WORD
FORMATION
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In linguistics, word formation is the creation of a new
word.
The subjects are studied in word formation
Etymology Coinage
Borrowing Compounding
Blending Clipping
Backformation Conversion
Acronyms Derivation
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ETYMOLOGY The study of the
origin and history of
a word comes to us
through Latin. When
we look close at the
etymologies of less
technical words, we
soon discover that
there are many
different ways in
which new words
can enter the
language.
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Coinage
It is the invention of totally new terms. The
most typical sources are invented trade
names for comercial products that
become generally terms.
Example = aspirin,
nylon, vaseline and
teflon.
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An eponym is the name of a person or
thing, whether real or fictitious, after which
a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or
other item is named or thought to be
named.
Example: sandwich,
jeans, fahrenheit
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Calque / Loan- translation
It means to borrow a word or phrase from another language while
translating its components so as to create a new word.
Example :
The common English phrase "flea market" is a phrase calque that
literally translates the French "marché aux puces" ("market where
one acquires fleas").
Another example is "bienvenue" ("welcome"), in Canadian French
sometimes used for "You're welcome" in response to "Thank you",
instead of the standard-French "Je vous en prie" ("I beg you to") or
"avec plaisir" ("with pleasure"). These phrases are also found as
calques in English, as "It was my pleasure" and "The pleasure was
[or "is"] mine."
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Compounding
It’s a joining of two separate words to
produce a single form.
Examples :
As nouns: fingerprint, sunburn, textbook
As adjectives: good-looking, low-paid
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Borrowing
The taking over of a word from
other languages.
Examples: piano (Italian),
yogurt (Turkish), zebra
(Bantu), sofa (Arabic)
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Blending
The combination of two
seperate forms to
produce a single new
terms is also present in
the process called
blending
The beginning of one
word is added to the
end of the other.
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Backformation
A word of one type(usually a noun) is
reduced to form a word of another type
(usually a verb)
Examples : worker – work
sculptor – sculpt
burglar – burgle
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Clipping
Clipping is the word formation process which consists in
the reduction of a word to one of its parts.
Examples : ad (advertisement), cable (cablegram), doc
(doctor), exam (examination), gas (gasoline)
Hypocorism : Longer word is reduced to a single syllable
then –y or –ie is added to the end.
Example : telly ( television), movie ( moving pictures)
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It is the creation of a word from an existing word
without any change in form. Conversion is more
productive in some languages than in others; in
English it is a fairly productive process.
Example : the adjective clean becomes the verb
to clean
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Acronyms
They are new words formed from the initial letters of a
set of other words
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Derivation
It is accomplished by means of large number of
small “bits” of the English language which are not
usually given seperate listings in dictionaries.
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Prefixes
Some affixes are added to the
beginning of the word. These
are called prefixes.
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Suffixes
Other affixes are added to the end of the word. These
are called suffixes.
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Infixes
It is an affix that is incorporated inside
another word. We reflect our emotions
with them.
Example :brother-in-law
mother-in-law
Hallebloodylujah!,
Absogoddamlutely!
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Kamhmu
We could view these inserted forms as a special version of
infixing in English. However, a much better set of examples
can be provided from Kamhmu, a language spoken in South
East Asia.
Examples :
Verb Noun
(“to drill”) see srnee (“ a drill”)
( “to tie”) hoom hrnoom (“ a thing with
which to tie”)
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Multiple Processes
Although we have concentrated on each of these
word-formation processes in isolation,it is possible
to trace the operation of more than one process at
work in the creation of a particular word.
Example : “young urban professional”,plus the –ie
suffix, as in hypocorism,to produce the word yuppie
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THANKS FOR YOUR
ATTENTION…
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