Word Formation PDF

## Word Formation ### 1. Derivation - Adding a prefix or suffix to the existing word. - Realization (1610) (n.) from realize + -ation. "Action of making real," - Hyperlink (1987) (n.) from hyper+link "An electronic link that gives direct access from a marked place in a hypertext or hypermed...

## Word Formation ### 1. Derivation - Adding a prefix or suffix to the existing word. - Realization (1610) (n.) from realize + -ation. "Action of making real," - Hyperlink (1987) (n.) from hyper+link "An electronic link that gives direct access from a marked place in a hypertext or hypermedia document to another." - Hyperlink is a highlighted text on a page that links that page to another. ### 2. Back Formation - Forming new words (neologism) by extracting the actual or supposed affixes from another word. When it becomes established in a language, it is easier to tell its back formation if we know the origin of the word. - Ex. sculpt (from sculptor), proofread (from proofreading), scavenge (scavenger) babysit (from babysitting) - I need to proofread a lot of articles tonight. ### 3. Compounding - Word formed from joining or combining two or more words. - Ex. awe-inspiring (hyphenated compound), carbon dating (open), claptrap (closed) - Witnessing some people overcoming life's trials and difficulties is awe-inspiring. ### 4. Repurposing - Word formed by taking a word from one context and applying it in another context. - Ex. computer mouse (taken after a long-tailed animal called mouse) ### 5. Conversion - Transplanting one word class to another by taking a word. - Ex. - Words that serve as a verb as well as a noun, like friend. - Why don't you friend me? - Words can serve as a noun as well as an adjective, like giant. - I saw a giant dog just outside our house. ### 6. Eponyms - Words named after a person. - Ex. Alzheimer – He's got an Alzheimer's disease. That explains his peculiar behaviour. ### 7. Abbreviations - There are three main subtypes: clippings, acronyms and initialisms. - **Clipping** - Cutting of the beginning or the end of a word or both leaving a part to stand for the whole. - **Back-clipped** – words that lose their forepart. Removing the word like exam for examination and lab for laboratory. - **Fore-clipping** – the beginning of a word is removed like plane for airplane and phone for telephone. - **Middle clipping** – the middle of a word is retained like flu from influenza. - **Complex clipping** – multiple parts from multiple words is removed as in sitcom from situation comedy. - **Acronyms** - Words formed by the initials or succession of beginning segments of words. They are pronounced as single words. - Ex. Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization), radar (radio detecting and ranging), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) - **Initialism** - Building a word from the initial letters in a phrase or name. They are read as a sequence of letters. - Ex. DNA, USA ### 8. Loanwords - English words borrowed from other languages. - Ex. tycoon (Japanese) taboo (Polynesian) hunk (Flemish) ### 9. Onomatopeia - Creating a word by imitating the sound it makes. - Ex. Plop, ow, barf, cuckoo, bunch, bump and midge all originated this way. ### 10. Reduplication - Repetition, or near-repetition of words or sounds. - Ex. goody-goody, helter-skelter, picnic, claptrap ### 11. Nonce Words - Words pulled out of thin air, having little relation to any existing form. - Ex. few and far between, but include quark (Murray Gell-Mann) ### 12. Error - Misspellings, mishearings, mispronunciations and mistranscriptions lead to new forms in conjunction with other mechanisms. - Scramble, for example, originated as a variant of scrabble; but over time, they both have taken different meanings. ### 13. Blending - Taking two or more words, removing parts of each and joining the residues together to create a new word whose meaning is taken from the source words. - Ex. Webinar = worldwide web + seminar