Word formation stands for the process of forming new words from words or word groups woth the same root.It refers to how new words are created in a language. It has traditionally been regarded as a branch of lexicology or a branch of grammar equal in importance to jorphology and syntax, or it has been assigned to morphology.
Word formation occurs through some formal ways established
within a given language, which gives a new or more precise meaning to the
original elements. In the English
language, word formation refers to creating new words or vocabulary items by employing different rules and processes.
Forming new words functions as an important means of supplementing
vocabulary and forming specialized terms, helps expand our vocabulary, and
facilitates our smooth and flexible communication. Let us now study the major word formation rules and processes.
Derivation is the word formation process in which a derivational affix attaches to the base form of a word to create a new word. Affixes, which include prefixes and suffixes, are bound morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest linguistic unit of a language with semantic meaning. Bound morphemes, unlike free morphemes, cannot stand alone but must attach to another morpheme, such as a word. For example, the following table provides examples of some common prefixes and suffixes with definitions in English:
|
Prefixes |
Definitions |
Suffixes |
Definitions |
|
a- co- de- dis- en- |
-without -together -opposite, negative Removal-
opposite, negative -cause to be |
-able -er -ful -fy -ism |
-sense of being -agent -characterized
by -make, become,
cause to be -action or
practice, state or condition |
Derivation may result in new words of the same grammatical form, for
example, noun to noun, or of different grammatical forms, for example, verb to
noun:
Ø verb
to verb: appear – disappear
Ø noun
to noun: friend – friendship
Ø adjective
to adjective: practical - impractical
Grammatical form changing derivation
Ø verb
to noun: preserve -> preservation
Ø verb
to adjective: bore -> boring
Ø noun to verb: code – codify
Ø noun
to adjective: nature – natural
Ø adjective
to noun: ugly -> ugliness
Ø adjective
to verb: sweet -> sweeten
Ø adjective
to adverb: quick -> quickly
Counting prefixes: quantifying the root
Ø a-an:
"lacking" asymmetry, amoral
Ø ambi:
"both, around": ambians, ambiguous, amphitheatre
Ø arch:
"chief, principal, high" archbishop, archduke
Ø bi: "twice, double" bilingual,
bicycle, bipolar, biennial,
Ø di:
"two" dichloride, dioxide
Ø mono: "one" monograph, monosyllabic
Ø multi:
"many" multilingual, multifaceted
Ø oligo:
"few" oligarchy, oligotrophic
Ø omni:
"all" omnipotent, omniscient
Ø pan: "all, comprising or affecting all" panorama, pandemic
Ø anti- "opposed, instead, against"
antidote, antacid
Ø auto-"self"'
automation, autobiography
Ø co-con-
"together, jointly" cooperate, coexistence
Ø contra
"against, opposite" contradiction, contrary
Ø vice- "in place of, instead" vice-president, vice-chancellor
Judgment prefixes: making judgments about the root
Ø dis-
disturb, disgruntle
Ø dys-
"bad, badly" dyslogistic
Ø eu- "good, well" euphoria,
evangelical of
Ø extra- "outside the scope of
extraordinary, extraterrestrial
Ø mal-
"ill, evil, wrong" malnutrition
Ø meta-
"changed, transcending" metaphysics, metalanguage
Ø mis-
"badly, wrongly" misuse, miscalculate
Ø pro-
"on behalf of" pro-education
Ø proto-
"first, chief" protolanguage
Ø pseudo
"false, deceptive, resemblance" pseudonym
Ø ad-
"toward" admit, advance
Ø ana-
"back" anatomy, analogy
Ø apo-
"away, from" apology
Ø cata-
"down, away, back, opposite" catastrophe
Ø circum-
"around" circumcise
Ø counter-
"against, opposite" counterfeit, counterargument
Ø de-
"away from, down" deny, depend
Ø dia-
"across, through" diachronic
Ø ecto-, exo -: "external" ectoderm,
exocentric
Ø en-
"in, into" enclose
Ø endo- "internal" endoscopy
Ø epi-
"on, over" epiderm
Ø ex-,
ec -: "out from, away" eccentric
Ø in- "in, into, within" intransitive
Ø infra- "below, beneath, within"
infrastructure
Ø inter-
"between, among" internet
Ø intra-,
intro- "inside" introduction
Ø ob-
"toward, against" obfuscate
Ø para- "beside, along with" paramedic
Ø per- "through, thoroughly"
performance
Ø peri-
"around, nearby" perimeter
Ø pro- "in front of" proverb
Ø pros-
"concerning, toward" prosody
Ø retro-
"backwards, back" retrospective
Ø sub-
"under, below" subway
Ø super-
"over, above" superlative
Ø sur-
"over, beyond, above" surrealist
Ø syn-
"with, together" syntax
Ø trans-, tres-, tra- "across,
surpassing" transgression
Measurement prefixes: implying quantity or
degree
Ø crypto-
"secret, hidden" cryptography
Ø hyper-
"over" hypermedia
Ø hypo-
"under, slightly" hypoglossal
Ø is-,
iso- "equal" isotope
Ø macro- "large, broad scale"
macroeconomics
Ø micro- "tiny, small scale"
microscope
Ø mid- "middle" midnight
Ø semi-
"half, partly" semifinal
Ø ultra- "beyond, extreme" ultraviolet
Negative prefixes: suggesting negative
senses
Ø dis-
"apart, reversal, lacking" displace
Ø in-
"negative" incredible, illegible
Ø non-"not" nonsense
Ø ob-"inverse, in the opposite
directions" object
Ø se-, sed- "apart" seduce, separate
Ø un- "not, opposite" uneven
Temporal prefixes: indicating time and
duration
Ø ante-
"preceding" ante-Norman
Ø fore-
"before" foreword
Ø neo-
"new, recent" neolithic
Ø post-
"after, behind" postpone
Ø pre-, pro- "before, in front of"
preface
Ø re-, red- "anew, again, back"
rehearse, regenerate
- Ø -able "fit for doing, fit for being done" comfortable
- -an, -ian "belonging to, resembling" reptilian
Ø -ary
"having a tendency or purpose" secondary
Ø -ate "full of" passionate
Ø -ese
"belonging to a place" Portuguese
Ø -esque
"having the style of something" picturesque
Ø -esc
"become" coalesce
Ø -ful
"full of something" skillful
Ø -iac
"pertaining to the property of" maniac
Ø -ic
"having the property of" medic
Ø -ish
"to become like something" girlish
Ø -ive
"characterized by" passive
Ø -less
"without, free from" fearless
Ø -ly
"appropriate to, befitting" timely
Ø -oid
"having the shape of, resembling" humanoid
Ø
-arium "locative, a place for of connected with" aquaria
Ø -ess "feminine of something" tigress
Ø -let "diminutive" booklet
2. Back-formation
Back-formation is the word formation process in which an actual or supposed derivational affix detaches from the base form of a word to create a new word. The following table shows examples of some common back-formations in English:
|
Original |
Back-formation |
|
Babysitter donation gambler hazy moonlighter obsessive procession resurrection sassy television |
babysit donate gamble, haze moonlight obsess process resurrect sass televise |
Back-formation is often the result of an overgeneralization
of derivational suffixes. For example, the noun back-formation entered the
English lexicon first, but the assumption that the (at)ion on the end of the
word is the -ion derivational suffix results in the creation of the verb
back-form. Back-formation, therefore, is the opposite of derivation.
3.
Conversion
email experienced conversion, thus resulting in the new verb email. Conversion
is also referred to as zero derivation or null derivation, with the assumption
that the formal change between words results in the addition of an invisible
morpheme. However, many linguists argue for a clear distinction between the
word formation processes of derivation and conversion. Now, let us study some
conversions as follows:
Noun to verb
conversion:
The most productive form of conversion in English is noun to verb
conversion. The
The following table provides examples of verbs converted from nouns:
|
Nouns |
Verbs |
|
access
- bottle
- can
- closet email - eye
- fiddle - fool- Google
- host- knife
- microwave
- |
-
to access -
to bottle -
to can -
to closet -
to email -
to eye -
to fiddle -
to fool -
to google -
to host -
to knife -
to microwave |
Another productive form of conversion in English is verb to noun conversion. The following table exhibits examples of nouns converted from verbs:
|
Verbs |
Nouns |
|
to alert - to attack - to call – to clone - to command - to cover - to cry – to experience - to
fear - to
feel - |
-
alert - attack -call -
clone -
command -
cover -
cry -
experience -
fear -
feel |
Conversion also occurs, although less frequently, to and from other grammatical forms, for example:
Ø adjective
to verb: green-to green (to make environmentally friendly)
Ø preposition to noun: up, down - the ups and
downs of life
Ø conjunction to noun: if, and, but - no ifs,
ands, or buts
Ø interjection
to noun: ho ho ho -+ I love the ho ho hos of Christmas time.
4. Compounding
Compounding is the word formation process in which two or more lexemes
or words combine into a single new word. Compound words may be written as one
word or as two words joined with a hyphen. For example:
Ø noun-noun
compound: note + book – notebook
Ø adjective-noun compound: blue + berry –
blueberry
Ø verb-noun compound: work + room – workroom
Ø noun-verb
compound: breast + feed – breastfeed
Ø verb-verb compound: stir + fry - stir-fry
Ø adjective-verb
compound: high + light – highlight
Ø verb-preposition
compound: break + up – breakup
Ø preposition-verb
compound: out + run – outrun
Ø adjective-adjective compound: bitter + sweet –
bittersweet
Ø preposition-preposition
compound: in + to – into
Compounds may be compositional, meaning that the meaning of the new word is determined by combining the meanings of the parts, or non-compositional, meaning that the meaning of the new word cannot be determined by combining the meanings of the parts. For example, a blueberry is a berry that is blue. However, a breakup is not a relationship that was severed into pieces in an upward direction.
Compound nouns should not be confused with nouns modified by adjectives,
verbs, and other nouns. For example. The adjective black of the noun
phrase black bird is different from the adjective black of the
compound noun blackbird in that black of black bird
functions as a noun phrase modifier while the black bird is an inseparable part
of the noun: a black bird also refers to any bird that is black in colour while
a blackbird is a specific type of bird.
5. 5. .Clipping
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:
Ø
advertisement – ad
Ø
alligator - gator
Ø examination
- exam
Ø gasoline
- gas
Ø gymnasium
-gym
Ø influenza
- flu
Ø laboratory
- lab
Ø mathematics
-math
Ø memorandum
- memo
Ø photograph
- photo
Ø public
house - pub
Ø raccoon
- coon
Ø situation
comedy -sitcom
Ø telephone-
phone
6. 6. Blending
Blending is the word formation process in which the parts of two or more
words combine to create a new word whose meaning is often a combination of the original
words. For example:
Ø
advertisement + entertainment- advertainment
Ø biographical
+ picture- biopic
Ø breakfast
+ lunch - brunch
Ø chuckle
+ snort - chortle
Ø cybernetic
+ organism -cyborg
Ø guess+
estimate - guesstimate
Ø hazardous
+ material - hazmat
Ø motor
+hotel - motel
Ø prim
+ sissy - prissy
Ø simultaneous+
broadcast - simulcast
Ø smoke
+ fog - smog
Ø Spanish
+ English - Spanglish
Ø spoon
+ fork - spork
Ø telephone
+ marathon - telethon
Ø web+ seminar - webinar
7. Abbreviations
Abbreviation is the word formation process in which a word or phrase is shortened. Initialisms are a type of abbreviation formed by the initial letters of a word or phrase. Although the abbreviation is largely a convention of written language, sometimes abbreviations carry over into spoken language, for example:
Written abbreviations
Apr- April
cm- centimeter(s)
d. - died. died in
dept. - department
Dr. - doctor
Jr. - Junior
Mr. - Mister
oz - ounce(s)
Sun. - Sunday
yd - yard(s)
Spoken-written abbreviations
A.M. - ante meridiem [in the morning]
B.C.E. - Before Common Era
GOP- Grand Old Party (Republican Party)
HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus
i.e. - id est [that
is}
JFK - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
OJ - orange juice
PMS - premenstrual syndrome
RSVP - répondez s'il
vous plait
VIP - very important person
8. Acronyms
Acronyms are words formed by the word formation process in which
an initialism is pronounced as a word. For example, IIV is an initialism for
Human Immunodeficiency Virus that is spoken as the three letters H-I-V.)
However, AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, which is
spoken as the word aids. Other examples of acronyms in English include:
ASAP -- as soon as possible
AWOL - absent without leave
Laser - light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASDAQ - National Association of Securities Dealers Automated
Quotations
PIN - personal identification number
Radar - radio detection and ranging
scuba - self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
TESOL - Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
WASP - White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
9. Eponyms :
Eponyms are words formed by the word formation process in which a new word is formed from the name of a real or fictitious person. For example:
atlas - Atlas
Boycott - Charles C. Boycott
Cardigan - James
Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
cereal -- Ceres
Dunce - John Duns Scotus
guillotine - Joseph
Ignace Guillotin
jacuzzi - Candido Jacuzzi
luddite - Ned Ludd
malapropism - Mrs. Malaprop
Mesmerize - Franz Anton Mesmer
Mirandaize - Ernesto A. Miranda
Narcissistic - Narcissus
Nicotine - Jean Nicot
Pasteurization - Louis Pasteur
poinsettia - Noel Roberts Poinsett
praline - César de Choiseul, Count Plessis-Praslin
sadistic - Marquis de Sade
Salmonella - Daniel Elmer Salmon
Sandwich - John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
volcano – Vulcan
10. Coinages
Coinage is the word formation process in which a new word is created either deliberately or accidentally without using the on-word formation processes and often from seemingly nothing, for example:
aspirin, escalator, heroin, band-aid, factoid, Frisbee, Google, kerosene, Kleenex, Laundromat, linoleum, muggle, nylon, psychedelic, quark, Xerox, Zipper
Non-words are new words formed through any number of word formation processes, with the resulting word meeting a lexical need that is not expected to recur. These words are created for the nonce, the term for the nonce meaning "for a single occasion”.
For example, the following list of words provides some nonce words with definitions as identified in the Oxford English dictionary:
·
cotton-wool - to stuff or close (the cars) with
cotton-wool.
· Jabberwock - The name of the fabulous monster in
Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky. Hence, in allusive and extended uses,
especially "incoherent or nonsensical expression." So Jabberwocky is an invented language, a meaningless language, a nonsensical behaviour; also nonsensical,
meaningless. topsy-turvy.
·
touch-me-not-ishness - having a
"touch-me-not" character; stand-off-ish.
·
twi-thought - an indistinct or vague thought.
· witchcraftical - The practices of a witch or
witches; the exercise of supernatural power supposed to be possessed by persons
in league with the devil or evil spirits. Power or influence like that of a
magician; bewitching or fascinating attraction or charm.
12. Borrowing
Borrowing is the word formation process in which a word from
one language is borrowed directly into another language.
For example, the following common English words are borrowed
from foreign languages:
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
13. Calquing
Calquing is the word formation process in which a borrowed
word or phrase is translated from one language into another. Calques are also
referred to as root-for-root or word-for-word translations.
For example, the following common English words are calqued from
foreign languages:
beer garden - German - Biergarten
blue-blood - Spanish - sangre azul
commonplace - Latin - locus commūnis
flea market - French
- marché aux puces
free verse - French - vers libre
loanword - German -
Lehnwort
long time no see -
Chinese - hão jiŭ bu jiàn
pineapple - Dutch -
pijnappel
scapegoat - Hebrew -
cz ozel
wisdom tooth - Latin - dênse sapientiae
14. Reduplication
Reduplication consists in the repetition of all or part of a root or stem
to form new words. If the entire root or stem is repeated, the process is
called complete (or total) reduplication, and the new word is considered a
repetitive compound. If only a part of the root or stem is repeated, the
process is called partial reduplication, and the repeated portion is called a
reduplicative. Such reduplicative may occur preposed, interposed, and postposed
to the root or stem.
In English, partial reduplication is a little bit more
common than total reduplication. Quirk et al. (1985) refer to the words formed
by either type of reduplication as reduplicatives. As an example of total
reduplication, they give bye-bye, goodygoody (a self consciously virtuous
person). As to partial reduplication, they say that the constituents of the reduplicatives
may differ in the initial consonants, as in walkie-talkie, or in the medial
vowels,e.g. criss-cross. The same authors add that most reduplicatives are highly
informal or familiar, and many belong to the sphere of child-parent talk, e.g
.. din-din (dinner).
15. Symbolism
Symbolism consists in altering the internal phonemic
structure of a morpheme to indicate grammatical functions. For example, in order
to form the plurals of goose and tooth in English, the phoneme / u: / is
replaced by the phoneme/i: /, thus yielding the plural forms geese and teeth,
respectively.
It is important to point out that the new words created by
the process of symbolism are usually considered irregular forms and have come
to be as a result of historical changes in the development of the language.
16. Suppletion
Suppletion consists in a complete change in the form of a
root or the replacement of a root by another morphologically unrelated root with
the same component of meaning in different grammatical contents. For example, good
and well change to better and best in the comparative
and superlative. Similarly, bad and badly change to worse
and worst. Likewise, be changes to am, are, and
is in the present; am and is change to was and are
to were in the past. Another example is go which changes to
went in the past. As can be seen, this process yields completely irregular
forms.
No comments:
Post a Comment