Word formation

Wordformation

 Word-formation is a process of creating new

words by means of existing elements and
according to the patterns and rules of a given
language.

1) Derivation
2) Compounding
3) Conversion
4) Quantitative changes
Derivation=Affixation

 Derivation is a kind of word-formation when a new word

is formed by adding a derivational morpheme (usually
suffix or prefix) to the root.

1) Suffixation is a kind of word-formation when a new

word is formed by adding a suffix to the root.
2) Prefixation is a kind of word-formation when a new
word is formed by adding a prefix to the root.
1 Noun-forming suffixes
-age (passage, marriage, mileage…); -ance/-ence (assistance,
predominance, correspondence…); -dom (freedom,
kingdom…)
-ee (employee, referee…); -eer/er (engineer, profiteer,
manager…); -ess (manageress, heiress…)
-ist (economist…)
-hood (adulthood, singlehood…)
-ing (building, meaning…)
-ion/-sion/-tion/-ition/-ation (production, conclusion,
realisation…)
-ism (consumerism, perfectionism…)
-ment (agreement, investment…)
-ness (effectiveness…)
-ship (ownership…)
-ty/-ity (productivity, prosperity…)
-ure/-ture (procedure, expenditure…)
2 Adjective-forming suffixes

-able/-ible (manageable, permissible)

-al/-tal/-ial/-tial (economical, statistical)
-ant/-ent (redundant, dependent)
-ary (monetary, inflationary)
-ate/-ete (accurate, complete)
-ful (dutiful, powerful)
-ish (snobbish, reddish)
-ive (effective, extensive)
-less (effortless, powerless)
-like (businesslike, lifelike)
-ly (costly, orderly)
-ous/-ious (ambiguous, nutritious)
-some (troublesome, worrisome)
-y (sexy, worthy)
3 Verb-forming suffixes

-en (brighten, moisten)

-ify/-fy (intensify, qualify)
-ize/*-ise (rationalize, advertise, stabilize)

______________________________
*‘ize’ is often used in American English (maximize) as
an alternative spelling of ‘ise’ in British English
(maximise).
4 Adverb forming suffixes

-ly (frequently, perfectly)

*-ward/-wards (windward, backward, homewards)
-wise (vote-wise, percentage-wise) _
________________________________
*Words formed with ‘ward’ can usually be used as either
adverbs or adjectives words formed with ‘wards’ are
mainly used as adverbs (e.g. westward, westwards).
Prefixation

 Prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the root; therefore

the simple word and its prefixed derivative usually
belong to the same part of speech. The group of class-
changing prefixes is rather small, e.g.:
be- (belittle, befriend), de- (defrost, descale).
Negative prefixes
 Negative prefixes
give negative, reverse or opposite meaning

a- (apolitical, asexual)
de- (destabilise, declassify)
dis- (disenfranchise, disinvest)
il- (before l: illegal)/ im-(before p,b,m: imperceptible)/
in-(inadequate)/ ir-(before r: irresponsible)
non- (non-economic, non-profit)
un- (unacceptable, undemocratic)
Non-negative prefixes I

1) a. Degree, measures or size:

hyper- (hypercreative, hyperdevoted);
over- (overestimate, overcompensate); semi-
(semiskilled, semi-annual); super- (super-dominant,
supercharged); ultra- (ultra-conservative, ultra-secret)
2) Repetition or possibility:
em-(before p,b,m)/en- (embark, enclose)
3) Time, place, order relation:
ex- (ex-employer, ex-tenant); inter- (inter-office, inter-
government); post- (post-budget, post-election); pre-
(pre-delivery, pre-budget)
Non-negative prefixes II

4) Number and numeral relation: bi- (bilateral,

bilingual); multi- (multi-dimensional, multi-
media); uni- (unilateral, unisex)
5) Attitude, counteraction: anti- (anti-EEC,
antiestablishment); auto- (autodial,
autonomy); counter- (countercharge,
counteroffer); pro- (pro-business, pro-liberal)
6) Pejoration: mis- (miscalculation, mismanage);
pseudo- (pseudo-creativity, pseudo-
democratic)
Latin prefixes
magn- large, big, great
mal- bad, badly, wrong; ill; evil; abnormal, defective
medi- middle
non- nothing, not
omni- all, every
pro- before; for, in favor of; in front of; in place of
re- back, backward, again
semi- half, partly, twice
sub- under, below
ult- beyond, excessive, to an extreme degree
uni- one, single
ver- true, truth, real, truthfulness
via- way, road, path
Assignment 1
English Suffix
mileage
costly
manageable
salesmanship

expenditure
effortless
Assignment 2
Word Derived Word

capable

efficient

proud

ready

wise
Assignment 3
Noun Verb Adjective

argument

emptiness

intensity

satisfaction

strength
 Compounding
 Word formation process in which two or more lexemes combine into
a single new word. Compound words may be written as one word or
as two words joined with a hyphen:

• noun-noun compound: note + book → notebook

• adjective-noun compound: blue + berry → blueberry
• verb-noun compound: work + room → workroom
• noun-verb compound: breast + feed → breastfeed
• verb-verb compound: stir + fry → stir-fry
• adjective-verb compound: high + light → highlight
• verb-preposition compound: break + up → breakup
• preposition-verb compound: out + run → outrun
• adjective-adjective compound: bitter + sweet → bittersweet
• preposition-preposition compound: in + to → into
Compounds
 Compounds may be compositional, meaning that the
meaning of the new word is determined by combining
the meanings of the parts, or noncompositional,
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.
Some other examples:
• redcoat
• looking glass
• egghead
• highbrow
Compounds
 Endocentric compounds – the two constituent
elements are clearly the determinant and
determinatum (ashtray, mousetrap, stepladder)
 Exocentric compounds – the determinatum is
not expressed (hangover, killjoy, ladybird,
forget-me-not)
 Rhyme-motivated or reduplication (harum-
scarum, Humpty dumpty, hocus pocus)
 Pseudo-compounds (mayday, hamburger)
 Semiaffixes (chairman, yes-man, kissproof)
 All morphologic composites are based on the
same syntagmatic pattern “determinatum
determined by determinant”
The structural order of English compounds is
that of "determinant/ determinatum"
(abbreviated as dt/dm), meaning that the
determinant precedes the determinatum. Ex:
steam/boat, crafts/man, black/bird.
Assignment 4
English Determinant/ Determinatum

snail mail

shareholder

user-friendly

blackmail (verb!)

junk food
Conversion - zero derivation

 The process of converting words from one part

of speech to another without adding any
derivative element is called conversion or
zero derivation.

 "In English every word can be verbed..."

Conversion - classification
 Verbs
(to nurse, to hand, to e-mail, to finger, to hammer, to
empty, to up, to blind)
 Nouns
(a go, a hunt, a lift, a find, pros and cons, whys, ups and
downs, a black, breakdown, make-up, comeback, take-
off)
 Occasional formations (nonce-words)
Occasional words are usually emotionally coloured words
coined for a unique occasion.
E.g. Don’t darling me!, Don’t yes-mum me!
 Marginal Cases of Conversion
Cases of formations by shift of stress are neither
regular, nor productive.
E.g. verb > noun (abstract, import, refill, transfer)
verb > adjective ( frequent, moderate, perfect)
Assignment 5
Word Meaning

to chair

to elbow

do's and dont's

a must (conversion!)

the rich
Quantitative Changes

Clipping

Blending

Graphical Abbreviations

Back-formation
Clipping
 Clipping (shortening)
The shortening of words consists of the reduction of a word
to one of its parts, as a result of which the new form is used
as an independent lexical unit.
This type of word-formation is in English highly productive.
a. Final clipping – the beginning of the prototype is
retained. E.g. ad, advert < advertisement,
memo < memorandum, lab < laboratory,
gym < gymnasium, vac < vacuum cleaner.
b. Initial clipping – the final part is retained.
E.g. chute < parachute, phone < telephone,
copter < helicopter, plane < aeroplane.
c. The middle is retained. E.g. Liz < Elizabeth ,
flu < influenza, tec < detective.
d. The middle is left. E.g. fancy < fantasy,
bionics < binoculars, maths < mathematics,
ag’st < against.
Blending

Blending is a word-formation process of forming

a new lexeme from parts of two or more other
words.
E.g. motel < motor + hotel, smog < smoke + fog,
brunch < breakfast + lunch, transceiver <
transmitter + receiver, bit < binary digit, chunnel
< channel + tunnel.
Graphical abbreviations
 New lexical units formed from the initial letters of the words
and pronounced as one word – acronyms. E.g. UNESCO =
United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization, SARS=
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Scuba = Self-contained
Underwater Breathing Apparatus, NATO, radar, etc.
 New lexical units formed from the initial letters of the words
with alphabetic reading. E.g. BC, SOS, TV, VIP, VAT. (a.k.a.
Alphabetization)
 Initial abbreviation in which the first element is a letter and
the second a complete word. E.g. A-bomb, E-mail, U-
pronunciation (U < upper class).
 Latin abbreviations. E.g. AD, BC, i.e., e.g., pa.
 Shortenings formed by a part of a word and the remaining
part expressed by a capital letter or a figure. E.g. 2-nite, 4
you, par-T.
Assignment 6
Latin abbreviation Full expression Translation

AD

etc.

e.g.

i.e.

A.M.
(part of a day)
BACKFORMATION
A (diachronic) process where what appears to be
a suffix is removed from a lexeme to form a new
lexical item, usually belonging to a different word-
class.

For example:
•to lase from laser (the device laser existed
before a verb for the activity carried out by
means of the device),
•to edit from editor
•to stoke from stoker, etc.
NEO-CLASSICAL COMBINING

• At least one initial / final combining form

(morphemes of Greek or Latinate origin) is
combined with a free morpheme or another
neo-classical combining form into a new
lexical unit; ex. biology, bio-science

• -o-is often inserted to make a free English

lexeme compatible with the Latinate or
Greek combining form (jazz-o-phile)
EPONYMS

Words derived from proper names:

•sandwich, zipper, nicotine, watt.

ONOMATOPOEIA
 Words created to sound like the thing
that they name.

English Japanese Indonesian

Cock-a-doo Kokekokko Kukuruyuk

Meow Nya Meong