UNIT 3: WORD FORMATION

A characteristic of all human being languages is the potential to create

new words. The categories of noun, verb, adjective, and adverb are open in the
sense that new members are constantly being added. The two most common
types of word formation are derivation and compounding, both of which create
new words from already existing morphemes. Derivation is the morphological
process by which a new word is built from a base, usually through the addition
of an affix. Compounding, on the other hand, is a process involving the
combination of two words (with or without accompanying affixes) to yield a
new word. The noun helper, for example, is related to the verb help via
derivation; the compound word mailbox, in contrast, is created from the words
mail and box.

1. INFLECTIONAL AND DERIVATIONAL

Two main fields are traditionally recognized within morphology.
Inflectional morphology studies the way in which words vary (or ‘inflect’) in
order to express grammatical contrasts in sentences, such as singular/plural or
past/present tense. In older grammar books, this branch of the subject was
referred to as ‘accidence’. Boy and boys, for example, are two forms of the
‘same’ word; the choice between them, singular vs plural, is a matter of
grammar, and thus the business of inflectional morphology. Derivational
morphology, however, studies the principles governing the construction of new
words, without references to the specific grammatical role of a word might play
in a sentence. In the formation of drinkable from drink, or disinfect from infect,
for example, we see the formation of different words, with their own
grammatical properties.
1.1. English inflectional morphology
A. Definition:
Inflection is a process by which affixes combine with roots to indicate
basic grammatical categories such as tense or plurality (e.g. in 'cat-s', 'talk-ed', '-

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s' an d'-ed' are inflectional suffixes). Inflection is viewed as the process of
adding very general meanings to existing words, not as the creation of new
words.
English has only three categories of meaning which are expressed
inflectionally, known as inflectional categories. They are number in nouns,
tense/aspect in verbs, and comparison in adjectives. Within these categories,
English has a remarkably small inventory of affixes, by comparison with
languages such as Spanish or Russian. English does not always use affixes to
express these categories (see the discussion of irregular morphology).

B. Inflectional categories and affixes of English

Regular and irregular inflectional morphology

Word class to
Regular affix used to express
which inflection Inflectional category
category
applies
Nouns Number -s, -es: book/books, bush/bushes
Possessive -'s, -': the cat's tail, Charles' toe
Verbs 3rd person singular -s, -es: it rains, Karen writes, the
present water sloshes
past tense -ed: paint/painted
perfect aspect ed: paint/painted ('has painted)
(past participle)
progressive or -ing: fall/falling, write/writing
continuous aspect (present participle)
Adjectives comparative -er: tall/taller
(comparing two items)
superlative -est: tall/tallest
(comparing +2 items)

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Here are some ways English inflectional morphology is irregular:
Type of Verbs: past
Noun plurals Verbs: past tense
irregularity participle
Unusual suffix oxen, syllabi, taken, seen,
antennae fallen, eaten
Change of stem foot/feet, run/ran, swim/swum,
vowel mouse/mice come/came, sing/sung
flee/fled,
meet/met,
fly/flew,
stick/stuck,
get/got,
break/broke
Change of stem brother/brethren/ feel/felt, write/written,
vowel with kneel/knelt do/done,
unusual suffix break/broken,
fly/flown
send/sent, send/sent,
Change in bend/bent, bend/bent,
base/stem form think/thought, think/thought,
(sometimes with teach/taught, teach/taught,
unusual suffix) buy/bought buy/bought
Zero-marking deer, sheep, hit, beat hit, beat, come
(no suffix, no moose, fish
stem change)

More ways inflection can be irregular:

Suppletion (instead of a suffix, the whole word changes):
be - am - are - is - was - were - been
go - went - gone

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 good - better - best
bad - worse - worst
some - more - most
Syntactic marking (added meanings are indicated by a separate word rather
than marking with a suffix or change to the base):
Future of verbs: will go, will eat, will fight, etc.
Comparative/superlative of adjectives: more intelligent, more expensive, etc.;
most intelligent, most expensive, etc.
1.2. English derivational morphology
A. Definition:
Derivation is the process by which affixes combine with roots to create
new words (e.g. in 'modern-ize', 'read-er', '-ize' and '-er' are derivational
suffixes). Derivation is viewed as using existing words to make new words. The
inflection/derivation difference is increasingly viewed as shades of gray rather
than an absolute boundary. Derivation is much less regular, and therefore much
less predictable, than inflectional morphology. For example, we can predict that
most English words will form their plural by adding the affix <-s> or <-es>. But
how we derive nouns from verbs, for example, is less predictable. Why do we
add <-al> to 'refuse', making 'refusal', but '-ment' to 'pay' to make 'payment'?
'Payal' and 'refusement' are not possible English words. We have to do more
memorizing in learning derivational morphology than in learning inflectional
morphology.
B. Characteristics:
1) Category Change:
Derivation often changes the category (the part of speech) of the word or
base morpheme
e.g. sing (V) + er singer (N), especially when the affix is added to the end
of the base.
Derivation creates a new word by changing the category and/or the
meaning of the base which it applied
e.g. the derivational affix - er combines with a verb to create a noun with the
meaning “one who does X”
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E.g. work V + er workerN
N

V Af
Work er

2) Derivational Rules:
Derivational rules can help predict how words may be formed in English,
E.g. From the rule: un + Adjective X unX meaning not X
we can predict un + harmonious (A) means “not harmonious”
Derivational rules can also help analyse words, e.g. those who may not
know the word trainer before can consider the use of –er in the sense of “one
who does X” with bases whose category can be determined as a verb. Thus,
trainee may mean an object of the act of training
3) Multiple derivations:
Derivation can create multiple levels of word structure consistent with
the word formation rules and in terms the feeding rule or bleeding rule, e.g. for
the structure of organizational, the outmost affix -al forms adjectives from
nouns, - ation forms nouns from verbs, and –ize forms verbs from nouns.
4) Phonological constraint:
Sometimes, a particular derivational affix is added to attach only to stems
with particular phonological properties.
E.g. the English suffix –en + adjectives verbs with a causative meaning
is restricted to only monosyllabic stems that end in an obstruent.
E.g. white + en whiten but *abstracten (-) or *greenen (-)
Below is a sample of some English derivational affixes. This is only a
sample; there are far more affixes than presented here.

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Some derivational affixes of English

No AFFIX CHANGE SEMANTIC EFFECTS EXAMPLES

1 -able V A able to be X’ed/ can undergo X Understandable
2 -ation VN the result of X’ing translation
process or state of X starvation,
exploration
3 -er VN one who X’s Worker
4 -ing VN + activity connected with X cricketing,
NN + with reference to material of farming
which X is made matting,

VN + result from action of X carpeting

VN + the act of X’ing building, opening

+ in the process of X’ing the shooting
VA
the sleeping man
5 -ful NA full of/providing X delightful, pitiful
NA amount contained in X spoonful, glassful

6 -ion VN the result of act of X’ing Protection

7 -ive VA having the property of doing X Predictive
8 -ment VN the act or result of X’ing Achievement
9 -al NA pertaining to X National
2 -ial NA pertaining to X Managerial
10 -ian NA pertaining to X Canadian
11 -ic NA having the property of X Organic
12 -ize NV put in X Materialize
13 -less NA without X Penniless
14 -ous NA the property of having or being X Advantageous
15 -ate AV make X Activate
16 -ity AN the result of being X stupidity, priority

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17 -ize AV make X Modernize
18 -ly A Adv in an X manner Quietly
19 -ness AN the state of being X happiness,
sadness
20 -age N N measure of X/collection of X baggage, frontage
21 -ery N N condition/behavior associated with slavery,
A N X bravery

22 -wise N Adv in relation to dimension of X clockwise

so far as X is concerned education-wise,
money-wise
23 -ism AN doctrine of X/practice of X idealism,
N N impressionism

24 - N N government by X democracy,
ocracy meritocracy
25 -eer N N skilled/engaged in X auctioneer,
profiteer
26 -let N N small, unimportant booklet, piglet,
starlet
27 -ster N N involved in X Gangster
28 -ant V N agential/ one who X informant
29 -ee VN object of X payee, trainee
30 -ment VN result of X arrangement,
amazement
31 -ed N A having X simple-minded,
wooded
32 -ish NA somewhat like X childish, snobbish
N N name of races/peoples/language of Swedish, Turkish
X

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33 -ly NA having qualities of X womanly,
cowardly
34 -y NA characterized by/somewhat like X sandy, creamy,
hairy
35 re- V V X again Rethink
36 a- NN lacking/lack of X amoral, anarchy,
atheist
37 dis- V V converse of X disobey, disloyal
reversing the action of X disconnect,
dispossess
38 in- AA not/converse of X incompetent
39 non- NN not X non-smoker
A A non-perishable

40 un- AA not/converse of X unwise,

unforgettable
VV reverse X untie, unfasten

41 de- NV reversing the action of X defrost

VV denationalize

42 mal- V V bad manner of X maltreat

NN malnutrition

43 mis- V V wrong manner of X miscalculate

misconduct
44 ex- NN former X ex-president
45 sur- AA over and above X surcharge, surtax
46 under- V  V too little of X Underestimate
47 pro- NN for/on the side of X pro-communist

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1.3. Inflection vs Derivation
Inflection can be distinguished from derivation according to the
following criteria:
1) Category Change:
Inflectional affixes never change either the category (the part of speech)
or the type of meaning of the base morpheme, e.g. both eat and eats are verbs
with the same content or meaning. On the other hand, derivational affixes
characteristically change the category and/or the type of meaning of the form to
which they applied,
E.g. modern (A) + ize modernize (V)
(property X) + ize (action/ process of X)
2) Positioning within the word:
Inflectional affixes are the last member to be added to the base
morpheme, following derivational affixes, e.g. in modernize – modernizes, the
inflectional –s follows the derivational affix –ize. If an inflectional suffix is
added to a verb, as with modernizes, then no further derivational suffixes can be
added, e.g. [ [disDER [appear] V]V sINF]V
3) Productivity:
Inflectional affixes typically have very few exceptions, e.g. the suffix –s
can combine with any noun that allows a plural form. In contrast, derivational
affixes characteristically apply to restricted classes of stems,
e.g. terror (N) + ize terrorize (V)
but horror (N) + ize horrorize (V) (-)
Besides the principles mentioned above, it can be seen that inflection
makes use of only suffixes whereas derivation utilizes either prefixes or
suffixes.
E.g. Inflectional affixes: suffix Derivational affixes: both prefixes and suffixes
worked co-worker
inflectional derivational derivational

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Further reading From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Derivation (linguistics)
In linguistics, derivation is a morphological process to create new words by
changing the category and/or the meaning of the base to which it applies. The
derivational affixes –er, for instances, combines with a verb to create a noun
with the meaning “one who does X or simply ‘one who Xs’ with X stands for
an action denoted by a verb. By another definition, derivation is "used to form
new words, as with happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination
from determine. A contrast is intended with the process of inflection, which
uses another kind of affix in order to form variants of the same word, as with
determine/determine-s/determin-ing/determin-ed." (Crystal, David (1999): The
Penguin Dictionary of Language. - Penguin Books - England.)
A derivational suffix usually applies to words of one syntactic category and
changes them into words of another syntactic category. For example, the
English derivational suffix-ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly).
Some examples of English derivational suffixes:
adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)
adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern → modernise)
noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational)
noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)
verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable)
verb-to-noun: -ance (deliver → deliverance)
Although derivational affixes do not necessarily modify the syntactic category,
they modify the meaning of the base. In many cases, derivational affixes change
both the syntactic category and the meaning: modern → modernize ("to make
modern"). The modification of meaning is sometimes predictable: Adjective +
ness → the state of being (Adjective); (stupid→ stupidness).
A prefix (write → re-write; lord → over-lord) will rarely change syntactic
category in English. The derivational prefixun- applies to adjectives (healthy →
unhealthy), some verbs (do → undo), but rarely nouns. A few exceptions are the

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prefixes en- and be-. En- (em- before labials) is usually used as a transitive
marker on verbs, but can also be applied to adjectives and nouns to form
transitive verb: circle (verb) → encircle (verb); but rich (adj) → enrich (verb),
large (adj) → enlarge (verb), rapture (noun) → enrapture (verb), slave (noun)
→ enslave(verb). The prefix be-, though not as productive as it once was in
English, can function in a similar way to en- to mark transitivity, but can also be
attached to nouns, often in a causative or privative sense: siege (noun) →
besiege (verb), jewel (noun) → bejewel (verb), head (noun) → behead (verb).
Note that derivational affixes are bound morphemes. In that, derivation differs
from compounding, by which free morphemes are combined (lawsuit, Latin
professor). It also differs from inflection in that inflection does not change a
word's syntactic category and creates not new lexemes but new word forms
(table → tables; open → opened).
Another type of derivation may occur without any change of form, for example
telephone (noun) and to telephone. This is known as conversion. Some linguists
consider that when a word's syntactic category is changed without any change
of form, a null morpheme is being affixed.

2. Compounding
A. Definition:
Compounding is a morphological process to create new words by joining 2 or
more words (simple or complex).
Examples: skateboard, whitewash, cat lover, self-help, red-hot, etc.
B. Characteristics:
1) Productivity: Compounding is highly productive in English. Compounds
may be found in all lexical categories, e.g. compound noun: boyfriend;
compound verb: team-teach; compound adjective: easy-going
2) Structural status of constituent members:
Constituent members of a compound are not equal: the lexical category
of the last member of the compound is the same as that of the entire compound;

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the first member (the dependent) is often a modifier of the second (the head) of
the compound, e.g. bookstore is a store that sells books.
V
hand-wash

N V
hand wash
Dependent Head
3) Grammatical status:
The Head undergoes inflection, e.g. hand-wash → hand-washed
4) Number of structural members: the basic compounding operation is always
binary, i.e. a compound never has more than two constituents though it may
contain more than 2 words.

A N

A V N N

N Af V Af V Af

ease y go ing lady kill er

5) Inter-relationships between compounding and derivation:

Compounding and derivation may feed each other, i.e. the members of a
compound are often themselves derivationally complex, and sometimes a
compound may serve as a base of a derivational affix, e.g.

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 Derivation feeds Compounding Compounding feeds Derivation
A N

A V N N

N Af V Af V Af

ease y go ing brain washing ing

6) Stress Distribution:
The first component of a compound is pronounced more prominently
than the second whereas in non-compounds, the second element is stressed, e.g.
‘GREENhouse (compound)
green ‘HOUSE (non-compound)
C. Types:
Compounds can be classified according to a variety of ways:
1) According to meaning:
a. Non-idiomatic compounds: e.g. salesgirl, goalkeeper
b. Idiomatic compounds: e.g. lip-service, blackleg
2) According to componential relationship:
a. Coordinative compounds: e.g. actor-manager; Anglo-Saxon
b. Subordinative compounds: e.g. book-keeper; boyfriend
3) According to part of speech:
a. Compound Nouns: e.g. girlfriend
b. Compound Verbs: team-teach
c. Compound Adjectives: e.g. easy-going
d. Compound Adverbs: e.g. whole-heartedly
e. Compound Prepositions: e.g. into
4) According to Compositional types:
a. Compound formed by juxtaposition: e.g. backache, heart-broken

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 b. Compound formed by morphological means: e.g. handicraft
c. Compound formed by syntactical means: e.g. cash-and-carry
d. Compound formed by both morphological and syntactical means:
e. e.g. long-legged

Further reading From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (a word) that consists of more than one
other lexeme.
An endocentric compound consists of a head, i.e. the categorical part that
contains the basic meaning of the whole compound, and modifiers, which
restrict this meaning. For example, the English compound doghouse, where
house is the head and dog is the modifier, is understood as a house intended for
a dog. Endocentric compounds tend to be of the same part of speech (word
class) as their head, as in the case of doghouse. (Such compounds were called
karmadharaya in the Sanskrit tradition.)
Exocentric compounds do not have a head, and their meaning often cannot be
transparently guessed from its constituent parts. For example, the English
compound white-collar is neither a kind of collar nor a white thing. In an
exocentric compound, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the
class of the constituents. For example, a must-have is not a verb but a noun.
In the Sanskrit tradition, the type of exocentric compound exemplified by white-
collar is called a bahuvrihi compound. The meaning of this type of compound
can be glossed as "(one) whose B is A", where B is the second element of the
compound and A the first. A bahuvrihi compound is one whose nature is
expressed by neither of the words: thus, a white-collar person is neither white
nor a collar (the collar's colour is a metaphor for socioeconomic status). Other
English examples include barefoot and Blackbeard.
Composition should not be confused with derivation, where bound morphemes
are added to free ones.

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A special kind of composition is incorporation, of which noun incorporation
into a verbal root (as in English backstabbing, breastfeed, etc.) is most prevalent
(see below).
While the notion of compound has been very important, clear definitions that
work even within one language (much less across languages) have not been
articulated. The study of compounds in English, for example, often includes
expressions that are written as two words. This lack of precision and agreement
has hampered the cross-linguistic study of compounds and even a good study
within English.
Formation of compounds
Compound formation rules vary widely across language types.
In a perfectly analytic language, compounds are simply elements strung
together without any markers. In English, for example, science fiction is a
compound noun that consists of two nouns and no markers.
Compounds can be rather long when translating technical documents from
English to, for example, Swedish. "Motion estimation search range settings" can
be directly translated to rörelseuppskattningssökningsintervallsinställning; the
length of the word is theoretically unlimited.
Compound types
Compound nouns
Most natural languages have compound nouns and sometimes compound
adjectives. The positioning of the language, i. e. the most common order of
constituents in phrases where nouns are modified by adjectives, by possessors,
by other nouns, etc. While Germanic languages, for example, are left-branching
when it comes to noun phrases (the modifiers come before the head), the
Romance languages are usually right-branching.
Verb-noun compounds
A type of compound that is fairly common in the Indo-European languages is
formed of a verb and its object, and in effect transforms a simple verbal clause
into a noun.

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This construction exists in English, generally with the verb and noun both in
uninflected form: examples are spoilsport, killjoy, breakfast, cutthroat,
pickpocket, dreadnought, and know-nothing.
Also common in English is another type of verb-noun (or noun-verb)
compound, in which an argument of the verb is incorporated into the verb,
which is then usually turned into a gerund, such as breastfeeding, finger-
pointing, etc. The noun is often an instrumental complement. From these
gerunds, new verbs can be made: (a mother) breastfeeds (a child) and from
them new compounds mother-child breastfeeding, etc.
Verb-verb compounds
Verb-verb compounds are sequences of more than one verb acting together to
determine clause structure. They are of two types:
Serial verb expressions in English may include What did you go and do that
for? or He just upped and left; this is however not quite a true compound since
they are connected by a conjunction and the second missing arguments may be
taken as a case of ellipsis.
In a compound verb (or complex predicate), one of the verbs is the primary,
and determines the primary semantics and also the argument structure. The
secondary verb, often called a vector verb or explicator, provides fine
distinctions, usually in temporality or aspect, and also carries the inflection
(tense and/or agreement markers). The main verb usually appears in conjunctive
participial (sometimes zero) form.
Compound verb equivalents in English (examples from the internet):
What did you go and do that for?
If you are not giving away free information on your web site then a huge
proportion of your business is just upping and leaving.
Big Pig, she took and built herself a house out of brush.
Compound prepositions
Compound prepositions formed by prepositions and nouns are common in
English and the Romance languages (consider English on top of, Spanish

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encima de, etc.). Japanese shows the same pattern, except the word order is the
opposite (with postpositions): no naka (lit. "of inside on", i.e. "on the inside
of").
Bahuvrihi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bahuvrīhí (बबबबबबबबब), or bahuvrihi compound, is a type of nominal
compound
that refers to something that is not specified by any of its parts by themselves
(i.e., it is headless or exocentric, its core semantic value being subsumed by an
elliptical or 'external' semantic value so that the compound is not a hyponym of
the head), especially a compound that refers to a possessor of an object
specified: a bahuvrihi compound XY tends to mean someone or something
which has a Y, and that Y has the characteristic X. For instance, a sabertooth
(smil-odon) is neither a saber nor a tooth: it is an extinct feline with saber-like
fangs. English bahuvrihis often describe people by referring to specific
properties: flatfoot, half-wit, highbrow, lowlife, redhead, tenderfoot, longlegs,
and white-collar. Many of these are colloquial, pejorative, or both.
The term bahuvrihi was first used by Sanskrit grammarians, and is a specific
Sanskrit example: a compound consisting of bahu (much) and vrihi (rice).
The last constituent in a Sanskrit bahuvrihi is a noun, more strictly: a nominal
stem. The whole compound is an adjective and agrees in gender and number
with the head. The accent is regularly on the first member (tatpurusharāja-pútra
"a king's son", but bahuvrihirājá-putra "having kings as sons" (vizrājá-putra-
(m.) "father of kings", rājá-putrā- (f.) "mother of kings"), with the exception of
a number of non-nominal prefixes such as the privative a; the word "bahuvrīhí"
is itself likewise an exception to this rule.
Recent trends
Although there is no universally agreed-upon guideline regarding the use of
compound words in the English language, in recent decades written English has
displayed a noticeable trend towards increased use of compounds. Moreover,

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although English does not form compound nouns to the extent of Dutch or
German, such constructions as "Girl Scout troop", "city council member", and
"cellar door" are arguably compound nouns and used as such in speech. Writing
them as separate words is merely an orthographic convention.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_%28linguistics%29"

3. Other Ways of creating new words in English

Along with derivation and compounding, English makes use of some other
morphological processes to create new words.
3.1. Zero derivation: (also called conversion or functional shift):
In this process, there is no adding of affixes but it is simply using a word of one
category as a word of another category. It is a process by which a new word is
created without any affix but just by assigning a new syntactic category to the
already existing word.
Examples: Noun verb: comb, sand, knife, butter, referee, proposition.
3.2. Stress shift:
In this morphological process, no affix is added to the base, but the stress
is shifted from one syllable to the other. With the stress shift comes a change in
category.
Noun Verb
cómbine combíne
ímplant implánt
réwrite rewríte
tránsport transpórt
Noun Adjective
cóncrete concréte
ábstract abstráct

3.3. Clipping: A new word is created by shortening of a polysyllabic word.

Examples: bro (< brother)
pro (< professional)
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 prof (< professor)
math (< mathematics)
veg (< 'vegetate', as in veg out in front of the TV)
sub (< substitute or submarine).

3.4. Acronym formation:

New words are formed 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.
Examples: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
radar (radio detecting and ranging), NFL (National Football League)
AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
Organizations)

3.5. Blending: Parts (which are not morphemes) of two already-existing words
are put together to form a new word.
Examples: motel (motor hotel)
brunch (breakfast & lunch)
smog (smoke & fog)
telethon (television & marathon)
modem (modulator & demodulator)
Spanglish (Spanish & English).
3.6. Back formation:
A suffix identifiable from other words is cut off of a base which has
previously not been a word; that base then is used as a root, and becomes a
word through widespread use.
Examples: pronunciate (< pronunciation < pronounce)

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 resurrect (< resurrection)
enthuse (< enthusiasm)
self-destruct (< self-destruction < destroy)
burgle (< burglar)
attrit (< attrition)
This differs from clipping in that, in clipping, some phonological part of
the word which is not interpretable as an affix or word is cut off (e.g. the '-essor'
of 'professor' is not a suffix or word; nor is the '-ther' of 'brother'. In
backformation, the bit chopped off is a recognizable affix or word ('ham ' in
'hamburger'), '-ion' in 'self-destruction'. Backformation is the result of a false but
plausible morphological analysis of the word; clipping is a strictly phonological
process that is used to make the word shorter. Clipping is based on syllable
structure, not morphological analysis. It is impossible for you to recognize
backformed words or come up with examples from your own knowledge of
English, unless you already know the history of the word. Most people do not
know the history of the words they know; this is normal.
3.7. Adoption of brand names as common words:
By this process, a brand name becomes the name for the item or process
associated with the brand name. The word ceases to be capitalized and acts as a
normal verb/noun (i.e. takes inflections such as plural or past tense). The
companies using the names usually have copyrighted them and object to their
use in public documents, so they should be avoided in formal writing (or a
lawsuit could follow!)
Examples: xerox, kleenex, band-aid, kitty litter.
3.8. Onomatopoeia/sound imitation (pronounced: 'onno-motto-pay-uh'):
This is a process based on the phonetic motivation by which new words
are invented which (to native speakers at least) sound like the sound they name
or the entity which produces the sound.
Examples: hiss, sizzle, cuckoo, cock-a-doodle-doo, buzz, beep, ding-dong.

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3.9. Borrowing:
A word is taken from another language. It may be adapted to the
borrowing language's phonological system to varying degrees.
Examples: skunk, tomato (from indigenous languages of the Americas)
sushi, taboo, wok (from Pacific Rim languages)
chic, shmuck, macho, spaghetti, dirndl, psychology, telephone,
physician, education (from European languages)
hummus, chutzpah, cipher, artichoke (from Semitic languages)
yam, tote, banana (from African languages).

Further reading From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Suppletion
In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is the use of one word as the inflected
form of another word when the two words are not cognate. Suppletion in a
particular language, as demonstrated below, occurs overwhelmingly in lexical
items which arise particularly often. Many suppletive forms are known to
learners of languages simply as /irregular/.
Here are some examples: In English, the past tense of the verb /go/ is /went/,
which comes from the past tense of the verb /wend/, archaic in this sense. (The
modern past tense of /wend/ is /wended/.) There is also a suppletive use of the
perfect tense of /be/ to distinguish an experiential sense ("He has been to
France") from a resultative sense ("He has gone to France").
The English adverb form of "good" is the unrelated word "well," from Old
English /wel/, cognate to /wyllan/ "to wish." In English, the complicated
irregular verb /be / is / were/ has forms from several different roots: /be/
originally comes from the Proto-Indo-European language /bhu-/; /am/, /is/ and
/are/ from / es-/, and /was/ and /were/ from / wes-/. Click here to find out more!
This verb is suppletive in most IE languages. See Indo-European copula. An
incomplete suppletion in English exists with the plural of /person/ (from the
Latin /persona/). The regular plural /persons/ occurs mainly in legalistic use.

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The singular of the unrelated noun /people/ (from Latin /populus/) is more
commonly used in place of the plural, e.g. "two people were living on a one-
person salary" (note the plural verb). In its original sense of "ethnic group",
/people/ is itself a singular noun with regular plural /peoples/
Conversion
Conversion, also called zero (linguistics) derivation, is a kind of word
formation; specifically, it is the creation of a word from an existing word
without any change in form. Conversion is more productive in some languages
than in others; in English it is a fairly productive process. Often a word of one
lexical category (part of speech) is converted from a word of another lexical
category; for example, the noun /green/ in golf <#> (referring to a putting-
green) is derived ultimately from the adjective /green/. Conversions from
adjectives to nouns and vice versa are both very common and unnotable in
English; much more remarked upon is /verbing /, the creation of a verb by a
converting a noun or other word. The boundary between conversion and
/functional shift / (the extension of an existing word to take on a new syntactic
function) is not well-defined
Back-formation
In etymology, back-formation refers to the process of creating a new lexeme
(less precisely, a new "word") by removing actual or supposed affixes. The
resulting neologism is called a back-formation. Back-formations are shortened
words created from longer words, thus back-formations may be viewed as a
sub-type of clipping.
For example, the noun resurrection was borrowed from Latin, and the verb
resurrect was then backformed hundreds of years later from it by removing the
-ion suffix. This segmentation of resurrection into resurrect + ion was possible
because English had many examples of Latinate words that had verb and verb+-
ion pairs — in these pairs the -ion suffix is added to verb forms in order to
create nouns (such as, insert/insertion, project/projection, etc.).
Back formation may be similar to the reanalyses of folk etymologies when it
rests on an erroneous understanding of the morphology of the longer word. For
example, the singular noun asset is a back-formation from the plural assets.
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However, assets is originally not a plural; it is a loan-word from Anglo-
Normanasetz (modern Frenchassez). The -s was reanalyzed as a plural suffix.
Back-formation in the English language
Many words came into English by this route: Pease was once a mass noun but
was reinterpreted as a plural, leading to the back-formation pea. The noun
statistic was likewise a back-formation from the field of study statistics. In
Britain the verb burgle came into use in the 19th century as a back-formation
from burglar (which can be compared to the North America verb burglarize
formed by suffixation).
Even though many English words are formed this way, new coinages may
sound strange, and are often used for humorous effect. For example, gruntled or
pervious (from disgruntled and impervious) would be considered mistakes
today, and used only in humorous contexts. The comedian George Gobel
regularly used original back-formations in his humorous monologues. Bill
Bryson mused that the English language would be richer if we could call a tidy-
haired person shevelled - as an opposite to dishevelled.
Frequently back-formations begin in colloquial use and only gradually become
accepted. For example, enthuse (from enthusiasm) is gaining popularity, though
it is still considered substandard by some today.
The immense celebrations in Britain at the news of the relief of the Siege of
Mafeking briefly created the verb to maffick, meaning to celebrate both
extravagantly and publicly. "Maffick" was a back-formation from Mafeking, a
place-name that was treated humorously as a gerund or participle.
The mechanics of back-formation
Back-formations of borrowed terms generally do not follow the rules of the
original language. For example, Homo sapiensis Latin for thinking man. As
with all Linnaean species names, this is singular in Latin (plural would be
hominessapientes) but it is sometimes mistakenly treated as plural in English,
with the corresponding singular back-formation Homo sapien. Similarly,
antipodes, borrowed from Greek via Latin, has the apparent form of a plural
noun, and is sometimes treated as such, with antipode taken to mean "an
antipodal point". The final podes is indeed plural, meaning feet, and the

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corresponding singular would be transliterated as pous (foot). However,
antipodes itself is a compound of anti (opposite) and podes (feet). As such, it is
not a plural noun at all, and the singular *antipous, if it existed at all, would
mean "a substitute foot." ("Opposite a foot" would be anti poda.)
Some regard such divergence as incorrect, or as a mark of ignorance. Others
assert that a language is determined by its usage and that strictly applying such a
principle of correctness would render English a highly irregular blend of Anglo-
Saxon, Latin, French and every other language from which it had ever
borrowed.

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UNIT 4: MORPHOLOGY AND PHONOLOGY

Allomorphy or morphophonemic variation in English

1. Definition of allomorphy:
Allomorphy, or morphophonemic is the study of the processes by which
morphemes change their pronunciation in certain situations. This study accounts
for the alternation of the allomorphs of a morpheme in a particular context of
pronunciation.
The pronunciation variants of a morpheme are called allomorphs. The
phenomenon of variation in the pronunciation of a morpheme is called
allomorphic variation or morphophonemic variation (since it is the
phonemic makeup of a morpheme that is varying). The variations themselves
are sometimes called morphonological processes.
Allomorphs are the different forms (pronunciations) of a single
morpheme. E.g. the plural morpheme in English is {-z}. Its allomorphs are / s
/, / z /, /әz/. Also, the morpheme 'leaf' has two allomorphs: 'leaf' in words built
from it (e.g.'leafy') and 'leav-', found only in the plural: 'leaves'.
Many morphemes of English have more than one way of being
pronounced; this is often not reflected in the spelling of the morpheme. Such
variations affect both affixes and roots. Sometimes the pronunciation varies
because of nearby sounds; sometimes there is no logic to it - its motivation lies
in forgotten history.

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2. The distribution of the allomorphs of the past tense form of the English
verb
The English plural Past tense '-d' / '-ed'
morpheme has
three allomorphs:
/әd /, / t /, and / d
/. (Remember, /ә/
is being used to
stand for schwa.)
Morpheme
Allomorphs /әd / /t/ /d/
Distribution after / t / and / d / after other voiceless after other voiced
consonants Cs and vowels
faded, stated, kissed, leaped, buzzed, played,
petted, sounded fluffed, stocked mooned, sued

2.1. Motivation:
Phonological / d / occurs after vowels and voiced consonants other than / d /; / t
/ occurs after voiceless consonants other than / t /; and /әd / occurs after the
alveolar stops / t / and / d /.
2.2. Unmotivated allomorphy:
A change in the pronunciation of a morpheme that is not based on the
phonological surroundings. Most of these simply must be memorized.
Examples:
 'Electric' usually has final /k/; but has final /s/ in 'electricity'. The
morpheme 'electric' has two allomorphs: 'electri/k/' and 'electri/s/-'; the
second occurs only when the suffix -ity' is attached to the word.
 Words such as 'life', 'shelf', 'leaf' have a final /f/ in most forms, but when
they are pluralized, the base has a final /v/: 'lives', 'shelves', 'leaves'. Thus,
these words have two allomorphs: one final in /f/ in the singular ('life',

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 'shelf', 'leaf') and one final in /v/, which occurs only when the plural
suffix is added: 'live-', 'shelv-', 'leav-'. Notice that not all words that end in
/f/ undergo this change: the plural of the noun 'proof' is not 'prooves'.
Dialects differ in how they pluralize words such as 'roof', 'hoof'; some
people say 'roofs' while others say 'rooves'; some say 'hoofs' and others
'hooves'. The plural of 'loaf' is 'loaves', but the plural of 'oaf' is not 'oaves'
but 'oafs'. A learner of English has to memorize which words change
from /f/ to /v/ and which don't.

PRACTICE EXERCISES

Ex.4.
Fill in the blanks with suitable words or phrases suggested below in order to
make the passages meaningful (some words can be used twice) (3ms)

affixes, bases, bound, bound, derivational, free, independent, infixes,

inflectional, meaningful, morphemes, prefixes, single, suffixes, syllables, verb,
morphology

-----0 ------ is the arrangement and relationships of the smallest ------1------ units
in a language. These minimum units of meaning are called -----2-------. Note that
morphemes are not identical to ----3------: the form don't has one syllable but
two -----4--------, do and not. Conversely, the word Wisconsin has three syllables
but is a ------5-------- morpheme.
It is often useful to distinguish between -----6-----and ------7-------morphemes. --
-------8-------- morphemes can be used alone as ------9------- words - for example,
take, for, each, the, panda. ----10------- morphemes form words only when
attached to at least one other morpheme; re-, dis-, un-, -ing, -ful, and –tion are all
bound morphemes. The most familiar bound morphemes are -----11-------(that is,
prefixes and suffixes), but even -----12-------- (forms to which affixes are
attached) can be bound. An example of a bound base is the –cept of such words
as except, accept, deceptive, and reception.

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Some languages also have ------13---------, which appear inside a word, but these
are not important for English. Another classification of affixes distinguishes -----
--14-----and -----15------affixes. For instance, the -s used to form plurals and the
–ed used to indicate past tense are -------16-------- affixes.
--------17--------- affixes may be either prefixes or suffixes. Most derivational ---
---18--------- simply change the meaning of the word to which they are attached
(uniform, transplant, microwave, unbelievable, desensitize). Derivational ------
19------ normally change the part-of-speech category and may also change the
meaning of the word to which they are attached. For example, -ify in codify
changes the noun code to a -----20-------.

Ex.5.
Represent the internal structure of the following words using tree structure
and bracket diagram
1. undifferentiated (Adj)
2. underdeveloped (Adj)

Ex.6.
Create a word for each of these definitions using the word formation process
suggested. Fill in the blanks with your new words.
1. Use derivation …. to mean having this property
Martin was very _________ of what he had done. SHAME
2. Use derivation …to mean the result or an act of X’ing
The museum does not charge for__________on Sundays. ADMIT
3. Use derivation …to mean the result or an act of X’ing
The secretary was very busy all day dealing with______________. ENQUIRE
4. Use derivation …to mean the result or an act of X’ing
The teacher stressed the need for regular_______________ . ATTEND
5. Use derivation …to mean member of an occupation
There were over fifty_____________in the orchestra. MUSIC
6. Use derivation … to mean able to be X’ed
Jim always does what he says; he’s very______________ . RELY

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7. Use derivation … to mean make sth become X
They have agreed to __________ the road because of the heavy traffic WIDE
8. Use derivation …to mean one who X
We have decided to interview only the best six _________for the job. APPLY
9. Use derivation …to mean not having this property
That large dog is perfectly ___________and has never been known to attack
anyone. HARM
10.Use derivation …to mean make sth become X
They are going on to _______________ the bridge. STRONG
11. Use derivation …to mean give this property
My teacher_______________ me to take this examination. COURAGE
12. Use derivation …to mean the result or an act of X’ing
The crowd showed its ____________ by shouting insults. APPROVE
13. Use derivation ….to mean one who receive this action
The company will not take any new ____________ this year. EMPLOY
14. Use derivation …to mean one practises X
Carl is studying to become a ___________. LAW
15. Use derivation …. to mean one who X
Dozens of________ are injured on the city’s roads each year. CYCLE

Ex.7.
Use Inflection for marking the category of each of the following words:
1. lovely + [comp]
2. teach + [present]
3. cry + [past]
4. go + [past part]
5. write + [pres part]
6. happy + [sup]
7. boss + [poss]
8. watch + [plu]
Ex.8.
Consider the following words in column 1 and column 2
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Column 1 Column 2 Morphological process
State the morphological process that is responsible for the creation of the new
words in column 2
E.g. air-conditioner air-condition Back derivation

1) cook cooker ....................................

2) breakfast and lunch brunch ....................................
3) house-keeping house-keep ....................................
4) water (N) water (V) ....................................
5) memorandum memo ....................................
6) 'subject sub’ject ....................................
7) scape, land landscape ....................................
8) Palestine Liberation Organization PLO ....................................
9) advertisement ad ....................................
10) lose loser ....................................

Ex.9. Consider the following words in column 1

From each of the words in column 1, create new words and write them in
column 2 as suggested in the morphological process.
Column 1 Column 2 Morphological process
re’cord
E.g. ‘record stress shift
1) refrigerator ......................... initial-medial clipping
2) editor ......................... back-formation
3) calm ......................... conversion
4) day, dream ......................... compounding
5) useful ......................... derivation
6) human immunodeficiency virus ......................... acronymy
7) binary, digit ......................... blending
8) intercommunication system ......................... clipping
9) compact disk, read-only-memory ......................... acronymy
10) courage ......................... derivation

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