Types of Forming Words. Derivation. Affixation

Types of Forming Words. Affixation.

Lecture 10

1. TYPES OF FORMING WORDS

• Word-formation is the system of derivative types of words and the process of creating new words from the material available in the language after certain structural and semantic formulas and patterns.
• Driver = v+-er (a verbal stem + the noun-forming suffix –er).
• The meaning of the derived noun driver - the meaning of the stem drive- ‘to direct the course of a vehicle’ and the suffix -er meaning ‘an active agent’: a driver is ‘one who drives’ (a carriage, motorcar, railway engine, etc.).
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1.1. Main Types of Forming Words

I. Word-derivation in morphology is a word-formation process by which a new word is built from a stem – usually through the addition of an affix – that changes the word class and / or basic meaning of the word.

• The basic ways of forming words in word-derivation are:
• 1. Affixation is the formation of a new word with the help of affixes: pointless (from point).
• 2. Conversion is the formation of a new word by bringing a stem of this word into a different formal paradigm: a fall (from to fall), a cut (from to cut).

II. Word-composition is the formation of a new word by combining two or more stems which occur in the language as free forms: door-bell, house-keeper.

1.2. Minor Types of Forming Words

• shortening is the formation of a word by cutting off a part of the word.

a) initial (or aphesis):fend (v) < defend, phone < telephone;

b) medial (orsyncope): specs < spectacles, fancy < fantasy;

c) final (or apocope): lab – laboratory, exam – examination;

d) both initial and final: flu < influenza, fridge < refrigerator;.

blending is the formation of a new word by combining parts of two words:

• blending is the formation of a new word by combining parts of two words:

a) additive type: smog – sm(oke) and (f)og; b) restrictive type: telecast – television + broadcast.

• acronymy (or graphical abbreviation) is the formation of a word from the initial letters of a word combination. :

a) acronyms which are read as ordinary English words:UNESCO – [ju:'neskəu] the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization;

b) acronyms with the alphabetic reading: BBC – [,bi:bi:'si:] the British Broadcasting Corporation;

sound-interchange is the formation of a word due to an alteration in the phonetic composition of its root. Sound-interchange falls into 3 groups:

• sound-interchange is the formation of a word due to an alteration in the phonetic composition of its root. Sound-interchange falls into 3 groups:

a) vowel-interchange (or ablaut): full − to fill, blood − to bleed, food – to feed. In some cases vowel-interchange is combined with suffixation: long − length, strong − strength, broad − breadth;

b) consonant-interchange: advice – to advise.

c) combined forms: life – to live;