5 Morphology and Word Formation key concepts

Other sources of words
Besides derivation and compounding, languages make use of coining, ab-
breviating, blending, and borrowing to create new words.
Coining is the creation of new words without reference to the existing 
morphological resources of the language, that is, solely out of the sounds 
of the language. Coining is very rare, but googol [note the spelling] is an 
attested example, meaning 10
100
. This word was invented in 1940 by the 
nine-year-old nephew of a mathematician (see Compact Edition of the Ox-
ford English Dictionary Vol. III Supplement to the OED Vols. I-IV: 1987 
p. 317).
Abbreviation involves the shortening of existing words to create other 
words, usually informal versions of the originals. There are several ways to 
abbreviate. We may simply lop off one or more syllables, as in prof for profes-
sor, doc for doctor. Usually the syllable left over provides enough information 

---

137
Morphology and Word Formation
to allow us to identify the word it’s an abbreviation of, though occasion-
ally this is not the case: United Airlines’s low cost carrier is called Ted. (Go 
figure!) Alternatively, we may use the first letter of each word in a phrase 
to create a new expression, an acronym, as in UN, US, or SUV. In these 
instances the acronym is pronounced as a sequence of letter names. In other 
instances, such as UNICEF from United Nations International Children’s 
Emergency Fund, the acronym can be pronounced as an ordinary English 
word. Advertisers make prolific use of acronyms and often try to make them 
pronounceable as ordinary words.
Blending involves taking two or more words, removing parts of each, 
and joining the residues together to create a new word whose form and 
meaning are taken from the source words. Smog derives from smoke and 
fog and means a combination of these two substances (and probably lots of 
others); motel derives from motor and hotel and refers to hotels that are con-
venient in various ways to motorists; Prevacid derives from prevent acid; era-
cism derives from erase and racism and means erase racism or, if read against 
the grain, electronic racism (cf. email, ecommerce, E-trade); webinar derives 
from (worldwide) web and seminar. In November 2007, an interviewee on 
an NPR news item created the blend snolo to refer to playing bike polo in 
the snow.