‫جامعة االنبار‬

‫كلية التربية للعلوم اإلنسانية‬

‫قسم اللغة اإلنكليزية‬
‫المحاضرات االلكترونية‬
‫الدراسات العليا‬
‫مادة علم الصرف والنحو‬
‫ ميثاق خميس خلف‬.‫م‬.‫ا‬

Word Formation; Basic Issues

Word Formation processes

The vocabulary of most languages like English is almost

always expanding; first, new words can be added.
Second, new words can enter a language through the
process of word formation rules or derivational
morphology. Finally, new meanings can be associated
with already existing words which ,in turn, contribute to
the expansion of the vocabulary of a language.

First: Creating new words (Neologism)

Speakers of a language continually create new

nonexistent words using the following processes:

1- Coined Words (coinage): It is one of the least common

processes ,in comparison to other processes, by which
entirely new nonexistent words keep entering a
language. Speakers constantly invent new sequence of
sounds and pair it with a new meaning. For example:
 adolescent slang has given us words such as geek and
dweeb.This process is also referred to a invention.

2- Acronyms: Acronymy is a process whereby a word is

formed from the initials or beginning segments of a
succession of words. The word radar is derived form
radio detecting and ranging and the word laser is
derived from; light amplification by stimulated
emission of radiation. Speakers usually forget their
origins and acronyms become independent words. They
are widely used in the world of computers e.g. URL is
pronounced as ‘earl’ and abbreviated from uniform
resource locator, and LAN (pronounced as lan) is
derived from Local area network. Different types of
abbreviation processes, and one of them is acronyms,
are increasingly common in American society as a
means of words formation.

3- Alphabetic abbreviations: It is a process whereby the

initial letters of longer words are taken to be used as
words. For many speakers of American English
abbreviations such as CD , ER and PC have entirely
replaced longer words such as compact disc ,
emergency room, and personal computer. An important
point to be noted is that initialisms are pronounced by
each letter individually.

4- Clippings: Another type of abbreviations which is

composed by cutting off the beginning or the end of a
word ,or both, leaving a part to stand for the whole.
a) Clipped abbreviations such prof for professor, fax for
facsimile ,and photo for photographic opportunity
b) Orthographic abbreviations such as Dr. (doctor) , Mr.
(minster) and MB (megabyte). In this process, the
spelling is shortened but the pronunciation is not
altered; it remains the same.

5-Blends are new words formed by the fusion of two

words into one ,usually the first part of one word with the
last part of another one. Examples are motel (from motor
hotel) , brunch ( from breakfast and lunch), trashware
(from trash and software etc.

6- Gentrified words are words for specific brand names

of products used as names for the product in general (
generification). Hence, Kleenex is a brand name for the
product facial tissue, now it is used to refer to tye
product in general. Moreover, Xerox is the name of the
corporation that produces a well known photocopying
machine. Yet, the term xerox has lost its brand_name
corporation and has come to be used to describe the
process of photocopying in general e.g. I xeroxed a
letter.

1- Proper nouns not infrequently, a trait, quality, act, or

some behaviour associated with a person becomes
identified with that person’s name typically his or her
last name. For example the word guillotine ( an
instrument of execution named after its inventor Joseph
Guillotine. Thousands of such words are now part of
English. Similarly, antonomasia is the formation of a
common noun, verb or adjective from the name of a
person or a place.
7-Borrowings are words that are borrowed from other
language and become independent words in a particular
language. This process is the most common sources of
new words in English and it is of two types:
a) Direct borrowings; speakers of English use
aggressively borrow words from other languages;
kindergarten( German) ,sushi (Japanese) ,croissant
(French) etc.
b) Indirect borrowings are types of borrowing in which
words from other languages are translated literally in
English. Indirect borrowed words are also referred to as
loan translations or calques. For instance, the English
word superman is thought to be a loan translation of the
Germain word ‘Uber_mensch’ where Uber in German
means supper and mensch means man in English.

8-Echoic words, echoism is the formation of words

whose sounds suggest their meaning like hiss and peewee.
The meaning is usually a sound either natural like the roar
of water or artificial like the clang of a bell. The meaning
of the sound may also be the creature that produces it like
moan, murmur, thunder, click etc. Such words are known
as onomatopoeias in literature.

Second: Derivational Morphology (Word

Formation Rules)

New vocabulary can also be added by following rules

that incorporate specific derivational processes. For the
most part, the core of each process is an already existing
word, to which other words and affixes can be added.
English has dozens of rules which expand the process of
word formations in a language, and here are a few of the
most common.

1-Compounds and Compounding

In English and in many other languages, new words can

be formed from already existing words by a process
known as compounding, in which individual words are
‘‘joined together’’ to form a compound word. For
example, the noun ‘ape’ can be joined with the noun ‘man’
to form the compound noun ‘ape-man’; the adjective
‘sick’ can be joined with the noun ‘room’ to form the
compound noun sickroom; the adjective red can be joined
with the adjective hot to form the compound adjective red-
hot. The part of speech of the compound word is
determined by the part of speech of the word on the right
hand. That is why sky-blue is considered as an adjective
and high chair as a noun.
Compound words are not limited to two words. Indeed,
the process of compounding is unlimited in English:
starting with a word like sailboat, we can easily construct
the compound sailboat rigging, from which we can in turn
create sailboat rigging design, sailboat rigging design
training, sailboat rigging design training institute, and so
on. It is ,then, important to note that this process is
considered as part of the derivational processes as long as
it is concerned with the structure of words. Thus, a
compound is a separate word formed by joining two
individual words together.

2-The Agentive Suffix -er

Agentive nouns are formed by the word formation rule
which states ‘‘Add the suffix -er to a verb.’’ Examples are:
Verbs Agentive nouns (V + er)
Write Writer
Play Player
Kill Killer

3-The -able Suffix

Another word formation rule states that a great number

of adjectives can be formed by adding the suffix able to
verbs. For instance,
Verb Adjective(V + able)
Read Readable
Wash Washable
Break Breakable

4-The Diminutive Suffix -y/-ie

English has a so-called diminutive suffix, usually spelled

-y (or -ie), which is added to nouns such as those in the
following pairs: dad–daddy, mom–mommy, dog–doggy,
horse–horsie.

5-Back formation is the process of forming a new word

by removing actual or supposed affixes from another
word. Put simply, a back-formation is a shortened word
(such as edit) created from a longer word (editor). The
verb back-form is itself a back-formation. It is a historical
fact about English that the nouns pedlar, beggar, hawker,
stoker, scavenger, swindler, editor, burglar, and sculptor
all existed in the language before the corresponding verbs
to peddle, to beg, to hawk, to stoke, to scavenge, to
swindle, to edit, to burgle, and to sculpt.

6. Reduplication is a process of forming a new word

usually by doubling a morpheme with a change of vowel
or initial consonant as in pooh-pooh, tiptop and hanky-
panky. Most frequently, the basic morpheme is the one on
the right hand (the second part) as in dilly-dally. Yet, it
might be the first part like ticktock , both parts like
singsong , or none of them as in boogie-woogie. Such
words are also referred to as twin words which can be
divided into three types:
The word a.The base morpheme is repeated without a
change e.g. tick-tick and clop-clop.
b.The base morpheme is repeated with a change of initial
consonant e.g. roly-poly and fuddy-duddy.
d.The base morpheme is repeated with a change of vowels
e.g. chitchat and tiptop.
Note: this process differs from the previous ones in that
the core of it is not always an already existing word.

Changing the meaning of an already existing

word

There are numerous ways by which new meaning

becomes associated with already existing words which
contribute to the expansion of the formation of words in a
language:

• The grammatical category of the word changes (change

in part of speech).
• The vocabulary of one domain is extended to a new
domain ( metaphorical extension).
• The meaning of a word broadens in scope (broadening).
• The meaning of a word narrows in scope (narrowing).
• The meaning of a complex word involves restricting the
more general compositional meaning of the complex
word (semantic drift).
• The meaning of a word changes to the opposite of its
original meaning (reversal).

1-Change in part of speech

Words can be modified by changing their grammatical

category. The nouns ponytail and people can be used as
verbs; to ponytail her hair and to people an island. The
noun ponytail refers to hair that is tied at the back of the
head whereas the verb to ponytail refers to the process of
making a ponytail.

2-Metaphorical Extension

A metaphorical extension is the extension of meaning in

a new direction through popular adoption of an original
metaphorical comparison. It is another way in which the
meaning of an existing word is modified, thus resulting in
new uses. To take one example: it is interesting to note
that speakers of English have adopted many existing terms
from the realm of ocean navigation to use in talking about
space exploration. For instance, they use the word ship to
refer to space vehicles as well as to ocean-going vessels.
we speak of navigation in both types of transportation.
They speak of certain objects as floating in space and of
ships as floating on water; we speak of a captain and a
crew for both kinds of transportation. Though the
technology used in the two realms is radically different,
we perceive enough similarities to use exiting words for
describing new phenomena. Another example is the
extension of words related to the physical realm of food
and digestion to describe the mental realm of ideas.
Examples are as follows:
a. I’ll have to chew on that idea for a while.
b. They just wouldn’t swallow that idea.
c. She’ll give us time to digest that idea.
d. He bit off more than he could chew.

3-Broadening

It occurs when a word with a specific or limited meaning

is widened. It is sometimes referred to as generalisation of
words. An example is holy day was used to refer to a
religious feast. With the passage of time, its meaning
become broader to refer to the very general break from
work called a holiday.

4-Narrowing

Conversely, the use of a word can narrow as well. A

typical example is the word meat. At one time in English
it meant any solid consumable food (a meaning that
persists in the word nutmeat), but now it is used to refer
only to the edible solid flesh of animals.
5-Semantic Drift

It is the evolution of word usage usually to the point that

modern meaning is radically different from the original
usage. Over time the meaning of words can change. The
word apology was used in the past with the meaning to
defend oneself. Its meaning evolved with time to refer to
formal statement of regret. The word idiot was used to
refer to anybody who is not a clergyman but now it is used
to refer to a stupid person.

6-Reversals

Finally, reversals of meaning can occur. In certain

varieties of American slang, the word bad has come to
have positive connotations, with roughly the meaning
‘‘emphatically good.’’ Reversal mean that the same word
comes to be used with an opposing meaning of its own old
meaning.

References
Akmajian, A., Farmer, A. K., Bickmore, L., Demers, R.
A., & Harnish, R. M. (2017). Linguistics: An introduction
to language and communication. MIT press.
D Oaks, D., & C Stageberg, N. (2000). An introductory
English grammar. Harcourt college publishers