13.

Word Formation Word-formationis that branch of Lexicology which studies the derivative structure of existing words and the patterns on which the English language builds new words.Word-formation can deal only with words which are analysable both structurally and semantically,i.e.with all types of Complexes. E.g.:Driver=v+-er(a verbal stem+the noun-forming suffix er). The meaning of the derived noun driver-the meaning of the stem drive-to direct the course of a vehicle and the suffix -er meaning an active agent:a driver is one who drives(a carriage, motorcar,railwayengine,etc.). Word-formation also called word-building is one of the main ways of enriching vocabulary. There are four main ways of word-building in Modern English:affixation(prefixation+ suffixation),composition,conversionandshortening.There are also secondary ways of wordbuilding:soundinterchange,stressinterchange,soundimitation,blends,back formation (disaffixation).Word-formation may be studied:1.Synchronically-investigation of the existing system of the types of word-formation.The derived word is regarded as having a more complex structure than its correlated word regardless of the fact whether it was derived from a simpler base or a more complex base;2.Diachronically-chronological order of formation of one word from some other word that is relevant. 14. Affixation (Derivation) Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building in English.Affixation consists in adding a suffix or a prefix to a stem of a definite part of speech.It is a highly productive means of coining words in Modern English.There are two kinds of affixation:prefixationand suffixation.Prefixation is the addition of a prefix to a derivation base according to productive patterns of the English Language.Thepercents of the parts of speech which use prefixationare:Verbs(42%:enrich,coexist,disagree);Adjectives(33%:antiwar,biann ual,uneasy);Nouns(22%:ex-champion,co-author,disharmony).Suffixation is the addition of a suffix to a derivational base according to productive patterns of the English Language.The parts of speech which can receive a suffix are:Nouns(explanation,assistance,regugee);Adjectives(fearless,teachable,cloudly) ;Verbs(terrify,establish,organise).Generallyspeaking,prefixation will lead to a meaning alteration while suffixation will lead to word-class change.While analyzing any prefix or suffix 4 main characteristics should be mentioned:1)The origin of this suffix(prefix).In English there are suffixes and prefixes descending from different languages.They may be of Germanic,Romanic(Latin,French and

Italian) and Greek origin.2)The productivity of the affix.It is observed that affixes have different scopes of productivity.As regards their productivity they may be: (a)productive(or even highly-productive);(b)semi-productive;(c)unproductive,nonproductive.3)The stems of what parts of speech it is added to.4)Its meaning.Besides there 4 points one must know that some suffixes or prefixes are endowed with additional emotional and stylistic features.Some of them have a derogatory,disparaging shade of meaning,othersdiminutive,still others caressing,and so on.From the point of view of style affixes may have a colloquial,high-flown,bookish colouring or be neutral to it. 15. Conversion Conversion is a way of word-building which consists in turning a word of a certain part of speech into a word of another part of speech.When a word has several forms,it is mostly the main one that is converted into another part of speech.Andso,the essence of conversion is that a form of a word is interpreted as a word of another part of speech,thatis,it gets the corresponding meaning,grammatical categories,functions,a place in the sentence and a capacityof combining with certain words and word-building.As no prefixes or suffixes take part in conversion,it results in the creation of homonymous couples:tabletotable,answer-to answer,book-to book,doctor-to doctor,love-to love.Every part of speech taking part in conversion has its own regularities and specific features.The activity of conversion in different parts of speech and the choice of words taking part in it vary greatly.There are many parts of speech which are converted from others,such as:Verbs Converted from Nouns(Bomb-to bomb;nettle-to nettle);Verbs Converted from Adjectives(To clear-to make clear;to narrow-to become narrow);Nouns Converted from Verbs(To ring-ring;to teasetease);Nouns Converted from Adjectives.Substantivization(The forbidden;theunexpected;thepoor;thewounded;aLiberal;professional);Adjectives Converted from Participles(Fascinating,promising,decided,advanced);Adjectives Converted from Nouns. 16. Word-composition Word-composition has always been a productive way of word-building In English.It consists in putting together two or more forms of words(stems) to make one,compound,word.E.g.:door-bell;house-keeper.One may distinguish two ways of word-composition.In one of them a compound originates from a wordcombination(phrase) which becomes isolated and thus,turns into a lexical unit.The resulting compound words retains the same order of the components of the

corresponding word-combination:Jack-of-all-trades;stay-at-home;at-home;readymoney;free-and-easy;would-be;do-nothing,etc.The second way of making compounds consists in putting together those words which did not constitute a word-combination before becoming a compound word.Thus,it is possible that a compound word may have the order of its components that is not typical of a wordcombination:lit by the moon-moonlit;to go easy-easy-going;as blind as a bat-batblind,etc.One of the typical features of English compounds is that many of them are unstable.This,naturally,refersto the first type of compounds,and especially to the nouns of noun +noun,adjective+noun type and all those words which comprise prepositions and conjunctions.Even the same author may use some lexical group as a word-combination in one place and as a compound word in the other.The relative criteria of a compound word are a uniting main stress on one of the components,the spelling of the components as one word or with hyphens,its semantic and grammaticunity.Compound words may be idiomatic and non-idiomatic.A compound is considered non-idiomatic then the meaning of it is nothing but the sum of the meanings of its components.It is idiomatic when its meaning is not equal to the sum of the meanings of its constituents and there is a transfer of meaning:machine-made;book-selling;window-pane;to half-understand but greenbacks,hardsell,die-hard,might-have-been.Every part of speech has its peculiar structural types of compound.Thereare:Compound Nouns(moonshine,money-bag,smoking-room),Compound Adjectives(lawabiding,land-owning,well-informed,heartsick),Attributive Complexes(an earlymorning bad spirit,a black-and-white film),Compound-derivative Adjectives(eagle-eyed,short-sighted,broad-minded),Compound Verbs(to halfunderstand,tobackslide,to new-create),Compound Adverbs(lip-deep,downhill,eye-to-eye). 17. Shortening Shortening is the process and the result of forming a word out of the initial elements(letters, morphemes) of a word combination.Shortenings(or contracted words) are produced in two different ways.Thefirst is to make a new word from a syllable of the original word.The letter maylose its beginning(phone from telephone;fencefrom defence),its middle(fancy from fantasy;specs from spectacles),its ending(holsfrom holidays;adfrom advertisement) or both the beginning and ending(flu from influenza;fridgefrom refrigerator).The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial lettersof a word group:U.N.O.(United National Organization);B.B.C.(the British Broadcasting Corporation),M.P.(Member of Parliament).This type is called initial shortenings(acronyms).They are found not only among formal words but also among colloquialisms and slang:g.f.(girl-friend).Here are some more examples of

informal shortenings:movie(movingpicture);specs(spectacles);I.O.Y. (I owe you);metrop(metropoly);posish(position).Undergraduates informal speech abounds in words of the type:exam;lab;prof;vac.hol;co-ed(a girl student at a coeducational school or college.Shorteningincludes:abbreviations,acronyms,clipping and blending. Clipping is the formation of a word by cutting off a part of the word.There are several types of clipping: a) initial or fore-clipping (or aphesis):fend (v) <defend,phone<telephone;bus<omnibus. b) medialclipping (orsyncope): specs <spectacles,fancy<fantasy;maam<madam; c) final or back-clipping(or apocope): lab<laboratory,exam<examination,doc<doctor. d) both initial and final:flu<influenza,fridge< refrigerator. Blending is the formation of a new word by combining parts of two words.Here we have:a)Compounds have a complete 1st stem and a clipped 2nd stem,e.g.:cablegram=cable+gram,mailomat=mail+automat. b)Compounds having a complete 2nd stem and a clipped 1st stem,e.g.:telescreen=television+screen, electronegative=electrotype+negative.c)Compounds having a clipped 1st stem and a clipped 2nd stem,e.g.:avionics=aviation+electronics,brunch=breakfast+lunch,Eurovision=Eur opean+television. Acronymy(or graphical abbreviation) is the formation of a word from the initial letters of a word combination:a)acronyms which are read as ordinary English words:UNESCO-the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization;b)acronyms with the alphabetic reading:BBC-the British Broadcasting Corporation. 18. Words of Native origin A native word is a word which belongs to the original English stock,as known from the earliest available manuscripts of the Old English period.Nativewords,though they constitute only 30% of the English vocabulary,arethe most frequently used words.Native words are subdivided into two groups:Indo-European and Common Germanic.The oldest layer of words in English are words met in Indo-European languages.There are several semantic groups of them: a)words denoting kinship:father(Vater,pater),mother(Mutter,mater),son(Sohn),daughter (Tochter),brother;

b)words denoting important objects and phenomena of nature:the sun(die Sohne),water (Wasser),moon,star,wind,wood,hill,stone,tree; c)names of animals and birds:cat(Katze),goose(Gans),wolf (Wolf),crow; d)names of parts of a human body:heart (Herz),arm,ear,eye,foot; e)some of the most often used verbs:sit(sitzen),stand(stehen),bear,come; f)somenumerals:two(zwei),three(drei); g)some adjectives which denote concrere physical properties:hard,quick,slow,red,white. A much larger group of native vocabulary are Common Germanic words(German,Norwegian, Dutch,Icelandic).Here we can find the nouns:summer,winter,storm,rain,ice,ground,bridge,house,life,shoe;theverbs:bake,b urn,buy,drive,hear,keep,learn;theadjectives:broad,dead,deaf, deep.Native words have a great world-building capacity,form a lot of phraseological units,they are mostly polysemantic,veryfrequent and short.One word can have about 25 meanings.