WORD FORMING PROCCESS COINAGE,

BLENDING, ACRONYM

WORD FORMING PROCCESS COINAGE, BLENDING, ACRONYM

a. Coinage

There are some points of view about the meaning of coinage. Coinage is the word formation

process in which a new word is created either deliberately or accidentally without using the other

word formation processes and often from seemingly nothing. As neologism or coinage, we identify

the word formation process of inventing entirely new words (neology). This is a very rare and

uncommon method to create new words, but in the media, people try to outdo each other with more

and better words to name their products. Often these trademark names are adopted by the masses and

they become ''everyday words of language'' (Yule 2006, 53). Also coinage refers to extension of a

name of a product from a specific reference to a more general one such as Kleenex, Xerox, and

Kodak. And in some cases, the meaning of these words is broadened. Example, complicated

chemical or technical terms (like Aspirin: acetylsalicylic acid) are adopted as the trademark term and

often replace standard terms for e.g. in this example, painkillers. This also happened to words

like Xerox,Kleenex or the German Nutella. Some words are differentiated from 'standard' neologisms,

namely eponyms . Eponyms are words that are ''based on the name of a person or a place'' (Yule

2006, 53). Common eponyms are watt from name of the discoverer, Fahrenheit from name the

expert, jeans takes from Italian city of JENWA, sandwich from a person who makes his meal

between two slices of bread, gold from Italian scientist.

The following list of words provides some common coinages found in everyday English:

Aspirin Escalator Heroin Band-aid

Factoid Frisbee Google Kerosene

Kleenex Laundromat Linoleum Muggle

Nylon Psychedelic Quark Xerox

Zipper

Notice that many coinages start out as brand names for everyday items such as Kleenex for a

facial tissue.

b. Blending

The earliest blends in English only go back to the 19th century, with wordplay coinages by Lewis

Carroll in Jabberwocky. For example, he introduced to the language slithy, formed from lithe and

slimy) and galumph, (from gallop and triumph Interestingly galumph has survived as a word in

English, but it now seems to mean 'walk in a stomping, ungainly way'. Some blends that have been

around for quite a while include brunch (breakfast and lunch),motel (motor hotel), electrocute

(electric and execute), smog (smoke and fog) and cheeseburger (cheese and hamburger).

A blending is a combination of two or more words to create a new one, usually by taking the

beginning of the other word and the end of the other one. So new words like spork (spoon +

fork), fanzine (fan + magazine), bromance (brother + romance) or Spanglish (Spanish + English)

are created. There are of course other ways to create a blending: for example, you can take both

beginnings of a word (cybernetic + organism → cyborg) or take a whole word and combine it with a

part of another one (guess + estimate → guesstimate) (Yousefi 2009.The most common type of

blend is a full word followed by a word part (called a splinter) as in motorcade (motor +

cavalcade). Another example of combining words, in this case names, is the bleding of celebrity

couple names, such as Brangelina (Brad + Angelina) or Bennifer(Ben + Jennifer). Sometimes

blendings are referred to as portmanteau words . The termportmanteau was coined by Lewis Carroll

in 1882, when in his book Through the Looking Glass Humpty Dumpty describes a new word he

uses as follows: "Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy'. […] You see, it's like a portmanteau - there are

two meanings packed into one word" (Carroll 1996, 102 - i.e. there are two different words with

completely unequal meanings put together to form a new word with a new meaning.

Examples and Observations:

motel (motorway hotel) brunch (breakfast lunch fridge (freezer

refrigerator) smog (smoke fog) stagflation (stagnation and

inflation) spork (spoon and fork) carjacking (car and

hijacking) mocktail(mock and cocktail with no alcohol) splog (spam and

blog)

fake blog designed to attract hits and raise Google-ranking' britpoperati(Britpop and literati) 'those

knowledgable about current British pop music'. {agitprop (agitation + propaganda)} alcopop (alcohol + pop) bash (bat + mash) biopic (biography + picture

Breathalyzer (breath + analyzer) camcorder (camera + recorder) chexting (cheating +

texting) clash (clap + crash) cosmeceutical (cosmetic + pharmaceutical)

docudrama(documentary+ drama),faction (fact + fiction),electrocute (electricity + execute),fanzine

(fan + magazine), emoticon (emote + icon),flare (flame + glare), flirtationship (flirting +

relationship), glimmer (gleam + shimmer), Globish (global + English), guitarthritis (guitar

+ arthritis), infotainment (information + entertainment), moped (motor + pedal), palimony (pal +

alimony), pornacopia (pornography + cornucopia), pulsar (pulse + quasar), sexcapade (sex +

escapade), sexploitation (sex + exploitation), sitcom (situation + comedy), slanguage (slang +

language). smash (smack + mash), sportscast (sports + broadcast), stagflation (stagnation + inflation),

staycation (stay home + vacation), telegenic (television + photogenic), textpectation (text message +

expectation), workaholic (work + alcoholic).

c. Acronym

In English, acronyms pronounced as words may be a 20th-century phenomenon. Linguist David

Wilton in Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends claims that "forming words from

acronyms is a distinctly twentieth- (and now twenty-first-) century phenomenon. There is only one

known pre-twentieth-century [English] word with an acronymic origin and it was in vogue for only a

short time in 1886. The word is colinderies or colinda, an acronym for the Colonial and Indian

Exposition held in London in that year."

The widespread, frequent use of acronyms and initialisms across the whole range of registers is a

relatively new linguistic phenomenon in most languages, becoming increasingly evident since the

mid-20th century. As literacy rates rose, and as advances in science and technology brought with

them a constant stream of new (and sometimes more complex) terms and concepts, the practice of

abbreviating terms became increasingly convenient. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) records

the first printed use of the word initialism as occurring in 1899, but it did not come into general use

until 1965, well after acronym had become common. By 1943, the term acronym had been used in

English to recognize abbreviations (and contractions of phrases) that were pronounced as words. (It

was formed from the Greek words ἄκρος, akros, "topmost, extreme" and ὄνομα, onoma, "name.")

For example, the army offense of being absent without official leave was abbreviated to "A.W.O.L."

in reports, but when pronounced as a word ('awol'), it became an acronym. While initial letters are

commonly used to form an acronym, the original definition was a word made from the initial letters

or syllables of other words, for example UNIVAC from UNIVersal Automatic Computer.

Acronym is way to form word, it is similar to abbreviation, when each first letter of the source

word is taken and to form new acronym. In English we can find like NASA (national aeronotics and

space administration), VIP (very important person), NATO (north Atlantic treaty organization), etc.

Acronym is forming words from the initials of a group of words that designate one concept. Usually,

but not always, capitalized. An acronym is pronounced as a word if the consonants and vowels line

up in such a way as to make this possible, otherwise, it is pronounced as a string of letter names.

Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as

NATO and HTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what

the letters stand for. Of the two words, acronym is the much more frequently used and known, and

many speakers and writers refer to all abbreviations formed from initial letters as acronyms.

However, many others differentiate between acronyms and initialisms. An acronym is a

pronounceable word formed from the initial letter or letters of the constituent words, such as NATO.

An initialism is an abbreviation pronounced as the names of the individual letters, and is formed only

from the initial letter of constituent words, such as TLA. This distinction is supported by many

dictionary definitions, but not by all.

Although the term acronym is widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial

letters, some dictionaries define acronym to mean "a word" in its original sense, while some others

include additional senses attributing to acronym the same meaning as that of initialism. The

distinction, when made, hinges on whether the abbreviation is pronounced as a word, or as a string of

letters. According to the first definition found in dictionaries, examples of acronyms are NATO

(/ˈneɪtoʊ/), scuba (/ˈskuːbə/), and radar (/ˈreɪdɑr/), while examples of initialisms are FBI (/ˌɛfˌbiː ˈaɪ/)

and HTML (/ˌeɪtʃˌtiː ˌɛmˈɛl/). There is no agreement on what to call abbreviations whose

pronunciation involves the combination of letter names and words, such as JPEG (/ˈdʒeɪpɛɡ/) and

MS-DOS (/ˌɛmɛsˈdɒs/). There are also some disagreements as abbreviations that some speakers

pronounce as letters and others pronounce as a word. For example, the terms URL and IRA can be

pronounced as individual letters: /ˌjuːˌɑrˈɛl/ and /ˌaɪˌɑrˈeɪ/, respectively; or as a single word: /ˈɜrl/

and /ˈaɪərə/, respectively. Such constructions, however—regardless of how they are pronounced—if

formed from initials, may be identified as initialisms without controversy.

The spelled-out form of an acronym or initialism (that is, what it stands for) is called its expansion. Comparing a few examples of each types of acronym:

a. Pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters AIDS: acquired immune deficiency syndrome NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Scuba: self-contained underwater breathing apparatus Laser: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

b. Pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters Amphetamine: alpha-methyl-phenethylamine Gestapo: Geheime Staatspolizei (secret state police) Interpol: International Criminal Police Organization Nabisco: National Biscuit Company

c. Pronounced as a word, containing a mixture of initial and non-initial letters Necco: New England Confectionery Company Radar: radio detection and ranging

d. Pronounced as a word or names of letters, depending on speaker or context FAQ: ([fæk] or ef-a-cue) frequently asked question IRA: When used for Individual Retirement Account, can be pronounced as letters (i-ar-a) or as a

word [ˈaɪrə]. SAT(s): ([sæt] or ess-a-tee) (previously) Scholastic Achievement (or Aptitude) Test(s)(US) or Standard Assessment Test(s) (UK), now claimed not to stand for anything.[11] SQL: ([siː kwəl] or ess-cue-el) Structured Query Language.

e. Pronounced as a combination of names of letters and a word CD-ROM: (cee-dee-[rɒm]) Compact Disc read-only memory IUPAC: (i-u-[pæk]) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

JPEG: (jay-[pɛɡ]) Joint Photographic Experts Group

SFMOMA: (ess-ef-[moʊmə]) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art f. Pronounced only as the names of letters

BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer USA: The United States of America

g. Pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut AAA: (triple A) American Automobile Association; abdominal aortic aneurysm; anti-aircraft

artillery; Asistencia Asesoría Administración (three As) Amateur Athletic Association IEEE: (I triple E) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers NAACP: (N double A C P) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NCAA: (N C double A or N C two A or N C A A) National Collegiate Athletic Association

h. Shortcut incorporated into name

3M: (three M) originally Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company E3: (E three) Electronic Entertainment Exposition W3C: (W three C) World Wide Web Consortium

C4ISTAR: (C four I star) Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence,

Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance. i. Pseudo-acronyms, which consist of a sequence of characters that, when pronounced as intended,

invoke other, longer words with less typing (see also Internet slang) CQ: cee-cue for "seek you", a code used by radio operators IOU: i-o-u for "I owe you" (a true acronym would be IOY) K9: kay-nine for "canine", used to designate police units utilizing dogs Q8: cue-eight for "Kuwait"

j. Initialisms whose last abbreviated word is often redundantly included anyway ATM machine: Automated Teller Machine machine HIV virus: Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus PIN number: Personal Identification Number number LCD display: Liquid Crystal Display display. ------------------------------------------

The invention of new words

Coinage is the word formation process in which a new word is created either deliberately or accidentally without using the other word formation processes and often from seemingly nothing. For example, the following list of words provides some common coinages found in everyday English:

aspirin

escalator

heroin

band-aid

factoid

Frisbee

Google

kerosene

Kleenex

Laundromat

linoleum

muggle

nylon

psychedelic

quark

Xerox

zipper

An eponym as we will use the term here is an ordinary common noun derived from a proper noun, the name of a person or place. Words like quisling, sandwich, and silhouette are solid eponyms. Some eponymous words are still capitalized like a proper noun, so those not capitalized are most clearly eponyms. The important, defining property is that the word does not refer exclusively to the person or place named by the proper noun, as does Marxism or Christian, but is used to refer to a general category, as do quisling, boycott and fuchsias.

atlas – Atlas

boycott – Charles C. Boycott cardigan – James Thomas Brudnell, 7th Earl of Cardigan cereal – Ceres dunce – John Duns Scotus guillotine – Joseph Ignace Guillotin jacuzzi – Candido Jacuzzi luddite – Ned Ludd malapropism – Mrs. Malaprop mesmerize – Franz Anton Mesmer mirandize – Ernesto A. Miranda narcissistic – Narcissus

nicotine – Jean Nicot pasteurization – Louis Pasteur poinsettia – Noel Roberts Poinsett praline – César de Choiseul, Count Plessis–Praslin sadistic – Marquis de Sade salmonella – Daniel Elmer Salmon sandwich – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich volcano – Vulcan

Word Formation: Coinages, Nonce Words, Borrowing, and

Calquing written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Tricia Goss • updated: 1/17/2012

Creating new words in English, covers the related word formation processes of coinages, nonce words, borrowing, and calquing.

Coinages

Coinage is the word formation process in which a new word is created either deliberately or accidentally without using the ot her

word formation processes and often from seemingly nothing. For example, the following list of words provides some common

coinages found in everyday English:

aspirin

escalator

heroin

band-aid

factoid

Frisbee

Google

kerosene

Kleenex

Laundromat

linoleum

muggle

nylon

psychedelic

quark

Xerox

zipper

Notice that many coinages start out as brand names for everyday items such as Kleenex for a facial tissue. Coinages are also

referred to simply as neologisms, the word neologism meaning "new word."

Nonce Words

Nonce words are new words formed through any number of word formation processes with the resulting word meeting a lexical

need that is not expected to recur. Nonce words are created for the nonce, the term for the nonce meaning "for a single occasion."

For example, the follow list of words provides some nonce words with definitions as identified in theOxford English Dictionary.

cotton-wool – to stuff or close (the ears) with cotton-wool.

jabberwock – The name of the fabulous monster in Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky. Hence in allusive and extended

uses, especially "incoherent or nonsensical expression." So jabberwocky is invented language, meaningless language,

nonsensical behavior; also nonsensical, meaningless, topsy -turvy.

touch-me-not-ishness – having a "touch-me-not" character; stand-off-ish.

twi-thought – an indistinct or vague thought.

witchcraftical – The practices of a witch or witches; the exercise of supernatural power supposed to be possessed by persons

in league with the devil or evil spirits. Power or influence like that of a magician; bewitching or fascinating attraction or

charm.

Note that although most nonce words come in and out of use very quickly, some nonce words catch on and become everyday

words. For example, Lewis Carroll coined the word chortle, a blend of chuckle and snort, for the poemJabberwocky in the

book Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There; unlike most nonce words, however,chortle has gained acceptance

as a legitimate blended word.

Borrowing

Borrowing is the word formation process in which a word from one language is borrowed directly into another language. For

example, the following common English words are borrowed from foreign languages:

algebra – Arabic

bagel – Yiddish

cherub – Hebrew

chow mein – Chinese

fjord – Norwegian

galore – Irish

haiku – Japanese

kielbasa – Polish

murder – French

near – Sanskrit

paprika – Hungarian

pizza – Italian

smorgasbord – Swedish

tamale – Spanish

yo-yo – Tagalog

Borrowed words are also referred to as loanwords.

Word Formation: Derivation and Back-Formation written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Tricia Goss • updated: 1/17/2012

As part of basic word formation learning, the addition and subtraction of prefixes and suffixes are used to create new words. Also

included below are printable downloads of English affixes and English back-formations.

Processes

Word formation is the process of creating new words. The following word formation processes result in the creation of new

words in English:

Derivation

Back-formation

Conversion

Compounding

Clipping

Blending

Abbreviations

Acronyms

Eponyms

Coinages

Nonce words

Borrowing

Calquing

Derivation

Derivation is the word formation process in which a derivational affix attaches to the base form of a word to create a new word.

Affixes, which include prefixes and suffixes, are bound morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest linguistic unit of a language

with semantic meaning. Bound morphemes, unlike free morphemes, cannot stand alone but must attach to another morpheme

such as a word. For example, the following two lists provide examples of some common prefixes and suffixes with definitions in

English:

Prefixes

a- – without, not

co- – together

de- – opposite, negative, removal, separation

dis- –opposite, negative

en- – cause to be

ex- – former, previous, from

in- – negative, not

non- – absence, not

re- – again, repeatedly

un- – negative, not, opposite, reversal

Suffixes

-able – sense of being

-er – agent

-ful – characterized by

-fy – make, become, cause to be

-ism – action or practice, state or condition

-less – lack of

-ly – -like

-ology – study, science

-ship – condition, character, skill

-y – characterized by, inclination, condition

Derivation may result in new words of the same grammatical form, e.g., noun to noun, or of different grammatical forms, e.g.,

verb to noun. For example:

Grammatical Form Retaining Derivation

verb to verb: appear → disappear

noun to noun: friend → friendship

adjective to adjective: practical → impractical

Grammatical Form Changing Derivation

verb to noun: preserve → preservation

verb to adjective: bore → boring

noun to verb: code → codify

noun to adjective: nature → natural

adjective to noun: ugly → ugliness

adjective to verb: sweet → sweeten

adjective to adverb: quick → quickly

Note that, although both processes involve the affixation of suffixes, derivation differs from inflection in that inflection results in

the creation of a new form of the same word rather than a new word. For example, the addition of the third person singular -

s inflectional suffix to verbs creates the third person singular form of verbs, e.g., eat and eats, and the addition of the plural -

s inflectional suffix to nouns creates the plural form of nouns, e.g., dog and dogs. Both eats anddogs are new forms of the same

word, eat and dog, rather than new words.

Back-Formation

Back-formation is the word formation process in which an actual or supposed derivational affix detaches from the base form of a

word to create a new word. For example, the following list provides examples of some common back-formations in English:

Original – Back-formation

babysitter – babysit

donation – donate

gambler – gamble

hazy – haze

moonlighter – moonlight

obsessive – obsess

procession – process

resurrection – resurrect

sassy – sass

television – televise

Back-formation is often the result of an overgeneralization of derivation suffixes. For example, the noun back-formationentered

the English lexicon first, but the assumption that the -(at)ion on the end of the word is the -ion derivational suffix results in the

creation of the verb back-form. Back-formation, therefore, is the opposite of derivation.

For a printable list of more prefixes and suffixes in English, please download English Affixes: Prefixes and Suffixes. For a more

complete list of back-formations in English, please download English Back-Formations Vocabulary List.

Word Formation: Compounding, Clipping, and Blending written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Tricia Goss • updated: 10/17/2014

The word formation processes of compounding, clipping, and blending are important concepts when creating words. Also

included for download are vocabulary lists of common English compounds, clipped words, and blends.

Compounding

Compounding is the word formation process in which two or more lexemes combine into a single new word. Compound words

may be written as one word or as two words joined with a hyphen. For example:

noun-noun compound: note + book → notebook

adjective-noun compound: blue + berry → blueberry

verb-noun compound: work + room → workroom

noun-verb compound: breast + feed → breastfeed

verb-verb compound: stir + fry → stir-fry

adjective-verb compound: high + light → highlight

verb-preposition compound: break + up → breakup

preposition-verb compound: out + run → outrun

adjective-adjective compound: bitter + sweet → bittersweet

preposition-preposition compound: in + to → into

Compounds may be compositional, meaning that the meaning of the new word is determined by combining the meanings of the

parts, or noncompositional, meaning that the meaning of the new word cannot be determined by combining the meanings of the

parts. For example, a blueberry is a berry that is blue. However, a breakup is not a relationship that was severed into pieces in an

upward direction.

Compound nouns should not be confused with nouns modified by adjectives, verbs, and other nouns. For example, the

adjective black of the noun phrase black bird is different from the adjective black of the compound noun blackbird in

thatblack of black bird functions as a noun phrase modifier while the black of blackbird is an inseparable part of the noun: a

black bird also refers to any bird that is black in color while a blackbird is a specific type of bird.

Clipping

Clipping is the word formation process in which a word is reduced or shortened without changing the meaning of the word.

Clipping differs from back-formation in that the new word retains the meaning of the original word. For example:

advertisement – ad

alligator – gator

examination – exam

gasoline – gas

gymnasium – gym

influenza – flu

laboratory – lab

mathematics – math

memorandum – memo

photograph – photo

public house – pub

raccoon – coon

reputation – rep

situation comedy – sitcom

telephone – phone

The four types of clipping are back clipping, fore-clipping, middle clipping, and complex clipping. Back clipping is removing the

end of a word as in gas from gasoline. Fore-clipping is removing the beginning of a word as in gator fromalligator. Middle

clipping is retaining only the middle of a word as in flu from influenza. Complex clipping is removing multiple parts from

multiple words as in sitcom from situation comedy.

Blending

Blending is the word formation process in which parts of two or more words combine to create a new word whose meaning is

often a combination of the original words. For example:

advertisement + entertainment → advertainment

biographical + picture → biopic

breakfast + lunch → brunch

chuckle + snort → chortle

cybernetic + organism → cyborg

guess + estimate → guesstimate

hazardous + material → hazmat

motor + hotel → motel

prim + sissy → prissy

simultaneous + broadcast → simulcast

smoke + fog → smog

Spanish + English → Spanglish

spoon + fork → spork

telephone + marathon → telethon

web + seminar → webinar

Blended words are also referred to as portmanteaus.

Word Formation: Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Eponyms written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Tricia Goss • updated: 1/17/2012

In order to understand word formation fully, the processes of abbreviation, acronym, and eponym need to be included. Also

linked to in this article are downloadable vocabulary lists of common English abbreviations, acronyms, and eponyms.

Abbreviations

Abbreviation is the word formation process in which a word or phrase is shortened. Initialisms are a type of abbreviation formed

by the initial letters of a word or phrase. Although abbreviation is largely a convention of written language, sometimes

abbreviations carry over into spoken language. For example:

Written Abbreviations

Apr. – April

cm – centimeter(s)

d. – died, died in

dept. – department

Dr. – doctor

Jr. – Junior

Mr. – Mister

oz – ounce(s)

Sun. – Sunday

yd – yard(s)

Spoken-Written Abbreviations

A.M. – ante meridiem [in the morning]

B.C.E. – Before Common Era

GOP – Grand Old Party (Republican Party)

HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus

i.e. – id est [that is]

JFK – John Fitzgerald Kennedy

OJ – orange juice

PMS – premenstrual syndrome

RSVP – répondez s'il vous plait

VIP – very important person

Abbreviation is related to both the word formation processes of clipping and blending.

Acronyms

Acronyms are words formed by the word formation process in which an initialism is pronounced as a word. For example,HIV is

an initialism for Human Immunodeficiency Virus that is spoken as the three letters H-I-V. However, AIDS is an acronym for

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome that is spoken as the word aids. Other examples of acronyms in English include:

ASAP – as soon as possible

AWOL – absent without leave

laser - light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation

NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASDAQ - National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations

PIN – personal identification number

radar - radio detection and ranging

scuba - self-contained underwater breathing apparatus

TESOL – Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

WASP – White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

Acronyms are related to the word formation process of abbreviation.

Word Formation: Conversion written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Rebecca Scudder • updated: 12/10/2013

Part two of "Word Formation: Creating New Words in English" covers the process of conversion, which is the word formation

process whereby a word of one part of speech converts into a word of another part of speech, e.g., the noun Google changing into

the verb to google.

Conversion

Conversion is the word formation process in which a word of one grammatical form becomes a word of another grammatical

form without any changes to spelling or pronunciation. For example, the nounemail appeared in English before the verb: a decade

ago I would have sent you an email (noun) whereas now I can either send you an email (noun) or simply email (verb) you. The

original noun email experienced conversion, thus resulting in the new verb email. Conversion is also referred to as zero

derivation or null derivation with the assumption that the formal change between words results in the addition of an invisible

morpheme. However, many linguistics argue for a clear distinction between the word formation processes of derivation and

conversion.

Noun to Verb Conversion

The most productive form of conversion in English is noun to verb conversion. The following list provides examples of verbs

converted from nouns:

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Noun – Verb

access – to access

bottle – to bottle

can – to can

closet – to closet

email – to email

eye – to eye

fiddle – to fiddle

fool – to fool

Google – to google

host – to host

knife – to knife

microwave – to microwave

name – to name

pocket – to pocket

salt – to salt

shape – to shape

ship – to ship

spear – to spear

torch – to torch

verb – to verb

For example:

My grandmother bottled (verb) the juice and canned (verb) the pickles.

My grandmother put the juice in a bottle (noun) and the pickles in a can (noun).

She microwaved (verb) her lunch.

She heated her lunch in the microwave (noun).

The doctor eyed (verb) my swollen eye (noun).

Noun to verb conversion is also referred to as verbification or verbing, as humorously discussed by Calvin and Hobbes.

Verb to Noun Conversion

Another productive form of conversion in English is verb to noun conversion. The following list provides examples of nouns

converted from verbs:

Verb – Noun

to alert – alert

to attack – attack

to call – call

to clone – clone

to command – command

to cover – cover

to cry – cry

to experience – experience

to fear – fear

to feel – feel

to hope – hope

to increase – increase

to judge – judge

to laugh – laugh

to rise – rise

to run – run

to sleep – sleep

to start – start

to turn – turn

to visit – visit

For example:

The guard alerted (verb) the general to the attack (noun).

The enemy attacked (verb) before an alert (noun) could be sounded.

Sometimes one just needs a good cry (noun).

The baby cried (verb) all night.

We need to increase (verb) our productivity to see an increase (noun) in profits.

Verb to noun conversion is also referred to as nominalization.

Other Conversions

Conversion also occurs, although less frequently, to and from other grammatical forms. For example:

adjective to verb: green → to green (to make environmentally friendly)

preposition to noun: up, down → the ups and downs of life

conjunction to noun: if, and, but → no ifs, ands, or buts

interjection to noun: ho ho ho → I love the ho ho hos of Christmastime.

Morphemes

by Kirsten Mills Student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, 1998

Introduction

Morphemes are what make up words. Often, morphemes are thought of as words but that is not always true. Some single morphemes are words while other words have

two or more morphemes within them. Morphemes are also thought of as syllables but

this is incorrect. Many words have two or more syllables but only one morpheme. Banana, apple, papaya, and nanny are just a few examples. On the other

hand, many words have two morphemes and only one syllable; examples include cats,

runs, and barked.

Definitions

morpheme: a combination of sounds that have a meaning. A morpheme does

not necessarily have to be a word. Example: the word cats has two

morphemes. Cat is a morpheme, and s is a morpheme. Every morpheme is

either a base or an affix. An affix can be either a prefix or a suffix. Cat is the base morpheme, and s is a suffix.

affix: a morpheme that comes at the beginning (prefix) or the ending (suffix) of

a base morpheme. Note: An affix usually is a morpheme that cannot stand alone. Examples: -ful, -ly, -ity, -ness. A few exceptions are able, like, and less.

base: a morpheme that gives a word its meaning. The base

morpheme cat gives the word cats its meaning: a particular type of animal. prefix: an affix that comes before a base morpheme. The in in the

word inspect is a prefix.

suffix: an affix that comes after a base morpheme. The s in cats is a suffix.

free morpheme: a morpheme that can stand alone as a word without another morpheme. It does not need anything attached to it to make a word. Cat is a

free morpheme.

bound morpheme: a sound or a combination of sounds that cannot stand alone as a word. The s in cats is a bound morpheme, and it does not have any

meaning without the free morpheme cat.

inflectional morpheme: this morpheme can only be a suffix. The s in cats is an inflectional morpheme. An inflectional morpheme creates a change in the

function of the word. Example: the d ininvited indicates past tense. English has

only seven inflectional morphemes: -s (plural) and -s (possessive) are noun

inflections; -s ( 3rd-person singular), -ed ( past tense), -en (past participle), and -ing ( present participle) are verb inflections; -er (comparative) and -

est (superlative) are adjective and adverb inflections.

derivational morpheme: this type of morpheme changes the meaning of the word or the part of speech or both. Derivational morphemes often create new

words. Example: the prefix and derivational morpheme un added

to invited changes the meaning of the word. allomorphs: different phonetic forms or variations of a morpheme. Example:

The final morphemes in the following words are pronounced differently, but

they all indicate plurality: dogs, cats, andhorses.

homonyms: morphemes that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Examples: bear (an animal) and bear (to carry), plain (simple)

and plain ( a level area of land).

homophones: morphemes that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings. Examples: bear, bare; plain, plane; cite, sight, site.

Fifteen Common Prefixes

The following tables and tip are adopted from Grammar and Composition by

Mary Beth Bauer, et al.

Prefix Meaning

ad- to, toward

circum- around, about

com- with, together

de- away from, off

dis- away, apart

ex- from, out

in- not

in- in, into

inter- between

mis- wrong

post- after

re- back, again

sub- beneath, under

trans- across

un- not

Ten Common Suffixes

Suffix Meaning

-able (-ible) capable of being

-ance (-ence) the act of

-ate making or applying

-ful full of

-ity the state of being

-less without

-ly in a certain way

-ment the result of being

-ness the state of being

-tion (-ion, -sion) the act of or the state of being

Tip

Suffixes can also be used to tell the part of speech of a word. The following

examples show the parts of speech indicated by the suffixes in the chart. Nouns: -ance, -ful, -ity, -ment, -ness, -tion

Verb: -ate

Adjectives: -able, -ful, -less, -ly

Adverb: -ly

Exercises

Identify and label the parts of the following words as: bound or free,

derivational or inflectional, and base or affix. Indicate the number of

morphemes in each word.

1. dogs

2. replay 3. carrot

4. inescapable

5. television

6. tenacity 7. captivate

8. unlikely

Identify at least 10 sets of homophones and give the different meanings.

Example: board (a flat piece of wood) and bored (uninterested, weary).

words base affix inflectional derivational bound free morphemes

dogs dog -s +

-s dog 2

replay play re-

+ re- play 2

carrot carrot

carrot 1

inescapable cap in-,es-,-able

+ in-,es-,cap -able 4

television vis tele-,-ion

+ tele-,vis,-ion

3

tenacity tenac -ity

+ tenac,-ity

2

captivate cap -tiv,-ate

+ cap,-tiv,-ate

3

unlikely likely un-

+ un- likely 2

The answers for homophones will vary. Some examples are:

buy (to purchase) by (near)

forth (forward) fourth (referring to the number four)

heard (past tense for hear)

herd (a group of animals)

lessen (to make less)

lesson (something learned)

pair (set of two)

pare (to trim)

pear (a fruit)

right (proper or just; correct; opposite of left)

rite (a ritual) write (to put words on paper)

to (toward) too (also, excessively)

two (one more than one in number)

waist (midsection)

waste (to squander; something that is discarded)

week (seven days)

weak (feeble, not strong)

your (possessive of you) you're (contraction of you are)

INFLECTIONAL VS. DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY

Another important and perhaps universal distinction is the one

between derivational and inflectional morphemes.

Derivational morphemes makes new words from old ones (Crystal, p. 90.)

Thus creation is formed from create , but they are two separate words.

Derivational morphemes generally:

1) Change the part of speech or the basic meaning of a word. Thus -ment added to a

verb forms a noun (judg-ment). re-activate means "activate again."

2) Are not required by syntactic relations outside the word. Thus un-kind combines un- and kind into a single new word, but has no particular syntactic

connections outside the word -- we can say he is unkind or he is kind or they are

unkind or they are kind, depending on what we mean.

3) Are often not productive -- derivational morphemes can be selective about what

they'll combine with, and may also have erratic effects on meaning. Thus the suffix -hood occurs with just a few nouns such as brother, neighbor, and knight, but not with

most others. e.g., *friendhood, *daughterhood, or *candlehood. Furthermore

"brotherhood" can mean "the state or relationship of being brothers," but

"neighborhood" cannot mean "the state or relationship of being neighbors."

4) Typically occur between the stem and any inflectional affixes. Thus

in governments,-ment, a derivational suffix, precedes -s, an inflectional suffix.

5) In English, may appear either as prefixes or suffixes: pre-arrange, arrange-ment.

Inflectional morphemes: vary (or "inflect") the form of words in order to express

grammatical features, such as singular/plural or past/present

tense. Thus Boy and boys, for example, are two different forms of the "same" word; the choice between them, singular vs. plural, is a matter of grammar and thus the

business of inflectional morphology. (Crystal, p. 90.)

Inflectional Morphemes generally:

1) Do not change basic meaning or part of speech, e.g., big, bigg-er, bigg-est are all

adjectives.

2) Express grammatically-required features or indicate relations between different

words in the sentence. Thus in Lee love-s Kim: -s marks the 3rd person singular present form of the verb, and also relates it to the 3rd singular subject Lee.

3) Are productive. Inflectional morphemes typically combine freely with all members of some large class of morphemes, with predictable effects on usage/meaning. Thus

the plural morpheme can be combined with nearly any noun, usually in the same

form, and usually with the same effect on meaning.

4) Occur outside any derivational morphemes. Thus in ration-al-iz-ation-s the final -

s is inflectional, and appears at the very end of the word, outside the derivational

morphemes -al, -iz, -ation.

5) In English, are suffixes only.

Some English morphemes, by category:

derivational inflectional

-ation -s Plural

-al -s Possessive

-ize -ed Past

-ic -ing Progressive

-y -er Comparative

-ous -est Superlative

HOW TO DESCRIBE AN AFFIX:

some examples from DERIVATIONAL morphology:

-ation

is added to a verb or root (finalize, anim-)

to give a noun (finalization, animation)

un-

is added to a verb (tie)

to give a verb(untie)

un-

is added to an adjective (happy)

to give an adjective (unhappy)

-al

is added to a noun (institution) to give an adjective (institutional)

-ize

is added to an adjective (concrete)

to give a verb (concretize)

What is the meaning of the affix?

The meanings of derivational affixes are sometimes clear, but often less clear because

of changes that occur over time. The following two sets of examples show that the prefix un- is easily interpreted as a negative, but the prefix con- is more opaque.

un- untie

undo

unhappy

untimely

unthinkable

unmentionable

con- constitution

confess

connect

contract

contend

conspire

complete

Are derivational affixes sensitive to the historical source of the roots they attach to?

Although English is a Germanic language, and most of its basic vocabulary derives from Old English, there is also a sizeable vocabulary that derives from Romance

(Latin and French). Some English affixes, such as re-, attach freely to vocabulary

from both sources.

ROOT tie consider

free form free form

Germanic root Latinate root

SOURCE Old English tygan, "to tie" Latin considerare, "to examine"

PREFIX retie reconsider

SUFFIX reties reconsiders

retying reconsideration

retyings reconsiderations

The suffix -ize, objected to by Edwin Newman in words like hospitalize, has a long

and venerable history. Many of you chose to look up -ize words as part of your first

assignment.

According to Hans Marchand, who wrote a book entitled The Categories and Types of

Present-Day English Word Formation, (University of Alabama Press, 1969), the suffix -izecomes originally from the Greek -izo. Many words ending with this suffix

passed from Ecclesiastical Greek into Latin, where, by the fourth century, they had

become established as verbs with the ending -izare, such as barbarizare, catechizare, christianizare. In Old French we find many such verbs, belonging primarily to the

ecclesistical sphere: baptiser (11th c.),canoniser (13th c.), exorciser (14th c.).

The first -ize words to be found in English are loans with both a French and Latin

pattern such as baptize (1297), catechize, and organize (both 15th c.) Towards the end

of the 16th century, however, we come across many new formations in English, such

as bastardize, equalize, popularize, and womanize. The formal and semantic patterns were the same as those from the borrowed French and Latin forms, but owing to the

renewed study of Greek, the educated had become more familiar with its vocabulary

and used the patterns of Old Greek word formation freely.

Between 1580 and 1700, the disciplines of literature, medicine, natural science and

theology introduced a great deal of new terminology into the language. Some of the terms still in use today include criticize, fertilize, humanize, naturalize, satirize,

sterilize, and symbolize. The growth of science contributed vast numbers of -

ize formations through the 19th century and into the 20th.

The -ize words collected by students in last year's course show that -ize is almost

entirely restricted to Romance vocabulary, the only exceptions we found

being womanize andwinterize. Even though most contemporary English speakers are not aware of which words in their vocabulary are from which source, apparently, in

coining new words, they have respected this distinction.

a. LASER Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation b. AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome c. UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization

d. NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration e. NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization f. NIPA National Institute of Pension Administrators g. NAM Non-Allied Movement h. NUML National University of Modern Languages i. CIDA Canadian International Development Agency j. LUMS Lahore University of Management and Sciences.

Morphological Processes

'Morphology is the study of the rules governing the formation of words.'

Morphological processes can be by affixation or other words formation. Affixation can be

inflection or derivation while other words formation can be compound, reduplication, suppletion,

internal chage, clipping, conversion.

A. AFFIXATION

Affixation is the process in which free morphome (root) is added with bound morphemes

(affixes). There are two kinds of affixation, they are inflection and derivation.

I. INFLECTION

Inflection is word formation process that changes the morphological form of a word to fit a

syntactic context.

Example:

- walk vs. walked

- cat vs. cats

There are some characteristics of inflection:

inflection does not change the grammatical category of the base;

inflection does not affect the meaning of the word;

inflectional processes take place after derivational ones;

Example

neighborhoods vs. *neighborshood

inflectional affixes have few exceptions (they are almost fully productive), while

derivational affixes usually attach to a limited class of words;

English inflectional affixes are all suffixes.

Example

- plural -s: cat - cats

- possessive/genitive ’s: John’s

- 3rd person sg. non-past -s: sing-sings

- progressive -ing: sing-singing

- past tense -ed: talk-talked

- past participle -en/-ed: eat-eaten/study-studied

- comparative -er: happy-happier

- superlative -est: happy-happiest

There are two types of inflection. They are:

regular inflection = rule-based; walk-walked

irregular inflection = stored in the lexicon; come-came;goose-geese

Evidence for distinction

- for irregular verbs, response time is linked to the frequency of the verb

- for regular verb, no such difference is found since the past tense is formed by a regular

rule

II. DERIVATION

Derivational affixes are affixes (suffixes) which change the meaning of the base in some

important ways, or change it into a different word class. They turn nouns into adjectives,

adjectives into verbs, nouns of one type into nouns to the other type, and so on. They add new

meanings to the base. They are readily followed by inflectional suffixes, and in many cases more

than one derivational suffix can be found in the some word.

For instance, let us start with the verb Establish in its rather specialized meaning of ‘grant special

state privileges to a church’. We can derive the verb disestablish, meaning ‘take away special

privileges’. Then we can form the noun disestablishment meaning ‘the act of taking away

privileges’, then the noun disestablishmentarian meaning ‘one who advocates disestablishment’,

then the noun disestablishmentarianism meaning ‘the doctrine of disestablishment’, and finally

antidisestablishmentarianism, meaning ‘opposite to the disestablishing the church. The latter

word is often cited as ‘the longest word in English Language’ Brockman (1971: 8)

Some derivational affixes of English

AFFIX Class(es) of word to which affix

applies

Nature of

change in

meaning

Examples

Prefix 'non-' Noun, adjective Negation/opposi

te

Noun: non-

starter

Adj.: non-

partisan

Suffix '-ity' Adjective Changes to noun

electric/electr

icity o

bese/ob

esity

Prefix 'un-' Verb

Adjective

Reverses action

opposite

quality

tie/untie,

fasten/unfast

en

clear/unclear,

safe/unsafe

Suffix '-ous' Noun Changes to

adjective

fame/famous,

glamor/glam

orous

Prefix 're-' Verb Repeat action tie/retie,

write/rewrite

Suffix '-able' Verb

Changes to

adjective;

means 'can

undergo

action of

verb'

print/printabl

e,

drink/drinka

ble

Derivational Suffixes

Abstract noun

makers

Concrete noun makers Nouns from

verbs

Nouns from adjectives

-age = frontage - eer = engineer -age = wastage -ity = falsity

-dom = kingdom - er = teenager - al =

refusal

-ness = kindness

-ery = slavery - ess = waitress - ant =

informa

nt

Adjective-noun makers

-ful = spoonful - let = booklet -ation =

education

-ese = Chinese

-hood =

brotherhood

- ling = duckling -ee =

commitee

-an = republican

- ing =

farming

- ster = gangster -er = writer -ist= socialist

- ism =

idealism

-ing = clothing -ite = Luddite

- ocracy =

aristocrac

y

-ment =

equipment

- ship =

friendship

-or = actor

Adverb-makers Verb makers Adjectives from

nouns

Adjectives from

verbs

-ly=quickly -ate= orchestrate -ed= pointed -able= drinkable

-ward(s)= onwards -en= ripen -esque= burlesque -ive= attractive

-wise= clockwise -ify= certify -ful= successful

-ize/ise= advertise -(i)al= accidental

-ic= atomic

-ish= foolish

-less= careless

-ly= friendly

-ous= ambitious

-y= hairy

Noun Suffixes

ROOT SUFFIX WORD

EMPLOY

AGREE

- Ment EMPLOY-MENT

AGREE- MENT

DISCUSS

PRODUCE

PERMIT

- ion, tion, sion DISCUSS-ION

PRODUC-TION

PERMI-S-SION

INVITE

OPPOSE

- ation, - ition INVIT – ATION

OPPOS – ITION

PREFER -ence, - ance PREFER- ENCE

DISTANT DISTAN- CE

CERTAIN

SECURE

- ty, - ity CERTAIN-TY

SECUR- ITY

SAD

ILL

- Ness SAD-NESS

ILL-NESS

BUILD

UNDERSTAND

- Ing BUILD-ING

UNDERSTAND-ING

Nouns for People

SUFFIX ROOT WORD

- er, -or, - ress Drive

Edit

Wait

DRIV-ER

EDIT-OR

WAIT-RESS

- ist Tour

Science

TOUR-IST

SCIENT-IST

- ant , - ent Assist

Study

ASSIST-ANT

STUD-ENT

-an, - ian Republic

Electric

REPUBLIC-AN

ELECTRIC-IAN

- ee Employ

Examine

Address

EMPLOY-EE

EXAMIN-EE

ADDRESS-EE

Forming Adjectives

- y added to the names of

common substances, objects

and things that are

experienced

Rock = ROCKY

(full of rocks, like rocks)

Noise = NOISY

( producing noise)

- ly Added to time words and to

certain family/personal

words

Day = DAILY

Week= WEEKLY

Man = MANLY

- ful Added when it indicates in a

positive way the presence of

a quality or ability

Use = USEFUL

Skill = SKILFUL

- less Negatively suggests the

absence of a quality or ability

Use = USELESS

Meaning = MEANINGLESS

- al Added to certain nouns of

Latin origin ending in – ion,

-ic(s) and -ure

Addition = ADDITIONAL

Music = MUSICAL

Ethics = ETHICAL

Nature = NATURAL

Words can often be divided into morphemes. Words can have prefixes, infixes, suffixes, show

inflectional or derivational morphology, and much more...

'Morphology is the study of the rules governing the formation of words.'

B. OTHER WORD FORMATION

1-Compounding

A compound word contains at least two bases which are both words ,or at any rate , root

morphemes.

examples :-

n+n))(Tea) +( pot ) => teapot

Hair) + (dress) + er => hairdresser(n+v)

Blue) + (bird) => bluebird (a+n)

Over) + (lord) => overlord (pre+n)

2-Conversion

Conversion is a process that assigns an already existing word to a new syntactic category.

Examples :-

=>V derived from n

e.g button (the shirt)

=>N derived from v

(a long) walk

=>V derived from A

Open (a door)

3-Clipping

Clipping is a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables. It is

especially popular among students.

Examples:-

Prof => for professor

Poli – sci => for political science

Zoo for => zoological garden

4-Blends

Blends are words that created from non-morhpemic parts of two already existing items.

A blend is usually formed from the first part of one word and the the final part of the second one.

Examples:-

brunch =>from breakfast and lunch

Smog => from smoke and fog.

Spam => from spiced and ham.

5-Internal change

Internal change is a process that substitutes' one non-morphemic segment for another .

Examples:-

sing(present) =>sang(past)

Sink(present) =>sank(past)

Foot (singular) => feet(plural)

Goose(singular) => geese(plural)

6-Suppletion

Suppletion is a morphological process whereby a root morpheme is replaced by a phonologically

unrelated form in order to indicate a grammatical contrast.

Examples:-

have => had

Go => went

good=> better

7. Acronym

They are formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.

They are usually pronounced as single words (e.g. NATO, PIN, etc.) Or as a set of letters (e.g.

CD, VIP, etc.)

8. Back Formation

A word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to a word of a different type (usually a verb)

through widespread use.

• to donate from donation

• to opt from option

• Other examples: pronunciate (< pronunciation), resurrect (< resurrection),

enthuse (< enthusiasm),

9. Borrowing

Taking over words from other languages.

• Examples from Italian

• pasta

• piano

10. Coinage

Coinage is the invention of totally new terms. Often a brand name becomes the name for the

item or process associated with the brand name

• Examples:

– hoover

– Kleenex

– Xerox

– Kodak