I. Introduction
In this paper, the writer’s going to explain the theory of word-formation as it has been interpreted by some of the most innovative theorists from Brinton, O'Grady and P. de Guzman
The word-formation are responsible for significant numbers of new words.
II. Discussion
Major word-formational processes:
2.1 COMPOUNDING
Adding one base to another. Individual bases are put together to form a new lexical unit with a special meaning, It functions as a single word.
-the result is a COMPOUND (zloženka)
-individual elements of a compound are called COMPONENT ELEMENTS
Compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one base, functioning both grammatically and semantically as one word. They can be found in any part of speech
Three basic criteria:
1) FORM
2) MEANING
3) STRESS
+ a question of productivity
2 and 3) MEANING AND STRESS:
CRO´SSW`ORDS (križanka) vs CROSS WORDS (jezne besede)
spelt solid=compound each word is a syntactic unit on its own
The stress (´ `) is called COMPOUND STRESS The stress is (` ´)
(first element heavily stressed, second one (first element weak stress, second heavy)
weakly)
In both cases CROSS is identified as an adjective.
post office: even though there are two words, it has a compound stress + a difference in meaning, so this is a compound.
1) FORM: compounds are usually spelt as a single word, solid spelling (without a hyphen) is the most usual.
Not all compounds follow all three criteria:
post office (meaning and stress adhere to the criteria, form does not)
hou´se-dog uni`versity edu´cation
-compound the meaning of the phrase can be
-meaning: pes čuvaj understood from the two words.
PRODUCTIVY
You cannot just combine any words together:
-house-dog
-house-wife
-housework
-household
-*housechild
Limited productivity
tax-payers – can also be written as “taxpayers” and tax payers”-
Dictionaries must explain compounds with special meaning, e.g.: blackbird, black sheep.
Some words don’t adhere to the rules:
sti`ll-li´fe co`ld w´ar
a big boy: The boy is big
bigger boy
the biggest boy
We can’t do that with “cold war” or “still-life”
1) THE FORM OF COMPUNDS
judging cpds by their form, we have two groups:
- PRIMARY/STEM COMPOUNDS
Those are a common heritage of the Indo-European languages, also called stem compounds (debelne zloženke)
a´pple tr`ee = it appears in its stem form
semantic relation between the two elements are quite diverse
Črt-o-mir (o is called stem formant – debelni formant – which links the two stems together
handiwork, workaday, and now obsolete handicuff are old words. During the transition from ME to NE all endings and inflections were dropped. Distinguishing between primary and secondary stress is only of historical relevance.
- SECONDARY COMPOUNDS
giant’s task cut-throat man-of-war
velikanska in ne okruten morilec bojna ladja
velikanova naloga syntactic relation between V and O syntactic relation between
saxon genitive not primary stress PP and N
a) Genitival compounds
Giant’s task
Two kinds of genitive in English:
-specifying
-classifying
Specifying genitives: the normal kind, express possession
John’s dog – the dog belongs to John.
The main stress falls on the headword John’s d´og (Whose dog?)
VS Classifying genitive: gi´ants ta`sk (What kind of a task)¸
-are compounds
-have special meaning
-their productivity is limited
gi´ants ta`sk vs a gi`ant’s ho´use
a doctor’s degree (classifying or specifying? – usually classifying i.e. a kind of degree is meant)
her child’s face (usually classifying)
Plural:
my wife’s hat -> our wives’ hats
a lady’s bike -> lady’s bikes or ladys’ bikes (both forms possible, because it’s specifying genitive.
printer’s errors
printers’ errors - both mean the same thing
lovers’ quarrel – usually in plural, because it takes two to quarrel
prisoners’ camp – many prisoners are there
b) Verbal compounds
break|fast V (imperative) +O syntactic compound
pickpocket V + O - also a person
cut-throat a cruel murderer
breakneck vratolomen
killjoy spoil sb else’s pleasure
spoilsport sb who puts a stop to something
makeshift zasilen
save-all wants to save everyone
scapegrace falls out of grace
tosspot a habitual drinker
2nd pattern: V+N
playground a kind of ground
drawbridge a kind of bridge
grindstone a kind of stone
treadmill
chewing gum
sleeping bag
ING FORMS:
sle´eping-b`ag vs sl´eeping d´og
may have a hyphen a dog that is sleeping
a bag used for sleeping a syntactic unit with a present participle
in – a compound gerund
sin´ging te`acher vs sin´ging te´acher
a teacher who a syntactic unit
teaches singing a teacher who likes to sing
dan´cing t`eacher vs dan´cing te´acher
a teacher who teaches a teacher who likes to dance
dancing
dan´cing gi´rl vs dan´cing gi´rl
professional dancer a girl who likes to dance
3rd pattern: Phrasal verbs - a semantic unit of a verb and an adverbial, it’s meaning may be metaphorical
Examples:
look up = look upwards
= look up in a dictionary
= look me up =come and pay me a visit
Phrasal verbs are compounds. They’re always written apart, without hyphens. They don’t have compound stress. They have a special meaning, which is why they are treated as compounds.
Many phrasal verbs can be converted to nouns:
wa`ke u´p > wa`ke-u´p =maska
wa´keup (now a true compound.)
Usually spelt with a hyphen, sometimes as a whole word.
Phrasal verbs are always spelt without a hyphen:
*He tried to make-up a good excuse.
2) PARALLEL CREATIONS
take over vs overtake
set up vs upset
Phrasal verbs are a productive group
onlooker forthcoming particle precedes the stem
bystander downtrodden suffix is added as well
Three instances have their own meaning, which is added to the verb: OVER, UNDER, OUT.
overwork undersell outdo
“too much” “too little” “better than sb/sth else”
overdo outlive outbid
But one should distinguish them from words such as:
understand, overtake (simple words)
Prepositional compounds
3) PARASYNTHETIC COMPOUNDS
Derived from verbs:
watch-maker, house-keeping
watch-mak[er] (er is a suffix) sb who makes watches
blue-eyed, long-tailed
Suffix can be placed on the last or on the first element:
passers-by, by-standers
4) BACKFORMATION
housekeeper > housekeep
babysit < babysitter
sleepwalk < sleepwalking
Backformation can be classified as a subgroup of syntactic compounds
5) CONVERSION OF SYNTACTIC GROUP
Conversion affects entire syntactic groups. Nominal or adjectival compounds are used as verbs with idiomatic meaning:
to give sb a cold shoulder
to cold-shoulder=prezirati
grown-ups, well-to-do, father-in-law
6) STRING COMPOUNDS
A process very productive in modern English.
hot-water tap
The first element is a compound in itself.
public schoolboy=a boy attending public school
The first element may contain the conjunction “and” or a preposition:
a cat-and-dog life
his matter-of-fact voice
Some strings may contain more than three elements – often used newspaper headlines
Macmillan Refuses Bank Rate Rise Leak Probe (some think this is not a string compound)
7) CLIPPING COMPOUNDS
The second element remains the same, the first one is clipped:
Eurasi
Both elemenets clipped: Eurovison
8) REPETITION COMPOUNDS
tick-tock, ding-dong
2.2 DERIVATION
An affix is either a prefix (unwanted) or a suffix (golden).
Slovene also knows infixes (stopicljati).
2.3 CONVERSION
A very important word-formational process in English, but not in Slovene.
Nouns can be converted into verbs and sometimes vice-versa.
Example: Wolf (n) volk, wolf (v) požreti, e.g. He wolfed down his lunch. (Požrl je kosilo.)
crow (n) (vran) -> crow (v) (kikirikati)
The process of shifting from one word class to another without any changes in form (those do occur occasionally)
-occasionally stress-shift occurs im´port (v) ´import (n)
-sometimes the word does not switch classes.
A proper name is switched to a common noun:
You are a new Shakespeare (changed into a common noun and has an article. Sometimes such nouns are written with a small initial.
Voicing of consonants
house (n) /haus/ > house (v) /hauz/
The more the word is used, the greater the possibility of it being written with a small initial.
This house is brick. (brick is an adjective, but does not have all the features of adjectives – cannot be put into a comaparative or superlative form
Full vs. Partial conversion
Partial=has a syntactic position of the word but does not behave accordingly (like brick).
The wealthy (ha san article, but cannot be plural)
Mean (adj.) -> the adjective is far more common than the verb, that's why we usually perceive it as such. The second reason lies in the word's roots.
Work, sleep, love: You cannot consider only frequency here. Their etymology must be considered too, because we don't know whether the noun or the verb had been used first, In OE verbs were distinguished from nouns by their endings, but those have since been dropped. We, therefore, don't speak about conversion, but agreement between nouns and verbs.
Quirk says love is a deverbalised noun, however, etimologically speaking that's not quite true.
Direction of the process of cinversion:
N > V wolf
V >N drink
Adj > V clean
Some grammars say that conversion is a free process, but this is not true. Not every noun can be converted.
paper (n) Collins Dictionary lists twelve meanings in one of which the noun is converted into
verb: To paper the walls in your room.
Examples:
The ups and downs of life
I'm fed up with your whys and hows.
Conversion is sometimes called ZERO DERIVATION or ZERO SUFFIXATION – meaning that it is a subchapter of derivation. Problems with zero derivation are encountered when translating (partial conversion):
Minor word-fornational processes:
2.4 BLENDING
Two words blend into one, with changed meaning:
smog < smoke + fog
Is a regular often used process
smoke + fog => smog (a blend/ pormanteau word)
to don < do on
to doff < do off
2.5 CLIPPING
The original word is clipped (shortened):
laboratory > lab
Very often used with names.
-a minor process
-used in proper names
Example:
Either the beginning or/and the end of the word is clipped. Clipping is a speech economising device.
laboratory (standard) > lab (colloquial)
refrigerator> fridge (change in spelling)
bicycle > bike
microphone > mike
perambulator > pram
Personal names can become diminutives
Alfred > Fred > Freddie (the consonant is doubled, because there is only one vowel)
If a multi-syllable word is stressed on the last syllable, the last consonant must be doubled.
Erovision < [Euro]pean tele[vision] Eurovision is just a shirt form, it does not have a different meaning and as such cannot constitute as a case of blending
2.6 BACKFORMATION/BACKDERIVATION
Backformation:
From verb -> noun – very often
write -> writer (affixation)
sing -> singer
Etimology is very important with this process.
sing (v) > singer (n)
Agent nouns: beggar (n) > beg (v)
pedlar (n) > peddle (v)
The longer of the two words existed first and was then reduced – unusual.
However, things are not always so simple:
television (n) (earlier) > televise (v) depends on the meaning of the noun.
The difference is in the BASE: television is the base of televise.
sightseeing, sightseer, sightsee – the two nominal forms are far common than the verb + the isn't tensed yet – a sign of backformation.
typewriter > typewrite (the infinitive or the past tense form isn't used, however, typewritten is pretty common).
brainwashing (n) > brainwash (v) - rare
housekeeper (n) > housekeep (v) not the same as »to keep a house«
gamekeeper (n) (sb who watches over deer) gamekeep (not the same as to keep game)
Backderivation
From noun to verb
beggar -> beg
babysitter -> babysit (the verb was formed a lot later than the noun.)
typewriter -> typewrite
2.7 ROOT-CREATION
Was included into WF by Bradley due to historical reasons. In 1704 he wrote a very influential book called »The Making of Words«.
Root-creation concerns with words that come and go with every generation, e.g. onomaetopoia, acronyms, common names that have passed from personal to common names.
Such words have identical roots.
Modern linguists claim that this process is not a part of WF
A) ONOMATOPOETIC WORD
-words after sounds (imitation of the sounds produced by e.g. an animal)
-Onomatopoeia is a Greek word
-Different languages use different onomatopoetic words:
A cock: slo=kikiriki
ang=cockadoodledoo
A dog: slo=hov-hov
ang=wow-wow, bow-wow
See textbook pp 18 and pp116
B) SOUND SYMBOLISM/PHONETIC SYMBOLISM
-Sound symbolism tell us what goes together with certain animals (Lion roared)
- it widely used in poetry
-closely linked to onomatopoeia
-onomtopoetic words also imitate sounds of nature, while sound symbolism can create artificial words that do not exist in nature:
Martin looked across the table at Jill and – zing – they fell in love.
Zing here means speed, happy future, etc.
G.B. Shaw: a critic once wrote a series of insulting words about him and at the end added
P-shaw. P is often used as a pejorative, negative sound.
See-saw has nothing to do with the verbal paradigms - it means up-and-down, and the see-saw itself goes up and down.
tut-tut denotes a sound of disapproval. cf. Slo, ccc, spelled differently, but essentially the same sound.
ow, ouch=au, auva, ajs in slo.
ugh=blek, fuj
All these expression are highly subjective and difficult to confirm with a large number of speakers.
C) ABBREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS
-English is more restricted in respect to abbreviations than Slovene.
-Acronyms are used in Slovene on a daily basis.
-It is best if we read out acronyms in English letter by letter
-Some can be read as words, but we have to know them (NATO)
-POW is read only letter by letter
GM (genetically, gene manipulated)
NGO (non-govermental organisations)
D) PROPER NAMES USED AS COMMON NOUNS AND VERBS
Proper names are divided into:
a) Personal names
b) Geographical names
c) Names of things
Proper names can be used as ordinary common names
Kodak (surname) > kodak (a kind of camera)
Alessandro Volta (physicist) > volt (a measure for voltage)
Timothy (surname) > timothy (a kind of grass)
Common nouns should be spelt with a small initial, but sometimes they are written with a capital to honor the person after wich a think was named. The less a person has to do with the present, the more likely it is to use small initial.
Duke of Wellington > wellingtons (type of boots that were worn in Wellington
Pasteur > Pasteurize (very often still spelt with a capital, however small initial is gaining on popularity; pasteurized milk).
Lynch > lynch > linč, linčati (Lynch introduced fast executions)
Earl of Sandwich > sandwich
Pompadour (hairstyle, a kind of purse)
Sillhouette > sillhouette (a drawing technique)
Robert Peel (Minister of the interior in the Victorian age, who founded the Metropolitan Police) > Bob > bobbie
Watergate > -gate (every scandal receives this suffix) E.g. Al ghraibgate
With conversion new words can become verbs as well, though nouns are far more common:
McAdam > macadamize (the meaning is not the same as in Slovene, macadamized road consists of asphalt, tar and sand).
Bowdler (publisher of Shakespeare's plays who edited out the most offensive words) > bowdlerize - to ameliorate the words (olepšati besede)
Proper names from fiction and drama can also be used in this way.
John Bunyan wrote a book titled Pilgrim's Progress through which he introduced the phrase Vanity fair (semenj ničevosti) into the English language. He also introduced the phrases Giant Despair (velikan Obup) and the Slough of Despond (močvirje obupa)
Yahoo (Swift: the worst kind of people)
We have some examples in Slovene as well:
deseti brat=someone who is rejected by everyone)
samorastnik= one who grew up in bad conditions but managed to create a good life for himself
krpan=strong man
Hamlet=undecided
Iago= a very evil man
Malapropism
-confusion of two words
-mistakes made due to ignorance
Spoonerism
-Mistakes made in speech due to brain defects
-he often made mistakes by switching fones from one word with the fones from the preceeding or following word:
He said: »Is the bean dizzy?« but wanted to say: »Is the dean buzzy?«
He said: »Our queer old dean.« but wanted to say: »Our dear old queen.«
2.8 REDUPLICATION
Reduplication occurs if the same element is repeated or if a slightly changed element is repeated.
Example:
What's the weather like? So-so. (This is not a neutral answer. It also not a compound or a case of conversion).
Further examples:
-ping-pong
rhyme combinations: walkie-talkie
super-duper
tick-tock (onomatopoeia)
flip-flop (hrup, ropot)
rub-a-dub (ropot bobna – bobnanje) =rompompom
humdrum (dolgčas)
goody-goody=pridkan, pobožnjaški (negative reference)
zig-zag=cik-cak
shilly-shally=cincati, oklevati
fifty-fifty=pol-pol
III. Conclusion
The word-formation is study for compounding, derivation, reduplication, back formations
clipping. And I hope this paper increase your skill in study linguistics.
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