Seminar 4. Word-Formation in English

Seminar 4.
Word-formation in English
Part I
1. Morphemes. Classification of Morphemes.
2. Types of Meaning in Morphemes.
3. Morphemic Types of Words.
4. Types of Word-Segmentability.
Part II
5. Procedure of Morphemic Analysis.
6. Types and Ways of Forming Words.
7. Affixation. Classification of Suffixes.
8. Prefixation. Classification of Prefixes.
9. Productive and Non-Productive Affixes.
10. Valency of Affixes and Bases.
11. Conversion. Typical Semantic Relations in Conversion.
12. Basic Criteria of Semantic Derivation in Conversion.
13. Word-Composition. Types of Meaning of Compound Words.
14. Classification of Compound Words.
TASKS
Part I
Task I.
Segment the following words into morphemes. Define (a) the semantic types and (b) the structural types of
morphemes constituting the given words.
Model: aimless
The word aimless can be segmented into two morphemes: aim- + -less.
semanticallv aim- is a root-morpheme; -less is an affix.
structurally aim- is a free morpheme; -less is a bound morpheme.
Beggarly, postman, shorten, destabilize, sympathy, fruitfulness, maltreatment, disaffected, overrule,
photographic, half-eaten, theory, rent-free.
Task II.
Group the words according to the type of word-segmentability they may be referred to.
Model: exceed, tablet, lifeless
Complete Conditional Defective
segmentability segmentability segmentability
lifeless exceed tablet
… … …
Hostage, nameless, fraction, perceive, pocket, discuss, feminist, contain, overload, pioneer, underestimate,
proceed, athlete, pretend, amoral, mirror, unfriendly, assist, gooseberry, obsess, carefulness, manic, attract,
budget.
Part II
Task III.
Explain the formation of the following words.
typewrite (v), beg (v), baby-sit (v), televise (v), edit (v), donate (v), gnarl (v).
Task IV.
Explain the formation of the following blends.
absotively advertorial brunch

cablegram crocogator cyborg
dipward electrocute flextime
glumpy guesstimate heliport
infomercial mingy motel
newtopia oilitics Oxbridge
paratroops Positron slanguage
smaze smog spam
transceiver twirl windoor
Task V.
Find examples of the following kinds of conversion (at least 3 for each one). Use them in sentences of your
own.
a) verb to noun;
b) adjective to noun;
c) noun to verb;
d) adjective to verb;
e) phrase to noun.
Task VI.
Give the full form of the following clippings. Identify their types.
flu, ad, gator, doc, exam, math, memo, pub, fax, phone, cable, chute, coon, pike, tec, polly, gym, jam.
Task VII.
According to their pronunciation classify the given acronyms into two groups: 1) those that are read as
ordinary English words; 2) those with the alphabetic reading.
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization, UNO – United Nations Organization, WHO – The World
Health Organization, BUPA – British United Provident Association, AGM – annual general meeting, WI –
Women's Institute, UCAS – Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, IRA – Irish Republican Army,
NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration, CID – Criminal Investigation Department, SALT
– Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, UEFA – Union of European Football Associations, IQ – intelligence
quotient, NAAFI – Navy, Army, and Air Force Institutes, MRBM – medium-range ballistic missile, FBI –
Federal Bureau of Investigation, TEFL – teaching of English as a foreign language, UFO – unidentified
flying object, UNRRA – United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, VIP – very important
person, FIFA – Federal International Football Association, GI – government (or general) issue.
Task VII.
Distribute the given compound words according to the part of speech they represent into five groups: 1)
compound nouns; 2) compound adjectives; 3) compound pronouns; 4) compound adverbs; 5) compound
verbs. Make a diachronic division of the compound verbs into: a) verbs formed by means of conversion; b)
verbs formed by means of back-derivation.
Nation-wide, everyone, elsewhere, sleeping-car, to honeymoon, sweet-smelling, to vacuumclean, sunbeam,

anybody, to finger-print, time-server, upright, housekeeping, to care-take, something, sick-making, to
nickname, maidservant, to sightsee, reddish-brown, outside, to whitewash, nobody, to type-write, dog-tired,
to week-end, downhill, broadway, to fortune-hunt, everything, to hunger-strike, knee-deep, indoors, to
merry-make.
Task VIII.
Classify the given compound words according to the means of composition into three groups: 1) compounds
composed without connecting elements; 2) compounds composed with the help of vowels or consonants as
linking elements; 3) compounds composed with the help of prepositions or conjunctions as linking elements.
Make-and-break, saleswoman, up-to-date, heart-beat, down-and-out, electromotive, pale-blue, tragicomic,

matter-of-fact, day-time, handiwork, up-and-coming, wind-driven, mother-in-law, oil-rich, craftsmanship,
spokesman, sit-at-home, play-acting, good-for-nothing, Anglo-Saxon, blacklist, bridesmaid, one-to-one,
water-mark, step-by-step, politico-military, sunflower, Anglo-Catholic, door-handle, out-of-town.

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Seminar 4.

absotively advertorial brunch

Nation-wide, everyone, elsewhere, sleeping-car, to honeymoon, sweet-smelling, to vacuumclean, sunbeam,

Make-and-break, saleswoman, up-to-date, heart-beat, down-and-out, electromotive, pale-blue, tragicomic,

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