Introduction to Applied Linguistics
2-year College, Senior students
2 hours, 18 weeks
Spring semester
LEXICON OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:
Productive Ways of Word-formation in Modern English
Professor: Lydmila Kudrevatykh
Learning Activities
• Preview material of a chapter at home
• Learn linguistic terminology
• Listen to the teacher’s explanations
• Do practical in class
• Correct mistakes under the supervision of
the teacher
Course Methods
1. Preview next week
material
•
Individual home work
•
Teacher’s explanations and
presentations
•
Classroom activity:
Individual, pair- or groupwork
2. Discuss definitions and
classifications
3. Do practical
Lesson plan
in weeks
Ways of Word-Building in Modern English
1. Morphemic structure of a word;
2. Productive ways of word-building in Modern English:
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
word-derivation;
Word-derivation (cont);
Word-composition;
Word-composition (cont);
Conversion;
Shortening;
Review;
Midterm.
Lesson plan
(continued)
Lexico-Semantic Groupings of Words;
Semantic Nature of a Word
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Synonyms;
Antonyms;
Homonyms;
Hyponyms; Paronyms;
Metaphor;
Metonymy;
Idioms;
Review;
Final Test.
Lexicon of the English language
What is Lexicology?
Lexicon of a language is its vocabulary including its
words and expressions. Linguistics studies the lexicon in
the course of Lexicology.
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
Morphemes are units smaller than a word each having
its sound form and a meaning:
teach-er (2), help-less-ness (3), sports-man (2).
• Like a word - a morpheme is a two-sided unit that has
a certain sound-pattern and a meaning.
• Unlike a word - a morpheme is not an independent unit,
it is a constituent part of a word.
Morphemes cannot be divided into smaller units
without losing their meanings.
Types of Morphemes:
Free Lexical Morphemes
Morphemes may be free and bound.
Free morphemes are used independently.
Free lexical morphemes are roots of words.
They fulfill 2 functions:
• express lexical meaning of a word (play, plays, playing)
• build up words by themselves (teach, house, world)
Types of Morphemes:
Bound Lexical Morphemes (p. 121)
Bound morphemes are dependent, constituent parts of words
Bound lexical morphemes are mostly affixes added to a root.
Affixes include prefixes and suffixes:
• prefixes are used before the root (unpleasant)
• suffixes – after the root morpheme (helpless)
Bound lexical morphemes build up new lexical meanings of words
Review Questions
Morphemic structure of a word
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What
What
What
What
What
is
is
is
is
is
a morpheme?
a root morpheme?
an affixal morpheme?
meant by “a suffix”?
meant by “a prefix”?
Practical 1
Analyze morphemic structures of the following words:
Childhood, speaker, homeward,
unpredictable, booklet, debus,
misunderstanding, include, enlarge,
engine, disorganized, deliver, detail,
affectionateness, underfed, water,
discuss, realize, experience, daily,
evaluate,, estimation, elderly,
infatuate, study, somber, surprise,
assessment, destroy, divide, exwife, demoralization, undersigned,
inaccessible, impassable, remember,
frustratingly
Examples:
table –
• It consists of a root
morpheme: “table”;
disappointment –
• It consists of 3 morphemes:
“dis-“, “appoint” and “-ment”;
• “dis-” is a prefix,
• “appoint” is a root morpheme,
• “-ment” is a suffix;
Ways of Word-Building in Modern English
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
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
As a result of word-derivation, a derivative (word) is built up
2 different ways of word-derivation:
• prefixation and
• suffixation
Word-Derivation: Degrees of Derivation
Degrees of word-derivation:
• zero degree of derivation: lack of affixes
e.g., to support, to make
• the first degree of derivation: only one affix is added
(either suffix or prefix)
e.g., unlock, kindly
• the second degree of derivation: two affixes are added
(either 2 suffixes or a suffix and a prefix, etc.)
e.g., helplessness, dishonesty , cf.: sesquipedalianist (3)
Word-Derivation:
Prefixation
Prefixation is the formation of new words
by adding prefixes to a word stem
Any prefix has the following features in English:
1. A meaning
2. A function
In Modern English prefixes are used mainly to build up
new lexical meanings of words of the same word-class.
Prefixation:
Meanings of Prefixes (1)
Prefixes may be of different meanings.
They are:
• 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,
• 6.
overcoat;
pejorative prefixes: pseudoscientific, maltreat.
(for more examples see handouts)
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)
Prefixation:
Parts of speech formed (3)
In Modern English prefixes are not used to form a
derivative of a different word-class
Only some prefixes may change a word-class of a
derivative.
They are: be-, de-, en-: belittle, debus, entrain.
They are used to form Verbs from Adjectives
Review Questions
Word-Derivation: Prefixes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is word-formation?
What is meant by productive ways of word-formation?
What is word-derivation?
How many degrees of derivation do you know?
What is prefixation?
What features do prefixes have in English?
What are the main groups of meanings that prefixes might possess?
What is the main function performed by prefixes?
What are the three prefixes that might change a word-class of a
derivative?
Prefixation:
Practical 1
Give a full morphological analysis of prefixes in the
following words
Example:
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
disrespect –
• It’s a derivative.
• It consists of 2 morphemes “dis-”
and “respect”
• “dis-” is a prefix
• “respect” is a root
• Prefix “dis-“ has the meaning of
a reversative action
Word-derivation:
Suffixation
Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding
suffixes to a word stem,
e.g., to play –› a player, an interest –› interesting
English suffixes fulfill 2 main functions:
1) Build-up new lexical meaning of a derivative;
2) Transfer a derivative into a new word-class
e.g., clear – clearly (adjective –› adverb)
a wonder – wonderful (noun –› adjective)
to meet – a meeting (verb –› noun)
Suffixation:
Functional Use
•
•
•
•
•
(p. 126)
Suffixes derive a word into a different word-class:
Verb  Noun: to form – formation
Verb  Adjective: to invent – inventive
Adjective  Verb: active – to activate
Noun  Adjective: 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 in frames 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:
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;
Euro- (from: European) Euromarket, Eurotunnel, Eurocard,
-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;
etc.
Review Questions
Word-Derivation: Suffixes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What is meant by suffixation?
What are the main functions performed by suffixes?
Name 5 noun-forming suffixes. Give examples.
Name 5 adjective-forming suffixes. Give examples.
Name verb-forming suffixes. Give examples.
Name adverb-forming suffixes. Give examples.
What is understood by splinters?
Suffixation: Practical 1
Give a full morphological analysis of 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
Example:
friendship –
• It’s a derivative.
• It consists of 2 morphemes
•
•
•
•
•
“friend” and “-ship”.
“friend” is a root,
“-ship” is a suffix.
Suffix “-ship“ has a meaning of
“a condition of being a friend”;
It doesn’t change the part of
speech of a derivative;
It is a Noun-forming suffix.
.
Suffixation: Practical 2
Define meanings of suffixes in the following words
1. Define meanings of Noun-forming suffixes:
Anticipation, novelette, employee, examiner, lioness,
birdie, nestling, booklet, boredom, performance,
temperature, partnership, similarity, easiness, reality,
tourism, humanist
2. Define meanings of Adjective-forming suffixes:
Hopeless, doable, brownish, governmental, useful,
suitable, funny, jealous, notional, businesslike,
informative, watered, kind-hearted, capitalist,
desperate, starry, starred, woolen, illiterate
Suffixation: Practical 2 (cont)
Define meanings of suffixes in the following words
3. Define meanings of Verb-forming suffixes:
Generalize, demonstrate, purify, shorten, identify,
illustrate, deliberate, circulate, activate, dictate,
illustrate, analyze, widen, simplify, strengthen,
enumerate, deafen
4. Define meanings of Adverb-forming suffixes:
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:
e.g., 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
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
Degree of semantic independence of stems
(cont)
(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:
e.g., a textbook, a shareholder.
Compounding: Structural classification
(cont)
Coordinate additive compounds (p.122)
In coordinate compounds both stems are semantically equal in
importance.
Coordinate compounds fall into two subgroups:
• additive compounds and
• reduplicative 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:
e.g., Chinese-Canadian, director-manager, parent-teacher
(association).
Compounding: Structural classification
(cont)
Coordinate reduplicative compounds (p.122)
•
1.
2.
3.
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 repetition of the first stem in a word: hush-hush, goodygoody, 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”.
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
e.g., biography, telescope, Philology
Compounding: Practical 1
Define types of the following compounds according to the
degree of their structural and semantic independence:
1. subordinate
2. 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, helter-skelter, fingerprint, 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), detectivepoliceman, flip-flop, Chinese-Canadian
Compounding:
Morphological Classification
Types of stems joined together
(2)
(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.
Compounding: Morphological Classification
longest words in English
otorhinolaryngological (22 letters),
immunoelectrophoretically (25 letters),
psychophysicotherapeutics (25 letters),
thyroparathyroidectomized (25 letters),
pneumoencephalographically (26 letters),
radioimmunoelectrophoresis (26 letters),
psychoneuroendocrinological (27 letters)
hepaticocholangiogastrostomy (28 letters),
spectrophotofluorometrically (28 letters),
pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters).
(2)
Compounding: Morphological Classification
Types of stems joined together (p. 124)
Syntactic compounds consist of elements typical of a
phrase or a sentence (articles, prepositions, particles,
adverbs, etc.):
e.g., Jack-of-all-trades;
a go-between,
a mother-in-law,
a sit-in,
a forget-me-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:
1. neutral (proper, derivational, with shortened stem)
2. 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 degrees 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)
Motivated compounds (p. 123)
According to the degree of their motivation,
compounds may be of 3 types:
• completely motivated,
• partially motivated, and
• completely non-motivated.
Non-idiomatic compounds are motivated units.
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:
e.g., a flowerbed, a castle-builder, hotdog.
Compounding: Semantic Classification
(3)
Non-motivated compounds (p. 123)
Idiomatic compounds are non-motivated units.
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
e.g., 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 often indicated by the second stem
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 (pp. 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,
slow-burning;
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 (for details see: pp. 100 – 105)
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…
2. I made a rash decision forcing my manservant to help me bring him
to England.
3. … if she has to cook a crab, or anything else still alive, she grows
teary-eyed and sings to them (Geisha).
4. … moving to the portentous stuff – like why-oh-why does he keep
saying…
5. …it amounts to a keep-your-nerve-and-keep-your-chin-up appeal to
Tory troops…
6. They shared an uninhibited, girl-behaving-badly attitude.
7. They had swallowed all his dim-witted lies (J.K. Rowling).
8. Sauniere was a no-brainer.
9. Langdon sat white-knuckled in passenger seat, twisted backward
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, well-being;
4. compounds written as separate words:
a writing 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
He grew a real woman-hater
• It is a neutral derivational compound
•
•
•
•
•
word;
It’s formed by the pattern
N + V-er= N;
It is a compound noun;
It is a compound of the subordinate
type;
It is a completely motivated
compound;
The two stems are joined together
by a hyphen;
Compounding
Quiz: Sample questions 1
1.
2.
What is word-composition (compounding)?
Which word is a structural center of a compound word: the first
or the second?
3. Which word is a semantic center of a compound word: the first or
the second?
4. How are compounds classified according to the degree of
semantic independence of stems?
5. Characterize subordinate compounds. Give definitions and
examples.
6. Characterize coordinate compounds. Give definitions and
examples.
7. Name groups of the coordinate compounds.
8. Characterize additive compounds. Give definitions and examples.
9. Characterize reduplicative compounds. Give definitions and
examples.
10. What is meant by neoclassical compounds? Give definitions and
examples.
Compounding
Quiz: Sample questions 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
How are compounds classified according to the types of stems
joined together? Give definitions and examples.
What is meant by neutral compounds? Give definitions and
examples.
What is meant by syntactic compounds? Give definitions and
examples.
How are compounds classified according to the degree of their
motivation? Give definitions and examples.
What functions can compounds fulfill in a sentence? Give
definitions and examples.
Give 5 patterns of compounding and illustrate them with
examples.
How are compounds characterized from phonetic point of view?
Name ways of writing of compound words.
Productive Ways of Word-Formation:
Conversion
(p. 126)
Conversion is a process of word formation 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, a girl – 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 like 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 (Noun  Verb) 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 (Adjective  Verb):
• to pale, to yellow, to cool, etc., cf., He narrowed his eyes.
Nouns are made from verbs (Verb  Noun):
• 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 (Noun  Adjective):
• 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: a witness – to witness, a dog – to
dog;
• 2.
instrumental use of the object: an elbow – to elbow, a hammer – to
•
•
•
•
3.
4.
5.
6.
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.
•
•
•
•
Nouns converted from verbs may denote:
1.
moment of an action: to jump – 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.
•
hammer;
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 (pp. 100 – 105)
•
•
•
•
•
•
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 – a trim – trim, right (4)
Conversion: Practical 3
Give a full morphological analysis of converted words in the
following sentences
1. Sometimes nothings mean more
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
than many somethings.
Good has come out of evil.
She gave a little shiver.
The English exercised a
surprisingly tolerant hand-off
policy…
My wife was dogged by ill health
for twelve years (M Spark)
I narrowed my eyes…
Her face blushed – then paled (A.
Christie)
What would happen to our father
who was khakied like every other
man? (L. Lee)
I was speculating with various
whys and whats and whos …
Example:
I saw no blinds on the window.
Blind(s) –
1. It is a Noun converted from an
Adjective
2. It has a grammatical
inflection –s of the plural
form of a noun
3. It denotes “an object that
possesses a certain quality”
4. It functions as an Object in the
sentence
Conversion:
Quiz
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What is meant by conversion?
What is understood by paradigm?
Why is conversion so popular in Modern English?
What word-classes are frequently converted in
English?
What structural patterns of conversion are known to
you?
Give semantic associations of converted verbs.
Give semantic correlations of converted nouns.
What functions do converted words fulfill in a
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 are shortened 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
n (N) – “noun”, v (V) – “verb”, e.g. (exempli gratia) – “for example”,
syllable shortenings – shortened words that keep syllables;
the remaining part is read as a full word
Oct - “October”, Dr.- “Doctor”, adj – “adjective”
Shortening:
Lexical abbreviations
(p. 128)
Lexical abbreviations represent shortened words used in oral speech.
They might be made up of the following components:
– initial sounds: IT - “informational technology” I + T = IT;
V-day – “Victory day”, UNESCO – “United Nations Economic
Scientific and Cultural Organization”
– syllables of the components of a word-group: pop – “popular”
Lexical abbreviations fall into 2 groups:
• lexical abbreviations proper and
• clippings.
Shortening:
Lexical abbreviations proper
Lexical abbreviations proper are formed by a simultaneous operation of
shortening and compounding.
They are made up of the initial sounds of compound words or word
combinations, e.g.,
UNESCO – “United Nations Economical Scientific and Cultural
Organization”,
EU – “European Union”
There are 2 types of lexical abbreviations proper:
• alphabetisms and
• acronyms
Shortening:
Lexical abbreviations proper
(cont)
The difference between them lies on the ways of their reading.
Alphabetisms are formed and read as a succession of alphabetical
reading of the constituent letters: e.g.,
V.I.P. - “a very important person”; EU – “European Union”, EEC “European Economic Community”, oj - “orange juice”;
Acronyms are formed and read as a succession of syllables denoted
by the constituent letters (names of organizations): e.g.,
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: e.g.,
a fridge from “refrigerator”,
an exam from “examination”.
Sometimes, however, the unstressed syllable remains:
a phone from “telephone”,
a 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)
• Apocope occurs when the last part of a word is clipped:
demo (demonstration), limo (limousine). bach (bachelor).
• 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, e.g.,
a sit-down is “a sit-down demonstration”,
a taxi “a taxi cab”.
Shortening:
Substantivation.
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.
It is a type of conversion that involves ellipsis:
ellipsis + conversion (Adjective  Noun), e.g.,
finals (n) – “final examinations”.
Sometimes it is accompanied by clipping, as well:
ellipsis + clipping + conversion (Adjective  Noun), e.g.,
a pub (n) – “a public house”,
a hobby (n) – “a hobbyhorse”
a bach – “a bachelor lunch”
Shortening: Practical 1
Define types of the following shortened words
and methods of their formation:
(graphical abbreviations: initial and syllable shortenings;
lexical abbreviations proper: alphabetisms, acronyms;
clipping: aphaeresis, apocope, syncope, mixed type;
ellipsis; substantivation)
UNO, doc, Dr, prep, GMP, GMO, H1N1, DOG-phone,
Aussie, e.g., A.D., B.C., P.T.O., ft, FBI, gent, memo,
maths, co-ed, M.P., fence, LA, U.K., sis, T-shirt, SARS,
finals, taxi, EU, CNN, demo, exams, comfy, flu, Feb, USA,
adj, Mrs, N.Y., info, e-mail, hol, 30℃, V-day, deco, cc,
Joe, usu, in, a foot, metrop, MRT, circs, veggy, H.L.,
H.C., i.e., op. cit., Jan, TV, Beth, p.m., a.m., flu, specs,
spite, comfy, a pub, WC, Mr.
Shortening:
Functions in a sentence
Shortened words may fulfill various functions in a
sentence:
– Subject: The BBC announced the report…
– Object: I would like to have your e-mail;
– Attribute: The LCD screen provided directions in several
languages;
– Predicate: He was repeatedly phoning with no answer,
– Predicative: They were the original ATMs; 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:
The student wrote
P.T.O. at the bottom of
the page
1. “Please Turn Over”
2. It’s a three member
3.
4.
5.
6.
word-group
It is a verbal group
It’s a graphical
abbreviation: initial
shortening
There are no
grammatical inflections
It functions as an
Object in the sentence
Shortening:
Quiz
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
What is meant by shortening?
What types of abbreviation are known to you?
What is understood by graphical abbreviations?
Where are graphical abbreviations used?
What are the two types of graphical abbreviations?
What is initial shortening?
What is syllable shortening?
What is meant by lexical abbreviations?
Where are lexical abbreviations used?
What are the two types of lexical abbreviations?
What is meant by lexical abbreviations proper?
Name the tree patterns of lexical abbreviations proper.
Shortening:
Quiz (cont)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
What
What
What
What
What
What
What
What
What
What
What
are the two types of lexical abbreviations proper?
is meant by alphabetismas?
is meant by acronyms?
is meant by clipping?
are the 4 types of clipping?
is aphaeresis?
is apocope?
is syncope?
is meant by a mixed type of clipping?
is ellipsis?
is substantivation?
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.:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Oxbridge = Oxford + Cambridge
Medicare = medical + care
Cashomat = cash + automat
Fruice = fruit + juice
Popcert = popular + concert
Midterm = middle + term
Yarden = yard + garden
Dollarature = dollar + literature
Cell-phone = cellular + telephone
Wango = waltz + tango
Toyotire = Toyota + tire
Senseyes = sensitive + eyes
Wikipedia – ‘wikiwiki’ (quick )+ ‘encyclopedia’
Minor Ways of Word-Formation:
Backformation
(p.130)
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;
•
•
•
•
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
e.g., to baby-sit - a baby-sitter
to finger-print – finger-printing
to sculpt – a sculptor
to donate – donation
to
to
to
to
force-land – force-landing
gloom – gloomy
emote - - emotion
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 [ai – i]
Strong - strength
to invite – invitation [ai – i]
to describe – description
to analyze – analysis
a house – housing [s – z]
to conclude – conclusion [d – ǯ]
a récord – to recórd
a prótest – to protést
a cóntrast – to contrást
a rébel, rébel – to rebél
an álly – to allý
a súspect, súspect – to suspéct
to rídicule - ridículous
Minor Ways of Word-Formation:
Onomatopoeia
(p. 129)
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
Minor Ways of Word-formation:
Quiz
1. What is meant by minor ways of word-formation in
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Modern English?
What minor ways of word-formation in Modern English
are known to you?
What is blending?
What is back-formation?
What is sound-and-stress-interchange?
What is onomatopoeia?