Words and Wordformation Processes
Chapter 5
Ms. Abrar Mujaddidi
Introduction

We quickly understand new words in our
language and accept the use of new forms
of that new word.

There is a lot of regularities in the wordformation processes in our language.

In this chapter, we explore some of the
processes of creating new words in a
language.
Etymology

The study of the origin and history of a
word is known as etymology.

We should view the constant evolution of
the words as a reassuring sign of vitality
of the langusge.
Coinage
Coinage is the invention of totally new terms.
 Sources of coined words:
1. Trade names of commercial products that
become general terms.
e.g. aspirin, kleenex, teflon, xerox.

2. New words based on the name of a person or a
place.
e.g. hoover, jeans, sandwich.
Borrowing
Borrowing is taking over words from
other languages.
 English borrows from other languages.
e.g. sofa, lilac, croissant
 Many languages borrow from English
e.g. Japanese.
supaamaaketto

cont.,
Loan translation:
Direct translation of the elements of a
word into the borrowing language.
 Many languages translated the term
‘skyscraper’ into its own vocabulary.


Compare between borrowing and loantranslation?
Compounding
Compounding is the joining of two
separate words to produce a single form.
 Compounding is very common in English
and German.
 E.g. Compound nouns: Bookcase,
doorknob, sunburn
Compound adjectives: low-paid,
good-looking

Blending

The combination of to separate forms to produce
a single form is blending.

BUT Blending is accomplished by taking the
beginning of one word and joining it to the end of
the other word.

E.g.
Smog (smoke + fog)
brunch (breakfast + lunch)
Spanglish (spanish + English)
Clipping
Clipping occurs when a word with more
than one syllable is is reduced to a shorter
form.
 E.g. gas (gasoline)
fan (fanatic)
ad ( advertisement)

cont.,

A special type of reduction is hypocorisms:
a longer word is reduced to a single
syllable, then a –y or –ie

E.g. movie (moving picture)
hankie (handkerchief)
Backformation

In backformation, a word of one type
(usually a noun) is reduced to form a word
of another type (usually a verb).

E.g.
Televise
donate
babysit
(television)
(donation)
(babysitter)
Conversion

Conversion is a change in the function of
the word without any reduction.

1. Noun to a verb
2. verb to a noun
3. verb to adjective
butter
to spy
to butter
a spy
see through
a see-through
material
Acronyms


Acronyms are new words formed from the
initial letters of a set of other words.
e.g. CD (compact disk)
VCR (video cassette recorder)
laser
MADD
ATM
Derivation

Derivation is accomplished by the use of affixes.
Affixes
prefixes
added to the
beginning of
a word
un- or dis-
infixes
not used
in standard
English
suffixes
added to the
end of the word
-ful or -less
Multiple Processes

It is possible to trace the operation of
more than one process in the creation of a
particular word.
e.g.
Deli
snowball
See you next class
read chapter 7 please!!