Word Formation Practice Activities Which two processes were involved in the creation of the verb google, as in “Have you ever googled yourself”? Which process is clearly involved in creating the new term selfie? Which of the following pairs contains an example of calque? How would you describe the other(s)? (a) footobooru (Japanese) – football (English) (b) tréning (Hungarian) – training (English) (c) luna de miel (Spanish “moon of honey”) – honeymoon (English) (d) jardin d’enfants (French “garden of children”) – Kindergarten (German “children garden”) calque coinage (to create the noun) and conversion (changing noun to verb) hypocorism borrowing borrowing calque calque
(a) Don’t they ever worry that they might get AIDS? - Can you identify the different word-formation processes involved in producing each of the underlined words in these sentences? (a) Don’t they ever worry that they might get AIDS? (b) That’s really fandamntastic! (c) These new skateboards from Zee Designs are kickass. (d) When I’m ill, I want to see a doc, not a vet. (e) The house next door was burgled when I was babysitting the Smiths’ children. (f) I like this old sofa – it’s nice and comfy. (g) I thin Robyn said she’d like a toastie for brekky. (a) acronym (“Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome”) (b) infixing (“damn” inside “fantastic”) (c) compounding (“skate” + “board”) and compounding (“kick” + “ass”) and conversion (verb “kick” + noun “ass” → adjective “kickass”) (d) clipping (“doctor”) and clipping (“veterinarian”) (e) backformation (verb “burgle” from noun “burglar”) and backformation (verb“babysit” from noun “babysitter”, which is a compound (“baby” + “sitter”). (f) borrowing (from Arabic “suffa”) and hypocorism (from “comfortable”) (g) two examples of hypocorism from “toasted sandwich” and “breakfast”
Identify the prefixes and suffixes used in these words: misfortune – Terrorism - Carelessness – Disagreement - Ineffective - Unfaithful - Prepackaged - biodegradable - Reincarnation - Decentralization - mis- + fortune terror + -ism care + -less + -ness dis- + agree + -ment in- + effect + -ive un- + faith + -ful pre- + pack + -age + -ed bio- + de- + grade + -able re- + in- + carn + -ation (Latin root carn (“flesh”) de- + cent(e)r + -al + -ize + -ation