Word formation

Part I
21 November 2007
Word formation
y Important part of Lexicology
y By word-formation processes we mean the different
devices which are used in English to build new words
from existing ones.
y Each word-formation process results in the production
of a specific type of word
word. Consequently
Consequently, an
understanding of these processes is one way of studying
the different types of word that exist in English.
Word formation
y Here we have to recall some terminology gy alreadyy introduced: e.g. g
Free forms are forms that occur alone, bound forms are those that
cannot occur alone.
y Stems are forms that carry the basic meaning of the word; affixes
add
dd meaning
i to theh stem. If a stem consists
i off a single
i l morphemeh it
i
is also called a root or a base.
y Roots constitute the innermost core of words and carry their basic
meaning.
meaning
y Stems and roots may be bound or free but affixes are always bound.
The affixes may be further classified as prefix, suffix, or suprafix,
depending on whether they occur before
before, after
after, or simultaneously
with the stem.
Inflection and derivation
y Inflection is a general grammatical process which combines words and
affixes (always suffixes in English) to produce alternative grammatical forms
of words.
y E.g. The plural morpheme is an inflectional morpheme. This implies that the
plural form flowers,
flowers does not represent a lexical item fundamentally
different from the singular form flower, it is simply an inflectional variant of
the same word.
y INFLECTION is a general grammatical process which combines words
andd affixes
ffi to produce
d alternative
l i grammaticali l forms
f off words.
d
y Inflectional affixes: -S (plural)
y -ER (comparative)
y -EST (superlative)
y -IA, -IM, ... (irregular plural)
Inflection and derivation
y On the other hand, derivation is a lexical p process which actuallyy
forms a new word out of an existing one by the addition of a
derivational affix to a stem.
y E.g. Resign, departure + suffixes ation, ure give resignation and
departure.
y E.g. the stem ACTIV +ate → activate
y +ation →activation
y +ely →actively
y +eness →activeness
y +ity →activity
y +ism →activism
y +ist →activist
Inflection and derivation
y From all said,
said we can see that the
distinction between inflection and
derivation is mainly morphological.
morphological While
the application of inflection leads to the
formation of alternative grammatical
forms of the same word, application of
deri ati n creates new
derivation ne lexical
le ical items.
items
Derivation
y Derivational
e vat o a affixes:
a es: English
g s hasas over
ove 60 common
co o
derivational affixes, and there is no theoretical limit to
their number.
y Unlike inflectional affixes,
affixes derivational affixes can change
the word class of the item they are added to. If both
inflectional and derivational affixes are used, then the
derivational affixes are inner,
inner closer to the stem,
stem and
inflectional affixes are outer, furthest from the stem.
y E.g. fright + en + ed = frightened
resign + ation + s = resignations
Derivational affixes
y They are usually divided into class-changing
class changing and
class-maintaining d.a.
y Cl
Class-changing
h i d derivational
i i l affixesffi change
h the
h
word class of the word to which they are
added.
dd d They
Th are usually ll suffixes.
ffi
y resign (verb) + ation = resignation
y active (adjective) + ist = activist.
Class--changing der.affixes
Class der affixes
y NOMINALIZERS (noun derivational affixes)
y -age (leak+age=leakage) -ee (refer+ee= referee)
y -ment (argue+ment=argument) -ure (depart+ure=departure)
y -ation (resign+ation=resignation) -ance (disturb+ance=disturbance)
y -ist (social+ist=socialist) -dom (free+dom=freedom)

y VERBALIZERS (verb derivational affixes)

y -en (f i ht+
(fright+en=frighten)
f i ht ) -fy f ((glory+fy=glorify)
l +f l if )
y -ize (pressure+ize=pressurize) en- (en+title=entitle)
y -en (soft+en=soften) -ify (pure+ify=purify)
y en
en- (en+able=enable) -ize
ize (legal+ize=legalize)
Class--changing der.affixes
Class der affixes
y ADJECTIVIZERS
J ((adjective
j derivational affixes))
y -al (season+al=seasonal) -an (suburb+an=suburban)
y -en (gold+en=golden)-ful (hope+ful=hopeful)
y -less (care+less=careless) -ish (child+ish=childish)
y -ive (create+ive=creative) -ent (depend+ent=dependent)

y ADVERBIALIZERS (adverb
( d bd derivationall affixes)
ff )
y -ly (slow+ly=slowly) (obvious+ly=obviously)
y -ward(home+ward=homeward)
( )
y -wise (clock+wise=clockwise)
Class--maintaining der.affixes
Class der affixes
y C ass a ta g derivational
Class-maintaining e vat o a affixes
a es do o not
ot change
c a ge the
t e
word class of the word to which they are added. They
are mainly prefixes:
y anti+malaria → anti-malaria
anti malaria
y dis+agree → disagree
y scholar + shipp → scholarshipp
y un + tie → untie
y ex + wife → ex-wife
y green + ish → greenish
y re + open → reopen
Compounds
y Compounding is the largest, and therefore the most important, source of new
words.
d
y A compound is a lexical unit which consists of more than one lexical stem. On the
surface, there appear to be two, or more, lexemes present, but in fact the parts are
functioning as a single item, which has its own meaning and grammar.
y E.g. we have compounds such as bedside, black market, car-wash, flower-pot, and so on.
y Compounds are usually distinguished as SYNTACTIC And LEXICAL compounds.
y Syntactic compounds are formed by regular rules of grammar and are not listed in a
dictionary Their meaning is easily understood: e.g.
dictionary. e g shoemaker,
shoemaker bookkeeper
bookkeeper, washing
machine, candlelight.
y Lexical compounds usually have a meaning which cannot be understood just from
the rules of grammar, and they are usually listed in a dictionary. E.g. girlfriend,
sweetheart highlight,
sweetheart, highlight ice cream,
cream crybaby.
crybaby
Classification of compounds
y Co pou s consist
Compounds co s st o
of more
o e than
t a oonee root,
oot, but
different roots need not belong to the same word class.
When two parts of a compound belong to the same
word class, the compound also belongs to the same
group.
y But when two parts of a compound belong to different
word classes,
classes the compound will belong to one of these
classes.
y As a general rule, the word class of the last element of
the compound determines the class of the compound.
Compounds
y NOUN COMPOUNDS: any root+noun
y N+N: ash-tray, arm-chair, text-book;
y V+N: dare-devil, pick-pocket
y ADJ+N: black-bird,
black bird blue-collar;
blue collar;
y ADV+N: after-thought, back-talk…
Verb compounds
y N+V: baby-sit,
baby sit brain-wash,
brain wash house-keep;
house keep;
y V+V: dive-bomb, drop-kick…
y ADJ+V: dry-clean, sweet-talk;
y ADV+V: down-grade,
down grade over-do.
over do
ADJECTIVE COMPOUNDS
y N+ADJ: earth-bound,
earth bound ox
ox-eyed,
eyed
y ADJ+ADJ: blue-green, south-west
y ADV+ADJ: near-sighted, off-white;
ADVERB COMPOUNDS
y ADV+ADV: in-to,
in to through-out.
through out