Word Formation

REVISION
Count the morphemes and say what types of
morphemes they are
‘The criminal with binoculars was
seen by the police.’
>>> the + crime + nal + with + bin +
ocul/oculo + ar + s + be + ed + see +
ed/en + by + the + police >>>> 16
Distinguished morphemes: 15
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 1. What is a “word”?
2. How is a “word”
constructed?
3. Do you know about
“lexeme”?

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What is a word?
• the smallest free form (an element that
can occur alone) found in any particular
language.
• The tourist arrived.

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Word vs. Lexeme
1. What is a “word”? 2. What is a lexeme?
▪ A word is the smallest ▪ A lexeme is an abstract unit
element that may be of morphological analysis in
pronounced in isolation. linguistics, that roughly
corresponds to a set of
▪ A word may consist of a
forms taken by a single
single morpheme: rock, word. (word + its form)
read, run, go…
▪ Run, runs, ran, running are
▪ Or may consist of several
forms of the same lexeme,
morphemes: rocks, conventionally written as
reading, running, goes… RUN.
▪ Find, finds, found, finding are
forms of the lexeme FIND.
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Word Form
▪ Word form is a particular physical realization of that
lexeme in speech or writing.
▪ Words are different from morphemes in that they
name things or relations.
>>>>> According to Bloomfield: A word is a minimum
free form.
>>>>> Also: A free form is any segment of speech that
can be spoken alone with meaning in normal speech.
🡪 A word is a free form that cannot be divided wholly
into smaller free forms.

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Word Types
1. a. to walk, to dance, to 2. a. house, corner, 3. a. green, old, sick
laugh zebra
b. To purify, to enlarge, b. collection, builder, b. regional, washable,
to industrialize sea horse honey-sweet

Simple words (a) Complex words (b)

- Consist of a single - Are built up from smaller parts that each
free form and do not contribute their own distinct bit of
have an internal meaning to the whole; containing at least
structure. 1 bound morpheme.
- The smallest parts of words that add their own distinct meaning
component to the word are called morphemes.
- 1 – 3’s (a)s consist just 1 morpheme. >>>>> Simple words
- 1 – 3’s (b)s consist 2 or more morphemes. >>>>> Complex ones.

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Word Formation

Word Formation is known as a branch of lexicology

that studies the structure of existing words and
patterns on which a language builds new words.

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 I. Derivation

II.
V. Others
Compounding

Word
Formation

IV. Conversion III. Shortening

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I. Derivation/ Affixation
Derivation is generally regarded as the most
productive formation process. It is a way to form a
new word by adding a pre-fix or suffix(es) to the
stem.

Types of derivations:
• Pre-fixation
• Suffixation
E.g.: Inter – nation – al – ly/ lism
Non – re – present – ation – al – ism

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Pre-fixation
▪ Characteristic Features:
– Remain part of speech of the existing word in the new one
– Exception: courage/ encourage; rich/ enrich
▪ Classification of prefixes:
– Prefixes of Origin: Native (un-), Latin (ab-, bi-, de-, super-)
– Prefixes of Meaning: negative meaning e.g. un-
(ungrateful)/ in-/ dis- (disloyal)/ a-(amoral)…; meaning of
repetition/ reversal e.g. re-; those related to time/ space/
numeral e.g.: fore- (foretell), pre- (pre-war), post-
(post-war), ex- (ex-president); those of size and degree e.g.
hyper- (hyperactive), mega- (mega-mall), mini- (minivan),
super- (superman), ultra- (ultrathin)…
– Prefixes of Productivity: those with the ability to make new
words, e.g.: un-, re-, dis- are productive.
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Suffixation
▪ Characteristic features
work/ worker; happy/ happiness; nation/ national/
nationally
– Change of part of speech in the existing word in the new
one and modify its lexical as well as its grammatical
meanings.
– Exceptions: king/ kingdom; neighbor/ neighborhood
▪ Classification of suffixes
– Noun – forming suffixes: –er; -ist; -ment; -tion
– Verb – forming suffixes: –en; -ize; - ify
– Adjective – forming suffixes: –al; -able/-ible; -ous
– Adverb – forming suffixes: –ly; -wise

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Noun - forming Suffixes
- or: actor, visitor, director
- er/eer: speaker, engineer, opener
- ist: scientist, satirist, journalist
- ess: hostess, stewardess, actress
- ty/ity: cruelty, purity, stupidity
- ure/ture: failure, exposure, mixture
- dom: freedom, kingdom
- age: passage, marriage, postage
- ance/ence: appearance, preference
- hood: likelihood, brotherhood,
- ing: reading, opening, beginning
- ion/sion/tion/ition/ation: operation, permission, description
- ness: kindness, goodness, wilingness
- y/ery: difficulty, enquiry, robbery, slavery
- ship: partnership, membership, kinship
- ment: government, development,
- t: complaint, restraint
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 Adjective – forming Suffixes
- able/ible: comfortable, fashionable, sensible
- ic/atic: atomic, heroic, systematic
- ful: beautiful, helpful, careful
- y: bloody, dirty, sunny
- less: useless, homeless, careless
- al/ial/tial: personal, influential, preferential
- ive/ative/itive: active, creative, sensitive
- ant/ent: pleasant, different, excellent
- en: wooden, golden, woollen
- like: childlike, ladylike
- ing: amusing, interesting, charming
- ous: dangerous, famous, mysterious
- ish: bookish, childish, foolish
- ly: friendly, lovely, manly
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Verb – forming Suffixes
- ize/ ise: civilize, modernize
- ify/ fy/ efy: simplify, glorify
- en: deepen, sharpen, lengthen

Adverb – forming Suffixes

- ly: formally, calmly, easily
- ward/ wards: homeward, afterwards, backwards
- wise/ ways: clockwise, otherwise, sideways
- fold: twofold, threefold

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Practice
Form a word family from a simple word, using
derivation (Dictionary can help when necessary)
e.g.: Person 🡪 personal, personally, inter-personal, interpersonally

1. Differ
2. Nature
3. Economy
4. Open
5. Think

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 Derivation

Others Compounding

Word
Formation

Conversion Shortening

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 II. Compounding

–Joining words together to form a new one

Nouns – motorway, breakfast, skinhead
Adjectives – snow-white, hard-working
Verbs – daydream, broadcast
Adverbs – downstairs, sometimes, today
Pronouns – somebody, anyone, myself
Prepositions – into, without, within
Conjunctions – whenever, however

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 Features of Compounds
• Compounding # Compound
bag + hand = handbag
– handbag = a container used for carrying money and
small personal items or accessories, especially by
women
– ‘cup + ‘board = ‘cupboard

– ‘tail + ‘end = ‘tail-‘end (the very last part of sth )

• ‘black + ‘leg = blackleg

(person who continues to work when the people they
work with are on strike/ a person who is employed to work
instead of those who are on strike)
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 Features of Compounds
• Phonetic criterion: stress on 1st element
‘Human being (n), ‘well-educated (a), ill- ‘treat (v)
• Semantic criterion: a single idea, not the total of
components
• Graphical criterion: close together, separated, with a
hyphen
Seadog sea-dog sea dog
• Inseparability: no other word/ phrase can be inserted
between components
(a) We have a blackbird as a pet.
We have a 4-year-old blackbird as a pet.
(b) She loves black, she has 10 pairs of black booths
She love black, she has 10 pairs of black leather
best-selling booths
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 Classification of Compounds
• According to parts of speech
(a) newly-wed (n) baby sitter (v) upgrade
(adv) upstairs Handmade roommate
matchmake spokesman download
• According to componential relationships
– Sub-ordinative: determinant + determinantum
– Coordinative: socio-economic, parent-teacher
relationship
• According to compositional types
– Formed by juxtaposition (vị trí kề nhau) (headache)
– Formed by morphological means (speedometer)
– Formed by syntactical means (newly-wedded,
red-handed)
– Formed by both morphological & syntactical means
(blue-eyed)
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 Derivation

Others Compounding

Word
Formation

Conversion Shortening

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III. Shortening
Voice of America = VOA
Examination = exam
Smoke and fog = smog
A way of forming a new stem by making a word/ group of
words graphically shorter
Types of shortening
– Abbreviation Acronymy
– Blending
Clipping
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 Abbreviation: Acronymy
• Forming a word from initial letters of a group of
words
– AFAIK As far as I know
– ASAP As soon as possible
– ASEAN Association of South East Asian
Nations
– UFO Unidentified Flying Object
• Homonymy-based acronyms
– CUL8er? - B4
– 4ever - 4u
– Ru

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 Abbreviation: Clipping

Forming a word by leaving out part(s) of an

existing one
– Initial clipping: e.g. telephone 🡪 phone
– Final clipping: e.g. sister 🡪 sis
– Medial clipping: e.g. mathematics 🡪 maths
– Initial-final clipping: e.g. refrigerator 🡪 fridge

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 Practice

professor
hamburger
demonstration
facsimile
influenza

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 Blending

• Merging parts of different words to form a new

one
– motel = motorist + hotel
– Fruice =
– Aerobicise =
– brunch =
– Informercial =
– Infotainment =
– Edutainment =

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 Blending
• Fruice = fruit + juice
• Aerobicise = aerobic + exercise
• Brunch = breakfast + lunch
• Informercial = information + commercial
• (a long advertisement on television that tries to give a lot of
information about a subject, so that it does not appear to be an
advertisement )
• Infotainment = information + entertainment
• (television programmes, etc. that present news and serious subjects
in an entertaining way )
• Edutainment = education + entertainment

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 Derivation

Others Compounding

Word
Formation

Conversion Shortening

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 IV. Conversion
The boy is washing his hand. Vs. The boy handed me a book.
• Conversion:
– Forming a new word by adding or subtracting nothing from
an existing word
• Conversion = Zero derivation

Properties of the Converted Words

The new word acquires a meaning, which differs from that of
the original one though it can be easily associated with it, e.g.
yellow – to yellow
The converted word also acquires a new paradigm and a new
syntactic functions, which are peculiar to its new category as a
part of speech.
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 Most common types of conversion in English:
- Verbs derived from nouns: to ship, to dog, to wolf
- Nouns derived from verbs: a try, a catch, a find, a cut
- Verbs derived from adjectives: to pale, to empty, to
grey, to tidy

Less common types of conversion in English

- Nouns derived from adjectives: a bitter, the poor, a
final
- Verbs/ Nouns derived from prepositions: out (e.g.
diplomats were outed from the country; ins and outs)
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Types of semantic relations
between the converted word and the original word

The name of tool – an action performed by this tool:

hammer – to hammer, brush – to brush, nail – to nail
The animal name – action typical to this animal: monkey
– to monkey, wolf – to wolf
Part of body – action performed by it: back – to back,
hand – to hand, shoulder – to shoulder
Name of occupation – an action typical of it: cook – to
cook, nurse – to nurse
The name of a place – the process of occupying the
place: room – to room, place – to place, etc.

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 Derivation

Others Compounding

Word
Formation

Conversion Shortening

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 V. Others

Sound Stress Building words

Back-derivationSound Imitation
Interchange Interchange from names

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 Back Derivation

• editor (N): a person responsible for the editorial

aspects of publication (Latin: 1700-1800)
• edit (V): to prepare a book, piece of film etc for
printing or broadcasting by removing mistakes or
parts that are not acceptable (Latin: 1800-1900)
• baby-sitter (N) 🡪 baby-sit (V)
• Back – derivation:
Subtracting an affix (real or imaginary) from an
existing word to form a new word, the opposite
process of derivation

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 Sound Imitation

• Forming a word by imitating the sound produced

by a person, animal, …
1: chick, cuckoo
2: babble, splash
3: giggle, murmur, grumble
4: moo, roar, meow

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 Sound Interchange

e.g.: food (N) – feed (V),

speak (V) – speech (N)
In combination with affixation: strong (adj) –
strength (N)

Stress Interchange

e.g.: re’bel (V) – ‘rebel (N),

ex’port (V) – ‘export (N)

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 Building Words from Names
Metaphor - & Metonymy – based words:
• sandwich (after: Earl of Sandwich,1718-1792)
• diesel (after: Rudolph Diesel, 1858-1913, German
engineer who invented the engine)
• mackintosh (after: Charles Macintosh, 1766-1843,
Scottish scientist who invented a way of
preventing liquid from getting through cloth)
• jeans (from: Gene, early form of the name
Genoa, Italian city where the cloth was first
made)
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 PRACTICE: DEFINE MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESS OF
FORMING WORDS

Road user:
• Derivation: use + er = user
• Compounding: user + road = road user

International:

Air – conditioned:

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International
• Suffixation: nation + al = national
• Prefixation: inter + national = international
Air-conditioned (adj)
• Conversion: condition (N) 🡪 condition (V)
• Derivation: condition + er = conditioner
• Compounding: conditioner + air = air – conditioner
• Back-derivation: air-conditioner – er = air – condition (V)
• Derivation: air-condition + ed = air – conditioned (PII = Adj)

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