Word formation

Other strategies

Conversion

creating new words by a change of word class without any alteration to the form of the word itself

e.g. bottle (noun) vs. bottle (verb) program (noun) vs. program

(verb) pronunciation is often key in discriminating

between a noun and a verb e.g. [] (noun) vs. [] (verb)

Conversion

Productive way of creating verbs from nouns and nouns from verbs.

It is not always possible to tell which came first without checking in an etymological dictionary.

But sometimes it is possible to guess:

‘to bottle’ means ‘to put something in a bottle’

1984The grammar of Newspeak had two outstanding

peculiarities. The first of these was an almost complete interchangeability between different parts of speech. Any word in the language (in principle this applied even to very abstract words such as if or when) could be used either as verb, noun, adjective or adverb. Between the verb and the noun form, when they were of the same root, there was never any variation, this rule of itself involving the destruction of many archaic forms. The word thought, for example, did not exist in Newspeak. Its place was taken by think, which did duty for both noun and verb.

George Orwell, 1984, Penguin books, London 1989. p. 314.

If you want to know more: Caimotto, M. Cristina. "The Principles of Newspeak": a challenge for translators, in English Studies 2005, ed. R A Henderson. Trauben, Torino 2006, pp. 61-78

Back-formation

back-formation: creating new words by modifying an existing word (usually eliminating a suffix)

e.g. television (noun) > televise (verb)

Acronyms

First letter(s) placed in a sequence to form a new word. MODEM (MOdulator DEModulator) DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit)

When you read the letters individually, the acronym is an initialism

MTV DIY CD-ROM < combination

FCUKA fashion label that inspired a generation of teenagers to wear the misspelt obscenity "FCUK" across their chests is dropping the acronym in a more subtle advertising campaign this season - with no logo at all.

The iconic slogan for the clothing chain French Connection, which captured the youth market, attracted the ire of parents, advertising watchdogs and judges and transformed the fortunes of the company, will be omitted in a new £3m advertising campaign.

http://www.dexigner.com/fashion/news-g2272.html

August 16, 2004

Clipping

“cutting” a word, clippings nearly always refer to everyday objects

ad fax math pub

advertisement

public house

mathematics

facsimile

Blend (portemanteau words)

Smirting

Spork

Infotainment

Californication

Smoking + flirting

Spoon + fork

Information + entertainment

California + fornication

Eponymy The use of a proper name to refer to an object or action

Bluetooth started as the code name for the association when it was first formed and the name stuck. The name "Bluetooth" is from the 10th century Danish King Harald Blatand - or Harold Bluetooth in English. King Blatand was instrumental in uniting warring factions in parts of what is now Norway, Sweden, and Denmark - just as Bluetooth technology is designed to allow collaboration between differing industries such as the computing, mobile phone, and automotive markets. (from http://www.bluetooth.com/Bluetooth/SIG/)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponyms

Onomatopoeia

The only words in any language where there is a strong correlation between the sound of a word and its meaning. However they vary from language to language

> cock-a-doodle-doo = chicchirichì

Reduplication bye-bye super-duper, teeny-weeny, splish-splash, zig-zag

Not very productive in English Speakers will sometimes use it when being

patronising or sarcastic

Loanwords or borrowings

If they are adapted we say they are “anglicised” and we don’t consider them loanwords anymore.

Food words are often borrowed from other languages

e.g. tortilla, sushi, spaghetti, champagne, etc.

Meaning relations

The English lexicon is much larger than most other languages.

There are many words which have very similar meanings but come from different sources

Germanic ask French question Latin interrogate

SYNONYMS

Are synonyms identical?

No, if two words really were identical in meaning, one of them would probably fall from use.

We already know that many words are polysemous > their synonym may cover only a portion of the various polysemic meanings.

Homonyms and homophones

Separate lexemes which share the same citation form often have different etymologies, whereas the multiple meanings of single lexemes are often the result of metaphor (a computer mouse looks like a mouse)

Homophones don’t share meaning/citation form but sound the same

Tale/tail (see Alice in Wonderland)

Homophones and homographs homophones: words which have the same

pronunciation

e.g. sun/son, two/too, four/for, etc. homographs: words which have the same

spelling

e.g. read (infinitive) vs. read (participle)

> homonyms must be both homophones and homographs

Joke based on homophones

Denotation and Connotation

A word’s denotative meaning corresponds to its referent

Many words also have a connotative meaning ( = emotions the word may evoke)

Connotations are often determined by context.

Connotations can change through time

Hypernyms, hyponyms

See figure 3.1 Hyper- = above Hypo- = below It’s a way of organizing words into sets Pairs which express opposites are knows as

antonyms (extremes of something gradable) eg black and white

Dead/alive are mutually exclusive: we say they are complementary to each other.

converses: express the same concept from opposite points of view e.g. borrow vs. lend

Collocations

You shall know a word by the company it keeps. J. R. Firth

Collocations differ from compounds in that the combinations do not result in new lexemes.

Becoming aware of typical collocations is important when you learn a foreign language.

http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/naturalgrammar

Exercise 3: word classes

Identify which word classes each of the following word-forms can belong to:

Well Slow Blast Better Whatever Fast

• If• Round • Rash• Will

Interesting resources

www.oed.com

(full access from the University) http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

(Learner’s, Advanced learners, Idioms, phrasal verbs, American English)

Homework

Read Ballard’s book, pages 62-70 (3.7 - 3.9)

Finish the exercises p 71-73