Word Formation

Neologism
we can very quickly understand a new word, a neologism, and accept the use of
different forms of that new word in the language. This ability must derive in part
from the fact that there is a lot of regularity in the word-formation processes in a
language.
For example the new words: spangler, spanglerish, spanglerism, spanglering or
spanglered.
Etymology: The study of the origin and history of a word is known as its etymology,
a term which, like many of our technical words, comes to us through Latin, but has
its origins in Greek (e´tymon “original form” þ logia “study of”), and is not to be
confused with entomology, also from Greek (e´ntomon “insect”).
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.
 Borrowing
One of the most common sources of new words in English is the process simply
labeled one of the most common sources of new words in English is the process
simply labeled borrowing, that is, the taking over of words from other languages.
(Technically, it’s more than just borrowing, because English doesn’t give them
back.) Throughout its history, the English language has adopted a vast number of
words from other languages, including these examples:
dope (Dutch) piano (Italian) tattoo (Tahitian)
jewel (French) pretzel (German) tycoon (Japanese)
glitzy (Yiddish) ski (Norwegian) yogurt (Turkish)
lilac (Persian) sofa (Arabic) zebra (Bantu)
 Compounding
Compounding is a joining of two separate words to produce a single form. Thus,
Lehn and Wort are combined to produce Lehnwort in German. This combining
process, technically known as compounding.
Common English compounds are bookcase, doorknob, fingerprint, sunburn,
textbook, wallpaper, wastebasket and waterbed. All these examples are nouns, but
we can also create compound adjectives (good-looking, low-paid) and compounds
of adjective (fast) plus noun (food) as in a fast-food restaurant or a full-time job.
Blending is the combination of two separate forms to produce a single new term is
also present in the process called blending. However, in blending, we typically take
only the beginning of one word and join it to the end of the other word. To talk
about the combined effects of smoke and fog, we can use the word smog. In places
where they have a lot of this stuff, they can jokingly make a distinction between
smog, smaze (smoke þ haze) and smurk (smoke þ murk).
 Clipping
Clipping occurs when a word of more than one syllable (facsimile) is reduced to a
shorter form (fax), usually beginning in casual speech. The term gasoline is still
used, but most people talk about gas, using the clipped form. Other common
examples are ad (advertisement), bra (brassiere), cab (cabriolet), condo
(condominium), fan (fanatic), flu (influenza), perm (permanent wave), phone, plane
and pub (public house).
There must be something about educational environments that encourages
clipping because so many words get reduced, as in chem, exam, gym, lab, math,
phys-ed, poly-sci, prof and typo.
 Hypocorisms
A particular type of reduction, favored in Australian and British English, produces
forms technically known as hypocorisms. In this process, a longer word is reduced
to a single syllable, then -y or -ie is added to the end. This is the process that results
in movie (“moving pictures”) and telly (“television”). It has also produced Aussie
(“Australian”), barbie (“barbecue”), bickie (“biscuit”), bookie (“bookmaker”),
brekky (“breakfast”), hankie (“handkerchief”) and toastie (“toasted sandwich”).
 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). A good example of backformation is the process whereby the noun
television first came into use and then the verb televise was created from it. Other
examples of words created by this process are: donate (from “donation”), emote
(from “emotion”), enthuse (from “enthusiasm”), liaise (from “liaison”) and babysit
(from “babysitter”). Indeed, when we use the verb backform (Did you know that
“opt” was backformed from “option”?), we are using a backformation.
One very regular source of backformed verbs in English is based on the common
pattern worker – work. The assumption seems to have been that if there is a noun
ending in -er (or something close in sound), then we can create a verb for what
that noun-er does. Hence, an editor will edit, a sculptor will sculpt and burglars,
peddlers and swindlers will burgle, peddle and swindle.
 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: We bottled the home-brew last night; Have you
buttered the toast?; Someone has to chair the meeting; They’re
vacationing in Florida
 Coinage
The invention and general use of totally new terms, or coinage, is not very common
in English. Typical sources are trade names for commercial products that become
general terms (usually without capital letters) for any version of that product. Older
examples are aspirin, nylon, vaseline and zipper; more recent examples are
granola, kleenex, teflon and xerox. It may be that there is an obscure technical
origin (e.g. te (tra)-fl(uor)-on) for some of these invented terms, but after their first
coinage, they tend to become everyday words in the language.
The most salient contemporary example of coinage is the word google. Originally a
misspelling for the word googol (¼ the number 1 followed by 100 zeros), in the
creation of the word Googleplex, which later became the name of a company
(Google), the term google (without a capital letter) has become a widely used
expression meaning “to use the internet to find information.”
New words based on the name of a person or a place are called eponyms. When
 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). A good example of backformation is the process whereby the noun
television first came into use and then the verb televise was created from it. Other
examples of words created by this process are: donate (from “donation”), emote
(from “emotion”), enthuse (from “enthusiasm”), liaise (from “liaison”) and babysit
(from “babysitter”). Indeed, when we use the verb backform (Did you know that
“opt” was backformed from “option”?), we are using a backformation.
One very regular source of backformed verbs in English is based on the common
pattern worker – work. The assumption seems to have been that if there is a noun
ending in -er (or something close in sound), then we can create a verb for what
that noun-er does. Hence, an editor will edit, a sculptor will sculpt and burglars,
peddlers and swindlers will burgle, peddle and swindle.