CHAPTER 5 – Word Formation

Neologism Newly formed terms, words, or phrases (Ebola, App, Google etc.) Neologism does not always a mean a complete new term, some can be new use of old terms, while others can be a combination of existing words. A complex system of interconnected elements Someone who is clueless An error code when some webpage is blocked by censorship Seminar using web Web (Old word) 404 (New word) HTTP 435 Webinar (New word) Tablet (?) Viral (?) Butter someone (?)

Etymology \Et`y*mol"o*gy\ The study of the origin and history of a word If you look at a dictionary entry, you’ll see the etymology of a word. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Home) Etymological dictionaries detail: The language of origin The original meaning of the root Historic and present use

When are new words added to a dictionary? Can you think of new words that have been recently added to our lexicon? How is it that new words make their way into real dictionaries? http://time.com/4010748/oxf ord-dictionary-update-2015/ Examples from 2012: tweet, BFF, frenemies, freakin’, friggin’, aha moment, F-bomb, etc

How long does it take for a word to be officially accepted as a new word? That depends on many factors: how strict the dictionary is, how compelling the use of the word has become, if any special circumstances trigger popularity….

Aha moment The first reference found by Merriam- Webster for "aha moment" dates to 1939 in a book of psychology. Its use was sporadic until the `90s, when Oprah Winfrey began using it on her no- longer-on-the-air TV show.

Selfie DEFINITION: selfie (n.): a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.

Word Formation Processes Borrowing and Loan Translation (Calque) Compounding And Blending Clipping, Hypocorism, and Back Formation Conversion Coinage And Acronyms Derivation (Prefixes, Suffixes and Infixes)

Borrowing Peter: May we borrow some words from your language? Pierre: Mais oui, Monsieur!

Borrowing Borrowing is when a language appropriates words from other languages. The words are kept the same way they are in their language of origin A French speaker might say something like Je detest le stress, or Ou est le whisky? A Portuguese speaker might say Onde esta o mouse? An American, or any English speaker could say I love croissants!

Croissant Fr. IPA:ˈkrwʌsɒŋ; Eng. [kruh-sahnt] noun, plural –sants; a rich, buttery, crescent-shaped roll of leavened dough or puff paste. Origin: 1895–1900; < French: literally, crescent

Some borrowed words… From other languages to English: rendezvous (French) croissant (French) sofa (Arabic) yoghurt/yogurt (Turkish) kaput (German) pronto (Spanish) macho (Spanish) kindergarten (German) algebra (Arabic) bouquet (French) pas de deux (French) From English to other languages: weekend (French) suupamaaketto (Japanese) watcher (Quebecois French) fan (German) email (German, Hindi, Portuguese, Spanish… and all the other languages?)

Some stats on Borrowing (from other languages to English) LATIN 29% FRENCH GERMANIC 26% GREEK 6% OTHERS PROPER NAMES 4%

A special type of borrowing: Calque (a.k.a. Loan Translation) Words are translated into another language; in other words, the concept used is the same but the words are translated “skyscraper” becomes “gratte-ciel,” in French or the German “Wolkenkratzer” “hot dogs” (expression) becomes “perros calientes” in Spanish

Compounding Compounding is combining two words to make one. They are sometimes written as a single word (whiteboard) Sometimes hyphenated words (life-saving) Sometimes two separate words (football stadium) noun + noun = bathtub, doormat adjective + noun = blacklist, lowball, noun + adjective = fast-food restaurant adjective + verb = easy-going, hard-boiled, bad-tempered Common in English and German Not as common in French and Spanish

Blending A special type of compounding, where beginning of one word is combined with the end of the other word to form a new word with a new meaning. Smoke + fog = smog Breakfast + lunch = brunch Spiced + ham = spam Jazz + exercise = jazzercise http://www.good.is/post/word-blending-linguistic-crossbreeds-from-smog-to-snowverload/

Clipping Facsimile Gasoline Advertisement Laboratory Reducing a word to a couple syllables when the original word is long or (sometimes) to change the gender and even to show the connection (emotional) Often more common than their full-length counterparts Back clipping, fore clipping, and middle clipping Facsimile Gasoline Advertisement Laboratory Airplane Telephone Hamburger Violoncello Madam Spectacles Vibrations Pantaloons (Ma’am) (Specs) (Vibes) (Pants)

Hypocorisms Special kind of clipping favored especially in Australia and Britain Something like pet name or diminutive (Longer words are reduced and new suffix is attached) Most favored suffixes are –ey/y/ie, -ling, -ette, -let Movie (Moving Picture) Telly (Television) Barbie (Barbeque) Postie (Postman) Doggie (dog) Aussie (Australians) Footy (Football) Duckling Kitchenette Cigarette Towellette Piglet Hippy (Hipster) Hankie (Handkerchief)

Backformation Special type of Clipping A word is reduced to single syllable or few syllables and its function has been changed Babysit from Babysitter (verb from noun) Donate from Donation (verb from noun) Edit from Editor (verb from noun) Opt from Option (verb from noun) Sleaze from Sleazy (noun from adjective) Can you think of any more examples?

Conversion the poor (adjective to noun) A change in the function of a word Derivation without any affixes added. Also called zero derivation.(more about it in Morphology) Category change/functional shift: the poor (adjective to noun) to down a beer (preposition to verb) to up the price (preposition to verb) to total a car (adjective/noun to verb)

Conversion of Phrasal Verbs to print out to take over to suck up to hand out to give away a printout a takeover a suck-up a handout a giveaway Pay attention: Typically, if you have an article before the word, what does that tell you?

Phrasal Verbs A phrasal verb is a verb plus a preposition or adverb, which creates a meaning different from the original verb. Example: I ran 2 miles yesterday. Run + into: I ran into my teacher at the movies last night. (to meet) Run + away: He ran away when he was 15. (leave home, to flee, to escape)

Coinage Invention of a completely new word: Blog A common example is when a brand name becomes the accepted name for something. Examples: jello=gelatin aspirin Vaseline nylon zipper Tylenol Denim kleenex=tissue Eponyms are new words based on names of people: Fahrenheit sandwich Volt watt hoover jeans

A C R O N Y M S

Acronyms and Initialisms Acronyms and Initialisms are nouns formed using the initials of a set of words. Can be pronounced by saying each letter individually: CD, DVD, ATM Can be pronounced as new words such as new single words, as in NATO, NASA, UNESCO, keeping their uppercase letters Sometimes acronyms become ‘words’ or everyday terms that are not even thought of as acronyms such as laser, radar, scuba, zip (code) Even native speakers may be unaware of their spelled-out origins. Do you know what laser, scuba, zip and radar originally mean?

What do they mean? LOL… RADAR [ra(dio) d(etecting) a(nd) r(anging).] LASER l(ight) a(mplification) by s(timulated) e(mission) of r(adiation) SCUBA s(elf)-c(ontained) u(nderwater) b(reathing) a(pparatus) ZIP z(one) i(mprovement) p(lan) CD compact disk DVD orig. d(igital) v(ideo) d(isk); then d(igital) v(ersatile) d(isk); ATM automatic teller machine LOL… LASER: LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION

Derivation The most common way of forming new words Forming new words with affixes or “small bits of language” In English we have two types of affixes: prefixes and suffixes Prefixes come at the beginning of a word (misguide) Suffixes come at the end of a word (respectful) Some other languages also use infixes Infixes are inserted into the middle of a word In English these are rarely used, and only with profanity: “absof@#$%inglutely!” Infix

Wanna Live Forever? Become a noun! Adam Cole: When I say "Henry Shrapnel, Jules Leotard, Robert Bunsen" you think — what? Me: That they're inventors? Adam: No. Better than that. Each one has become immortal. They're nouns! Me: Is that a good thing, becoming a noun? ... Adam: Are you kidding? It's a wonderful thing. A thing to sing about. From: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/09/28/14046778 1/wanna-live-forever-become-a-noun

Henry Shrapnel Henry Shrapnel (3 June 1761 - 13 March 1842) was a British Army officer and inventor, most famously, of the "shrapnel shell". Henry Shrapnel was born in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England. In 1784, while a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he perfected, with his own resources, an invention of what he called "spherical case" ammunition.

Samuel Maverick Samuel Maverick was a Texas rancher, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836. He refused to brand his cattle, because he said he didn't want to cause them any pain. His neighbors figure, well, he's just some stubborn, independent-minded loon who doesn't care what anybody thinks ...as in… a maverick. In reality, he was only a guy who was nice to cows. The noun doesn't tell you that.

Charles Boycott Charles Boycott was an English army captain. He was a land agent, collecting rents in County Mayo, Ireland. At some point, he tried to evict 11 tenants from their farms, and Charles Parnell, the great Irish land reformer, told his followers not to do business with Boycott. So Boycott wasn't a boycott advocate. He was a boycott victim. Shouldn’t the word/verb be “parnell/ parnelled”?

Joseph Guillotin AFTER Joseph Guillotin, from France, was a doctor. He didn't invent the blade that cuts people's heads off. He was actually against the death penalty and simply suggested that swift decapitation would be more humane. But now people think it was his machine, and there's this rumor that he was himself guillotined, which isn't true. He died of natural causes, and his family was so horrified to be connected to the "guillotine," they changed their name. The real inventor of the prototype of the guillotine was Antoine Louis.