chapter 3.ppt

Word-formation The Three Major Processes of Word-formation Percentage of new words coined by the different word-formation processes after World War II: Compounding or composition (about 27%) Derivation or affixation (about 17.5%) Conversion (about 10.5%) Initialisms and acronyms (about 9%) Blending (about 6%) Clipping (about 2%) Words from proper names (about 2%) Back formation (about 1%) Reduplication (about 0.5%) Neoclassical formations (about 4%) Others (about 3%) Borrowing (about 18.5%) Some basic concepts of word-formation: Root: A root is a form which is not further analyzable, either in terms of derivational or inflectional morphology. It is that part of a word-form that remains when all the inflectional and derivational affixes have been removed. Stem: A stem is the part of the word-form which remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed. Base: A base is any form to which affixes of any kind can be added. Compounding Definition: Compounding or composition is a word-formation process consisting of joining two or more bases to form a new unit, a compound word. Relative criteria of a compound word: Orthographic criterion: Solid: silkworm, airmail Hyphenated: honey-bee, air-conditioning Open: air force, easy chair Phonological criterion: Many compounds have a single stress on the first element, as in a `black horse; or a main stress on the first element and a secondary stress on the second element, as in a `hot .house. Normal phrases have a single stress on the second element, as in a black `horse; or a secondary stress on the first element and the main stress on the second element, as in a .hot `house. Semantic criterion: The meaning of a phrase is derived from the combined lexical meanings of its components, e.g. backdoor, sunrise, handbag. The meaning of a compound is not always the sum of the meanings of its parts, e.g. a black horse, a green room. Classification of compounding: Noun compounds: Subject and verb: toothache, frostbite, heartbeat V