Wordformation processes are different devices which are used in English to build new words from existing ones. Inflection is a general grammatical process which combines words and affixes (always suffixes in English). Derivation is a lexical process which actually forms a new word out of an existing one by the addition of a derivational affix. (ex: the suffixes –ation and –ure in “resignation” and “departure”).
Trang 1LEXICOLOGY UNIT 4 WORD FORMATION
Word-formation processes are different devices which are used in English to build new words from existing ones
Reasons to study these processes:
+ study different types of words existing in English
+ know how complex lexical items are made
Inflection is a general grammatical process which combines words and affixes (always suffixes in English)
Ex: the plural morpheme is an inflectional morpheme
Derivation is a lexical process which actually forms a new word out of an existing
one by the addition of a derivational affix (ex: the suffixes –ation and –ure in
“resignation” and “departure”)
Inflectional affixes/ „relational markers‟ that fit words for use in syntax
When the inflection/relational marker is added to a stem, that stem does not change classes, but its distribution is limited in the syntactic structure
Ex: dog => dogs (singular => plural form)
Characteristics of inflectional affixes:
They tend to lend themselves to paradigms which apply to the language as a whole The paradigm of a major class consists of a single stem of that class with the inflectional suffixes which the stem may take
Derivational affixes:
Trang 2A derivational affix is an affix by means of which one word is formed (derived) from another The derived word is often of a different word class from the original
Can change the word class but do not always cause a change in grammatical class
Ex: reconsider/ consider, intelligent/unintelligent, probable/improbable
Stress can be a derivational affix
Types of derivational affix (2):
Class-changing
Class-maintaining
Class-changing derivations: Those derivations which change the word class of the word to which they are added Mainly suffixes
Class-maintaining derivations: Those derivations which do not change the word class of the stem to which they are added although they do change its meaning
Mainly prefixes
Compounds: may be defined as stems consisting of more than one root
Compounds may be distinguished from phrases on phonological, syntactic and semantic grounds
Compounds are recognized by stress pattern and lack of juncture Ex: „Black-board
Word order refers to the position of the different constituents of a compound in relation to one another
Noun + Adj : not the most usual phrase pattern but it occurs in compounds (sea-sick)
Trang 3Verb + prep.: splashdown (n)
Parts of compounds
Compounds consist of two roots
Nouns as initial elements
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Other word-formation processes:
1) Conversion: A process by which a word belonging to one word class is transferred to another word class without any concomitant change of form, either
in pronunciation or spelling
2) Blending is the fusion of two words into one, usually the first part of one word with the last part of another
“brunch” is an example of blending.(true)
3) Shortenings: Clipping, backformation, initialism and aphetic forms
Clipping is the process of cutting off the beginning or the end of a word, or both, leaving a part (the abbreviation or the clipped word) to stand for the whole (the full form)
+ The end of the word is deleted
Ex: exam (from examination) , ad or advert (from advertisement), lab (from laboratory), gym (from gymnasium), etc
+ The beginning part of the word is removed
Ex: bus (from omnibus), plane (from airplane), phone (from telephone), etc
Trang 4+ Both the beginning and ending have been clipped
Ex: flu (from influenza), fridge (from refrigerator)
4) Backformation: is the making of a new word from an older word which is mistakenly assumed to be its derivative Backderivation is characterised by the fact that it involves the shortening of a longer word by the subtraction of a morpheme Ex: peddle, televise, revise
5) Initialisms constitute an extreme kind of clipp g y in since only the initial letters
of words, or sometimes initial syllables, are put together and used as words Usually, the motivation for initialism is mostly brevity or catchiness, but sometimes also euphemisms
When initialisms are pronounced with the names of the letters of the alphabet, they may be called alphabetisms or abbreviations Examples are: BP (British Petroleum), VIP (very important person)
America seems to have been the great breeding ground of initialisms They are rare
in English before the 20th century Other examples: UFO, FCC, IRS, NBC, CBS, BBC, DOD