1. 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

2. (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”

3. 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