Chapter 4

Process of word formation

 Why are new words
needed?
Because of new inventions and changes.
Language is dynamic.
vast amount of new inventions made in the
20th and 21st.
 One of the distinctive properties of human
language is creativity.
 Blending Backformation
Acronymy
Antonomasia

Word Formation
Clipping Reduplication

Compounding
ism

Derivation
Invention

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1. Compounding
2. Derivation
3. Invention
4. Echoism
5. Clipping
6. Acronomy
7. Blending
8. Back formation
9. Antonomasia
10. Reduplication
 1. Compounding
 The joining of two or more words into a single word.
 Can be written as one word, a hyphenated word or as two
words.
 Examples:
breakfast skydive, busybody
alongside cornflakes

Hang glider high school sweet potatoes sparkling water

Long-haired ice-cream
handbag=hand + bag
wallpaper=wall + paper
fingerprint=finger + print
sunburn=sun + burn
Bookcase
 Doorknob
 Basketball
Lifeguard
Cheesecake
Bedroom
Ashtray
Seaman
Lambs wool
Bull's-eye
Bloodshed
Takeaway
Scarecrow
Easygoing
Downfall
Brainwash
passport
 2. Derivation
• Derivation is forming of new words by
combining derivational affixes, e.g.,
prefixes and suffixes or bound bases
with existing words.
 word formation by affixes

By prefixes: un-usual , mis-pronounce, mis-lead,

dis-respect, em + power → empower

By suffixes: care-less, child-ish, faith-ful

happy + ness → happiness
print + able → printable

prefix and suffix: dis-respect-ful, un-believ-able,

Multi-million-aire en-courage-ment
 3. invention
• Some new words are totally invented and some
of them find their way into the common
vocabulary.
• the word formation process of inventing entirely
new words robotics , genocide ,blog, internet,
google, aspirine, kodak, nylon,dacron, blurb,
 3. Invention
3. Invention: new words are totally
invented.
the invention of new words, a rare process.

Kodak
blurb goof Hoover

thermos Aspirin
Kleenex
Zipper
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 4. Echoism
Echoism is the formation of words whose
sounds suggest (echo) their meanings.

Moan(sigh)
click
murmur
quack
thunder
whisper
lisp

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Formation of words whose sounds suggest their
meaning such as hiss , click, quack, murmur,
wheeze, lisp
Words made by imitating different kinds of sounds
that may be produced by animals, birds, human
beings and inanimate objects.
o Dogs – bark
o cocks – cock-
o ducks – quack
o cats – mew (meow}
o cows – moo
The meaning is usually a sound either natural or
artificial as in roar of the waterfall or artificial
such as clang of the bell.
 5. clipping
• It means cutting off the beginning or the end
of a word or both, leaving a part to stand for
the whole.
• The resultant is a clipped word such as lab,
dorm, prof, exam, gym, math, psych.
• The clipping of the end of a word is the most
common, mostly with nouns.
• Back-clipped words are less common such as
plane, phone.
• Only very few words are formed by both front
and back clipping such as flu, Liz, fridge.
• It also applies for grammatical units such as a
modifier + noun as in situation comedy -----------
sitcom
• It results in new free forms in the language.
 Clipping the end of words

 Advertisement-----------ad
 Discotheque-----------disco
 Vibrations--------------vibes
 Zoological--------------zoo
 Fanatic--------fan
 Taxicab-----taxi
 Memo--------------memorandum
 Curiosity-------curio
 facsimile = fax
 gasoline = gas
 Clipping the beginning of words(back clipping)

Caravan------van
Alligator--------gator
Parachute--------- chute
Omnibus---------bus
Telephone----- phone
Airplane--------plane

influenza = flu
Involves both front and back clipping
 6. Acronymy
Acronymy is the process by which a word is
formed from the initial or beginning of a
succession of words.

 NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization

 TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language
 AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
 NASA National Aeronautics & Space Administration
 UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organization)
 Radar radio detecting and ranging
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In some cases the initials are pronounced as:
1. initials are pronounced ''as a sequence of
letters'‘
• DNA- Deoxy Riboneuclic acid
• USA- United States of America
• MP- Member of Parliament
2. In others, the initials and/or beginning segments
are pronounced as the spelled word as in NATO,
AIDS, or in
 SCUBA -Self-Contained Underwater Breathing
Apparatus
 RADAR -Radio Detection And Ranging
 LASER –Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation
 PIN-Personal Identification Num
 7. Blending

the process of combining the beginning of one

word and the end of another word to form a
new word

e.g. brunch (breakfast+ lunch)

motel (motor+ hotel)

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Ex:
o brunch =breakfast+ lunch
o motel = motor + hotel
o smog = smoke + fog
o transistor = transfer + resistor
o emoticon = emotion + icon
o webinar = web+ seminar
o Dumbfound=dumb +confound
o Stagflation= stagnation inflation
 Sitcom= situation + comedy;
 Netiquette=network + etiquette
 Netizen = internet+ citizen
The resultant blend partakes of both original
meanings.
Blends and clipped words sometimes overlap
and some words may be put in either classes.
 8. Back formation
Back formation is the formation of a word from
one that looks like its derivative.
e.g. editor → edit
donation → donate
burglar → burgle
zipper → zip
television → televise
babysitter → babysit
gatecrasher  gatecrash(intrude)
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A complex word exists first, then the
non-affixed form is derived later, e.g.
 baby-sit from baby-sitter
 edit from editor
 laze from lazy
 enthuse from enthusiasm
 housekeep from housekeeper
 burgle from burglar.
 televise from television
Donate from donation
Opt from option
Emote from emotion
It is back-formation because it
involves the formation of a word
from one that looks like its
derivative (a short form from a
longer word)
 9. Antonomasia

Antonomasia is the formation of a common

noun, a verb or an adjective from the name
of a person or place.

 hamburger (= of Hamburg, Germany)

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New words based on names of persons/places
 volt [ Alessandro Volta, Italian]
 watt [James Watt, Scot scientist]
 boycott [Charles Boycott, Irish]
 fahrenheit [Gabriel Farenheit, German
scientist]
 vandal [ Vandals ]
 Sandwich, frankfurter, denim, cashmere, jeans,
leotard.
Names from history and literature has given
many common nouns such :
Romeo,
Don juan
or Casanova.
 10. Reduplication
It is the process of forming a new word by
doubling a morpheme, usually with a change of
vowel or initial consonant as in pooh-pooh, tiptop
zigzag, ping pong, hip hop
 They can be divided into three classes:
1. The base morpheme is repeated without
change, e.g., clop-clop, tick-tick (sounds).
2. The base morpheme is repeated with a change
of initial consonant as in teeny-weeny (very
tiny), razzle-dazzle (confusion caused by noisy
and noticeable activity or very colorful
appearance intended to attract attention).
3. The base morpheme is repeated with a change
of vowel as in chitchat, criss-cross, ping pong,
zigzag, tik tok, flip flop
hugger-mugger

noun 1. disorder or confusion; muddle.

2. secrecy; reticence:
Why is there such hugger-mugger about the
scheme?
 Exercises

Write the word formation process used to create

: the wor
Column A Column B Word formation proce
1. Cut + Off Cutoff
2. Zig+Zag
+ Zigzag
3. Em+plane Emplane
4. Dormitory Dorm.
5. ------------- Nylon
6. Flinch + FunkFlunk
7. laze lazy
8. Cheese+cake Cheesecake)
 Exercises
Column A Column B Word formation process

Brexit+extension Brextension Blending

Global Positioning GPS Acronymy
System
Burglar Burgle Back formation
Nitty gritty nitty- gritty reduplication
(essential and basic)
Brain+storm Brainstorm compounding
Sound of a lion Roar eshoism
Explode Explosion derivation
-------------- Google invention
Charles Boycott Boycott antonmasia

Alligator Gator clipping

 Write the word formation process used to
create the following words.
1. Flip flop reduplication
2. Jeans antonomasia
3. Typewrite backformation
4. Dumbfound blending
5. Bus clipping
6. OPEC acronymy
7. Wheeze echoism
8. Ad clipping
9. Displeasing derivation
10.Cornflakes compounding
11.Kodak invention