Word-formation
is the system of derivative types of words and the process of
creating new words from material, available in the language after
certain structural and semantic formulas and patterns. A distinction
is made between two principal types of word-formation:
word-derivation
and word-composition.
The basic ways of forming words in word derivation are affixation
and conversion.
Affixation is the formation of a new word with the help of affixes
(f.e.
heartless; overdo).
Conversion is the formation of a new word by bringing a stem of this
word into a different formal paradigm (f.e.
a private, to paper).
The basic form of the original and the basic form of the derived
words are homonymous.
Affixation
– the addition of the affix, is a a basic means of forming words in
English. It has been productive in all periods of the history of
English.
Linguists
distinguish three types of affixes: 1. An affix that is attached to
the front of its base is called a prefix,
whereas 2. an affix attached to the end of the base is called a
suffix.
Both
types of affix occur in English Far less common than prefixes or
suffixes infixes
— a type of affix that occurs within a base of a word to express
such notions as tense,
number,
or gender.
English has no system of infixes.
In
Modern English suffixation is characteristic of noun and adjective
formation, while prefixation is typical of verb formation. As a rule
prefixes modify the lexical meaning of stems to which they are added.
The prefixes of derivatives usually join the part of speech the
unprefixed word belongs: usual
– unusual.
The
suffix does not only modify the lexical meaning of the stem it is
added to, but the word itself is usually transferred to another part
of speech: e.g. care-careless.
The
process of affixation consists in coining a new word by adding an
affix or several affixes to some root-morpheme. Affixation is
generally defined as the formation of word by adding derivational
affixes to different types of bases.
Suffixes
and prefixes may be classified along different lines. The logical
classification of suffixes is according to:
-
their
origin: from etymological point of view suffixes are subdivided
into 2 main classes:
native
(-er, -ness, -dom) and borrowed
(latin: -ant,-ent,-ible,-able; romanic: -age,-ment,-tion; greek:
-ist,-ism,-ism).
-
meaning:
-er – doer of the action: worker;-
ess
– denote gender: lion-lioness; -
-ence/-ance
– abstract meaning: importance; -
-dom
+ -age – collectivity: kingdom.etc.
-
-
Suffixes
part of speech they form:-
noun-forming
suffixes: -er, -ness, -ment, -th, -hood, -ing. -
Adjective-forming
suffixes: -ful, -less, -y, -ish, -en, -ly. -
Verb-forming
suffixes: -en (redden, darken)
-
4.
Productivity. By productive suffixes we mean the ability of being
used to form new occasional or potential words which take part in
deriving new words in this particular
period of languge development.
The
best way to identify productive affixes is to look for them among
neologisms.
Well most productive suffixes are: noun forming — -er,
-ness, -ing, -ism, -ist, -ance, -ancy;
adjective forming — -ish,
-able, -ion, -edd, -less;
adverb forming — -ly;
verb
forming — -ize,
-ise, -ate. By
non-productive affixes
we mean affixes which are not able to form new words in the period in
question. Non-productive affixes are recognized as separate morphemes
and posess clear-cut semantic characteristics. ( non-productive
suffixes are: noun forming —
-hood, -ship, adjective
forming — —ful,
-some,
verb forming — —en.
An
affix may lose its productivity and then become productive again in
the process of word formation. For ex. non-prod. noun forming
suffixes –dom,
-ship
centuries ago were considered as productive. The adjective forming
suffix –ish
which
leaves no doubt
to
its productivity nowadays has regained it after having been
non-prod. for many centuries. The productivity of an affix shouldn’t
be confused with its frequency of occurrence. The frequency of
occurrence is understood as the existence in the vocabulary of a
great number of words containing an affix in question. An affix may
occur in hundreds of words but if it isn’t used to form new words
it isn’t productive. For ex. adjective forming suffix –ful
(beautiful,
trustful) is met in hundreds of adjectives but no new words seem to
be built with its help. So it’s non-productive.
The
logical classification of prefixes. They are characterized according
their origin-native and borrowed. 1) be-, mis-(name), un-(selfish),
over-(do). 2) latin – pre-, ultra. Greec – anti-, sym. French –
en-. Also they classified according their meaning. 1)negative (in,
mis, un, non). 2)pr of time and order (after, post, proto) 3)pr of
repetitions (re) 4)location (extra, trance, super). 4)size and degree
meaning (mega, super, ultra). The main а
ща
зк
is to change the lexical meaning.
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Суффикс
Значение
Пример
Образование существительного
(гл. +)
-er, -or, -ar
из глагола переходит существительное в значении «исполнитель действия», деятель
avenge мстить – avenger мститель
narrate рассказывать – narrator рассказчик
lie лгать – liar лжец
(гл. +)
—ее
лицо, на которое направлено действие
to address адресовать – addressee адресат
(гл. /сущ. +) -ery,
-ary,
-ry
а) место;
б) действие, род занятия или деятельности; поведение или связанное с ним качество;
в) состояние или положение
to bind связывать – bindery связка
to rob воровать – robbery воровство
chemist химик – chemistry химия
slave раб – slavery рабство
-ism
отвлеченные имена существительные
Marx Маркс – Marxism Марксизм
(сущ. +)
-ist
используется для указания принадлежности к профессии или политическому званию
archeologist археолог
federalist сторонник принципов федерализма
communist коммунист
artist художник
(сущ. +)
-ian
указывают на национальность, реже профессию
technician техник
politician политик
(сущ. +)
-ician
лицо по роду работы, занятий
mathematics математика – mathematician математик
(прил. +)
-ness
преобразовывает прилагательное в существительное
cheerful веселый – cheerfulness жизнерадостность
awkward неловкий – awkwardness неловкость
good добрый – goodness доброта
(гл. +)
-ing
действие в процессе
boiling кипячение
begin начинать — beginning начало
feel чувствовать — feeling чувство
open открывать — opening открытие
(гл. +)
-ance,
-ence
процесс, состояние или свойство
resist сопротивляться — resistance сопротивление
important важный — importance важность
disappear исчезать — disappearance исчезновение
present присутствовать — presence присутствие
(гл. +)
-age
акт или факт действия, результат;
место действия
break ломать — breakage поломка
use использовать – usage использование
(сущ. +)
-age
содержание чего-либо
(единиц измерения), количественное значение
percent процент — percentage процентное содержание
(гл. +)
-ment
отвлеченные понятия (абстрактные существительные)
treat лечить — treatment лечение
advertise рекламировать — advertisement реклама
move двигать — movement движение announce объявлять — announcement объявление
(гл. +) -ancy,
-ency
expectancy надежда
frequency частота
-ure, -ture
press давить — pressure давление
depart уезжать — departure отъезд
adventure приключение
(сущ. +)
-hood
child ребенок — childhood детство brother брат — brotherhood братство
neighbour сосед — neighbourhood соседство
(сущ. +)
-ship
friend друг — friendship дружба
partner партнер — partnership партнерство
owner собственник — ownership собственность
hard трудный — hardship трудность
-th
length длина
(гл. +)
-ion, -tion,
-sion,-ssion
Обозначение состояние или процесса
-ss,-nt+ion
-de,-se,-it,-ere,-ert,-nd+sion
-ate,-ute,-ce+tion
-se,-ite,-ote,-ge,-ve,-ire,-t,-er,-rm,-py,-ue+ation
-ish,-ose,-eat,-dd+ition
-ify+ication
revise повторять — revision повторение
hesitate сомневаться – hesitation сомнение
impress производить впечатление – impression впечатление
admit признавать — admission признание
(прил. +/сущ. +) -dom
а) общественный статус или явление;
б) состояние
bore скучать — boredom скука
free свободный — freedom свобода
bore скучный — boredom скука
king король — kingdom королевство
(прил. +) -ty, -ity, —ety
состояние, условие, качество
абстрактные или собирательные существительные
active активный — activity деятельность
safe безопасный — safety безопасность
loyal лояльный — loyalty лояльность
-an, -ian
1) национальность;
2) профессия
American американец
librarian библиотекарь
—ism
какое-либо течение
(например, политическое)
communism коммунизм
Образование прилагательного
(сущ. +) -ful
образует прилагательные от существительных и означает наличие качества
colour цвет – colourful полный цвета, яркий
thought мысль, мышление – thoughtful задумчивый
delight предмет восхищения – delightful восхитительный
(гл. +) -able, -ible
образуют прилагательные от глаголов и выражают возможность подвергнуться действию, выраженному соответствующим глаголом
accept принимать – acceptable приемлемый
force сила – forcible насильственный
compare сравнивать – comparable сравнимый
(сущ. +) -less
образует прилагательные от существительных и означает отсутствие качества, часто соответствует приставке без-
worth стоящий – worthless ничего не стоящий; никчемный
home домашний – homeless бездомный
use польза – useless бесполезный
expression выражение — expressionless невыразительный
-ish
национальная принадлежность; качество;
выражение раздражения или презрения
Flemish фламандский
Polish польский
greenish зеленоватый,
reddish красноватый
childish ведешь себя, как ребенок camelish упрямый, как верблюд
(сущ. +) -y
образует прилагательные от существительных
air воздух – airy воздушный
rock камень – rocky каменистый
wind ветер — windy ветреный
(сущ. +) -en
указание на материал, из которого изготовлена вещь
wooden деревянный
golden золотой
woollen шерстяной
silken шелковый
(сущ. +) -al
наличие признака,
свойств и качеств,
выраженных основой
central центральный
(сущ. +) -ic
philosophy философия — philosophic философический
democracy демократия — democratic демократический
(сущ. +) -ical
geological геологический
(сущ. +)
-ous
danger опасность — dangerous опасный
fame слава — famous знаменитый
(гл. +)
-ant, -ent
dependent зависимый
(гл. +)
-ive
active активный
expressive выразительный
(сущ. +) -ly
friendly дружелюбный
(гл. +) -ite
favourite любимый
-ary
pecuniary денежный
-ate
fortunate удачный
-ed
cold-blooded хладнокровный
-ese
принадлежность к национальности
Japanese японский
-ian, -an
Egyptian египетский
-like
сходство
birdlike птицеподобный
-ern
принадлежность к одной из сторон света
northern северный
Образование глагола
(прил. / сущ. +)
-en
образует глаголы от прилагательных и существительных
fasten пристегивать
listen слушать
shorten укорачивать
weaken ослабевать
harden твердеть
sharpen точить
(прил. +)
-fy, -ify
обычно образует глаголы от прилагательных (превращать в, делать то, на что указывает основа)
notify извещать
horrify ужасать
glorify восхвалять
gasify превращать(ся) в газ
electrify электризовать
(сущ. +)
-ise, -ize
обычно образует глаголы от существительных (делать(ся) таким, как на то указывает основа)
использовать что-либо
готовить к чему-либо
заниматься чем-то
приобрести качество
realize осуществлять
patronise покровительствовать
summarize суммировать
apologize извиняться
characterize характеризовать
memorize запоминать
modernize модернизировать
harmonize гармонировать
nationalize национализировать
-ate
подвергать воздействию, превращать в то, на что указывает основа
vaccinate делать прививку
granulate гранулировать
-er
whisper шептать
-ish
establish устанавливать
Образование наречий
(прил. +) -ly
таким образом, способом
entirely всецело
calmly спокойно
occasionally случайно
quickly быстро
-ward(s)
направление движения
backwards назад
-wise
в таком направлении, таким способом
clockwise по часовой стрелке
Образование числительных
-teen
количественное числительное от 13 до 19
fifteen пятнадцать
-ty
десятки
seventy семьдесят
-th
порядковое числительное
fourth четвертый
Lecture 3. Word-building: affixation, conversion, composition, abbreviation. THE WORD-BUILDING SYSTEM OF ENGLISH 1. Word-derivation 2. Affixation 3. Conversion 4. Word-composition 5. Shortening 6. Blending 7. Acronymy 8. Sound interchange 9. Sound imitation 10. Distinctive stress 11. Back-formation Word-formation is a branch of Lexicology which studies the process of building new words, derivative structures and patterns of existing words. Two principle types of wordformation are distinguished: word-derivation and word-composition. It is evident that wordformation proper can deal only with words which can be analyzed both structurally and semantically. Simple words are closely connected with word-formation because they serve as the foundation of derived and compound words. Therefore, words like writer, displease, sugar free, etc. make the subject matter of study in word-formation, but words like to write, to please, atom, free are irrelevant to it. WORD-FORMATION WORD-DERIVATION AFFIXATION WORD-COMPOSITION CONVERSION 1. Word-derivation. Speaking about word-derivation we deal with the derivational structure of words which basic elementary units are derivational bases, derivational affixes and derivational patterns. A derivational base is the part of the word which establishes connection with the lexical unit that motivates the derivative and determines its individual lexical meaning describing the difference between words in one and the same derivative set. For example, the individual lexical meaning of the words singer, writer, teacher which denote active doers of the action is signaled by the lexical meaning of the derivational bases: sing-, write-, teach-. Structurally derivational bases fall into 3 classes: 1. Bases that coincide with morphological stems of different degrees оf complexity, i.e., with words functioning independently in modern English e.g., dutiful, day-dreamer. Bases are functionally and semantically distinct from morphological stems. Functionally the morphological stem is a part of the word which is the starting point for its forms: heart – hearts; it is the part which presents the entire grammatical paradigm. The stem remains unchanged throughout all word-forms; it keeps them together preserving the identity of the word. A derivational base is the starting point for different words (heart – heartless – hearty) and its derivational potential outlines the type and scope of existing words and new creations. Semantically the stem stands for the whole semantic structure of the word; it represents all its lexical meanings. A base represents, as a rule, only one meaning of the source word. 2. Bases that coincide with word-forms, e.g., unsmiling, unknown. The base is usually represented by verbal forms: the present and the past participles. 3. Bases that coincide with word-groups of different degrees of stability, e.g., blue-eyed, empty-handed. Bases of this class allow a rather limited range of collocability, they are most active with derivational affixes in the class of adjectives and nouns (long-fingered, blue-eyed). Derivational affixes are Immediate Constituents of derived words in all parts of speech. Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to different types of bases. Affixation is subdivided into suffixation and prefixation. In Modern English suffixation is mostly characteristic of nouns and adjectives coining, while prefixation is mostly typical of verb formation. A derivational pattern is a regular meaningful arrangement, a structure that imposes rigid rules on the order and the nature of the derivational base and affixes that may be brought together to make up a word. Derivational patterns are studied with the help of distributional analysis at different levels. Patterns are usually represented in a generalized way in terms of conventional symbols: small letters v, n, a, d which stand for the bases coinciding with the stems of the respective parts of speech: verbs, etc. Derivational patterns may represent derivative structure at different levels of generalization: - at the level of structural types. The patterns of this type are known as structural formulas, all words may be classified into 4 classes: suffixal derivatives (friendship) n + -sf → N, prefixal derivatives (rewrite), conversions (a cut, to parrot) v → N, compound words (musiclover). - at the level of structural patterns. Structural patterns specify the base classes and individual affixes thus indicating the lexical-grammatical and lexical classes of derivatives within certain structural classes of words. The suffixes refer derivatives to specific parts of speech and lexical subsets. V + -er = N (a semantic set of active agents, denoting both animate and inanimate objects - reader, singer); n + -er = N (agents denoting residents or occupations Londoner, gardener). We distinguish a structural semantic derivationa1 pattern. - at the level of structural-semantic patterns. Derivational patterns may specify semantic features of bases and individual meaning of affixes: N + -y = A (nominal bases denoting living beings are collocated with the suffix meaning "resemblance" - birdy, catty; but nominal bases denoting material, parts of the body attract another meaning "considerable amount" - grassy, leggy). The basic ways of forming new words in word-derivation are affixation and conversion. Affixation is the formation of a new word with the help of affixes (heartless, overdo). Conversion is the formation of a new word by bringing a stem of this word into a different paradigm (a fall from to fall). 2. Affixation Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to different types of bases. Affixation includes suffixation and prefixation. Distinction between suffixal and prefixal derivates is made according to the last stage of derivation, for example, from the point of view of derivational analysis the word unreasonable – un + (reason- + -able) is qualified as a prefixal derivate, while the word discouragement – (dis- + -courage) + -ment is defined as a suffixal derivative. Suffixation is the formation of words with the help of suffixes. Suffixes usually modify the lexical meaning of the base and transfer words to a different part of speech. Suffixes can be classified into different types in accordance with different principles. According to the lexico-grammatical character suffixes may be: deverbal suffixes, e.d., those added to the verbal base (agreement); denominal (endless); deadjectival (widen, brightness). According to the part of speech formed suffixes fall into several groups: noun-forming suffixes (assistance), adjective-forming suffixes (unbearable), numeral-forming suffixes (fourteen), verb-forming suffixes (facilitate), adverb-forming suffixes (quickly, likewise). Semantically suffixes may be monosemantic, e.g. the suffix –ess has only one meaning “female” – goddess, heiress; polysemantic, e.g. the suffix –hood has two meanings “condition or quality” falsehood and “collection or group” brotherhood. According to their generalizing denotational meaning suffixes may fall into several groups: the agent of the action (baker, assistant); collectivity (peasantry); appurtenance (Victorian, Chinese); diminutiveness (booklet). Prefixation is the formation of words with the help of prefixes. Two types of prefixes can be distinguished: 1) those not correlated with any independent word (un-, post-, dis-); 2) those correlated with functional words (prepositions or preposition-like adverbs: out-, up-, under-). Diachronically distinction is made between prefixes of native and foreign origin. Prefixes can be classified according to different principles. According to the lexico-grammatical character of the base prefixes are usually added to, they may be: deverbal prefixes, e.d., those added to the verbal base (overdo); denominal (unbutton); deadjectival (biannual). According to the part of speech formed prefixes fall into several groups: noun-forming prefixes (ex-husband), adjective-forming prefixes (unfair), verb-forming prefixes (dethrone), adverb-forming prefixes (uphill). Semantically prefixes may be monosemantic, e.g. the prefix –ex has only one meaning “former” – ex-boxer; polysemantic, e.g. the prefix –dis has four meanings “not” disadvantage and “removal of” to disbrunch. According to their generalizing denotational meaning prefixes may fall into several groups: negative prefixes – un, non, dis, a, in (ungrateful, nonpolitical, disloyal, amoral, incorrect); reversative prefixes - un, de, dis (untie, decentralize, disconnect); pejorative prefixes – mis, mal, pseudo (mispronounce, maltreat, pseudo-scientific); prefix of repetition (redo), locative prefixes – super, sub, inter, trans (superstructure, subway, intercontinental, transatlantic). 3. Conversion Conversion is a process which allows us to create additional lexical terms out of those that already exist, e.g., to saw, to spy, to snoop, to flirt. This process is not limited to one syllable words, e.g., to bottle, to butter, nor is the process limited to the creation of verbs from nouns, e.g., to up the prices. Converted words are extremely colloquial: "I'll microwave the chicken", "Let's flee our dog", "We will of course quiche and perrier you". Conversion came into being in the early Middle English period as a result of the leveling and further loss of endings. In Modern English conversion is a highly-productive type of word-building. Conversion is a specifically English type of word formation which is determined by its analytical character, by its scarcity of inflections and abundance of mono-and-de-syllabic words in different parts of speech. Conversion is coining new words in a different part of speech and with a different distribution but without adding any derivative elements, so that the original and the converted words are homonyms. Structural Characteristics of Conversion: Mostly monosyllabic words are converted, e.g., to horn, to box, to eye. In Modern English there is a marked tendency to convert polysyllabic words of a complex morphological structure, e.g., to e-mail, to X-ray. Most converted words are verbs which may be formed from different parts of speech from nouns, adjectives, adverbs, interjections. Nouns from verbs - a try, a go, a find, a loss From adjectives - a daily, a periodical From adverbs - up and down From conjunctions - but me no buts From interjection - to encore Semantic Associations / Relations of Conversion: The noun is the name of a tool or implement, the verb denotes an action performed by the tool, e.g., to nail, to pin, to comb, to brush, to pencil; The noun is the name of an animal, the verb denotes an action or aspect of behavior considered typical of this animal, e.g., to monkey, to rat, to dog, to fox; When the noun is the name of a part of a human body, the verb denotes an action performed by it, e.g., to hand, to nose, to eye; When the noun is the name of a profession or occupation, the verb denotes the activity typical of it, e.g., to cook, to maid, to nurse; When the noun is the name of a place, the verb will denote the process of occupying the place or by putting something into it, e.g., to room, to house, to cage; When the word is the name of a container, the verb will denote the act of putting something within the container, e.g., to can, to pocket, to bottle; When the word is the name of a meal, the verb means the process of taking it, e.g., to lunch, to supper, to dine, to wine; If an adjective is converted into a verb, the verb may have a generalized meaning "to be in a state", e.g., to yellow; When nouns are converted from verbs, they denote an act or a process, or the result, e.g., a try, a go, a find, a catch. 4. Word-composition Compound words are words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free forms. Most compounds in English have the primary stress on the first syllable. For example, income tax has the primary stress on the in of income, not on the tax. Compounds have a rather simple, regular set of properties. First, they are binary in structure. They always consist of two or more constituent lexemes. A compound which has three or more constituents must have them in pairs, e.g., washingmachine manufacturer consists of washingmachine and manufacturer, while washingmachine in turn consists of washing and machine. Compound words also usually have a head constituent. By a head constituent we mean one which determines the syntactic properties of the whole lexeme, e.g., the compound lexeme longboat consists of an adjective, long and a noun, boat. The compound lexeme longboat is a noun, and it is а noun because boat is a noun, that is, boat is the head constituent of longboat. Compound words can belong to all the major syntactic categories: • Nouns: signpost, sunlight, bluebird, redwood, swearword, outhouse; • Verbs: window shop, stargaze, outlive, undertake; • Adjectives: ice-cold, hell-bent, undersized; • Prepositions: into, onto, upon. From the morphological point of view compound words are classified according to the structure of immediate constituents: • Compounds consisting of simple stems - heartache, blackbird; • Compounds where at least one of the constituents is a derived stem -chainsmoker, maid-servant, mill-owner, shop-assistant; • Compounds where one of the constituents is a clipped stem - V-day, A-bomb, Xmas, H-bag; • Compounds where one of the constituents is a compound stem - wastes paper basket, postmaster general. Compounds are the commonest among nouns and adjectives. Compound verbs are few in number, as they are mostly the result of conversion, e.g., to blackmail, to honeymoon, to nickname, to safeguard, to whitewash. The 20th century created some more converted verbs, e.g., to weekend, to streamline,, to spotlight. Such converted compounds are particularly common in colloquial speech of American English. Converted verbs can be also the result of backformation. Among the earliest coinages are to backbite, to browbeat, to illtreat, to housekeep. The 20th century gave more examples to hitch-hike, to proof-read, to mass-produce, to vacuumclean. One more structural characteristic of compound words is classification of compounds according to the type of composition. According to this principle two groups can be singled out: words which are formed by a mere juxtaposition without any connecting elements, e.g., classroom, schoolboy, heartbreak, sunshine; composition with a vowel or a consonant placed between the two stems. e.g., salesman, handicraft. Semantically compounds may be idiomatic and non-idiomatic. Compound words may be motivated morphologically and in this case they are non-idiomatic. Sunshine - the meaning here is a mere meaning of the elements of a compound word (the meaning of each component is retained). When the compound word is not motivated morphologically, it is idiomatic. In idiomatic compounds the meaning of each component is either lost or weakened. Idiomatic compounds have a transferred meaning. Chatterbox - is not a box, it is a person who talks a great deal without saying anything important; the combination is used only figuratively. The same metaphorical character is observed in the compound slowcoach - a person who acts and thinks slowly. The components of compounds may have different semantic relations. From this point of view we can roughly classify compounds into endocentric and exocentric. In endocentric compounds the semantic centre is found within the compound and the first element determines the other as in the words filmstar, bedroom, writing-table. Here the semantic centres are star, room, table. These stems serve as a generic name of the object and the determinants film, bed, writing give some specific, additional information about the objects. In exocentric compound there is no semantic centre. It is placed outside the word and can be found only in the course of lexical transformation, e.g., pickpocket - a person who picks pockets of other people, scarecrow an object made to look like a person that a farmer puts in a field to frighten birds. The Criteria of Compounds As English compounds consist of free forms, it's difficult to distinguish them from phrases, because there are no reliable criteria for that. There exist three approaches to distinguish compounds from corresponding phrases: Formal unity implies the unity of spelling solid spelling, e.g., headmaster; with a hyphen, e.g., head-master; with a break between two components, e.g., head master. Different dictionaries and different authors give different spelling variants. Phonic principal of stress Many compounds in English have only one primary stress. All compound nouns are stressed according to this pattern, e.g., ice-cream, ice cream. The rule doesn't hold with adjectives. Compound adjectives are double-stressed, e.g., easy-going, new-born, sky-blue. Stress cannot help to distinguish compounds from phrases because word stress may depend on phrasal stress or upon the syntactic function of a compound. Semantic unity Semantic unity means that a compound word expresses one separate notion and phrases express more than one notion. Notions in their turn can't be measured. That's why it is hard to say whether one or more notions are expressed. The problem of distinguishing between compound words and phrases is still open to discussion. According to the type of bases that form compounds they can be of : 1. compounds proper – they are formed by joining together bases built on the stems or on the ford-forms with or without linking element, e.g., door-step; 2. derivational compounds – by joining affixes to the bases built on the word-groups or by converting the bases built on the word-groups into the other parts of speech, e.g., longlegged → (long legs) + -ed, a turnkey → (to turn key) + conversion. More examples: do-gooder, week-ender, first-nighter, house-keeping, baby-sitting, blue-eyed blond-haired, four-storied. The suffixes refer to both of the stems combined, but not to the final stem only. Such stems as nighter, gooder, eyed do not exist. Compound Neologisms In the last two decades the role of composition in the word-building system of English has increased. In the 60th and 70th composition was not so productive as affixation. In the 80th composition exceeded affixation and comprised 29.5 % of the total number of neologisms in English vocabulary. Among compound neologisms the two-component units prevail. The main patterns of coining the two-component neologisms are Noun stem + Noun stem = Noun; Adjective stem + Noun stem = Noun. There appeared a tendency to coin compound nouns where: The first component is a proper noun, e.g., Kirlian photograph - biological field of humans. The first component is a geographical place, e.g., Afro-rock. The two components are joined with the help of the linking vowel –o- e.g., bacteriophobia, suggestopedia. The number of derivational compounds increases. The main productive suffix to coin such compound is the suffix -er - e.g., baby-boomer, all nighter. Many compound words are formed according to the pattern Participle 2 + Adv = Adjective, e.g., laid-back, spaced-out, switched-off, tapped-out. The examples of verbs formed with the help of a post-positive -in -work-in, die-in, sleep-in, write-in. Many compounds formed by the word-building pattern Verb + postpositive are numerous in colloquial speech or slang, e.g., bliss out, fall about/horse around, pig-out. ATTENTION: Apart from the principle types there are some minor types of modern wordformation, i.d., shortening, blending, acronymy, sound interchange, sound imitation, distinctive stress, back-formation, and reduplicaton. 5. Shortening Shortening is the formation of a word by cutting off a part of the word. They can be coined in two different ways. The first is to cut off the initial/ middle/ final part: Aphaeresis – initial part of the word is clipped, e.g., history-story, telephone-phone; Syncope – the middle part of the word is clipped, e.g., madam- ma 'am; specs spectacles Apocope – the final part of the word is clipped, e.g., professor-prof, editored, vampirevamp; Both initial and final, e.g., influenza-flu, detective-tec. Polysemantic words are usually clipped in one meaning only, e.g., doc and doctor have the meaning "one who practices medicine", but doctor is also "the highest degree given by a university to a scholar or scientist". Among shortenings there are homonyms, so that one and the same sound and graphical complex may represent different words, e.g., vac - vacation/vacuum, prep — preparation/preparatory school, vet — veterinary surgeon/veteran. 6. Blending Blending is a particular type of shortening which combines the features of both clipping and composition, e.g., motel (motor + hotel), brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog), telethon (television + marathon), modem , (modulator + demodulator), Spanglish (Spanish + English). There are several structural types of blends: Initial part of the word + final part of the word, e.g., electrocute (electricity + execute); initial part of the word + initial part of the word, e.g., lib-lab (liberal+labour); Initial part of the word + full word, e.g., paratroops (parachute+troops); Full word + final part of the word, e.g., slimnastics (slim+gymnastics). 7. Acronymy Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of parts of a word or phrase, commonly the names of institutions and organizations. No full stops are placed between the letters. All acronyms are divided into two groups. The first group is composed of the acronyms which are often pronounced as series of letters: EEC (European Economic Community), ID (identity or identification card), UN (United Nations), VCR (videocassette recorder), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), LA (Los Angeles), TV (television), PC (personal computer), GP (General Practitioner), ТВ (tuberculosis). The second group of acronyms is composed by the words which are pronounced according to the rules of reading in English: UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), ASH (Action on Smoking and Health). Some of these pronounceable words are written without capital letters and therefore are no longer recognized as acronyms: laser (light amplification by stimulated emissions of radiation), radar (radio detection and ranging). Some abbreviations have become so common and normal as words that people do not think of them as abbreviations any longer. They are not written in capital letters, e.g., radar (radio detection and ranging), laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) yuppie, gruppie, sinbads, dinkies. Some abbreviations are only written forms but they are pronounced as full words, e.g., Mr, Mrs, Dr. Some abbreviations are from Latin. They are used as part of the language etc. - et cetera, e.g., (for example) — exampli gratia, that is - id est. Acromymy is widely used in the press, for the names of institutions, organizations, movements, countries. It is common to colloquial speech, too. Some acronyms turned into regular words, e.g., jeep -came from the expression general purpose car. There are a lot of homonyms among acronyms: MP - Member of Parliament/Military Police/Municipal Police PC - Personal Computer/Politically correct 8. Sound-interchange Sound-interchange is the formation of a new word due to an alteration in the phonemic composition of its root. Sound-interchange falls into two groups: 1) vowel-interchange, e.g., food – feed; in some cases vowel-interchange is combined with suffixation, e.g., strong – strength; 2) consonant-interchange e.g., advice – to advise. Consonant-interchange and vowel-interchange may be combined together, e.g., life – to live. This type of word-formation is greatly facilitated in Modern English by the vast number of monosyllabic words. Most words made by reduplication represent informal groups: colloquialisms and slang, hurdy-gurdy, walkie-talkie, riff-raff, chi-chi girl. In reduplication new words are coined by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes as in bye-bye or with a variation of the root-vowel or consonant as in ping-pong, chit-chat. 9. Sound imitation or (onomatopoeia) It is the naming of an action or a thing by more or less exact reproduction of the sound associated with it, cf.: cock-a-do-doodle-do – ку-ка-ре-ку. Semantically, according to the source sound, many onomatopoeic words fall into the following definitive groups: 1) words denoting sounds produced by human beings in the process of communication or expressing their feelings, e.g., chatter; 2) words denoting sounds produced by animals, birds, insects, e.g., moo, buzz; 3) words imitating the sounds of water, the noise of metallic things, movements, e.g., splash, whip, swing. 10. Distinctive stress Distinctive stress is the formation of a word by means of the shift of the stress in the source word, e.g., increase – increase. 11. Back-formation Backformation is coining new words by subtracting a real or supposed suffix, as a result of misinterpretation of the structure of the existing word. This type of word-formation is not highly productive in Modern English and it is built on the analogy, e.g., beggar-to beg, cobbler to cobble, blood transfusion — to blood transfuse, babysitter - to baby-sit.
Affixation is a process which involves adding bound morphemes to roots which results in a newly-created derivative. Whereas we can distinguish many types of this process,
the English language generally makes use of two — prefixation and suffixation. The first is characterised by adding a morpheme that is placed before the base: mature — premature, do — undo, affirm — reaffirm, function — malfunction. In contrast, suffixation focuses on attaching a morpheme that rather follows the base than proceeds it: read — reader, friend — friendship, manage — management. What is also characteristic for this type of affixation is the fact that suffixes can be stacked on one another — this does not happen when it comes to prefixes: re-spect-ful-ness, friend-liness, un-help-ful-ness. It should be noted that affixes are divided into two main categories: while some of them are labelled as inflectional, a majority of them is known to be derivational.
Derivational affixes[edit | edit source]
Derivational affixes can change the word-class of the derivative and can be either prefixes or suffixes — therefore they can produce new lexemes.
However, the meaning they carry is not always fixed — eg. X-ise carries the meaning of either «put into X (computerise — ‘put into a computer’), make more X (modernise —
‘make more modern’ or provide with X (brotherise — ‘provide with a brother’).
Inflectional affixes[edit | edit source]
Another type of affixes is labelled as inflectional. They differ from the other
type in the way that once attached, they will never change the word-class of a derivative. Also, their grammatical function is very much fixed: the plural -s suffix
always creates plural forms of nouns: dog — dogs, cat — cats. In fact, they do not produce new words in English, but rather provide the existing lexemes with new forms:
- the plural [-s] — creates plural forms of nouns: dog — dogs, cat — cats, bush — bushes,
- Saxon genitive [‘s] — indicates possession: Robert — Robert’s (clothes), children — children’s (toys), Jesus — Jesus’ (mercy),
- the past tense [-ed] — creates past forms of regular verbs: walk — walked, delve -delved,
- the third person singular [-s] — enforced by the English grammar in the Present Simple tense: She works there, The knife proves sharp,
- the progressive [-ing] — used in progressive forms of verbs: go — going, see — seeing, ski — skiing,
- the comparative [-er] — forms comparative adjectives: wide — wider, high — higher, far — farther,
- the superlative [est] — forms superlative adjectives: wise — widest, high — highest, far — furthest.
Another type of affixation that can be encountered in either English or Polish
(though to a rather limited scope) is infixation, which involves putting a morpheme in
the middle of a word structure rather than taking lateral positions: al-bloody-mighty,
kanga-bloody-roo. In the English language this only serves as a tool of emotionally
colouring swear-words to give them greater an impact.
Yet another type of suffix are interfixes. They are used in Polish compounds and blends
to ensure phonological feasibility of a word: śrub-o-kręt, park-o-metr, lod-o-łamacz and are
meaningless phonemes that connect two bases. They do exist in English but due to the fact that
English compound-formation does not require such measures their number is scarce (eg. speedo-meter).
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Root and Affixes
Affixation is the most common word formation process in English. Words are formed by adding affixes to roots.
Roots can be free or bound morphemes. They cannot be further analyzed into smaller parts. They form the base forms of the words.
- Free roots are free morphemes. They can stand alone to function as words.
Examples:
re
collect
, bi
lingual
, un
easy
, mis
lead
,
hard
ly,
attract
ive
- Bound roots are bound morphemes. They cannot stand alone to function as words because they are no longer used in Modern English.
Examples:
Affixes are bound morphemes. They can be classified into prefixes and suffixes in English.
- A prefix is an affix added to the beginning of other morphemes to form a word.
Examples:
dislike,
de
activate,
in
adequate,
im
mobile,
mis
leading,
un
accountable
endurable,
under
achieve,
over
developed,
pre
requisite,
post
graduate,
re
cycle
- A suffix is an affix added to the end of other morphemes to form a word.
Examples:
admirable, fruitful, ambitious, enjoyment, eagerness, standardize, cowardly,
younger, processing, McDonald‘s, assignments, decides, decided
Can you tell the different functions of the red suffixes and the blue suffixes?
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