Word Structure and Word Formation (Word Building) Word formation is the branch of lexicology that studies the structure of existing words and the patterns on which a language builds new words.

Morphemes The morpheme (Gr. morphe “form” + -eme “the smallest distinctive unit”) is the smallest meaningful unit of language. Morphemes do not occur as free forms but only as constituents of words. They possess meanings of their own.

Classes of morphemes Roots (or radicals) Affixes The root is the morpheme that expresses the lexical meaning of the word, e.g. teach – teacher – teaching. Affixes are morphemes that modify the meaning of the root. An affix added before the root is called a prefix (e.g. unsafe, mispronounce); and an affix added after the root is called a suffix (e.g. heartless, kindness).

Suffixes and inflexions Inflexions are morphemes used to change grammatical forms of the word: e.g. to work – works – worked – working. Inflexions carry grammatical meaning of the word.

Types of word-forming (word-building) in the English language Affixation Conversion Word-composition

Affixation The process of affixation consists in coining a new word by adding an affix or several affixes to a base. A base (stem) is the form to which an affix is added. E.g. blacken; unmanageable Words produced by the process of affixation are called derived words or derivatives (производное слово, дериват).

Affixation Prefixation: usual (adj.) – unusual (adj.) Suffixation: care (n.) – careless (adj.)

Classification of suffixes Origin: Native (-er, -dom, -ship, -ness), French (-ance, -ment, -age), Latin (-tion, -ate, -ute), Greek (-ism, -ize), etc. Meaning, e.g. –er: the agent of the action (worker, driver); -ess: feminine gender (lioness, governess); -ry and –dom: collectivity (peasantry, officialdom); -ish: insufficiency of quality (greenish – зеленоватый, youngish – моложавый).

Classification of suffixes (continued) Part of speech, e.g. noun-forming suffixes: –er, -ness, -ment (teacher, tenderness, government); adjective-forming suffixes: –ish, -ful, -ess, -y (bookish, meaningful, careless, cloudy); verb-forming suffixes: -ate, -fy, -ize (facilitate, terrify, socialize), adverb-forming suffixes: -ly, -ward, -wise (quickly, upward, likewise), etc.

Classification of suffixes (continued) Productivity, i.e. the ability to make new words. Productive affixes are ones, which take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development, e.g. –er, -ing, -ness, -y, -ish, -able, -ate, etc. Non-productive suffixes are those which are not able to form new words in the period in question, -th (truth), -hood (childhood), -ship (scholarship). NB! Productivity ≠ frequency of occurrence. E.g. suffixes –ful, -ly, -ant, -ent, -al are frequent but non-productive.

Classification of prefixes Origin: Native (un-), Latin (ab-, bi-, de-, super-) Meaning, e.g. negative prefixes: un- (ungrateful), non- (nonpolitical), in- (incorrect), dis- (disloyal), a- (amoral); prefixes of time and order: fore- (foretell), pre- (pre-war), post- (post-war), ex- (ex-president); prefixes of size and degree: hyper- (hyperactive), mega- (mega-mall), mini- (minivan), super- (superman), ultra- (ultrathin); prefix of repetition: re- (rebuild, rewrite), etc.

Classification of prefixes (continued) Productivity, i.e. the ability to make new words, e.g. un-, re-, dis- are productive.

Conversion Conversion consists in making a new word from some existing word by changing the category of a part of speech, while the morphemic shape of the original word remains unchanged, e.g. work – to work, paper – to paper.

Properties of the converted words The new word acquires a meaning, which differs from that of the original one though it can be easily associated with it, e.g. yellow - to yellow The converted word also acquires a new paradigm and a new syntactic functions, which are peculiar to its new category as a part of speech.

Properties of the converted words   Paradigm Functions garden -s (plural) -’s (possessive case) -s’ (possessive case, plural) Subject Object Predicative (именная часть составного сказуемого) to garden -s (3d person sing.) -ed (Past Indef., Past Participle) -ing (Pres. Part., Gerund) Predicate

The most common types of conversion in English Verbs derived from nouns: to ship, to dog (преследовать), to wolf (жадно есть) Nouns derived from verbs: a try (попытка), a catch (улов), a find (находка), a cut (порез) Verbs derived from adjectives: to pale (бледнеть), to empty (опустошить), to grey (седеть), to tidy (привести в порядок)

Less common types of conversion in English nouns derived from adjectives: a bitter (горечь), the poor, a final verbs/nouns derived from prepositions: out (e.g. diplomats were outed from the country; ins and outs – входы и выходы).

Types of semantic relations between the converted word and the original word The name of tool – an action performed by this tool: hammer – to hammer, brush – to brush, nail – to nail The animal name – action typical to this animal: monkey – to monkey (обезьянничать), wolf – to wolf (жадно есть) Part of body – action performed by it: back – to back, hand – to hand, shoulder – to shoulder Name of occupation – an action typical of it: cook – to cook, nurse – to nurse The name of a place – the process of occupying the place: room – to room, place – to place, etc.