Morphology: Derivation Without Affixation and Compounding: Unit 3

Unit 3
Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language
Morphology:
Derivation
without affixation
and Compounding
Table of contents
Scheme 3
Key ideas 4
3.1. How to study this unit? 4
3.2. Derivation without affixation 4
3.3. Compounding 10
© Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR)
3.4. Change of meaning of the words 15

3.5. Bibliographical references 17
3.6. Master class 18
In Depth 19
Test 233
Morphology
Derivation without affixation and Compounding
Derivation Change of the meaning

Compounding
without affixation of the words
Abbreviation and
Conversion Clipping Blending
acronyms

Scheme
Unit 3. Scheme
3
Key ideas
3.1. How to study this unit?
In order to study this unit you should read:
Alba, L. & Chacón, R. (2013). A Grammar Companion to Lengua Inglesa. Madrid: UNED
(Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia). (p. 33, p. 34, p. 47, p. 48, p. 65, p. 66,
pp. 89-94). Available at UNIR virtual library.
I
n this unit we will examine some of the most productive non-affixational
processes of word formation.
 Firstly, we will briefly describe processes such as: conversion, clipping, and
blending.
 Secondly, we will analyse the difficulties related to the identification of
compound words. We will also discuss the different types of compounds.
 And finally, we will discuss phenomena such as widening and narrowing of the
meaning.
3.2. Derivation without affixation
A
part from affixation, which was discussed in detail in Unit 2, compounding
and non-affixation are of central importance in word formation in English.

An overall analysis of compounding and derivation without affixation
provides us with the opportunity to have a closer look at some of the most popular
ways of forming new words.

4
Unit 3. Key ideas
Conversion
Conversion has become one of the most productive processes of word formation in
English. For Laurie Bauer, conversion is “the use of a form which is regarded as being
basically of one form class as though it were a member of a different form class,
without any concomitant change of form” (1983, p. 227). The two categories that are
often affected by this phenomenon are the noun and the verb. The term is
controversial, as some linguists will not see it as a means of word formation. Let us
take the word hard –adjective and hard –adverb. Some linguists consider that it is the
same word that plays different roles depending on the context. It is important to note
that a new word cannot be created within the same word class through this process,
i.e. we cannot coin a verb from a verb though conversion. For example, the noun run
was formed from the verb to run in the mid-15th century. The verb to mother was
formed in the 1540s from the Old English modor “female parent” (Online Etymology
Dictionary, 2017). A recent example of conversion is the verb to text “to send a text
message by mobile system” (2005) from the Old English noun texte or 14th century
noun text (Online Etymology Dictionary, 2017).
Along the same lines, Ingo Plag defines conversion as “the derivation of a new word
without any overt marking” (2003, p. 107). There are a great number of examples of
conversion in English like water (noun) – to water (verb), answer (noun) – to answer
(verb), question (noun) – to question (verb), empty (adjective) – to empty (verb). One
of the most important difficulties related to conversion is directionality, i.e. which
way has it gone: from an answer (noun) to answer (verb) or from answer (verb) to an
answer (noun)? The directionality of conversion becomes visible only if we explore
the history of the word from its origin to its present-day form and meaning.

5
Unit 3. Key ideas
Clipping
In order to understand clipping, we should place it in a global picture of derivational

processes in English. Figure 1 below shows only derivational processes with a special
focus on non-affixation. For further information see Figure 4 in Unit 2.
Derivation
Affixation Non-affixation
Prefixation Suffixation Conversion Truncation
Infixation Blending
Figure 1. Derivation. Source: adapted from Word Formation in English, by Ingo Plag, 2003, p. 17.
As we can see in the figure above, for Ingo Plag, there are three main non-affixational
processes: conversion, truncation, and blending. He divides truncation further into
truncated names, -y diminutives, and clippings and admits that in other publications
the term clipping “is often used as an equivalent to truncations” (2003, p. 121). To
avoid confusion, in this unit, we will use the term clipping in the sense of Plag’s
truncation. We can say that the term clipping covers a variety of processes of word
formation in English. A common feature of these processes is that the word is
contracted or shortened, omitting some of its elements. This also reflects the
tendency for linguistic economy. Examples of clipping include names like Mike from
Michael and Liz from Elizabeth.
Other examples of clipping:
Examination → exam
Congratulation → congrats

6
Unit 3. Key ideas
Advertisement → ad
Demonstration → demo
Gymnasium → gym
Gasoline → gas
Application → app
Blending
Blending is closely related to clipping. In blending, two words are combined to form
a new word, i.e. they are blended into one new word. Elements from each word are
dropped out to enable the process of blending. Some words are ambiguous, e.g.
science + fiction → sci-fi or high + fidelity →hi-fi. They look similar to clipping,
discussed in the previous section. It is essential to bear in mind that in blending we
combine two words to make a new one, but we can also consider that science fiction
is a compound word and it has been shortened, deleting some material.
Examples of blending include:
motor + hotel - motel

breakfast + lunch - brunch
Spanish + English - Spanglish
Abbreviation and acronyms
Abbreviation and acronyms, like clipping and blending, imply the loss of some
elements.
We can form abbreviations by using the initial letters of a multi-word combination.

In some cases non-initial letters are also included.

7
Unit 3. Key ideas
Examples:
Inc. – incorporated
Approx. – approximate
Tsp. – teaspoon (in cooking)
Pt. – pint (cooking)
Blvd. – boulevard
St. – street
M.Phil – Master of Philosophy
e.g. – for example
Some interesting examples of abbreviations are those based on pronunciation, rather

than on orthography. The following abbreviations are widely used by Internet and
email users.
2 4 B C I O R U Y
to /too for be see eye owe are you why
Table 1. Examples of abbreviations.
2F4U Too Fast For You
4YEO, FYEO For Your Eyes Only
C&P Copy and Paste
THX TNX Thanks
2moro Tomorrow
2nte Tonight
F2F Face to Face
CUL8R See You Later

Table 2. Abbreviations in use.
Acronyms are words formed from the first letters of a series of words. They can be
read by naming each individual letter like CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) or as a
word like NATO /ˈneɪ.təʊ/ (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

8
Unit 3. Key ideas
Examples of common Internet acronyms:
AFK Away from Keyboard FYI / JFYI (Just) For your Information
AKA Also known as HTH Hope this Helps
B2K BTK Back to Keyboard IMO In my Opinion
BTW By the Way IOW In other Words
EOM End of Message ITT In this Thread
FAQ Frequently asked Questions LOL Laughing out loud
FKA Formerly known as DGMW Don't get me wrong
TGIF Thanks God Its Friday
Table 3. Examples of common internet acronyms.
Key Figures in the History of Linguistics.
Figure 2. Otto Jespersen (1860 – 1943).

Source: Wikipedia.
Read further information about Jespersen in the following link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Jespersen

9
Unit 3. Key ideas
3.3. Compounding
C
ompounding is a rather controversial process of word formation insofar as
linguists do not agree on a definition of compounding. There are two main
problems that make compounding difficult to define: the first one is that for
many linguists compounding means to “combine two words to form a new word”.
This simple definition contains the idea that we combine words, but as we saw in Unit
1 and Unit 2, the concept of “word” is not unproblematic. That is why some linguists
prefer to refer to “bases” instead of “words”. The second difficulty in identifying
compounds is when we have more than two words like in assistant secretary of state,
which contains four words. An agreement on defining criteria becomes relevant for
the correct classification of an item as a compound.
Bearing in mind the fact that there isn’t an agreement on a definition of

compounding, let us consider the following two definitions that are slightly different,
but in a certain way, one complements the other.
For Ingo Plag, “complex words need not be made up of roots and affixes. It is also possible
to combine two bases, a process we already know as compounding. The words in
(apartment building, greenhouse, team manager, truck driver) are cases in point” (2003,
p. 12, bold in original).
For Carmen Muñoz, “A compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one base and
functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word. . . . In some cases
compounding implies more than the mere addition of two bases, as there is some
modification of one of the bases in the process of addition” (2004, p. 98).
To show that there might be some additional changes together with the combination
of the two bases, the author gives the examples sociolinguistic and trouserleg. In the
word trouserleg, the -s for plural in trousers has been omitted. In some cases we have

10
Unit 3. Key ideas
to add an affix to one of the bases like in left-handed, where the suffix -ed is added
to hand.
Muñoz presents five criteria that can help us identify a compound and considers that
“there is no such a thing as the criterion par excellence, but no criterion is irrelevant
either” (2004, p. 102, italics in original).
Spelling conventions
Phonological patterning Stress on first member
Unpredictability
Meaning
Specialization
Inflectional markers cannot be attached to
Morphology
the first element
Uninterruptability
Internal stability
Syntax Unreplaceability
Expansion is not possible
Member cannot be modified
Table 4. Defining criteria for “compound-hood”. Source: adapted from Muñoz, 2004, p. 102.
The following examples illustrate the essential aspects of the above mentioned
criteria:
 Stress on the first element:

hotdog /ˈhɒt.dɒɡ/
greenhouse /ˈɡriːn.haʊs/
blue-eyed /ˌbluː.aɪd/.
 Unpredictability: greenhouse, eggplant, hotdog.

 Inflectional markers cannot be attached to the first element:

churchgoer → churchgoers
car park →car parks
fire-fighter → fire-fighters.
There are some exceptions like brother-in-law → brothers-in-law in plural.

11
Unit 3. Key ideas
 Internal stability: the elements of a compound cannot be arranged in a different
way without affecting its meaning.
Muñoz discusses the difficulties in identifying a compound and one of the examples
she provides is that of neoclassical forms like the word astrology, which some
linguists consider derived and some others –compound (2004, p. 99). In The Oxford
Reference Guide to English Morphology, Laurie Bauer, Rochelle Lieber, and Ingo Plag
admit that there isn’t an established list of neoclassical forms and that most of the
examples they offer “do not occur as free forms” (2013, p. 455). However, they
consider the following neoclassical forms as a type of compound.
Form Meaning Example
astro- space astrology
bio- life biodegradable
biblio- book bibliography
electro- electricity electrography
geo- earth geology
hydro- water hydrology
morpho- figure morphology
retro- backwards retro-design
tele- distant telepathy
theo- god theology
Table 5. Neoclassical compounds. Source: adapted from Bauer, L., Lieber, R. & Plag, I., 2013, pp. 454-55.
An additional problem related to compounds is their orthographic realisation. The

spelling of compounds varies. There are three ways in which compounds can be
written:
 One word / single orthographic item (closed, also called solid form).
 Hyphenated.
 Two (or more) words written separately (open form).

12
Unit 3. Key ideas
Two (or more) words
One word Hyphenated
written separately
earache short-sighted rescue team
rainfall ground-breaking parking ticket
blackboard shoe-polish nail polish
greenhouse steam-clean soap opera
dishwasher air-condition car park
daydream know-all mosquito net
whitewash six-year-old high school
Table 6. Orthographic realisations of compounds.
Some compounds have more than one orthographic variant: cell phone, cell-phone,
cellphone. Most verbal compounds are hyphenated, although there are some
exceptions. To avoid confusion, when compounds are used as modifiers they are
hyphenated, like a part-time teacher, a six-year-old girl, a three-day trip. Hyphenated
compounds in pre-modifying position are especially common for adjectival
compounds.
Types of compounds
Nominal compounds Nominal compounds Adjectival compounds
Figure 3. Classification of compounds.
The notion of head is essential for the classification of compounds. A compound that
consists of two elements has a “head” and a “nonhead” constituent. For example, in
the compound swimming pool the head is the noun pool and swimming is the
nonhead element. In most English compounds the nonhead precedes the head and
modifies it. The head carries the semantic information. The compound is thus
classified by the word class to which the head belongs. If the head is a noun, the
compound is classified as a nominal compound.

13
Unit 3. Key ideas
Nominal compounds
book cover moonlight footprints
newspaper girlfriend window-cleaning
washing machine beer drinker screenplay
drinking water jellyfish hometown
sunflower firewood banknote
car driver housekeeper handbag
bus stop blackboard parking ticket
Table 7. Nominal compounds.
Verbal compounds
frostbite handwrite typewrite
brainwash gift-wrap proof-read
daydream stir-fry dry-clean
fundraise sleepwalk spoon-feed
broadcast Window-shop whitewash
Table 8. Verbal compounds.
Adjectival compounds
brightly-lit densely-populated old-fashioned
well-known smoke-free good-looking
long-lasting high-spirited ice-cold
green-eyed well-educated thought-provoking

open-minded never-ending world-famous

14
Unit 3. Key ideas
3.4. Change of meaning of the words
T
he meaning of a word can change over time for a number of reasons. One of
the most common processes that motivate the change of meaning is the
change of our understanding of the referent. Another factor that influences
the change of meaning is the context. The issue of the change of meaning is studied
mainly in lexicology.
Widening of meaning
Widening of meaning occurs when the semantic area of a certain word becomes
wider over time. As we saw in Unit 1, words stand for extra-linguistic entities, some
of which may have features in common. It might happen that because of these
common features, a word can gradually come to stand for several extra-linguistic
entities. It does not begin to stand for these entities separately, but for the common
semantic area they share. Widening of meaning can sometimes be confused with
polysemy. While in polysemy there is one basic meaning and the other meanings co-
exist and relate to the basic one, in widening, the basic meaning widens until it grows
into a new word. In order to understand this process, we should turn to etymology
and consider the origin of the word. For instance, the word space was borrowed from
Latin, meaning “a place for athletic exercise”. Originally it comes from Greek
“stadion”, “spadion” – “the place where races with chariots were held”. Both forms
of the word entered English through French. An interesting example is the process
through which Old English tun has come to mean what the word town means today.

15
Unit 3. Key ideas
Old English tun "enclosure, garden, field, yard; farm, manor; homestead, dwelling house,
mansion;" later "group of houses, village, farm," from Proto-Germanic *tunaz, *tunan
"fortified place" (source also of Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old Frisian tun "fence, hedge,"
Middle Dutch tuun "fence," Dutch tuin "garden," Old High German zun, German Zaun
"fence, hedge"), an early borrowing from Celtic *dunon "hill, hill-fort" (source also of Old
Irish dun, Welsh din "fortress, fortified place, camp").
Meaning "inhabited place larger than a village" (mid-12c.) arose after the Norman
conquest from the use of this word to correspond to French ville. The modern word is
partially a generic term, applicable to cities of great size as well as places intermediate
between a city and a village; such use is unusual, the only parallel is perhaps Latin
oppidium, which occasionally was applied even to Rome or Athens (each of which was
more properly an urbs).
(Adapted from Online Etymology Dictionary, 2017)
Nowadays the word town means “a place where people live and work, containing
many houses, shops, places of work, places of entertainment, etc., and usually larger
than a village but smaller than a city” (Cambridge Dictionary online, 2017). This
change from what it meant in Old English to what it means now is a clear example of
widening of meaning.
Narrowing of meaning
The meaning of a word is not a straightforward reflection of an object or a

phenomenon in reality. It is always to a certain extent abstract, as it reflects our
notion of the real object or phenomenon. The meaning is narrowed when it is used
in a specific context, but is not limited to individual usage, i.e. the new meaning has
acquired social recognition. For example, for Londoners the words the Abbey, the
City, the River, the tube stand for Westminster Abbey, the business centre of London,
the Thames, and the London Underground, respectively. Another example of

16
Unit 3. Key ideas
narrowing of meaning is the word undertaker. In c. 1400 it meant "a contractor or
projecter of any sort” and in the 1690s its specialised meaning, narrowing the
business to the arrangements of funerals appeared (Online Etymology Dictionary,
2017). Another process of narrowing of meaning is when the material of which an
item is made of is used for the item itself like glass, which in Old English meant “glass
vessel” and it was in the 13th century when it was narrowed to “drinking glass”. An
interesting example is the word deer, which in Old English meant “animal, beast”, i.e.
any animal or beast; later it was narrowed to a “quite large animal with four legs that
eats grass and leaves. The male has antlers (= wide horns like branches). The female
is called a hind or a doe and the male a stag or buck” (Cambridge Dictionary online,
2017).
3.5. Bibliographical references
Bauer, L. (1983). English Word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bauer, L., Lieber, R. & Plag, I. (2013). The Oxford Reference Guide to English
Morphology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (2002). An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and

their Structure. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
deer. (2017). In Cambridge Dictionary online. Retrieved from

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/deer
Muñoz, C.P. (2004). A Course in English Morphology. Córdoba: Universidad de

Córdoba.
Plag, I. (2003). Word-Formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

17
Unit 3. Key ideas
town. (2017). In Cambridge Dictionary online. Retrieved from
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/town
town. (2017). In Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved from

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=town
3.6. Master class
Morphology: derivation without affixation and compounding
In this master class we will have a closer look at non-affixational processes of word
formation. We will briefly introduce the notions of conversion, clipping, and blending.
Special attention will be paid to compounding, its characteristics and classification.
Finally, we will look at some less common phenomena like widening and narrowing
of the meaning of a word.
The master class is available at the virtual campus

18
Unit 3. Key ideas
In Depth
Compounding in Morphology
Hacken, P. (2017). The English Primary Auxiliary Verbs: A Linguistic Theoretical Exercise.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia in Linguistics.
In this article, Pius ten Hacken explores the four main areas into which the questions
guiding the research of compounding can be grouped: delimitation, classification,
formation, and interpretation. Delimitation focuses on the importance of defining
compounding. Classification examines the criteria linguists use as a basis to group
compounds and some controversial questions related to this issue. Formation rules
and interpretation of compounds, discussed in this article, are particularly important
for learners of English.
Available at the virtual campus under the art. 32.4 of the Spanish Intellectual
Property Law.
Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language 19

Unit 3. In Depth
Conversion: A typological and functional analysis of the morphophonological
structure of zero-derivation in English word formation
Mela-Athanasopoulou, E. (2009). A typological and functional analysis of the

morphophonological structure of the zero-derivation in English word formation. Selected
Papers from the 18th ISTAL, 273-280.
In this article, Elizabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou argues that conversion or zero-

derivation “solves the problem of word formation without affixal attachment to the
base”. She describes the most productive cases of conversion in an attempt to show
that the unmarked derivational affix as well as an overt form. The author also
compares this phenomenon to instances of conversion in ModGreek.
Property Law.

Unit 3. In Depth
Word Creation using Clipping, Blending, and More
Some of the less common processes of word formation in English are explained and
illustrated with examples in this video. The video looks at processes such as:
Compounding, Clipping, Blending, Backformation, Acronyms, and Onomatopoeia.
Some interesting examples of “Borrowing” from other languages show the
importance of this phenomenon in English.
Access to the video through the virtual campus or the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7_W_u4j7DI

Unit 3. In Depth
Modality effects in compounding with English inflectional morphology
Hayes, J. A., Smith, P. M. & Murphy, V. A. (2005). Modality effects in compounding with
English inflectional morphology. British Journal of Psychology, 96, 295-311.
The present article examines inflectional morphology in compounding in an attempt

to demonstrate the importance of the study of plural morphemes for “completing
theories of language acquisition and representation”. The study focuses on the
possible differences in the number of regular and irregular plurals in compounds
with special attention to different presentation and response modalities.
Property Law.
What are English morphemes, and why do they matter for spelling?
This website provides a brief overview of the most important concepts of English
morphology. The author looks at the difference between free and bound
morphemes, inflectional and derivational suffixes. The website also contains a seven-
minute video that introduces the fundamental ideas of morphological analysis.
Access to the webpage through the virtual campus or following this link:
https://www.spelfabet.com.au/2015/02/what-are-english-morphemes-and-why-
do-they-matter-for-spelling/

Unit 3. In Depth
Test
1. Choose the correct answer.
A. Compound words have closed orthographic form.
B. Compound words have open orthographic form.
C. Both A and B are correct.
2. What is the name of the process though which one word is derived from another
without any overt marking?
A. Clipping
B. Compounding.
C. Conversion.
3. The coining of the verb to text from the noun text is an example of:
A. Narrowing of meaning.
B. Conversion.
C. Abbreviation.
4. Choose the correct answer. Compounding is

A. Derivational process.
B. Inflectional process.
C. Both A and B are wrong.
5. The process through which discotheque becomes disco is called:

A. Conversion.
B. Clipping
C. Blending.

23
Unit 3. Test
6. Choose the correct answer:
A. Jeff has a ten-year-old son.
B. Jeff’s son is ten years old.
7. Choose the correct answer:

A. The head of a verbal compound is always a verb.
B. Compounds with verbal head may have nouns, adjectives, and verbs as their
non-heads.
8. In the series hand-wash, stir-fry, whitewash, playtime the odd one out is:
A. hand-wash.
B. whitewash.
C. playtime.
9. Choose the correct answer. Sugar-free, blood-red, and knee-deep are examples of:
A. Adverbial compounds.
B. Nominal compounds.
C. Both A and B are wrong.
10. Choose the correct answer. CIA, FBI, and LOL are:
A. Compounds.
B. Acronyms.

24
Unit 3. Test

Morphology: Derivation Without Affixation and Compounding: Unit 3

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Unit 3

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

3.4. Change of meaning of the words 15

Derivation without affixation and Compounding

Derivation Change of the meaning

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

3.1. How to study this unit?

In order to study this unit you should read:

3.2. Derivation without affixation

and non-affixation are of central importance in word formation in English.

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

In order to understand clipping, we should place it in a global picture of derivational

Prefixation Suffixation Conversion Truncation

Other examples of clipping:

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Examples of blending include:

motor + hotel - motel

Abbreviation and acronyms

We can form abbreviations by using the initial letters of a multi-word combination.

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Some interesting examples of abbreviations are those based on pronunciation, rather

2F4U Too Fast For You

4YEO, FYEO For Your Eyes Only

C&P Copy and Paste

THX TNX Thanks

F2F Face to Face

CUL8R See You Later

Table 2. Abbreviations in use.

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

AKA Also known as HTH Hope this Helps

B2K BTK Back to Keyboard IMO In my Opinion

BTW By the Way IOW In other Words

EOM End of Message ITT In this Thread

FAQ Frequently asked Questions LOL Laughing out loud

FKA Formerly known as DGMW Don't get me wrong

TGIF Thanks God Its Friday

Table 3. Examples of common internet acronyms.

Key Figures in the History of Linguistics.

Figure 2. Otto Jespersen (1860 – 1943).

Read further information about Jespersen in the following link:

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Bearing in mind the fact that there isn’t an agreement on a definition of

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Phonological patterning Stress on first member

 Stress on the first element:

 Unpredictability: greenhouse, eggplant, hotdog.

 Inflectional markers cannot be attached to the first element:

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Form Meaning Example

astro- space astrology

bio- life biodegradable

biblio- book bibliography

electro- electricity electrography

geo- earth geology

hydro- water hydrology

morpho- figure morphology

retro- backwards retro-design

tele- distant telepathy

theo- god theology

An additional problem related to compounds is their orthographic realisation. The

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Nominal compounds Nominal compounds Adjectival compounds