WORD FORMATION
1. Compounding: A combination of words or parts of them.
2. Affixation: Adding affixes or suffixes to the base.
3. Conversion: Linguistic elements changing their grammatical category
1. COMPOUNDING
-noun+noun: jobhunter; wineglass, skinhead;
-noun+verb: windfall, sunshine;
-noun+adverb: environment-friendly,
-noun+adjective: cost-efficient; fat-free;
-verb+ noun: pass-book, pickpocket;
-verb+verb: make-believe;
-preposition+noun: afternoon; after-hour;
-adjective+noun: “redskin”, “fast-food”, “software”.
2. AFFIXATION = usage of prefixes or suffixes
Prefixes - Meaning
Word class (slov.druh)
prepodna
anot, without
adj
disnegation
noun, verb
unopposite
adj, verb
irnot, without
adj
innot, without
adj
miswrongly
noun, verb
malwrongly
noun, verb
pseudofalse
noun
overexcessively
noun, adj
underinsufficiently
noun, adj, verb
Suffix
- Meaning
Transformation
prípona
-ment
state, action
V-N
-ful
full of
N - adj
-able
able to
V - adj
-ship
status
N-N
-less
without
N - adj
-ness
status
adj - N
-er
agent of the action
V-N
-or
agent of the action
V-N
-ee
addressee
V-N
-ly
manner, degree
adj - adv
-ing
activity
V – N, V - adj
-ish
typical of abou
N – adj, adj - adj
-like
similarity
N - adj
-al
relating to
N - adj
-y
characterised by
N - adj
Examples
amoral
disagreement, disagree
unhappy, unexpected
irresponsible
insignificant
misbehave, misbehaviour
maladministration
pseudocode
overcharge, overconfident
understatement, underdeveloped
Examples
development, replacement
meaningful, useful
acceptable
membership, ownership
homeless, useless
sadness
publisher, employer
mediator, director
employee, trainee, addressee
directly, naturally
dancing, interesting
childish, oldish
childlike, dreamlike
classical, logical
cloudy, sandy
3. CONVERSION
Noun to Verb
Brake > to brake, mail > to mail, taste > to taste. In these cases, the passage is transparent. Exception:
table > to table, book > to book
Adjective to Verb
Dirty > to dirty, empty > to empty, e-mail > to e-mail s.o.
Verb to Noun
To call > a call, to command > a command, to spy > a spy
Adjective to Noun
Daily newspaper: a daily; creative: a creative; fool: a fool
Zdroj:
BAUER, Laurie 1983. English Word Formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press