WORD FORMATION BOOK

WORD FORMATION (Morphology)

Derivational morphology studies the principles governing the construction of new words.

Reference book: "Vocabulary Instruction for Struggling Students". What works for special-needs students. J. Ron Nelson.

In linguistics, morphology is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words, such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Morphology also looks at parts of speech, intonation and stress, and the ways context can change a word's pronunciation and meaning. Morphology differs from lexicology, which is the study of words and how they make up a language's vocabulary and the semantic relations between words which are of many kinds, for example homonymy, antonymy, meronymy, and paronymy.

All human languages, including signed languages, exhibit rules of word formation (morphology). A morpheme is an irreducible unit of meaning in a given language. It can be either a word itself (mean) or a meaningful part of a word (-ing, -ful, the vowel in the past tense of read, the alternating stress pattern in the noun and verb forms of record, etc.). Morphemes that have syntactic consequences are referred to as “inflectional”; these include morphemes of tense (past tense –ed), aspect (continuous –ing), person (3rd singular –s), number (plural –s), gender (lion + ess), case (he vs. him vs. his), etc. Morphemes are called “derivational” if they change the grammatical category (part of speech) of a word – e.g. derive (v.) + ation (n.) + al (adj.) – or alter the basic meaning of a word – e.g. un + do, re + do. 

Sometimes the headword itself consists of multiple morphemes. This occurs when you have a word that behaves as a separate word in its own right, but is constructed out of other morphemes. Headword would be an example; it consists of the morphemes head and word, but we can assume that it’s stored as a separate entry in the mental lexicon, rather than as a subordinate form of head or word.

Signed languages exhibit both inflectional and derivational morphemes. There is no evidence for any such system in animal communication. The closest documented behavior in naturally occurring animal communication is the use by male Campbell’s monkeys of a low-pitched “boom” preceding a predator alarm call to indicate that danger is not imminent. In trained animal communication, there is no evidence of any primate or non-primate ever having mastered any aspect of linguistic morphology. In particular, so-called “signing” apes have never acquired either the comprehension or the production of any aspect of sign language morphology.

Uncovering and analyzing cognation between stems and roots within and across languages has allowed comparative philology and comparative linguistics to determine the history of languages and language families.

In linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with two slightly different meanings.
In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new stem friendship, to which the inflectional suffix -s is attached. In a variant of this usage, the root of the word (in the example, friend) is not counted as a stem.
In a slightly different usage, a word has a single stem, namely the part of the word that is common to all its inflected variants. Thus, in this usage, all derivational affixes are part of the stem. For example, the stem of friendships is friendship, to which the inflectional suffix -s is attached.

Phraseology

Another branch of lexicology, together with lexicography is phraseology. It studies compound meanings of two or more words, as in "raining cats and dogs". Because the whole meaning of that phrase is much different from the meaning of words included alone, phraseology examines how and why such meanings come in everyday use, and what possibly are the laws governing these word combinations. Phraseology also investigates idioms.

Rules of Word Formation

What are the rules for English word formations?

An overview of some rules for word formation in English is offered below.

Compounding
Frequent collocations over time and with usage become double- or triple-word compounds that with further time and usage become hyphenated compounds that with further time and usage become single-word compounds.

Blending
Usually the first syllable of the lead word and all or most of the second word are used for forming words though blending, like electronic mail blended to the blend compound e-mail, which is rapidly becoming a single-word blend compound email.

Clipping
In linguistics, clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts. Clipping is also known as "truncation" or "shortening".
Clippings are not coined as words belonging to the standard vocabulary of a language. They originate as terms of a special group like schools, army, police, the medical profession, etc., in the intimacy of a milieu where a hint is sufficient to indicate the whole. For example, exam(ination), math(ematics), and lab(oratory) originated in school slang; spec(ulation) and tick(et = credit) in stock-exchange slang; and vet(eran) and cap(tain) in army slang. Clipped forms can pass into common usage when they are widely useful, becoming part of standard English, which most speakers would agree has happened with math/maths, lab, exam, phone (from telephone), fridge (from refrigerator), and various others.

Back formation
Back formations are formed by removing a morpheme incorrectly perceived as a derivative suffix to create a new word, as in the removal of -ar from burglar to form burgle or the removal of -or from editor to form edit

Back-formation is either the process of creating a new lexeme (less precisely, a new "word") by removing actual or supposed affixes, or a neologism formed by such a process. Back-formations are shortened words created from longer words, thus back-formations may be viewed as a sub-type of clipping. 

Derivatives

Words that are formed from existing words can also be confusing - sometimes the original spelling stays the same and sometimes it changes. Some to remember are:  
Derivational prefixes rarely change word class and often indicate negation (e.g., un-, in-, non-) or relationship (e.g., im-, pre-).
Derivational suffixes are used within careful guidelines and often change word class. Some examples are:
-ism, used on Greek loanword verbs to form action nouns (e.g., realism).
-able, a Latin suffix with the meaning of "capable of, tending to, etc", appears on Latin loanwords (e.g., laudable) and on other words in English (e.g., teachable) and is adjective forming.  
-ation, a combination of Latin suffixes -ate and -ion, is used to forms nouns from stems ending in -ate (e.g., separate) and on other English words (e.g., starve).
-ness, an original English suffix, from Old English and Middle English -nes, that forms abstract nouns (e.g., goodness) from adjectives and participles.
Some other suffixes are -ful, -fy, -ify, -ise or -ize, -ist, -ity, -ly, and -ment. A good dictionary will provide the specifics of etymology (origin), usage and word class changes. Good online dictionary sources are Cambridge Dictionaries Online and Dictionary.com.

Derivational morphology studies the principles governing the construction of new words, without reference to the specific grammatical role a word might play in a sentence. In the formation of drinkable from drink, or disinfect from infect, for example, we see the formation of new words, each with its own grammatical properties."

Cognation. 

English-Spanish Cognates

A cognate is a word that is related in origin to another word, such as the English word brother and the German word bruder or the English word history and the Spanish word historia. The words were derived from the same source; thus, they are cognates (like cousins tracing back their ancestry). Because they come from the same origin, cognates have similar meanings and usually similar spellings in two different languages. 

Key Takeaways: Cognates

• Cognates are words that came from the same root.
• Cognates can come into a language from different sources; they just have to have the same origin.
• False cognates look like they're related to each other but are actually not.

"Cognates are often derived from Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian) that have their origins in Latin, although some are derived from other language families (e.g., Germanic)," noted Patricia F. Vadasy and J. Ron Nelson in their book "Vocabulary Instruction for Struggling Students" (Guilford Press, 2012).  

If two words in the same language are derived from the same origin, they're called doublets; likewise, three are triplets. A doublet may have come into English from two different languages. For example, the words fragile and frail both came from the Latin word fragilis. Frail came into English from French into Old English and stayed on through Middle and now Modern English, and the word fragile was borrowed directly from Latin instead of going through French first.

Perfect / True cognates
nouns: actor, area, confusion, crisis, idea, drama, division, factor, formula, nostagia, version 
adjectives: accidental, brutal (cruel, harsh), central, cordial, cruel, final, flexible, ideal, individual, inevitable, inferior, inseparable, ´lamentable (regrettable), literal, normal, natural, original, popular, probable, social, superficial, superior, terror, terrible, total, transcendental, usual, verbal, vital, vulgar, vulnerable

Near perfect / semi-true cognates

Words that end in -ation / -ación: abbreviation, adaptation, admiration, application, clarification, classification, combination, communication, comprehension, determination, duration, fascination, illusion, optimization, repetition, sensation, 

Other suffixes
impression,  ... 

EXAMPLES


Fascination Street. The Cure song.

Words that end in -ation / different ending: cessation (stopping), consolation, destination, detestation (hatred, odio), dictation

EXAMPLES

Happiness is the cessation of suffering. Cease to hope and you will cease to fear; Only once we cease hoping and yearning for more can we live fully in the present and enjoy life for what it is

A love of nature is a consolation against failure.


False cognates

COMPOUNDING (COMPOUND WORDS)

Compounding is the word formation process in which two or more lexemes combine into a single new word.
 

In English grammar, compounding is the process of combining two words (free morphemes) to create a new word (commonly a noun, verb, or adjective). Also called composition it is from the Latin for "put together".

Compounds are written sometimes as one word (sunglasses), sometimes as two hyphenated words (life-threatening), and sometimes as two separate words (football stadium).

Compounding is the most common type of word-formation in English.

Definition of Lexeme.

In linguistics, a lexeme is the fundamental unit of the lexicon (or word stock) of a language. Also known as a lexical unit, lexical item, or lexical word. In corpus linguistics, lexemes are commonly referred to as lemmas.

A lexeme is often--but not always--an individual word (a simple lexeme or dictionary word, as it's sometimes called). A single dictionary word (for example, talk) may have a number of inflectional forms or grammatical variants (in this example, talks, talked, talking).

A multiword (or composite) lexeme is a lexeme made up of more than one orthographic word, such as a phrasal verb (e.g., speak up; pull through), an open compound (fire engine; couch potato), or an idiom (throw in the towel; give up the ghost).

The way in which a lexeme can be used in a sentence is determined by its word class or grammatical category.

Types of Compounds

Compounding exists in several different forms and parts of speech, including the following:

Compound nouns
no-brainer (slang. sth simple or obvious), headword

Compound adjectives

Compound verbs

Compound adverbs

Compound prepositions

Compound conjunctions

Compound interjenctions 


LOANWORDS

MORPHOLOGICAL DERIVATION  (in English)

Adding morphemes, that is, affixes” — prefixes and suffixes.

The types of English derivational morphemes can be classified into two, derivational prefixes and derivational suffixes. 


Prefixes

A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word.^[1] Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix un- is added to the word happy, it creates the word unhappy. Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed. 
In English, there are no inflectional prefixes; English uses suffixes instead for that purpose.
The word prefix is itself made up of the stem fix (meaning "attach", in this case), and the prefix pre- (meaning "before"), both of which are derived from Latin roots.

If you simply want to change its part of speech (or word class), you can add the suffix "-able" to get "breakable," which turns it into an adjective while keeping the same general meaning as the root word. If you want to change the meaning of "breakable," you can add the prefix "un-" to get "unbreakable." The prefix "un-" means "not," so adding it to a word gives that word the opposite meaning.


Derivational prefixes (class-maintaining prefixes)

Meanings of the Most Common Derivational Suffixes Prefixes

Prefix	Meaning	Example
a-	verb > predicative adjective with progressive aspect	afloat, atremble
after-	following after, behind	aftermath, afterlife
anti-	against, opposite	anti-freeze, antivirus, anticlimax, Antichrist
back-	behind an object/structure (locative/directional)	backporch, backhoe, backfire
be-	equipped with, covered with, beset with (pejorative or facetious)	bedeviled, becalm, bedazzle, bewitch
by-	near to, next to	byway, bypass, byproduct
co-	joint, with, accompanying	co-worker, coordinator, cooperation
de-	reverse action, get rid of	de-emphasize
dis-	not, opposite of	disloyal, disagree
dis-	reverse action, get rid of	disconnect, disinformation
down-	from higher/greater to lower/lesser	download, downright, downbeat
en-, em-	to make into, to put into, to get into	empower, enmesh
ex-	former	ex-husband, ex-boss, ex-colleague, ex-friend
fore-	before, in front	forearm, forerunner, forebode
hind-	after	hindsight, hindquarters
mid-	middle	midstream, midlife
midi-	medium-sized	midi-length, Midibus
mini-	small	minimarket, mini-room, minivan
mis-	wrong, astray	misinformation, misguide, misfortune
off-	non-standard, away	off-color, offish, offset
on-	immediate proximity, locative	onset, onlook, ongoing, oncoming
out-	better, faster, longer, farther	outreach, outcome, outlier
over-	excessive, above	overreact, overact, overbearing
post-	after, behind	post-election, post-graduation, post-war
pre-	before	Precast, Prequel
pro-	for, forward, in favor of	propulsion, propound, pro-life
re-	again, back	redo, revisit, rerun, reorganize
self-	self	self-sufficient, self-explanatory
step-	family relation by remarriage	stepbrother, stepmother
twi-	two	twibill, twilight
un-	not, against, opposite of	unnecessary, unequal, undesirable, unhappy
un-	reverse action, deprive of, release from	undo, untie, unexpected, unlock
under-	below, beneath, lower in grade or dignity, lesser, insufficient	underachieve, underpass, understand, undergo
up-	greater, higher, or better	upgrade, uplift, upright
with-	against, back, away (from)	withstand, withhold

Words with the Prefix Non-

nonconformist, nonessential, nonexistent, nonperishable, nonhuman, nonliving, nonfiction, nonprofit, nonrenewable, nonsense, nonsensical, nonsectarian, nonsmoker, nonsmoking, nonstandard, nonstop, nontoxic, nonverbal

Changes in lexical category

Unlike derivational suffixes, English derivational prefixes typically do not change the lexical category of the base (and are so called class-maintaining prefixes). Thus, the word do, consisting of a single morpheme, is a verb as is the word redo, which consists of the prefix re- and the base root do.
However, there are a few prefixes in English that are class-changing in that the word resulting after prefixation belongs to a lexical category that is different from the lexical category of the base. Examples of this type include a-, be-, and en-. a- typically creates adjectives from noun and verb bases: blaze (noun/verb) > ablaze (adj). The relatively unproductive be- creates transitive verbs from noun bases: witch (noun) > bewitch (verb). en- creates transitive verbs from noun bases: slave (noun) > enslave (verb).

Suffixes 
 

Suffixes are a letter or group of letters added to the ending of words to change their meaning or function. These useful, shapeshifting tools can be as small as -s, and -ed, or can be larger additions such as -ation, and -ious.

Derivational suffixes. 

With derivational suffixes, the new word has a new meaning, and is usually a different part of speech. But the new meaning is related to the old meaning - it is "derived" from the old meaning.
A derivational suffix is a type of suffix that creates a new word; the new word is derived from the base word, e.g., adding -er to the word teach creates a new word teacher.

The Function of a Suffix

There are many suffixes used in the English language to create a rich vocabulary. These suffixes change the meaning or grammatical function of a root word. For example, by adding the suffixes -er and -est to the adjective "fond," you create the comparative "fonder" and the superlative, "fondest."

Take the suffix -ist, by adding this to a word you have changed the word to describe a person who performs or practices something. So, art becomes artist, a person skilled in a particular art.
Let's look at the verb "read." This verb can be turned into a noun by adding the suffix -er, and so "read" becomes "reader." Likewise, by adding the suffix -able the verb "read" now becomes the adjective "readable."

Meanings of the Most Common Derivational Suffixes

The most frequently occurring derivational suffixes are as follows:

Suffix	Meaning	Examples
-able	capable of, worthy of being	lovable, learnable & fixable
-ar	of or relating to	beggar & liar
-en	to become or cause to be	weaken, sharpen & lengthen
-er	comparative; more	hotter, bigger & smarter
-er	person connected with	teacher, painter & shipper
-ess	female	princess, waitress & actress
-est	comparative; most	smartest, fastest & quickest
-ette	small	dinette, diskette & barrette
-ible	capable of , worthy of being	gullible & durable
-ful	full of	joyful, fearful & cheerful
-ish	relating to	childish, bookish & selfish
-less	without; not having	tireless, ageless & careless
-like	resembling or characteristic of	childlike, doglike & homelike
-ly	resembling; similar to	fatherly, scholarly & motherly
-ment	action or process	government, development & experiment
-ness	state or quality of: condition	kindness, goodness & happiness
-or	person connected with	doctor, actor & editor
-ship	state or quality of: condition	friendship, hardship & citizenship

Nominalization

What is nominalization?

Nominalization refers to the creation of a noun from verbs or adjectives.

Most of the time, nouns are created from other parts of speech through the use of suffixes. In other cases, the word remains the same but is simply used a different way; this is known as conversion or zero derivation.

Suffixes

Suffixes are certain groupings of letters that can be attached to the end of words to change their meaning. Most verbs and adjectives that become nouns are changed using suffixes.

The best way to learn the spellings of such nouns is by using a good dictionary, or by encountering them in everyday speech and writing.

Noun Suffixes

• -eer
  Meaning: engaged in something, associated with something
  Examples: profiteer (sb who sells at inflated prices): blackmailer, 
• -er
  Meaning: someone who performs an action
  Examples: helper, preacher, shocker
• -ion
  Meaning: the action or process of
  Examples: celebration, decision, revision
• -ity
  Meaning: the state or condition of
  Examples: probability, equality, abnormality, civility
• -ment
  Meaning: the action or result of
  Examples: movement, retirement, abandonment, establishment
• -ness
  Meaning: a state or quality
  Examples: fondness, awareness, kindness, darkness
• -or
  Meaning: a person who is something
  Examples: distributor, investigator, translator, conductor
• -sion
  Meaning: state or being
  Examples: depression, confusion, tension, compulsion
• -ship
  Meaning: position held
  Examples: worship, ownership, courtship, internship
• -th
  Meaning: state or quality
  Examples: strength, labyrinth, depth, warmth

Adjectivization

In Grammar, it is to make into an adjective, as by adding a suffix:

Adjective Suffixes

• -able, -ible
  Meaning: capable of being
  Examples: preventable, adaptable, predictable, credible
• -al
  Meaning: pertaining to
  Examples: theatrical, natural, criminal, seasonal
• -ant
  Meaning: inclined to or tending to
  Examples: vigilant, defiant, brilliant, reliant
• -ary
  Meaning: of or relating to
  Examples: budgetary, planetary, military, honorary
• -ful
  Meaning: full of or notable of
  Examples: grateful, beautiful, wonderful, fanciful
• -ic
  Meaning: relating to
  Examples: iconic, organic, heroic, poetic
• -ious, -ous
  Meaning: having qualities of
  Examples: gracious, cautious, humorous, fabulous
• -ive
  Meaning: quality or nature of
  Examples: creative, expensive, expressive, pensive
• -less
  Meaning: without something
  Examples: hopeless, faultless, fearless, restless
• -y
  Meaning: made up of or characterized by
  Examples: brainy, fruity, tasty, grouchy

Verbalization

enrich, enforce, embolden, sharpen,

Verb Suffixes

• -ed
  Meaning: past-tense version of a verb
  Examples: laughed, climbed, called, missed
• -en
  Meaning: become
  Examples: soften, fasten, lengthen, strengthen
• -er
  Meaning: action or process, making an adjective comparative
  Examples: faster, bigger, fuller, longer
• -ing
  Meaning: verb form/present participle of an action
  Examples: laughing, swimming, driving, writing
• -ize, -ise
  Meaning: to cause or to become
  Examples: memorialize, authorize, commercialize, advertise

Adverb Suffixes

• -ly
  Meaning: in what manner something is being done
  Examples: bravely, simply, honestly, gladly
• -ward
  Meaning: in a certain direction
  Examples: backward, wayward, awkward, afterward
• -wise
  Meaning: in relation to
  Examples: clockwise, edgewise, lengthwise, otherwise

Using Suffixes

Suffixes create variety in the English language. They provide endless ways to express our thoughts, feelings, findings, and emotions. They morph nouns into adjectives and verbs into nouns. They express deeper qualities, providing layers of color and intrigue required by writers.
Be aware that sometimes adding a suffix to a root word changes the spelling of the new word.


ZERO DERIVATION. CONVERSION

1. Nominalization
give it a shot / try / go at

Everyone should have a shot at pursuing her or his dreams / the American dream.

2. Verbalization
google