39 Questions
What can forms like 'up' and 'down' become?
Verbs
What is the typical source of new terms in English?
Trade names for commercial products
What is the term for words based on the name of a person or a place?
Eponym
What is an example of a word that has undergone conversion and has a negative sense?
Doctor
What is the origin of the word 'google'?
A misspelling of the word 'googol'
What is an example of a word that has become a widely used expression meaning 'to use the internet to find information'?
What can happen to the meaning of words when they undergo conversion?
They shift substantially
What is an example of an older example of coinage?
Aspirin
What is the language spoken in Laos, South-East Asia, used as an example?
Khmu
What is added to verbs to form nouns in Khmu?
The infix -rn-
What is the corresponding verb to the noun 'srnal' in Khmu?
to put an ornament in the ear
What is the term that has become a common American English expression?
Deli
What is the term for reducing a word of one type to form a word of another type?
Backformation
What process involves combining 'snow' and 'ball' to form the noun 'snowball'?
Compounding
What is the term for a change in the function of a word without any reduction?
Conversion
What is the origin of the verb 'televise'?
From the noun 'television'
What is the result of backformation from 'laser'?
Lase
What is the term for shortening words, as in 'Aussie' for 'Australian'?
Colloquialism
What type of process involves the operation of more than one process?
Multiple processes
What is the origin of the verb 'edit'?
From the noun 'editor'
What is the source of the examples of words in Khmu?
Merrifield et al. (2003)
What is the pattern of backformation that creates verbs from nouns ending in -er?
Worker - work
What is the origin of the verb 'babysit'?
From the noun 'babysitter'
What does the acronym WASP stand for?
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
What suffix is added to 'young urban professional' to produce the word yuppie?
-ie
What is the meaning of the acronym YIPPY?
Youth International Party
What is the name given to noisy young professionals?
Yappies
What is the generally accepted test of the “arrival” of recently formed words in a language?
Their inclusion in a dictionary
Who was criticized for citing words like advocate and test as verbs, and for including such “vulgar” words as advisory and presidential?
Noah Webster
In what year was Noah Webster's first dictionary published?
1806
What is the reason yuppies are related to yippies?
Because they both were formed by analogy
What is the Indonesian word for 'health'?
kesehatan
What type of word-formation process is illustrated in the Indonesian examples?
Circumfixation
What is the translation of 'availability' in Indonesian?
ketersediaan
What is the corresponding Indonesian word for 'happiness'?
kebahagiaan
What is the Hmong word for 'internet search'?
tswvtxhais
What is the circumfix used in Indonesian word-formation?
ke- and -an
What is the translation of 'just/fair' in Indonesian?
adil
Why did Hmong speakers need to create new words?
They encountered new objects and experiences in the USA.
Study Notes
Word Formation Processes
- Aussie, barbie, bickie, bookie, brekky, hankie, and toastie are examples of clipped words in Australian English.
- Backformation is a process where a word of one type is reduced to form a word of another type, usually a noun to a verb.
- Examples of backformation include televise (from television), donate (from donation), emote (from emotion), and liaise (from liaison).
- The verb backform is also a backformation, as it was created from the process of backformation itself.
Conversion
- Conversion is a change in the function of a word, such as when a noun becomes a verb without any reduction.
- Examples of conversion include up and down becoming verbs, as in "They're going to up the price of oil" or "We downed a few beers at the Chimes".
- Some words can shift substantially in meaning when they go through conversion, such as the verb to doctor often having a negative sense.
Coinage
- Coinage is the invention and general use of totally new terms, often from trade names for commercial products that become general terms.
- Examples of coinage include aspirin, nylon, vaseline, zipper, granola, kleenex, teflon, and xerox.
- Google is a contemporary example of coinage, originally a misspelling of the word googol, which became a widely used expression meaning "to use the internet to find information".
Eponyms
- Eponyms are new words based on the name of a person or a place.
- Examples of eponyms can be found in the Khmu language, where verbs are converted to nouns by adding the infix -rn-.
Multiple Processes
- Multiple processes can be involved in the creation of a particular word, such as borrowing, clipping, compounding, and conversion.
- Examples of multiple processes include the term deli, which was borrowed from German and then clipped, and the word snowball, which was formed through compounding and then converted to a verb.
- Acronyms can also go through other processes, such as backformation, as in the use of lase as a verb from the acronym LASER.
- Analogy can also play a role in word formation, as in the creation of the word yuppie, which was formed by analogy with the earlier word hippie.
Indonesian Examples
- In Indonesian, the circumfix ke- -an is used to form nouns from adjectives, as in besar (big) becoming kebesaran (bigness).
- The circumfix is used for the word-formation process of derivation.
Hmong Examples
- Hmong speakers created new words for objects and experiences they encountered in the USA, such as using the word "tv" to refer to a television.
- Examples of Hmong expressions include translations provided by Bruce Downing and Judy Fuller.
Test your knowledge of Australian slang words and phrases, from 'barbie' to 'sickie'.
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