TEMA 10 – LÉXICO.

CARACTERÍSTICAS DE LA FORMACIÓN DE PALABRAS EN

INGLÉS. PREFIJACIÓN, SUFIJACIÓN Y COMPOSICIÓN. Lexis. Characteristics of
word-formation in English. Prefixation, suffixation and composition.

OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. MORPHOLOGY, MORPHEME AND LEXEME
3. LEXIS AND WORD FORMATION
3.1. Branches: inflectional and derivational
3.2. Morphological processes of word formation
3.2.1.Reduplication
3.2.2.Blending
3.2.3.Clipping
3.2.4.Acronym
4. AFFIXATION
4.1. Prefixation
4.2. Suffixation
5. COMPOUNDS
5.1. Noun compounds
5.2. Adjective compounds
5.3. Verb compounds
6. CONVERSION
7. VOCABULARY IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
8. FUTURE DIRECTIONS ON THE TREATMENT OF LEXIS
9. CONCLUSION
10. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. INTRODUCTION
Topic number 10 deals with the English lexis and the different processes that exist to form new words, such as affixation,
compounding and conversion. To start with, it is important to justify this topic in the English curriculum. In the past,
grammar and lexical aspects were considered the primary aspects of learning a foreign language, so other important parts
were disregarded. The new Organic Law LOMLOE “Ley Orgánica de Modificación de la LOE” 3/2020 has proposed a new
communicative approach to foreign languages, and this approach implies not only the consideration of grammatical
aspects and vocabulary, but also cultural, historical, and social characteristics of the English language.
Vocabulary plays an essential part in our everyday lives, since we need to know as much as we can of it to reach an
effective communication with people. Moreover, knowing some of the processes of word formation is important to
understand the origin of words and their function on sentences. We can be grammar masters but if we do not know
enough vocabulary, our messages are not going to be well-explained or interpreted. As the businessman Jim Rohn said,
“vocabulary enables us to interpret and to express. If you have a limited vocabulary, you will also have a limited vision
and a limited future”. In this context, this topic has a relevant role in the English curriculum as it deals with the
communicative and vocabulary aspects and it can be a tool to teach our students some of the basic and fundamental
competences such as the communicative competence.
All topics concerning linguistics are interrelated and they should be treated as a whole, for instance, in order to understand
this topic much better, we should take into consideration other topics, such as topic 11, which deals with the word as a
linguistic sign, homonymy, synonymy and antonymy as well as false friend.
To carry out this unit I will present some short definitions of key concepts such as morphology, morpheme and lexeme.
After that, I will talk about two types of morphology which are derivational and inflectional as well as minor processes of
word formation such as blending and clipping. In the next section, I will focus on the process of affixation, developing the
concepts of prefixation and suffixation. Then, it will be the turn of compounding and conversion. Before talking about the
future directions on the treatment of lexis, I will also refer to role of vocabulary in language teaching. After that, you will
find a conclusion on this present study and finally, you can find the bibliography used to elaborate this topic.

2. MORPHOLOGY, MORPHEME AND LEXEME

To begin with, it is important to define some key concepts such as morphology, morpheme and lexeme. So, morphology
is understood as the study of forms, is the branch of linguistics that deals with the internal structure of complex words.
This term was first used in linguistics by August Schleicher in 1859. Thus, morphology is concerned with the structure and
derivation of words. There are two types of morphology, inflectional and lexical. Inflectional morphology is the process
that affects the meaning of the stem and lexical morphology is the process that produces a different lexical item from the
source which is not always predictable from the meanings of the items.
Regarding the concept of morpheme, it can be defined as the smallest meaningful unit of grammatical analysis, which
means the smallest unit of syntax that has a distinctive meaning but cannot occur by itself unless it is a monomorphemic
word (be, was). Crystal (1985) defines the term morpheme as the smallest bit of language which has a meaning, and he
distinguishes two main features of it. Firstly, if you add a morpheme to an utterance, or take one away, by definition you
alter the meaning of that utterance. Secondly, he stated that when a morpheme is analyzed into its constituents, it loses
its identity, and then they are seen as a sequence of meaningless noises. Modern approaches conceive morphemes as
rules involving the linguistic context, rather than as isolated pieces of linguistic matter. They acknowledge that meaning
may be directly linked to suprasegmental phonological units, and that the meaning of a morpheme with a given form may
vary, depending on its immediate environment (Payne, 1995). Moreover, a morpheme can be viewed from a number of
different angles in terms of classification, identification and distribution. Firstly, it is a formal, or physical unit with a
phonetic shape. Secondly, it has a meaning, and thirdly, it has a syntactic role to play in the construction of larger
grammatical units.
There are two types of morphemes, free and bound. When in combinations which are made up of two morphemes, one
morpheme carries the main part of the meaning of the whole, and the other is bound to appear in conjunction with other
morphemes. A free morpheme can occur in isolation and cannot be divided into smaller units, carrying the main part of
the meaning and they are capable of standing by themselves and of entering rather freely into grammatical combinations.
The second type is called bound morpheme and it refers to a morpheme which can only occur in a word-form in
conjunction with at least one other morpheme.
Finally, concerning the concept of lexeme, it is defined as an item that functions as a single meaningful unit, regardless of
the number of words it contains (Schmitt, 2000). They refer not to the particular shape that a word has, but to all the
possible shapes that the word can have in a given paradigm. For example, the words fly, flew, flown, flying, flies, flight are
all subsumed under the lexeme “fly”, comprising each not only the lexeme “fly” but also the representation of the various
inflectional categories attached to that lexeme. Also, when they appear in an utterance on a particular occasion, and it is
not the lexeme that is under study, but the particular shape that a word has, we refer to them as word-form.

3. LEXIS AND WORD FORMATION

Lexis, also known as lexicon, is defined as all the components of lexical categories. That is, listing of words which include
information about meaning, grammatical function and pronunciation. The lexicon is in constant change thanks to
vocabulary gains and losses, borrowings and formation of new words. From this concept derives lexicography which is
the procedure that deals with arranging and describing items of vocabulary in dictionaries, glossaries, etc. There are two
types, alphabetic and thematic which arranges the words by topic. If we want to focus on English lexicography, we need
to talk about the most important and famous works related to them. Firstly, “The first English dictionary 1604” was the
first English word list and first English dictionary, including 2500 difficult words. Then, in the 18th century it was published
“Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary” which intended to regulate English language. Although it was unfinished, it included strong
and clear definitions. The innovation on it was that separated and numbered the word meanings and cited contexts to
demonstrate meaning. After that, in the 19th century “The Oxford English dictionary” was published which included not
only word meanings but also contextual evidence. It included all words in use and it was nurtured in the Philological
Society in England. Regarding American English, we can find the “American Dictionary of the English Language” published
in the 19th century and it was a great pioneer in lexicography. It can be considered the American counterpart of Johnson’s
dictionary.

3.1. Branches: inflectional and derivational

As I said before, morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies questions such as the internal structure of words and
it has two main branches, derivational morphology and inflectional morphology. Derivational morphology deals with
processes that change a word with one part of speech or meaning into a word with a different part of speech or meaning.
On the other hand, inflectional morphology deals with processes that alter the form of a word without changing either
its part of speech or its meaning, which means it modifies either the tense of a verb or the number of a noun. Derivational
processes always apply before inflectional ones.

3.2. Morphological processes of word formation

Word formation is defined as the morphological process which deals with the formation of new or complex lexemes from
given bases or roots. The formation of new lexemes involves different processes, being the most relevant the addition of
affixes and the notions of complex and compound in order to classify new lexemes when there is a combination of two or
more lexemes. However, there are other factors than the morphological one to be taken into account when dealing with
the creation of new words, factors from the past up to the present day.
English, as any other language, has reflected over the centuries the revolutionary changes that have affected the general
development of humankind. New words are constantly created parallel to external influences on the language and society
needs, for instance, the evolution of English in the 19th and 20th centuries, which reflected the widespread contacts of
English with other world languages. As a result, form the expansion of the language with the British Empire, many
borrowings were taken from French, Italian, Spanish, German and many other languages. More recently, the importance
of mass media and the development of new means of communication has also favoured not only the coining of new words
but have also contributed to accelerating the diffusion of different terms coming from all fields of knowledge.
Therefore, in order to show how the English language has enriched itself by using its own native internal resources, I
should provide an account of the different processes involved in the creation of new words. The main processes of English
word formation are affixation, compounding and conversion, and apart from these major processes, English calls upon a
number of minor devices, such as acronyms, blending and clipping. Since affixation, compounding and conversion will be
further explained, in this section I will only focus the attention on the other processes.

3.2.1. Reduplication
This process is about a new word that is created symmetrically from a former one and it involves the repetition of the
base word. It is mostly used in informal contexts. There are three different types:
- Exact: the word is simply duplicated. Example: bye-bye, night-night.
- Ablaut: the vowels change, the consonants remain the same. Example: ding-dong, zig-zag.
- Rhyming: the consonants change, the vowels remain the same. Example: hokey-pokey, teenie-weenie.

3.2.2. Blending
Blending is defined as the creation of new words by fusing parts of two lexical units in such a way that there is no
transparent analysis into morph. Bauer (1983) distinguished some types of blends which are those where the two words
used as the bases are both present, phonologically or orthographically, in their entirety in the blend, blends where the
new lexeme looks as though it is or might be analyzable in terms of a neoclassical compound and finally, blends made up
of one instance of clipping and one unaltered lexeme.

3.2.3. Clipping
It is the creation of new words by removing syllables of longer words and shortening them. This process is given in a word
of two or more syllables which is shortened without a change in its function taking place. Clipped forms are generally used
in less formal situations than their full-length equivalents since they indicate an attitude of familiarity on the part of the
user, either towards the object denoted, or towards the audience. Sometimes clippings show various degrees of semantic
dissociation from their full forms.

3.2.4. Acronym
Acronyms are the creation of new words by combining the initial letter or syllables of words in a title or phrase and using
them as a new word, such as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) or RADAR (Radio Detecting and Ranging). However, not every
abbreviation counts as an acronym. In order to be an acronym, the new word must not be pronounced as a series of
letters, but as a word.
Acronyms have been on the increase since the beginning of the 20th century. Many originated during the two World Wars
since they were formed as short names for government agencies and international organizations.

4. AFFIXATION
This process deals with the formation of new lexemes by means of affixes, that is, by adding prefixes or suffixes to the
root of a word. Usually, suffixes undergo more interesting developments than prefixed elements since most of English
prefixes are of Latin and Greek origin. However, suffixes are more often of native origin, or have come into the language
via other languages.
Affixation is closely related to word accentual patterns in simple and compound words since it is included in the main
factors that influence stress placement, together with the historical origin of a word. In the following sections, I will dive
some more in the processes of prefixation and suffixation.

4.1. Prefixation
This is the process of forming a new word by adding a prefix which is attached to the front of the root. Moreover, most
of the prefixes do not change the class of the original word, except for a-, be-, and en-, and they normally have a light
stress because the main stress comes on the stem. Next, we will take a look at the different types of prefixes:
 Negative prefixes:
o A- : “lacking in” is added to adjectives and nouns, but meaning “in the process of” is added to verbs.
o De-: “reverse action” is added to verbs.
 o Dis-: “the opposite of” is added to adjectives and nouns but meaning “a reverse action” is added to verbs.
o In-: “the opposite of” is added to adjectives, adverbs and verbs.
o Il-: used with words beginning with L.
o Ir-: used with word beginning with r.
o Mal-: “badly” is added to verbs and nouns.
o Mis-: “wrongly” is added to verbs and nouns.
o Non-: “not” is added to adjectives and nouns.
o Pseudo-: “false” is added to adjectives and nouns.
o Un-: “the opposite of” is added to adjectives, participles, adverbs and some nouns, but meaning “reverse
action” is added to verbs.
 Prefixes of degree or size / locative prefixes:
o Ante-: “before” is added to adjectives and nouns.
o Arch-: “highest” is added to nouns.
o Hyper-: “to an excessive degree” is added to adjectives and nouns.
o Mini-: “small” is added to nouns.
o Out-: “surpassing” is added to verbs. It forms transitive verbs and nouns, adjectives and adverbs.
o Over-: “too much” is added to verbs, nouns and adjectives. It forms nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs.
o Sub-: “less than” is added to adjectives but meaning “beneath” is added to nouns.
o Super-: “more than” is added to nouns and adjectives.
o Sur-: “outside” is added to nouns.
o Ultra-: “beyond” is added to adjectives.
o Under-: “not enough” is added to verbs but meaning “below” is added to nouns.
 Prefixes of attitude:
o Anti-: “against” is added to adjectives and nouns.
o Co-: “jointly” is added to adjectives, verbs and nouns.
o Counter-: “against”/”in response to” is added to nouns, verbs and adverb.
o Pro-: “in favour of” is added to adjectives and nouns.
 Prefixes of time and order:
o Ex-: “former” is added to nouns.
o Fore-: “before” is added to verbs and nouns.
o Post-: “after” is added to adjectives and nouns.
o Pre-: “before” is added to adjectives, nouns and verbs.
o Proto-: “first” is added to nouns.
o Re-: “again”/”back” is added to verbs and adjectives.
 Number prefixes:
o Uni-/Mono-: “one”
o Bi-/Di-: “two”
o Tri-: “three”
o Multi-/Poly-: “many”
 Other prefixes:
o Auto-: “self”
o Neo-: “new”
o Pan-: “all”
o Semi-: “half”
o Vice-: “deputy”

4.2. Suffixation
This is the process of forming a new word by adding a suffix which is attached to the end of the root. They usually alter
the word-class of the root word and they can be classified according to the class of word they form or the class of root
word they typically added to. Next, we will take a look at the different types of suffixes:
 Suffixes that form nouns from nouns:
o General meaning “related to”:
 -ster: “connected to”.
 -er: “concerned with, belonging to, thing that has”
o Diminutive sense:
 -let: “small”
 -ette: “small, imitation, female”
 - y: “familiar”
 o Status:
 -dom: “domain”
 -(e)ry: “place where”
 -hood: “abstract nouns”
 -ocracy: “class”
 - ship: “condition”
o Material:
 -ful: “amount”
 -iana: “connected with”
 -ing: “activity”
 Suffixes that form nouns/adjectives from nouns/adjectives:
o –(e)ry: “state”
o -ese: “nationality”
o –(i)an: “people”
o -ism “current of thought”
o -ist: “membership”
o -ite: “follower”
 Suffixes that form nouns from verbs:
o -age: “activity”
o -al: “action”
o -ant: “agent”
o -ation: “action”
o -ee: “passive agent”
o -er/or: “perfomer”
o -ing: “activity”
o -ment: “result”
 Suffixes that form nouns from adjectives:
o -cy: adjectives ending in ant/ent
o -dom: “state”
o -ity: “quality”
o -ness: “state”
 Verb suffixes:
o -en: added to adjectives with a causative meaning. “result”
o -ify: added to nouns and adjectives with a causative meaning.
o -ise: added to noun adjectives with a causative meaning, but notice American English -ize.
 Suffixes that form adjectives from nouns:
o -en: “material”
o -ful: “having”
o -ian: “in the tradition of”, also “nationalities”
o -ish: “nationality, quality”
o -less: “without”
o -like: “quality”
o -ly: “quality”
o -y: “with”
 Adjective suffixes common in borrowed and neoclassical words:
o -al/ial/ical
o -ic
o -ive/ative/itive
o -ous/eous/ious
 Other adjective suffixes:
o -able/ible: added to verbs.
o -ed: added to nouns.
o -ish: added to adjectives.
 Adverb suffixes:
o -ly: added to adjectives.
o -wards: added to nouns.
o -wise: added to nouns.
5. COMPOUNDS
The origins of compounding processes traces back to the Old English period, where native words were combined in order
to make self-interpreting words. This practice was not abandoned in Middle English since the influence of other cultures
on the English language promoted the borrowing of ready-made foreign words although new words could have been
easily formed on the native model. More recently, compounding has been related to the notion of multiword units, which
are said to operate beyond the level of single words in discourse as single entities and, therefore, act as a single lexeme
with a single meaning (Schmitt, 2000).
Compounding is defined as the process of word formation by means of combining words. A compound is a unit consisting
of two or more words together in order to make a single lexeme with a meaning in some way different, if only in being
more specific. It is usually a hyponym of the grammatical head. It is worth remembering that the compound lexeme
contains at least two roots, and not two lexemes and, even, it may contain more than two roots.
Compounding differs from affixation in that it is not formed by derivational paradigms but by combining words, that may
or not be subjected to derivational processes. Compounds have significant characteristics regarding orthographic
conventions, phonology and meaning. Firstly, regarding orthography, these new lexemes can be presented as multiple
orthographic words, hyphenated, or as a single word. In many cases, there is no standardized spelling. Concerning
phonology, as a general rule the first element of the compound is strongly stressed, whether the compound is simple or
complex. The placement of stress in compound word tells us whether we are dealing with two or more words used
independently or as a unit, and about the close connection between the constituents and their special meanings. Finally,
with respect to meaning, stress welds together the elements and makes the difference between the members of the
compound.
The classification of compounds is bound to be controversial since many scholars have attempted to do it from different
approaches and none of them are considered to win unqualified support. However, we will approach the classification of
compounding following Bauer’s (1983), in which he distinguished five major compound patterns: noun compounds,
adjective compounds, verb compounds, adverb compounds and finally, other compounds. In this topic I will only focus on
noun, adjective and verb compounds.
It is worth noting that, although noun compounds are more frequent in English than adjective and verb compounds, the
three of them follow the same stress patterns, and they do not exhibit any vowel reduction to schwa.

5.1. Noun compounds

Sometimes, a single noun is not clear enough to refer to people or things, and another element is needed in order to make
words more specific. A two-word compound is the most frequent pattern regarding this type. Nouns may be combined
mainly with other nouns, adjectives, and verbs, although other combinations are also possible. A noun compound is a
fixed expression made up of two or more words with its own meaning and has a nominal function in a sentence. The types
of noun compounds are the following:
 Subject and verb compounds:
o Noun + deverbal noun (very productive): sunrise, earthquake.
o Verb + noun: rattlesnake, hangman.
o Verbal noun + noun: washing machine, dancing girl.
 Verb and object compounds:
o Noun + verbal noun (very productive): sightseeing, brainwashing.
o Noun + agentive/instrumental noun (very productive): songwriter.
o Noun + deverbal noun: self-control, haircut.
o Verb + noun: call-girl, knitwear.
o Verbal noun + noun: chewing gum, cooking apple.
 Verb and adverbial compound:
o Verbal noun + noun (very productive): swimming pool, sitting room.
o Noun + verbal noun: daydreaming, handwriting.
o Noun + agentive noun: baby-sitter, daydreamer.
o Noun + deverbal noun: homework, daydream.
o Verb + noun: searchlight, dance hall.
 Verbless compounds:
o Noun + noun: windmill, toy factory, bloodstain, girlfriend, snowflake.
o Adjective + noun: darkroom, blackboard.

5.2. Adjective compounds

They are formed when a single adjective is not enough to describe people, objects, or any kind of situation. The most
frequent pattern in forming adjectives is that of two or more words, usually hyphenated. Since adjectives share the same
characteristics as single adjectives, they are combined with other grammatical categories in order to express qualitative
and classifying characteristics of the compound word regarding personality, physical description, colour, and material
among many other features. The types of adjective compound are the following:
 Verb and object compounds:
o Noun + ing participle: man-eating, breath-taking.
 Verb and adverbial compounds:
o Noun + ing participle: ocean-going, mouth-watering.
o Noun + ed participle: handmade, self-employed.
o Adjective/adverb + ing participle: hard-working, easy-going.
o Adjective/adverb + ed participle: quick-frozen, well-read.
 Verbless compounds:
o Noun + adjective: duty free, homesick.
o Adjective + adjective: deaf-mute, bitter-sweet.

5.3. Verb compounds

Following Adams (1973), verb compounds are mainly formed following three main processes: first, by backformation from
noun or adjective compounds, second, by conversion from noun compounds, and thirdly, by compounding two words
together. In addition, Bauer (1983) distinguished other categories which are included as other verb pattern compounding
and pointed out that verb compounds are rather rare. Some of them are very difficult to guess the meaning:
 Noun + verb: house-hunt, babysit, sleepwalk.
 Verb + noun: pickpocket.
 Verb + verb: hearsay, make-believe.
 Adjective + verb: deepfreeze.
 Adverb/preposition + verb: downcast, overbook.

6. CONVERSION
Following Bauer (1983), he stated that it is the change in form class of a form without any corresponding change of form.
It is a derivational process whereby an item changes its word-class without the addition of an affix. For example, the verb
release corresponds to a noun release, and this relationship may be seen as parallel to that between a verb and a noun.
On formative conversion we must say that the main changes are given from noun to verbs, verbs to nouns and from
adverbs/adjectives to nouns. These are the different types of conversion:
 From verb class to noun class:
o Stative verbs: doubt, love.
o Dynamic verbs: laugh, walk.
o Objects: answer, catch.
o Subjects: bore, cheat.
o Instrument: cover, wrap.
o Manner: throw, walk.
o Place: retreat, turn.
 From adjective class to noun class (a normal case of a noun being ellipted):
o A daily newspaper: daily.
o A comic actor: comic.
o Married people: marrieds.
 From noun class to verb class:
o To put something in/on something else: bottle, corner.
o To give something: coat, mask.
o To deprive of something: peel, skin.
o To do something with an instrument: brake, knife.
o To make/change something: cash, cripple.
o To send by something: mail, ship.
o To go by something: bicycle, motor.
 From adjective class to verb class:
o To make (transitive verbs): calm, dirty.
o To become (intransitive verbs): dry, empty.
 Minor categories of conversion:
o From closed system words to nouns: must.
o From phrases to nouns: alsoran (looser).
o From phrases to adjectives: under-the-weather.
 o From affixes to nouns: isms (doctrine).
 Change of secondary word-class: nouns:
o From non-countable to countable: coffees, paints, difficulty.
o From countable to non-countable: floor, room.
o From proper nouns to common nouns: A Jeremiah, a Rolls Royce, a Renoir.
o From stative to dynamic: being a fool.
 Change of secondary word-class: verbs:
o From intransitive to transitive: run the water.
o From transitive to intransitive: read well, a door opened.
o From intransitive to intensive: fall flat.
o From intensive to intransitive: turn sour.
o Monotransitive to complex transitive: wipe something clean.
 Change of secondary word-class: adjectives:
o From non-gradable to gradable: a legal turn of mind.
o From stative to dynamic: being friendly.

7. VOCABULARY IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

The role of vocabulary in the acquisition of a second language has often dealt with only incidentally in the preparation of
class material since most attention was paid to other aspects of language, such as grammar. Yet, we must not forget that
lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language since no grammar
or other type of linguistic knowledge can be employed in communication or discourse without the mediation of
vocabulary (Read, 2000).
We understand competence as the knowledge of rules of grammar, and performance, the way the rules are used for
students to get lexical, idiomatic and grammatical correctness. It is here where the role of vocabulary becomes prominent
since Schmitt (2000) highlighted that one of the most important current lines of thought is the notion of lexicogrammar,
by which he pursued the idea that a second language cannot be acquired without both lexis and grammar as essential
areas to be addressed. This makes difficult to think of vocabulary and grammar as separate entities since grammatical
knowledge involves knowledge of vocabulary, syntax, and phonology.
Vocabulary can be acquired through explicit study or incidentally through exposure to words in context. For instance, the
number of words a student needs depends largely on the eventual goal to be achieved: approximately 2000 words for
conversation speaking, 3000 word families to begin reading authentic texts, perhaps as many as 10000 for challenging
academic texts, and 15000 to 20000 to equal an educated native speaker.
Our goal as teachers is to highlight a number of key principles, such as to build a large sight of vocabulary, to integrate
new words with old one, to provide a number of encounters with a word, to promote a deep level of processing, to make
new words “real” by connecting them to the students’ world in some say, and above all, to use a variety of techniques in
word formation to encourage independent learning strategies. Vocabulary acquisition is an incremental process, and
teachers must concentrate not only on introducing new words, but also on enhancing learners’ knowledge of previously
presented words.

8. FUTURE DIRECTIONS ON THE TREATMENT OF LEXIS

Lexis is considered to be a central element in communicative competence and in the acquisition of a second language,
that is, vocabulary and lexical units are at the core of learning and communication. Today, communicative competence is
the central aim of foreign and second language teaching, providing a number of suggestions as to how teachers can give
pupils optimum frameworks for acquiring a good communicative competence.
Present-day approaches deal with a communicative competence model in which first, there is an emphasis on significance
over form, and secondly, motivation and involvement are enhanced. With respect to vocabulary learning, this requires
creating classrooms conditions which match those in real life and foster acquisition. The success partly lies in the way the
language becomes real to the users, feeling themselves really in the language. Some of this motivational force is brought
about by intervening in authentic communicative events. Otherwise, we have to recreate as much as possible the whole
cultural environment in the classroom by means of, first, recent technological multimedia tools, and second, navigational
freedom or interactivity that modern technology, such as smartphones, tablets, or even social networks, provide.
Lexicography has been fundamentally affected since the four major learner dictionary publishers all relying on corpus
input to set their word definitions and examples. In recent year, databases of language have revolutionized the way we
view language, particularly because they allow researchers, teachers, and learners to use great amounts of real data in
their study of language instead of having to rely on intuitions and made-up examples.
9. CONCLUSION
To conclude, I will highlight the idea that learning English is not just learning a second language but discovering a new
culture. In this way it is very useful for our students to be aware of the English lexis as well as the different processes of
word formation.
As I previously said, knowing how to form new words and the origins of the words they can come across is important in
order to achieve an effective communication and improve the communicative competence. All these aspects must be
explained to our students in a very communicative way. They can be taught by means of theoretical sessions and individual
practices, but they can also be taught by means of more dynamic activities. Just to give an example, we have the “Word
formation maze” which is perfect for reviewing suffixes and prefixes. Students try to exit the maze looking for words
governed by the same word formation rule. For example, they try to find the right path choosing adjectives whose
opposites start with the prefix in-.
All in all, the study of the English lexis will be highly useful as our students will be facing the achievement of an effective
communication during their whole academic lives. We should not forget that our students must know that a language
cannot be separated from the aspect of communication, so it is through the acquisition of all the things that intervene on
it that they will be able to understand and communicate in English.

10. BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Adams, V. (1973). An Introduction to Modern English Word-Formation. Longman Group.
- Bauer, L. (1983). English Word-Formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Crystal, D. (1985). Linguistics. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books.
- Payne, T. (1995). Lexeme- Morpheme Base Morphology, a General Theory of Inflection and Word Formation.
Albany: SUNY Press.
- Read, J. (2000). Assessing Vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.