WORD FORMATION

PROCESSES
HOW ARE WORDS FORMED?

ARE THERE ANY RULES BY WHICH WORDS

ARE FORMED?

‘THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE’

GEORGE YULE
 WHAT IS WORD FORMATION?
• Word formation is the process by which new words are formed by adding an affix, another
word or converting from one word class to another by removing and adding alphabets.

• As defined by Trask (1997), the process of word formation is a method of creating new words
from previously existing components.

• Meanwhile, according to Hacken and Thomas (2013), the word creation process is the method
through which new words are created based on a set of rules.

• Aside from that, according to Plag (2003), the term “word formation process” refers to the
process of creating new words from existing ones.

• Based on the foregoing description, it can be inferred that the word formation process is the
method of constructing new words from existing words in accordance with certain rules.
 WHAT ABOUT WORD FORMATION?
• The English language is known for its wonderful quality of the way in which words

and sentences are formed and used. Followings are some of the basic processes by

which new words are created:

• Etymology
• Coinage
• Borrowing
• Compounding
• Blending
• Clipping
• Backformation
• Conversion
• Acronyms
• Affixation (prefixes, suffixes and infixes)
 ETYMOLOGY

• The study of the origin and history of a word is known as its etymology. Usually these
words are originated from Latin or Greek.

• When we look closely at the etymologies of less technical words, we soon discover
that there are many different ways in which new words can enter the language.

• We should keep in mind that these processes have been at work in the language for
some time and a lot of words in daily use today were, at one time, considered
barbaric misuses of the language.
 EXAMPLE
Here are a few words with Greek or Latin origins:

• "Biology" - from the Greek words "bios" (life) and "logos" (study).

• "Television" - from the Greek word "tele" (far) and the Latin word "visio" (sight),
meaning "far-sight.“

• "Telephone" - combining the Greek word "tele" (far) and the Latin word "phon"
(sound), meaning "far-sound" or "distant voice.“

• "Astronomy" - from the Greek word "astron" (star) and "nomos" (law), meaning the
"laws of the stars.“

• "Automobile" - combining the Greek word "auto" (self) and the Latin word "mobilis"
(movable), meaning "self-moving.“

These words showcase the influence of Greek and Latin on the English language.
 COINAGE
• This refers to the creation of totally new terms into a language. Most of
them come from the name of the inventors, the products’ names or
the company’s name.

aspirin nylon

Vaseline Zipper

kleenex teflon

tylenol xerox
 BORROWING
• This process refers, as the name claims, when a language ‘borrows’ terms from other
languages.

• One of the most common sources of new words in English is the borrowing.

• Throughout its history, the English language has adopted a vast number of words
from other languages, including:

dope (Dutch) sofa (Arabic) tycoon (Japanese)

zebra (Bantu) Alcohol (Arabic) Boss (Dutch)

Piano (Italian) Yoghurt (Turkish)

• Other languages, of course, borrow terms from English, as in the Japanese use of
suupaa or suupaamaaketto (‘supermarket’) and taipuraitaa (‘typewriter’).
 COMPOUNDING
• It refers to the joining of two separate words to produce a single word. The
two words don’t lose their individual sounds. Common English compounds
are:

Bookcase doorknob

fingerprint sunburn

textbook wallpaper

wastebasket waterbed
 BLENDING

• Similar to compounding, blending refers to the joining of two terms; however,

in this case one (or both) word(s) lose a sound.

• Motel (motor-hotel)

• Smog (smoke-fog)

• Telecast (television-broadcast)

• Spanglish (Spanish-English)

• Modem (Modulator-demodulator)
 CLIPPING
• Clipping a synonym of reduction. In this process a word that has more than
one syllable is reduced to a shorter form.

• The element of reduction that is noticeable in blending is even more

apparent in clipping.

• The term gasoline is still used, but most people talk about gas, using the
clipped form.

• Other common examples are ad (advertisement), fan (fanatic), flu

(influenza).
 BACKFORMATION
• A very specialized type of reduction process is known as backformation.
Typically, a word of one type usually a noun is reduced to form a word of
another type usually a verb.
emotion – emote enthusiasm - enthuse
backformation – backform donation - donate
option - opt Babysitter – babysit
worker – work editor - edit
sculptor - sculpt burglars - burgle
peddlers – peddle swindlers – swindle
television - televise
 CONVERSION
• A change in the function of a word, as for example when a noun comes to be used
as a verb without any reduction, is generally known as conversion. Other labels for
this very common process are ‘category change’ and ‘functional shift’.

• A number of nouns such as bottle, butter, chair and vacation have come to be
used, through conversion, as verbs:

e.g. We bottled the home-brew last night.

Have you buttered the toast?

Someone has to chair the meeting.

They’re vacationing in Florida.

 ACRONYMS
• Acronyms are new words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.

CD (‘compact disk’)

VCR (‘video cassette recorder’)

• Here the pronunciation consists of saying each separate letter.

• More typically, acronyms are pronounced as new single words, as in NATO, NASA or
UNESCO.

• Innovations such as the ATM ‘automatic teller machine’ and the required PIN
‘personal identification number’ are regularly used with one of their elements
repeated.
 DERIVATION
• The most common word formation process in the production of new English
words is derivation and it is accomplished by means of many small ‘bits’ of
the English language which are not usually given separate listings in
dictionaries.

• These small ‘bits’ are generally described as affixes. Some familiar examples
are the elements un-, mis-, pre-, -ful, -less, -ish, -ism and -ness which appear in
words like unhappy, misrepresent, prejudge, joyful, careless, boyish, terrorism
and sadness.
 PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
• Affixation is the process where we take a base form word and we add a
prefix, infix or suffix.
• Some affixes added to the beginning of the word (e.g. un-) are called
prefixes.
• Other affixes added to the end of the word (e.g. -ish) and are called suffixes.
• All English words formed by this derivational process have either prefixes or
suffixes, or both.
• Thus, mislead has a prefix, disrespectful has both a prefix and a suffix, and
foolishness has two suffixes.
• There is a third type of affix. This is called an infix and, as the term suggests, it
is an affix that is incorporated inside another word.
• They are not very common in English. When they appear is because they are
usually in an exclamation word.
Absogoddamlutely!
 REFERENCE

• The Study of Language by George Yule, 4th edition.