Introduction to Applied Linguistics
4-year College
Junior students
Fall semester
Topics:
Ways of Word-Building in Modern English
Textbook:
Exploring the System of the English Language
Part 2, chapter 1 (pp. 119 – 131)
ISBN 986-7688-42-2
Professor: Ludmila Kudrevatykh
Learning Activities
• Preview the material of a chapter at home
• Learn linguistic terminology
• Listen to the teacher’s explanations
• Do practical in class
• Correct the mistakes under the supervision
of the teacher
Course Methods
•
Individual home work
•
Teacher’s explanations and
presentations
4.
5. Do practical
•
Individual or pair-work in
class
6. Make mistakes correction
•
On the board in class
7. Do controlling tests
•
1. Preview a chapter
2.
3. Discuss definitions and
classifications
Regularly, after discussion
a. Quizzes
b. Practical exercises
Lesson plan
(in weeks)
1. Morphemic structure of a word;
2. Productive ways of word-building in Modern English:
3.
4.
5.
6.
word-derivation;
Productive
Productive
Productive
Productive
ways
ways
ways
ways
of
of
of
of
word-building: word-derivation (cont);
word-building: word-composition;
word-building: conversion;
word-building: shortening;
7. Minor ways of word-formation in Modern English;
8. Review;
9. Midterm.
Lesson plan
(continued)
1. Lexico-Semantic Groupings of Words: synonyms;
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Lexico-Semantic Groupings of Words: synonyms (cont);
Lexico-Semantic Groupings of Words: antonyms;
Lexico-Semantic Groupings of Words: antonyms (cont);
Lexico-Semantic Groupings of Words: homonyms;
Lexico-Semantic Groupings of Words: homonyms (cont);
Lexico-Semantic Groupings of Words: hyponyms, paronyms;
8. Review;
9. Final Test.
What is Lexicology?
(p.119 – 120)
Lexicology is a branch of Linguistics that
studies the meaning and the use of words.
2 basic subdivisions of Lexicology:
Morphology and Semantics
• Morphology studies forms of words.
• Semantics studies meanings of words.
What kind of words does Lexicology study?
Lexicology mostly studies
lexical words than grammatical words
e.g.:
We are coming tonight by a 10 o’clock bus
Lexical words carry the main meaning of a
sentence: Coming , tonight, ten, o’clock, bus
Grammatical words make the sentence
grammatically complete: we, are, by, a
Morphemic structure of a word
(p.121)
Morphemes are units smaller than a word each having
its sound form and a meaning:
teach-er (2), help-less-ness (3), sports-man (3).
• Like a word - a morpheme is a two-sided language unit that has
associations with a certain sound-pattern and a meaning.
• Unlike a word - a morpheme is not an independent unit and
can occur in speech only as a constituent part of a word.
Morphemes cannot be divided into smaller units
without losing their meanings.
Classes of morphemes
(p. 121)
2 classes of morphemes:
• lexical morphemes and
• grammatical morphemes
Lexical morphemes are used to build new words
(teacher, worker, helper, builder, reader)
Grammatical morphemes are used to change
grammatical forms of words and make a sentence
grammatically complete
(teacher, teachers, teach, teaching; the, on, without,
Types of Morphemes:
Free morphemes (p. 121)
Both types of morphemes may be free and bound.
Free morphemes are used independently.
Free lexical morphemes are roots of words - they
• express lexical meaning of a word (play, plays, playing)
• build up words by themselves (teach, house, world)
Free grammatical morphemes are function words conjunctions (and, or), prepositions (in, under, with),
articles (the, a, an)
They make a sentence grammatically correct.
Types of Morphemes:
Bound Morphemes (p. 121)
Bound morphemes occur only as constituent parts of words
Bound lexical morphemes are mostly affixes
(prefixes and suffixes)
• prefixes are used before the root (unpleasant)
• suffixes – after the root morpheme (helpless)
Bound lexical morphemes change the lexical meaning of a word
Bound grammatical morphemes are inflexions (endings)
-s for the Plural of nouns (chairs, tables, windows),
-ed for the Past Indefinite of regular verbs (opened, closed, changed),
-ing for the Present Participle (teaching, opening, closing), etc.
Bound grammatical morphemes change a grammatical form of a
word
Types of Morphemes:
Classification of Lexical Morphemes
(p. 121)
Morphemes could be classified semantically and structurally
Semantically, lexical morphemes may be of 3 types:
• Root morphemes
• Affixal morphemes (affixes: prefixes and suffixes)
• Semi-affixes (semi-prefixes, semi-suffixes)
Structurally, lexical morphemes may be of 3 types:
• Free morphemes
• Bound morphemes
• Semi-bound (semi-free) morphemes
Semi-bound/ semi-free morphemes can function
both as free and bound morphemes:
(man – postman, well – well-known, half – half-done, over - once-over, overall)
Types of Morphemes:
Classification of Grammatical Morphemes
(p. 121)
Grammatical morphemes could be classified
functionally and structurally
The main function of grammatical words is to make a
sentence grammatically correct and complete. Conjunctions,
prepositions and articles are used for this purpose.
Structurally, grammatical morphemes are used to change a
grammatical form of a word. Inflections (endings) are used
for this purpose.
Practical 1
Analyze morphemic structures of the following words:
Examples
Childhood, speaker, homeward,
unpredictable, booklet,
misunderstanding, include, wellbred, enlarge, engine,
disorganized, deliver, detail,
affectionateness, underfed, water,
half-done, lady-like, discuss,
experience, daily, evaluate, realize,
estimation, elderly, infatuate,
water-proof, study, self-study,
somber, surprise, assessment,
demoralization, undersigned,
inaccessible, impassable,
remember, debus, ex-wife,
frustratingly, divide, destroy
table –
• It consists of 1 morpheme: “table”;
• It is a simple word;
• Semantically: “table” is a root morpheme;
• Structurally: “table” is a free morpheme.
disappointment –
• It consists of 3 morphemes: “dis-“,
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“appoint” and “-ment”;
Semantically:
“dis-” is a derivational morpheme – prefix,
“appoint” is a root morpheme,
“-ment” is a derivational morpheme –
suffix;
Structurally:
“dis-“ and “-ment” are bound morphemes,
“appoint” is a free morpheme.
Ways of Word Formation:
What is Word-Building? (p. 122)
Word-building is a process of creating new words from
the material available in the language after certain
structural and semantic patterns.
•
•
2 ways of word formation:
productive ways are widely used to form a lot of new
words in Modern English
(word-derivation, word-composition, conversion, shortening);
non-productive ways are not frequently used for the
production of new words in Modern English
(blending, back-formation, sound-and-stress interchange,
sound imitation)
Productive Ways of Word Formation:
Word-Derivation
(p. 124 – 126)
Word-derivation or affixation is the formation of new
words by adding derivational affixes to different types of
stems – either prefixes or suffixes, or both together.
2 different ways of word-derivation:
• prefixation and
• suffixation
Several degrees of word-derivation:
• zero degree of derivation (to support, to make)
• the first degree of derivation (unlock, kindly)
• the second degree of derivation (dishonesty), etc.
Word-Derivation:
Principles of classification of affixes
(p. 125)
2 principles of classification:
• Diachronic
• Synchronic
Diachronic analysis deals with the origin of affixes:
native and foreign affixes.
Synchronically, affixes are classified according to the following:
1. meanings of affixes;
2. functions performed;
3. parts of speech formed;
4. stylistic reference;
5. degree of productivity.
Word-Derivation: Prefixation
(p.125)
formation of new words with the help of prefixes
Diachronically, prefixes may be of native and foreign origin.
Synchronically, prefixes are classified according to the following:
1. meanings of prefixes;
2. functions performed by prefixes;
3. parts of speech formed by prefixes;
4. stylistic reference of prefixes;
5. degree of productivity of prefixes.
Prefixation: Origin of Prefixes (p. 125)
• Many of the native prefixes (be-, out-, under-, over-,
after-) used to be independent words that lost their
independence and turned into prefixes
(outlet, undergo, overall, afterthought)
• Some of the prefixes have always functioned as prefixes,
e.g., mis-, un-: misdeed, unable.
• Foreign prefixes (pre-, post-, co-, inter-, super-,
extra-, anti-, etc.) have been adopted by the English
language mostly as constituent parts of borrowed words
(post-war, interchange, subdivide, ultramodern, anti-war,
coordinate)
Prefixation: Meanings of Derivatives (1)
Prefixes carry different meanings.
It is possible to distinguish the following prefixes:
• 1. negative prefixes: unemployed, incorrect, amoral;
• 2. reversative prefixes: unfasten, deform, disconnect:
• 3. prefixes of time and order: pre-war, ex-president, foretell;
• 4. prefixes of repetition: rewrite, remake;
• 5. locative prefixes: subway, intercontinental,
transoceanic, overcoat;
• 6. pejorative prefixes: pseudoscientific, maltreat.
Prefixation: Functional Use (2)
• Functionally, English prefixes are used to create
a new lexical meaning of a derivative word:
an order – a disorder (noun – noun)
pleasant – unpleasant (adjective – adjective)
to read – to reread (verb – verb)
• Only some prefixes may change a word-class of
a derivative.
They are: be-, de-, en-: belittle, debus, entrain.
Prefixation: Parts of speech formed (3)
In Modern English prefixes are not used to form a
derivative of a different word-class (except 3 prefixes –
be-, de-, en-)
Since the Old English period, prefixes have mostly been
typical of English verbs.
Prefixation: Stylistic Reference (4)
According to their stylistic reference, prefixes
may be of 2 types:
stylistically neutral and stylistically colored.
Most of the native prefixes are stylistically
neutral: subdivide, reinterpret.
Some of unassimilated prefixes are marked by
stylistic, mostly by bookish, coloring:
transcontinental, super-ordinate
Prefixation: Degree of Productivity (5)
According to the degree of productivity, prefixes are
divided into 2 types:
productive and non-productive prefixes.
With the help of productive prefixes a lot of new words
are formed in Modern English. They are: re-, un-, dis-,
etc. (see: handouts)
Non-productive prefixes, though sometimes quite
frequent in use, do not participate in the formation of
new words in Modern English: a-, for-, with-, forth-.
Prefixation: Practical 1
Give a full morphological analysis of prefixes in the
following words
disrespect –
• It’s a derivative.
•
Disappointment, belittle,
unbelievable, reread,
•
subtropical, enrich, ex-boss,
indistinguishable, immoral, •
overestimate, antinational, •
nonproductive, asocial,
•
transcontinental, illegal,
•
extraordinary, outgoing,
counterattack, abnormal,
•
unsophisticated, impose,
stepdaughter, retroactive, •
pseudovector, co-producer, •
underestimating, derail,
•
•
It consists of 2 morphemes “dis-” and
“respect”.
It is the first degree of derivation.
Semantically,
“dis-” is a derivational morpheme (prefix),
“respect” is a root morpheme.
Structurally,
“dis-” is a bound morpheme,
“respect is a free morpheme.
Diachronically:
prefix “dis-“ is of Latin origin.
Synchronically:
Prefix “dis-“ has the meaning of a
reversative action,
it doesn’t change the part of speech
formed,
it is stylistically neutral and
it is productive in Modern English
Prefixation: Practical 2
Define meanings of prefixes in the following words
to unlock, to decentralize, independent, antiwar, instability, uncomfortable, misbehavior,
counter-plan, outside, to mishear, a counterpropaganda, to overcook, outlaw, to devalue,
non-smoker, antifascist, inexperienced, unwell,
extra-regular, ultra-short, to entrap, super-pure,
transcontinental, to redo, coexistence, to
overdue, an ex-minister, impertinent, bedim,
restructure, over-busy, an interclass,
extraterritorial, an ex-serviceman, an outbuilding
Word-derivation: Suffixation –
the formation of new words with the help of
suffixes (p. 125 – 126)
Diachronical classification:
suffixes may be native and foreign.
• Suffixes of native origin: -ness, -ish, -ing, -hood,
etc.
Originally, many of the suffixes were
independent words that gradually turned into
derivational suffixes: -dom, -hood, -ship, etc.
• Some suffixes have always been known as
derivational units: -ish, -less, -ness, etc.
Suffixation: Origin (p. 125)
Foreign suffixes were borrowed with the words of Latin and French
origin. Suffixes of Latin origin are:
• -(a)tion / -ion: constitution, revolution; opinion, union;
• -ate / -ute: create, congratulate; distribute, contribute;
• -ct: connect, act, conduct;
• -able: eatable, doable, teachable;
• -ate: desperate, accurate;
• -ant / -ent: important; convenient, evident;
• -or / -ar / -al: junior, senior; maternal; familiar, solar, etc.
Suffixes of French origin are:
• -ment: development, appointment;
• -ess: actress, tigress;
• -ance / -ence: arrogance; patience;
• -age: courage, marriage, etc.
Suffixation: Functional Use (p. 126)
• Suffixes are used to derive a word into a different wordclass: V  N, V  Adj, Adj  V, N Adj, cf., to form –
formation, , to invent – inventive, active – to activate, a sister –
sisterly, etc.
• Only some suffixes do not change the part of speech of
a derived word but transfer it into another semantic
group: cf., the suffix –ship changes concrete nouns to
abstract nouns, as in a champion - championship, a chairman chairmanship;
see also: a piano – a pianist, a dance – dancing, etc.
Suffixation: Functional Use (cont)
•
According to the part of speech formed, suffixes
may be classified into the following groups:
noun-forming suffixes: -dom, -ness, -ist, -ism, ment, -age, -ess;
• adjective-forming suffixes: -able, -less, -ful, -ous,
-ish, -ative;
• verb-forming suffixes: -en, -fy, -ize, -ate;
• adverb-forming suffixes: -ly, -ward
(for examples, please, see handouts)
Suffixation: Meaning of Derivatives
(p. 126)
Suffixes express various meanings of certain parts of speech.
Noun-forming suffixes may express the following meanings:
•
•
•
•
agent, profession or occupation: -er, -eer, -ant, -ist;
appurtenance: -an (German), -ian (Russian), -ese (Japanese);
collectivity: -age, -dom, -hood, -ship;
abstract idea: -age, -ence, ancy, -dom, -hood, -ment, -ism, -tion, -th,
-ty.
Adjective-forming suffixes may express:
• presence of quality (-ous, -ful, -able);
• absence of quality (-less);
Verb-forming suffixes have meanings of:
• to cause, to become (-en, -ize, -fy)
• To act in a specific way (-ate)
Suffixation: Stylistic Reference (p. 126)
Native suffixes and fully assimilated borrowed
suffixes are stylistically neutral;
Some of borrowed suffixes are stylistically
colored.
Greek affixes are stylistically colored in Modern
English (bookish style): -oid, -tron, -a, -i,
cf.: humanoid, synchrotron, protolanguage, etc.
Suffixation: Degree of Productivity (p. 126)
Productive suffixes are frequently used for the formation
of new words in Modern English: -er, -ist, -ing, etc.
The degree of productivity of suffixes should not be
mixed with the frequency of their usage.
Non-productive suffixes that are quite seldom used to
build new words in Modern English are frequently met in
the vocabulary: -ock (hillock), -th (width) –t (kept).
Some of the suffixes gained their productivity after
having been non-productive for centuries: -ish (reddish,
yellowish), -dom (boredom, serfdom, slavedom)
Suffixation: Splinters
• Splinters are parts of words which appeared as a result of clipping
the end or the beginning of a word:
mini- (from: miniature) minicar, miniradio;
maxi- (from: maximum) maxi-house, maxi-sculpture;
-napper (from: kidnapper) busnapper, dognapper; -omat (from:
automat) cashomat, laundromat;
-eteria (from: cafeteria) booketeria, groceteria;
-quake (from: earthquake) Moonquake, youthquake; -tel (from:
hotel) motel, boatel, airtel;
-burger (from: hamburger) fishburger, beefburger;; -scape (from:
landscape) seascape, townscape;
Euro- (from: European) Euromarket, Eurotunnel, Eurocard, etc.
Linguists treat them as pseudo affixes (or semi-affixes).
Suffixation: Practical 1
Give a full morphological
analysis of
suffixes in the following words
Government, unpredictable,
winner, fruitfulness, businesslike,
desperate, international, buddy,
lioness, illiterate, leadership,
companionship, glorious,
interviewee, hopeless, piglet,
cookery, inaccessible, glorious,
martyrdom, ex-builder,
immediate, actor, addressee,
easily, description, subdivision,
summarize, sharpen, interesting,
careful, reddish, designate,
considerate, designative,
designatory, graduator,
obstinateness, soldiery, nominee,
armful
friendship –
It’s a derivative.
•
• It consists of 2 morphemes “friend” and
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“-ship”.
It is the first degree of derivation.
Semantically,
“friend” is a root morpheme”,
“-ship” is a derivational morpheme –
suffix.
Structurally,
“friend” is a free morpheme;
“-ship” is a bound morpheme.
Diachronically:
Suffix “-ship” is of native origin.
Synchronically:
Suffix “-ship“ has a meaning of “a
quality or condition of being a friend”;
it doesn’t change the part of speech of a
derivative;
it is a Noun-forming suffix;
it is stylistically neutral and
it is a productive suffix
Suffixation: Practical 2
Define meanings of suffixes in the following words
•
Define meanings of Noun-forming suffixes in the following words:
•
Define meanings of Adjective-forming suffixes in the following words:
•
Define meanings of Verb-forming suffixes in the following words:
•
Define meanings of Adverb-forming suffixes in the following words:
Anticipation, novelette, employee, examiner, lioness, birdie, nestling,
booklet, boredom, performance, temperature, partnership, similarity,
easiness, reality, tourism, humanist
Hopeless, doable, brownish, governmental, useful, suitable, funny,
jealous, notional, businesslike, informative, watered, kind-hearted,
capitalist, desperate, starry, starred, woolen, illiterate
Generalize, demonstrate, purify, shorten, identify, illustrate, deliberate,
circulate, activate, dictate, illustrate, analyze, widen, simplify, strengthen,
enumerate, deafen
Clearly, wonderfully, downtown-ward, inward, affectionately, frustratingly
Productive Ways of Word-Formation:
Compounding
(p.122 – 124)
• Compounding is combining of 2 or more stems of words
in order to form a third word with a new meaning:
a handbag, duty-free, clip-claps, wait-and-see
• The second word usually identifies an object while
the first word specifies what kind of object it is:
water tank/ tank water,
washing machine/ machine washing,
table game/ game table
Word-composition:
Classification of Compound words
7 aspects to classify compounds are known:
1. Structural
2. Morphological
3. Semantic
4. Functional
5. Syntactic functions
6. Phonetic
7. Graphical
Compounding:
Structural classification (1)
(p. 122)
Structurally, compounds are characterized by a specific
order and arrangement of stems.
• It is usually the second stem that is a structural and a
semantic center of a compound:
a matchbox, freehanded, well known.
The second component is often called “the head” of a
compound word, and the first component – its “modifier”.
Compounding: Structural classification (cont)
Degree of semantic independence of stems (p.122)
According to the degree of semantic independence of stems
compounds might be of 2 different types: subordinate and
coordinate compounds.
Subordinate compounds are words the components of which are
neither structurally nor semantically equal in importance.
It is the second component that forms the semantic and structural
center of a compound word: a speedometer, a baby-sitter, a
shareholder.
In coordinate compounds both stems are semantically equal in
importance.
Coordinate compounds fall into two subgroups:
• additive compounds and
• reduplicative compounds.
Compounding: Structural classification (cont)
Coordinate compounds
• Additive compounds are formed from stems of independently functioning
words of the same part of speech. They denote an object that is two things
at the same time: secretary-stenographer, Anglo-Saxon, blue-green,
parent-teacher (association).
• Reduplicative compounds are made up by repetition of the first stem; as a
result duplicates are made: fifty-fifty, tick-tock, etc.
•
•
•
Reduplicative compounds may be of 3 kinds:
an exact duplication of the first stem in a word: hush-hush, goody-goody,
bye-bye;
variation of consonants in the root: clap-trap, willy-nilly
variation of vowels in the root: chitchat, zigzag, ping-pong.
Sometimes such words are called “ricochet words”.
Some of the researchers do not treat coordinative compounds as compound words,
as they don’t contain either a head or a modifier in their structure (see: Minor ways
of word formation, p. 130)
Compounding: Structural classification (cont)
Neo-classical compounds
(p. 124)
Some compound words contain parts which are not
themselves independent words.
They are mostly compounds formed from Latin and
Greek loanwords, for example, in a word like
bibliography neither biblio-, nor -graphy are words in
Modern English.
Such compounds are treated as neo-classical compounds
and their parts are defined as “combining forms”: bio-,
electro-, tele-, -ology, -phile, -scope
Philology).
(biography, telescope,
Compounding: Practical 1
Define types of the following compounds according to the
degree of their structural and semantic independence:
subordinate – coordinate:
additive,
reduplicative:
complete repetition, variation of consonants/vowels
One-sided, way-laid, onrush, hotchpotch, two-party
(system), saw dust, shipshape, tricolor, freshman, teargas, hustle-bustle, goody-goody, take-home, week-end,
week-ender, go-between, lipstick, fellow-lodger, willynilly, athlete-gymnast, triennial, eye-lid, Anglo-American,
tick-tacks, hoity-toity, bye-bye, round-faced, star-chart,
tit-bit, woman-hater, hotchpotch, baby-sitter, helterskelter, finger-print, director-manager, hurdy-gurdy, a
blow-ball, hobnob, dairymaid, Afro-Asian, eyelevel,
standpoint, hush-hush, director-producer, quake-stricken,
slink-pink, shake-shack, mother-daughter (relationships),
detective-policeman, flip-flop, Chinese-Canadian
Compounding: Morphological Classification (2)
Types of stems joined together
(p. 124)
According to the morphological types of stems joined together,
compounds are subdivided into 2 groups: neutral and syntactic.
Neutral compounds may be of 3 types:
1. compounds proper that are formed by simple stems: ice-cold,
bedroom, tallboy;
2. derivational compounds one of the stems of which is derived:
kind-hearted, music-lover, absent-mindedness, grass-hopper;
3. compounds with a shortened stem: T-shirt, TV-set, phone call.
Syntactic compounds consist of elements typical of a phrase or a
sentence (articles, prepositions, particles, etc.):
Jack-of-all-trades; a go-between, a mother-in-law, a sit-in, a forgetme-not, a man-of-war, up-to-date, etc
Compounding: Practical 2
Define types of the following compounds according to the
morphological types of stems joined together:
neutral
proper, derivational, with shortened stem
syntactic
Heart-felt (talk), eye-witness (video), difficult-tounderstand (proposal), shoe-maker, first-time (voter),
Jack-o’-lantern, drive-in (restaurant), hanky-panky, email, walk-in (closet), four-volume (piece), week-ender,
sit-in (demonstration), larger-than-life (character),
merry-go-round, T-shirt, icebound (waters), shilly-shally,
coin-box, actor-manager, stand-up (meal), puffed-up,
short-sighted, shooting-star, sitter-in, paper-money,
panic-stricken, detective-manager, stay-at-home
(moms), a feel-good (factor)
Compounding: Semantic Classification (3)
Degree of motivation
(p. 124)
Semantically, compounds are treated as idiomatic or
non-idiomatic compounds of different degree of
motivation
• The meaning of a non-idiomatic compound word can be
deduced from the meanings of its components:
a reading-room, an evening gown.
• The meaning of an idiomatic compound cannot be
defined from the meanings of their stems and the
degree of semantic cohesion of their constituent parts is
very different, cf.: bull-in-a-china-shop (politics).
Compounding: Semantic Classification (3)
Degree of motivation
•
•
•
(cont) (p. 123)
According to the degree of their motivation, compounds may be of 3 types:
completely motivated,
partially motivated, and
completely non-motivated.
In completely motivated compounds both components are used in their
direct meanings: shoemaker, headache, street lamp.
In partially motivated compounds one component is used in its direct
meaning, while the other is used in its indirect meaning: a flowerbed, a
castle-builder, hotdog.
Completely non-motivated compounds lack any motivation, i.e. there is no
connection between the meaning of a compound and the meanings of its
components, cf.,
fiddlesticks means “nonsense”,
eye-wash - “something that is said or done to deceive a person”,
red tape – “bureaucracy”.
Compounding: Practical 3
Define the degree of motivation in the following
compounds:
(completely motivated, partially motivated, non-motivated)
a cold duck, a grasshopper, hoodwink, a tricycle, a
chatterbox, a cool beggar, a loudspeaker, horse-collar,
earphones, huntsman, a bus-driver, hot-house, fireproof,
higgledy-piggledy, hotheaded, a bookworm, hopscotch,
star-dust, man-of-war, happy-go-lucky, red tape, will-o’the-wisp, kith-and-kin, devil-may-care, hide-and-seek,
hand-to-hand (fighting), hang-dog, hen-hearted,
herring-bone, highwayman, heyday, highball, holystone,
hugger-mugger, hush-money, tableland, onlooker, outand-out, bolster savings, hot dog, hot-headed, humbug,
scandalmonger, shorthand, singsong, wool-gathering,
runoff, walkie-talkie
Compounding: Functional Classification (p.123)
Functionally, compounds are viewed as words of different parts of
speech: their word-class is indicated by the second stem of a
compound.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Compound words may belong to different word-classes:
nouns: a birthday, a weekend, a single mother;
adjectives: long-legged, peace-loving, easy-going;
adverbs: everywhere, outdoors, inside;
pronouns: someone, nothing;
connectives: within, without;
verbs formed by means of conversion: to blacklist, to blackmail;
verbs with verbal and adverbial stems: to bypass, to offset.
Compounding: Functional Classification
Word-class patterns of compound words
(p. 123 – 124)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
N + N: railway, summerhouse, cigar-ash;
Adj + N: short-term, blackberry, bluestocking;
N + Part I: soul-baring, fence-building, law-making,
N + Part II: horror-struck, smoke-blackened,
technology-rejected;
Adj + Part II: short-lived, ill-prepared;
Adv + Part II: well known, badly-injured, half-seen;
Adj + Part I: freethinking, aggressive-sounding, slowburning;
N + Adj: air tight, tobacco-mad;
Num + N: four-volume, one-vote, first-time; etc.
Compounding: Practical 4
Identify functional patterns according to which the
following compound words are built
a newly-created (concept), walkie-talkie, a child-lover, a
one-earner (household), a wipe-clean (carpet), feepaying (school), well-meant, face-to-face, small-minded,
man-of-the-people (impression), job-for-life (security),
single-mothers, something-must-be-doner, Charles-andDi (case), Pepsi Generation, a gap year, a theatre-goer,
feel-good (factor), money-making (business), short-lived
(plan)
Compounding: Syntactic Classification (5)
Functions in a Sentence
In a sentence, compound words fulfill different functions.
They may be used as the following members of a sentence:
• Subject - Japan’s old job-for-life security has vanished…
• Object – I forced my manservant to help me…
• Predicate – My mentor was a great waterman. Langdon
backpedaled;
• Attribute – A definite end-of-the-holiday gloom was in
the air;
• Adverbial modifier of manner, time and order –
… beautifully written in a neat penmanship…
… He sat white knuckled in a passenger seat…
Compounding: Practical 5
Identify syntactic functions of the following compounds in a
sentence:
(subject, object, predicate, attribute, adverbial modifier, etc.)
1. He was a little, white-faced, clean-shaven, grizzly-haired fellow of 50.
2. He proclaimed a hand-off policy (Davis).
3. That was a hand-to-hand confrontation (Davis).
4. …up-and-coming number of Virginia’s ruling elite (Davis).
5. That was a long-term impact (Davis).
6. That produced a mopping-up effort (Davis).
7. They had swallowed all his dim-witted lies (J.K. Rowling).
8. He is a New Yorker.
9. Carryover funds can be used to cover a deficit.
10.The team conducted its review on-site.
11.The runoff from farmland can carry dirty water into the river.
Compounding: Phonetic Classification (p. 123)
Phonetically, a compound word gets a new stress pattern.
1.
2.
3.
Compounds may be built according to the following stress
patterns:
primary stress on the first component (┴ ─): doorway, blackboard.
double stress, i.e. primary stress on the first component and
secondary stress on the second component (┴ ┬): blood-vessel,
washing-machine.
level stress – both stems possess individual stresses(┴ ┴): open-
minded, grass-green.
Primary stress is traditionally typical of nouns,
Secondary and level stress – of adjectives and adjectival groups.
Compounding: Graphical Classification (p. 123)
Compounds could be written in various ways. According to the
means of connection, compounds are divided into four groups:
1. compounds formed by simple placing one stem after another
without any linking element: headache, warpath, flowerpot;
2. compounds stems of which are coined with the help of linking
letters such as -o-, -i-, -s-: Afro-Asian, handicraft, statesman,
neuroscience;
3. compounds written with a hyphen: third-rate, best-seller, wellbeing;
4. compounds written as separate words: awriting table, a dining
room, a school bus, single mothers.
Compounding: Practical 6
Define graphical types of connections in the following
compounds:
(simple placing, linking letters, a hyphen, separate writing)
Handicraft, quick-witted, hustle-bustle, snowman,
Austro-Asian, buttercup, saw dust, speedometer, hue
and cry, bumble-bee, hump-backed, hurdy-gurdy,
sportsman, handiwork, hit-or-miss, Morphosyntax,
borderline, anthropologist, statesman
Compounding: Practical 7
Give a full morphological analysis of the following
compound words:
Buttonhole, fifty-fifty, father-inlaw, make-up, hush-hush, waitand-see, peace-fighter, pell-mell,
bookmaker, tiptoe, progressiveminded (people), nuclearpowder (submarines), bye-bye,
a paper-littered table, actorproducer, riff-raff, evil-hearted
(people), put-it-together toy set,
sit-on-the-fence (policy), handwashable (clothes), clip-clap,
color-blinded (people), duty-free
(goods), a short-staffed (office),
middle-of-the-roader, higgledypiggledy, looker-on, (the) notalways-appropriate (methods),
teacher-made (tests), coachmanager, flip-flop,
Morphosemantics, detectivemanager
a woman-hater
• It is a neutral derivational compound
•
•
•
•
•
•
word;
It consists of two stems: a simple
stem woman and a derivative stem
hater;
It’s formed by the pattern N + V-er=
N;
It is a compound noun;
It is a compound of the subordinate
type: the second stem hater forms a
semantic and a structural centre of a
compound;
It is a completely motivated
compound.
The two stems are joined together
by a hyphen;
Productive Ways of Word-Formation:
Conversion
(p. 126)
Conversion is a process when a word is converted from
one word-class to another without any changes of a
form, but only through the changes in its paradigm: to
cut – a cut, to swim – a swim, a shoulder – to shoulder.
Paradigm is an ordered set of grammatical forms of a
certain part of speech – noun, verb, adjective, adverb (p. 73):
nouns: a girl – girls – girl’s;
verbs: to write – wrote – written – writing – have written – will
write, etc.
Conversion occurred as a result of historical processes –
• leveling of endings,
• reduction of unstressed vowels,
• simplification of stems, etc.
Conversion: Historical background (p. 126)
In the history of the English language words love – to love, work – to work,
smoke – to smoke, answer – to answer, drink – to drink had different
morphological features and possessed their own special paradigms:
OE lufu (love) – lufian (to love),
answaru (an answer) – andswarian (to answer),
drinku (a drink) - drinkan (to drink),
smocka (a smoke) – smockian (to smoke).
Complicated morphological changes caused by the analytical tendencies in
the development of the grammatical structure of the English language
resulted in accidental identity of verbal and nominal forms.
•
•
Cases of conversion in the XIV-th century imitated such pairs of words in
analogy for they were:
numerous in the vocabulary and
subconsciously accepted as word-building patterns.
Conversion: Structural Patterns (p. 127)
Conversion in Modern English is extremely productive and influences almost
every part of speech.
Traditionally, conversion regards verbs and nouns transformations.
Verbs made from nouns (N  V) are the most numerous:
• to hand, to face, to eye, to room, to monkey, to honeymoon, to can, to chin, to fist,
etc., cf., My mother clothed and shoed me.
Verbs can also be made from adjectives (Adj  V):
• to pale, to yellow, to cool, etc., cf., He narrowed his eyes.
Nouns are made from verbs (V  N):
• a do, a go, a make, a run, a find, a catch, a walk, a move, a show, etc.,
• cf., She gave a little shiver.
Conversion: Structural Patterns (cont)
Adjectives are made from nouns (N Adj):
• a rich, a blind, a mute, etc.,
• cf., He is an absolute imbecile in his profession.
Other parts of speech are not entirely unsusceptible to conversion:
• to but, to down, to out, the ups and downs, the ins and outs, etc.,
• cf., I was speculating with various whys, and whats and whos.
• the process of the formation of verbs is called “verbalization”;
• the formation of nouns is called “substantivization”;
• the formation of adjectives - adjectivalization”.
Conversion: Semantic correlations (p. 127)
Semantic associations of converted verbs may be traced in:
• 1. action characteristic of the object: witness – to witness, dog – to dog;
• 2.
instrumental use of the object: elbow – to elbow, hammer – to
•
•
•
•
•
acquisition or addition of the object: to fish, to tail, to grass, to dust;
derivation of an object: to skin, to dust, to bone;
location: to bag, to pocket, to house;
temporal relations: to winter, to week-end.
•
•
•
•
3.
4.
5.
6.
hammer;
Nouns converted from verbs may denote:
1. moment of an action: a jump, a swim, a step, a laugh;
2. agent or doer of an action: a help, a cheat, a bore;
3. place of an action: a drive, a walk, a stand;
4. result of an action: a cut, a peel, a find, a make.
Conversion: Practical 1
Define semantic correlations within the following pairs of
converted words:
a pocket – to pocket, to jump – a jump, supper – to
supper, grass – to grass, a winter – to winter, to shave –
a shave, to make – a make, a face – to face, to cut – a
cut, to smoke – a smoke, to swim – a swim, milk – to
milk, to come down – a come down, pale – to pale, in /
out – ins and outs, wounded – the wounded, a nose – to
nose, a shoulder – to shoulder, an elbow - to elbow, a
suspect – to suspect
Conversion: Functional correlations
•
•
•
•
•
•
Functionally, in a sentence converted words may be:
Subject: The silver had been taken by the murderer;
Object: I suggested a blind;
Attribute: I bought a new put-together toy set;
Predicate: My mother clothed and shoed me;
Predicative: She is still an evil;
Adverbial modifier: He paused a moment longer, eyeing the
metal threshold, etc.
Conversion: Practical 2
Define patterns of conversion in the following pairs of
words:
a worry – to worry, love – to love, a cut – to cut, a
room – to room, gray – to gray, a can – to can, poor –
the poor, a find – to find, a comb – to comb, red – to
red, up/ down – ups and downs, a work – to work, a
drink – to drink, a go – to go, rich – the rich, Russian –
the Russian, a stand – to stand, a nurse – to nurse, a
whistle – to whistle, to trim – trim – a trim
Conversion: Practical 3
Give a full morphological analysis of converted words in the
following sentences:
1. Sometimes nothings mean more
than many somethings.
2. Good has come out of evil.
3. She gave a little shiver.
4. The English exercised a
surprisingly tolerant hand-off
policy…
5. I vouch to him. (C. Doyle)
6. My wife was dogged by ill health
for twelve years (M Spark)
7. I narrowed my eyes…
8. Her face blushed – then paled (A.
Christie)
9. What would happen to our father
who was khakied like every other
man? (L. Lee)
10.I was speculating with various
whys and whats and whos …
Example:
I saw no blinds on the window.
Blind(s) –
• It is a Noun converted from an
•
•
•
•
Adjective
It is a converted noun
It has a grammatical
inflection –s of the plural form
of a noun
It denotes “an object that
shuts out light”
It functions as an Object in the
sentence
Productive Ways of Word-Formation:
Shortening
(p. 127)
Shortening or abbreviation of words is a way of
formation of new words by means of substituting a part
of the word for a whole.
2 different types of abbreviations:
• graphical abbreviations and
• lexical abbreviations
Shortening: Graphical abbreviations (p. 128)
Graphical abbreviations – substitutes of words used for
writing purposes in written speech: scientific books,
advertisements, letters, articles, etc.
According to the way of formation, graphical abbreviations are
subdivided into the following types:
• initial shortenings – shortened words that keep the initial letter
•
only;
the shortened variant is read as its full English equivalent
i.e. – “that is”, e.g. – “for example”
syllable shortenings – shortened words that keep syllables;
the remaining part is read as a full word
Oct - “October”, Dr.- “Doctor”
Shortening: Lexical abbreviations (p. 128)
Lexical abbreviations represent shortened words used in oral speech.
Lexical abbreviations fall into 2 groups:
• lexical abbreviations proper and
• clippings.
Lexical abbreviations proper are formed by a simultaneous
operation of shortening and compounding.
In this case they are made up of the following components:
– initial sounds (IT - “informational technology”),
– syllables of the components of a word-group (pop-music “popular music”),
– shortened elements of a compound word (V-day – “Victory day”).
Shortening: Lexical abbreviations
(cont)
There are 2 types of lexical abbreviations:
• alphabetisms and
• acronyms.
The difference between them lies on the ways of their formation and
reading.
Alphabetisms are formed and read as a succession of alphabetical reading
of the constituent letters:
G.M.T. – “Greenwich mean time”; V.I.P. - “a very important person”;
EEC - “European Economic Community”, INTL – “international”, oj - “orange
juice”;
Acronyms are formed and read as a succession of syllables denoted by the
constituent letters (names of organizations):
UNO – “United Nations Organization”, SARS – “Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome”,
SWAK – “sealed with a kiss” (at the end of a letter).
Shortening: Clipping (p. 128)
Words may be built by the process of clipping – the
process of cutting off one or several syllables of a word.
In some cases it is the stressed syllable that is left after
cutting off: fridge from “refrigerator”, exam from
“examination”.
Sometimes, however, the unstressed syllable remains:
phone from “telephone”, plane from “airplane”, Bess
from “Elizabeth”.
Shortening: Clipping (cont)
There are 4 types of clipping:
1. aphaeresis (initial clipping),
2. apocope (final clipping),
3. syncope (middle clipping) and
4. a mixed type.
Shortening: Clipping (cont)
• Aphaeresis takes place when the first part of a word is clipped:
phone (telephone), fence (defense), spite (despite), cologne (au-decologne), bach (bachelor’s snack).
• Apocope occurs when the last part of a word is clipped:
demo (demonstration), limo (limousine).
• Syncope happens when the middle part of a word is clipped:
maths (mathematics), specs (spectacles).
• A mixed type involves clipping at the beginning and at the end of
a word: tec (detective), flu (influenza).
Shortening: Ellipsis. Substantivation.
Shortening may affects not only words but word-groups, as well.
Shortened phrases may appear as a result of ellipsis and
substantivation (substantivalisation).
Ellipsis is the omission of a word or words in a phrase when the
remaining part keeps the lexical meaning of a whole phrase:
a sit-down is “a sit-down demonstration”,
Nat is “a National Party member”.
Substantivation is dropping of a final noun in an attributive phrase
when the remaining adjective keeps the meaning and all the
syntactical functions of the noun:
pub (n) – “a public house”,
finals (n) – “final examinations”,
hobby (n) – “a hobbyhorse”.
Shortening: Practical 1
Define types of the following shortened words
and methods of their formation:
(lexical abbreviations proper: alphabetisms, acronyms; clipping:
aphaeresis, apocope, syncope, mixed type; ellipsis; substantivation)
UNO, doc, sis, T-shirt, Aussie, e.g., A.D., P.T.O., prep, ft,
FBI, gent, memo, maths, co-ed, M.P., fence, LA, U.K.,
SARS, finals, taxi, EU, CNN, demo, exams, comfy, flu,
Feb, USA, adj, Dr, Mrs, N.Y., info, e-mail, hol, 30℃, Vday, deco, cc, Joe, usu, in, a foot, metrop, circs, veggy,
H.L., H.C., i.e., op. cit., Jan, TV, Beth, p.m., flu, fence,
specs, spite, DOG-phone, comfy, a pub
Shortening: Functions in a sentence
Shortened words may fulfill the various functions
in a sentence:
– Subject: The BBC announced the report…
– Attribute: The LCD screen provided directions in several
languages;
– Object: I would like to have your e-mail;
– Predicative: They were the original ATMs;
– Predicate: He was repeatedly phoning with no answer, etc.
Shortening: Practical 2
Give a full morphological analysis of the shortened words
in the following sentences:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
…kids sleeping on backpacks and
roving out to their portable MP3’s
players…
In a military manoeuvre worthy of the
CIA…
He managed to manoeuvre the
hijacked taxi to the far side of the Bois
de Bouloque
The LCD screen provided directions in
seven languages (D. Brown).
…a keypad similar to that of a bank
ATM terminal (D. Brown).
In the area without phone and e-mail
The BBC producer loved Teabing’s hot
premise.
Example:
P.T.O.
1. “Please Turn Over”
2. It’s a three member
3.
4.
5.
word-group
It’s a graphical
abbreviation: initial
shortening
There are no
grammatical inflections
It is a verbal group
Minor Ways of Word-Formation
(p. 129 – 130)
Minor ways of word-formation are not frequently
used in Modern English for the formation of new
words.
They are:
•
•
•
•
Blending
Backformation
Sound-and-stress interchange
Onomatopoeia
Minor Ways of Word-Formation:
Blending
(p. 129)
Blending is compounding by means of clipped words, e.g.:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Telegenic = television + photogenic
Oxbridge = Oxford + Cambridge
Medicare = medical + care
Cashomat = cash + automat
Fruice = fruit + juice
Popcert = popular + concert
Midterm = middle + tem
Yarden = yard + garden
Dollarature = dollar + literature
Cell-phone = cellular + telephone
Wango = waltz + tango
Toyotire = Toyota + tire
Senseyes = sensitive + eyes
Minor Ways of Word-Formation:
Backformation
Back-formation, or negative derivation is the formation of
new words by means of cutting off an element that was
mistakenly taken for a suffix.
• the noun editor was borrowed from French in the XVII-th century. Later, in the
•
•
•
•
XVIII-th century the verb to edit was produced by means of back-formation
the formation of the noun greed from the adjective greedy
the production of the adjective difficult from the noun difficulty
the verb to ice-skate – from the noun ice-skater, or, probably, ice-skating
the verb to laze from the noun lazer
the verb to window-shop – from the noun window-shopping
(to baby-sit - a baby-sitter, to force-land – force-landing, to finger-print –
finger-printing, to gloom – gloomy, to sculpt – a sculptor, to emote - - emotion,
to donate – donation, to diagnose – diagnosis)
Minor Ways of Word-Formation:
Sound-and-stress Interchange
Sound-and-stress-interchange is traced in the formation of new
words that differ in a root-forming vowel/ consonant or stress
patterns, e.g.,
-
Wide - width
Strong - strength
to invite – invitation
to describe – description
to analyze – analysis
a house – housing
to conclude – conclusion
a record – to record
a protest – to protest
a contrast – to contrast
a rebel – to rebel
an ally – to ally
a suspect – to suspect
to ridicule - ridiculous
Minor Ways of Word-Formation:
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is imitation of different kinds of sounds produced
by animals, birds, human beings, and inanimate objects, e.g.:
- Cocks cry “cock-a-doodle-do”
- Ducks “quack”
- Frogs “croak”
In names of some animals, birds, and games, e.g.,
- a cucoo, a crow, a humming-bird, cricket