WORD-BUILDINGINENGLISH.ppt

WORD-BUILDING IN ENGLISH Word-formation process of creating new words from resources of a particular language according to certain semantic and structural patterns existing in the language Word-formation branch of Lexicology studies the patterns on which the English language builds words may be studied synchronically and diachronically Main types of word-formation Minor types of word-formation Derivational Pattern is a meaningful combination of stems and affixes regularly reproduced indicates the grammatical part-of-speech meaning e.g. verbal stem + -ee = noun (‘one who is V-ed’) examine + -ee = examinee addressee, employee, divorcee Affixation formation of words by adding derivational affixes to stems one of the most productive ways of word-building Types of Affixation Affixation Suffixation words are formed with the help of suffixes changes a part-of-speech meaning (e.g. work – worker) transfers a word into a different semantic group (e.g. child – childhood) is characteristic of noun and adjective formation Prefixation words are formed with the help of prefixes does not change a part-of-speech meaning (e.g. usual – unusual) about 25 prefixes form one part of speech from another (e.g. head – to behead) is characteristic of verb formation Mixed Affixation formation by both prefixation and suffixation semantic structure becomes more limited the more affixes added the less polysemantic the word becomes e.g. speak – unspeakable place – irreplaceable Conversion process of creating a new word in a different part of speech with different distributional characteristic but without adding any affixes so that the basic form of the original and the basic form of a derived word are homonymous Conversion A new word: has a meaning different from the original one has a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech the morphemic shape of the original word remains unchanged Conversion face, noun -s, pl. -’s, poss. c., sg -s’, poss. c., pl a