Chapter 3 Formation of English

英语词汇学是自学应考者对英语词汇学具有比较系统、比较完整的知识,比较深入地了解英语词汇的现状及其历史演变过程,并能对现代英语词汇发展所出现的现象作出分析和解释。

Chapter 3 Formation of English Words

• The inner structure of a word
  • Morpheme and morphology
    • Definition of morphology
      • It is a branch of linguistics which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which wors are formed.
    • Definition of morpheme
      • It is the smallest unit of meaning.
  • Types of morphemes
    • Free morpheme
      • Those which may occur alone and constitute words by themselves.
        • e.g. day,dog,thing...
    • Bound morpheme
      • Those which can't occur alone and must appear with other morphemes.
        • e.g. -ed, co-
    • Affix
      • It is the morpheme that can be used only when added to another morpheme.(root or stem)
      • Prefix
        • e.g. mini-.un-...
      • Suffix
        • e.g. -tion, -al...
      • Inflectional affixes
        • Those which add grammatical meanings to the stems.
        • e.g. Nnmber : table / tables
        • Person : talk / talks
        • Tense : talk / talked
        • Case : John / John's
        • Aspect : talk / talked / talking
      • Derivational affixes
        • Those which add lexical meanings to the roots.
        • e.g. anti- : against, anti-government
        • in- : not incorrect
        • pre- : before prewar
        • re- : again rebuild
        • -ee : one who receives trainee
        • -ful : full of shameful
        • -ity : state majority
        • -ate : characterized by passionate
      • Root
        • It is the basic form of a word that cannot be further analyzed without total loss of identity. It is part of the word left when all the affixes are removed.
          • All words contain a rooot
            • e.g. monmorphemic words : day, nation
            • polymorphemic words : international
      • Stem
        • It is any morpheme or combinat of morphemes to which an infectional affixes are removed.
          • a stem =/> a root
            • A stem is root e.g. talking
            • A stem may contain a root and derivational affix. e.g. friendships.
• Different processes of word-formation
  • Inflection
    • It is the process of word-formation through adding inflectioonal affixes, which do not change the part of speech of the stems to which they are attached.
      • e.g. Nnmber : table / tables
      • Person : talk / talks
      • Tense : talk / talked
      • Case : John / John's
      • Aspect : talk / talked / talking
  • Derivation
    • It is the process of forming a new word by adding derivational affix to a root.
      • Prefixation and suffixation
        • e.g. en- + courage = encourage
        • child + -ish = childish
  • Compounding
    • It is the process of forming a new word by joining two or more free morphemes to make one word.
      • Noun compounds
        • goal + keeper = goalkeeper( N+N)
        • hair + cut =haircut (N+V)
        • play + boy = playboy (V+N)
        • greeen+house=greenhouse (Adj+N)
        • hand+writing=handwriting(V-ing)
        • swimming+pool=swimmingpool(V-ing+N)
        • break+through =breakthrough (N+Adj)
        • out + break = outbreak (Adv+V)
      • Verb compounds
        • brain+ wash=brainwash
        • baby+sib=babysit
        • lip+read=lipread
      • Adjective compounds
        • icy+cold=icy-cold
        • ducty+free=ducty-free
        • under+ground=underground
        • peace + loving=peace-loving
        • snow+covered=snow-covered
        • hard+working=hard-working
        • well+behaved=well-behave
        • made+up=made-up
        • good+looking=good-looking
      • Pronoun compounds
        • myself,nothing...
      • Adverb compounds
        • upstairs, beforehand...
      • Preposition compounds
        • into, throughhout...
      • Conjunction compounds
        • yherefor, however...
  • Conversion
    • It is the process of forming a new word by converting words of one class to another class without adding the affix.It mainly involves three parts of speech : noun, verband adjective.
      • also called zero-derivation
      • From noun to verb
        • mother ： to watch over, protect or nourish
        • chair : to be in charge of sth. as achairman
        • finger : to touch with the fingers
        • wolf : to eat greedily
      • From verb to noun
        • move : an action taken to achieve an aim
        • cheat : one that cheats
        • find : discovery
        • disgust : dislike
      • From adjective to noun
        • the deaf
        • the rich
        • native
        • daily
      • From adiective to verb
        • slim : to become/ make slim
        • narrow : to become/make narrow
        • smooth : to make smooth
        • sour : to become sour
  • Abbreviation
    • It is the process of forming a new word by cutting certain part of the original word.
      • also called clipping
      • Cutting the final part
        • adertisement : ad.
        • bicycle : bike
        • mathematics : math
      • Cutting the initial part
        • aeroplane : plane
        • heliicopter : copter
        • omnibus : bus
        • telephone : phone
      • Cutting both the initial part and final part
        • influenza : flu
        • refrigrtator : fridge
        • detective : tec
  • Acronym
    • It is the process of forming a new word by combining the first letters of the name of an orgainzation or long word group in science, technology and other special fields.
      • letter by letter
        • EEC : European Economic Community
        • CIA : Cetral Intelligence Agency
      • prouncation as word
        • Aids : acquired immune defucuency ayndrome
        • Radar : radio detecting and ranging
        • VAT : value added tax
  • Blending
    • It is the process of forming a new word by joining certain parts of the two existing words
      • smoke+fog=smog
      • boat+holel=boatel
      • breakfast+lunch=brunch
      • television+broadcast=telecast
  • Back-formation
    • It is the process of forming a new word by deldting an imagined affix from alonger word already in the language.
      • caretaker(N):caretake(V)
      • air-conditioning(N) : air-condition(V)
      • gloomy(Adj) : gloom(V)
      • lazy (Adj) : laze(V)
      • television (N) : televise (V)
  • Onomatopoeia
    • It is the process of forming a new word by imitating the sound
      • Primary onomatopoeia
        • It is the imitation of sound preduced by an animal or an object.
          • meow of cat
          • bang of a door
          • buzz of a bee
          • growl of thunder
          • tick of a clock
      • Secondary onomatopoeia
        • It means certain sounds in a word are associated with certain meanings.
          • sk- : moving quickly on surface
            • ski,skate, skid, skim...
          • m- : having to do with females
            • mother, miss, maid, mistress...
          • -ash : violent movement
            • clash, crash, dash, flash, slash, splash...
          • -ump : heavy fall
            • dump, slump, plump, clump...
  • Analogical creation
    • It is the process of forming a new word by imitating the formation of the existing words.
      • marathon : telethon, talkathon...
      • bule-collar : whitr-collar, gray-collar, golden-collar
      • chain-smoke : chain-drink
      • environmental pollution : visual pollution, noise pollution, cultural pollution...