Daniel Montaño Crivelli: Language Systems.

02/05/2020

Word formation: the formation of new worlds

The diverse processes in which words enter a language is incredibly interesting.

Approximately, 1,000 words are added to the Oxford English dictionary per year (as

mentioned in TED-Ed video, 2017). As we have seen in previous lessons, English lexicon

includes about half words borrowed from other languages. E.g. Bishop (Latin); jury and

justice (French); spaghetti, mafia, paste (Italian); etc. Sometimes a language possesses just

the right word to define the exact concept we want to communicate. Thus, we borrow that

term. On the other hand, translation plays a very important role here. When a concept has

never been heard in a determined language, a new term can be coined so that it conveys the

same idea, the creation of an equivalent. In the 13th century, the Toledo School of

translation was the place in which medical papers were translated from Greek and Arabic

into Latin. Terms like diafragma (diaphragm), pectus, thorax, sutura cortical (cortical

suture) and femoris were coined (Arráez-Aybar, L.A., 2012).

In this text I shall describe the processes of word formation. Firstly, adoption and

borrowing; secondly, affixation; thirdly, clipping; fourthly, fusing/compounding existing

words; fifthly, meaning changes; sixthly, back formation; seventhly, imitation of sounds;

and lastly, by transfer of Proper nouns. However, before moving on, I would like to

emphasize the fact that sometimes words are created from scratch. E.g. the word dog is not

related to any etymological adherent; nonetheless, it displaced the word hound (or hund)

that was used in Old English. There are some words that arrived in an inexplicable way:

jaw, askance, tantrum, conundrum, bad, big, donkey, kick, slum, log, dodge, fuss, prod,

hunch, freak, bludgeon, slang, puzzle, surf, pour, slouch, bash, etc. (Luke, M. 2011)

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Adoption/Borrowing

I shall start with adoption. It happens when foreign words enter a language. E.g. the word

software in Spanish. It is a borrowed word to describe the programmes and apps that run

within a computer. As you can imagine, in Spanish the word software was inexistent as

well as a computer on itself. That is the aim of a borrowing, taking the word of one

language because the concept does not exist within another. English lexicon has lots of

borrowings from other languages. As I mentioned before, since the Viking and Norman

conquest, English language has taken words in order to name concepts that did not exist

before in the tiny isle of Britain. When the British Empire expanded, words from even

wider origins started to stick to the English-speakers. Thus, when returning to England,

they brought more than wealth and resources, they brought words. Examples of these kind

of words are: Bungalow, mutton walkabout, zombie, etc. (As we have seen in the video of

The Open university. 2011)

Affixation

English is extremely flexible; you can add suffixes or prefixes in order to change a word

root and create a new one. It is a process in which words

are altered to create new meanings. E.g. port – import –

export – portable – transport, etc. There are two

distinctions here: derivation and inflection. On the one

hand, derivation is a process of affixation wherein the

word is changed to convey other meaning. E.g. construct

– deconstruct. Derivational affixes are mostly suffixes.

On the other hand, inflection is a process of affixation

where in a word is changed to provide grammatical

information. E.g. run – runs, destroy – destroyed, etc. Inflectional affixes are mostly

suffixes.

Clipping

This happens when words are shortened in order to pronounce them more easily. E.g.

examination – exam, gymnasium – gym, hamburger – burger, veterinarian – vet, etc. This

can also include the English common practice of contracting phrases e. g. I’m not, that’d,

there’ll, etc. Sometimes two contracted words can become one totally new and separate

word. The flower Daisy once was called day’s eye and shepherd once was sheep herd.

Acronyms are clippings as well e.g. USA, IMF, OPEC, etc. because they are series of initial

letters (shortened words). Acronyms can also be transformed into words e.g. laser – light

amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, radar from radio detection and ranging.

Compounding and fusing existing words

Compounding happens when we integrate two words together to form a new one. flower

and pot – flowerpot, foot and wear – footwear, etc. This concatenation of words can occur

by three processes. In the first place, we can unify words as in the previous examples, with

no space in-between. In the second, we can unify words with a hyphen. E.g. self-esteem,

part-time, mother-in-law, etc. Finally, we can unify words with a space in-between. E.g. ice

cream, fire commander, full moon, etc.

When fusing, the process is slightly different. Instead of combining whole words or

phonemes, they are blended together. It is like packing two meanings into one, creating an

intermediate concept. E.g. brunch, which blends breakfast and lunch; motel, which blends

motor and hotel; smog, which blends smoke and fog; chocoholic, which blends chocolate

and alcoholic; etc.)

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Changing meaning of existing words

Words change their meaning overtime. We can even infer that it is a consequence of

language usage. Furthermore, words that entered into English several years ago, now can be

used totally different to convey other concepts. E.g. the

word bizarre depicts that someone/something is strange

and unusual, it was borrowed from French wherein it

has the same meaning. But the word bizarre in Italian

means angry or brave.

Words can change meaning due to misuse or

when are related with other similar concepts. E.g. the

full of energy. However, nowadays is used to describe

people sexually attracted by the same sex. Probably, people related the original meaning of

gay (happy, attractive, bright) with the stereotype of homosexual manners. For more

examples, smart originally meant cutting, sharp; handsome meant handy (in a pejorative

way). Or, as depicted in the image above, words can change more than once. Silly

underwent by several changes throughout history.

Back formation

This process is slightly related to affixation. Words that are “back formed “are derivations

in meaning and grammar category from an older word. E.g. to beg is the back formation of

beggar; Difficult is the back formation of difficulty; rove from rover; etc. It includes

clipping because the word changes, but the meaning changes as well.

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Imitation of sounds

When the sounds of our enclosure are put into words that is call onomatopoeia, the

imitation of a sound from reality. English has plenty onomatopoeic formations e.g. buzz,

quack, hiss, bow wow, gobble, etc. It is not clear if onomatopoeias can be borrowed, but

philologists have suggested that the first human tongues started as attempts to imitate the

sounds of nature (the so-called bow-wow theories). In my opinion, it is incredibly

interesting how onomatopoeia formations are built to fit the phonetics of a determined

language. In Spanish Turkeys go gordo, gordo with the /r/ (alveolar sound), while in

English turkeys go gobble, gobble.

By transfer of proper nouns

There are inventions that the world have never seen before. How do we name it? Well,

some name them after their inventors. Quite egocentric, isn’t it? In fact, a surprisingly

number of words have been created by the transfer of proper names (their inventors or their

places of origin). E.g. saxophone was named after the Belgian musical-instrument maker,

Adolphe Sax; sandwich after the fourth Earl of Sandwich; quixotic after the features

showed in the Cervantes novel (the impractical, but romantic hero); diesel after Rudolf

Diesel; etc.

Conclusion

As we have seen in this text, words are always changing form, or meaning. Language is a

process of free creation. Thus, the freedom of using words in one way or another relies on

their speakers. I like to think about lexicon as an enormous puzzle. We can build everything

we want, there are formulas and conventions, but there are not such a thing as a defined

way of conveying meaning. When we use language, we are all putting and taking pieces

(lexical items) away. As soon as we complete one visible part of the puzzle, one part that
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other person can interpret, we can convey meaning. But that same part erases as time pass

by. Thus, we have to keep putting the pieces together every time we use language. As you

can imagine is a terribly difficult puzzle, and terribly exciting.

References

Arráez-Aybar, L.A., 2012. La transmisión de los saberes médicos durante la Edad Media.
Una aproximación conceptual. Beresit 10, 109–127. Saved From:
https://www.researchgate.net/deref/http%3A%2F%2Frefhub.elsevier.com
%2FS0940-9602%2815%2900004-7%2Fsbref0015

Luke, Mastin (2011) How new words are created. Language issues. The history of English.
From: https://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/issues_new.html

TED-Ed (September 7th, 2017) Where do new words come from? YouTube video. Google
Inc. From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytr28t5VzAs

The Open University (2011). The history of English in ten minutes. The Open University
Ed. UK. Saved from: https://youtu.be/SfKhlJIAhew