenex in my car.

10.  A carjacking was reported this evening.

(To check your answers, please go to home and check the link: Activities Keyword)

*You may require checking other sources

The following are the ways by which new words are formed in English. 

Derivation 

Derivation is a process
of forming new words according to fairly regular pattern on the basis of
pre-existing words.

If we analyse
the process of derivation in more detail we will notice that a step in a
derivation is usually not on process but 3 semantinal process namely-

a)     
morphological process

b)     
semantic process

c)     
syntactic process

Major word
formation processes in English are:-

1) Affixation-

One of the
commonest methods of word making in English is called Affixation. Affixation is
accomplished by means of a large number of small bits of the English language
which are not usually given in listings in the dictionary. These small bits are
called affix and the process is known as affixation. A few examples are the
elements un, mis, pre, less ish etc which appear in words like unhappy,
misrepresent, pre-paid, boyish, terrorism etc.

In the preceding
groups of words it should be obvious that some affixes had to be added to the
beginning of a word. For example- “un”. These are called prefixes and the
process is known as prefixation. The other affix forms are added to the end of
the word, for example, “ism” and these are called suffixes. The process
involved here is called suffixation. All English words formed by the
derivational process of affixation used either prefixes or suffixes or both.
Thus “mislead” has a prefix, “disrespectful” has both prefix and suffix and
“likeliness” has two suffixes.   

The English
language has made generous use of prefixes and suffixes to make new words or to
modify or to extend the root idea. But there are some important differences
between prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes are put before a word whereas suffixes
are put in the end of a word. Another important difference between them is that
prefixes mostly have a meaning of their own, though they are not generally used
as separate words, whereas suffixes are used only to modify the root idea of a
word or to convert the word into another part of speech. For example, if we add
a prefix to the word “author” we’ll get “co-author”. Here the root idea is not
modified and moreover the word class is unchanged. But by suffixation we get a
new word authorship. Here we get a new word.

Acronyms

Some new words
are formed from the initial letters of a set of other words. These are called
acronyms. For example-SARS, NASA, NATO, UN. Acronyms can loose their initials
become everyday terms such as LASER, SCUBA (self-continued underwater breathing
asparagus)etc.

Backformation

A very
especialised type of reduction process is known as backformation. Typically a
word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form another word of a
different type( usually overt). For example, televise for television, emote
from emotion, enthuse from enthusiasm, edit from editor etc.

Conversion

A change in the
function of a word, as for example when a noun comes to be used as a verb
without any reduction is generally known as conversion. Other lebels for this
very common process are category change and functional shift. A number of nouns
such as paper, butter, bottle etc can via the process of conversation come to
be used as verb as in the following sentences-

He is papering
the bedroom walls

Have you
buttered the toast?

He is tutoring
the students.

Compounding

One of the
commonest ways of making a new word is to join two or more element, each of
which is also used as separate word. This method of forming new word is called composition
or compounding, and the words thus formed are called compounds. For example
brainwash, headache, sleep walking, day dreamer, self control etc.

Words made from the names of places and persons:-

Another prolific
source of word formation in English is the derivation of new words from the
names of places, persons and characters in famous books. For example; the word
sandwitch comes from the name of the Earl of Sandwitch. Cardigan comes from the
Earl of Cardigan. Quicksotic comes from Don Quicksotc. The word solomon as a
substitute for wisdom originates from the Bible.

Portmantaau words:-

This process is
comparatively a new comer in the scenario of word generation. This is of noble
nature in comparison with other forms of word formation. Too different and
independent lexical entries are blended together by subtracting the front
portion of a word and a back portion of another. The word thus formed are
called Portmantaau words; for example; happenstance (happening+circumstance);
workaholic(work+alcoholic);wevzine(web-sight+magazine);
Internet(International+Network) etc.

The
difference between inflection and derivation

Both derivation
and inflection makes word but derivation makes a new word. For example,
respect->respectful; good-> goodness etc. But inflection merely changes
the relation of case, number, gender, person and pens. For example

dog-  dogs-   
dogs

            plural   possessive

look-  looks-  
looks

In English
prefixes are always derivational.

Word formation is a very important aspect of most languages, and English is no exception. The term «word formation» refers to the processes through which new words are created. Given its significance in the English language and in Cambridge English exams, this short article will outline the basic word formation processes. Let’s go!

Compounding

It means creating a word by adding up two or more different words. Compound words have a new meaning, which is obviously related to the meanings of the other words. For example:

• book + case = bookcase
• sign + post = signpost
• watch + man = watchman

Not all compound words are written together. Sometimes they can by hyphenated (con guión) or separate, such as «traffic lights» or «ice-cream». Some, such as «ice-cream» can be written with our without a hyphen.

Derivation: prefixes and suffixes

This process is normally done through suffixation or prefixation, that is to say, adding a suffix or a prefix. For instance:

• urgent (adjective) + -cy = urgency (noun)
• ir- + responsible (adjective) + -y = irresponsibly (adverb)
• national (adjective) + -ise = nationalise

Conversion

Conversion happens when a word changes from one word class to another. For instance, the verb to google is formed from the noun Google; or the noun read (as in a good read) is formed from the verb to read. For example:

• I emailed this document to John. (emailed is a verb formed from the noun email)
• He was bullied at school as a child. (bullied is a verb formed from the noun bully)

Blending

This involves taking a part of two different words to make a new word, like merging two words based on the sounds of these words. This is extremely popular in the English language, and it produces hundreds of new words every year whose meanings is a mixture of the meanings of the original words. In some cases, these are informal, but there are many that have become a natural part of standard English. Let’s see some examples:

• channel + tunnel = chunnel 
• motor + hotel = motel
• work + alcoholic = workaholic

Abbreviation

When we abbreviate a word, we form another word by shortening it or simply by using only part of the word:

• Perambulator –> pram
• Veterinary –> vet

In general, we can talk about two types of abbreviation: clipping and acronyms.

Clipping

This means literally clipping the word, which means «cutting» the word to make it shorter. This normally makes the word more informal and/or appealing. Some examples are:

• advertisement = ad
• hamburger = burger
• demonstration = demo

Acronyms

Acronyms, which are a form of abbreviation, are words formed by using only the first letter(s) of the words. By creating an acronym, we are reducing the meaning of a whole phrase o sentence to a single word. Let’s see some popular examples:

• laughing out loud = LOL
• United Nations = UN
• radio detection and ranging = radar

Novel creation

This basically means coming up with a completely new word without any of the processes above. These words are typically referred to as «neologisms». Some examples are:

• puzzle
• bash
• gimmick
• gadget

Creative re-spelling

This involves spelling a word differently in order to make it more practical, attractive, or to fulfil some particular aim, usually commercial. For example:

• because –> bcoz
• light –> lite
• forever –> 4eva
• Combat –> Kombat

Loan words

In linguistics, a loan happens when we take a word directly from a foreign language. Some examples of loan words in English are:

• solo
• pizza
• tapas
• negro
• carpe diem
• cul de sac

In general, when we loan a word, the spelling doesn’t usually change. However, some other changes may occur, like creating a plural form which doesn’t exist in the original language. As for pronunciation, we usually pronounce them with an «English accent», so it varies slightly from the original pronunciation.

As far as Cambridge English exams go, it’s derivation (prefixes & suffixes) that concerns us most, as it is present in two of the parts of the section of Use of English B2 and Use of English C1.

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In linguistics (particularly morphology and lexicology), word formation refers to the ways in which new words are formed on the basis of other words or morphemes. This is also known as derivational morphology.

Word formation can denote either a state or a process, and it can be viewed either diachronically (through different periods in history) or synchronically (at one particular period in time).

In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, David Crystal writes about word formations: 

«Most English vocabulary arises by making new lexemes out of old ones — either by adding an affix to previously existing forms, altering their word class, or combining them to produce compounds. These processes of construction are of interest to grammarians as well as lexicologists. … but the importance of word-formation to the development of the lexicon is second to none. … After all, almost any lexeme, whether Anglo-Saxon or foreign, can be given an affix, change its word class, or help make a compound. Alongside the Anglo-Saxon ​root in ​kingly, for example, we have the French root in royally and the Latin root in regally. There is no elitism here. The processes of affixation, conversion, and compounding are all great levelers.»

Processes of Word Formation

Ingo Plag explains the process of word formation in Word-Formation in English:

«Apart from the processes that attach something to a base (affixation) and processes that do not alter the base (conversion), there are processes involving the deletion of material. … English Christian names, for example, can be shortened by deleting parts of the base word (see (11a)), a process also occasionally encountered with words that are not personal names (see (11b)). This type of word formation is called truncation, with the term clipping also being used.»

(11a) Ron (-Aaron)
(11a) Liz (-Elizabeth)
(11a) Mike (-Michael)
(11a) Trish (-Patricia)
(11b) condo (-condominium)
(11b) demo (-demonstration)
(11b) disco (-discotheque)
(11b) lab (-laboratory)

«Sometimes truncation and affixation can occur together, as with formations expressing intimacy or smallness, so-called diminutives:»

(12) Mandy (-Amanda)
(12) Andy (-Andrew)
(12) Charlie (-Charles)
(12) Patty (-Patricia)
(12) Robbie (-Roberta)

«We also find so-called blends, which are amalgamations of parts of different words, such as smog (smoke/fog) or modem (modulator/demodulator). Blends based on orthography are called acronyms, which are coined by combining the initial letters of compounds or phrases into a pronounceable new word (NATO, UNESCO, etc.) Simple abbreviations like UK or USA are also quite common.»

Academic Studies of Word-Formation

In the preface to the Handbook of Word-Formation, Pavol Stekauer and Rochelle Lieber write:

«Following years of complete or partial neglect of issues concerning word formation (by which we mean primarily derivation, compounding, and conversion), the year 1960 marked a revival—some might even say a resurrection—of this important field of linguistic study. While written in completely different theoretical frameworks (structuralist vs. transformationalist), both Marchand’s Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation in Europe and Lee’s Grammar of English Nominalizations instigated systematic research in the field. As a result, a large number of seminal works emerged over the next decades, making the scope of word-formation research broader and deeper, thus contributing to better understanding of this exciting area of human language.»

In «Introduction: Unravelling the Cognitive in Word Formation.» Cognitive Perspectives on Word Formation, Alexander Onysko and Sascha Michel explain:

«[R]ecent voices stressing the importance of investigating word formation in the light of cognitive processes can be interpreted from two general perspectives. First of all, they indicate that a structural approach to the architecture of words and a cognitive view are not incompatible. On the contrary, both perspectives try to work out regularities in language. What sets them apart is the basic vision of how language is encapsulated in the mind and the ensuing choice of terminology in the description of the processes. … [C]ognitive linguistics concedes closely to the self-organizing nature of humans and their language, whereas generative-structuralist perspectives represent external boundaries as given in the institutionalized order of human interaction.»

Birth and Death Rates of Words

In their report «Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death,» Alexander M. Petersen, Joel Tenenbaum, Shlomo Havlin, and H. Eugene Stanley conclude:

«Just as a new species can be born into an environment, a word can emerge in a language. Evolutionary selection laws can apply pressure on the sustainability of new words since there are limited resources (topics, books, etc.) for the use of words. Along the same lines, old words can be driven to extinction when cultural and technological factors limit the use of a word, in analogy to the environmental factors that can change the survival capacity of a living species by altering its ability to survive and reproduce.»

Sources

• Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Onysko, Alexander, and Sascha Michel. “Introduction: Unravelling the Cognitive in Word Formation.” Cognitive Perspectives on Word Formation, 2010, pp. 1–26., doi:10.1515/9783110223606.1.
• Petersen, Alexander M., et al. “Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 15 Mar. 2012, www.nature.com/articles/srep00313.
• Plag, Ingo. Word-Formation in English. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Stekauer, Pavol, and Rochelle Lieber. Handbook of Word-Formation. Springer, 2005.