Word formation with letters

Word formation

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 linguistics, morphology is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words, such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. In its wider sense word formation denotes the processes of creation of new vocabulary units. There are numerous word formation processes.

Clipping

Clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts (Marchand: 1969). Clippings are, also, known as “shortenings.”Clipping mainly consists of the following types:

1. Back clipping b. Fore-clipping c. Middle clipping d. Complex clipping

Back clipping

Back clipping or apocopation is the most common type, in which the beginning is retained. The unclipped original may be either a simple or a composite. For example: ad (advertisement), cable (cablegram), doc(doctor), exam (examination), gas (gasoline), math (mathematics), memo(memorandum), gym (gymnastics, gymnasium) mutt (muttonhead), pub(public house), pop (popular concert), trad (traditional jazz), fax(facsimile).

Fore-clipping

Fore-clipping or aphaeresis retains the final part. For Example: phone(telephone), varsity (university), chute (parachute), coon (raccoon), gator(alligator), pike (turnpike).

Middle clipping

In middle clipping or syncope, the middle of the word is retained. For Example: flu (influenza), tec (detective), polly (apollinaris), jams (pyjamas), shrink (head-shrinker).

Complex clipping

Clipped forms are also used in compounds. One part of the original compound most often remains intact. For examples are: cablegram (cabletelegram), op art (optical art), org-man (organization man)

Sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped as in navicert (navigation certificate). In these cases it is difficult to know whether the resultant formation should be treated as a clipping or as a blend, for the border between the two types is not always clear.

Clipping is the word formation process in which a word is reduced or shortened without changing the meaning of the word. Clipping differs from back-formation in that the new word retains the meaning of the original word. For example:

• advertisement – ad
• alligator – gator
• examination – exam
• gasoline – gas
• gymnasium – gym
• influenza – flu
• laboratory – lab
• mathematics – math
• memorandum – memo
• photograph – photo
• public house – pub
• raccoon – coon
• reputation – rep
• situation comedy – sitcom
• telephone – phone

Types of clipping

There are four types of clipping:

Back clipping

In this type the beginning is retained:

Examples:

ad = advertisement

cable = cablegram

doc = doctor

exam = examination

fax = facsimile

gas = gasoline

gym = gymnastics, gymnasium

memo = memorandum

pub = public house

pop = popular music

Fore-clipping

The final part is retained:

Examples:

chute = parachute

coon = raccoon

gator = alligator

phone = telephone

Middle clipping

The middle part is retained.

Example:

flu = influenza

fridge = refrigerator

Complex clipping

Clipping may also occur in compounds. In complex clipping, one part of the original compound most often remains intact. But sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped:

Examples:

cablegram= cable telegram

op art = optical art

org-man= organization man

linocut = linoleum cut

navicert = navigation certificate

sitcom = situation comedy

When both halves are clipped, as in navicert, it becomes confusing whether to consider the resultant formation as clipping or as blending.

Clipped forms, shortened abbreviations of words, have a checkered history. Some are acceptable in formal writing, and others aren’t. When writing in academic contexts, in business writing, or another formal environment, take note of the status of these common clipped forms:

1. Burger: If ever a reference to this fast food staple makes its way into formal writing, the short form of hamburgeris just as likely to appear as the long form.
2. Bus: Omnibus(Latin for “all”), a word for a horse-drawn public-transportation conveyance, gave the right of way to its short form around the time such vehicles became motorized.
3. Copter: The full form, helicopter, is best for formal writing.
4. Deli: Though this word has been in use for at least a half century, delicatessen, from the German word for “delicacies,” is best for formal usage.
5. Exam: Examinationwas clipped back in the late 1800s and has long since been used even in formal writing.
6. Flu: The short form of influenza(Italian for “influence,” from the medieval supposition that illness was the result of celestial perturbations) is several hundred years old and has long been acceptable even in formal medical texts.
7. Fridge: This term, unusual not only in that the full form, refrigerator, has been clipped at both ends but also in that the spelling has been altered to reflect the pronunciation, is suitable for informal writing only.
8. Gas: Gasolineis much more likely to appear in formal writing than its clipped form.
9. Gator: This clipped form of alligator, in spite of its nearly 200-year-old tenure in the English language, is considered slang.
10. Gym: Most formal references to a school building for athletic activities will use the full form, gymnasium,
11. Memo: So pervasive is this clipped form of memorandumthat many people may not even know its origins. (The full word ultimately derives from the Latin for “memory.”)
12. Movie: Even more taken for granted than memo is this diminutive form of “moving picture,” which, if you step back from it, may appear silly looking and juvenile. Formal writing often refers to the medium as film or cinema, but movieis also acceptable.
13. Phone: The original term, telephone, is still often used in formal writing, but the clipped form is just as likely to be used.
14. Plane: Plane has become as acceptable as airplanein formal writing.
15. Pro: Professional, the full form, is the preferred usage in formal contexts.
16. Quake: This clipped form of earthquakeis, despite long usage, still considered informal.
17. Tie: The full form, necktie, is all but obsolete. (Perhaps the clothing accessory will be, too, before long.)
18. Typo: This slang for “typographical error” is over a century old but is still considered substandard usage.

Some more examples:

auto – automobile	mike – microphone
bike – bicycle	mum – chrysanthemum
burger – hamburger	pen – penitentiary
co-op – cooperative	champ – champion
con – convict	pike – turnpike
cuke – cucumber	rev – revolution
dorm – dormitory	rhino – rhinoceros
ref – referee	specs – spectacles; specifications
stats – statistics	stereo – stereophonics
lunch – luncheon	sub – submarine
grad – graduate	taxi – taxicab
tux – tuxedo	teen – teenager
hippo – hippopotamus	van – caravan
limo – limousine	vet – veteran; veterinarian
alum – alumni	bro – brother
mart market

Clipped Words Used in Sentences

advertisement	ad
All company’s spend a lot of money on ads

hamburger	burger
Burger does not suit old people

omnibus	bus
The tourist bus broke down near Paris

helicopter	copter
The copter forces landed in the disturbed areas to stem the communal violence

demonstration	demo
BPL company conducted a demo at Paris corner of easy washing

ampere	amp
It is an 40 amp bulb

motor bike	bike
Ajith had just brought a very expensive bike.

suitcase	case
There are bundles of currency notes inside the case.

pressure cooker	cooker
Cookers are now available for even $20/-

discotheque	disco
Disco is not a part of Italian culture

diskette	disc
I saved all the word documents in a Compact disc

gasoline	gas
Gas has become an expensive fuel for low income group families.

bridegroom	groom
Groom is wanted for a 22 year old Cristian community girl drawing $8000/-PM in an MNC.

gymnasium	gym
My uncle goes to the gym early morning.

killogram	kilo
Get me a kilo of mangoes.

memorandum	memo
The managing director issued a memo to the head clerk.

micro phone	mic
This mic doesn’t work properly.

non-vegetarian	non-veg
He is a non-veg.

spectacles	specs
She cannot read without specs.

storehouse	store
Jems works in a store.

fountain pen	pen
Pen is mightier than sward

perambulator	param
The mother took the child out in a param.

university	varsity
London varsity has renovated its auditorium

vegetarian	veg
She regularly eats her dinner in a veg mess.

veterinary surgeon	vet
I took my cat to the vet.

fascimile	Fax
I got a fax copy of the conference notice yesterday.

handkerchief	karchief
I have lost my karchief yesterday.

aeroplane	plane
Sarah was excited as she was to travel by plane for the first time.

laboratory	lab
This college has five labs.

refrigerator	fridge
Having firdge is not a luxury but a necessity.

pantaloons	pants
The clown at the circus wore a very loose pants.

tubelight	tube
The tube of our hall didn’t work from yesterday.

mathematics	maths
She is our maths teacher.

centum	cent
We have been living in the 21st cent.

bicycle	cycle
David presented a cycle to John on his birthday.

alchemist	chemist
We have a chemist on the corner of our street.

influenza	flu
I was suffering from flu.

examination	exam
She is preparing for her exam.

luncheon	lunch
I invited my close friends for lunch.

photograph	photo
My friend got my photo to keep it with herself.

signature	sign
Akbar’s sign is totally illegible.

newscast	news
Every day I watch news in the TV.

telephone	phone
I contacted him over phone.

mummy	mum
Where is your mum?

daddy	dad
Where does your dad work?

identity	ID
Please, show me your ID.

curiosity	curio
We visited a curio shop.

demarcate	mark
They marked the boundaries.

tram car	tram
We travelled in a tram in London.

public house	pub
The couple were found in a local pub.

fanatic	fan
He is a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

telephone	phone
Our Principal contacted the chief guest over the phone.

taxicab	taxi
I hired a taxi to go home.

topbrass	brass
The meeting was attended by diplomats and the top military brass.

newsflash	flash
We interrupt this programme to bring you a flash.

okay	ok
Did the head office ok the proposal?

rehabilitate	rehab
Lora saved all her money in order to send her husband for a rehab programme.

popmusic	pop
Michael Jackson is the king of pop.

pathway	path
The tourist chose the wrong path when they went for sight-seeing.

hitchhike	hitch
Can you give me a hitch till Mount Road?

zoological park	zoo
The little children love to visit a zoo.

Clip Word	Original Word	Clip Word	Original Word
wig	periwig	margarine	oleomargarine
lube	lubricate	mend	amend
miss	mistress	pants	pantaloons
mod	modern	bust	burst
caf	cafeteria	pen	penitentiary
calc	calculus	pep	pepper
canter	Canterbury gallop	perk	percolate
cent	centum	perk	perquisite
chem	chemistry	photo	photograph
chemist	alchemist	pike	turnpike
clerk	cleric	pop	popular
coed	coeducational student	prof	professor
curio	curiosity	prom	promenade
deb	debutante	cab	cabriolet
deli	delicatessen	doc	doctor
drape	drapery	rev	revolution
exam	examination	scram	scramble
fan	fanatic	sport	disport
gab	gabble	still	distill
tails	coattails	sub	submarine
hack	hackney	trig	trigonometry
iron	flatiron	trump	triumph
jet	jet aircraft	varsity	university
pianoforte	piano	public house	pub

Acronyms

Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, LASER, and IBM that are formed using the initial letters of words or word parts in a phrase or name. Acronyms and initialisms are usually pronounced in a way that is distinct from that of the full forms for which they stand: as the names of the individual letters (as in IBM), as a word (as in NATO), or as a combination (as in IUPAC). Another term, alphabetism, is sometimes used to describe abbreviations pronounced as the names of letters.

Categories of acronyms

• Pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters: FNMA: (Fannie Mae) Federal National Mortgage Association, NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
• Pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters: Amphetamine: Alpha-methyl-phenethylamine ,Gestapo: GeheimeStaatspolizei (“secret state police”)
• pronounced only as the names of letters: BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation, DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid
• shortcut incorporated into name: W3C: (double-u three cee)- World Wide Web Consortium, W3M: (three em) originally Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
• Recursive acronyms, in which the abbreviation itself is the expansion of one initial (particularly enjoyed by the open-source community): VISA: VISA International Service Association, GNU: GNU’s Not Unix!
• pseudo-acronyms are used because, when pronounced as intended, they resemble the sounds of other words: ICQ: “I seek you” , IOU: “I owe you“
• multi-layered acronyms: GAIM: GTK+ AOL Instant Messenger, i.e. GIMP Tool Kit America OnLine Instant Messenger, i.e. GNU Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit America OnLine Instant Messenger, i.e. GNU’s Not Unix Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit America OnLine Instant Messenger, VHDL: VHSIC Hardware Description Language, i.e. Very High Speed Integrated Circuits Hardware Description Language

What Is the Difference Between an Abbreviation and an Acronym?

Abbreviations and acronyms are shortened forms of words or phrases. An abbreviation is typically a shortened form of words used to represent the whole (such as Dr. or Prof.) while an acronym contains a set of initial letters from a phrase that usually form another word (such as radar or scuba).

Abbreviations and acronyms are often interchanged, yet the two are quite distinct. The main point of reference is that abbreviations are merely a series of letters while acronyms form new words.

Each one allows writers to make large blocks of text easier to read. Beware that both abbreviations and acronyms are typically considered informal and should be carefully considered before including them in more formal writings.

Abbreviations or Acronyms

There’s a great deal of overlap between abbreviations and acronyms. It’s worth pointing out that an acronym is a type of abbreviation because acronyms are shortened forms of words and phrases.

Abbreviations

Let’s take a closer look at abbreviations. As we know, an abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase, such as Mr. for Mister, or hr. for hour that is still said as the full word or words.

There are millions of common abbreviations used every day. Let’s take a look at some of the popular ones we see and/or use almost daily.

• When you write your address, you likely write “St.” or “Ave.” instead of “Street” or “Avenue”.
• When you record the date, you likely abbreviate both the days of the week (Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., and Sun.) and the months of the year (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).
• Often, we use the abbreviation “Ex.” for the word “example”.
• Measurements are commonly reduced to abbreviations such as “cm” for “centimeters” or “in.” for “inch”.
• How about “vs.”? That’s another popular abbreviation, shortened from the word “versus”.

Tightening “December” to “Dec.” is an abbreviation because “Dec.”is simply a written shorthand for the full word. It’s not an acronym since “Dec.” isn’t said as a word.

You may have wondered why some abbreviations, like those for ounce (oz) and pound (lb) use letters that aren’t part of the original word. In these cases the abbreviations are based on older forms of the word.

Acronyms

An acronym, technically, must spell out another word. This is a good point of reference to help you distinguish between abbreviations and acronyms. Another good way to differentiate them is that acronyms don’t just shorten words, they often simplify a long organization name, scientific term or idea.

Some acronyms create new words that are so commonly used, we forget they’re actually a series of letters from a longer word or phrase. For example, when we go scuba diving, we rarely consider the fact that scuba is an acronym of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

Then there are initialisms which cause some confusion. Would you consider “VIP” to be an acronym? Technically, it’s an initialism. Initialisms are a series of initial letters of words or a phrase that form an abbreviation but aren’t pronounced as a word. We enunciate each letter.

NBA is another initialism. How about when you text “rofl”? That’s another initialism, as is “BLT”. Many consider initialisms to be a subset of acronyms-therefore whether you pronounce ASAP as a word or enunciate each letter, it’s still an acronym-but be aware that others say it is another form of abbreviation.

Like abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms are used daily and most people can interpret the meaning of common acronyms without much thought.

Let’s test our knowledge with a few more examples:

Acronyms (form new words)	Initialisms (pronounce each letter)
radar (radio detection and ranging)	ATM (automated teller machine)
scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)	NFL (National Football League)
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)	FAQ (frequently asked questions)
laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)	brb (be right back)
POTUS (President of the United States)	idk (I don’t know)
gif (graphics interchange format)	a/c (air conditioning)
SIM card (subscriber identification module)	aka (also known as)
ZIP code (zone improvement plan)	fyi (for your information)
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)	lcd (liquid crystal display)
taser (Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle)	ufo (unidentified flying object)

Keep it Short

Abbreviations and acronyms are shortened versions of words and phrases that help speed up our communication. Initialisms act in the same way. Before you use any type of abbreviation consider your audience; are you writing something formal or informal? Will everyone understand the meaning of your abbreviated word or letters? If you need to explain the abbreviation, write out the word or phrase in full first followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.

Blending:

A blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes. A blend is different from a portmanteau word in that a portmanteau refers strictly to a blending of two function words, similar to a contraction.

Formation of Blendings: Most blends are formed by one of the following methods:

1. The beginning of one word is added to the end of the other. For Example: brunch (breakfast and lunch).
2. The beginnings of two words are combined. For Example: cyborg (cybernetic and organism)
3. One complete word is combined with part of another word. For Example: guesstimate (guess and estimate)
4. Two words are blended around a common sequence of sounds. For Example: Californication (from a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a blend of California and fornication)
5. Multiple sounds from two component words are blended, while mostly preserving the sounds’ order. Poet Lewis Carroll was well known for these kinds of blends. This method is difficult to achieve and is considered a sign of Carroll’s verbal wit. For Example: slithy (lithe and slimy).

Blending is the word formation process in which parts of two or more words combine to create a new word whose meaning is often a combination of the original words. For example:

• advertisement + entertainment → advertainment
• biographical + picture → biopic
• breakfast + lunch → brunch
• chuckle + snort → chortle
• cybernetic + organism → cyborg
• guess + estimate → guesstimate
• hazardous + material → hazmat
• motor + hotel → motel
• prim + sissy → prissy
• simultaneous + broadcast → simulcast
• smoke + fog → smog
• Spanish + English → Spanglish
• spoon + fork → spork
• telephone + marathon → telethon
• web + seminar → webinar
• afterthoughtful (afterthought + thoughtful)

• agitprop (agitation + propaganda)
• alcopop (alcohol + pop)
• bash (bat + mash)
• Breathalyzer (breath + analyzer)
• camcorder (camera + recorder)
• clash (clap + crash)
• docudrama (documentary + drama)
• electrocute (electricity + execute)
• emoticon (emote + icon)
• faction (fact + fiction)
• fanzine {fan + magazine)
• flare (flame + glare)
• flirtationship (flirting + relationship)
• glimmer (gleam + shimmer)
• guitarthritis (guitar + arthritis)
• infotainment (information + entertainment)
• Jazzercize (jazz + exercise)
• moped (motor + pedal)
• motorcade (motor + cavalcade)
• palimony (pal + alimony)
• pulsar (pulse + quasar)
• slanguage (slang + language)
• smash (smack + mash)
• splatter (splash + spatter)
• sportscast (sports + broadcast)
• squiggle (squirm + wriggle)
• stagflation (stagnation + inflation)
• staycation (stay home + vacation)
• telegenic (television + photogenic)
• textpectation (text message + expectation)
• transistor (transfer + resistor)
• twirl (twist + whirl)
• workaholic (work + alcoholic)
• simulcast (simultaneous + broadcast)
• smog (smoke + fog)
• ginormous (giant + enormous)
• internet (international + network)
• because (by + cause)
• emoticon (emotion + icon)
• spanglish (spanish + english)
• smassy (smart + sassy)
• malware (malicious + software)
• pixel (picture + element)
• bash (bang + smash)
• oxbridge (oxford + cambridge)
• cellophane (cellulose + diaphane)
• televangelist (television + evangelist)
• slithy (lithe + slimy)
• email (electronic + mail)
• bionic (biology + electronic)

Borrowing

Borrowing is just taking a word from another language. The borrowed words are called loan words. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept whereby it is the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort. Loanwords can also be called “borrowings”.

Great number of English words have been borrowed from other languages. These are sometimes referred to as loanwords.

Examples: algebra – Arabic, bagel – Yiddish,  cherub – Hebrew, chow mein – Chinese, fjord – Norwegian, galore – Irish, haiku – Japanese, kielbasa – Polish, murder – French, near – Sanskrit, paprika – Hungarian, pizza – Italian, smorgasbord – Swedish, tamale – Spanish, yo-yo – Tagalog

Loanwords

English has many loanwords. In 1973, a computerized survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd edition) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff. Their estimates for the origin of English words were as follows:

• French, including Old French and early Anglo-French: 28.3%
• Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
• Germanic languages, including Old and Middle English: 25%
• Greek: 5.32% •No etymology given or unknown: 4.03%
• Derived from proper names: 3.28%
• All other languages contributed less than 1%

However, if the frequency of use of words is considered, words from Old and Middle English occupy the vast majority. Examples: Biology, boxer, ozone from German Jacket, yoghurt, kiosh from Turkish Pistol, robot from Czech

Coinage

Coinage is the invention of totally new words. The typical process of coinage usually involves the extension of a product name from a specific reference to a more general one. For example: Kleenex, Xerox, and Kodak. These started as names of specific products, but now they are used as the generic names for different brands of these types of products.

Coinages are words invented by accident or intentionally mainly from no evident source. It should be pointed out that many coinages have come into existence by using brand names instead of the object being referred to. It is common that coinages are regularly called neologisms.
Example: aspirin, escalator, heroin, band-aid, factoid, Frisbee, Google, kerosene, Kleenex, Laundromat, linoleum, muggle, nylon, psychedelic, quark, Xerox, zipper, coalgate

Derivation

In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word. Example: happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine.  Derivation is the process of forming a new words by means of Affixation (Prefix, Infix and Suffix)

A derivational suffix usually applies to words of one syntactic category and changes them into words of another syntactic category. For example: the English derivational suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly). Examples of English derivational patterns and their suffixes: adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness) adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern → modernise) in British English or – ize (archaic → archaicize) in American English and Oxford spelling adjective-to-adjective: -ish (red → reddish) adjective-to-adverb: -ly (personal → personally) noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational) noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify) verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable) verb-to-noun (abstract): -ance (deliver → deliverance) verb-to-noun (concrete): -er (write → writer)

Compounding

A compound is a lexeme (a word) that consists of more than one other lexeme. It can be categorized in to two i.e. endocentric and exocentric.

An endocentric compound consists of a head, i.e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning of the whole compound, and modifiers, which restrict this meaning. For example: The English compound doghouse, where house is the head and dog is the modifier, is understood as a house intended for a dog. Endocentric compounds tend to be of the same part of speech (word class) as their head, as in the case of doghouse.

Exocentric compounds do not have a head, and their meaning often cannot be transparently guessed from its constituent parts. For example: The English compound white-collar is neither a kind of collar nor a white thing. In an exocentric compound, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the class of the constituents. For example: a must-have is not a verb but a noun.

English language allows several types of combinations of different word classes: N + N — lipstick , teapot, A + N — fast food, soft drink ,V + N — breakfast, sky-dive,  N + V — sunshine, babysit,  N + A –capital-intensive, waterproof,  A + A —deaf-mute, bitter-sweet.

Creative respelling:

Creative Respelling is a word formation that employs the strategy of altering letter(s) of a word. The word formed so is an example of Creative respelling. It is a deliberate attempt creating misspelled word.  Examples are nite (night), thanx (thanks), lite (light) etc.

Change of spelling is often used in commercials and slogans. For example Kleenex tissues, Mortal Kombat (game), Qwikster (movie-by-mail service). Misspelling quite often gives rise to brand names.

Sometimes words are formed by simply changing the spelling of a word that the speaker wants to relate to the new word. Brand or Product names often involve creative respelling, such as Mr. Kleen or Krunch.

Exercise: PROCESSES OF WORD FORMATION

1.Compounding

 Compounding is simply the joining of two or more words into a single word, as in hang glider, airstrip, cornflakes, busybody, downpour, cutoff, skywarn, alongside, breakfast, long-haired, devil-may-care, high school.

2. Derivation

 Derivation is the forming of new words by combining derivational affixes or bound bases with existing words, as in disadvise, emplane, deplane, teleplay, ecosystem, coachdom, counsellorship, re-ask.

 I. Indicate by the first letter the process of formation represented by each of the words below.

Compounding                   derivation

1. roughneck                   _                                  6. pop              _
2. codgerhood                 _                                  7. cream puff   _
3. clink (of glasses)         _                                  8. wheeze        _
4. doodad                                    _                                  9. weirdoism   _
5. dacron                         _                                  10. exflux        _

3. Clipping

 Clipping means cutting off the beginning or the end of a word, or both, leaving a part to stand for the whole: lab, dorm, prof, exam, gym, prom, math, psych, mike…

 II         Give the original words from which these clipped words were formed.

1. curio    __________
2. disco    __________                            10. memo        __________
3. taxi      __________                            11. Fred           __________
4. cab       __________                            12. Al              __________
5. deli      __________                            13. Tom           __________
6. vibes    __________                            14. Joe             __________
7. gin       __________                            15. Phil            __________
8. hype    __________

III        Give the original words from which these clipped words were formed.

1. sport (game)    __________                6. wig              __________
2. pike (road)       __________                7. cute             __________
3. bus                   __________                8. Gene            __________
4. van                  __________                9. Beth            __________
5. chute               __________                10. Tony          __________

Clipped words are formed not only from individual words but from grammatical units, such as modifier plus noun. Paratrooper, for example, is a clipped form of parachutist trooper.

 IV        Give the originals of these clipped words.

1. Amerindian     ____________________
2. maître d’          ____________________
3. contrail            ____________________
4. taxicab             ____________________
5. moped             ____________________
6. comsat             ____________________
7. agribusiness     ____________________

 4. Acronym

 Acronym is the process whereby a word is formed from the initials or beginning segments of a succession of words. In some cases the initials are pronounced, as in MP (military police, or Member of Parliament). In others the initials and/or beginning segments are pronounced as the spelled word would be. For example, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and radar (radio detecting and ranging).

V         Pronounce these acronyms and give their originals.

1. RV                  ____________________
2. NOW              ____________________
3. UNESCO        ____________________
4. OK                  ____________________
5. scuba               ____________________
6. OPEC              ____________________
7. WASP             ____________________
8. ICBM              ____________________
9. jeep                  ____________________
10. laser                 ____________________

5. Blending

 Blending is the fusion of two words into one, usually the first part of one word with the last part of another, as in gasohol, from gasoline and alcohol.

 VI        Give the originals of these blends:

1. flunk                _________________
2. happenstance   _________________
3. stagflation       _________________
4. simulcast         _________________
5. gelignite          _________________
6. smog                _________________
7. dumbfound     _________________
8. telecast                        _________________
9. dandle             _________________
10. splatter            _________________

VII      Give the blends that result from fusing these words.

1. transfer            + resistor         = _________________
2. automobile      + omnibus       = _________________
3. escalade           + elevator        = _________________
4. blare or blow   + spurt             = _________________
5. squall               + squeak          = _________________

Exercise -1: Identify the process of word formation responsible for each of the following words. Try to determine the process before you consult a dictionary, though it may be necessary for you to do so.

a. curio	h. margarine	o. (the) hereafter	v. boojum
b. (to) laze	i. dystopia	p. amphetamine	w. gaffe-slack
c. (to) network	j. serendipity	q. (a) construct	x. psycho
d. (to) cohere	k. diesel	r. (the) chunnel	y. walkie-talkie
e. (a) sitcom	l. (a) ha-ha	s. guestimate	z. bonfire
f. (the) muppets	m. (to) make up	t. canary	v. boojum
g. (a) what-not	n. (to) total	u. brain-gain	w. gaffe-slack

 Exercise -2: The words in column A have been created from the corresponding words in column B. Indicate the word formation process responsible for the creation of each word in column A.

	Column A	Column B
a.	stagflation	stagnation + inflation
b.	nostril	nosu + thyrl ‘hole’ (in Old English)
c.	bookie	bookmaker
d.	van	caravan
e.	Amerindian	American Indian
f.	CD	compact disc
g.	RAM	random access memory
h.	televise	television
i.	xerox	xeroxography
j.	telathon	television + marathon
k.	sci-fi	science fiction
l.	elect	election
m.	deli	delicatessen
n.	scuba	self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
o.	scavenge	scavenger
p.	hazmat	hazardous material

Exercise- 3: Identify the syntactic pattern in each of the following compounds and express it in a lexical rule. Example: gravedigger N + V + -er > N

a. hovercraft	g. setback	m. dugout	s. badmouth	y. lukewarm
b. dairyman	h. meltdown	n. hardhearted	t. redhead	z. law-abiding
c. bath-towel	i. blackout	o. homesick	u. birth control	aa. far-reaching
d. goldfish	j. stand-in	p. proofread	v. breakfast	bb. homemade
e. inroads	k. turnout	q. overqualified	w. thoroughgoing	cc. clean-cut
f. bystander	l. money-hungry	r. overachieve	x. quick-change	dd. fighter-bomber
ee. earthenware	ff. snowplow	gg. baking powder	hh. drip-coffee	ii. wisecrack

Exercise- 4: The following words are compounds which also include derivational affixes. Analyze the words, identifying the roots and their parts of speech, as well all the affixes and their function as nominalizer, verbalizer, adjectivalizer, or adverbializer.Example: housekeeper

house (root – noun) + keep (root – verb) + -er (nominalizer)

a. flightworthiness	e. handicraft	i. antiaircraft
b. chatterbox	f. broken-hearted	j. machine-readable
c. owner-occupied	g. safety-tested	k. chartered accountant
d. freedom-loving	h. worldly-wise	i. antiaircraft

Exercise- 5: Analyze the following words into morphs using the model given below:

Word	Prefix(es)	Root	Suffix(es)
inequality	in-	equal	-ity

a. hospitalization	e. transcontinental	i. unforgettable	m. postcolonial	q. hypersensitivity
b. invisibly	f. ungrammatical	j. impropriety	n. unlikelihood	r. unfriendliness
c. uninteresting	g. reinforcement	k. disfunctional	o. relationship	s. interdependence
d. undercooked	h. prototypical	l. inconsiderate	p. asymmetrical	t. monotheism

Exercise- 6: Underline examples of COMPOUNDING and AFFIXATION:

1. Headhunters are invading university campuses in search of fresh talents among undergraduates.
2. The price of oil reached its all-time-high yesterday.
3. Joblessness rallies as the economy slows down.
4. Governments have responded to tax-flight in many different ways.
5. New mega-mergers are expected in the media-world.
6. Consumers everywhere have been merrily spending with their credit cards.

Exercise- 7: CLIPPING: give the entire word of the following clipped forms and translate them:

lab ……………………………………………………………………

Dems ……………………………………………………………………..

flu ……………………………………………………………………

ads ………………………………………………………………………

Inc. ……………………………………………………………………

rev ………………………………………………………………………

The Fed …………………………………………………………………..

Feds ………………………………………………………………………

Exercise- 8: BLENDING: give the two words forming the following blends and translate them:

Sci-fi ……………………………

e-tailing ………………………

hi-fi ……………………………

stagflation …………………

brunch ………………………

AMEX ………………………

medicare ……………………

econometric ………………

Exercise- 9: ACRONYMS: give the extended phrase and the Italian/English equivalents of the following abbreviations:

OECD ………………………………………………………………………………………………

POW …………………………………………………………………………………………………

GDP ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

MEPs ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

IVA ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

OMC ………………………………………………………………………………………….

Exercise- 10: Write the original words against the clipped words.

Clipped Word	Original Word	Clipped Word	Original Word	Clipped Word	Original Word
ad (marketing)		groom		pub (bar)
bro		hippo		ref (library)
butt		lab (dog)		sci-fi
cig		lunch		script (medicine)
con (prison)		math		spec (detail)
copter		pants		still (alcohol)
dorm		perk (benefit)		van (vehicle)
gas (fuel)		piano		vet (military)
abs		doc (movies)		phone
amp (music)		fan (sports)		quad (campus)
app (technology)		gator		rehab
cab (taxi)		hack (taxi)		rep (status)
chemist		lab (science)		scram
clerk		limo		sub (nautical)
coke (drug)		narc		trump (cards)
demo (construction)		perk (coffee)		uni (school)
ammo		congrats		mag
blog		deb		meth
bop (music)		deke (sports)		mum (flower)
bot		exam		photo
		fab (awesomeness)		sax
cab (wine)		Fed		trig
bye		bye		razz (sound)
calc (math)		calc (math)		repo
canter		canter		rev (engine)
champ		champ		rhino
comp (theatre)		comp (theatre)		sitcom
dis		dis		super (apartment)
gab		gab		ump
grad (student)		grad (student)		ute (truck)
bronc		intercom		reb (US Civil War)
cab (train)		lav (bathroom)		reverb
chute		lude		sub (teaching)
cop (police)		mod (trendy)		tec (police)
fax		Net (technology)		varsity
fess		pop (music)		vet (medicine)
hood (location)		quack (medicine)		wig
improv		quake		za

Concept noun

Personal noun

Adjective

Verb

absenteeism

The rate of absenteeism is rising in middle and high schools.

absentee

We’ll send the absentees notes from the meeting.

absent-minded

The absent-minded professor wandered into the wrong classroom.

to be absent

Unfortunately, I’ll be absent from class on Friday.

accounting

Can you take care of the accounting on this project?

accountant

I’ll need to ask my accountant for advice on this business deal.

accountable

Do you think we should hold everyone accountable for their mistakes?

account

I think we should open a new bank account.

accusation

The lawyer rebuffed the accusation and stated his case.

accuser / accused

The accuser should always try to understand the motivations of the accused.

accusing

He’s an accusing figure in the company and needs to go!

accuse

Do you really want to accuse him of bribery?

achievement

The victory was an amazing achievement.

achiever

Achievers tend to be outgoing people who don’t mind making mistakes.

achieved

His achieved status at the company was due to his work ethic.

achieve

She’s achieved many things in very long career.

addiction

Drug addiction is a huge problem for many people around the world.

addict

The addict struggled with drug abuse for many years.

addictive/addicted

You’ll find that many addictive drugs are opiates.

to become addicted

A number of students have become addicted to so called «study drugs

administration

The administration has made many mistakes over the past eight years.

administrator

The head administrator will take your questions.

administrative

All administrative tasks are taken care of by human resources.

administrate

We should use a third party to administrate our accounts.

admiration

She showed a lot of admiration for her help.

admirer

Have you ever had a secret admirer?

admired / admiring

The admiring young man stood and gazed.

admire

I enjoy going to the museum to admire fine art.

advertisement

The advertisement was very entertaining.

advertiser

We need to find an advertiser to help pay for expenses.

advertised

The advertised medicine didn’t work as expected.

advertise

Have you ever advertised your products online?

advice

I think you should take his advice.

adviser

I’m going to see my adviser next week on campus.

advisory

The advisory committee decided to postpone the decision.

advise

What would you advise me to do?

aggravation

I’ve certainly had my fair share of aggravation.

aggressor

The aggressor was caught and thrown into jail.

aggravating

She has an aggravating backache.

aggravate

I aggravated my brother with my remarks about his wife.

agitation

I felt a lot of agitation when I heard the news.

agitator

The agitator was taken to jail by the police.

agitated

The agitated citizen screamed at the reporter.

agitate

Be careful to not agitate the situation with your remarks.

analysis

The analysis of the situation is very interesting.

analyst

The analyst was very expensive, but necessary for our case.

analytical

He cast an analytical eye on the situation.

analyse

Do you think you could analyse the evidence?

antagonism

She felt his antagonism was misplaced.

antagonist

The antagonist made a convincing case against the hero.

antagonistic

Her antagonistic attitude got her into trouble at work.

antagonize

You’ll be sorry if you antagonize them.

arbitration

The arbitration went on for three weeks.

arbitrator

The arbitrator in the case made a decision.

arbitrary

I think he made an arbitrary decision that be ignored.

arbitrate

The judge will arbitrate the case.

assassination

The assassination stunned the nation.

assassin

The assassin was caught within three days.

assassinated

The country wept over the assassinated president.

assassinate

Most people could not assassinate anyone.

authorization

I gave him complete authorization on the project.

authority

He’s an authority in his field.

authoritarian / authoritative

Her authoritarian approach scared the students.

authorize

Can you authorize this request?

Word formation refers to the way new words are formed on the basis of other words. It is called the creation or invention of a new name. Every language always needs new words. This is mainly due to advances in technology. New products are coming to the market and they all need names to be called. Because of new structures and changes, a language needs to borrow, acquire or combine new words just because new things require words.

It is at times referred to all cycles associated with changing the type of the word by, for example, appendage, which involves morphology. In its more extensive sense word arrangement means the cycles of the making of new lexical units. Despite the fact that it appears to be that the contrast between the morphological difference in a word and the formation of another term is very simple to see, there is now and then a question with respect to whether mixing is as yet a morphological change or making another word. There are, obviously, various word development measures that don’t excite any contentions and are fundamentally the same as in most dialects.

The two parts of a compound word are typically separated by a hyphen. In any case, on account of numerous normal compound words, the segment parts have become so firmly associated that they are currently composed as a single words with no hyphen between them.

Word formation is sometimes compared to a semantic change, which is a change in the meaning of a single word.

There are four main kinds of word formation: prefixes, suffixes, conversion and compounds.

1. Prefixes

Prefixes are letters which we add to the beginning of a word to make a new word with a different meaning. They can also make a word negative or express relations of time, place or manner. Here are some examples:

Possible	Impossible
True	Untrue
Payment	Non payment
Cook	Overcook

2. Suffixes

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added at the end of a word which makes a new word.

Use	Useful
Forget	Forgetful
Beauty	Beautiful
Read	Reader

3. Conversion

Conversion involves the change of a word from one word class to another.

A very productive process, a noun becomes a verb – butter, vacation, bottle

Verbs become nouns – guess, spy

Phrasal verbs become nouns – to print out, to take over

Verbs become adjectives – see through, stand up

4. Compounding

A compound word is two or more words linked together to produce a word with a new meaning:

Tooth + brush – toothbrush

Car + park – carpark

Animal + lover – animal lover

---

Introduction

Word formation is a process of utilizing your intellectual knowledge to form a meaningful word from a given series of jumbled letters. numbered You should have strong vocabulary knowledge to solve these types of questions. Unless you are not good at judging the write spelling of a word, situation may become difficult for you with a rise in complexity of the questions. To understand the basic of this type of question, let’s start with a simple example.

Sample Example

Consider the following jumbled letters

“APEGR”

Rearrange them in such a manner that it will indicate a name of a fruit and mark the first letter of the word as your answer from the following options.

A — A

B — P

C — E

D — G

Answer − Option D

Explanation − Here a careful reading of the question will show that the examiner is asking us to design a word that will indicate the name of a fruit. Now with a hit and trial method and with correct logical approach, we can get to know that the word is “GRAPE”, the first letter of which is G. Hence; our answer will be option D.

Now, you must be wondering that how can one arrive at correct word so suddenly? Well, as we have told before, this is completely your test upon verbal knowledge and it will take a lot of practise to know the methods by yourself to arrive at the correct word quickly. Let’s now discuss some different types of questions that may arise under this category.

Different Types

Though the process involves the same; judging the right word from the given jumbled letters, yet, we must be aware with other different types of possible variations that are asked in this sections. Let’s discuss some of them.

Type-I

Sometimes jumbled letters are given followed by some numbers. In the options, there will be four possible structures of numbers. One of them will indicate a meaningful word. You have to choose that option as your answer. Let’s take an example.

Question −

Consider the following arrangement of letters with their respective numbers. Choose the best option the structure of which describes a meaningful word.

E M L E P T

1 2 3 4 5 6

A — 612534

B — 623154

C — 234561

D — 123456

Answer − Option A

Explanation − We can clearly see that only the structures of numbers given in option A gives rise to a meaningful word.

Type –II

In this type, whole series of alphabets will be given in a series of two rows. Some statements will be given that will direct the student to choose letters from that series and design a meaningful word out of that. Let’s take an example to understand it.

Question −

Consider the following arrangement −

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Take the middle and left most 1^st letter of the 1^st row. Similarly take the middle and 2^nd letter from the left end of the 2^nd row. Form a word that will indicate the category of an animal. Mark the first letter of that word as your answer.

A — G

B — A

C — M

D — P

Answer − Option A

Explanation − In the first series that is present from A-M, the left most 1st letter is A and the in the series of 13 letters, the middle letter is G. Similarly in the 2^nd row, the middle letter is T and the 2^nd left side letter is O.

Now as we have got the letters, we have to design a word that indicates the name of an animal. With possible structures of letters, we can arrive at the word GOAT. Now here the first letter is G and hence; option A is our answer.

Type-III

In this type of category, we will discuss about those cases in which the answer will be asked in terms of “X”, where X may be the first or last letter of the formulated word or may be something else as directed by the questioner. Let’s take an example to understand it in a better way.

Question −

Rearrange the following jumbled letters ”NKEAS” to get a meaningful word that will indicate the name of an animal and the first letter of that word will be X. Mark the correct option that describes X well.

A — A

B — K

C — S

D — None of these

Answer − Option C

Explanation − The correct arrangement will lead to the word “Snake” and its first letter is X. Hence; the value of X will be S i.e. Option C.

reasoning_word_formation.htm

This process involves morphological processes (then formation of words through combinations of morphemes together with other different processes.

The process of word formation may involve the process whereby roots or stems received inflectional or derivational element (affixes) in order to form the new words.

NB: The roots, stems inflectional or derivational elements are all technique termed as morphemes

                            


MORPHOLOGY

This is a component of grammar (sub branch) of linguistics which deals with the study of morphemes and their difference forms (Allomorphs) and how these units combine together in the formation of words. It also studies the structure and arrangement of words in the dictionary i.e. Morphology is the study of word formation and dictionary use.

DEFINITIONS OF KEY  WORDS

1. Morpheme

This is the smallest grammatical or lexical unit in the structure of a language which may form a word or part of a word

E.g. nation — national 

                     International  

                     Internationally
                      Nationalization
        Kind —  kindness

                   Unkind
                   Unkindness
        Take — takes

                   Taken
                   Taking

        Discuss —  discussion

              Discussions
        A morpheme may represent the lexical meaning or grammatical function.

2. Word

This is the minimal or smallest unit in the structure of a sentence in any language which may constitute on utterance or sentence on its own.

The word is usually formed by either one or several morphemes out it is the smallest unit in the sentence structure.

E.g. Yesterday I met him at Tabata- 6 words

        We can words in a sentence and morphemes in a word

3. Stem

Is that part of a word that is in existence before any inflectional affixes have been added. 

Or, Is that part of the word that inflectional affixes can be attached to.

For example:

— «cat» can take inflectional morpheme-‘S’

— «Worker» can take inflectional morpheme-‘S’

— «Winne» can take inflectional morpheme-‘S’

— «Short» can take inflectional morpheme-‘er’

— «friendship» can take inflectional morpheme-‘S’  

This is a basic part of a word which normally carries lexical meaning corresponding to the concept, object or idea and which cannot be split into further parts
Roots in many languages may also be joined to other roots or take affixes or combing forms
E.g. Man   manly,  house hold, big

      6. Affix

This is a morpheme, usually grammatical which is attached to another morpheme (stem) in the formation of a new word which may change the meaning, grammatical category or grammatical form of the stem.

E.g. Beautiful   Mismanagement Disconnect

The affix maybe added either before, with or after the stem thus are three types of affixes.

i.    Prefix

This is the affix which is added before the stem

E.g.   Disconnect

          Illogical

          Unhappy

Empower

ii.   Infix

This is the affix that is added within the stem. Thus type of affix is rare to be found in English words

E.g. meno   —  meino

iii.  Suffix

This is the affix that is added after the stem.

                        E.g.  Mismanagement
                                Beautiful
                                Dismissal
                                Kingdom

7.      Allomorph

This refers to any of the difference forms of the same morpheme root they all represent the past participle (grammatical function)

The morphemes are classified into several categories basing on several factor such as:-

Occurrence, meaning and function

There are two major types of morphemes

(i)   Free morpheme

This is the morpheme that can stand or occur alone (on its own) as a separate word in the structure of a sentences in any language.

The free morpheme includes all parts of speech i.e. Nouns, Verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, articles

The free morpheme is further divided into two categories

(a) Lexical morpheme

This is the type of frees morpheme which occurs on its own and carries a content of the message being conveyed i.e. It is the free morpheme which represents the actual lexical meaning of the concept, idea, object or action.

The lexical morphemes include the major word classes such as Noun, verbs (main verb), adjective and adverb.

E.g.      House

             Attend

             Large

            Tomorrow

(b)  Functional morpheme / grammatical morpheme

This is the free morpheme which can stand alone as a separate word in a sentence but does not represent the actual lexical meaning of the concept, idea, object or action – it has little meaning when used alone and thus it usually occurs together with the lexical morpheme in order to give the lexical meaning

The functional morphemes includes the minor word classes such as pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections and articles, auxiliary verbs etc

(ii)   Bound morpheme

This is the morpheme which can not normally stand alone as a separate word in the sentence structure as it is attached to another morpheme (lexical) free morpheme in the formation of the new word.

The Bound morpheme represents grammatical function such as word category tense aspect, person, number, participle, comparison etc.

Example ment, ism represents a noun, aly represent.

Adverb

Tense – ed, d, voice, number

Person – es

Aspect – ing – progressive aspect

Comparison – er, est

The Bound morpheme is farther divided in to two categories.

(a)   Derivation morpheme

This is the bound morpheme which is used to form or make new words with different meanings and grammatical categories or class from the stem i.e. It is the morpheme which when added to the stem it changes the meaning and / or the word class of grammatical category of stem/ base Example unhappy, illogical, impossible, empower

National – noun to adjective

Derivation morpheme may occur either before or after or both before and after the stem in the formation of the new words i.e. they may occur either as prefixes or affixes example management, mismanage, mismanagement.

The derivation morpheme may also change the sub classification of the same word class such as concrete noun into abstract noun e.g. Kingdom, friendship, leadership, membership

Deviation morphemes are also used as indicators of word category example simplicity, modernize dare indicators of verb by indicator of adverbs.

(b)  Inflectional morpheme

This is the type of bound morpheme which is not used to produce or form different words with different meaning but rather it is used to change grammatical form of the state i.e. Inflectional morpheme doesn’t change the meaning or word class but it only changes grammatical form of the sentence which represent grammatical function such as to mark the verb for tense aspect, participle voice etc

Example finished, Lorries, oxen

Past tense – finished

Past participle – proven

Number – Lorries, oxen, children

Inflectional morpheme also marks nouns and number.

They mark adverb and adjectives for comparison

E.g. smaller, smallest

FUNCTION OF MORPHEMES

The morphemes are analyzed as having three major functions that are directly linked with their types.

The following are the functions of morphemes:-

E.g. Tree, after, along

2. The morphemes (derivation bound morphemes) are used to change the lexical meaning and / or the grammatical category of the stem. 
This function is called derivation function

3. The morphemes (inflectional morphemes) are used to change the grammatical form or function of the stem without changing the meaning or word class.

This function is known as inflectional function

TASK

Read the following passage and answer the following question 

A thick vegetation cover,  such as tropical forests ,   acts as protection  against physical weathering and also helps to slow the  removal   of the  weathered layer  in deserts and  high mountains the absence of the vegetation   accelerates the rate of weathering plants and animals, however,   play a significant part in rock destruction, notably  by  chemical decomposition through the action of  organic acidic solution the acids develop  from water percolation through party decayed vegetation and animal matter.

Question

1. Identify

I. 7 lexical  morphemes

II. 5 derivation  morphemes

III. 2 inflectional morphemes

PROCESSES OF WORD FORMATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The formation of words in English language is archived in several processes or ways. These processes fall into two major categories

(i)   The major processes which includes affixation compounding, Conversion and reduplication.

(ii) The minor processes which includes clipping Blending, Acronym, Borrowing, Back formation, Onomatopoeia, Coining/ coinage

I)   The major processes of word formation

(a) AFFIXATION

The process of word formation whereby new words are formed by attaching or adding the affixes (prefix, infix or suffix) to the stem.

E.g.      Shortly – suffix

            Unusual – prefix

            Belonging – suffix

            Inhuman – prefix

            Dismissal — suffix

(I) Prefixation
This is the process of forming new words by adding affixes before the stem/root. For example dislike , unhappy, amoral, decolonise, redo.

Classification of Prefix

Prefix are classified into several categories basing on the meaning they give when added to the stem   

i.  Negative prefixes

These give the meaning of “NOT” “the opposite of” or “lack of”

                  Impossible – illegal

                  Immobile – illogical

                  Irregular – disobey

                  Disadvantage — amoral

                  Apolitical

ii.     Restorative prefixes

    These give the meaning of “Reverse an action”

          E.g  Undress – deforest

                  Uncover – depopulate

                  Disconnect – devalue

                  Disorganized

                  Decolonize

iii.   Pejorative prefixes

These give the meaning of “unless. False, fake, unimportant. Wrong, badly or bad”

E.g. Malnutrition – pseudo name

      Malpractice – pseudo intellectual

      Misconduct – pseudo scientists

      Mismanage

      Misbehave

iv.   Prefixes of degree or size
These express degree or size in terms of quality or quantity.

E.g. Arch (supreme or highest in rank)

      Super (above or better)

      Sir (over and above) e.g. Sir name

      Sub (lower or less than) e.g. Substandard, subconscious

Over (too much) e.g. Over doss, over it, over confident

Under (too little) e.g. under paid, under look, under cook

Hyper (extremely or beyond) e.g. Hyper actives, Hyper sensitive

Ultra (extremely or beyond) e.g. Ultra modern, ultrasound

Mini (small) e.g. Mini bus, mini skirt

 v.  Prefixes of altitude

These include “Co-“(with or joined)                               

E.g. Co-operate, co- education, co- exist. “Counter” (in opposition to”) e.g. Counter attack, counter- revolution, and counter act

“Anti” (against) e.g. Antivirus, anticlockwise, anti body

“Pro” (instead of or on the side of) e.g. Pronoun, pro capitalism, Pro multiparty.

vi. Locative prefixes

These indicate location

E.g. Super (over or above) superstructure, super building, super imposed

Inter (between or among) international, inter school

Trans (across) Trans Saharan, trans plant, Trans Atlantic

vii.   Prefixes of time and order

These include “fore” (before, front, first) e.g. Foreground, fore legs, fore knowledge, fore head

Pre – (before) e.g.  Pre-mature                

                               Pre- independence

                               Pre- form one

                               Pre- National

                               Pre- judge

                               Pre- war

Post – (after) e.g.   Post- graduate

                              Post – independence
                              Post-election

                Ex – (former) e.g. Ex – president
                                             Ex – wife
                                             Ex – husband
                                             Ex – soldier

                 Re – (again or back) e.g.Re – write

                                                         Re call

                                                         Re evaluate

viii.   Number prefixes

These show number

Uni-/ Mono – (means one) e.g.Uni- cellular

                                                 Mono party

                                            Monolingual

                                       Monocotyledon

                                             Monosyllabic

Bi -/ Bi – (means two, double or twice) e.g. Bilingua

                                                                     Bicycle
                                                                     Ditransitive
                                                                     Dicotyledon
                                                                      Bi- annual

Tri (three) e.g. Triangle

                         Tricycle
                         Trilateral

Multi/ poly (many) e.g. Polyandry 

                                     Polygamy
                                     Multi lingua
                                     Multiparty
                                      Multi disciplinary

ix.    Conversion prefixes

Prefixes used to change a word from noun/adjective to verb

En – (make or become) 

e.g. Enslave

  Enlarge

  Ensure

  Enforce

  Enrich

        Enlightened

Be – (make or become) 

e.g. Befriend

       Be calm

       Be witch

-A- (be or become) 

e.g. a live

       A sleep 

       A rise

x.  Other prefixes   

—   Auto (self) – Auto biography

              Autograph

               Autocracy

— Neo (new or revived) e.g. Neo- colonialism

                                           Neo-man
                                                                 

-Pan (all or worldwide) e.g. Pan-africanism

-Proto (original) e.g. Proto Bantu

                                 Proto language
                                  Proto type

-Semi (half) e.g. Semi-circle

                                           Semi- hemisphere
                                           Semi- final
                                           Semi-model

TASK

1. Provide the meaning of the following prefixes and provide three examples of words/roots/stem which can be use these prefixes.
 i) Sur —
ii) Proto —
iii) Hyper —
iv) Dis —
v) Neo —

2. With examples differentiate between pejorative prefixes and locative prefixes.
3. Use appropriate prefix(es)in each of the following words
       i) Charge
       ii) Type
       iii) possible
       iv) Navigation
       v) Ability

4. i) Give three examples of reversative prefixes
    ii) Write three examples of the prefix poly_
    iii) What is the difference of the prefix «Un» in unhappy, unkind and in uncover, untie

(II) Suffixation

Is the process of adding morphemes after a system/root. So as to form new word. Unlike prefixation, suffixes frequently alter the word class of a root/stem.

Classification of suffix

The suffixes are classified according to the class of the new word formed after the addition of the suffixes.

There are four major types of suffixes

    i)      — Noun suffixes

   ii)      — Adjective suffixes

  iii)       — Adverb suffixes

  iv)       — Verb suffixes-let (small)

Noun Suffixes   

are the suffixes added to the stem or bases of different word classes in the formation of the new word that are noun by category.

This falls into four categories;

(a) Noun to noun suffixes

— star (engaged in or belongs to)

       E.g. – Young –star

                  Gang-star

— eer (engaged in or belongs to)

      E.g. Engineer

             Profiteer

             Racketeer

— let (small)

E.g. Booklet

        Leaflet

        Piglet

— ette (small)

      E.g. Kitchenette

             Cigarette

             Statuette

— ess (small) e.g. Lioness

                        Actress

                        Princess

— hood (in the state or status of) e.g. Brotherhood

                                                         Manhood

                                                         Neighborhood

                                                         Youth hood

                                                         Adulthood

— Ship (in the state or status of) E.g. Friendship

                                              Relationship

— Dom (in the condition) E.g. Kingdom

                         Freedom

                         Boredom

                         Wisdom

— cracy (system of government) E.g. Bureaucracy

                                              Democracy

— ery (behavior of or place an ac

E.g. Slavery

             Machinery

             Peasantry

             Carpentry

                      Concrete – Abstract

(b) Noun to Adjective suffixes are the suffixes added to

— ist (member of) e.g.  Socialist

                                 Idealist

                                 Capitalist

                                 Ratio list

— ism (attitude or political movement)

      E.g. Idealism

             Communism

— ness (quality) or state

      E.g. Happiness

             Cleverness

— ity (state or quality) e.g. Stupidity                           

                                       Ability

                                      Salinity

(c) Verb to Noun suffixes

— er (instrumental or a genitive) e.g. Player

                                                   Reader

                                                   Writer

                                                    Farmer

                                                    Leader

— or (“ ) e.g.    Actor

                     Investigator

                     Incubator

                     Insulator

— al (action of) e.g. Arrival

                           Dismissal

                           Withdrawal

                           Proposal

— age (an activity or)

                  E.g.     Drainage

                              Marriage

                              Passage

                              Leakage

— ment (state or action of)

                  E.g.   Government

                           Treatment

                            Achievement

                            Improvement

— ant (instrumental or adjective) E.g.  Assistant

-ee (passive receiver) e.g. Employee

                                           Payee
                                           Trainee
                                             Appointee
                                            Interviewee

— (a) tion (state or action)

E.g. organization

                   Examination

                   Discussion

                   Globalization

                   Penetration

(ii) Adjective suffixes

They are used to change the bases of different word classes such as noun or verbs in order to form the new words that are Adjective by class.

(a) Verb to Adjective suffixes

— ive (which) e.g. Active

                         Respective

                         Comparative

                         Collective

— able /-ible  E.g.  Manageable

                          Sensible

                          Movable       

                          Honorable 

Noun to Adjective suffixes

— al (of or with)  e.g. National

                              Accidental

                              Criminal

                              Historical

— (ii) an (member of) e.g. Tanzanian

                                         Canadian

— ful (having or with)

      E.g.  Beautiful

              Wonderful

— less (without)

      E.g.      Childless

                  Speechless

                  Harmless

                  Hopeless

                  Useless

— ly (having a quality of)

      E.g.      Manly

                  Friendly

                  Cowardly

— ish (belong to or having the character of)

      E.g.      Selfish

                  Turkish

                  Irish

                  Swedish

— ous (with or worth) e.g. Dangerous

                                        Famous

— ese (a member or citizen of)

      E.g.      Chinese

                  Congolese

                  Japanese

— y (like, with or cover with)

      E.g.      Sandy

                  Muddy

                  Sugar

                  Healthy

                  Creamy

                  Hairy

— like (having a quality or behavior like)

E.g.      Childlike

             Fingerlike

(iii) Verb suffixes

These are the suffixes added to the stems or roots of Noun or adjectives to from the new words which are verbs by class.

These are three types of verb suffixes

-ify (cause or make) e.g. Identify

                                         Simplify
                                          Notify
                                           Classify
                                            Purify

-en (cause or make) e.g. Widen   lengthen

                                         Sharpen    strengthen
                                          Weaken
                                           Sadden
                                           Threaten

-ize/ — ise ( “  ) e.g.  Apologize

                               Colonize
                               Socialize
                               Formalize

(iv)  Adverb suffixes

These are the suffixes which when added to the roots or stems they produce a new word which is an adverb by class

-ly (in the manner of) e.g. quickly

                                          Slowly
                                          Quietly
                                           Happily
                                           Gradually

-ward (in the manner of or in the direction of)

                                    E.g. Backward
                                            Onwards
                                            Inwards
                                            Downwards
                                            Upwards   

 -wise (as far as or in the manner of)

                                       E.g.   Education wise
                                                Clockwise
                                                Cultural wise
                                                Political wise
TASK
1. Form verbs from the following words; family, type, popular, clear.
2. Form adjectives from the following words;expression, problem, progress, crime, courage.
3. With examples differentiate prefixes from suffixes

(b)  COMPOUNDING

This is the process of words formation whereby two or more lexical morphemes are joined or combined together to form a new single word.

            E.g.   Classroom
                      Earth quake
                      Girlfriend
                      Tea spoon
                      Table mat
                      Easy-going
                      Washing-machine
NB:  The new words formed as a result of the process of compounding are technique known as compound words or compounds.

Classification of compound words

The compound words are classified basing on two aspects;

i)  The way they are written
ii) According to the meaning

  i)  The way they are written

— Solid/closed compound

These are the compound words that are written without leaving any space or gap between the bases.

            E.g.  Classroom
                    Teaspoon
                    Earthquake
                    Wallpaper
                    Textbook
                    Payphone

                 
— Hyphenated compounds

These are the compound words that the written with the hyphen separating the two bases.

E.g. Fire-escape
                   High-grade
                   Colour-blind
                   Brother-in-law   
                   Machine-gun

— Open Compounds

These are the compound words that are written by leaving the space (gap) between the two bases.

E.g.  Sewing machine 
                     Town planning
                     Tape measure 
                     Baking powder
                    Washing machine

ii)   According to the meaning

Transparent compounds

These are the compound whose meanings reflect the meaning of separate bases i.e. the compounds whose meanings are directly derived or related to the meaning of the separate bases which make them up.

           E.g.  Classroom
                    Girlfriend  
                    Earthquake
                    Teaspoon 
                    Washing machine

Opaque Compounds

These are the compounds whose meanings differ from the meanings of separate bases i.e. the compounds whose meanings are not derived or not directly related with the meanings of separate bases which make up

E.g. Honey moon                              wide spread
        Daily word                                blue berry
        Pass word                                  call right
        Sweet heart                                cow boy
         Hot cake
        Home sick
        Sugar mummy
        Day dream

Bahrain

These are the compound words whose meanings reflect the physical features or appearance of a person or object being reflected to.

E.g.    Blackboard
                     White fluid
                     Block head
                     Feature weight
                     Red – eyed

Identification of the compound words

There are three ways of identifying the compound words

i. Through the entry in the dictionary 

i.e. any compound word should occupy its own entry in the dictionary. It should be regarded as an independent word in the dictionary.

E.g. Bedroom

Classroom

National park

ii.  Through the word class or category 

i.e. Each compound word has its own class different from other word classes of the words constituting the compound

E.g. play boy – Noun

     Play -Verb

     Boy – noun

Madman – noun

Mad – adjective

Man – noun

Colour blind – adjective

Colour — noun

Blind — adjective

Well – known – adjective

Well – adverb

Known – verb

Through the meaning i.e. some words retain their original meaning after the combination but some of the words convey the meaning that are totally different from the meaning of the original word

E.g. Green fly, Sweet heart, Pass word

(c) CONVERSION

This is the process of word formation (derivation process) whereby a base is assigned a new word category (class) without an addition or reduction of any affix. I.e. it is the process whereby a new word is formed by the change of one class into another without the addition or reduction of affix or syllable such as noun into verb adjective – noun and vice – verse

E.g. Love (N) Love is blind.

                 Love (V) I love you.

Walk (N) The walk to Kilimanjaro was fantastic.

Walk (V) We usually walk on foot to school.

Drink (N) We didn’t get any drink at chalinze.

Drink (V) My parents drink beer daily.

Help (N) I need help.

Help (V) I used to help him.

Work (N) My brother has gone to work.

Work (V) They work day and night.

Doubt (N) I did not have any doubt on her.

Doubt (V) I doubt his ability.

Lower (V) May you please lower your voice?

Lower (Adj) He usually speaks in a lower voice.

Ship (N) She traveled by ship.

Ship (V) Slave traders ship travel to America every year.

Poor (N) we need to help the poor.

Poor (Adj) That poor person has been killed.

NB: There some words which change from noun into verb by either voice in the final consonant or by stress shift

(N) Use /just/

(V) Use /just/

Advice (N) I gave him advice.

Advice (V) I advised him.

Object – (N) give me that object.

Object – (V) why do you object?

Conduct – (N) he didn’t show as any good.

Conduct – (V) conduct discussion.

Protest (N) — The protest was between government and student of Dodoma University.

Protest (V) – The groups of women took to the streets to protest against the arrest.

Present (N) Adj – I was present.

      —   He has brought a nice present.

Present (V) — Present your work.TASK
1. Construct two sentences in each of the following words showing how they can be used in a different word classes without any affixation process
        i) Water
        ii) Import
        iii) Produce
        iv) Class
        v) Cleaning

 2. Write new sentences by changing each of the words in capital in to noun

      I.  What  you PRESENT  to day will automatically affect your future

     II.   We except to  PRODUCE enough crops this year because there is enough rain

    III.   The names of evils doers were BLACKLISTED

    IV.    For the language to develop, it must borrow some vocabularies from other language.

(d) REDUPLICATION

This is the process of word formation where by new words are formed through the repetition of the same or almost the same sounds i.e. It is the process whereby the new word are formed by repeating sound which are either similar or slightly different

E.g.      Hush – hush

            Sing – song

            Tip – top

            Tick – tock

            Ding – dong

            Zig – zag

 Criss – cross

 Poor – poor

 Goody – goody

 See – saw

 Tom – tom

 Bow – Bo

NB: The new words that are formed as a result of reduplication process are known as reduplicative

The reduplication have the following basic uses

1.      To imitate sound

E.g. Ding – dong (sound of the bell)

Ha ha — (sound of laughter)

Bow – bow (dog barking)

Tick – tock (Clock sound)

2.      To make things took more intense than they are.

(To intensify adjectives)

E.g. Tip – top – (top most)

Goody – goody (very good)

3.      To suggest a state of disorder, instability, non-sense

E.g. Niggled – pigged (Un orderly/ mixed up)

Lodge – podge (disorganized)

Wishy – washy (weak)

Locus – pocus (Trickery)

Tick – tacky (cheap an of low quality)

Pool – pool (not working)

4. To suggest alternative movement of things

II.    Minor processes of word information

(e) CLIPPING

This process of word formation whereby one of the syllables are omitted or subtracted from a word and the remaining syllables are regarded as a new word

This occurs when a word of more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form which is regarded as a new word.

NB: The removal or emotion of a syllable may take place either at the beginning at the end of the word or both.

(f) BLENDING

This is the process of word formation whereby two or more parts, fragments or elements of two or more different words are put or joined together to form a new.

I.e. it is the process of talking only the beginning part of one word and joining it to (with) the beginning or the end of another word.

Example: 

breakfast + lunch = Bruch

Motorist + hotel =motel

Cellular + telephone = cell phone

Mobile + telephone = mobile

Television + Broad cast = telecast

International + police = Interpol

Transfer + resister = transistor

Information + entertainment = infotainment

Gasoline + alcohol = gas

International + network = internet

Television + marathon = telethon

Motor + pedal = moped

Electronic + mail = email

Smoke + fog = smog

Helicopter + airport = heliport

Parachute + troops = paratroops

Travel + catalogue = travelogue

Binary + Digit = bit

(g) ACRONYM

This is the process of word formation whereby the initial or first letters of different words are put together as a new word.

The words that are formed from the initial letter are technique termed as acronyms.

There are two types of acronyms      

i.     Acronyms pronounced as a sequence of letter

E.g.      C.O.D – cash on delivery

            CID – Criminal Investigation Department

            FBI – Federal bureau

            UN – United Nations

            IPA – International Phonetic Alphabet

            CUF – Civil United Front

            CPU- central processing unit

ii.   Acronyms pronounced as words

E.g.     NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization

TANESCO – Tanzania electricity Supply Company

UNO – United Nations Organization

UNESCO – United nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

AIDS – Acquired immune Deficiency and Syndrome

CUF – Civil United Fronts

TANU – Tanganyika African National Union

TAMWA – Tanzania Media Women Association

(h) BACK FORMATION

This is the process of word formation whereby new words are created or formed by the removal of some parts (affixes) from an existing word.

i.  A conflict

(i)    ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

(ii)   …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

ii.    Abuse

(i)    …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

(ii)   …………………………………………………………………………………………….

iii.  Insult

(i)      ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

(ii)   ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

iv.  Narrow

(i)     ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

(ii)     ……………………………………………………………………………………………

v.    Reject

(i)   ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

(ii)    …………………………………………………………………………………………..

3. Name the word formation processes involved in the formation of the words in brackets

       I.   Mwakifulefule had a  (jacket less)  book

       II.   Mayasa  (parties)  every Saturday night

      III.  Everybody must fight against (aids)

      IV.   Mufungwa  has just got a new (car phone)

      V.    Kagaruki wants  to be a (footballer)

 
NECTA  2012

1.  Read the following complex sentence and then answer the questions that follow.
Tanzania government has been using teacher in trying to transform education system which was inherited from the colonialism in order to match it with its own new goals, aspirations and concepts of development.
Identify the following from the above given sentence.
a. Five stems
b. From 5 stems in part (a) show the roots
c. 5 derivation morphemes
d. 5 inflectional morpheme

2.  a) Provide the adjectival forms the following words and write one Sentence for all
     b)  explain the process involved in the formation of the following groups of words

                        i.     Alcohol, boos, piano, zebra

                        ii.    Loan word, waste basket, water – bird, finger print

                        iii.   Facsimile – fax, cabriolet – cab, advertisement – ad

                        iv.   Telecast, hotel, heliport, brunch

  vi.     Telecast – television, opt- option, enthuse – enthusiasm, emote – emotion

Answers for question 1 & 2 (necta 2012)

1a.       Government
            Education
            Colonialism
            Aspiration
            Development

  b.     Govern
          Educate
          Colony
          Spice
          Develop      

   c.      meant
           ion
           ism
           ion
           met

  d.       -ing
            -en
             -s
             -ed

          
2. a) Breakable
        My pen is breakable.
   b. Measurable
        Ojiki’s thing is measurable
  c.   Mental
        She visited the mental clinic
  d.    Memorable
         Her birthday was a memorable event
  e.    Medical
         She is a medical student 
b)  (i)    Borrowing
     (ii)   Compounding
     (iii)  Clipping
     (iv)   Blending
     (v)    Back formation

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CAE Word Formation Exercise Grade/level: Advanced by englishmadefun	Word Formation — Stephen King Bio Grade/level: Intermediate by estherlee76	Use of English test 7 Grade/level: C1 by kadwent
Sport, Laser B2 Grade/level: b2 by AnnaSiciarek	Word formation Grade/level: 11 by mainhuy1985	Complete First for Schools Unit 3. Word Formation A Grade/level: B2 by JuditRD
Spotlight 6 Task 61011 Grade/level: Grade 6 by him2english	Spotlight 8 Task 8313 Grade/level: Grade 8 by him2english	Spotlight 6 Task 6914 Grade/level: Grade 6 by him2english
Spotlight 6 Task 6415 Grade/level: Grade 6 by him2english	Word Formation Grade/level: C1 by dominikadzik	Wordform Grade/level: 7 by NhuY5959
Megacities Grade/level: B2 by minaminina	Extra Training 2112 Grade/level: B1 by him2english	Shopping — Word Formation FCE Grade/level: Intermediate by teacherpriscilacarla
Word form- Multiple choce Grade/level: 10 by thuongpham	Word formation Grade/level: B2 by Mycupofteacher	Spotlight 8 Task 8703 Grade/level: Grade 8 by him2english
Word fomation i Grade/level: BACHILLERATO by studelamartinez	Cae word formation test 3-1 Grade/level: ADVANCED by juanmafuente	Food and drink Grade/level: 4 by ENGLISHEETS2020
Online Learning Grade/level: Intermediate by astee90	Word formation practice Grade/level: C2 by paddyburke	Spotlight 6 Task 6311 Grade/level: Grade 6 by him2english
Word formation 10 fce Grade/level: B2 by ROXANROXAN	Suffixes. -ment, -ion, -ence Grade/level: Pre- Intermediate by bmmartin	Prefix and Sufix Grade/level: 8º by profJoselma
Spotlight 8 Task 8507 Grade/level: Grade 8 by him2english	Word formation Grade/level: intermediate by sonne123	Making Nouns with Suffixes Grade/level: B2 by estherlee76
Environment (word formation) Grade/level: Intermediate by MiniKri	Forming Adjectives with Suffixes 2 Grade/level: B2 by estherlee76	Word Formation Grade/level: 2 bachiller by patriSB
First woman in space Grade/level: Intermediate by ryabenkoem	E9 — NC — CPE Mark Harrison — Word formation Grade/level: 9 by tranngagvcg2	Word formation 4 fce Grade/level: B2 by ROXANROXAN
UofE 2 Grade/level: B2 by veronicapetean	FCE sample exam Grade/level: B2 by budaianna	Word form Grade/level: Grade 9 by Phuongnt1212