WORD FORMATION

Word formation or word building is the process of creation of new words from the
resources of a particular language.
Word formation is sometimes contrasted with semantic change, which is a change
in a single word's meaning. The line between word formation and semantic change is
sometimes a bit blurry; what one person views as a new use of an old word, another
person might view as a new word derived from an old one and identical to it in form.
Word formation can also be contrasted with the formation of idiomatic expressions,
though sometimes words can form from multi-word phrases.

BASIC CONCEPTS
1. Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit. It is the smallest component
of word, or other linguistic unit, that has semantic meaning.
Structurally, 2 types of morphemes are distinguished: Free morphemes and bound
morphemes.
Free morphemes can stand by themselves (i.e. they are what we conventionally
call words).
Bound morphemes cannot stand on their own, but need to be attached to a free
morpheme.
e.g. in “teacher, artist, re-do”,”teach”, “art”, “do” are free morphemes while “-er,-
ist, re-“ are bound morphemes.
Derivational morphemes
Morphemes that derive new words or that are used to create new words. Thus, in
the examples above, -er, -ist, re- are derivational morphemes.
2. Root
A root, also the base form, is the basic part of a word which can not be further
analyzed without total loss of identity. It is the part of the word left when all affixes are
removed.
e.g., heartlessly, unwanted, disagreement
3. Stem
A stem is that part of the word to which grammatical/inflectional affixes are added.
A stem consists minimally of a root, but may be analyzable into a root plus
derivational morphemes.
 Tables, teachers, blackboards,
4. Base
Every form to which an affix can be added is a base. Every root and every stem is
thus a base.
5. Affix
Affix is a collective term referring to a bound morpheme that is joined before, after,
or within a root or stem.
Prefix is that occurs in the front of a root or stem: e.g. Unfamiliar, disconnect,
irregular
Suffix is that occurs at the end of a root or stem: e.g. Happiness, development,
arrival
Infix is that occurs inside of a root or stem. Infixation is not a morphological
process in English.
6. Paradigm
Paradigm is the system of grammatical forms of a word. For example, the verbal
paradigm of learn includes learns (3rd person singular), learned (past indefinite and past
participle), learning (gerund and present participle).

TYPES OF WORDS
Structurally, English words consist of four main types namely,
1. Root words
Words that have only a root morpheme in its structure.
e.g,. chair, pen, tree, plant, man, woman, boy, girl
2. Derived words
Words that have a root and an affix (or several affixes)
e.g., investor, modernization, development, successfully
3. Compound words
Words that have two or more stems.
e.g., dancing-hall, lady-in-waiting, mother-in-law, forget-me-not
4. Shortenings/contracted words
Words that are formed by contracting certain elements of an existing word or word
group.
e.g., lab, exam, flu, phone, ASEAN, APEC, WTO, UNO, UNDP
MAJOR TYPES OF WORD FORMATION
There are four major types of word formation in English namely, affixation or
derivation, composition or compounding, conversion or zero-derivation, and shortening
or contraction. We shall in turn investigate each type of word formation now.

1. AFFIXATION/DERIVATION
Derivation or affixation is the formation of new words by adding affixes to other
words or morphemes.
e.g., able → unable – ability – inability – disable – …
learn → learnable – learned – learner – learning …
Some of the most common English derivational patterns :
adjective-to-noun: -ness → ready → readiness, careless- carelessness
adjective-to-verb: -ise/ize → industrial→ industrialize, social –socialize
adjective-to-adjective: -ish → white → whitish, blue- bluish
adjective-to-adverb: -ly → quick → quickly, final- finally
noun-to-adjective: -al → season → seasonal, profession - professional
noun-to-verb: - (i)fy → beauty → beautify, terror - terrify
verb-to-adjective: -able→ understand → understandable, love, lovable
verb-to-noun (abstract): -ance → resist → resistance, assist - assistance
verb-to-noun (concrete): -er → learn → learner, teach - teacher

Classification of affixes
Affixes play the key role in this way of word-formation. Let us have closer look at
them.
Affixes can be classified on the basis of four main criteria:
Etymologically, affixes are classified into two groups: native and borrowed
a. Native affixes:
Prefixes:
A- (in, on): abed, asleep, aboard, ashore
Be- (by): beside, behind, betimes
For (thoroughly): forbear, forgive
In (in): inland, income, inlay
 Mis (wrongly): misunderstand, mislead, misspell
Over (above, beyond): overdo, overwork, oversleep
Un (not, reverse): unhappy, uninteresting – untie, unload, unfold
Suffixes:
-er/or (person, doer): fighter, writer, translator, conductor
-ster: gangster, spinster, youngster
-hood/dom/ship (state, action, condition, being, etc.):
sisterhood, livelihood /boredom, gangsterdom/ relationship, kinship
-ness/th (state, action, condition, being, etc.):
happiness, hopelessness/ strength, width, depth
-en/ling/ let (diminutives):
Kitten, chicken/booklet, leaflet/pigling/duckling
-ed (having): gifted, talented, learned
-en (made of): earthen, leaden, wooden
-full (full of): beautiful, peaceful, joyful
-ish (somewhat like): whitish, bluish, womanish, bookish
-less (without): hopeless, homeless, careless
-ly (like, characterized by): manly, motherly, friendly
-some (with the quality of): troublesome, worrisome, wholesome
-en (cause/make): blacken, brighten, soften
-ly (in a…way): quickly, awfully, rarely

b. Borrowed affixes
Latin Affixes
Prefixes:
A /ab- (from, away): atypical, abnormal, avert
Am/ambi- (on both sides, around): ambiguous, ambition,
An/ante/anti - (before): antenatal, antenna, anticipate, ancestor
Bi/bin - (twice/two): biannual, bicentennial, binocular
Con /col/com/cor- (with, together): collect, combine, correspond
Contra/counter- (against): contraband, counter-attack, contradict
 Extra- (beyond): extra-time, extra-curriculum, extraordinary
In/il/im/ir- (not): incorrect, illegal, impolite, irregular
Mal/male- (ill, bad): malnutrition, malnourish, malevolent
Inter/intro- (among, within): interprovincial, interchange, introvert
Trans/tres- (across): transplant, transport, trespass
Suffixes:
-an/ain/en/on (person, doer): artisan, chieftain, citizen, surgeon
-ar/eer/ary/ee : scholar, engineer, revolutionary, employee
-age/ance/ence/cy/ion/ment (state, action, result of an action, etc.):
marriage, breakage/ existence, assistance,
tension, pension/development
-al/ar/ary: developmental, national/regular, familiar/ ordinary, necessary
-ant/ant/al : ignorant, pleasant, fragrant/ present, recent/ paternal, filial
-ble/able/ible: feeble/sensible, responsible/lovable, drinkable, eatable
-ive/ous: tentative, decisive, sportive/dangerous, enormous, populous
-ate/fy : terminate, associate, activate/purify, terrify, electrify
Greek Affixes
Prefixes:
Anti- (against): anti-democracy, anti-fascism,
Auto- (self): automobile, autograph, autobiography
Di- (twice, two): diode, dioxide, dioxin, dilemma
Dia- (though): diagonal, diameter
Eu- (well): euphemism, eugenics
Ex/ec- (out of): export, ex-president, eccentric
Hetero- (different): heterogeneous, heterosexual
Homo/hom- (like): homonym, homophone, homogeneous
Hyper- (over, beyond): hypertension, hyperbole
Macro- (large): microorganism, microscope
Micro- (small): microorganism, microscope
Mono- (alone, single): monotone, monopoly, monoculture
Pan- (all): pandemic, pantheism, panorama
Philo/phil- (love): philosophy, philanthropy
Suffixes:
-ic/ique: phonetic, economic, unique
-ist: activist, communist, chemist
-ism: tourism, communism, patriotism
-ize/ise; economize, civilize, industrialize
-sis/sy : synthesis, analysis, crisis

Productively, affixes are classified into two groups: productive and non-productive.
Some Productive Affixes

noun-forming suffixes -er, -ing, -ness, -ism, -ist , -ance

adjective-forming suffixes -y, -ish, -ed, -able, -less
adverb-forming suffix -ly
verb-forming suffixes -ize/-ise, -ate
prefixes un-, re-, dis-

Some Non-Productive Affixes

noun-forming suffixes -th, -hood

adjective-forming suffixes -ly, -some, -en, -ous
verb-forming suffix -en
Productivity refers to the ability of being used to form (after specific patterns)
new, occasional or potential words which are readily understood by the speakers of a
language. Productive affixes are often used to form new words or neologisms
(completely new words) and the so-called nonce-words (words made up for one
occasion and not likely to be encountered again).
Semantically, affixes are classified into various groups:
a. Negative prefixes

Affixes Meaning Examples

de opposite, reduce decrease, degrade

in not inability, incorrect
im(before p,b,m) not immature, improper
il (before l) not illegal, illiterate
ir (before r) not irregular, irresponsible
 mis wrong, mistakenly misspell, misinform
non/n not nonsense, never
un not, reverse unscrupulous, untie
under lower, not enough underestimate, underfoot
b. Prefixes of Location

Affixes Meaning Examples

ex out export, exile

extra outside extramural, extramarital
infra below infrared, infrastructure
inter between, among international, interchange
peri around periscope, perimeter
pro/pur forward, before, for proceed, pursue
re/retro back return, retroactive
sub under below subnormal
super/sur above, beyond supervise, surface
trans across transplant, translate
ultra in a excessive degree ultrasound, ultrasonic
c. Prefixes of time and order

Affixes Meaning Examples

ex formerly ex-president, ex-husband

ante before ante-meridiem
post after postpone, postgraduate
pre before premature, preliminary
prime first primary, primitive
re again replica, rediscover
retro backwards, back retroactive, retrograde
d. Prefixes of size
 Affixes Meaning Examples

equi equal equi-distant, equivalent

macro large, long, on a large scale macrobiotic, macrophone
maxi big maximum, maximal
mega great, large, million megaproject, megabyte
mini little, small minibus, miniproject
micro small, on a small scale microchip, microcomputer
semi half, partly semi-final, semi-model
pan all, on large scale Pandemic, panorama
e. Prefixes of number

Affixes Meaning Examples

semi half, partly semicircle, semicolon

mono one/single monoculture, monotone
bi two bilingual, bigamous
tri three triangle, triangulate
quad four quadrangle, quadrant
penta five pentagon, pentameter
hexa six hexagon, hexagram
Sept(em) seven septet, septuplet
oct eight octagon, octahedron
nona/nov nine November, nonagenarian
dec ten decade, decagon
multi many multiform, multicolored
f. Prefixes of attitude

Affixes Meaning Examples

co together co-author, cooperate, cohabit

counter against counter-attack, counter-revolution
 anti against antisocial, antinuclear
con, contra against contrary, contra-band
pro for, in favor of pro-Vietnam, pro-democracy
g. Pejorative affixes

Affixes Meaning Examples

mis wrongly misconduct, misleading

mal badly maltreat, malfunction
pseudo false pseudoscientific, pseudonymous

It should be noted that the meaning of a derived word is normally that of the root
and the affix. However, this is not always the case. For instance, the prefix “in-” means
“not” in invisible, indivisible, incorrect, inconvenient, etc. but invaluable does not mean
not valuable and infamous does not mean not famous.

Functionally, affixes are classified into four groups

a. Noun-forming

Affixes Meaning Examples

-ance, ance state, quality of independence, attendance
-er,-or,-yst person or thing writer, actor, analyst, artist
-action act of transaction, production
-tion, -ion state, action satisfaction, execution,
-ing activity learning, writing
-ment state/action amazement, movement
-ness condition fairness, quietness
-ity state, quality clarity, stupidity
-ism condition/domain/doctrine tourism, socialism, optimism
-dom,-ship condition/state Freedom, boredom, friendship
b. Verb-forming

Affixes Meaning Examples

 -ize/-ise make computerize, modernize
-ate make automate, activate
-fy make simplify, electrify
-en, en- make enlarge, enrich; harden, widen.
be- make bewitch, bedazzle, befriend
c. Adverb-forming

Affixes Meaning Examples

-ly in the manner of electronically, logically, rapidly
-ward(s) motion towards downward, homeward
-wise direction/ manner clockwise, likewise

d. Adjective-forming

Affixes Meaning Examples

-al,-ar,-ary having quality of logical, circular, stationary

-ic, ical having quality of automatic, electrical,
-able, ible capable of being changeable, divisible, visible
-ous like, full of dangerous, poisonous
-ing making, causing interesting, threatening
-ed having, caused by punched, worried
-full characterized by helpful, careful, fearful
-y characterized by, full of foxy, rainy, windy
-ish having taint shade of yellowish, bluish, childish
-ive having quality of interactive, passive

2. CONVERSION (Zero-derivation)
Conversion (Zero-derivation) is the formation of new words by changing the
category of part of speech of existing ones with their morphemic shape remaining
unchanged.
 Conversion is also referred to as a special type of derivation where the word
forming means is the paradigm of the word itself, i.e. derivation achieved by bringing a
stem into a different formal paradigm.
Consider the italicized words in the following sentences:
The government has legitimate grounds to cut expenditure, but the minimal saving
from the pay cut gives rise to suspicion that it is politically motivated. “Is the deficit caused
only by civil servants, should it be shouldered only by civil servants?” asked a lawmaker and
labor activist in the Legislative Council debate. “Why not raise taxes? Why not tax the rich
more?”.
In these sentences “cut”, “shoulder”, “rich” are no longer a verb, a noun, an
adjective, respectively are they usually are.
Conversion has furnished English with countless new expressions, e.g. "access", as
in "access the file", which was previously a noun, as in "gain access to the file". Similar
mainstream examples include "host", as in "host a party", and "chair", as in "chair the
meeting". Other formations, such as “gift”, are less widespread but nevertheless
mainstream. Examples of conversion in the English language number in the thousands,
including some of the most common words, such as mail and e-mail, strike, beer, talk,
salt, pepper, switch, bed, sleep, ship, train, stop, drink, cup, lure, mutter, dress, dizzy,
divorce, fool, merge, and many more, to be found on virtually every page in the
dictionary.
Conversion may be applied to almost all types of part of speech:
Adverbs become nouns:
My company has experienced so many ups and downs in the past years.
Conjunctions become nouns:
If your ifs were true everyone would become millionaires.
Adjectives become nouns:
He is not a native here. Progressives do not behave like that.
Verbs become nouns:
"Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk."
Adjectives become verbs:
Our task is to green these bare hills in the years to come.
All the leaves are yellowing.
Nouns become verbs:
It was not easy for us to access those villages during the high flood.
More foreign investors are eyeing Vietnam‟s market now.
 Conversion is a fairly productive process. Although most products of conversion
are regarded as neologisms, and may meet considerable opposition from prescriptivist
authorities, they are extremely common in colloquial speech, particularly specialized
jargon, where words are needed to describe common actions or experiences.
Conversion is sometimes used to create nonce words or joking words. Sometimes
these jocular constructions gain favor and become used in serious discourse, due to a
subtle shade of meaning which is present in the neologism but absent from similar
standard verbs. In other cases, simple conversion is involved, as with formations like
beer, as in beer me (“give me a beer”) and eye, as in eye it (“look at it”).

Grammatically, when a word is formed by conversion, it is subject to all the

grammatical changes of the new part of speech it has been converted into. In another
word, it has a new paradigm peculiar to its new category of part of speech.
For example, dog (n) → dog (v)

Substantive paradigm Verbal paradigm

Plural: dogs 3th person singular : dogs
Possessive case: dog‟s (singular) Past indefinite, PII: dogged
Possessive case: dogs‟ (plural) Gerund, PI: dogging
Semantically, when a word is formed by conversion, its meaning may be slightly
different from that of the word from which it was made. However, there are usually
certain semantic or logical associations between the two (which helps the listener or
reader to deduce the meaning of the word). The following examples will demonstrate
this.
If the noun is the name of a tool or implement, the verb denotes an action
performed by the tool or related to that tool:
The world economy was hammered by the financial crisis.
If the noun is the name of an animal, the verb denotes an action or aspect of
behavior typical of that animal:
Last night on the way home from class she was dogged by a stranger.
If the noun is a part of human body, the verb indicates an action related to that
part:
Hand in your papers, please.
If the noun is the name of a container, the verb indicates the action of putting
something into it.
This beer is canned by Viet Ha brewery.
 If the noun is the name of a natural phenomenon, the verb indicates the action
caused by it.
The whole city was severely flooded after the torrential rain.

3. COMPOSITION/COMPOUNDING
Composition or compounding is the formation of new words by combining two or
more existing words.
The products made through this process are known as compounds
e.g., boy friend, earthquake, dragon-fruit, butter-fly, fast-food,
pickpocket

Common patterns to make compounds:

Compound nouns:
N + N: classroom, timetable, address book
Adj + N: old-age, high-school,
Adj + PII: newborn, new wed
V+ N: pickpocket,
V + particle: pick-up, press-down
N+ V-ing: family-planning, ticket-booking, water-skiing
Phrase compounds: whisky and soda, bread and butter
Compound adjectives:
Adj/ number + N + “-ed”: red-haired, blue-eyed, four-legged, one-eyed
Adj/ adv + PII: low-paid, well-known, beautifully-written
Adj/, adv + PI: good-looking, sweet-smelling, far-seeing
Adj + adj: dark-blue, light-yellow
N + adj: snow-white, bean-green, sky-blue, skin-deep
Phrase compounds: happy-go-lucky, out-of-date, never-to-be-forgotten.
Compound verbs:
N + V: sky-dive, ice-skate, window-shop, bottle-feed
V + V “freeze-dry”, stir-fry
A + V: double-book, ill-treat, deep-fry
Particle + V: overbook, underestimate, back-comb
 Phrase compounds: take part in, take care of, pay attention to

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPOUNDS
For the classification of compounds, two main criteria can be based on namely,
structural and semantic.
Structural criterion
Structurally, compounds can be divided into three types namely, neutral,
morphological and syntactic

a. Neutral compounds
Neutral compounds are those formed by combing two stems without using any
linking elements. Neutral compounds consist of three subtypes:
-. Simple neutral compounds
Compounds whose components are root words
e.g. house-boat, blackboard, table-tennis,
-. Derivational compounds
Compounds of which one or both components are derived words:
e.g. clear-sighted, stage-artist, eye-opener
-. Contracted compounds
Compounds of which one component is a contracted word:
e.g. CIA- agent, U-turn, H-bomb

b. Morphological compounds
Morphological compounds are those formed by combining 2 stems with the help
of a linking vowel or consonant.
e.g. sportsman, handicraft, speedometer

c. Syntactic compounds
Syntactic compounds are chunks or strings of words formed from segments of
speech, preserving in their structure numerous traces of syntagmatic relation typical of
speech:
e.g., lady-in-waiting, you-know-what, know-all, good-for -nothing
Syntactic compounds include so many neologisms, and nonce-words:
e.g., in-a-gadda-da-meeting, chainsaw-consultant, starter-marriage
Semantic criterion
Semantically, compounds can be classified into two main types: non-idiomatic
and idiomatic compounds.
a. Non-idiomatic compounds:
Non-idiomatic compounds are compounds whose meanings can be seen as the sum
of the meanings of their components.
e.g., school-bag, toy-car, woman-teacher, classmate, family-planning

b. Idiomatic compounds:
Idiomatic compounds are compounds whose meanings do not correspond to the
meanings of their components.
-. The meanings of their components have partially changed:
e.g., greengrocer, black-market, good-for-nothing, money-under-the-table
-. The meaning of their components have completely changed or lost:
e.g., butter-fly, green-finger, happy-go-lucky,
ladybird, lady‟s fingers, bluebottle.

COMPOUNDS VERSUS WORD COMBINATIONS

To differentiate between compounds and word combinations, the following criteria
can be based on:

a. Graphically, components of a compound are usually jointly written or hyphenated while

words in a word combination are always separately written.
e.g., bluebottle, blue-bottle (compound)
blue bottle (word combination)
Note: In some cases, however, components of compounds are still written
separately.
A few compound adjectives are made up of more than two words and they are often
written with hyphens when they are used in front of nouns, and without hyphens when they
are used as the complement of a link verb.
e.g., It was a free-and-easy relationship.
That book is out of date.

b. Phonetically, a compound normally has only one stress falling on the first syllable
while each word in word combination has a stress of its own.
e.g., a „bluebottle, „blue-bottle (compound)
 „blue „bottle (word combination)
Note: Compounds adjectives may be stressed in the way as word
combinations. That is to say compound adjectives may have stress on both
components.
e.g., „open-„minded, „hard-„working, „well-„known

c. Semantically, a compound expresses only one concept while a word combination

expresses two or more concepts (depending on the number of words in the word
combination).
e.g., “bluebottle / blue-bottle” denotes the concept of an insect
“blue bottle” denotes the concepts of color and container

d. Syntactically and morphologically, a compound is treated as a complete unity

indivisible. Each compound belongs to one certain part of speech and is therefore subject
to the grammatical changes of that part of speech. No extra word can be added between
them. In contrast, each word in a word combination is an independent unit, belonging to a
certain part of speech and has all the grammatical changes of that part of speech. Extra
words can be added between them.
e.g., bluebottle → bluebottles; bluebottle‟s → bluebottles‟
blue bottle → bluer bottle(s); bluish bottle(s) → blue and red plastic bottle (s)

4. SHORTENING/CONTRACTION
Shortening is the formation of new words by contracting certain elements of
existing words or word groups.
Shortening tends to be a very productive way of word formation, especially in
American English. It consists of three subtypes:

a.Clipping is excluding certain part of the existing word. Clipping includes:

Initial clipping: the initial part o the word is excluded:
violoncello - cello, telephone – phone, omnibus- bus
Final clipping: the final part is excluded
laboratory – lab, dormitory – dorm, gasoline – gas
Initial-final-clipping: both the initial and final parts are excluded.
detective – tec, Elizabeth – Liz, influenza – flu
Medial clipping: the medial part is excluded.
mathematics – maths, pantaloons – pants, spectacles – specs
 Initial-final-clipping and medial clipping are not very productive processes.

b. Abbreviation - is the process in which a word is formed from the initials of a word
groups.
UNO from the United Nations Organization,
BBC from the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Sonar from sound navigation and ranging
Abbreviations may be pronounced differently:
- Pronounced only as the names of letters
USA, BBC, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
- Pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters
AIDS, NATO, ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order),
Scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
- Pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters
Interpol: International Criminal Police Organization
Radar: radio detection and ranging
- Pronounced as a word or names of letters, depending on speaker or context
FAQ: (/fæk/ or F A Q) frequently asked questions
SAT: (/sæt/ or S A T) Scholastic Achievement (or Aptitude) Test(s),
- Pronounced as a combination of names of letters and a word
CD-ROM: (C-D- /rɒm/ (Compact Disc read-only memory)
- Pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut
AAA: (triple A) American Automobile Association; (three As) Amateur Athletic
Association
IEEE: (I triple E) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Although the term acronym or abbreviation is widely used to describe any
abbreviation formed from initial letters, some have used the term initialism or
alphabetism to refer to an abbreviation formed simply from, and used simply as, a string
of initials, and acronym to refer to an abbreviation pronounced as a single word.

c. Blending is merging parts of existing words into one to form a new word.
binary + digit = bit
camera + recorder = camcorder
 television + evangelist = televangelist
European + television = Eurovision
Most blends are formed in one of the following ways:
The beginning of one word is added to the end of the other .
e.g., brunch is a blend of breakfast and lunch.
simultaneous + broadcast → simulcast, spoon + fork → spork
The beginnings of two words are combined.
e.g., cyborg is a blend of cybernetic and organism.
Two words are blended around a common sequence of sounds.
e.g., motel is a blend of motor and hotel, chunnel (channel and tunnel)

MINOR TYPES OF WORD FORMATION

1. ONOMATOPOEIA/SOUND IMITATION
The creation of words from sounds that resemble those associated with the objects or
actions to be named, or that seem suggestive of its qualities.
This type of word-formation is now also called echoism.
For examples, hiccup, zoom, bang, beep, splash.
The majority of onomatopoeic words serve to name sounds or movements. Most
of them are verbs easily turned into nouns: bang, boom, bump, hum, rustle, smack, thud,
etc.
Onomatopoeias are not the same across all languages; they conform to some extent
to the broader linguistic system they are part of; hence the sound of a clock “tick tock”,
the cry of a rooster “cock-a-doodle-doo” and the bark of a dog “bowwow” in English
may be “tích tắc”, “ò…ó… o…ò” and “gâu gâu” respectively in Vietnamese.
Like every other device of the writing art, onomatopoeia can be overdone, but it is
effective in creating mood or pace.
Onomatopoeia every time I see ya
My senses tell me hubba
And I just can't disagree.
I get a feeling in my heart that I can't describe.
It's sort of whack, whir, wheeze, whine
Sputter, splat, squirt, scrape
Clink, clank, clunk, clatter
 Crash, bang, beep, buzz
Ring, rip, roar, retch
Twang, toot, tinkle, thud
Pop, plop, plunk, pow
Snort, snuck, sniff, smack
Screech, splash, squish, squeak
Jingle, rattle, squeal, boing
Honk, hoot, hack, belch."
(From "Onomatopoeia" by Todd Rundgren)

Words of type of word-formation can be made by imitating different kinds of

sounds that may be produced by animals, insects, human beings and inanimate objects.
For animal sounds, words like quack (duck), bark (dog), roar (lion) and meow
(cat) are typically used in English. Some of these words are used both as nouns and as
verbs.

2. REDUPLICATION
Reduplication is the formation of words by repeating root or stem of a word, or
part of it, either without any phonetic changes or with a variation of the root-vowel or
consonant.
There are main three types of reduplication:
1. Rhyming reduplication:
e.g., claptrap, hokey-pokey, honey-bunny,
razzle-dazzle, super-duper, teenie-weenie
Occasionally this morphological tendency to reduplicate is strengthened by a semantic
component. In the word walkie-talkie, for instance, not only do the combined parts rhyme
but also the linking of their independent meanings captures the word's connotation.
2. Exact reduplications:
e.g., bye-bye, choo-choo, night-night,
no-no, pee-pee, poo-poo
3. Ablaut reduplications:
e.g., chit-chat, criss-cross, ding-dong, knick-knack,
pitter-patter, splish-splash, zig-zag
In the ablaut reduplications, the first vowel is almost always a high vowel and the
reduplicated ablaut variant of the vowel is a low vowel. There is also a tendency for the first
vowel to be front and the second vowel to be back.
 None of the above types are particularly productive, meaning that the sets are
fairly fixed and new forms are not easily accepted.

3. BACK-FORMATION/REVERSION
Back-formation is the creation of new words by extracting actual or supposed
affixes from existing ones.
For example, the verb “type-write” is formed from the noun “type-writer”,
the adjective "couth" from "uncouth",
the verb “televise” from the noun “television”
This is a reverse process of the general rule to form new words where new words
are formed by adding affixes to the root or base. Back formation shortens words created
from longer ones. However, back formation is different form shortening, for example, in
that it may change the part of speech or the meaning of the word, whereas clipping
creates shortened words from longer words, but does not change the part of speech or the
meaning of the word.
Other examples,
burgle (v) from the older English noun burglar
diagnose (v) from the older English noun diagnosis
edit (v) from the noun editor
euthanize (v) from the noun euthanasia.
greed (n) from the adjective greedy