What is word formation

Lecture 2. TYPES OF WORD-FORMATION

…words are coined because an acute need is felt…

Word-formation is the process of forming new words from the material, already existing in the language (derivational bases and patterns) according to structural and semantic patterns.

Morphological Processes

A. Compounding = putting 2 or more words together to make a new word. Ex: out+house = outhouse, tooth+brush = toothbrush, book+keeper = bookkeeper.

B. Affixation = addition of an affix

a. prefix: affix to front of base – re+activate = reactivate

b. suffix: affix to back of base – stark+ly = starkly

c. infix: in the middle of the base – (only one variant in English) abso + friggin + lutely = abso’friggin’ lutely.

C. Internal change = substitution of one nonmorphemic segment for another.

a. foot – feet, goose – geese (plural)

b. ride – rode (past).

E. Suppletion = replace morpheme with entirely different one for grammatical contrast.

Ex: be (root) – am (present tense).

F. Reduplication = repeat all or part of base for some contrast in meaning

Ex: bye-bye, walkie-talkie.

Derivation

A. Derivation is an affixal process that forms a word with a meaning and/or category that is different from its base. Derived words become independent items.

Ex: magic + ian – magician.

B. Examples of derivational affixes. Note: Only suffixes are able to change a word’s category.

-able V – A kissable, huggable, teasable

-ment V – N resentment, enjoyment, retirement

-ic N – A imbecilic, idyllic, idiotic

-ize N – V crystallize, idolize

-en A – V redden, blacken, deaden

-ness A – N silliness, sexiness

anti- N – N anti-Bush, antioxidant

un- A – A unfair, unclear, unfavorable

dis- V – V disrespect.

C. How to decide the order of affixation. Ex: unhappiness. Is it…

a. unhappiness = unhappy + ness = (un + happy) + ness

b. unhappiness = un + happiness = un + (happy + ness)

Look at what the prefix “un-” attaches to: N? *unhealth, *unfreedom. A? unruffled, untrue.

Therefore, we see that “un-” likes to attach to Adjectives. We then think that the derivation is (un+happy)+ness rather than un+(happy+ness).

Compounds Again.

A. Category of compounds – determined by rightmost morpheme (known as the head of the word).

i. fire+engine (N+N) = type of engine, not type of fire

ii. green+house (A+N) = type of house, not type of green

iii. jump+suit (V+N) = type of suit, not type of jumping

iv. after+thought (P+N) = type of thought, not type of “after”

i. spoon+feed (N+V) = type of feeding, not type of spoon

ii. dry+clean (A+V) = type of cleaning, not type of dry

iii. break+dance (V+V) = type of dancing, not type of breaking

iv. over+look (P+V) = type of looking, not type of “over”

c. Adjective Head

i. sky+blue (N+A) = type of blue, not type of sky

ii. red+hot (A+A) = type of hot, not type of red

iii. over+ripe (P+A) = type of ripe, not type of “over”.

C. Compounds vs. Non-compounds: telling the difference

i. Compounds: stress on 1st component. Ex: bláckboard.

ii. Non-Compunds: stress on 2nd component. Ex: black bóard.

i. Compounds: can’t take modifier on non-head: *a very blackboard.

ii. Non-Compounds: can take modifier on non-head: a very black board.

D. Endocentric vs. Exocentric Compounds

a. endocentric – compound denotes subclass of head. Plural involves making plural of head, even if it’s irregular. Ex: wisdom teeth = type of teeth, plural “teeth” rather than *wisdom tooths.

b. exocentric – compound denotes something else. Plural usually involves standard ‘s’ plural marker on the end of the entire word. Ex: Walkmans ≠ type of men, plural “mans” rather than *Walkmen.

Other Types of Word Formation

A. Conversion (zero derivation) = change the category of the word without adding any affixes or otherwise altering the word.

c. total (a car) (A – V)

e. down (a beer) (P – V).

B. Clipping = shorten polysyllabic word by deleting 1 or more syllables

a. prof (from professor)

b. auto (from automobile)

C. Blends = words created from 2 nonmorphemic parts of already existing words

a. smog (from smoke and fog)

b. spam (from spiced and ham).

D. Backformation = word created by removing a morpheme perceived as an affix from an already existing word

a. self-destruction – self-destruct

b. swindler – swindle

E. Acronym = taking the initial letters of 2 or more words and pronouncing those as a single word

F. Onomatopoeia = word which sounds like the thing it names

Word formation in English. Major types.

Word-formation – the process of forming words by combining root and affixal morphemes according to certain patterns specific for the language (affixation, composition), or without any outward means of word formation (conversion, semantic derivation).

Word formation (словообразование)

Is a branch of science of the language, which studies the patterns on which a language forms new lexical items (new unities, new words)

It’s a process of forming words by combining root & affixal morphemes.

According to certain patterns specific for the language or without any outward means.
(conversion)

2 major groups of word formation:

Ex.: expressive symbolism, blending, clipping, rhyme & some others.

Common for both groups is that a new word is based on synchronic relationship between morphemes.

Different types of word formation:

COMPOUNDING

Is joining together 2 or more stems.

1) Without a connecting element
headache, heartbreak

2) With a vowel or consonant as a linking element
speedometer, craftsman

3) With a preposition or conjunction as a linking element
down-and-out (в ужасном положении, опустошенный)
son-in-law

Compounds can be classified according to their structure:

PREFIXATION

Prefixes are such particles that can be prefixed to full words. But are they not with independent existence.

Native prefixes have developed out of independent words; there is a small number of them.

Prefixes of foreign origin have come into the language ready-made
Some scholars: the system of English word formation was entirely upset by the Norman Conquest.

Normans have paved the way for the non-Germanic trend the language has taken since that time.

From French English borrowed many words with suffixes & prefixes, they became assimilated in the language & started to be used in word building. It led to enormous cut down of the traditional word formation out of native material. Old prefixes (some of them) disappeared forever (too weak phonetically)
Æt-
Ed-

Nowadays English has no prefixed equivalents for some German prefixes
Er-
Ver-
Zer-

A lot of borrowed prefixes in English:
Auto-
Demi-
Mono-
Multi-
Semi-
Post-

SUFFIXATION

A suffix is a derivative final element, which is or was productive in forming new words.
It has semantic value, but doesn’t occur as an independent speech use.
The contact of English with foreign languages has led to the adoption of countless foreign words, which started to be used in word building.
→ we have many hybrid types of derivatives.

A hybrid is a word different element of which are of etymologically different origin.
2 groups:

1) A foreign word is combined with a native affix
— full
— less
— ness
clearness, faithless, faithful

2) Foreign affixes are added to native words
— ance
— al
— ity
— able

Semi suffixes are elements, which stand midway between full words & suffixes
— like
— worthy
— way
— wise

a Godlike creature
trustworthy
clockwise
midway

6 ways of suffixing in English:

1) Derivation by native suffixes without changes in stress, vowels, consonants
Godlike

2) Derivation by borrowed suffix without changes in stress, vowels, consonants
loveable

3) Derivation by imported suffixes, which involves the change in
Japan Japanese

4) The suffix is added to a Latin stem which closely related to an English word
science – scientist

5) The suffix is added to a Latin stem, which has no English equivalent
lingua – lingual

6) Words borrowed separately but have the same patterns of word building
candidate – candidacy
president – presidency

This is called correlative derivation.

CONVERSION
(zero derivation)

A certain stem is used for the formation of a categorically different word without a derivative element being added.
Bag – to bag
Back – to back
Bottle – to bottle
This specific pattern is very productive in English
The most popular types are noun → verb or verb → noun
To take off – a take off
Conversion can be total or partial
Partial: the then president (тогдашний)
An adverb is used as an adjective, only in this particular context.
Total: work – to work

Прислала Алена Жильцова

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Nouns. The athematic nouns. Irregular strong nouns.

Word formation (словообразование): COMPOUNDING. PREFIXATION. SUFFIXATION. CONVERSION (zero derivation).

Тема5 Word-formation means or word-building processes in modern English

There is a special branch of lexicology that studies the patterns ([‘pæt(ə)n] модели) on which a language forms new lexical units – word-formation.

There are different word-formation means in modern English. They are:

1) MAGOR [‘meɪʤə] главные

· affixation (добавляется суффикс или приставка)

· composition (словосложение sun + light = sunlight)

· conversion (конверсия – переход из одной части речи в другую, без добавления суффикса или окончания work (noun) → to work (verb)

2) MINER [‘maɪnə] второстепенные

· sound imitation (звукоподражание)

· sound interchange (замена, чередование звука)

· stress interchange (замена ударного звука)

· blending ([‘blendɪŋ]) (слияние – одно слово проникает в другое

smoke [sməuk] курить + fog [fɔɡ] туман = smog [smɔɡ] густой туман с дымом и копотью; смог)

· backformation ( babysitter (noun) → to babysit (verb))

Билет8 Affixation (general, notion) suffixation, hybrids ([‘haɪbrɪd] гибрид, помесь).

Affixationis one of the most productive ([prə’dʌktɪv] эффективных) ways of word building. It consists in adding an affix to the steam of the definite part of speech.

Affixes are divided into:

· suffixes

· prefixes

Affixes can be classified into:

· productive

· nonproductive

Productive affixes are those [ðəuz] which take part in forming new words in this period [‘pɪərɪəd] of language development. The best way to identify the productive affix is to look for them among ([ə’mʌŋ] среди) neologisms ([nɪ’ɔləʤɪz(ə)m] новое слово). But one shouldn`t confuse([kən’fjuːz] путать) the productivity of affixes with the frequency ([‘friːkwən(t)sɪ] частотными). There are a lot of high frequency affixes which were productive long ago but are not longer used in word formation (For example: micro, lete –productive).

Suffixation.The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech from another.

The secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech.

There are different classifications of suffixes:

1) Part of speech classification

· adverb-forming suffixes (-ly; For example simply (легко), properly (правильно))

2) Semantic [sɪ’mæntɪk] classification (suffixes change the lexical meaning of the stem)

· collectivity ([ˌkɔlek’tɪvɪtɪ] общность) (-dom)

· quality ([‘kwɔlətɪ] свойство, характерная черта) (-ity; For example ability)

3) Etymological [ˌetɪmə’lɔʤɪk(ə)l] classification

Hybridsare words made up of elements which came from two or more different languages. There are two basic types of forming hybrid words:

1) a foreign base is combined with a native affix (colorless, uncertain)

2) a native base is combined with a foreign affix ( ex-wife)

Билет9 Prefixation, semi-affixes, productive, non-productive.

Prefixationis the formation (образование) of words by adding a prefix to the stem. The main function of prefixes is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech.

There are different classifications of prefixes:

1) Semantic classification

· prefixes of negative [‘negətɪv] meaning (un-, ir-, non-, im- For example unknown, unfair)

· prefixes denoting repetition ([ˌrepɪ’tɪʃ(ə)n] повторение) or reversal ([rɪ’vɜːs(ə)l] полное изменение) action (re-, dis-, de- For example rewrite)

· prefixes denoting time, place (ex-, pre- For example ex-student, pre-election)

2) Etymological classification

· native (under-, over-, un-)

· borrowed (de-, ex- For example decolonized)

3) According to productivity:

Semi-affixes.There are such cases (случаи) when we can`t understand if we have a suffix or a root (корневая) morpheme in the structure of the word. In such cases we call this elements semi-affixes. Such affixes of the English vocabulary are used as independent elements and as second elements.

For example land – Scotland

Now days the following semi-affixes are popular (europ-, micro- and other)

Affixes can be classified into:

· productive

· nonproductive

Productive affixes are those which take part in forming new words in this period of language development. The best way to identify the productive affix is to look for them among neologisms. But one shouldn`t confuse the productivity of affixes with the frequency. There are a lot of high frequency affixes which were productive long ago but are not longer used in word formation (For example: micro, lete –productive).

Билет10 Conversion [kən’vɜːʃ(ə)n] (превращениеб изменение, переход).

Conversionconsists in making a new word from same existing word by changing the category of the part of speech. The morphemic [‘mɔːfiːm] shape of the original word remains ([rɪ’meɪnz] остается) unchanged.

The new word has a meaning which differs from that of the original one through ([θruː] через) it can be associated ([ə’səusɪeɪtɪd] связана) with it.

The new word has a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech.

nurse (noun) nurse (verb)

Conversion is very productive in modern English. It is the English way to word building due to:

1) The analytical [ˌæn(ə)’lɪtɪk((ə)l)] structure of modern English

2) The simplicity ([sɪm’plɪsətɪ] простота) of paradigms English part of speech

3) A great number of one syllable ([‘sɪləbl] слог) words, which are more mobile

(Строгий порядок слов в предложении, практически нет ни падежей, ни окончаний).

The activity of conversion in different parts of speech various greatly (очень различно). Nouns and verbs especially effected (результат) by conversion. Verbs make from nouns are the most numerous.

· noun → verb (hand → to hand, face → to face, e-mail → to e-mail)

· verb → noun (to find → a find)

· adjective → noun (cold → a cold)

· adjective → verb (pale → to pale, yellow → to yellow)

Билет11 Composition ([ˌkɔmpə’zɪʃ(ə)n] составление, сочетание).

It is the type of word building in which new words are produced (производятся) by combining (объединения, сложения) two or more stems. Such words are called compounds ([‘kɔmpaund] сложные слова).

There are three structural [‘strʌkʧ(ə)r(ə)l] types of compounds:

1) Neutral [‘njuːtr(ə)l] compounds. The words which are formed without any linking elements by putting (составления) two stems together.

· simple neutral. These words consists of simple affix less (без суффиксов и приставок) stems (две основы без соединительного элемента)

For example Bed+room, sun+flower

· neutral derived ([dɪˈraɪv] производный, вторичный). They have affixes in their structure

For example kind-hearted, chain-smoker

· shortened [‘ʃɔːt(ə)n] neutral compounds (or contracted). They have a shortened stem in their structure

For example TV-set, T-shirt

2) Morphological compounds. They are formed with the help of the linking elements: o, i, e, s, n

For example sport-s-man, now-a-days, hand-i-work, speed-o-meter,

3) Syntactic [sɪn’tæktɪk((ə)l)] (Syntactical) compounds. They are formed from segments of speech including preposition, conjunctions, articles, adverbs.

For example Jack-of-all-trades – мастер на все руки

Semantically compounds may be:

1) Non-idiomatic [ˌɪdɪə’mætɪk] (completely motivated). The meaning is divided from the meanings of the immediate constituents. The meaning of the words understood from the meaning of its components.

For example Sun+light, dining+room

2) Idiomatic compounds. The meaning can`t be divided from the meaning of the constituents. The meaning of the word can`t be understood from the meaning of its components.

· partially motivated. The meaning of the constituents (components) are weakened ([ˈwi:kən] ослаблено) but we can guess (угадать) the meaning

For example me-generation – поколение, которое озабочено собственными

· non-motivated. The meaning of the constituents (components) are lost (потеряно).

For example a blue+bottle – василек

a lady+bird – божья коровка

a lady+killer – сердцеед

a tall+boy – высокий табурет, бокал на высокой ножке

Word formation

There are four main kinds of word formation : prefixes, suffixes, conversion and compounds.

Prefixes

We add prefixes before the base or stem of a word.

mono rail, mono lingual

multi purpose, multi cultural

multi— means ‘many’

post- war, post graduate

post— means ‘after’

un usual, un democratic

un— means ‘not’ or ‘opposite to’

Suffixes

We add suffixes after the base or stem of a word. The main purpose of a suffix is to show what class of word it is (e.g. noun or adjective).

-able is used to form adjectives

-ly is a common suffix used to form adverbs

Conversion

Conversion involves the change of a word from one word class to another. For example, the verbs to email and to microwave are formed from the nouns email and microwave:

Can you text her? (verb from noun text, meaning to send a text-message)

They are always jetting somewhere. (verb from noun jet)

If you’re not careful, some downloads can damage your computer. (noun from verb download)

It’s a very big if and I’m not at all sure we can afford it. (noun from conjunction, meaning ‘it’s not at all certain’)

We also use conversion when we change a proper noun into a common noun:

Compounding

Compounds are found in all word classes. The most common types of compounds are: Nouns: car park, rock band

Adjectives: heartbreaking, sugar-free, airsick

Verbs: oven-bake, baby-sit, chain-smoke

Adverbs: good-naturedly, nevertheless

It is sometimes difficult to know where to put hyphens in words that are compound ed. It is also difficult to know whether to separate words (e.g. post box) or to join the words (e.g. postbox). In such cases, it is best to check in a good learner’s dictionary.

Abbreviation

Abbreviation involves shortening a word. We do this in three main ways: clipping, acronyms and blends.

We use clipping when we shorten or ‘clip’ one or more syllables from a word. We also commonly clip proper names for people:

ad: advertisement, advert

Acronyms are a type of abbreviation formed when the initial letters of two or more words are combined in a way that produces consonant and vowel sequences found in words. Acronyms are normally pronounced as words:

RAM: r andom a ccess m emory ( RAM is a term used to describe a computer’s memory.)

Initials are similar to acronyms but are pronounced as sets of letters, not as words:

WHO: W orld H ealth O rganisation, pronounced W–H–O

CD: c ompact d isc, pronounced C–D

We form blends when we combine parts of existing words to form a new word:

blog: blend of we b and log

motel: blend of mo tor and ho tel

smog: blend of sm oke and f og

Back-formation

We form words with back-formation when we remove part of a word, usually something which we think is a suffix (or occasionally a prefix). We do this commonly when we form verbs from nouns.

For example: to liaise (back-formed from the noun liaison); to intuit (back-formed from the noun intuition), to enthuse (back-formed from the noun enthusiasm):

Can you liaise with Tim and agree a time for the meeting, please?

She’s always enthusing about her new teacher.

Loan words and new words

Loan words

Loan words are words that are borrowed from other languages. Some recent loan words for food taken from other languages include: sushi, tapas, chapatti, pizza. When we use loan words, we do not normally change them, though we do sometimes inflect them if they are singular countable nouns ( pizzas, chapattis). We also sometimes pronounce them more like English words, instead of using their original pronunciation.

New words

e-bank, e-cards, e-commerce, e-learning

Types of Word Formation Processes

Compounding
Compounding forms a word out of two or more root morphemes. The words are called compounds or compound words.

In Linguistics, compounds can be either native or borrowed.

Native English roots are typically free morphemes, so that means native compounds are made out of independent words that can occur by themselves. Examples:

mailman (composed of free root mail and free root man)
mail carrier
dog house
fireplace
fireplug (a regional word for ‘fire hydrant’)
fire hydrant
dry run
cupcake
cup holder
email
e-ticket
pick-up truck
talking-to

Some compounds have a preposition as one of the component words as in the last 2 examples.

In Greek and Latin, in contrast to English, roots do not typically stand alone. So compounds are composed of bound roots. Compounds formed in English from borrowed Latin and Greek morphemes preserve this characteristic. Examples include photograph, iatrogenic, and many thousands of other classical words.

Note that compounds are written in various ways in English: with a space between the elements; with a hyphen between the elements; or simply with the two roots run together with no separation. The way the word is written does not affect its status as a compound. Over time, the convention for writing compounds can change, usually in the direction from separate words (e.g. email used to be written with a hyphen. In the 19th century, today and tomorrow were sometimes still written to-day and to-morrow. The to originally was the preposition to with an older meaning ‘at [a particular period of time]’. Clock work changed to clock-work and finally to one word with no break (clockwork). If you read older literature you might see some compound words that are now written as one word appearing with unfamiliar spaces or hyphens between the components.

Another thing to note about compounds is that they can combine words of different parts of speech. The list above shows mostly noun-noun compounds, which is probably the most common part of speech combination, but there are others, such as adjective-noun (dry run, blackbird, hard drive), verb-noun (pick-pocket, cut-purse, lick-spittle) and even verb-particle (where ‘particle’ means a word basically designating spatial expression that functions to complete a literal or metaphorical path), as in run-through, hold-over. Sometimes these compounds are different in the part of speech of the whole compound vs. the part of speech of its components. Note that the last two are actually nouns, despite their components.

There are a number of subtypes of compounds that do not have to do with part of speech, but rather the sound characteristics of the words. These subtypes are not mutually exclusive.

Rhyming compounds (subtype of compounds)
These words are compounded from two rhyming words. Examples:

There are words that are formally very similar to rhyming compounds, but are not quite compounds in English because the second element is not really a word—it is just a nonsense item added to a root word to form a rhyme. Examples:

This formation process is associated in English with child talk (and talk addressed to children), technically called hypocoristic language. Examples:

bunnie-wunnie
Henny Penny
snuggly-wuggly
Georgie Porgie
Piggie-Wiggie

Another word type that looks a bit like rhyming compounds comprises words that are formed of two elements that almost match, but differ in their vowels. Again, the second element is typically a nonsense form:

Derivation Derivation is the creation of words by modification of a root without the addition of other roots. Often the effect is a change in part of speech.

Affixation (Subtype of Derivation)
The most common type of derivation is the addition of one or more affixes to a root, as in the word derivation itself. This process is called affixation, a term which covers both prefixation and suffixation.

Blending
Blending is one of the most beloved of word formation processes in English. It is especially creative in that speakers take two words and merge them based not on morpheme structure but on sound structure. The resulting words are called blends.

Usually in word formation we combine roots or affixes along their edges: one morpheme comes to an end before the next one starts. For example, we form derivation out of the sequence of morphemes de+riv+at(e)+ion. One morpheme follows the next and each one has identifiable boundaries. The morphemes do not overlap.

But in blending, part of one word is stitched onto another word, without any regard for where one morpheme ends and another begins. For example, the word swooshtika ‘Nike swoosh as a logo symbolizing corporate power and hegemony’ was formed from swoosh and swastika. The swoosh part remains whole and recognizable in the blend, but the tika part is not a morpheme, either in the word swastika or in the blend. The blend is a perfect merger of form, and also of content. The meaning contains an implicit analogy between the swastika and the swoosh, and thus conceptually blends them into one new kind of thing having properties of both, but also combined properties of neither source. Other examples include glitterati (blending glitter and literati) ‘Hollywood social set’, mockumentary (mock and documentary) ‘spoof documentary’.

The earliest blends in English only go back to the 19th century, with wordplay coinages by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky. For example, he introduced to the language slithy, formed from lithe and slimy, and galumph, (from gallop and triumph. Interestingly galumph has survived as a word in English, but it now seems to mean ‘walk in a stomping, ungainly way’.

Some blends that have been around for quite a while include brunch (breakfast and lunch), motel (motor hotel), electrocute (electric and execute), smog (smoke and fog) and cheeseburger (cheese and hamburger). These go back to the first half of the twentieth century. Others, such as stagflation (stagnation and inflation), spork (spoon and fork), and carjacking (car and hijacking) arose since the 1970s.

Here are some more recent blends I have run across:

mocktail (mock and cocktail) ‘cocktail with no alcohol’
splog (spam and blog) ‘fake blog designed to attract hits and raise Google-ranking’
Britpoperati (Britpop and literati) ‘those knowledgable about current British pop music’

Clipping Clipping is a type of abbreviation of a word in which one part is ‘clipped’ off the rest, and the remaining word now means essentially the same thing as what the whole word means or meant. For example, the word rifle is a fairly modern clipping of an earlier compound rifle gun, meaning a gun with a rifled barrel. (Rifled means having a spiral groove causing the bullet to spin, and thus making it more accurate.) Another clipping is burger, formed by clipping off the beginning of the word hamburger. (This clipping could only come about once hamburg+er was reanalyzed as ham+burger.)

Acronyms
Acronyms are formed by taking the initial letters of a phrase and making a word out of it. Acronyms provide a way of turning a phrase into a word. The classical acronym is also pronounced as a word. Scuba was formed from self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. The word snafu was originally WW2 army slang for Situation Normal All Fucked Up. Acronyms were being used more and more by military bureaucrats, and soldiers coined snafu in an apparent parody of this overused device. Sometimes an acronym uses not just the first letter, but the first syllable of a component word, for example radar, RAdio Detection And Ranging and sonar, SOund Navigation and Ranging. Radar forms an analogical model for both sonar and lidar, a technology that measures distance to a target and and maps its surface by bouncing a laser off it. There is some evidence that lidar was not coined as an acronym, but instead as a blend of light and radar. Based on the word itself, either etymology appears to work, so many speakers assume that lidar is an acronym rather than a blend.

NOW (National Organization of Women)
US or U.S., USA or U.S.A. (United States)
UN or U.N. (United Nations)
IMF (International Monetary Fund)

Some organizations ARE pronounced as a word: UNICEF
MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)

The last example incorporates a meaning into the word that fits the nature of the organization. Sometimes this type is called a Reverse Acronym or a Backronym.

These can be thought of as a special case of acronyms.

Memos, email, and text messaging (text-speak) are modes of communication that give rise to both clippings and acronyms, since these word formation methods are designed to abbreviate. Some acronyms:

Reanalysis
Sometimes speakers unconsciously change the morphological boundaries of a word, creating a new morph or making an old one unrecognizable. This happened in hamburger, which was originally Hamburger steak ‘chopped and formed steak in the Hamburg style, then hamburger (hamburg + er), then ham + burger

Folk etymology
A popular idea of a word’s origin that is not in accordance with its real origin.

Many folk etymologies are cases of reanalysis in which the word is not only reanalysis but it changes under the influence of the new understanding of its morphemes. The result is that speakers think it has a different origin than it does.

Analogy
Sometimes speakers take an existing word as a model and form other words using some of its morphemes as a fixed part, and changing one of them to something new, with an analogically similar meaning. Cheeseburger was formed on the analogy of hamburger, replacing a perceived morpheme ham with cheese. carjack and skyjack were also formed by analogy.

Novel creation
In novel creation, a speaker or writer forms a word without starting from other morphemes. It is as if the word if formed out of ‘whole cloth’, without reusing any parts.

Some examples of now-conventionalized words that were novel creations include blimp, googol (the mathematical term), bling, and possibly slang, which emerged in the last 200 years with no obvious etymology. Some novel creations seem to display ‘sound symbolism’, in which a word’s phonological form suggests its meaning in some way. For example, the sound of the word bling seems to evoke heavy jewelry making noise. Another novel creation whose sound seems to relate to its meaning is badonkadonk, ‘female rear end’, a reduplicated word which can remind English speakers of the repetitive movement of the rear end while walking.

Creative respelling
Sometimes words are formed by simply changing the spelling of a word that the speaker wants to relate to the new word. Product names often involve creative respelling, such as Mr. Kleen. © Suzanne Kemmer