WORD FORMATION PROCESS

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

2. 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)

3. PROCESSES WHERE NEW WORDS ARE FORMED • Major Word Formation Processes (Processes that are formed frequently or commonly in the use of the English language)

4. AFFIXATION • Process of forming words by adding affixes to morphemes • English uses only prefixes and suffixes sing er singer + = un real unreal + =

5. 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

6. 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! Humpty dumpty partial reduplication - hocus pocus -

7. SUPPLETION • A relationship between forms of a word wherein one form cannot be phonologically or morphologically derived from the other (this process is rare). vs. am was go vs. went

8. MINOR WORD FORMATION PROCESSES (Occur less frequently in the English language)

9. 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

10. Acronyms • Words created from the initial letters of several words. • The difference between an initialism and an acronym is that an acronym can be pronounced as a single word instead of being spelled out by letter. BBC Broadcasting corporation WASP White anglo-saxon protestant • Acronyms used by teenagers CUL - OMG

11. CLIPPING • Process of creating new words by shortening parts of a longer word. doctor doc dormitory dorm

12. Inflection • This process consists of a variation in the form of a word. The form of that word can be inflected for person, number, gender, tense,aspect, mode. • Nouns: Tooth - Teeth • Pronouns: He – His • Verb: Go – Goes • Adjectives: Low – Lower – Lowest • Adverbs: Late - Lately

13. Borrowing • It is when two or more countries have contact with one other. They exchange some words, adopt them and use them as yours. • Example: • - Computer • - Pizza • - Photography (borrowed words from Greek are heavy in the sciences and technology) • - Ketchup

14. Blending • Blending is a way to combine two stems of two different words in order to create a new word. • Blending is divided into: • Coalescence (it uses parts of each words) • Ex: Smog=Smoke+fog • Telescope(it uses the entire first word plus the final part of the second word) • Ex:Motorcade=motor+cavalcade

15. Flexibility • It is the change of a word from one word class to another. Examples: • This jacket is a really good buy! • She has saved enough money to buy a car.

16. Clipping • It is the shortening of a longer word. • Examples: • Photo- Photography • TV- Television • Net- Internet

17. Back formation • It is a clipped form of a longer word that changes from a noun to a verb. • Examples: • Inspection- Inspect • Communication- Communicate • Scanner- Scan

18. Derivation • When a word named “root” is added by affixes that can be in front of a word as a prefix or in the end of a word as a suffix • Example: • Acknowledge: Ac-knowledge • Knowledgeable: knowledge-able