Principal ways of word formation

17. Principal ways of word formation

Word-formation – the process of forming words by combining root and affixal morphemes according to certain patterns specific for the language (affixation, composition), or without any outward means of word formation (conversion, semantic derivation).

2 major groups of word formation:

Words formed as grammatical syntagmas, combinations of full linguistic signs (types: compounding (словосложение), prefixation, suffixation, conversion, and back derivation)

Words, which are not grammatical syntagmas, which are not made up of full linguistic signs. Ex.: expressive symbolism, blending, clipping, rhyme & some others.

Different types of word formation: COMPOUNDING is joining together 2 or more stems.

Types: 1) Without a connecting element: headache, heartbreak; 2) With a vowel or consonant as a linking element: speedometer, craftsman; 3) With a preposition or conjunction as a linking element: down-and-out (в ужасном положении, опустошенный); son-in-law;

PREFIXATION: Prefixes are such particles that can be prefixed to full words. But they are not with independent existence. Native prefixes have developed out of independent words; there is a small number of them: a-; be-; mid-;fore-; mis-. The system of English word formation was entirely upset by the Norman Conquest. From French English borrowed many words with suffixes & prefixes. A lot of borrowed prefixes in English: Auto-; Demi-; Mono-; Multi-; Semi-; Post-.

SUFFIXATION: A suffix is a derivative final element, which is or was productive in forming new words. 2 groups: 1) A foreign word is combined with a native affix: full, less, ness: clearness, faithless, faithful. 2) Foreign affixes are added to native words: ance, al, ity, able. Semi suffixes are elements, which stand midway between full words & suffixes like, worthy, way, wise, a Godlike creature, trustworthy, clockwise, midway.

CONVERSION (zero derivation) A certain stem is used for the formation of a categorically different word without a derivative element being added: Bag – to bag; Back – to back; Bottle – to bottle.

CLIPPING: Consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts: Mathematics – maths, Laboratory – lab, Captain – cap, Gymnastics – gym

3 types: 1) The first part is left (the commonest type): advertisement – ad; 2) The second part is left: telephone – phone; airplane – plane; 3) A middle part is left: influenza – flu; refrigerator – fridge.

BLENDING is part of two words to form one word (merging into one word): Smoke + fog = smog; Breakfast + lunch = brunch; Smoke + haze = smaze (дымка)

WORD MANUFACTURING A word or word combination that appears or especially coined by some author: Sentence – sentenceness; “I am English & my Englishness is in my vision” (Lawrence)

SOUND INTERCHANGE: Sound interchange is the way of word building when some sounds are changed to form a new word. It is non-productive in Modern English; it was productive in Old English and can be met in other Indo-European languages: e.g. to strike - stroke, to sing – song, hot - to heat (hotian), blood - to bleed (blodian) etc.

STRESS INTERCHANGE: Stress interchange can be mostly met in verbs and nouns of Romanic origin: nouns have the stress on the first syllable and verbs on the last syllable, e.g. `accent - to ac`cent. we have such pairs in English as: to af`fix -`affix, to con`flict- `conflict, to ex`port -`export, to ex`tract - `extract etc.

SOUND IMITATION: it is the way of word building when imitating different sounds forms a word. a) Sounds produced by human beings, such as: to whisper, to giggle, to mumble, to sneeze, to whistle etc.; b) Sounds produced by animals, birds, insects, such as: to hiss, to buzz, to bark, to moo, to twitter etc.; c) Sounds produced by nature and objects, such as: to splash, to rustle, to clatter, to bubble, to ding-dong, to tinkle etc.