Unit 66

LÉXICO. CARACTERÍSTICAS DE LA FORMACIÓN DE PALABRAS EN INGLÉS.

PREFIJACIÓN, SUFIJACIÓN Y COMPOSICIÓN.
_____________________________________________________________________

Good morning, my name is........... and I have decided to choose topic number 10, which is
about: Léxico. Características de la formación de palabras en inglés. Prefijación, sufijación y
composición. In order to acquire a clear and logical comprehension of this topic, I have divided
my paper into the following points:

1. INTRODUCTION.
2. WORD FORMATION.
3. PROCESSES OF WORD FORMATION
3 3.1. AFFIXATION.
- PREFIXES.
- SUFFIXES.
3.2. COMPOUNDING.
3.3. CONVERSION.
3.4. CREATION
3.5. BACK FORMATION & CLIPPING.
3.6. REDUPLICATIVES.
3.7. ACRONYMS.
3.8. BLENDS.
4. CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS
5. CONCLUSION
6. BIBLIOGRPAHY

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So let’s begin with the introduction.

1. INTRODUCTION.
This topic deals with lexicology, which is the branch of grammar that is in charge of the
study of the vocabulary of a language, whose units are the words or lexical items. When we talk
about words or lexical items, we cannot avoid the question: how many words are present in a
language? Answering this question is a difficult task because languages are alive entities which
change everyday and their changes can be external, when they come from the influences of
other languages or internal when the own language provides the changing by mixing the
elements in order to create new words. English is one of the most changing languages, for
instance, they have just invented ‘to pluto’ (isolate) since that planet has been excluded form the
Solar system.
This paper will be devoted to explaining and classifying the main internal changes of a
language through different processes of word-formation. But, before going into this, I think it is
interesting to make a brief historical review of the sources of English words. English vocabulary
has three main sources: Old English, Latin and French.
Old English was the language spoken in England before the Norman Conquest. It was a
descendant of Celtic languages, fused with the Germanic languages of the early invaders (Jutes,
Saxons, Angles…). It also had some Latin influence. This language was inflected both for verbs
and for nouns. Most grammar features of Old English have disappeared in contemporary
English, but a lot of vocabulary remains. Interestingly enough, most vocabulary related to
everyday/family life comes from Old English: brother, house…
Latin was introduced by the roman conquerors, and it has been continuously
influencing the English language, because for centuries it has been the language of culture, and
Christianity. Latin influence is studied fully in topic 41.
In addition, French (Norman) was brought by the Norman Conquest in 1066. Their
language fused with Old English and gave rise to Anglo-Norman or Middle English. This is
studied in topic 42.

After this introduction, let’s see, in point number 2, what word formation is and the difference
between Inflection and Derivation.

2. WORD FORMATION IN ENGLISH.

By studying word-formation we seek to transcend the individuality of items and set out
the regularities that make the constitution and grammatical distribution of one word similar to
those of another.
In order to deal with word-formation in English, I will start by clarifying the terms
‘word’, ‘stem’ and ‘base’. The term ‘word’ can be defined as the smallest unit of speech that can
be composed by a ‘stem’ and ‘morphemes’. The ‘stem’ is then the basis of the lexical item which
contains the lexical meaning and is stripped from all morphemes. The morphemes attached to

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the ‘stem’ may have a grammatical meaning. For instance, the word ‘nation’ has the ‘stem’ ‘nati’
(which means ‘being born’) and the morpheme ‘on’ (which refers to a place). Moreover, this
word can change its morphological category by adding other morphemes like:
- AL: nation- nationAL (change from noun to adjective). Or
- ISE : nation- nationALISE (change from adjective to verb).
But, what about the stem ‘nati’? As you may have thought, it does not have a complete
meaning by its own. It is just the part of the word form that remains when all the inflectional
affixes have disappeared. If we look for the basic word with full meaning we will have to refer
to ‘base’. ‘Nation’ is a ‘base’ and by adding some categorical morphemes we may vary its
category or meaning.
As we all know, word-formation involves two main processes: inflection and
derivation, but:

'What is the difference between inflection and derivation?'

Inflection is a general grammatical process which combines words and suffixes to
produce alternative grammatical forms of words. For example, the plural morpheme is an
inflectional morpheme. This implies that the plural form roses, for instance, does not represent a
lexical item different from the singular form rose, it is simply an inflectional variant of the same
word.
On the other hand, derivation is a lexical process which actually forms a new word out
of an existing one by the addition of a derivational affix. For instance, the suffixes -dom and -ful
may be added to the adjective free and the noun hope respectively to derive the noun freedom and
the adjective hopeful, which are different words.
So, while the application of inflection leads to the formation of alternative grammatical
forms of the same word, derivation creates new vocabulary items.
After having explained these key concepts, we may classify the different processes of
word formation as follows:
1. Affixation, which comprises:
.1. Prefixation: when the affix is placed in front of the base. (e.g.: pre-determinate)
.2. Suffixation: when the affix is placed after the base. (Friend-ly).
2. Compounding: adding one base to another.
3. Conversion: assigning the base to a different word class with no change of form.
(E.g. We shall carpet the room. > noun to verb conversion).
4. Other miscellaneous modes like back-formation, reduplicatives, clippings,
acronyms or blends.
The rules for word formation can be or become productive or not, depending on
diachronic and synchronic factors. These rules themselves undergo change and can increase or
decrease their applicability. New words are created everyday and they are only acceptable
when they have gained an institutional currency in the language.

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The rest of this unit will be devoted to explain and classify these processes of word
formation I have just highlighted. So let’s continue now with point number three where I will deal
with:

3. PROCESSES OF WORD FORMATION

As I have just mentioned, derivation takes one of three forms: affixation, compounding and
conversion.

Let's start with

3.1. AFFIXATION.
Through this point I will analyse the main affixes in the English language. We will focus
on the most common ones; although it must be said that others might also be included and
used. Prefixes will be classified according to their meaning and suffixes bearing in mind the
morphological changes they can produce. So I will start with the:
3.1.1. PREFIXES.
They can be classified under the following semantic distribution:
- Negative prefixes
A-/AN- means 'lack of', ie. amoral, atheist, asexual,...
DIS- means 'not, the converse of'', ie. disorder, disobey,...
IN- (IL-/IM-/IR-) mean 'not, the converse of', ie. incomplete, impolite,...
NON- means 'not', ie. non-smoker,...
- Prefixes of degree or size
ARCH- : 'supreme, most'; archduke, archbishop,...
CO-: 'jointly'; co-education, co-pilot,...
MINI-: 'little'; mini-market,...
SUPER-: 'more than'; supermarket,...
UNDER-: 'too little'; underestimate,...
- Prefixes of orientation or attitude:
ANTI-: 'against'; anti-social
PRO-: 'for, on the side of'; pro-communist
'on behalf of'; pro-consul
- Pejorative prefixes
MAL-: 'badly, bad'; maltreat, malformed
MIS-: 'wrongly'; miscalculate, mishear
PSEUDO-: 'false, imitation'; pseudointellectual
- Locative prefixes
INTER-: 'between'; international
SUB-: 'under'; subsection, subway
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TRANS-: 'across'; transatlantic

- Prefixes of time and order
EX-: 'former'; ex-president
POST-: 'after'; post-war
PRE-: 'before'; pre-school
RE-: 'again'; re-evaluate
- Neo-classical items: Number prefixes
These items are originally Greek or Latin and they are widely used as the first constituent in
a range of expressions dealing with numerical values.
BI-, DI-: 'two'; biplane, bicycle
POLY-, MULTI-: 'many'; polyglot, multi-storey
TRI-: 'three'; tripod
UNI-, MONO-: 'one'; unisex, monorail
- Conversion prefixes
A- : 'to create predicative adjectives'; asleep, alive
BE- : 'to create intensity'; befriend
EN-, EM-: 'to create verbs'; endanger, embitter
- Revising
DE- : defrost
DIS- : disconnect
UN- : unmask.
[Create sentences using the prefixes]
Having analysed the prefixes, I will continue with the suffixes:

3.1.2. SUFFIXES.
Unlike prefixes they cannot follow a semantic classification because they are normally
attached to a change of grammatical function and word class. Therefore, it would be convenient
to group them according to the word class that results when they are added to a base.
According to this classification suffixes can refer to:

A) DENOMINAL NOUNS: where both abstract and concrete nouns can be created. On the one
hand, the suffixes –AGE –DOM –FUL –HOOD –ISM –OCRACY –SHIP- ERY and –RY are added
to the base of a concrete noun to create an abstract one as in the following examples:
pilgrimage, kingdom, brotherhood, communism, relationship or slavery. On the other hand, the
suffixes –EER –ER –ESS –ETT –LET –LING or –STER added to concrete nouns can change their
meaning to feminine, small or substitute as in teenager, actress or booklet.
B) DEVERBAL NOUNS: nouns which can from verbs and become common nouns by the
addition of the suffixes: -ANT –EE –ER/OR as in participant, payee, actor or teacher. They can
also become abstract nouns by the addition of the suffixes: -AGE - AL –ITION- ING- MENT as
in coverage, refusal, teaching or amazement.
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C) DE-ADJECTIVAL NOUNS: by adding the suffixes –ITY or –NESS to adjectives we can

obtain abstract nouns as in meanness or banality.
D) NOUN/ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES: by adding the suffixes –ESE –AN –IST or –ITE to some
nouns we have adjective like Chinese, Canadian, violinist or Israelite.
E) ADJECTIVE-DENOMINAL SUFFIXES: we can form adjectives from nouns with the suffixes:
-ED –FUL –ISH –LESS –LIKE –LY –Y. Useful, childish, homeless, childlike, daily or sandy could
be some examples.
F) ADJECTIVE-DEVERBAL SUFFIXES: we can form adjective from verbs with the suffixes –
ABLE and –IVE as in changeable or attractive.
G) ADVERB SUFFIXES: the most common ones are –LY/ALLY as in personally or
economically, however –WARD as in towards or – WISE are also used to create adverbs.
H) VERB SUFFIXES: the most productive suffixes to create verbs are: -ATE –EN –SY or –ISE as
in tolerate, strengthen, simplify or modernise.

The next type of derivational word formation, as mentioned in my outline, is:

3.2. COMPOUNDING.
A compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one base and functioning both
grammatically and semantically as a single word. For example, bedside, black-market, car-wash,
waste paper basket.
According to the classification of compounds it will be recalled that compounds must
consist of more than one root, but the different roots need not belong to the same word class.
When the two constituents of the compound belong to the same class (e.g. noun + noun; verb +
verb), it may be assumed that the resulting compound also belongs to the same word class. But,
when the two constituents of the compound belong to different word classes, the classification
of the resulting compound cannot be taken for granted.
We shall consider the classification of compounds according to the word class and according
to the syntactic relationship between the roots.
Firstly, according to the word class, we have to say that as a general rule, the word class of
the last element of the compound determines the class of the compound. For example:
- NOUN COMPOUNDS: Any root + noun make noun compound:
N + N (modifier +head) : ashtray, armchair, textbook
V + N (verb + object) : pick-pocket
Adj + N (modifier + head) : black-bird, blue-collar, hard-cover
Adv + N : afterthought
Although we can also find especial noun compounds, for example drive-in, that is, verb +
adverb, and it gives a noun compound.
- VERB COMPOUNDS: Any root + verb = verb compound
N + V (object + verb) : baby-sit, brain-wash, house-keep
Adj + V: dry-clean, sweet-talk

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Adv + V: over-do
- ADJECTIVE COMPOUNDS: Any root (except verbs) + adjective = Adjective compound
N + Adj: earth-bound, ox-eyed
Adj + Adj: blue-green, south-west
Adv + Adj: off-white
- ADVERB COMPOUNDS: adverb + adverb = adverb compound; in-to, through-out.

Secondly, let's classify compounds according to syntactic relationship:

The type of syntactic relationship existing between the two roots of a compound is a reliable
criterion for the classification of compounds into sub-groups.
a) The first, which includes most compounds and is therefore the most important, consists
of compounds in which the constituents are put together according to syntactic rules that also
operate elsewhere in English phrase structures. They can be:
- Endocentric: one or both roots is the 'head' of the compound, for example: boyfriend
(coordinated), armchair (subordinated)
- Exocentric: neither root is the 'head', for example: pick-pocket.
b) The second, by far the smaller, consists of compounds in which the association of roots
violates syntactic rules.This group includes structures such as:
- 'Noun + adjective': air-sick
- 'Adverb + Noun': back-talk
To close this discussion of English compounds, it must be said that although a number of
regularities can be observed, the process of compound formation does not lend itself to general
rules.

The third type of derivational word-formation is:

3.3. CONVERSION.
Conversion is the derivational process whereby an item is adapted or converted to a new
word class without the addition of an affix. Conversion of verbs into nouns and nouns into
verbs is extremely productive in English. Usually the same word-form can be used as a verb or
a noun, with only the grammatical context enabling us to know which category it belongs to.
There are different kinds of conversion:
- Noun  verb: to bottle, to commission
- Verb noun : a call, a guess, a spy
- Adjective  verb : to better, to dirty, to empty
- Adjective  noun : such conversions are relatively rare and restricted in their syntactic
occurrences; the poor, the rich
Adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections and even affixes can all act as bases for
conversion as in 'to up prices' (preposition verb). Furthermore, many of these word classes
can undergo conversion into more than one other word class, e.g. to go down (adverb particle),
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to down a beer (verb) and to have a down on someone (noun). Finally, it should be noted that
even a whole phrase may undergo conversion and act as noun, e.g. a forget-me-not, a has been, a
don't know; It may also act as an adjective as in a Monday morning feeling, a not-to-be-missed
opportunity.
The widespread use of conversion shows the importance of the criterion of syntactic
function in determining word-class membership in English. Very often it is by its function
rather than by its morphological form that we tell the word-class to which a word belongs.
As I mentioned in the introduction, we have other modes of word formation which we will see briefly
in the next point, which is point 4.

3.4. Starting with CREATION where a new word is introduced in the language,
without having been borrowed from other languages. Within this group we find: -
-Coining or root creation: The new word is simply invented. E.g.: nylon, atom.
-Echoic words: When onomatopoeia becomes codified, it is considered as a new word.
E.g.: meow, splash.
-Ejaculations: These are non-linguistic reactions to strong stimuli. When they are
conventionally codified, they are considered as words. E.g.,: ugh, oops, pugh.
3.5. BACK FORMATION AND CLIPPING can be classed together as both are types
of reduction. By these processes a shorter word is made from a longer one. Back formation uses
derivational analogy to create typically verbs out of nouns or adjectives that exited before. Some
examples are edit from editor, laze from lazy or burgle from burglar. Unlike back formation,
clippings are shortenings without regard to derivational analogy and they are frequent in
informal language. Some examples are: exam from examination, ad from advertisement, demo
from demonstration or plane from airplane.

3.6. The REDUPLICATION process is characterised by having compound words

whose constituent are either identical or only slightly different. Most of them are informal,
familiar and many belong to the sphere of child-parents talk. I will provide some examples:
‘goody-goody’, din-din (referring to dinner), ‘walkie-talkie’, ‘tick-tock’ or ‘teeny-weeny’.

3.7. ACRONYMS are the words formed from the initial letters of others that make up a
name. they can be pronounced as sequences of letters as in : DYC (do it yourself) or EEC
(European Economic Community) or as words as in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation) or WASP (white Anglo Saxon protestant).

3.8. BLENDING is a very productive process that consists on the blending of two
words to form a new one. It can be regarded then as a combination of clipping and
compounding. Some examples are the followings: electrocute (form electro execute), smog
(from smoke fog) or workaholic (from work alcoholic).

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4. CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS
Our main objective as teachers of English is making our students able to communicate in a
foreign language. Vocabulary is basic for this purpose, and we must make sure that students
learn the suitable vocabulary for their level.
Older students should also know the most usual prefixes and suffixes, which will allow
them to infer the meaning of new words related to words they already know. Also, students
should be aware of the fact that the meaning of a compound is not the addition of the meanings
of its elements.

So, last but not least, we have reached point 6 of my paper which is the conclusion:

5. CONCLUSION.
Finally, I would like to conclude my exposition by saying I have tried to deal with
theoretical aspects of lexicology used to explain the internal processes the English language has
to create its own lexicon. Therefore, in this unit we have explored the building blocks available
for constructing words. We have established that the roots are the core units to which different
types of affixes can be attached. Affixes that precede the base are called prefixes and those that
follow the base are called suffixes.
Furthermore, we have seen that word-formation involves two main processes: inflection
and derivation. Inflection processes assign a stem certain grammatical properties so as to
produce a grammatical word that can fit in a given syntactic slot, on the other hand, the
function of derivation is to create lexical items. There are three major classes of derivational
processes: affixation, compounding and conversion.
Lastly, we have dealt with other word-formation processes such as reduplicatives,
clippings, acronyms and blends.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
As far as bibliography is concerned, these are the books I have mainly used to prepare my topic:
- Quirk et Al, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, 1985.
- Bauer, English Word Formation. C.U.P., 1983.
- Lyons, Introduction to General Linguistics. C.U.P., 1968.
- George Yule: The Study of Language, C.U.P., 2006