The following are the ways by which new words are formed in English.
Derivation
Derivation is a process
of forming new words according to fairly regular pattern on the basis of
pre-existing words.
If we analyse
the process of derivation in more detail we will notice that a step in a
derivation is usually not on process but 3 semantinal process namely-
a)
morphological process
b)
semantic process
c)
syntactic process
Major word
formation processes in English are:-
1) Affixation-
One of the
commonest methods of word making in English is called Affixation. Affixation is
accomplished by means of a large number of small bits of the English language
which are not usually given in listings in the dictionary. These small bits are
called affix and the process is known as affixation. A few examples are the
elements un, mis, pre, less ish etc which appear in words like unhappy,
misrepresent, pre-paid, boyish, terrorism etc.
In the preceding
groups of words it should be obvious that some affixes had to be added to the
beginning of a word. For example- “un”. These are called prefixes and the
process is known as prefixation. The other affix forms are added to the end of
the word, for example, “ism” and these are called suffixes. The process
involved here is called suffixation. All English words formed by the
derivational process of affixation used either prefixes or suffixes or both.
Thus “mislead” has a prefix, “disrespectful” has both prefix and suffix and
“likeliness” has two suffixes.
The English
language has made generous use of prefixes and suffixes to make new words or to
modify or to extend the root idea. But there are some important differences
between prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes are put before a word whereas suffixes
are put in the end of a word. Another important difference between them is that
prefixes mostly have a meaning of their own, though they are not generally used
as separate words, whereas suffixes are used only to modify the root idea of a
word or to convert the word into another part of speech. For example, if we add
a prefix to the word “author” we’ll get “co-author”. Here the root idea is not
modified and moreover the word class is unchanged. But by suffixation we get a
new word authorship. Here we get a new word.
Acronyms
Some new words
are formed from the initial letters of a set of other words. These are called
acronyms. For example-SARS, NASA, NATO, UN. Acronyms can loose their initials
become everyday terms such as LASER, SCUBA (self-continued underwater breathing
asparagus)etc.
Backformation
A very
especialised type of reduction process is known as backformation. Typically a
word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form another word of a
different type( usually overt). For example, televise for television, emote
from emotion, enthuse from enthusiasm, edit from editor etc.
Conversion
A change in the
function of a word, as for example when a noun comes to be used as a verb
without any reduction is generally known as conversion. Other lebels for this
very common process are category change and functional shift. A number of nouns
such as paper, butter, bottle etc can via the process of conversation come to
be used as verb as in the following sentences-
He is papering
the bedroom walls
Have you
buttered the toast?
He is tutoring
the students.
Compounding
One of the
commonest ways of making a new word is to join two or more element, each of
which is also used as separate word. This method of forming new word is called composition
or compounding, and the words thus formed are called compounds. For example
brainwash, headache, sleep walking, day dreamer, self control etc.
Words made from the names of places and persons:-
Another prolific
source of word formation in English is the derivation of new words from the
names of places, persons and characters in famous books. For example; the word
sandwitch comes from the name of the Earl of Sandwitch. Cardigan comes from the
Earl of Cardigan. Quicksotic comes from Don Quicksotc. The word solomon as a
substitute for wisdom originates from the Bible.
Portmantaau words:-
This process is
comparatively a new comer in the scenario of word generation. This is of noble
nature in comparison with other forms of word formation. Too different and
independent lexical entries are blended together by subtracting the front
portion of a word and a back portion of another. The word thus formed are
called Portmantaau words; for example; happenstance (happening+circumstance);
workaholic(work+alcoholic);wevzine(web-sight+magazine);
Internet(International+Network) etc.
The difference between inflection and derivation
Both derivation
and inflection makes word but derivation makes a new word. For example,
respect->respectful; good-> goodness etc. But inflection merely changes
the relation of case, number, gender, person and pens. For example
dog- dogs-
dogs
plural possessive
look- looks-
looks
In English
prefixes are always derivational.
