Chapter 4
Word Formation 2
1 - Word-formation: affixation(30%-40%), companding(28%-30%), conversion(26%), shortening(8%-10%), blending(1%)
2 - Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding word-forming or derivational affixes to stems. This process is also known as derivation, for new words created in this way are derived from old forms. The words formed in this way are called derivatives.
Prefixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to stems. Prefixes do not generally change the word-class of the stem but only modify its meaning. Nine groups: Negative prefixes, Reversative prefixes, Pejorative prefixes, Prefixes of degree or size, Prefixes of orientation and attitude, Locative prefixes, Prefixes of time and order, Number prefixes, Miscellaneous prefixes.
Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to stems. Suffixes have only a small semantic role, their primary function being to change the grammatical function of stems. In other words, they mainly change the word class. When the suffix under discussion is added to the stem, whatever class it belongs to, the result will be a noun or an adjective.
Noun suffixes
1) Denominal nouns: a. Concrete, b. Abstract.
2) Deverbal nouns: a. The following suffixes combine with verb stems to create largely nouns denoting people, b. Suffixes of this group added to verb stems to produce largely abstract nouns, denoting action, result, process, state, etc
3) De-adjective nouns
4) Noun and adjective suffixes
Adjective suffixes
1) Denominal suffixes
2) Deverbal suffixes
Adverb suffixes
Verb suffixes
3 - Compounding, also called composition, is the formation of new words by joining two or more stems. Words formed in this way are called compounds. So a compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one stem and functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word.
4 - Compounds differ from free phrases in the following three aspects:
1). Phonetic features In compounds the word stress usually occurs on the first element whereas in noun phrases the second element is generally stressed if there is only one stress. In cases of two stresses, the compound has the primary stress on the first element and the secondary stress, if any, on the second whereas the opposite is true of free phrases
2). Semantic features Compounds are different from free phrases in semantic unity. Every compound should express a single idea just as one word.
3). Grammatical features A compound tends to play a single grammatical role in a sentence, for example, a verb, a noun, or an adjective. In adjective-noun compounds, the adjective element cannot take inflectional suffixes.
5 - Conversion is the formation of new words by converting words of one class to another class. Since the words do not change in morphological structure but in function, this process is also known as functional shift. Conversion is generally considered to be a derivational process whereby an item is adapted or converted to a new word class, without the addition of an affix. Hence the name zero-derivation.
6 - Many simple nouns convened from verbs can be used with have, take, make, give etc. to form phrases to replace the verb or denote a brief action. W ords like hand-out, stand-by, lay-by, teach-in, shut-down are all converted from phrasal verbs.
7 - Unlike verbs, not all adjectives which are converted can achieve a full noun status. Some are completely converted, thus known as full conversion, others are only partially converted, hence partial conversion.
Words fully converted. A noun fully converted from an adjective has all the characteristics of nouns. It can take an indefinite article or - (e)s to indicate singular or plural number.
Words partially converted. Nouns partially converted from adjectives do not possess all the qualities a noun does. They must be used together with definite articles.
8 - Blending is the formation of new words by combining parts of two words or a word plus a part of another word. Words formed in this way are called blends or pormanteau words.
The overwhelming majority of blends are nouns; very few are verbs and adjectives are even fewer. Blends are mostly used in writing related to science and technology, and to newspapers and magazines.
9 - Another common way of making a word is to shorten a longer word by cutting a part off the original and using what remains instead. This is called clipping.
10 - Acronymy is the process of forming new words by joining the initial letters of names of social and political organizations or special noun phrases and technical terms. Words formed in this way are called initialisms or acronyms, depending on the pronunciation of the words.
Initialisms are words pronounced letter by letter.
Letters represent full words: VOA - Voice of America
Letters represent constituents in a compound or just parts of a word: TV - television
Acronyms are words formed from initial letters but pronounced as a normal word. Some acronyms are formed with the initial letter of the first word plus the whole of the second, N-bomb nuclear bomb
11 - Back-formation is considered to be the opposite process of suffixation. Words created through back-formation are mostly verbs.
12 - Modern English has a large number of words which come from proper nouns. They include names of people, names of places, names of books and trade names.
