LEXICOLOGY: WORD FORMATION
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LEXICOLOGY
UNIT 4 WORD FORMATION
Word-formation processes are different devices which are used in English to build
new words from existing ones.
Reasons to study these processes:
+ study different types of words existing in English
+ know how complex lexical items are made
Inflection is a general grammatical process which combines words and affixes
(always suffixes in English).
Ex: the plural morpheme is an inflectional morpheme.
Derivation is a lexical process which actually forms a new word out of an existing
one by the addition of a derivational affix. (ex: the suffixes –ation and –ure in
“resignation” and “departure”).
Inflectional affixes/ „relational markers‟ that fit words for use in syntax.
When the inflection/relational marker is added to a stem, that stem does not change
classes, but its distribution is limited in the syntactic structure.
Ex: dog => dogs (singular => plural form)
Characteristics of inflectional affixes:
They tend to lend themselves to paradigms which apply to the language as a whole.
The paradigm of a major class consists of a single stem of that class with the
inflectional suffixes which the stem may take.
Derivational affixes:
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A derivational affix is an affix by means of which one word is formed (derived)
from another. The derived word is often of a different word class from the original.
Can change the word class but do not always cause a change in grammatical
class.
Ex: reconsider/ consider, intelligent/unintelligent, probable/improbable
Stress can be a derivational affix
Types of derivational affix (2):
Class-changing
Class-maintaining
Class-changing derivations: Those derivations which change the word class of the
word to which they are added. Mainly suffixes
Class-maintaining derivations: Those derivations which do not change the word
class of the stem to which they are added although they do change its meaning
Mainly prefixes
Compounds: may be defined as stems consisting of more than one root.
Compounds may be distinguished from phrases on phonological, syntactic and
semantic grounds.
Compounds are recognized by stress pattern and lack of juncture. Ex: „Blackboard
Word order refers to the position of the different constituents of a compound in
relation to one another.
Noun + Adj. : not the most usual phrase pattern but it occurs in compounds (seasick).
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Verb + prep.: splashdown (n)
Parts of compounds
Compounds consist of two roots.
Nouns as initial elements
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Other word-formation processes:
1) Conversion: A process by which a word belonging to one word class is
transferred to another word class without any concomitant change of form, either
in pronunciation or spelling .
2) Blending is the fusion of two words into one, usually the first part of one word
with the last part of another.
“brunch” is an example of blending.(true)
3) Shortenings: Clipping, backformation, initialism and aphetic forms
Clipping is the process of cutting off the beginning or the end of a word, or both,
leaving a part (the abbreviation or the clipped word) to stand for the whole (the full
form)
+ The end of the word is deleted.
Ex: exam (from examination) , ad or advert (from advertisement), lab (from
laboratory), gym (from gymnasium), etc.
+ The beginning part of the word is removed .
Ex: bus (from omnibus), plane (from airplane), phone (from telephone), etc.
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+ Both the beginning and ending have been clipped
Ex: flu (from influenza), fridge (from refrigerator)
4) Backformation: is the making of a new word from an older word which is
mistakenly assumed to be its derivative. Backderivation is characterised by the fact
that it involves the shortening of a longer word by the subtraction of a morpheme.
Ex: peddle, televise, revise
5) Initialisms constitute an extreme kind of clipp g y in since only the initial letters
of words, or sometimes initial syllables, are put together and used as words.
Usually, the motivation for initialism is mostly brevity or catchiness, but
sometimes also euphemisms.
When initialisms are pronounced with the names of the letters of the alphabet, they
may be called alphabetisms or abbreviations. Examples are: BP (British
Petroleum), VIP (very important person).
America seems to have been the great breeding ground of initialisms. They are rare
in English before the 20th century. Other examples: UFO, FCC, IRS, NBC, CBS,
BBC, DOD.
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