Word Formation

Part 1

Word formation• Both inflectional (or grammatical) e.g. plural suffix, genitive

suffix, present or past participle etc. and derivational (or lexical) affixes e.g.un-, mis-, -ness, -ship, -hood are attached to roots.

• Another kind of word formation is where more than one root is joined together (e.g. baby-sit). This is called compounding.

• Conversion word formation is when a change of word class occurs without any affixation (e.g. skin, a verb derived from a noun, or input, a noun derived from a verb)

Word Coinage

English Word Coinage

1. Compounds2. Acronyms3. Back-formations4. Abbreviations5. Eponyms6. Blends

1. Compounds

• Definition: Two or more words joined together to form a new word.

• Examples:– Home + work homework– Pick + pocket pickpocket

Note: The meaning of a compound is not always the sum of the meanings of its parts.

cathouse

Coconut oil oil made from coconuts. Olive oil oil made from olives.

NOT oil made from babiesoil for babies Baby oil

a house where men visit prostitutes

blue-movies

blue-chip go-go

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2. Compounding (1)

• Compounding (compounds): combine two or more free morphemes to form new words

N N N N ADJ N N N N ADJ N V N V fire engine green house jump suit P wall paper blue bird kill joy book case N text book P N after thought out patient

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2. Compounding (2)

NADJ ADJ ADJ

P ADJ ADJ ADJ N ADJ ADJ ADJ P ADJnation-wide red - hot over ripe sky blue far - fetched in grown pitch black out spoken out standing

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2. Compounding (3)

N ADJ V V P V V V V V N V ADJ V P V V VSpoon-feed white wash out live blow drySteam-roller dry clean underestinate breakdance

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2. Compounding (4)

N N N N N N N N N N N N

dog food box stone age cave man