Name: Ngô Hoàng Huy Number as in the list: 16
WORD FORMATION PROCESS
* Use the following template for each of the processes:
Font: Lucida sans
Size: 12
Copy the following formatted table for each of all the processes
NAME OF THE PROCESS
Definition:
Examples:
Your work should begin after the following line
ALPHABETISM
Definition:
An alphabetism is an abbreviation that takes the first letter of each word of the base
expression, and is pronounced by spelling out each letter.
Examples:
EU [i: ju:], IBM [ai bi: em], ALT [ei el ti:] (though the latter is also sometimes taken as an
acronym and pronounced [o:lt]).
CLIPPING
A word of more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form, usually beginning in casual
Definition:
speech
gas (gasoline), ad (advertisement), bra (brassiere), cab (cabriolet), condo (condominium), fan
(fanatic), flu (influenza), perm (permanent wave), phone, plane, pub (public house)
Examples:
English speakers like to clip each other’s names: Al, Ed, Liz, Mike, Ron, Sam, Sue, Tom
In educational environments: chem, exam, gym, lab, math, phys-ed, poli-sci, prof, typo
REDUPLICATION
Reduplication is a morphological process of forming new words where the entire or parts of
free morphemes are copied and attached to the base by adding or changing a few syllable
Definition:
(Brinton, 2000; Haspelmath & Sims, 2010; Lieber, 2009; Nadarajan, 2006; Valli & Lucas,
2002)
Examples: In baby-talk which commonly found in English are ‘mama’, ‘papa’, ‘dada’, ‘poo-poo’, ‘bay-
bay’, ‘buh-buh’, ‘bye-bye’, ‘putt-putt’, and ‘choo-choo’
Duplicate root word changing the consonant while the vowel remains the same i.e. ‘super-
duper’ in English
Only English and Russian have many examples of the expression: ‘lovey-dovey’, ‘hanky-
panky’ in English, and plaksa-vaksa ‘cry baby’, kashka-malashka ‘porridge’ in Russian.
This kind of reduplication is the same as the name where it duplicate name of someone, for
instance nickname in English ‘Jo-Jo’, ‘Jay-Jay’, ‘Jon-Jon’
This type of reduplication is used to convey irony, sarcasm, wit, poking fun, linguistic
humour and more by applying shm- (Kauffman, 2015, p. 4; Obrst, 2012, p. 51), and the
examples in English are ‘money-shmoney’ and ‘unbelievable-shmunbelievable’. It always
produces rhyming pairs and the domain of shm- is in the right edge.
the process of the reduplication is formed by changing vowels such as kasa-koso ‘rustle’ and
gata-goto ‘rattle’ in Japanese, reduplication in English: ‘chit-chat’, ‘zig-zag’, ‘mingle-
mangle’, ‘tick-tock’, ‘flip-flop’, ‘mish-mash’, ‘wishy-washy’. Reduplication produced
reduplicated words through two phases: copying the syllable and then change the vowel for
the second syllable.
ONOMATOPOEIA
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or
Definition:
suggests the sound that it describes.
English Japanese Tagalog Indonesian
rooster Cock-a-doodle- kokekokko Kuk-kakauk kykuruyuk
Examples:
doo
cat meow nya niyaw meong
DERIVATION
Adding small “bits” of the English language which are not usually given separate listings in
dictionaries
Definition:
The most common word formation process to be found in the production of new English
words
Prefixes added to the beginning of the word: un-, mis-
Suffixes added to the end of the word: -less, -ish
English words have either prefixes or suffixes, or both: mislead, disrespectful, foolishness
Examples: Infix is an affix that is incorporated inside another word, not normally used in English except
occasionally used in fortuitous/aggravating circumstances by emotionally aroused English
speakers: Hallebloodylujah!, Absogoddamlutely!, godtripledammit!
Kamhmu: infix -rn- is added to form nouns: see – srnee (drill), toh – trnoh (chisel)
ACRONYM
Definition: New words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words
Examples: Pronounce by saying each separate letter: CD (compact disk), VCR (video cassette recorder),
ATM (automatic teller machine), PIN (personal identification number)
Pronounced as new single words: NATO, NASA, UNESCO
Acronyms have become everyday terms: laser, radar, scuba, zip code, snafu
Names for organizations are often designed to have their acronyms represent an appropriate
term: MADD (mothers against drunk driving), WAR (women against rape)
BLENDING
The combination of two separate forms to produce a single new term, but is accomplished by
Definition:
taking only the beginning of one word and joining it to the end of the other word
gasohol (a product used like gasoline but is made from alcohol)
smog (smoke + fog), smaze (smoke + haze), smurk (smoke + murk)
Hawai’ian vog
bit (binary/digit), brunch (breakfast/lunch), motel (motor/hotel), telecast
(television/broadcast)
Examples:
telethon (fundraising on tv that feels like a marathon), infotainment
(information/entertainment), simulcast (simultaneous/broadcast)
The mixing of languages: Franglais (French / Anglais), Spanglish (Spanish / English)
Few blends combine the beginning of both words:
telex (teleprinter/exchange), modem (modulator/demodulator)
COMPOUNDING
A joining of two separate words to produce a single form
Definition: Very common in languages such as German, English
Much less common in languages such as French, Spanish
Nouns: bookcase, doorknob, fingerprint, sunburn, textbook, wallpaper, wastebasket,
waterbed
Examples:
Adjectives: good-looking, low-paid
Adjective + Noun: fast-food, full-time
CALQUE
A special type of borrowing which directly translates the elements of a word into the
borrowing language
Definition: *Borrowing: taking over words from other languages. E.g. croissant, dope, lilac, piano,
pretzel, sofa, tattoo, tycoon, yogurt, zebra
In some cases, the borrowed words may be used with different meanings.
Examples: English skyscraper => Dutch wolkenkcrabber (“cloud scratcher”), German Wolkenkratzer
("cloud scrapper”)
German Übermensch => English superman
German Lehnwort => English loan-word
American concept “boyfriend” => Japanese boyifurendo; Chinese nan pengyu (“male friend”)
COINAGE
The invention of totally new terms
Definition:
One of the least common processes of word formation in English
Old commercial products: aspirin, nylon, vaseline, zipper
Examples: Recent commercial products: granola, kleenex, teflon, xerox
Most salient contemporary example: google, ebay
HYPOCORISM
A longer word is reduced to a single syllable, then -y/-ie is added to the end
Definition:
Favored in Australian and British English
movie (“moving pictures”), telly (“television”)
Examples: Aussie (“Australian”), barbie (“barbecue”), bookie (“bookmarker”), brekky (“breakfast”),
hankie (“handkerchief”)
EPONYM
Definition: News words based on the name of a person or a place
hover, spangler
Examples: sandwich (Earl of Sandwich), jeans
Technical terms based on those who 1st discovered/invented things: fahrenheit, volt, watt
CONVERSION
A change in the function of a word without any reduction
Definition:
Also known as “category change”, “functional shift”
Examples: Noun used as verb: bottle, butter, vacation, impact
Verbs nouns: guess, must, spy
Phrasal verbs nouns: to print out a print out, to take over a takeover
Complex verb combinations nouns: want to be a wannabe
Verbs adjectives: see through see-through material, stand up stand-up comedian
Adjectives verbs: dirty, empty
Adjectives nouns: a crazy, the nasty
Compound nouns assume adjectival/verbal functions: the ball park a ball-park figure /
asking someone to ball-park an estimate of the cost
Regularly used as verbs: carpool, mastermind, microwave, quarterback, up, down
Can shift in meaning: to doctor (falsify, tamper with documents, pictures, food, drinks), total
(amount in number to, damage), runaround (deceptive or delaying action especially in
response to a request)
BACKFORMATION PROCESS
Definition: A word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to a word of another type (usually a verb)
televise (television), donate (donation), emote (emotion), enthuse (enthusiasm), liaise
(liaison), babysit (babysitter), opt (option)
Examples: Assumption: if there is a noun ending in -er (or something close in sound), then we can create
a verb for what that noun -er does
edit (editor), sculpt (sculptor), burgle (burglar), peddle (peddler), swindle (swindler)
