Chapter 5: Word Formation

Neologisms

Electric suction sweeper.

Popular and known as a spangler.

Etymology

The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

étymon “original form” + logia “study of”

Borrowing

Borrowing (also known as lexical borrowing) is the process by which a word from one language is adapted for use in another

Japannese

suupaa or suupaamaaketto (“supermarket”)
taipuraitaa (“typewriter”).

Finland using a šekki(“check”) to pay their bills,

Brazilian Portuguese

upar (“to upload”)
nerdear (“to surf the internet”)

German

Partnerlook to describe

two people who are together and wearing similar clothing

Loan-translation

A special type of borrowing is described as loan-translation or calque (/kælk/)used to refer to a word or phrase borrowed from another language and translated literally

French term

gratte-ciel, which literally translates as “scrape-sky,” the Dutch

wolkenkrabber (“cloud scratcher”) or the German Wolkenkratzer (“cloud

scraper”), all of which were calques for the English skyscraper.

English ''superman '' - loan translation of the German ''Übermensch''

The American concept of “boyfriend” Japanese as boyifurendo

but as a calque into Chinese as

“male friend” or nan pengyu.

Compounding

a joining of two separate words to produce a single form.

Common(German,English)

Less common (French and Spanish)

Ex:bookcase, doorknob, fingerprint, sunburn,textbook, wallpaper, wastebasket and waterbed

Blending

smog, smaze (smoke + haze) and smurk (smoke +

murk). In Hawai‘i, near the active volcano, they have problems with vog.

Some common examples of blending are bit (binary/digit), brunch(breakfast/lunch), motel (motor/hotel), telecast (television/broadcast)

eg: bus-buýt

Blending

Blending and clipping are both reduction processes where a word with multiple syllables is reduced to a shorter form, typically in casual speech.

gasoline (gas), ad(advertisement), bra (brassiere), cab (cabriolet), condo (condominium), fan(fanatic), flu(influenza), perm (permanent wave), phone, plane, porn and

pub (public house). English speakers also like to clip each other’s names, as

in Al, Ed, Liz, Mike, Ron, Sam, Sue and Tom.

Hypocorisms

Reducing a longer word to a shorter form with -y or -ie at the end

Handkerchief-> handkie

Moivie-> moving picture

Telly -> television

Biscuit-> bickie

Bookmarker-> bookie

Backformation

A word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form a word of

another type (usually a verb).

Ex:donate (from “donation”), emote (from “emotion”), enthuse

(from “enthusiasm”) and liaise (from “liaison”

Coinage

The evention of new word

aspirin, nylon, vaseline and

zipper; more recent examples are granola, kleenex, teflon and xerox

Aponyms a new words based on the name of person or a place

Acronyms are formed from the first or first few letters of each of the words they are based on.

Ex:CD (“compact disk”) or SPCA (“Society

for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals”)

laser (“light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”),

radar (“radio detecting and ranging”)

scuba (“self-contained underwater

breathing apparatus”)

a sim (“subscriber identity module”)

card and zip(“zone improvement plan”) code

Derivation

the process of forming new word by adding affixes(PREFIXES &SUFFIXES)

(e.g., “hope” to “hopeful”)

Prefixes and Suffixes

Prefix definition: an affix attached to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning.

Craig was dissatisfied with the customer service he received at the store.
- Prefix = dis = negative

Suffix definition: a particle attached to the end of a word to modify its meaning or change it into a different word class.

English has about 200

derivational affixes, divided into 90 prefixes and 110 suffixes.

Infixes

“to drill”) see srnee (“a drill”)

(“to chisel”) toh trnoh (“a chisel”)

(“to eat with a

spoon”)

hiip hrniip (“a spoon”)

(“to tie”) hoom hrnoom (“a thing with which to tie)

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