Word Formation

WORD
Formation
INTRODUCTION
Around 1900, J. Murray Spangler , a department-store

worker invented a device which he called an electric
suction sweeper.
Mr. Spangler sold his invention to
A businessman named
William H. Hoover , an owner of Hoover Suction
Sweeper Company.
He named the machine called “Hoover”.
NEOLOGISM
from Greek νέο- (néo-), meaning "new", and λόγος

(lógos), meaning "speech, utterance") is a newly
coined term, word, or phrase, that may be in the
process of entering common use, but has not yet
been accepted into mainstream language.
Neologisms are often directly attributable to a
specific person, publication, period, or event .
ETYMOLOGY
The study of origin and history of words.

Derived from the Greek word “etymon” which means
„original form‟ + “logia” which means „study of ”.
Examples :
Etymology of the Word God:
The root-meaning of the name (from Gothic root gheu;
Sanskrit hub or emu, "to invoke or to sacrifice to") is
either "the one invoked" or "the one sacrificed to."
COINAGE
The invention of totally new terms(usually without

capital letters.
The least common processes of word formation.
Examples : aspirin, nylon, vaseline, zipper and xerox.

Google is a misspelling for the word googol. It became the
name of the company Google which become a widely used
expression meaning “to used the internet to find
information.
New words based on the name of a person or a place is

called eponyms.
Examples :
hoover, spangler, sandwich, jeans, fahrenheit, volt and watt.
BORROWING
One of the most common sources of new

words in English.
The process of taking over words from other
languages.
Examples : croissant(French), dope(Dutch),
lilac(Persian), piano(Italian),
pretzel(German), sofa(Arabic),
tattoo(Tahitian), tycoon(Japanese),
yogurt(Turkish) and zebra(Bantu).
Japanese use a suupaa or suupaamaaketto
(“supermarket”) and taipuraitaa (“typewriter”).
CALQUE OR LOAN-TRANSLATION
Is a special type of borrowing.

In this process, there is a direct translation
of the elements of the word into the
borrowing language.
Word or phrase borrowed from another
language by literal, word-for-word or root-
for-root translation.
Examples : English (“skyscraper”)
French term gratte-ciel (“scrape-sky”)

Dutch wolkenkrabber (“cloud scratcher”)
German Wolkenkratzer(“cloud scraper”).
COMPOUNDING
Combining two different words with different meaning that

will result to a new word with one meaning.
Examples :
Pill + box = pillbox
Under + ground = underground
High + way = highway
Kill + joy = killjoy
Earth + quake = earthquake
PHRASE ODDITIES
Examples :
Hand-me-down
out-of-date
forget-me-not
out-of -order
BLENDING
The combination of two different forms to

produce a single new term or joining parts
of two or more words.
It is typically accomplished by taking only
the beginning of one word and joining it to
the end of the other word.
Combining two different words to produce
a new form by fusion.
EXAMPLES:
In USA, a word gasoline but is made from alcohol, so

the blended word referring to this word is gasohol
smoke and fog = smog

breakfast/lunch = brunch
information/entertainment = infotainment
fact and fiction = faction
Bat and mash = bash
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
COMPOUNDING AND BLENDING
Compounding is the combination of two

words with different meaning to produce a
new one.
Blending is combining the first and last
word of a two different terms. The terms
combined has the connection with each
other.
CLIPPING
A process in which the element of reduction that is noticeable in

blending is even more apparent.
Occurs when a word of more than one syllable is reduced to a
shorter form, usually in casual form.
Examples :
chemistry chem
examination exam
gymnasium gym
Emmanuel Emman
Hypocorisms is the process in which a longer word is
reduced to a single syllable, then y or ie is added to the
end.
Examples :
moving pictures - movie
barbecue - barbie
television - telly
Cookie , sweetie , sugarpie
BACKFORMATION
A very specialized type of reduction process.

A word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form
a word of another type(usually a verb).
Examples :
television – televise
donation - donate
emotion - emote
babysitter -baby sit
Backformed verbs in English is based on the common pattern.
The assumption seemed to have been that if there is a noun
ending in –er (or something close in sound), then we can create a
verb for what that noun –er does.
Examples :
burglars will burgle
editor will edit
peddlers will peddle
worker will work
CONVERSION
Conversion, also called zero derivation, is a kind of word

formation; specifically, it is the creation of a word (of a new word
class) from an existing word (of a different word class) without
any change in form.
It is a change in a function of a word, as for example :
Noun comes to be used as a Verb

Verb comes to be used as a Noun
Verb comes to be used as an Adjective
Adjective comes to be used as Verb
Adjective comes to be used as a Noun
NOUNS AS VERBS
bottle
We bottled the home-brew last night.
butter
Have you buttered the toast?
chair
Someone has to chair the meeting.
vacation
They‟re vacationing in Florida.
VERBS AS NOUNS
Guess – a guess
Spy – a spy
Must – a must
Phrasal verbs
To printout – a printout
To takeover – a take over
VERBS AS ADJECTIVES
Stand-up – stand up comedian

See – see through
ADJECTIVES AS VERBS
Dirty floor – to dirty

An empty room – to empty
ADJECTIVES AS NOUNS
Some crazy ideas – a crazy

Those nasty people – the nasty
ACRONYMS
New words formed from the initial letters of a set of other

words.
The pronunciation consist of saying each separate letter.
Examples :
CD- compact disk
DVD- digital versatile disk
RAM- read access memory
ROM – read only memory
WAR – women against rape
Some acronyms came into general use so quickly that
some speakers do not think of their component
meanings.
Example:
ATM – automatic teller machine
PIN- personal identification number
I sometimes forget my PIN number when I go to

ATM machine.
DERIVATION
The most common formation process to be found in the

production of new English words.
It is accomplished by means of a large number by
means of a large number of small bits of the English
language which are not usually given separate listings in
the dictionaries.
These small bits are generally described as affixes.
It is derived from or having a root word.
SOME FAMILIAR EXAMPLES ARE :
Affixes Use in word

un- Unhappy
mis- Mistrust
pre- Prejudge
-ful Joyful
-less Careless
-ish Childish
-ism Terrorism
-ness sadness
PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
Prefixes are affixes have to be added to the beginning of the

word.
Examples : un-, pre- and mis-
Suffixes are affixes have to be added to the end of the word.

Examples : -less, -ish and –ism
Disrespectful –both prefix and suffixes.

Foolishness – has two suffixes.
Retake – has prefix.
INFIXES
It is an affix that is incorporated inside another

word.
It is possible to see the general principle at work
in certain expressions , occasionally used in
fortuitous or aggravating circumstances by
emotionally aroused English speakers.
Examples : Unfuckinbelievable
MULTIPLE PROCESSES
It is the case in which two or more processes are

involved in forming a neologism.
For example carphone is a new form in which telephone

is shortened to phone (clipping) and then it is combined
with car (compounding).
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
Identify the processes involved in the

creation of the following forms.
1. I just got a new
car-phone.
2. James wants to be a
footballer.
3. The negotiators
blueprinted
a new peace
proposal.
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
Identify the type of word formation

?
Footobooru(Japanese) – football (English)
Luna de miel (Spanish “moon of

honey”) - honeymoon (English)
That’s really fandamntastic!
When I’m ill I want to see a doc, not a vet.

IDENTIFY THE PREFIXES AND
SUFFIXES USED IN THESE WORDS
Carelessness
Unfaithful
Terrorism
Prepackaged
Reincarnation
DESCRIBE THE WORD-FORMATION
PROCESSES INVOLVED
1. How much RAM do you have?
2. Your friend Jason is Such a techie!
3. We‟re paying too much attention to Bloggers.
4. You should bookmark that site.

Questions?
Clarifications?
Reactions?
Thank You!
Study well.
Quiz Next Meeting

Mark Ariel T. Artiaga
Irish Joy

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WORD

Around 1900, J. Murray Spangler , a department-store

from Greek νέο- (néo-), meaning "new", and λόγος

The study of origin and history of words.

The invention of totally new terms(usually without

Examples : aspirin, nylon, vaseline, zipper and xerox.

New words based on the name of a person or a place is

One of the most common sources of new

Is a special type of borrowing.

French term gratte-ciel (“scrape-sky”)

Combining two different words with different meaning that

The combination of two different forms to

In USA, a word gasoline but is made from alcohol, so

smoke and fog = smog

Compounding is the combination of two

A process in which the element of reduction that is noticeable in

A very specialized type of reduction process.

Conversion, also called zero derivation, is a kind of word

Noun comes to be used as a Verb

Stand-up – stand up comedian

Dirty floor – to dirty

Some crazy ideas – a crazy

New words formed from the initial letters of a set of other

I sometimes forget my PIN number when I go to

The most common formation process to be found in the

Affixes Use in word

Prefixes are affixes have to be added to the beginning of the

Suffixes are affixes have to be added to the end of the word.

Disrespectful –both prefix and suffixes.

It is an affix that is incorporated inside another

It is the case in which two or more processes are

For example carphone is a new form in which telephone

Identify the processes involved in the

Identify the type of word formation

Luna de miel (Spanish “moon of

That’s really fandamntastic!

When I’m ill I want to see a doc, not a vet.

1. How much RAM do you have?

2. Your friend Jason is Such a techie!

3. We‟re paying too much attention to Bloggers.

4. You should bookmark that site.

Quiz Next Meeting

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