3.8 Other Word Formation Processes

We have already learned two most common ways of word formation, that is, compounding and affixation. Words in English were also formed in other less common ways such as blending, coinaging, clipping, and hyphenating etc. They are illustrated below.

8. Borrowing

• English borrowed a large number of words from other languages, especially Latin, Greek, and French, in its historical development. These words have been assimilated into English and entered into everyday use. However, you may have noticed their abnormality in spelling and pronunciation.

• The use of foreign words usually indicates the writer or speaker knows a foreign language and draws on it for precision and some display of erudition (e.g., Latin words such as 'vice versa' 'etc.', and 'per se' in scholarly writings).

• To expand your repertoire of English vocabulary, it is useful to learn to use them precisely and pronounce them accurately. Teaching students these words also helps them to become better readers, speakers, and writers and have an enhanced sense of being connected with other languages and cultures.

• Cudoo has a list of 45 commonly used English words of foreign origins. Wikipedia provides a comprehensive list of borrowed words by origin.

9. Coinage (neologism)

The advertising industry tends to create a product name from existing words with persuasive connotations (e.g., Mr. Clean, Crest, Tide, Charming). They can also fabricate an entirely new word (e.g., Pantene, Camry, Elantra, Acela , Spenda, Shangri-la).

With the invention of new things or ideas, new words are often created to name them (e.g., DVD, iPhone, xerox).

Shakespeare alone contributed over four hundred new words to English. Many, such as addict, accommodation, and employment, have become common words. Check out the blog below to see what these words are.

The 424 words that Shakespeare invented

Coined words by students (Fall, 2021)

10. Back formation

It occurs when speakers misanalyze words into base and affix and then use only the base by subtracting the affix.

• television → televise

• editor → edit

• sculptor → sculpt

• worker → work

• babysitter → babysit

• transcription → transcribe

11. Semantic shift

1. extension (e.g., bench ‘a seat’ → ‘the office of someone in authority’)

2. narrowing (e.g., starve ‘to perish’ → ‘to die of hunger’)

3. connotation (e.g, notorious ‘widely-known’ → ‘widely-known for a bad reason’)

4. shift (e.g., gay ‘joyful, happy’ → a homosexual person)

12. Analogy

• feminism → masculism

• carjacking → earjacking

• sit in → bank-in movement, insurance-in

Check out this video to learn more about other word formation processes (Virtual Linguistics Campus).