Word formation

WORD FORMATION PROCESS
HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT
INTERAMERICAN UNIVERSITY
FAJARDO, PUERTO RICO
Dr. Maritza Santana
Prof. Ivan Mundo
Prof. Javier Martinez

Word Formation Process

How new words are being formed in the language

The process consists of a combination of morphemes that are rule-governed (a new word is formed)
PROCESSES WHERE NEW WORDS ARE FORMED



Major Word Formation Processes
(Processes that are formed frequently or commonly in the use of the English language)

AFFIXATION


Process of forming words by adding affixes to morphemes

English uses only prefixes and suffixes



sing
+
er
=
singer
un
+
real
=
unreal
COMPOUNDING
Process that forms new words from two or more independent words

Examples of words formed by the compounding process:






girl
+
friend
=
girlfriend
text
+
book
=
textbook
REDUPLICATION
Process of forming new words either by doubling an entire word (total reduplication) or part of a word (partial reduplication)

English makes use of reduplication very sporadically

Total reduplication is extremely rare!



partial reduplication
Humpty
-
dumpty
hocus
-
pocus
SUPPLETION
A relationship between forms of a word wherein one form cannot be phonologically or morphologically derived from the other (this process is rare).

am

vs.
was
go
vs.
went


MINOR WORD FORMATION PROCESSES
(Occur less frequently in the English language)
Acronym
Words that are formed from the initials of several words.
RAM
=
Random Access Memory
CD
=
Compact Disk
BLENDING
Process of creating a new word by combining the parts of two different words, usually the beginning of one word and the end of another.
motor
+
hotel
=
motel
camera
+
recorder
=
camcorder
CLIPPING
Process of creating new words by shortening parts of a longer word.
doctor
doc
dormitory
dorm