VOCABULARY BUILDING

The Concept of Word

Formation
Word-formation

 process of creating new words from

resources of a particular language
according to certain semantic and
structural patterns existing in the
language
Word-formation

 branch of Lexicology i.e. study of form,

meaning and behavior of words.

 studies the patterns on which the

English language builds words

 Is one of the ways enriching vocabulary

of the language
 Main types of word-formation

word-formation

shortening and
word-derivation word-composition
abbreviation

affixation

conversion
Derivational Pattern

 is a meaningful combination of stems and affixes

 regularly reproduced
 indicates the grammatical part-of-speech meaning
e.g. examine + -ee = examinee
addressee, employee, divorcee
Affixation

 formation of words by adding derivational

affixes to stems
 one of the most productive ways of word-
building
 adding an established prefix or a suffix to the
existing base
Types of Affixation

affixation

mixed
suffixation prefixation
affixation
Affixation = adding an established
prefix or a suffix to the existing base

A) Suffixation
- is characteristic of noun and adjective
formation
- a suffix usually changes not only the lexical
meaning of a word but also its grammatical
meaning or its word class, e.g. to bake –
baker, beauty - beautiful
 Noun-forming suffixes:
-or: actor, visitor, director
-er/eer: speaker, engineer, opener
-ist: scientist, satirist, journalist

-ess: hostess, stewardess, actress

-ty/ity: cruelty, purity, stupidity
-ure/ture: failure, exposure, mixture
-dom: freedom, kingdom,
-age: passage, marriage, postage
-ance/ence: appearance, preference
-hood: likelihood, brotherhood, neighbourhood
-ing: reading, opening, beginning
-ion/sion/tion/ition/ation: operation, permission, description
-ness: kindness, goodness, wilingness
-y/ery: difficulty, enquiry, robbery, slavery
-ship: partnership, membership, kinship
-ment: government, development, movement
-t: complaint, restraint
 Adjective-forming suffixes:
-able/ible: comfortable, fashionable, sensible
-ic/atic: atomic, heroic, systematic

-ful: beautiful, helpful, careful

-y: bloody, dirty, sunny
-less: useless, homeless, careless
-al/ial/tial: personal, influential, preferential
-ive/ative/itive: active, creative, sensitive
-ant/ent: pleasant, different, excellent
-en: wooden, golden, woollen
-like: childlike, ladylike
-ing: amusing, interesting, charming
-ous: dangerous, famous, mysterious
-ish: bookish, childish, foolish
-ly: friendly, lovely, manly
 Verb-forming suffixes:
-ize/ise: civilize, modernize
-ify/fy/efy: simplify, glorify

-en, deepen, sharpen, lengthen

 Adverb-forming suffixes:
-ly: formally, calmly, easily
-ward/wards: homeward, afterwards, backwards
-wise/ways: clockwise, otherwise, sideways
-fold: twofold, threefold
B) Prefixation

- a prefix usually changes or concretizes the

lexical meaning of a word and only rarely
parts of speech, e. g. write – rewrite, smoker
– non-smoker
- Prefixes are sometimes used to form new
verb: circle – encircle, large – enlarge etc.
 Negation or opposition:
un-: unable, unfair, unpack, unzip
dis-: disagreeable, dislike

a-: amoral, atypical

in-: informal, inexperience
im-: (before b, m, p) impossible, immoral
il-: (before l) illegal, illogical
ir-: (before r) irregular, irrational
non-: nonsmoker, non-scientific
de-: decode, defrost, devalue
 Repetition, making it possible:
re-: reread, rebuild, reunited
en-/em-: enrich, enlarge, embitter
 Degree, measure or size:
super-: supersonic, superhuman
semi-: semi-final, semidetached

hyper-: hyperactive, hypersensitive

ultra-: ultrahigh, ultraviolet
over-: overtime, overpopulated

 Time and place, order, relation:

post-: post-war, postpone, postgraduate
inter-: international, intercontinental
pre-: pre-war, prehistoric, prearrange
ex-: ex-president, ex-husband, ex-film-star
 Number and numeral relation:
bi-: bilateral, bilabial
uni-: unicycle, unilateral

auto-: autobiography, autopump, auto-suggestion

multi-: multinational, multi-storey, multilingual

 Attitude, collaboration, membership:

anti-: antisocial, antiwar, antifreeze
counter-: counter-offensive, counter-revolution
pro-: pro-English, pro-vice-chancellor
 Pejoration:
mis-: misinform, mislead, misuse
pseudo-: pseudo-scientific, pseudo-intellectual
Suffixation
 words are formed with the
help of suffixes
 changes a part-of-speech
meaning (e.g. work –
worker)
 transfers a word into a
different semantic group
(e.g. child – childhood)
 is characteristic of noun and
adjective formation
Prefixation
 words are formed with the
help of prefixes
 does not change a part-of-
speech meaning (e.g.
usual – unusual)
 about 25 prefixes form one
part of speech from another
(e.g. head – to behead)
 is characteristic of verb
formation
Mixed Affixation

 formation by both prefixation and suffixation

 semantic structure becomes more limited
 the more affixes added the less polysemantic
the word becomes
e.g. speak – unspeakable
place – irreplaceable
 Conversion

is the process of gaining new words

in a different part of speech without
adding any derivative elements
face – to face
answer – to answer
clean - to clean
Traditional and Occasional Conversion
Traditional Conversion
 the use of a word is
recorded in the dictionary
e.g. to cook, to look, find, aim,
etc.
Occasional Conversion
 the use of a word is not
registered by the dictionary
 occurs momentarily, through
the immediate need of the
situation, brings out the
meaning more vividly
e.g. If anybody oranges me
again tonight, I’ll knock his
face off!
Shortening

 a way of word-formation when part of the

original word or word group is taken away
Shortening

A new word:
 belongs to the same part of speech as a the
original word (e.g. demo – demonstration)
 has the same lexical meaning as the original
word
 capable of being used as a free form
Shortening

A new word:
 may serve as basis for further word-
formation by derivation and composition
e.g. fancy (noun) fantasy (shortening)
fancy (noun) to fancy (conversion)
fancy (noun) fancier, fanciful (derivation)
fancy (noun) fancy-ball, fancy-dress (composition)
Shortening

A new word:
 differs from the original word stylistically or
emotionally, characteristic of colloquial speech
e.g.
Japs the Japanese
exam examination (college slang)
hanky handkerchief (nursery word)
o’er over (bookish, poetic style)
Shortening in Different Parts of Speech

 nouns e.g. prof professor

 verbs e.g. to rev to revolve
 adjectives (very few) e.g. dilly delightful
(jargonism)
 interjection e.g. Shun! attention
Types of Shortening

 final clipping (apocope) - a word is

shortened at the end
e.g. ed editor, ref referee
 initial clipping (apheresis) – a word is
shortened at the beginning
e.g. phone telephone,
chute parachute
Types of Shortening

 medial clipping (syncope) – some syllables

or sounds are omitted from the middle of a
word
e.g. maths mathematics
specs spectacles
fancy fantasy
Types of Shortening

 a word is clipped both at the end and at the

beginning

e.g. flu influenza

fridge refridgerator
Abbreviation (graphical shortening)

 shortening of word or word-groups in written

speech
 in speech the corresponding full forms are
used
e.g.
e.g. – for example
i.e. – that is
Dr. – Doctor
Oct. - October
Composition

 is the way of word-building when a word is

formed by joining two or more stems to form
one word
 one of the most productive ways of word-
building in Modern English
Compounding

 Nouns – motorway, breakfast, skinhead

 Adjectives – snow-white, hard-working
 Verbs – daydream, broadcast
 Adverbs – downstairs, sometimes, today
 Pronouns – somebody, anyone, myself
 Prepositions – into, without, within
 Conjunctions – whenever, however
Compound Words

 consist of at least two stems which occur in

the language as free forms
e.g. a brother-in-law, airbus, snow-white
 Minor types of word-formation

word-formation

sound- and back sound lexicalization

stress interchange formation imitation of grammatical forms
Sound Interchange

 way of forming new words with the help of

change of sounds within a word
Types of Sound Interchange

 vowel change – e.g. full – to fill, blood – to

bleed
 consonant interchange – e.g. to speak-
speech,
 the combination of vowel and consonant
change – e.g. life – to live, strong -
strength
Stress Interchange

 e.g. ´import - to im´port, ´suspect – to

sus´pect
Lexicalization of Grammatical Form

 way of creating new words with the help of

suffix “s”
e.g. glass – glasses, custom – customs,
colour - colours
Backformation

 way of creating new words by subtracting a

real or supposed suffix from the original word
e.g. to beg beggar, to edit editor,
Sound Imitation (Onomatopoeia)

 way of forming new words by imitating

different kinds of sounds that may be
produced by animals, birds, insects, human
being and inanimate objects e.g. buzz,
croak, moo, mew, purr, roar, hiss