英汉构词法的比较PPT.pptVIP

A comparison of word formation between English and Chinese 2007级2班 邓晶 2009.11.5 Generally speaking, as society develops, word formation gains its complexity. There are both differences and similarities in word formation between English and Chinese. Hopefully, the comparison of the two languages in word formation can be helpful to bilingual learners. Some ways of word formation in English cannot be found in Chinese language. Such as: derivation, blending, backformation Derivation By adding affixes to the existing words, we can create new words. For example, Rich: If we add a prefix ‘en-’, it becomes a verb ‘enrich’ If we add a suffix ‘-ness’, it becomes a noun ‘richness’ Affix The prefixes are the following: A-/an-: abnormal Dis-: dislike discovery In-: instable indoor impossible immoral Mis-: misunderstanding mistrust Mini-: mini-dog Ex-: ex-husband ex-president Multi-: multiparty multinational multiple Suffixes: -tive/-ary/-ful/-able/-y/-ish/-less are all to form an adjective -ness/-tion/-sion/-er/-ence are to form a noun Blending Blending refers to the process of combining parts of two words to form a third word which contains some of the meaning of each other. Examples Smoke+ fog= smog fruit+ juice= fruice Motor+ hotel= motel Modulator+ demodulator= modem Breakfast+ lunch= brunch Communication+ satellite= comsat Helicopter+ airport= heliport Backformation Backformation is the making of a new word from an older word which is mistakenly assumed to its derivative. Examples: inflection In English, inflection is a common way of word formation to show the grammatical function of a word. General rules -s/-es is added to a verb when it is used behind a third person. -ed to a verb when it is to show the past tense or past participle. -s to a noun when it is to indicate the plural form. -er/-est to an adjective to mean the comparative and the superlative. Whereas, the above mentioned formations cannot be found in Chinese, despite the argument that in Chin