Word formation

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WORD FORMATION PROCESSES

Contents

Blending / Amalgamation 2

Derivations/Eponyms3

Acronyms 4

Clipping or Truncation 1

Contents

Loaning / Borrowing 7

Compounding 6

Reduplicating 5

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CLIPPINGS or

TRUNCATION

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Clipping is a type of abbreviation of a word in which one part is 'clipped' off the rest, and the remaining word now means essentially the same thing as what the whole word means or meant. For example, the word rifle is a fairly modern clipping of an earlier compound rifle gun, meaning a gun with a rifled barrel.

TYPES OF CLIPPING


Back Clipping / Apocopation

Examples:

Max – maximumBra – brassiereBros – brothers

Typo – typo graphical error Carbs - Carbohydrates


Fore Clipping / Aphaeresis / Apheresis

Examples:

Varsity – university Pike – turnpike

Chute – parachuteBurger – hamburger

Gator – alligator


Middle Clipping / Syncope

Examples:

Flu – InfluenzaJam/jammies – pajamas

Tec – detective


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BLENDING / AMALGAMA

TION www.themegallery.com

Blending is one of the most beloved of word formation processes in English. It is especially creative in that speakers take two words and merge them based not on morpheme structure but on sound structure. The resulting words are called blends.


Examples:

Prosumer = produce + consumer

Gasohol = gasoline + alcohol

Modem = modulator + demodulator

Cooperators = cooperative + investors

Brunch = breakfast + lunch www.themegallery.com

Examples:

Bleep = blankout + beep

Swipe = wipe + weep

Swaddle = wade + toddle

Blurt = blow + spurt


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EPONYMS / DERIVATION

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Deriviation is the creation of words by

modification of a root without the

addition of other roots. Often the effect

is a change in part of speech.


adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern → modernise) in British English or -ize (archaic → archaicize) in American English and Oxford spellingadjective-to-adjective: -ish (red → reddish)adjective-to-adverb: -ly (personal → personally)noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational)noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable)verb-to-noun (abstract): -ance (deliver → deliverance)verb-to-noun (agent): -er (write → writer)


Examples:

Braille – Louise Braille (french teacher)Boycott – Charles C. Boycott (Irish land agent) Ammonia – Ammon (Egypt god) Ampere – Andre Marie Amper (physicist)Arachnid – Arachne (the girl in greek mythology who was turned into a spider


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ACRONYM

Acronyms are formed by taking the initial letters of a phrase and making a word out of it. The classical acronym is also pronounced as a word. Scuba was formed from self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.


Examples:

a.k.a = Also Known AsNB = nota bene

Cc = Caron Copy a.m. = ante meridiem p.m. = post meridiem

ps = postscripts


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REDUPLICATING /

REDUPLICATED WORDS

Process of forming new words either by doubling an entire word (total reduplication) or part of a word (partial reduplication)


Examples:

Eency – weency Incy – wincy Wee – wee

Walkie – talkie Mumbo – jumbo

Itsy – bitsyBye – bye


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COMPOUNDING /

COMPOUND WORDS

Compounding or composition is the process of word

formation that creates compound lexemes (the other word-

formation process being derivation). That is, in familiar

terms, compounding occurs when two or more words are

joined together to make them one word. The meaning of the

compound may be very different from the meanings of its

components in isolation.


Examples: (non – hyphenated)

Curriculum vitaeMarriage certificate

Editorial staffMemorandum circular

Notary clubLieutenant colonel


Examples: (hyphenated)

Editor – in – chief Officer – in – charge

Bio – dataAttorney – in – lawMother – in – law


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LOANING / BORROWIN

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Loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a

different language (the source language). A loanword can also be

called a borrowing. The abstract noun borrowing refers to the process

of speakers adopting words from a source language into their native

language. "Loan" and "borrowing" are of course metaphors, because

there is no literal lending process. There is no transfer from one

language to another, and no "returning" words to the source language.

The words simply come to be used by a speech community that speaks

a different language from the one these words originated in.


Examples:

Thee – youWhither – where Yore – years ago

Canst – canCometh – come


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AFFIXATION

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes. Affixation is, thus, the linguistic process speakers use to form different words by adding morphemes (affixes) at the beginning (prefixation), the middle (infixation) or the end (suffixation) of words


Education

Word formation