WORD FORMATION

English Course

WORD FORMATION

By Margherita Sarno

INDEX

Introduction

Inflection and word formation

Compounding

Abbreviation

Affixation

Conversion

Loan words

Exercises

12

Back-formation

By Margherita Sarno

Introduction

A linguistic system is composed of: SOUNDS: Phonetics FORMS: Morphology (e.g. the form of the words, how a word is written) Syntax (e.g. how forms are linked together) WORDS: Lexicon MEANING OF THE WORD: Semantics (e.g. the meaning of a word, the idea it expresses)

By Margherita Sarno

Inflection and word formation

It is possible to distinguish two kinds of morphological rules. Some morphological rules relate to different forms of the same lexeme; while other rules relate to different lexemes. Rules of the first kind are called inflectional rules, while those of the second kind are called word formation. The English plural, as illustrated by dog and dogs, is an inflectional rule; compounds like dog catcher or dishwasher provide an example of a word formation rule. Informally, word formation rules form "new words" (that is, new lexemes), while inflection rules yield variant forms of the "same" word (lexeme). Word formation is a great resource of English language. It encompasses different mechanisms through which lexical units can be created: - Compounding: A combination of words or parts of them. - Affixation: Adding affixes or suffixes to the base. - Conversion: Linguistic elements changing their grammatical category, e.g. the use of verbs as nouns and vice versa, etc.

By Margherita Sarno

Compounding

Units forming compounds can be solid (“trademark”), hyphenated (“shop-lifting”) and open (“sales manager”). Compounding involves all the grammar categories: nouns, adverbs, adjectives: -noun+noun: “jobhunter”; “wineglass” (hyponym of “glass”), “skinhead”; -noun+verb: “windfall”, “sunshine”; -noun+adverb: “environment-friendly”, “consumer-friendly”; -noun+adjective: “cost-efficient”; “fat-free”; -verb+ noun: “pass-book”, “pickpocket”; -verb+verb: “make-believe”; -preposition+noun: “afternoon”; “after-hour”; -adjective+noun: “redskin”, “fast-food”, “software”.

By Margherita Sarno

Compounding

When we use compounding, we link together two or more bases to create a new word. Normally, the first item identifies a key feature of the second word. For example, the two bases back and ache can combine to form the compound noun backache, and the two bases post and card combine to form the compound noun postcard. The most common types of compounds are: Nouns: car park, rock band Adjectives: heartbreaking, sugar-free, airsick Verbs: oven-bake, baby-sit, chain-smoke Adverbs: good-naturedly, nevertheless It is sometimes difficult to know where to put hyphens in words that are compounded. It is also difficult to know whether to separate words (e.g. post box) or to join the words (e.g. postbox). In such cases, it is best to check in a good learner’s dictionary.

By Margherita Sarno

AFFIXATION

New words can be created through the use of prefixes (which are placed before the base) and suffixes (which follow the base, thus changing the grammatical category of a word, e.g. from noun to adjective: nation > national). Prefixes are letters which we add to the beginning of a word to make a new word with a different meaning. Prefixes can, for example, create a new word opposite in meaning to the word the prefix is attached to. They can also make a word negative or express relations of time, place or manner. In the next page, you'll see all the prefixes in English

By Margherita Sarno

AFFIXATION

PREFIXES

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AFFIXATION

SUFFIXES

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added at the end of a word which makes a new word. The new word is most often a different word class from the original word. For example: the suffix -ful can change verbs to adjectives, -ment, and -ion can change verbs to nouns. If you see a word ending in -ment, for example, it is likely to be a noun (e.g. commitment, contentment). SPELLING RULES Often, the suffix causes a spelling change to the original word. For example, the -e ending of complicate and create disappears when the -ion suffix is added. Other examples of spelling changes include: beauty, duty + -ful → beautiful, dutiful (-y changes to i) heavy, ready + -ness → heaviness, readiness (-y changes to i) able, possible + -ity → ability, possibility (-le changes to il) permit, omit + -ion → permission, omission (-t changes to ss) A good learner’s dictionary will give you information on the correct spelling of words with suffixes.

By Margherita Sarno

AFFIXATION

SUFFIXES

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CONVERSION

Conversion implies no variation in the form (the morphology remains the same, i.e. the change is transparent). E.g. WALK (noun) > TO WALK (verb)

• Noun to Verb Brake > to brake, mail > to mail, taste > to taste.

• Adjective to Verb Dirty > to dirty, empty > to empty, e-mail > to e-mail s.o.

• Verb to Noun To call > a call, to command > a command, to spy > a spy

• Adjective to Noun Daily newspaper: a daily; creative: a creative; fool: a fool

Sometimes, in the passage, some phonological (e.g. Rebel > to rebel) or morphological (practice: to practise) changes may occur.

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ABBREVIATION

Abbreviation involves shortening a word. We do this in three main ways: clipping, acronyms and blends.We use clipping when we shorten or ‘clip’ one or more syllables from a word. We also commonly clip proper names for people:

• ad: advertisement, advert
• lab: laboratory
• Matt: Matthew

Acronyms are a type of abbreviation formed when the initial letters of two or more words are combined in a way that produces consonant and vowel sequences found in words. Acronyms are normally pronounced as words:

• RAM: random access memory (RAM is a term used to describe a computer’s memory.)

Initials are similar to acronyms but are pronounced as sets of letters, not as words:

• WHO: World Health Organisation, pronounced W–H–O
• CD: compact disc, pronounced C–D

We form blends when we combine parts of existing words to form a new word:

• blog: blend of web and log
• motel: blend of motor and hotel
• smog: blend of smoke and fog

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BACK-FORMATION

We form words with back-formation when we remove part of a word, usually something which we think is a suffix (or occasionally a prefix). We do this commonly when we form verbs from nouns. For example:

• to liaise (back-formed from the noun liaison);
• to intuit (back-formed from the noun intuition),
• to enthuse (back-formed from the noun enthusiasm)

Can you liaise with Tim and agree a time for the meeting, please? She’s always enthusing about her new teacher.

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LOAN WORDS

Loan words are words that are borrowed from other languages. Some recent loan words for food taken from other languages include: sushi, tapas, chapatti, pizza. When we use loan words, we do not normally change them, though we do sometimes inflect them if they are singular countable nouns (pizzas, chapattis). We also sometimes pronounce them more like English words, instead of using their original pronunciation.

By Margherita Sarno

By Margherita Sarno

EXERCISES

Decide which of the prefixes from the first box can be used to make opposites of the adjectives in the second box

Fill in the blanks with the correct word

By Margherita Sarno

Exercises on WORDWALL

Click on the link or scan the QR code to practise on Wordwall

FLIP THE CARDS https://wordwall.net/it/resource/23037057

COLLOCATE THE WORD https://wordwall.net/it/resource/52889698

Bibliographicall References

BAUER, Laurie 1983. English Word Formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY, Word formation on https://dictionary.cambridge.org/it/ LEARN ENGLISH TEENS, Word formation on https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/

By Margherita Sarno

THANKS!