Creation of new lexemes or the process of changing words
For the geological formation, see
Word Formation . For the study of the origin and historical development of words, see
Etymology .
In
linguistics , word formation is an ambiguous term
[1] that can refer to either:
the processes through which words can change
[2] (i.e.
morphology ), or
the creation of new
lexemes in a particular language
Morphological
A common method of word formation is the attachment of inflectional or derivational
affixes .
Derivation
Examples include:
the words governor , government , governable , misgovern , ex-governor , and ungovernable are all derived from the base word (to) govern
[3]
Inflection
Inflection is modifying a word for the purpose of fitting it into the grammatical structure of a sentence.
[4] For example:
manages and managed are inflected from the base word (to) manage
[1]
worked is inflected from the verb (to) work
talks , talked , and talking are inflected from the base (to) talk
[3]
Nonmorphological
Abbreviation
Examples includes:
Acronyms & Initialisms
An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of other words.
[5] For example:
NASA is the acronym for N ational A eronautics and S pace A dministration
IJAL (pronounced /aidʒæl/) is the acronym for I nternational J ournal of A merican L inguistics
Acronyms are usually written entirely in capital letters, though some words originating as acronyms, like
radar , are now treated as common nouns.
[6]
Initialisms are similar to acronyms, but where the letters are pronounced as a series of letters. For example:
ATM for A utomated T eller M achine
SIA for S ingapore I nternational A irlines
[1]
Back-formation
In linguistics, back-formation is the process of forming a new word by removing actual affixes, or parts of the word that is re-analyzed as an affix, from other words to create a base.
[3] Examples include:
the verb headhunt is a back-formation of headhunter
the verb is formed from the noun editor
[3]
the word televise is a back-formation of television
The process is motivated by
analogy : is to editor as act is to actor . This process leads to a lot of
denominal verbs .
The
productivity of back-formation is limited, with the most productive forms of back-formation being
hypocoristics .
[3]
Blending
A lexical blend is a complex word typically made of two word fragments. For example:
smog is a blend of sm oke and fog
brunch is a blend of br eakfast and lunch .
[5]
stagflation is a blend of stag nation and inflation
[1]
chunnel is a blend of ch annel and tunnel ,
[1] referring to the
Channel Tunnel
Although blending is listed under the Nonmorphological heading, there are debates as to how far blending is a matter of morphology.
[1]
Compounding
Compounding is the processing of combining two bases, where each base may be a fully-fledged word. For example:
desktop is formed by combining desk and top
railway is formed by combining rail and way
firefighter is formed by combining fire and fighter
[3]
Compounding is a topic relevant to syntax, semantics, and morphology.
[2]
Word formation vs. Semantic change
There are processes for forming new dictionary items which are not considered under the umbrella of word formation.
[1] One specific example is
semantic change , which is a change in a single word's meaning. The boundary between word formation and semantic change can be difficult to define as a new use of an old word can be seen as a new word derived from an old one and identical to it in form.
References
^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g Bauer, L. (1 January 2006).
"Word Formation" . Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition) . Elsevier: 632–633.
doi :
10.1016/b0-08-044854-2/04235-8 .
ISBN
9780080448541 . Retrieved 17 December 2021 .
^
a
b Baker, Anne; Hengeveld, Kees (2012). Linguistics . Malden, MA.: John Wiley & Sons. p. 23.
ISBN
978-0631230366 .
^
a
b
c
d
e
f Katamba, F. (1 January 2006). "Back-Formation". Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition) : 642–645.
doi :
10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00108-5 .
ISBN
9780080448541 .
^
Linguistics : the basics . Anne, July 8- Baker, Kees Hengeveld. Malden, MA.: John Wiley & Sons. 2012. p. 217.
ISBN
978-0-631-23035-9 .
OCLC
748812931 . {{
cite book }}
: CS1 maint: others (
link )
^
a
b Aronoff, Mark (1983).
"A Decade of Morphology and Word Formation" . Annual Review of Anthropology . 12 : 360.
doi :
10.1146/annurev.an.12.100183.002035 .
^ Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew (2018). An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. p. 71.
ISBN
978-1-4744-2896-5 .
See also