What is the importance of word formation

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This essay example focuses on explaining the importance of word formation processes. You can learn more about different types of word formation and the causes of miscommunication with our word formation essay.

Word formation processes and creation of meanings can occur in very many ways so teachers should learn to incorporate these processes to facilitate learning. For instance, language learners normally use compounding as a way of making new meanings from simpler words (free morphemes). For example, waterfall is derived from the free morphemes water and fall. Teachers can therefore contribute towards better and faster second language learning by finding out some of the simpler words that their students know and then teach them how to combine these morphemes to create compounded words (Dixon & Aikhenvald, 65).

The same concept can be applied during the process of derivation (where derivation refers to the addition of prefixes like mis- and pre- and suffixes like -less, -able to words) examples of derivation processes include misrepresent, unprepared, meaningless, reliable from represent, prepare, meaning and rely. Teachers need to start working with the simple words that students know and then teach them about the rules applicable in deriving meaning from them. They need to show the interrelationship between the derived words and the simpler ones. For example misrepresent is the opposite of represent and reliable is an adjective used to describe someone who one can rely on.

In derivation, some language learners may utilize their own creative capabilities in order to create meaning. In other words, they can create words that they had never heard before using this methodology. Teachers need to tap into this tendency by looking for ways in which they can encourage spontaneous word derivation. Native and non native speakers can utilize this potential so it is not restricted to just one group (Vizmuller-Zocco, 45). Creative word formation can be encouraged through other classroom activities that encourage development of this skill such as through the use of games.

Importance of Word Formation for Supporting Clear Communication

Teachers need to know what students think about the activities, tasks and challenges in their classroom. This is because it is essential for students to fully understand what is expected of them in a linguistics class. Teachers can do this by asking them questions directly in class. Alternatively, they may request students to write journals that cause them to reflect upon their learning within the classroom (Tjeerdsma, 78).

Teachers can also create an environment of cooperation in their classroom by being approachable while at the same time being direct. This would ensure that students are clear about the expectations of the class and they will be better able to communicate clearly (Paralink, 5).

Causes of misunderstanding in communication

Communication misunderstandings are often caused by a lack of awareness of the requirements within a class. Some students simply may not know the parameters or standards that will be used to assess them. Therefore, they will take on tasks in the classroom without having a clear cut direction of what is expected of them. This misunderstanding in communication is brought on by the lack of creation of classroom goals (OGrady, 13).

Alternatively, communication misunderstands may be caused by differing expectations of what a class is all about (Bybee, 35). When students have very divergent views of what a class is all about, they may start conferring with one another and this may lead to further confusion amongst them. Since interpretations of a class can be different, it is always best when teachers know about this and then work towards eliminating those discrepancies.

Works Cited

Dixon, R. & Aikhenvald, A. Word: a cross linguistic typology. Cambridge: Cambridge university press, 2007.

Bybee, L. A study of the relation between meaning and form. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1985.

Vizmuller-Zocco, J. Linguistic creativity and word formation. Italian teachers Journal, 13(1985): 45.

Tjeerdsma, B. Enhancing classroom communication between teachers and students. Physical education, recreation and dance journal, 68 (1997): 78.

Paralink. The importance of clear communication. 2005. Web.

O’ Grady, D. Drilling down to the depths of clear communication. 2010. Web.

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.

Word formation process

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Abstract

Nowadays,
the terms ‘word formation’ does not have a clear cut, universally
accepted usage. It is sometimes referred to all processes
connected with changing the form of the word by, for example,
affixation, which is a matter of morphology. In its wider sense word formation denotes the processes
of creation of new lexical units. Although it seems that the
difference between morphological change of a word and creation
of a new term is quite easy to perceive, there is sometimes
a dispute as to whether blending is still a morphological
change or making a new word. There are, of course, numerous word formation processes that do not arouse any
controversies and are very similar in the majority of languages.
One of the distinctive properties of human language is creativity,
by which we mean the ability of native speakers of a language
to produce and understand new forms in their language. Even
though creativity is most apparent when it comes to sentence
formation, it is also manifest in our lexical knowledge, where
new words are added to our mental lexicon regularly. In this
paper the most comprehensive expositions of word formation
processes that speakers of a language use regularly (and unconsciously
too) to create new words in their language are presented.

Compounding

Noun+Noun

The most common type of word formation is the combination of two (or more)
nouns in order to form a resulting noun:

Noun + Noun = Noun

Examples: landmine, wallpaper, toothbrush

The first of the two compounds may be descriptive (i.e. tablecloth, a cloth with which to clean [or cloth] tables),
or both compounds may create a whole new meaning altogether
(i.e railroad, which is not a «road» in the typical
sense of the word.) It is also possible to form words whose
components are equally important to or descriptive of its
meaning, for example, a washer-dryer refers to an object combining two functions.

There are, of course, many more different ways how compound nouns can
be related to each other and how their new meanings can best
be explained grammatically. In most cases, however, the nature
of these compounds is self-explanantory, and their meanings
are quite comprehensible even for those who encounter them
for the first time.

Note that compound nouns usually appear as two separate words, only those
more commonly used, those found in every-day language, and
usually compounds with no more than three syllables are found
as one word. Hyphens (-) between the segments of a compound
noun are absolutely exceptional. Examples:

windowsill (the sill attached under a window), shopwindow
(a shop’s window), doorkey (a key for the door), bookpage
(a page in a book), silverspoon (a spoon made of silver),
waterpipe (a pipe that carries water), dockyard (a yard for
docks), fireman (somebody who fights fire), wallpaper («paper»
one glues to walls), Independence Day (anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence), office supply (goods for office
use), water shortage (shortage of water), labour riot (employees
rioting), television set (a set for watching television),
headache (an aching head), snowfall (snow falling), answerphone
(a phone that answers), air-conditioner (a machine conditioning
air), gunfight (a fight carried out with guns)

Verb+Noun

Here verbs describe what is done with an object or what a subject «does»,
in short, a new noun is formed, usually referring to something
concrete, and the verb defines the action related to it:

Verb + Noun = Noun: draw + bridge = drawbridge.

A drawbridge is a bridge that can be inclined in order to allow ships
to pass, or «drawn». Here, the noun is the direct
object.

hitman = a man who carries out «dirty jobs», or,
who «hits». Here, the word as part of speech is
the subject.

Besides that, both segments can be related in other ways, i.e. the noun
may stand for a adverb of place: walkway
= people walk on the walkway.

The usual rules apply to spelling. More examples:

walkway (a way to walk on), divecenter (a place where
one goes diving), runway (a strip of flat land where aircraft
start or land [«run»]), filter-paper (paper used
for filtering liquids or gases), driveway (a road leading
to a garage or a building), payday (the day one receives his
or her salary), paycheck (a check used for the payment of
wages or salaries),

Noun+Adjective

Nouns and adjectives can also be compounded in the opposite order:

Noun + Adjective = Adjective

Camera + shy = camera-shy (Shy in respect
of appearing or speaking before cameras).

In this case, the resultant is an adjective, while the noun explaines
the objective.

Another possibility is that the noun supports the adjective, i.e. as an
intensifier:

dirt-cheap = cheap as dirt; paper-thin
= thin as paper

Those rules do also apply to the linking of nouns and participial adjectives:

English-speaking; soul-destroying; frost-bitten

More common and shorter compounds appear as one word whereas those longer
and less common are linked by a hyphen. More examples of all
subtypes:

waterproof (proof or resistant against water), seaworthy
(a ship withstanding the dangers of the sea), airworthy (an
aircraft safely flyable), blameworthy (a person deserving
blame), bookworthy (something worth being published), trustworthy
(somebody who can be trusted), jet black (deep black), footsore
(having a sore foot), heart-sick (a person suffering from
heart disease), seasick (being sick from the effects of a
stormy sea), home-made (made privately at home), power-mad
(mad about or craving power), colour-blind (unable to discriminate
colours other than black and white and grey),

Other
Compounds

There are various other types of compounds. A selection of which is shown
below.

Adjective+Adjective

bitter-sweet, deaf-mute, aural-oral, Anglo-Saxon

Adjective
+ Participle

far-reaching, far fetched, narrow-minded, single-minded,
high-climbing, low-yielding, red-painted, bare-handed

Prefixes

In contrast to compounding, affixation links so-called prefixes and suffixes,
which are not independent words, to words of all types. The
type of affix determines the effect the affixation will have
on the word. Here, we discuss supportive and opposing prefixes.
They are used to express support for or disapproval of whatever
is expressed by the word they’re attached to.

Supportive
and opposing Prefixes (Prefixes of attitude)

pro = on the side of, supporting: pro-choice, pro-life,
pro-market, pro-libertarian; added to: nouns, adjectives
of denomination.

anti = against, counteracting: anti-missile, anti-social,
antibody, anti-abortion, anti-regulatory; = antagonistic:
anti-hero, antichrist; added to: nouns, adverbs, denominal
adjectives.

counter = in opposition to: to counteract, counter-revolution,
counter-example, counter-espionage, counter-productive;
added to: verbs, abstract nouns, adjectives.

contra = contrasting, against: contraception, contraindicate,
contraflow, contradistinction; added to: abstract nouns,
verbs.

Negative
Prefixes

A rough outline of negative prefixes and their usage is given below.

a = not, lacking in, not affected by, devoid of quality: atheist, amoral (not subject to moral standards), asymmetry, apolitical,
asexual; added to: adjectives, nouns.

dis = not, absolute opposite of what is meant by the second element: disloyal, distrust, disagree, dislike, disfavour, disadvantage;
added to: adjectives, abstract nouns, verbs.

un = not, the opposite of; before words of french origin: in-, il-(before
l), im-(before p), ir-(before r). Note: These are the most
commonly used prefixes of negation. Examples: unfair,
unassuming, unexpected, unproductive, insane, injustice, intolerance,
impatience, imperfect, irregular, illegal, incapable, illogical,
improper, irrelevant; added to: adjectives, participles
(only un-).

non = not, not regarded as: non-stop,
non-interference, non-aggression, non-smoker, non-drip (paint),
non-person, non-event; added to: varios types of words
and expressions, mainly nouns and verbs.

Prefixes
of Place (Locative Prefixes)

Locative prefixes determine the place, or relative place, or (relative)
direction, of action or objects. Also, abstract nouns and
processes or relations are determined in terms of locality.
Perhaps a look at the following will provide a clear picture:

ante = before (locally): antechamber, anteroom;
added to: nouns.

circum = around: circumnavigate, circumlocution,
circumcision; added to: verbs, nouns.

extra = outside, beyond: extramarital, extracurricular,
extrasensory, extra-pay; added to: adjectivs, nouns.

fore = in front, front part of: forefinger, foreskin,
forecourt, forehead; added to: nouns.

in = inside, into: also il-, im-, ir- ingathering,
indoors, in-patient (not impatient); added to: participles,
nouns.

inter = between, in between: interracial, international,
interdisciplinary, interrace; added to: adjectives,
nouns.

intra = inside: intramural, intra-uterine, intravenous;
added to: adjectives.

supra = above: supranational, supramundane;
added to: adjectives.

sur = above: surtax, surcharge, surtitle;
nouns, verbs.

tele = at a distance: telecommunication, television;
added to: nouns, verbs.

trans = across: transatlantic, transnational, transsexual;
added to: adjectives, geographical names.

ultra = beyond, excessively, extremely: ultra-violet,
ultra-sonic, ultra-modest, ultra-thin, ultra-modern, ultra-orthodox;
added to: adjectives.

under = below: underground, undercarriage, underclothes;
added to: nouns; = too little; undercharge,
underpay, undercook, undervalue: added to: verbs; =
subordinate: under-secretary, underclass, underling; added to: nouns.

Additional locative prefixes: Prepositions determining direction, both
locatively and figuratively applied: to bypass, to upgrade,
to downsize, to undergo, to oversee.

Prefixes
of Size, Degree and Status

These prefixes determine mostly nouns, and are self-explanatory to a large
extent:

arch = highest, worst, chief: archbishop, arch-rival,
archangel, archduke, arch-enemy; added to: nouns.

macro = large: macrocosm, macro-economics;
added to: nouns.

micro = small: microtransmitter, micro-computer,
microsurgery, micro-economics; added to: nouns.

mega = very large: megastar, megastore; added
to: nouns.

mini = small: miniseries, minibreak, minicab, miniskirt;
added to: nouns

Prefixes
of Time and Order

These prefixes determine time and order, their meanings and usage are
given below.

ante = before: antenatal, antedate; added
to: adjectives.

ex = former: ex-wife, ex-president; human
nouns.

fore = before: to foresee, to foretell, foregone;
added to: verbs, participles, nouns.

mid = middle: mid-afternoon, midwinter, midnight;
added to: nouns denoting points or periods of time.

neo = new, recent form of, revived: neo-colonialism,
neo-conservative, neo-fascist; added to: abstract nouns,
adjectives.

post = after: post-war, post-modernism, post-structuralist;
added to: nouns denoting time, abstract nouns, adjectives
denoting periods of time.

pre = before, pre-arranged before the time/period of: prepay, pre-existing, predate, preview, preschool, pre-war, pre-marital;
added to: nouns, adjectives.

Prefixes
of Number

Numeral prefixes the amount, quantity, or scope.

mono = single, one: monotheism, monorail, monoplane,
monotonous; added to: nouns, adjectives.

uni = one: unidirectional, unidimensional, unilateral;
added to: adjectives, nouns.

poly = many: polysyllabic, polytheism, polygraph;
added to: adjectives, nouns.

multi = many: multi-faith, multinational, multimillionaire,
multi-racial; added to: nouns, adjectives.

semi = half, partly: semicircle, semi-automatic,
semi-conscious, semi-official; added to: nouns, adjectives.

demi = half, partly: demisemiquaver, demigod;
added to:nouns in most cases.

Class-changing
and converting Prefixes

The prefixes a-, be-, en- and em- have the primary effect to change the
class (or type) of words, or, to convert.

a = added to verbs in order to form predicative adjectives (no synonymical
explaination possible): afloat (A ships
that’s floating is afloat), aloft (An aircraft airborne is
aloft).

be = added to nouns in order to form transitive verbs: to besiege (To surround to force into surrender), to beguile (To charm), to bewitch
(To put a magic spell on); = added to adjectives in order
to form transitive verbs: to becalm
(To calm or to make calm), to belittle (To make something or somebody seem unimportant
or of lesser value), to befoul
(To make foul or dirty; to contaminate); = added to verbs
in order to form transitive verbs, and, at the same time,
as an intensifying force for verbs: to bedazzle (To bring someone into dazzlement), to becry (To bitterly cry about), to
besmear (To make dirty), to bewail
(To mourn, or express sorrow over), to
bespatter (To cover with spots of dirt), to
bespeak (To give evidence of); = added to nouns in
order to form participial adjectives: bespectacled (Wearing spectacles), beribboned
(Wearing ribbons), bewigged (Wearing
a wig), besotted (Hopelessly in love with sb., but only in reference
to men [women are infatuated]).

Recent
Coinages of prefixed words

Here is a both complementary and concluding selection of current word
formations, clarifying the importance of word formations in
today’s English:

anti-choice, bicultural, co-presenter, counter-culture,
deselect, difunctional, disinvest, eco-tourism, Eurosceptic,
ex-directory, gigabyte, hypertext, interface, intra-uterine,
macrobiotic, maxiseries, megastar, microsurgery, minibreak,
multimedia, neo-colonialism, non-proliferation, pan-African,
paramedic, postmodernism, preschooler, proactive, reflag,
retrofire, supergun, ungreen, unisex, up-market

Note that the usual rule of hyphenizing formations of more than three
syllables is not followed in every case; the respective formation
has already become received standard, constituting an independant
word.

Suffixes

Verb Suffixes

Here, suffixes, which fulfill the function of forming verbs from other
word classes, are defined and explained.

-ify = to make, to cause: to simplify, to beautify,
to classify, to personify, to countrify, to ladify, to prettify,
to Frenchify; added to: nouns (i.e. beauty) and adjectives
(i.e. pretty) in order to form (mainly) transitive verbs.

-ize = also -ise = to make, to treat in
the way of: to scandalize, to civilize, to organize, to circularize, to mesmerize,
to Americanize, to familiarize, to legalize, to nationalize,
to soberize, to patronize, to materialize, to popularize,
to prioritize, to privatize; added to: adjectives and
nouns of romanic origin, but also proper names in order to
form mainly transitive verbs. Note that to apologize, to botanize, to sympathize are not word formations
in that respect, because the remaining stem wouldn’t be an
independent English word if «-ize» were taken away.

Adjective
Suffixes

-able (also -ible on words of Latin or French origin) — words ending -able
have to meaning «that can or deserves to be -ed»
(in which «-ed» stands for any past participle);
or, «that is able to do this»; or, “that can be
done with it”: breakable, eatable, exchangeable,
pitiable, readable, reliable, available, objectionable, treasonable,
knowledgeable, agreeable, forgettable, unthinkable, intelligible,
responsible, audible; added to: chiefly verbs of action.
Note that certain combinations like demonstrable (to demonstrate),
separable (to separate) or any one based on verbs ending -ate,
retain only the stem of the base verb instead of the whole
verb. Verbs ending -y change into -i; that, however, does
not affect the choice of -able vs. -ible, which is solely
determined by the verb’s origin. Please beware that these
forms are often used with negative prefixes: unthinkable.
Also, it is possible to make a noun out of such adjectiv:
The reliable (What can be relied
on).

-al (also -ial) — meaning «of the nature of», «belonging
to»: natural, occasional, educational,
coastal, tidal, accidental, managerial, musical, criminal,
editorial, provisional, continental; added to: nouns
in order to form primarily non-comparable adjectives. Note:
continual, corporal, individual, royal
etc. are not word formations in the English sense; however,
they resemble the principles explained above.

-an (also -ian) — meaning «in the tradition of», «coming
from», «of the nature of»: African,
Indian, Elizabethan, Victorian, republican; added to:
chiefly proper names, geographical names, well-know personal
names (Persons defining eras, ideas, or ideologies).

-less = devoid of: careless, harmless, restless,
borderless, merciless; added to: nouns (antonym of
-ful).

-like = of the nature of, behaving like: childlike,
gentlemanlike, godlike; added to: nouns.

-ly = of the nature of, periodic recurrence: cowardly,
kingly, earthly, monthly, daily; added to: nouns, denotions
of time. This is not to be confused with the formation of
adverbs, which happens when -ly is added to an adjective.

-some = productive of: burdensome, fearsome, quarrelsome,
troublesome, tiresome, lonesome; added to: nouns,verbs,adjectives.
It is highly advisable to consult a dictionary before forming
your own combinations.

-ward = in the direction of: upward, eastward, onward,
heavenward, homeward, landward, backward, forward (as
from fore); added to: locative adverbs.

-y = of the nature of: funny, rusty, smelly, sleepy,
choosy, bony, nervy, headachy, second-classy, catchy, sticky
fishy, flimsy (derobitary: fishy character); added
to: every concrete noun, some verbs.

Suffixes
of concrete nouns

Noun suffixes will form nouns from every type of word.

-ant (as well as -ent) = who / that carries out, agentive and instrumental:
informant, claimant, solvent, inhabitant,
disinfectant, servant; added to: verbs. Consult your
dictionary when in doubt.

-er = also -or in words of latin origin: server,
dreamer, cleaner, recorder; added to: verbs. Consult
your dictionary when in doubt. These often denote person following
their profession: baker, bookseller; = device or object fulfilling the task
of: container, locker, boiler, mower;
added to: verbs. = object, agency or means performing the
task of: fixer-upper, do-gooder;
added to: verbal phrases (verb+adverb); = denotion of origin
of persons: Southerner, Londoner;
added to: geographical names.

-ing = agentive: the working (a definite article
is mandatory); added to: verbs; = activity: swimming,
gardening, manufacturing; added to: verbs; = result:
building, clothing, painting; added to: verbs. The result
is either a gerund or a participle, according to the context.

-ee = passive, affected by: employee, interviewee,
teachee, trustee, evacuee; added to: verbs. The resulting
noun must denote a person.

Adverb
Suffixes

Adverb suffixes are, like most of the other ones, class-changing. Note
that some adjectives (like friendly) cannot be converted into
an adverb; when needed to be applied as such, an inserted
paraphrase is neccesary.

-ly = in that way. -ly is the standard way to form adjectives: easy —
easily; important — importantly;
and so on. -ly is added to: adjectives not ending -ly, phrases
(matter-of-factly, full-heartedly, cold-bloodedly). It is
also added to some neologisms: transbroomstickally.
As for the aforesaid: friendly — in a
friendly manner (this applies to all adjectives ending
-ly).

-wise = in terms of …, as far as … is/are concerned: clockwise, notewise, moneywise; added to: nouns.

— ways = in the manner of: sideways, lengthways;
added to: nouns.

Recent
Coinages (Suffixes)

Below is a selection of current word formation using suffixes:

microwaveable, actional, gentrification, yuppiedom, finger-dried,
faxee, leaderene, bagger, bimbette, additive-free, kissogram,
wrinklie, gentrigy, networking, wimpish, ableism, survivalist,
recyclability, confrontive, privatize, ecomanie, user-friendliness,
returnik, retrophilia

Conversion

Conversion is the process or shifting a word into a different word class
without adding an affix (that would usually be called «derivation»).
Next, we’ll discuss how to form nouns denoting actions out
of actional verbs.

Verbs
of action into nouns

The rule: a verb becomes a noun: to swim -> a
swim. Spelling does not change, neither is anything
added.

The verb giving rise to this word formation must denote an action: to
swim, to walk, to run, to read.

The resulting noun denotes a single action, a specific instance («I had a good read«), instead of the action or activity
as such: «I like running»
would be correct, if the activity as such were to be considered.
There are, however, some exceptions (work
= working as such).

Examples:

to go for a walk, a long run, in the long run (long-term),
a good stay, work (denoting the act of working as such), dislike,
doubt, to be in the know (to know; only such use), laugh,
offer, bore (person or thing that bores), rebel, sneak, drink
(what someone drinks), find, reject, cure, polish, wrap, dump
(where something is dumped), haunt, stop

Concrete
Nouns into Verbs

Here, I’ll demonstrate a widely used possibility to employ verbal expressions
instead of nominal ones. Concrete nouns, usually denoting
things, are converted into verbs meaning something related
to the noun, as an action. This definition might sound abstract
and weird, but the following examples will make the point
clear:

The company´s headquarters really dwarf the
other buildings
(to dwarf st. = to make st. look small in comparison). Many
drivers regularly floor the pedal when driving this road
(to floor the pedal = to press it so that it reaches the floor
of a car). The satellite failed to deorbit (to deorbit = to leave its
path round the earth and return). It
is necessary to balance one´s accounts (to balance
= to arrange something [i.e. an account] so that things (expenditures/deposits)
are in balance).

Other examples: to Xerox (to copy), to fax, to phone,
to screen, to water, to fan, to litter, to bridge, to link,
to cap, to bottle, to ID.

All of the resulting verbs are transitive.

Adjectives
into Verbs

It is also possible, to form verbs from adjectives without altering the
word:

The rule: an adjective becomes a verb: faint — to faint
(to become faint), idle — to idle (to become idle), slim —
to slim (to become slim), calm — to calm (to make calm), clean
— to clean (to make clean), smooth — to smooth (to make smooth).

Applications: They consulted a shrink to smooth things
out. While suffering for more than two years, he gradually
slimmed.

Note that participial adjectives (coloured, broken) may not be converted
into verbs in this manner. Rather, you´ll need to reconvert
these participles into verbs: to colour, to break.

Remember that some adjectives change their form in order to become verbs:
low — to lower, wide — to widen, weak
— to weaken, strong — to strengthen, broad — to broaden, smart
— to smarten, easy — to ease.

Other
Wordclasses

There are still some other ways to change word classes without changing
spelling, adding or removing parts:

Adverb into Verb: They tried to out him.

Auxiliary into Noun: That course is a must for someone
like you.

Conjunctions into Nouns: Don’t give me any ifs or
buts.

Adverbs/Prepositions into Nouns: I haven’t yet learned
the ins and outs of the business.

Verb plus Adverb into Noun: I don’t have the know-how.

Participles/Adverbs into Adjectives: The meeting
had quite an up-cheering effect on the trustees. The theory
is that humans, who are after all only jumped-up animals,
…

Conversions into nouns based on various word classes, especially on sentences
and subordinate-clauses: Some local have-nots
complained about being associated with do-no-gooders. The
goings-on in the country made the president-to-be rethink
his taking-care-of-business-approach. An auxiliary army of
notorious do-gooders milled about town, pretending to provide
help-to-help-oneself to the not-so-well-off, or, as they called
them, the less-fortunate. The dowdy and apologetic I’m-a-servant-of-the-proletariat
look has gone for good.

Other Word Formations

Concluding,
here is an offer of complementary word formations that cannot
sensibly be grouped within the context of the previous sections.

Back-formation

Back-formation is the process of deriving words by dropping what is thought
to be a suffix or (occasionally) a prefix. It applies chiefly
to the coining of verbs from nouns.

Examples: abled (disabled), to explete (expletive),
to enthuse (enthusiasm), to liase (liason); to burgle (burglary),
to edit (edition, editor), to peddle (peddler), to scavange
(scavanger), to sculpt (sculptor, sculpture), to swindle (swindler,
the swindle); to air-condition (air-conditioning), to baby-sit
(baby-sitter), to brainstorm (brainstorming), to brainwash
(brainwashing), to browbeat (browbeating), to dry-clean (dry-cleaner),
to house-hunt (house hunter), to sightsee (sightseeing), to
tape-record (tape-recorder); to articulate (articulate (a),
articulation), to assassinate (assassination), to coeducate
(co-education), to demarcate (demarcation), to emote (emotion),
to intuit (intuition), to legislate (legislation), to marinate
(marination), to orate (orination), to vaccinate (vaccination),
to vacation (vacation), to valuate (valuation); to diagnose
(diagnosis), to laze (lazy), to reminisce (reminiscene), to
statistic (statistics), to televise (television).

Clipping

Clipping is a shortening of a word by the omission of one or more syllables.

Examples: bike (bicycle), decaf (decaffeinated coffee),
fan (fanatic), exam (examination), phone (telephone), fax
(facsimile), fridge (refridgerator), hyper (hyperactive),
intercom (intercommunication system), lab (laboratory), medic
(medical student/doctor), memo (memorandum), mike (microphone),
movie (moving picture), photo (photograph), pub (public house),
zoo (zoological gardens), maths (mathematics).

Acronyms

Acronyms are another abreviatory device. The usually resulting word class
is that of a noun: ECU (European Currency
Unit), scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus),
email (electronic mail).

Blends

Blends are also used for abreviatory purposes. Here, two or more complementing
components constitute the basis for the resultant. These components
are omitted of one or more syllables before compounded to
the blend.

Examples: bit binary+digit, camcorder camera+recorder,
contraception contrasting+conception, geep goat+sheep, glitterati
glitter+literaty, modem modular+demodulator, motel motor+hotel,
smog smoke+fog, transistor transfer+resistor.

Miscellaneous

Onomatopoeia — words felt to be suggestive of the sounds they refer to:
bubble, burp, clatter, hiss, mutter,
splash.

Words form proper names: bowdlerize, boycott, breille,
caesarean,lynch,pasteurize, platonic, sadist, sandwich.

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Admire God’s Creations

Word-formation
is that branch of Lexicology which studies the derivative structure
of existing words and the patterns on which a language, ‘in this
case the English language, builds new words. It is self-evident that
word-formation proper can deal only with words which are analysable
both structurally and semantically, i.e. with all types of
Complexes.¹
The study of the simple word as such has no place in it. Simple words
however are very closely connected with word-formation because they
serve as the foundation, the basic source of the parent units
motivating all types of derived and compound words. Therefore, words
like writer,
displease, atom-free, etc.
make the subject matter of study in word-formation, but words like to
write, to please, atom, free are
not irrelevant to it.

Like
any other linguistic phenomenon word-formation may be studied from
two angles
— synchronically
and diachronically. It is necessary to distinguish between these two
approaches, for synchronically the linguist investigates the existing
system of the types of word-formation while diachronically he is
concerned with the history of word-building. To illustrate the
difference of approach we shall consider affixation. Diachronically
it is the chronological order of formation of one word from some
other word that is relevant. On the synchronic plane a derived word
is regarded as having a more complex structure than its correlated
word

¹
See
‘Word-Structure’, §
12, p.
104.

111

regardless
of the fact whether it was derived from a simpler base or a
more
complex base. There are cases in the history of the English language
when a word structurally more complex served as the original element
from which a simpler word was derived. Those are cases of the process
called back-formation (or back-derivation) ¹,
cf. beggar
— to
beg; editor
— to
edit; chauffeur
— to
chauff and
some others. The fact that historically the verbs to
beg, to edit, etc.
were derived from the corresponding agent-nouns is of no synchronous
relevance.

While analysing and describing
word-formation synchronically it is not enough to extract the
relevant structural elements from a word, describe its structure in
terms of derivational bases, derivational affixes and the type of
derivative patterns, it is absolutely necessary to determine the
position of these patterns and their constituents within the
structural-semantic system of the language as a whole. Productivity
of a derivative type therefore cannot be overlooked in this
description.

§ 4. Productivity of Word-Formation Means

Some
of the ways of forming words in present-day English can be resorted
to for the creation of new words whenever the occasion demands
— these
are called
prоduсtive
ways
of forming
words,
other ways of forming words cannot now produce new words, and these
are commonly termed non-productive
or unproductive.
For instance, affixation has been a productive way of forming words
ever since the Old English period; on the other hand,
sound-interchange must have been at one time a word-building means
but in Modern English, as has been mentioned above, its function is
actually only to distinguish between different classes and forms of
words.

It
follows that productivity of word-building ways, individual
derivational patterns and derivational affixes is understood as their
ability of making new words which all who speak English find no
difficulty in understanding, in particular their ability to create
what are called о
с-casional
words
or nonce-wоrds.²
The term suggests that a speaker coins such words when he needs them;
if on another occasion the same word is needed again, he coins it
afresh. Nonce-words are built from familiar language material after
familiar patterns.³
Needless to say dictionaries do not as a rule record occasional
words. The following words may serve as illustration: (his)
collarless
(appearance),
a lungful
(of
smoke), a Dickensish
(office),
to
unlearn (the
rules), etc.

The delimitation between
productive and non-productive ways and means of word-formation as
stated above is not, however, accepted by all linguists without
reserve. Some linguists consider it necessary to define the term
productivity of a word-building means more accurately. They hold the
view that productive ways and means of word-formation are only those
that can be used for the formation of an unlimited number of new
words in the modern language, i.e. such means that “know no bounds»

¹See
‘Introduction’, §
2.

² Prof.
A. I. Smirnitsky calls them «потенциальные
слова» (potential
words) in us book on English Lexicology (p. 18).

³
See”
also ‘Various Aspects …’,
§ 8, p.
184.

112

and
easily form occasional words. This divergence of opinion is
responsible for the difference in the lists of derivational affixes
considered productive in various books on English Lexicology.

Recent
investigations seem to prove however that productivity of
derivational means is relative in many respects. Moreover there are
no absolutely productive means; derivational patterns and
derivational affixes possess different degrees of productivity.
Therefore it is important that conditions favouring productivity and
the degree of productivity of a
particular
pattern or affix should be established. All derivational patterns
experience both structural and semantic constraints. The fewer are
the constraints the higher is the degree of productivity, the greater
is the number of new words built on it. The two general constraints
imposed on all derivational patterns are
— the
part of speech in which the pattern functions and the meaning
attached to it which conveys the regular semantic correlation between
the two classes of words. It follows that each part of speech is
characterised by a set of productive derivational patterns peculiar
to it. Three degrees of productivity are distinguished for
derivational patterns and individual derivational affixes: l)
highly-productive,
2)
productive
or semi-productive
and 3)
non-productive.

Productivity
of derivational patterns and affixes should not be identified with
frequency of occurrence in speech, although there may be some
interrelation between them. Frequency of occurrence is characterised
by the fact that a great number of words containing a given
derivational affix
are often used in speech, in particular in various texts.
Productivity is characterised by the ability of a given suffix to
make new words.

In
linguistic literature there is another interpretation of derivational
productivity based on a quantitative approach.¹
A derivational pattern or a derivational affix are qualified as
productive provided there are in the word-stock dozens and hundreds
of derived words built on the pattern or with the help of the suffix
in question. Thus interpreted, derivational productivity is
distinguished from word-formation activity by which is meant the
ability of an affix to produce new words, in particular occasional
words or nonce-words. To give a few illustrations. The agent suffix
-er
is to be qualified both as a productive and as an active suffix: on
the one hand, the English word-stock possesses hundreds of nouns
containing this suffix (e.g. driver,
reaper, teacher, speaker, etc.),
on the other hand, the suffix -er
in
the pattern v+-er
->
N is
freely used to coin an unlimited number of nonce-words denoting
active agents (e.g., interrupter,
respecter, laugher, breakfaster, etc.).

The
adjective suffix -ful
is
described as a productive but not as an active one, for there are
hundreds of adjectives with this suffix (e.g. beautiful,
hopeful, useful, etc.),
but no new words seem to be built with its help.

For
obvious reasons, the noun-suffix -th
in
terms of this approach is to be regarded both as a non-productive and
a non-active one.

¹
See
E.
С.
Кубрякова. Что
такое словообразование. М., 1965, с. 21.

113