Questions and Answers
What process involves inventing completely new terms?
Coinage
Which process involves reducing a word to a shorter form?
Clipping
What type of new words are formed by adding affixes like prefixes, infixes, and suffixes?
Derivational
Which process involves forming new words by blending two separate words into one?
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What is the process where a noun is converted into another part of speech like a verb or an adjective?
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In the context of forming new words, what does backformation involve?
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Study Notes
Ways of Forming New Words
- Borrowing: Words are taken from other languages, e.g., tofu, brainwash, tattoo.
- Compounding: Two separate words are combined into one, e.g., classroom (class + room), well-known (well + known).
- Clipping: A word is reduced to a shorter form, e.g., telephone → phone.
- Conversion: A change in the functional category, e.g., [noun as verb] water the plants, [verb as noun] good shot.
- Coinage: Invention of new terms, e.g., airpod.
- Derivational: New words are formed by adding affixes (prefix, infix, suffix), e.g., mis-understanding (prefix), hellgoddamyah (infix), use-ful (suffix), child-ish (suffix).
- Blending: A combination of two words, e.g., breakfast + lunch = brunch.
- Backformation: A noun is converted to another part of speech (verb, adjective, adverb, etc.), e.g., teacher → teach.
- Derivational reduction: A noun is converted to a verb, e.g., transmitter → transmit.
- Hypocorism: A type of word reduction typically in Australian and British English, e.g., television → telly.
- Acronyms: Formed from the initial letters of a set of words, e.g., MC = master of ceremonies.
- Analogy: New words are formed to be similar to some existing words, e.g., (no specific example provided).
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