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LING507 Linguistics
The Nature of Language
LECTURE 6: WORD FORMATION
A Joke
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Word Formation
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Though the Dutch were only a passing political presence in America,
their linguistic legacy is immense. From their earliest days of contact,
Americans freely appropriated Dutch terms – blunderbuss (literally
“thunder gun”) as early as 1654, scow in 1660, sleigh in 1703.
By the mid-eighteenth century Dutch words flooded into American
English: stoop, span, coleslaw, boss, pit in the sense of the stone of a
fruit, bedpan, bedspread (previously known as a counterpane),
cookie, waffle, the distinctive American interrogative how come? (a
literal translation of the Dutch hoekom)…
Bryson (1994)
Word Formation (cont’d)
Around 1900, in New Berlin, Ohio, a department-store worker named
J. Murray Spangler invented a device which he called an electric
suction sweeper. This device eventually became very popular and
could have been known as a spangler. People could have been
spanglering their floors or they might even have spanglered their rugs
and curtains…. However, none of that happened.
Instead, Mr. Spangler sold his new invention to a local businessman
called William H. Hoover, whose Hoover Suction Sweeper Company
produced the first machine called a “Hoover.” Not only did the word
hoover become as familiar as vacuum cleaner all over the world, but
in Britain, people still talk about hoovering (and not spanglering).
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Etymology

The study of the origin and history of a word is known as its
etymology. Etymology is a term which, like many of the technical
words, comes to us through Latin, but has its origins in Greek.

(e´tymon “original form” + logia “study of”).

When we look closely at the etymologies of words, we discover
that there are many different ways in which new words can
enter the language.

A lot of words in daily use today were, at one time, considered
barbaric misuses of the language: aviation and handbag
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Word Formation (cont’d)

Rather than act as if the language is being debased, we might
prefer to view the constant evolution of new words and new uses of
old words as a sign of vitality and creativeness of a language.

One of the distinctive properties of language is creativity

Vast amount of new inventions made in the 20th and 21st century

Language is dynamic

Language is not a static thing. It is always changing from generation to
generation, situation to situation.
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Coinage

The least common processes of word-formation in English is coinage.
Coinage is the invention of totally new terms.

The most typical sources are invented trade names for commercial
products that become general terms for any version of that
product.

Kleenex, Teflon, Xerox, Robotics, nylon, aspirin, zipper, Internet…

The most salient contemporary example of coinage is: google.

Originally a misspelling for the word googol (= the number 1 followed by 100
zeros). The term google has become a widely used expression meaning “to
use the internet to find information”. The name of a company (Google)
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Borrowing

One of the most common sources of new words in English is the
process simply labeled borrowing, that is, the taking over of words
from other languages.


alcohol (Arabic), croissant (French), robot (Czech), bass (Dutch), piano
(Italian), yogurt (Turkish), tattoo (Tahitian), tycoon (Japanese)…
Other languages have taken many English words into their
dictionaries:

okay, Internet

suupaa, suupaamaaketto, taipuraitaa (Japanese)

le stress, le whisky, le weekend (French)
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Borrowing


A special type of borrowing is described as loan-translation or
calque. In this process, there is a direct translation of the elements of
a word into the borrowing language.

English: the flea market / French: marché aux puces "market of fleas«

English: moment of truth / Spanish: el memento de la verdad
English: skyscraper
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French: gratte-ciel that literally translates as ‘scrape-sky’

Dutch: wolkenkrabber ‘cloud-scratcher’

German: Wolkenkratzer ‘cloud scraper’
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Compounding


The joining of two seperate words to produce a single form is called
compounding. It is very common in English and German but less
common in French, Spanish.

bookcase = book + case, fingerprint, sunburn, wallpaper…

good-looking, low-paid

fast-food, full-time
Hmong (spoken in South East Asia)

hwj ‘pot’ + kais ‘spout’ = hwjkais ‘kettle’

paj flower + kws ‘corn’ = pajkws ‘popcorn’

hnab ‘bag’ + rau ‘put’ + ntawv ‘book’ = __________
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Blending


Blending is typically accomplished by taking only the beginning of
one word and joining it to the end of the other word.

smoke + fog  smog

emotion + icon  emoticon

breakfast + lunch  brunch

web + seminar  webinar
In a few blends, we combine the beginnings of both words.

teleprinter + exchange  telex

modulator + demodulator  modem
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Clipping


Clipping is a process in which a word of more than one syllable is
reduced to a shorter form, often in casual speech.
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gasoline  gas

advertisement  ad, advert

mathematics  math

examination  exam

gymnastics  gym
Hypocorisms: In this process, a longer word is reduced to a single
syllable, then -y or -ie is added to the end.
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movie (moving pictures), telly (television), brekky (breakfast), barbie
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Backformation

A word of one type of (usually a noun) is reduced to form another
word of a different type (usually a verb).
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editor  edit
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television  televise
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donation  donate
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option  opt
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Conversion
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A change in the function of a word, as for example, when a noun
comes to be used as a verb (without any reduction), is generally
known as conversion.
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This process can also be called as category change and functional
shift.
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butter (n)  Will you butter (v) the toast please?
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paper (n)  He is papering (v) the bedroom walls.

bottle (n)  Have they bottled (v) the water yet?

chair (n)  The professor will chair the conference.
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Conversion (cont’d)


Conversion can involve verbs becoming nouns.

guess (v)  a guess

spy (v)  a spy

must (v)  a must

print out (v)  print out

take over (v)  a take over
Conversion can involve verbs becoming adjectives.

see through (v)  a see through dress

stand up (v)  a stand up comedian
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Acronyms
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Acronyms are formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.

Compact Dick: CD

Video Cassette Recorder: VCR

Federal Bureau of Investigation: FBI
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Automatic Teller Machine: ATM

Radio Detecting and Ranging: RADAR

Personal Identification Number: PIN

North Atlantic Treaty Organization: NATO
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Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: AIDS
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Derivation
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Derivation is a widely used word formation process and it is
accomplished by means of a large number of small bits of English.
These small bits are generally described as affixes.
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Prefixes: They are added to the beginning of a word: prefix + root.
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Suffixes: They are added to the end of a word: root + suffix.
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
un-, mis-, dis, ir-, pre-, non-, re-. Ex. unhappy, misrepresent, disagree, redo
-ish, -ism, -less, ful, -ness, -ity. Ex. boyish, terrorism, careless, tactful, clarity
Infixes: They are inserted inside the word itself: r + infix + oot.

see ‘to drill’  srnee ‘a drill’

toh ‘to chisel’  trnoh ‘a chisel’
(Kamhmu, a language of Sout East Asia)
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Word Formation (cont’d)
Derivation
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Circumfixes: They are added to the beginning and end of a word:
circumfix + root + circumfix.
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chokma
‘he is good’
ik-chokm-o ‘he is not good’

lakna
‘it is yellow’
ik-lakn-o ‘it is not yellow’

palli
‘it is hot’
________
‘it is not hot’
(Chickasaw, language of Oklahoma)
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