History of the English Language - FaHCE UNLP Tutorials 2020

HANDOUT #3
Morphological Processes of Word Formation
···· KEYS ····
Set reading: STOCKWELL, Robert & MINKOVA, Donka. English Words, History and Structure. CUP (2001) Ch. 1.

TASK 1:
1. promote- proliferate- procrastinate- procreate: towards the future / in favour of
2. eject- emit- emancipate: outside
3. adjacent- annotate- adhere- allocate: join
4. abdicate- abscond- abduct: away from
5. ablaze- afloat- adrift- asleep: in the state of
6. extraterrestrial- extraordinary- extracurricular: outside / not part of
7. interrelated- interdepartmental- internet: between
8. intravenous- intradepartmental- intranet: within

TASK 2:
1. It was a bad restaurant, with an overpriced menu. (a)
2. Will you be staying overnight? (c)
3. She always felt overshadowed by her older, more successful sister. (b)
4. You can choose to overwrite the new file or to save it as a new file. (b)
5. He overstepped the mark when he said that. (c)
6. I really think she overstated her case and lost a lot of sympathy. (a)
7. During the cruise, a child fell overboard and drowned. (c)
8. He has a very overbearing personality. (b)
9. A detailed list of awards is given overleaf. (c)
10. The film was overrated in my view. (a)
11. The underlying question is a very difficult one. (b)
12. Don’t underestimate the time it will take. (a) / (c)
13. I wish you would not undermine everything I do. (c)
14. He did it in a very underhand way. (c)
15. The company is seriously understaffed. (a)
16. It’s quite wet underfoot. Did it rain last night? (b)
17. The plane’s undercarriage failed to open and it crashed. (a)
18. The project was underfunded from the outset. (a)

TASK 3:
1. The hotel gave me a luxury room instead of the ordinary one I’d booked.
The hotel upgraded my accommodation / The hotel offered me and upgraded and gave me a luxury
2. Misunderstandings between cultures are, sadly, very frequent.
Cross-cultural misunderstandings are, sadly, very frequent.
3. The company experienced a rise in popularity since it changed its name.
The company experienced an upturn in popularity since it changed its name.
4. Cooperation across the frontiers of the two countries has led to a number of arrests of drug smugglers.
Cross-border cooperation across the frontiers of the two countries has led to a number of arrests of drug smugglers.
5. I usually take the ferry that sails from Britain to France.
I usually take the cross-channel ferry from Britain to France.
6. Can you tell me the latest about what's been happening?
Can you give me the update about what's been happening?
 History of the English Language - FaHCE UNLP Tutorials 2020

TASK 4:
microphone: small voice telegram: far message or writing
multilingual: many languages autobiography: self life writing
ultrasonic: beyond sound phonology: sound study
pseudoscience: not real science retrogress: backwards/past -gress (go)
vivisection: alive section

TASK 5a:
dampen: (v) darken: (v) motherly: (adj)
dearly: (adv) leisurely: (adj) lengthen: (v)
roughen: (v) relevant: (adj) occupant: (n)
kindly: (adv) applicant: (n) blithely: (adv)
miserly: (adj) redden: (v) distant: (adj)
untimely: (adj) woollen: (adj) adamant: (adj)
silken: (adj) claimant: (n)
masterly: (adj) worsen: (v)

TASK 5b:
veggie burger –cheese burger – chickenburger – bacon burger
shopaholic – workaholic – chocoholic
telethon – talkathon – moviethon

TASK 6:
Audit: auditor (n) > audit (v) Pea: pease (n) > pea (n)
Asset: assets (n) > asset (n) Babysit: babysitter (n) > babysit (v)
Edit: editor (n) > edit (v) Liaise: liaison (n) > liaise (v)
Beg: beggar (n) > beg (v) Kidnap: kidnapper (n) > kidnap (v)
Burgle: burglar (n) > burgle (v) Diplomat: diplomatic (adj) >diplomat (n)

TASK 7: Compounding is the most productive process because

Syntactic compounds: more transparent, haven’t necessarily lexicalized (shoemaker > a maker of shoes)
Lexical compounds: more opaque, they constitute new lexemes (ice cream > #cream that is ice(d))

N+N: letter box P+A/Adv: over-ripe / overconfidently

A+A: bittersweet P+V: overreact
V+N: playroom P+ N: inbox
A+N: longhand

TASK 8: TASK 9:
Lord: loaf + ward infomercial: information + commercial
Lady: loaf + dige edutainment: education + entertainment
Gossip: god sib cybrary: cyber + library
Daisy: day’s + eye funtastic: fun + fantastic
Nostril: nose + thyrl (hole) Chunnel: Channel + tunnel
Sheriff: shire + chief himbo: him + bimbo
Goodbye: god + be + (with) ye (you) fanzine: fan + magazine
slanguage: slang + language
sexploitation: sex + exploitation
sitcom / romcom: situation + comedy / romantic + comedy
hangry: hungry + angry
chillax: chill + relax
mansplaining: man + explaining
brunch: breakfast + lunch
 History of the English Language - FaHCE UNLP Tutorials 2020

TASK 10:
(cell) phone: cellular telephone vest: vestcoat
telly: television knickers: knickerbockers
flu: influenza ad: advertisement
bra: brassiere bus: omnibus
pants: underpants mag: magazine

TASK 11:

Russian: glasnost French: crocodile

Japanese: karate German: hamburger
Hindi: juggernaut Inuit: kayak
Aborigine: kangaroo Arabic: algebra
Italian: spaghetti Turkish/Arabic: kebab
Spanish: sombrero American Indian: chipmunk
Portuguese: bossa nova Welsh: corgi
Chinese: kung fu Czech: robot

TASK 12a: How would you label the following? Make two lists.

ufo, aids, laser, DVD, asap, BC, WHO, GMT, RSPCA, UNESCO, USA, DIY

“true” Acronyms Initialisms

aids, laser, asap, UNESCO ufo, DVD, BC, WHO, GMT,
RSPCE, USA, DIY

Initialisms are a type of acronyms in which the letters are individually pronounced.

TASK 12B:
ASH: Action on Smoking and Health
DUMP: Disposal of Unwanted Medicines and Poisons
NOW: National Organization of Women
CALL: Computer Assisted Language Learning
UNITE: Union of Nation Income Tax Employees

TASK 13a:
Head: go, lead
Eye: look
Nose: sneak
Shoulder/elbow: push
Hand: pass
Finger: point
Face: tackle, deal with
Nail: do sth successfully
Shoulder: tolerate
Mouth: move the lips
 History of the English Language - FaHCE UNLP Tutorials 2020

TASK 13b:

- Wellingtons: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who wore and popularised a similar style of boot.
- Paparazzo: 1960s, from the name of a character in Fellini's film La Dolce Vita (1960).
- Sandwich: eighteenth-century British nobleman, the Earl of Sandwich, who brought bread and meat together to
the gambling table to provide sustenance for himself, and started the fast food industry.
- Cardigan: Earl of Cardigan, nineteenth century; a style of waistcoat that he favored.
- Pasteurise: Louis Pasteur, French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the
principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization.
- Sadism: eighteenth-century Marquis de Sade, infamous for crimes of sexual perversion.
- Atlas: he was condemned by Zeus, the leader of the Greek gods, to support the earth on his shoulders; it came
to refer to a collection of maps because many early publications of world geography showed drawings of Atlas
holding the world up on his shoulders.
- Jovial: Jupiter, meaning “under the influence of the planet Jupiter”.
- Venereal: Venus, meaning “of or pertaining to sexual desire or intercourse”.
- Tantalise: From Tantalus, in Greek mythology, who was condemned to stand in the underworld for eternity in water that
receded from him when he stooped to drink, beneath fruit trees whose branches were always out of reach.

TASK 14:
Kleenex: tissue paper
Lycra: a type of fabric
Hoover: a vacuum cleaner
Google: a search engine

Trademarks which become popular names are an advantage to the manufacturer inasmuch as the product
becomes widely known. However, unless names are patented, customers and users always have the chance
to choose from a number of companies and might not buy the product from the brand which created the
name.
Most trademarks that get into the everyday lexicon are usually nouns which denote the product that the
manufacturer produces. In some cases (google, hoover) they might also become verbs.