PROCESSES of Word Formation

Introduction It is believed that English contains more than a million than a million and a half words. It is natural to wonder where all these words came from. The answer is not difficult to find. First, the English language contains a core of words that have been a part of its history, 5,000-plus years. A few examples are these words: Sun, man, foot, father, eat, fire, I, he, with, of.

Cont. Second, English has been a prodigious borrower of words from other languages throughout its history, and a vast number of borrowed words are now in the language. This has come about through invasions, immigration, exploration, trade, and other avenues of contact between English and some foreign language. Below are a few examples of these borrowings. In many cases a word may pass, by borrowing, through one or more languages before it enters English. See page 128 for examples

4 Cont. A Dictionary of the English Language contains almost half a million words. Most of these have originally come from English English itself or from from Latin, Greek, Greek, or French. English speakers, however, have always been willing to borrow words words whenever they need them and from wherever they find them.

5 For example orange Middle English, from Old French, from Arabic n ā ranj, from Persian n ā rang, from Sanskrit n ā rangah. Middle English, from Old French, from Arabic n ā ranj, from Persian n ā rang, from Sanskrit n ā rangah.

6 magazine Modern English magazine from Old French magazine, from Old Italian magazzine, from Arabic makh ā zine, plural of Makhzan, meaning storehouse, from khazana, to store. Modern English magazine from Old French magazine, from Old Italian magazzine, from Arabic makh ā zine, plural of Makhzan, meaning storehouse, from khazana, to store.

7 History of Words The history of a word, technically called etymology, etymology, can be a fascinating part of using your dictionary. When you look up the spelling or meaning of any word, take time to study the etymology of the word. It will not only be interesting but will also help you to remember the word and its meaning better.

8 In your dictionary, locate and study the table of abbreviations for etymology and languages. This is usually inside the front or back cover. A shorter key is also printed at the bottom of each page. In your dictionary, locate and study the table of abbreviations for etymology and languages. This is usually inside the front or back cover. A shorter key is also printed at the bottom of each page.

9 lang (l ă ng) adj. Scot. Long. langlauf (läng ΄ louf ΄ ) n. A cross-country ski run. [G. : lang, long + lauf, race.] ― lang ΄ lauf ΄ er n. Langobard (l ă ng ΄ g ə -bärd ΄ ) n. A Lombard (sense 1). [Lat. Langobardus.] ― Lan ΄ gobar ΄ dic adj. langouste (lä Ν -g ōō st ΄ ) n. The spiny lobster. [Fr. < OFr. < OProv. Langosta.] langsyne also lang syne (l ă ng-z ī n ΄ ) ― adv. Scot. Long ago; long since. ― n. Time long past; times past. [ME lang sine.] landward (l ă nd ΄ w ə rd) adj. & adv. To or toward land. —land ΄ wards adv. lane (l ā n) n. 1. a. A narrow way or passage between walls, hedges, or fences. b. A narrow country road. 2. A narrow passage, course, or track, as: a. A prescribed course for ships or aircraft. b. A strip delineated on a street or highway to accommodate a single line of automobiles. c. One of a set of parallel courses marking the bounds for contestants in a race. d. A wood-surfaced passageway along which a bowling ball is rolled. [ME < OE.] ă pat / ā pay / âr care / ä father / b bib / ch church / d deed / ĕ pet / ē be / f fife g gag / j judge / k kick / m mum / n no, sudden / ng thing / ou out / hw which History of words

10ExamplesshampooHindi amenHebrew ketchup Chinese

Cont. A part from borrowing, English gets new words by means of easily definable processes employed by users of English. It is to these that we will now turn our attention.

A. Compounding A compound is a unit consisting of two or more bases. In other words, by adding one base to another.

Example Such compound words can be nouns eg: blood+test= blood test adjectives eg: tax+free= tax-free Verbs eg: spring+clean=spring-clean

Examples Adjective Noun Verb Adjective bittersweet poorhouse whitewash Noun headstrong homework spoon feed Verb ____ pickpocket sleepwalk

Cont. The right-hand member is the head of the compound, determining the syntactic category and meaning of the whole. The left-hand member is the modifier.

Examples For example: A morphology article is a kind of article. A houseboat is a kind of boat. A boathouse is a kind of house. headmodifier

Cont. Thus, when the two words fall into different categories, the class of the second or final word will be the grammatical category of the compound.

Examples noun + adjective = adjective headstrong, watertight, lifelong verb + noun = noun pickpocket, pinchpenny, daredevil.

noun+ verb = verb Steamroll adjective + verb = verb dryclean

Cont. On the other hand, compounds formed with a preposition are in the category of the nonprepositional part of the compound; overtake, hanger-on, undertake, sundown, afterbirth.

Number of compounds Though two-word compounds are the most common in English, it would be difficult to state upper limit. Consider the following: three-time loser four-dimensional space-time daughter-in-law

Cont. Orthographically, Compounds are written (a) solid,eg: bedroom (b) hyphenated,eg : tax-free (c) open, eg: reading material

Cont. There is important distinction between compounds and phrases. We cover the following: 1) STRESS 2) COMPOSITIONALITY 3) TENSES AND PLURAL MARKERS

1.Stress For example: Blackbird as opposed to black bird the compound has stress on black, while the phrase is stressed on bird. phrase compound

2.Compositionality Moreover, a black bird is necessarily black, while a blackbird is a particular species of bird whatever its color.

Test Compounds whose first element is an adjective (greenhouse) can be identified with the help of a test that illustrated in the following example: Compound with very: *We live next to a very [greenhouse]. Very with an adjective that is not part of a compound: We live next to a very green house.

Compositionality ? This means that the semantics of this compound is non- compositional, i.e we can’t determine the meaning of the whole just from the meaning of the parts. The semantics of phrases is compositional.

N N AN blackbirdblackbird N The modifier has neither category nor meaning black bird

Examples blackboard falling star magnifying glass looking glass laughing gas

Cont. peanut oil olive oil baby oil What about the following sentence: Horse meat is dog meat. The first meat from horses and the other is meat for dogs.

Cont. Some of the meanings of compounds can be figured out, but not all. For example: hunchback flatfoot (policeman or detective) turncoat ( a traitor) Redcoat ( British soldier during the American Revolutionary War)

The point is that blackbird is a lexicalized compound whose internal structure is only of historical significance, unlike a non-lexicalized coinage such as morphology article.

Cont. In time, with changes in pronunciation, even this historical structure becomes opaque. Thus husband is derived from “house” and “bond” ( Middle English).

3.Tense and plural markers A third distinguishing feature of compounds in English is that tense and plural markers cannot typically be attached to the first element, although they can be added to the whole. ( There are some exceptions, however, such as passers-by and parks supervisor.)

Test *The player [dropped kick] the ball through the goal posts. The player [drop kick]ed the ball through the goal posts. *The [foxes hunter] didn’t have a license. The [fox hunter]s didn’t have a license.

B. Derivation (a) Adding a prefix to the base, with or without a change of word- class. (eg: author  co-author). (b) Adding a suffix to the base, with or without a change of word-class. (eg: drive  driver). AFFIXATION

C. INVENTION The invention of totally new terms. Our fanciful creation of somp would be one example. Words like aspirin and nylon, originally invented trade names, are others. Coinage

D. ECHOSIM Echoism is the formation of words whose sound suggests their meaning, like hiss and quack, whisper…etc. The meaning is usually a sound, either natural such as the roar of a waterfall or artificial such as the clang of a bell. But the meaning may also be the creature that produces the sound, such as bobwhite. In literary studies, especially those related to poetry, you will probably see this process referred to as “onomatopoeia”.

Ex. 10-1

E.CLIPPING Clipping means cutting off the beginning or the end of a word, or both, leaving a part to stand for the whole. The resultant form is called a clipped word.

Cont. The clipped form is normally felt informal. For ex. Lab, prof, exam, mike…etc

Cont. The shortening may occur at: (a) The beginning of the word: Phone telephone Plane airplane, aeroplane Bus omnibus

Cont. ( b) The end of the word (more commonly): ad advert(isment) photo photograph exam examination

Cont. ( c) at both ends of the word (not a common type of clipping): Flu influenza Fridge refrigerator (esp. BrE)

Ex. 10-2

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F. ACRONYMY Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters ( or larger parts) of words that make up a descriptive phrase or a proper name. New acronyms are freely produced in Modern English, particularly for names of organizations. There are two main types:

Cont. (1) Acronyms which are pronounced as sequences of letters can be called “alphabetisms”. (a) The letters represent full words: C.O.D. Cash on delivery C.O.D. Cash on delivery FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation UN the United Nations UN the United Nations

Cont. (b) The letters represent elements in a compound or just parts of a word: TV television TV television GHQ General Headquarters GHQ General Headquarters ID identification card ID identification card TB tuberculosis TB tuberculosis

Cont. (2) Acronyms which are pronounced as word, and are often used with out knowing what the letters stand for:

Examples NATO the North Treaty Organization UNESCO NATO the North Treaty Organization UNESCO the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Ex. 10-5

G. BLENDING The blend is a type of word formation which has become popular in English this century and which now accounts for a significant proportion of new words, particularly those deriving from commercial trade names or advertising, those which have a technical or scientific name.

What is a blend? A blend is any word which is formed by fusing together elements from two other words and whose meaning shares or combines the meanings of the source words. The elements are normally the beginning of one and the end of the other.

For example Brunch breakfast+ lunch Interpol international police Motel motor hotel Newcast news broadcast Smog smoke+ fog

More Examples Oxbridge It is a word which is formed by putting together the first part of Oxford and the last part of Cambridge to form a new inclusive term for both universities.

Cont. It is very noticeable that a fashion for such word formations began in the 1890s leading to an increased rate of word formation.

Example Electrocute ( a blend of electricity and execute, first appeared in 1889) Brunch ( a blend taken early at lunchtime, was first recorded in 1896) Travelogue (travel + monologue, in 1903.

Cont. The modern usage of blend as a technical term is quite strict. This is because the essential feature of a blend is that there be no point at which you can break the word with everything to the left of the breaking being morpheme and every thing to the right is being a morpheme, and with the meaning of the blend word being a function of the meaning of these morphemes.

Examples Keypad Birdcage Townhouse They are regarded as compounds because the elements being put together are words in their own right.

What about? Megastar Cyberspace Hypertext They are all compounds because they are combinations of free- standing words with prefixes or suffixes.

Cont. The terminology is complicated by a subsidiary process in which blends can give rise to new prefixes which then affect the classification of later creations.

Examples Motorcade,formed as a blend of motor and cavalcade, which created a new suffix – cade that has been used in many words.

Ex. Similarly, the prefix info- deriving from information has become heavily used in terms such as Infoglut Infoaut Infomercial

Cont. Other examples are cyber- ( created from cybernetics) -thon ( from marathon )

Examples Franglish Spanglish Japlish These blends describe a language which has been heavily influenced by English.

Cont. Brunch ( a blend of breakfast and lunch) Telex ( from teleprinter and exchange) Animatronics ( animated+ electronics ) Camcorder ( camera+ recorder)

Cont. The boundary between the first and second components of blends can occur at various points.

Cont. Smog Sm[oke –f]og Boost Boo[st –hoi]st

Cont. Because (by+ cause) Goodbye (God +be [with] +you) Intercom (internal+ communication Motel ( motor+ hotel)

For example Interpol international police Newcast news broadcast

Ex. 10-6

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Backformation Typically, a word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form another word of one type (usually a verb). A good example of backformation is the process in whereby the noun television first came into use and the verb televise was created from it.

Examples: edit (from ‘editor’) edit (from ‘editor’) donate (from ‘donation’) emote (from ’emotion’) donate (from ‘donation’) emote (from ’emotion’)

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I. Folk Etymology

Ex.10-10

j. Antonomasia

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K. Reduplication

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