Word formation
Word Formation
We quickly understand new words in our
language and accept the use of new forms of
that new word.
There is a lot of regularities in the word-
formation processes in our language.
We can very quickly understand a new word, a
neologism, and accept the use of different
forms of that new word in the language. This
ability must derive in part from the fact that
there is a lot of regularity in the word-formation
processes in a language
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Word formation processes
Etymology
Coinage
Borrowing
Compounding
Blending
Clipping
Backformation
Conversion
Acronyms
Derivation
Hypocorisms
Multiple processes 3
Etymology
It is the study of the origin and history of a word.
For example,
The root of ‘English’ is ‘Engl’ which came from the
ancient Germanic tribe, the Angles, who spoke a
language that later became English. The -ish is just
a suffix, that means “language of” in this case.
Hamburger from Hamburg, Germany
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Coinage
Coinage: The Invention of totally new terms.
Sources of coined words:
1- The most typical sources are invented trade names
for commercial products that become general terms
(usually without capital letters) for any version of that
product. Examples, aspirin, nylon, vaseline and zipper,
granola, kleenex, teflon and xerox.
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Coinage
Coinage: The Invention of totally new terms.
2- New words based on the name of a person or a
place are called eponyms, e.g,
Fahrenheit (named after Gabriel Fahrenheit),
Sandwich (named after Earl of Sandwich)
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Borrowing
Borrowing: the taking over of words from other
languages.
The English language has adopted a vast number of
words from other languages, including:
croissant (French),
dope (Dutch),
lilac (Persian),
piano (Italian),
pretzel (German),
sofa (Arabic),
yogurt (Turkish)
and zebra (Bantu).
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Borrowing
Borrowing: the taking over of words from other
languages.
Other languages, of course, borrow terms from English
Arabic: فيزياء، سوبرماركت،انترنت
Japanese suupaa or suupaamaaketto (“supermarket”)
and taipuraitaa (“typewriter”),
Hungarians talking about sport, klub and futbal,
French Le stress, le weekend
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Borrowing
Loan-translation or calque
In this process, there is a direct translation of the
elements of a word into the borrowing language.It is
the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the
lexical item itself.
For example,
French gratte-ciel “scrape-sky”
Dutch wolkenkrabber “cloud scratcher”
German wolkenkratzer “cloud scraper”
all of which were calques for the English
skyscraper.
The Arabic وجهة نظرthe English Point of 9
Compounding
Compounding: there is a joining of two separate words
to produce a single form.
The meanings of the words interrelate in such a way
that a new meaning comes out which is different from
the meanings of the words in isolation. It is very
common in English & German but Less common in
French & Spanish
For example,
Compound nouns: Bookcase, sunburn, textbook,
fingerprint,
Compound adjectives:
Good-looking, handmade, low-paid, full-time, part-
time, fast-food
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Blending
Blending: Combining two separate forms to produce a
single new term. Blinding is similar to compounding,
but in blending only parts of the words are
combined.
Examples:
• motel = motor + hotel
• brunch = breakfast + lunch
• sitcom = situation + comedy
• telethon = telephone + marathon
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Clipping
Clipping: Shortening a word by deleting one or more
syllables
Examples:
• Facsimile. >> fax
• Hamburger >>. burger
• Gasoline >> gas
• Advertisement >> ad
• Influenza. >> flu
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• Airplane >> plane
Clipping (hypocorism)
A particular type of reduction, favored in Australian and
British English, produces forms technically known as
hypocorisms. In this process, a longer word is reduced
to a single syllable, then -y or -ie is added to the end.
Examples
• movie (moving pictures). Telly (television)
• Aussie (Australian) hankie (handkerchief)
(nicknames): Lizzie, Tony
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Backformation
Backformation: reducing a word of one type (usually a
noun) to form a word of another type (usually a verb).
Examples:
• Television (n.) televise (v.)
• Donation (n.) donate (v.)
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Backformation
• One of the regular sources of backformed verbs in
English is based on the pattern worker – work If
there is a noun ending in –er then we can create a verb
for what the noun –er does.
• Editor (n.) edit (v.)
• babysitter (n.) babysit (v.)
• sculptor (n.) sculpt (v.)
• option (n.) opt (v.)
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Conversion
• Conversion: the process of changing the function of
a word, such as a noun to a verb (without any
reduction), as a way of forming new words.
• category change / functional shift
Examples:
Butter (n.) she buttered the bread (v.)
Permit (v.) You can't park here unless you have a permit (n.)
Empty (adj.) Paul emptied the glass and washed it (v.)
vacation (n.) They are vacationing in Florida
print out (v.) You need to take a printout of this page. (n.)
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Acronym
• Acronym: A word formed from the initial letters of
other words
Examples:
Some acronyms are pronounced by saying each
separate letter:
• CD = compact disk
• SA = Saudi Arabia
• UJ = University of Jeddah
• ATM = automatic teller machine
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Acronym
• Acronym: A word formed from the initial letters of
other words
Examples:
Some acronyms are pronounced as new single
words:
• UNICEF = United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
• UNESCO = United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization
• NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Agency
• PIN= Personal Identification Number
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Derivation
• Derivation: the process of forming new words by
adding affixes
• Affixes (prefixes, suffixes, & infixes)
e.g.
un-, mis-, pre-, -ful, -less, -ish, -ism, -ness.
unhappy, misrepresent, prejudge, joyful, careless, boyish, terrorism,
• disrespectful
• foolishness
• respect, fool are called stem
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Derivation
• There is a 3rd type of affix but it is not normally used
in English e.g.
An infix is an affix inserted inside a stem (an existing
word)
Tell him I’ve gone to Singabloodypore
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Multiple Processes
Multiple Processes: The creation of a particular word
might involve more than one formation process.
Examples:
• Delicatessen (German)
• Delicatessen (English) loanword – borrowing
• Deli (English) Clipping
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References:
Yule, G. (2016). The study of language. Cambridge university press. Chap.5.
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